Pre-Thanksgiving Baking

Taking the day off today = best idea ever. I got to sleep in, go to the grocery store to pick up some last minute baking ingredients without having to deal with a long line, and got to spend some time with my sister making desserts for tomorrow: apple pie and blueberry cheesecake. Baking, in and of itself, is already enjoyable as it is, but then you tack on a NCIS marathon...that makes it even better!

Here are some pictures from our baking extravaganza.

Wee Memories Challenge #77

Wheee! Short work week! I'm working today and tomorrow and then off the rest of the week to goof off, eat a whole bunch, and have fun with my family.

Here's my take on Wee Memories Challenge #77: woodland creatures. I decided to fold an origami owl and make him flying through a cloud filled sky. The Fiskars cloud punch would have really come in handy for this card, but I managed by cutting out some clouds freehand.Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Ocean, Warm Red
Paper: Recollections
Stamp: Inkadinkado (birds)
Stickers: Lily Bee Design- Picket Fence Collection - 12 x 12 Cardstock Stickers
Punch: Fiskars Upper Crest border punch
Other: Black Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker

CPS #245

Spin class: Upon my request, Janice put in some Lady Gaga and Black Eyed Peas in the music mix. When "Bad Romance" came up, she shouted into her microphone, "This song came by request. The person that requested it better give me all she's got. Come on, Tina!" Puff, puff, puff, ok ok ok. I should have sat closer to the fan today. It was a sweaty workout. When I was grabbing another towel after the workout was over, I saw a former spin buddy with her daughter who's about a year old. The last time I saw her she was in a carrier, but today she was standing up, holding onto her mom's leg for support. So adorable!

Shopping: After spin class this morning, I officially started my Christmas shopping. Of course, I couldn't resist getting some stuff for myself. Heh. Armed with my coupons, I made my craft store rounds as well as made a trip to Petsmart, Ulta, and the grocery store. There was new shipment of kitties for adoption at Petsmart. I mean, so fresh that there were 3 carriers of them, still in the shopping cart, and the delivery guy was doing the paperwork. I wanted to tell him, that I could take one and then he doesn't have to do the paperwork on the kitty. Because, really, who actually wants to do paperwork?

Nails: At Ulta, I found this mint green color of nail polish on clearance. Of course, I had to try it on right away. Base coat: Ulta in Mint Condition. Black: OPI Black Onyx. Konad plate #57.

Baking: I tried out a new recipe today- caramel stuffed apple cider cookies. They were pretty good, but getting them off the foil lining the cookie sheets was a little difficult because the caramel gets goopy in the oven and sorta sticks to the foil. It requires some patience to wait for the cookies to cool down a little before transferring them to a plate or wire rack. While I like these, these Rolo cookies are still my favorite caramel stuffed cookie. Although the Rolos don't really last long enough to make it into a cookie.

Card: Here's my take on CPS #245. Today's card has a mix of oldies and newbies. The oldies are the Prima flowers and the rhinestone brad that I put in the center. The newbies being the Nestabilities Foliage die set that I got to cut out the leaves and the sentiment stamp. I got both of those today. The patterned paper that I used at the bottom was from this recent yard sale. I'm glad that I found some use for it because orange isn't my usual go-to color.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird, Olive Pastel
Stamps: Studio G (sentiment)
Paper: Chatterbox Tangerine Eyelet
Flowers: Prima
Brad: Recollections- Rhinestone Brads
Clay: Sculpy Clay in Just Orange
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Foliage
White Gel Pen: Uni-Ball Signo Broad White Gel Pen

Charity Dog Wash

Today, Meg, Robyn and I participated in a charity dog wash. People could bring in their dogs and get them washed and then take a picture with Santa. Even though I have RJ the cat, I actually really like dogs too. I just find that there's a lot more responsibility associated with them. So this was a great opportunity to hang out with a variety of dogs, but at the end of the day, they all go back to their respective owners. I was surprised and happy that many dogs came by today. We had a few labrador retrievers, a boxer, a dachshund (his tail was wagging so much that it blurred in the picture below), beagles, basset hound mix, German shepherds, etc. I think my favorite dog was a bulldog that was getting washed by his owner before the event started. He was so mellow...and BIG. One of the volunteers that I met actually lives near my office, so I hope we can hang out more in the future. It was fun to go out and be social and meet new people, but also help the community. :)

Fall-To Layout #167

Grocery shopping: I have to say, I was absolutely shocked that the grocery store wasn't already a zoo this evening when I went to pick up unhealthy amounts of butter, sugar, and flour to prep for the upcoming holiday baking season. I guess most people don't really want to spend time at the grocery store at the end of the busy work week, but since today was a teleworking day, I was okay with getting out of the house. RJ wanted to help in putting my groceries, but was only successful in getting in the way. I once shut him in one of these cabinets before by accident. Clearly, he hasn't really learned his lesson.

Card: Here's my take on Fall-To Layout #167. I had to adjust the banner in the sketch a little, but over all, I love how the card is cute, without the bulk of extraneous embellishments.Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in white
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Ocean, Warm Red, French Blue
Stamps: Studio G (ornament, sentiment)
Paper: My Mind's Eye- Countdown to Christmas
Punch: Fiskars Square squeeze punch
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circles Large
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials

Tuesday Trigger: Fall is in the Bag

At the office: Whoo hoo, staff meeting today! Ok, ok. Let's be honest. I'm whoo-hooing because of the free lunch (Qdoba), but I thought it was a very productive meeting, seeing as I was able to get some answers to questions I had and found ways to put my 2 cents into the discussion.

Card: Here's my take on this week's Moxie Fab World's Tuesday Trigger challenge. I did something that I rarely do in my cards, which is include my own handwriting. I guess I don't think it's as nice as other card markers' handwriting, but at least it's legible. That's more than I can say for the notes I write for myself at work. I sacrifice aesthetics for speed. The pattern on the purse reminded me of a tree stamp that I had, so that was my starting point for this card. Then I added other fall-y elements to the card, ta da!
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Ocean, Tangerine, Chestnut Roan, Yellow Ochre. VersaMagic chalk ink in Cloud White.
Stamps: Studio G (tree), Inkadinkado- Tree Clear Stamp Set (leaf)
Paper: My Mind's Eye- Countdown to Christmas
Punch: Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment border punch
Stickers: Basic Grey Micro Mono Stickers from the Basics collection
White Gel Pen: Uni-Ball Signo Broad White Gel Pen
Other: Brown Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker

Blue Nails, Part 2

Lessons learned:

1. Drinking coffee at 4 PM will still affect you when it's time to go to bed. Don't do that again.
2. If there's anything that I could use right now, it would be Dumbledore's Pensieve. I had weird dreams last night, and they bothered me all day. I dunno if they were the result of the coffee or my subconscious running out of control. If there was a way to put all those thoughts somewhere else, I wouldn't be so distracted.

Moving on...

Food: I decided to try another baked oatmeal recipe last night. The baked pumpkin pie oatmeal recipe has been a great breakfast the past few weeks, but I had some apples that my parents had picked a few weeks ago and I hadn't been eating them. I figured putting them into an oatmeal dish would be a great way to use them. I tried this baked apple cinnamon raisin oatmeal and it's quite yummy!

Nails: I decided to continue with the blue nail polish theme this week and go with the other bottle that I got on clearance last week- China Glaze in Aqua Baby.

Card: Here's today's card. I wanted to get some more use out of the build-your-own-tree stamp set that I got last week.Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Chestnut Roan, Yellow Cadmium, Blush Rose, Warm Red, Ocean, Olive Pastel
Stamps: Inkadinkado- Tree Clear Stamp Set (tree branches, birdhouse, leaves, grass), Inkadinkado (flying bird), Studio G (sentiment)

Song of the day: "Happy"- Leona Lewis.