Fall-To Layout #235

Fall-To Layout #235: This card probably took about 5 minutes total because everything I used was some sort of scrap, even the sentiment flag (which was leftover from a recent office order).
Card Specs: 
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Pumpkin Spice, Yellow Citrus, French Blue, Charcoal
Paper: Chatterbox, My Mind's Eye- Fly A Kite
Stamps: Fiskars- Put on Your Party Hat (present, confetti), The Paper Company Studio- Cupcakes (sentiment), Stampin' Up- Fox & Friends

Other stuff from today:

I got some udon from the local Asian supermarket the other day...yum!

The weather was very lovely today, so I went for a run...with my new running shoes.

Yard Sale and Thrift Store Finds

Weekend mission: My goal this weekend was to decorate my bedroom, per my 2013 New Year's Resolutions.  I recently put up a wall decal, but most of that wall was still blank as is the wall that faces my bed.  Time to change that around!  I cashed in on the 50 free prints from signing up with Shutterfly and printed a bunch of vacation/friends/family/cats/floral photos.  The prints arrived on Thursday, and I set off this morning in search of picture frames.

Yard sale #1: I almost didn't go to it because I went to the wrong place!  The first house that I went to had stuff outside and a moving truck with movers.  I asked one of the moving people if there was a yard sale at that location because that's what it said on Craigslist.  He looked really confused.  "Nah, we're just moving these guys."  Hm, that's weird, ok, whatever.  I realized after I got back in my car and drove about a block that the yard sale was actually down the street.  The guy (I'm not sure if he was cold or cranky, but he didn't crack one smile the whole time I was there...) had a bunch of picture frames for $5.  Oh, no way I'm going to pay $5 for each frame!  But, wait, he has so many nice ones...hmmm.  I plastered a saccharine sweet smile of my face and asked if I could get a deal if I bought more than one.  I walked away with 4 frames (one of them was not even opened) for $10...they are the 4 on the couch seats. 

Yard sale #2: This was an estate sale.  The house smelled kinda old and dingy so I didn't want to stay too long.  They had a whole lot of plates/dishes/kitchen stuff that I wasn't looking for anyway.  The framed irises caught my eyes when I stepped into the house, and after walking around a little bit, that was the only thing that I walked away with...for $2.  It's now hanging up in my living room.

Yard sale #3: I found another large frame for $2.  It's the one that's next to the framed irises.

Yard sale loot, before.

Thank you, Shutterfly.

Wall facing bed, before.

Wall facing bed, after.  I bought the framed flowers at yard sale last year, but didn't want to put them up until I had some other things to put up on that wall.

Completed bedroom wall

Family visit and thrift store shopping: After I got all my yard sale loot, I went to my parents' house to share the dumplings that I made last night.  Mom gave me an A+ rating.  After that stop, I went to the mall to walk around, but didn't find anything that I thought was worth buying.  My next stop was a giant thrift store that was next to the Asian supermarket that I went to last night.  When I went last night, it was too late to go in so I made a mental note to go back.  When I went back today, I found a cute bright blue jacket for $5.99, but I didn't buy it immediately.  I decided to think about it while going to the Asian supermarket to pick some more dumpling wrappers to use for later next week.  On the way back to the car, I went back into the thrift store and got the jacket.  The bright blue and the price were hard to resist.

INC International Concepts jacket, $5.99.

Homemade Dumplings

Matchy-matchy: I went to the office for a meeting today.  It lasted probably 10 minutes.  We're efficient that way.  I had to laugh that my shirt matched my nail polish.

Recipe #5 of 2013: My friend from undergrad Suzie is coming next week.  I was trying to think of activities we could do while she's here.  One of the ideas that I came up with was making homemade dumplings.  The thing is that I've always made them at my parents' house.  Instead of inconveniencing Mom, I decided that it's time to learn how to make them on my own.  Hello, Google.  I followed this recipe for the filling (who the heck has the time and patience to make their own dumpling wrappers??) and went to the Asian supermarket to get the supplies.  While watching X-Men: First Class (I borrowed it from the library...and it's due tomorrow), I cranked out about 50 dumplings.  I ate 8 for a taste testing, and they were pretty good!

New Nails

Nails: This is Wet 'N Wild's I Need a Refresh-Mint (2 coats).  I used this color in my previous manicure, but then covered it up with some nail art, so I couldn't fully appreciate the pretty robin's egg blue (Tiffany?) color.  This is a really good enough dupe for China Glaze's For Audrey or Essie's Turquoise and Caicos; $1.50 vs. $8, yep...I love a good deal!

Song of the day: "Light 'Em Up"- Fall Out Boy

One-Layer Wednesday #134

At the office: AHHHHHH!  I hear this from the kitchen this morning, and I knew instantly what had happened.  I slowly creep out into the hallway and the institutional research director, clearly shaken up, says "There's a mouse in the dishwasher!"  What is this, Groundhog's Day?  This is not the first time this has happened.  I hope that the exterminator that they sent this afternoon was able to remedy the situation.

RJ: The cat has been a terror at night lately.  He sleeps quite peacefully between 12 and 3 AM and then I think he feels rested enough to want to play and romp around or find something to chew on.  The whole situation reminds me of the book Go the F*** to Sleep.  I don't like kicking him out of my bed or bedroom, but I've been doing that the past few nights just so that I can get some peaceful sleep.  I hear bonk bonk bonk at the door.  I'm thinking he's using his paw or his head to try to get in, but doesn't really understand that those tactics are not going to work.  He eventually gives up and when I open the door in the morning, he's right outside waiting for me.  He got his revenge this morning by sleeping on my pillow while I was at work.  Usually, I cover my bed before going to work, but I was in rush this morning.  Jerk.

One-Layer Wednesday #134:  It's been quite a while since I've done a one layered card, but when I saw the challenge this afternoon, an idea came to me when I was at spin class tonight.  This is not to say that I wasn't paying attention during class or didn't get a good workout because I was very sweaty afterwards!

Here's the challenge:

We all know that 3 is the magic number in design and architecture. So our challenge for this week is to use as many threesomes as you can. A threesome can be any group of 3 things - you could stamp 3 of the same image, use 3 different stamps or colours - wherever your imagination takes you!

I bought this Hero Arts lamp stamps on clearance a few months ago, so I decided to stamp the 3 lamps in 3 different colors. The lamps and the sentiment stamp go together perfectly, don't you think? 

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Warm Red, Yellow Citrus, Ocean
Stamps: Hero Arts- Decorative Lamps, Studio G (sentiment)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Other: Staedtler Triplus Fineliner

Office Computer Raffle

After being at my place of employment for almost 5 years, I FINALLY won a computer from the office computer raffle!  We haven't done one recently, but every so often, the office raffles off old laptops when people upgrade to new ones (June 2010 and December 2010). 

I think I'll give this computer to my mom since hers is kinda limping along...

Office Goodies and New Nails

At the office: I got an email at the office this morning about treats in the kitchen.  The phrase "red velvet" totally sold me.  My coworker's uncle is a dessert chef, and he had an engagement party over the weekend and my coworker brought some leftovers.  I took two squares of the red velvet cake. :D

Breakfast of champions...obviously.

New Nails: Last night, I was trying to do Konad stamping on the tips of my fingers with my Pink Blink manicure, but I messed up and decided to start fresh with new colors.  I will say that using a base coat and the Seche Vite top coat really made a difference in reducing wear and chippage on the tips.  Anyway, this is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Mint Sprint (2 coats) and Wet N Wild's Megalast in I Need A Refresh-Mint (1 coat, ring finger) and Bundle Monster plate #224.  I was hoping that the Seche Vite top coat wouldn't smear the nail art stamping, but it kinda did on some of my nails.  Oh well. From far away, you can't really tell.