Birthday Card Redo

On second thought, I dunno how I feel about giving my (female) cousin the truck card from yesterday. I didn't think it was gender neutral enough. I decided to make another birthday card and then choose between the two cards as her birthday gets closer. This time I tried a monkey stamp with a birthday present, balloon, and hat. Super cute. :)

Card Specs:
Stamps: Fiskars- Put On Your Party Hat (present, hat, balloon), The Paper Company Studio- Jungle (monkey), Saavy Stamps (sentiment)
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Chestnut Roan, Lipstick Red, Yellow Citrus, and Blue Lagoon
Color pencils: Prismacolor in Copenhagen Blue and Carmine Red

I didn't end up going to spin class tonight because I was battling a headache after work. I'm so bummed that I missed Janice's class, but I don't think it would have been an enjoyable class anyway with the pounding my head. It's off to bed now so that I can have a fresh start in the morning.

Song of the day: "In My Head"- Jason Derulo. Ummm, it's catchy?

Patience is a Virtue

Patience. It's tough.

The waiting. Sometimes intolerable.

You think I'm talking about patience with other people?

Nope.

I'm talking about having patience with oneself. Tonight was one of those nights that I really felt creatively stumped. I was SO ready to get started on work that I could submit to card magazines (see new goal in this post), but when I looked at the "call for submissions" of one particular magazine, I had no idea what to do. I dug through my stamp stash and couldn't really think of anything that I thought was brilliant enough. I literally sat there for about half an hour and started to feel frustrated with myself. It shouldn't be this hard. What's wrong with me? Why can't I think of a card to put together? I finally took a deep mental breath and decided that I wasn't going to ruin my own evening because I couldn't take a chill pill. I decided to put the magazine thoughts aside and work on something else.

That brings me to today's card. My cousin's birthday is coming up. She's not really a girly girl, so I had to refrain from using any sort of glitter, rhinestone, or ribbon. She's a pilot, but since I didn't have any airplane stamps, I went with these cute vehicles instead. The dashed lines were made by curving the clear stamp on my acrylic block. I like the card, despite the rough start this evening. I guess my parting crafty thought tonight is don't force creativity...you'll probably end up wasting supplies.Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Yellow Citrus, Lipstick Red, Blue Lagoon, Chestnut Roan
Stamps: Savvy Stamps (sentiment), K.I. Memories-It's a Boy (car, truck), Autumn Leaves- Build-a-Flower (dashed line)

The self portrait was taken between getting home from work and going to spin class. I was just randomly fidgeting with my camera and was surprised that I liked any of the shots that came out. It'll be today's Project 365 picture.

Tonight's spin class was a good workout. And "cute gym front desk guy" was working tonight. He didn't quit, as I was beginning to think since I hadn't seen him in a few weeks. :D

Song of the day: "Live Like You Were Dying"- Kris Allen. Yep, haven't gotten tired of it yet. However, HOT99.5, could you phase that Ke$ha song out sometime? It's getting really old.

A Card-filled Sunday

I was able to return the Martha Stewart circle cutter that, contrary to what it said on the packaging, did not cut perfect circles...for me. Sigh.

I wasn't able to get myself out of bed this morning in time for spin class, but I did go to the gym after I returned the circle cutter. I did 30 minutes on the ArcTrainer while watching a rerun of Real Housewives of OC. I could definitely feel my legs burning by the end, so I was happy to get a good workout in...even if I didn't make it to spin.

Random thing from today: When I was working on cards this afternoon, I could hear someone wailing outside. This girl was bawling her eyes out, and I could hear her from across the street and above the music that was playing. She was sitting on my neighbor's steps, and my heart stopped for a moment because I was worried that something had happened across the street. I tried to get a closer look from my window to see if it was one of the kids and debated on whether I should go see if I could help out. The girl got up and started walking down the street, and I realized that it wasn't one of the neighbor's kids. The girl proceeded to take out her cell phone and yell at her mom. Yep, she was talking/crying loud enough that I could hear her as she turned the corner and went up the path behind the house. o_0

As the title of the blog post suggests, it was a busy afternoon. Here's what I came up with. I broke out the K.I. Memories stamp set and used it in all 3 of today's cards. The tiled flower one is my favorite. I can't wait to send it off to a friend. :)
Card Specs (flower, hi):
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Chestnut Roan
Punches: Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment border punch
Stamps: K.I. Memories- Mixed Up Alpha (sentiment), K.I. Memories-Blooms (flower)

Card Specs (flower tiles):
Ink: StazOn in Jet Black; Colorbox chalk ink in Yellow Citrus, Lime Pastel, Orchid Pastel, Blue Lagoon
Stamps: The Paper Company Studio- Whimsy Greetings (sentiment), K.I. Memories-Blooms (flowers)

Card Specs (butterfly):
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in clear and white
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Punches: Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment border punch
Stamps: The Paper Company Studio- Whimsy Greetings (sentiment), K.I. Memories-Blooms (flowers)
Paper: My Mind's Eye- Bloom and Grow

Valiant effort, Team USA. Valiant effort. I'm off to catch the Olympic Closing ceremonies. Hope y'all had a wonderful weekend!

Martha Stewart: Fail

Crafty Review: For anyone that's curious about the Martha Stewart circle cutter, don't bother (in my opinion). I saw a video of it online and thought it'd be worth a try. I've been looking for a circle cutter, since I don't have a die cutting machine or a wide variety of circle paper punches. I own a Martha Stewart cupcake punch and I LOVE it, so needless to say, I had high expectations for this tool. Unfortunately, the little bugger didn't cut clean circles for me! I tried moving the cutter slowly. I tried taping down the paper that I was cutting. I tried putting the tool away for a little bit and trying again after 10 minutes. Mmmnope. No luck. Martha Stewart: fail. :( I'll be making a trip back to A.C. Moore tomorrow to return it. The search continues...suggestions are welcome!

I had intentions of going to the mall at noon today, but then I found this card challenge online (Our Crafty Lounge Design Team Sketch Challenge #2) and wanted to get started right away. I ended up going to the mall an hour later. Heh. I realized later on tonight that you had to use Our Crafty Lounge stamps in order to participate. Oops. Yeah, totally didn't do that. It really does help to read the rules, doesn't it? I had fun making the card anyway. I've been dying to find an excuse to use the pretty butterfly that came with one of my birthday gifts (thanks, Meg!). I made the origami flower card tonight because I felt like I hadn't been listing many new things in my Etsy shop recently.Card Specs (butterfly):
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in clear
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Yellow Citrus
Punches: Fiskars Twist & Flip 2-in-1 corner punch
Stamps: K.I. Memories- Logo Daisy Doodle (flower), Fiskars- Kids Birthday (sentiment)
Paper: My Mind's Eye- Bloom and Grow (green leaf paper)
Embellishment: K&Company-Berry Sweet brads (butterfly)

I went to Barnes and Noble after going to the mall this afternoon and was taking a look at the most recent Stamper's Sampler- Take Ten. I thought to myself, "That'd be so cool if I could get one of my cards published." ::light bulb goes on:: I added "Get a card published" to my goal list this year. :)

Poppy Seed Challenge #1

Happy Friday, folks! I found this card challenge today over at Lisa Johnson's (Papertrey Ink) blog and wanted give it a try. This is my first card challenge ever, so I was excited to get started. This was a great opportunity to use supplies that I hadn't before, i.e. the mat stack that Meg gave me for my birthday (hello, glitter!) and the flower border stamp from Fiskars. I dunno what's up with the white specks in the clear embossed section. After 2 tries, I just gave up and used what I had because I felt I was just wasting the cardstock. Don't look too hard, okay?

Not too bad for a first try at a card challenge, right? :)

Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in clear
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: StazOn in Mustard
Punches: Fiskars Twist & Flip 2-in-1 corner punch, Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment border punch
Stamps: Clear Art Stamps, Clearly Defined- Happy Spring (sentiment), Fiskars- Just Between Friends (flowers)
Paper: Die Cuts With A View
Ribbon: Spool O' Ribbon

Here's a happy birthday shout out to my beta tester (aka my sister)...she turns 23 today!

2200 Shop Hearts

I went to spin class tonight and one of the girls was like, "I really didn't want to come tonight." I told her, "But you're here, right? That's good." To be honest, I had similar thoughts earlier tonight, but I figured, I just need to get to the gym. Once I'm at the gym, then I think "I might as well go work out." The spin instructor said something like "90% of your effort is just showing up. The rest is easy." Yeah, I guess so. Until you tell me to crank up the bike's resistance as high as it'll go and tell me to sprint for 20 seconds.

My aunt sent me a slideshow the other day that had a bunch of sayings...like little reminders. This one made me smile: "What other people think of you is none of your business." I dunno if I agree with it entirely, but I think if the words "other people" were replaced by "strangers or people who aren't important to you", then we're good.

My Etsy shop hit another milestone today: 2200 shop hearts! ::happy dance:: Hopefully that correlates to more sales. Ha ha.

I didn't make a card tonight...not really in the crafty mood. However, I will share the birthday card that I made for my sister (her birthday's tomorrow), but ended up making another one to send her. The card is inspired by CardPatterns Sketch #43. I wanted it to be simple, but with all the colors, I don't think it's that simple anymore. It'll find a good home somewhere though.

Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in white
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Stamps: The Paper Company Studio- Whimsy Greetings (sentiment)
Punches: Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment border punch
Paper: Die Cuts With A View and Recollections
Foam Adhesive: Making Memories

Hooray for Friday and the upcoming weekend! :)

No More Snow, Please?

Snow's in the forecast again. ::wail:: We're under some sort of winter weather advisory. I don't think it'll be a big deal, but the Executive Director thought it was a big enough deal to postpone a field trip to Delaware on FRIDAY. I've been plowing through my work this week so that I wouldn't feel guilty going on this field trip, but oh well. Better safe than sorry.

I kinda wish there was spin class tonight. I've been eating too much candy today. Darn you, CVS, for having good candy on sale. I just couldn't resist. Valentine's Day and Easter are not good holidays to have back-to-back because there's always good candy/chocolate around. I just can't get enough of those Starburst Gummies.

On to today's card. I had no idea what kind I wanted to make tonight. I dug through the stamps from my crafty loot purchase last month and came across some egg clear stamps that I hadn't used yet. I already had an Easter stamp on my desk. Bingo. I initially was going to put the popped out eggs on the left side of the card, but I felt that there would still be too much white space in the left area. Thinkthinkthinkthink (Winnie the Pooh style. You know, when he taps his hand on his head and furrows his brow?) I looked around my desk for some ideas. I saw the origami butterfly that I made a while back and hadn't found a use for it yet. With some stitching lines, I thought the butterfly filled up that space nicely.

I guess my crafty lesson from today is to use stamps/supplies that I hadn't before during the times I'm stumped on what to make.

Card Specs:
Ink: StazOn in Jet Black, Colorbox chalk ink in Blue Lagoon, Lavender, Yellow Citrus, Orchid Pastel
Stamps: Studio G (sentiment, eggs)
Paper: My Mind's Eye- Bloom and Grow
Foam Adhesive: Making Memories
Punch: Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment border punch

Song of the day: "Live Like You Were Dying"- Kris Allen.