Blast from the Past

Today was kinda wonky. The day started out with waking up from a random dream. One of the people that was in the dream was someone that I went to high school with that I had a major crush on. He hasn't crossed my mind in a long time, so I don't get it. What is UP with that?

Then, when I went to spin class tonight, I saw someone that I went to high school with taking a bike a few rows over. We didn't really have the same circle of friends, but we had a class or two together. I debated saying something, but didn't want to feel silly in case he didn't remember me.

Apparently, today was "Blast from the Past" day. I clearly didn't get the memo.

Have you ever had a "Blast from the Past" moment? If so, what did you do about it?

CPS #203

I was on a definite roll this morning: took care of a load of laundry, shredded documents I no longer needed, and scrubbed down the bathroom. Woot for productivity! :)

While I was working on a valentine card today, the inked stamp accidentally fell off my work space and fell onto my UMD scrubs. (insert explicative) I ran to the bathroom and wiped a damp cloth over it a few times. Whew, it came off! Crisis averted. How funny would it not be if you had "Happy Valentine's Day" permanently stamped on your pajamas? :P

I started out with kraft cardstock and yellow American Crafts Letterbox collection paper for my CPS#203 card. I knew that I needed to fill that yellow panel with something, but couldn't decide what. I continued to dig through the paper collection and saw that one of the sheets was torn. Huh. I wonder how that happened. Oh well. I made it work by cutting out the flowers that were in that torn sheet and using them as embellishments. Give yourself permission to alter products and use them in a different way to stretch your dollar a little.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird. Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Vintage Photo
Paper: American Crafts- Letterbox
Stamp: The Paper Company Studio- Greetings (sentiment)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Martha Stewart- Classic Butterfly
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials

I'm in the home stretch of "not buying new crafty things for a month" goal, but you know what? It's actually not that hard anymore to not give into the temptation to buy something. As long as I don't set foot into the craft store, I'm good. Online shopping is a different story though, BUT once I notice myself browsing a shop for a while, I quickly close the window. Out of sight, out of mind. I might have to break down after a month and restock on necessities like red cardstock. Valentine's Day is putting a dent in my supply.

Happy Lunar New Year + Fall-To Layout #125

Tonight, my family and I got together (if you've been following my blog, you know that that happens pretty frequently) to celebrate the Lunar New Year. What I thought was funny was that there was snow on the ground when we celebrated last year and it was no different this year. At least we didn't have as much this time around. My favorite sticky rice filled duck made an appearance tonight, yum! Mom also made her fan-favorite noodle dish. Nom nom nom. (That's me with my cousin, Emily)
Ahh, it feels nice to be able to get back to my cardmaking routine. Here's my take on Fall-To Layout #125. I'm so in love with the American Crafts Letterbox paper collection recently; I've used it in many of my cards in the past few days. This one is no different. The pink and chocolate brown definitely screams Valentine's Day. The sketch allows you to use 4 different panels of paper (great for using scraps!).Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in white
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Chestnut Roan
Paper: American Crafts- Letterbox (pink and brown), American Crafts Specialty Paper in Pearl (pink butterfly)
Stamp: Studio G (sentiment), Inkadinkado (flower)
Punch: Martha Stewart- Classic Butterfly
Other: Brown Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker

Snow Day

What a whirlwind the past few days have been! The snowstorm that came through WED night hit us pretty badly. The snow was on the heavy side, causing powerlines and tree limbs to come down. It was scary to watch the thundersnow, transformers blowing up and branches cracking outside my window. At one point, a large tree branch fell and blocked the road in front of the house. I watched 3 men get out of an SUV, grab onto the branch, and drag it to the side so that cars could pass. We endured 2 nights without power, but managed to get it back today. We are left with 2 large tree limbs to cut up into smaller pieces for disposal. After being in a cold house WED night through this morning, I was thankful to be able to get to the office today and get a hot meal (hooray for monthly staff breakfast today!).

Poor Ginger. The fur coat wasn't cutting it in these conditions. She snuggled with Mom all day/night.

Sorry for the snowy interruption to my crafty program, it'll be back to normal tomorrow! :) I'm going to go enjoy some junk TV now.

Trigger Tuesday: Sweets for the Sweet

I wore my yellow puffy vest, white long sleeve, and black pants to work today. As I stepped into the hallway to go to the kitchen, the IT guy was like "Well, hello, bumblebee." Hardy har har. I wondered how long it'd take for someone to say something like that. It took all about 5 minutes. Do I know my officemates or what?

Here's my take on this week's Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger Challenge (Sweets for the Sweet). Like whoa. Check out all that pink. Ok, so where to begin? Well, when I first looked at the picture, I thought the wrappers looked like the paper rosettes that are all the rage right now. I wanted to put a cream colored heart on top of the rosette to imitate the sweets in the picture. I completed the card with some pink and cream paper accents and of course, some rhinestones for some extra texture.Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Rouge. Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Antique Linen, Tattered Rose, and Barn Door
Paper: American Crafts- Letterbox, Basic Grey- Bittersweet, American Crafts Specialty Paper in Pearl (pink textured)
Stamp: Inkadinkado (flowers), Fiskars- Romance (sentiment)
Punch: Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment punch, EK Success Scalloped Circle punch (2 inch), Marvy Uchida (heart)
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials
Foam adhesive: Thermoweb

Song of the day: "Hello World"- Lady Antebellum. Have you seen the music video? It almost made me tear up.

Productive Monday

As part of my professional development, I told my boss that I wanted to take a class in non-profit budget and finance basics. The class was today, and I thought it was really informative. What I thought was alien language at the beginning of the day actually started to make sense towards the end.

I reloaded my ATG gun all by myself today. Go me! Julie did it for me at the beginning of the month, so I had to read the instructions (thank goodness I kept them) and was good to go. For tonight's card, I wanted to use this bunny stamp that I bought last year, but had yet to use. I paperpieced the heart, leaf, and pot to add some color to the image. To add some visual interest and texture to the card, I heat embossed the heart and popped it up on a foam square.

Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Personal Stamp Exchange- Black
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird and Chestnut Roan
Paper: American Crafts- Letterbox
Stamp: Inkadinkado (all)
Punch: Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment punch
Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug (Swiss Dots)
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials
Foam adhesive: Thermoweb

CPS #202

Julie went back to school this morning. The second the car drove out of the driveway, Ginger went up to Julie's room. I wonder what she's thinking in this picture.

• "Wahhh, Julie's gone. Cry cry cry."
• "Mwah ha ha, the bed is all mine. Mine mine mine!"
• "I'm hungry."

For this week's CPS sketch (#202), I wanted to use up some of the origami heart/postage stamp embellishments that I didn't end up using yesterday.Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird
Paper: American Crafts- Dear Lizzy (pink), American Crafts- Letterbox (blue), Die Cuts with a View (hearts)
Stamp: Studio G
Punch: Fiskars Threading Waters border punch
Die: Cuttlebug