Heart Flag Card

Brrr!: I finally broke out my heavy winter coat today with a scarf today.  I don't think it got above the 20s today.  I wish it was snowing to make all the cold weather worth it.


Card: My goal for today's card was to a) use some of the items that I bought last week and b) some of my Stampin' Up ink pads that have been neglected lately.  I learned on some crafty YouTube video (it's been a while since I've seen it, so I can't remember which one specifically) to use a hole punch to punch a notch where floss will be wrapped around cardstock to ensure that it stays in place.  I wish I had learned that trick a while ago!

Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in white
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Chestnut Roan. Stampin' Up in Pool Party, Elegant Eggplant, Regal Rose
Stamp: Martha Stewart- Patterns (dots), Hero Arts- Year Round Sentiments (hearts), Studio G (heart flag)
White Gel Pen: Uni-Ball Signo Broad White Gel Pen
Baker's Twine: We R Memory Keepers Sew Easy Fancy Floss in Candy Stripe

Make Your Own Envelopes

Hello, ignored Blogosphere.  It's been a weird week.  Monday was the only day that I was in the office this week.  Tuesday, I decided to work from home because I was feeling off.  Wednesday, I was feeling even worse- earache, headache, sore throat.  Seriously, I was a hot mess.  I was a little nervous that I had an ear infection in my right ear because it was hurting and my hearing in that ear was off.  I thought only little babies got ear infections?!  WTH.  Fortunately, my pharmacy student friend reassured me that it'll probably go away in a few days and to drink lots of fluids.  Thursday and today were already blocked off as vacation days, so I decided to keep them anyway and spend lots of time immobile and on the couch with RJ. 

I'm feeling lots better today...so much better that I even went to spin class this morning and my parents' house, and ran some errands.  Tonight, I worked on making some envelopes for some gift card holders by utilizing my Martha Stewart scoring board.  This site helped me with the patterned paper measurements and where to score.

RJ is unamused by all of this.  As usual.

Wooden CARDS Magazine Challenge

Crazy happenings: I had two heart-stopping moments today. They happened back to back so maybe that could be considered a mini heart attack. Sigh.

1. I was on the couch, watching last night's NCIS episode, minding my own business when I heard a wack wack wack wack sound. I turn around and my neighbor's grandkid was hitting my roses outside with a stick! o_0 Wth?! I first opened the door and looked at him to see if that would make him stop, but he basically looked at me and kept hitting the plants! UGH! I pushed the door open again and told him to "please stop hitting my roses." His grandmother, who had been too busy with her own garden said sorry and stopped him. I used to think the kid was cute, but obviously that was premature. ::scowl::

2. Since I was focusing on the boy, I didn't realize that RJ sneaked outside onto the concrete step. I scooped him up and put him back inside. When I took a nap this afternoon, I dreamt that RJ got outside again and got lost. Good thing the kitty is microchipped.

Crafty tip: I finally broke down and bought some baseball card sleeves from Staples in an effort to better organize my $1 stamps. Having them free in my toolbox made it tough to see which ones I had. My Studio G Ditto and Inkadinkado stamps didn't fit in the sleeves, but at least I have the majority of my $1 stamps organized. Spinning: one of the ladies from spin class was subbing a class at one of the new fancy gyms in the area. I was really impressed with the quality and quantity of equipment at the new facility. The bikes had displays so you knew how fast you were going as well as how many calories you were burning. The facility was definitely well kept. I did notice that there weren't many people there, but that was an optical illusion since everyone was spread out. Even though the regular gym doesn't have all the fancy stuff, I will remain loyal because of the spin instructors and the people that come to class. There were some cute boys at tonight's class...maybe there'd be a way for them to attend the classes at my gym instead. ;)

Card: I decided to tackle this week's CARDS magazine card challenge, which challenged us to make cards with wood. I don't have any wood embellishments, so I had to stretch this a little by using woodgrain paper and a tree stamp set. I found the stamp set at Marshalls the other day in search of a birthday present for Robyn. It's kinda like a build-a-tree stamp set. For $3.99, I thought it was good price, since I could make the tree spring-y or fall-y. I also used a scrap piece of cardstock that this tag was cut from.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Chestnut Roan, Deep Green, Yellow Ochre, Blush Rose
Stamps: Inkadinkado- Tree Clear Stamp Set
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 4
Paper: Recollections
Other: Brown Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker
Stickers: Lily Bee Design- Happily Lost Collection - 12 x 12 Cardstock Stickers

Origami Rooster Birthday Card

I scored half of an Italian sandwich and a bag of chips from Potbelly at the office today. Jennifer the officemate gave me the tip. It's good to have officemates like that! That meal totally beat the PBJ and banana lunch I brought from home.

I have a friend's birthday that's coming up pretty soon, so I decided to make a card for her. From her home decor, I found out that she's a big fan of chickens. This was not evident when I went to school with her. I guess chickens and college dorms don't really go together. I decided to make an origami chicken birthday card. I used my Distress Inks, and instead of using them as watercolors like in yesterday's card, I decided to apply them and blend them with a makeup foam sponge. Yes, I suppose I could buy those foam applicators that Tim Holtz has, but really, this will do just fine (that's my crafty tip- find alternatives for crafty supplies to save money). I wanted to do a sunrise-y scene which I thought would complement the rooster. For some texture, I ran the green hilly things through my Cuttlebug. Ta da!

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Charcoal. Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Barn Door and Wild Honey.
Stamps: Savvy Stamps (sentiment)
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials
Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug (Victoria)

P.S. OMG, paper cuts via cardstock hurt like hell. Not advisable.

Surprise in the Garden

I wanted to make a quick and easy card before dinner tonight because I knew that I had stuff to do after spin class (phone call with a friend and The Hills/The City on TV) and I didn't want to be up later than I had to to make a card. I challenged myself to make a one-layer card. I wanted to make sure to make the card really colorful since I wasn't planning to use any sort of embellishments. What? No rhinestones? Yes, shocking. I also did something that might make some people cringe: I cut the sentiment stamp so that it'd be on two lines instead of one. Meh, I guess I could always line the sentiment back up for another card. No biggie. Cutting the stamps allows for more flexibility in how you want images to look. When the card was done, I was pleased that it was rather gender neutral.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Tangerine, Prussian Blue, Warm Green, Yellow Cadmium, Chestnut Roan
Stamp: Fiskars- Birthday (dots, sentiment)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper

Ginger was taking a nap on the dining room table, so I moved her to the sun room because Mom was setting the table for dinner. She looked so fluffy, warm, and cute as she basked in the sunshine. Also, Mom randomly found a robin's egg in the garden today. Do you think it'll hatch? What would we even do with a baby robin?!
I found out at spin class that Jeff is not teaching TH night spin class anymore. :( Not sure what's up with that. I haven't been to a TH class in a while, so I'm curious to see who's teaching now. Janice (the Tuesday class instructor) complimented on the new pink top that I bought over the weekend. Having new cute workout clothes IS motivation to go to the gym. :)

I wanted to follow up on the health tidbit I mentioned a few days ago about throwing away makeup that I hadn't used in a while. I came across this nifty cheat sheet on BellaSugar. I guess if you throw some stuff away, it'll give you an excuse to buy new stuff, right? :D

Fall-To Layout 86

We had staff meeting today where we began with an icebreaker. We've had some new people join the organization, so the Big Boss thought the icebreaker would be a good way for all of us to get to know each other a little better. Each of us had to answer the following question: if your house was burning down, what's the one thing you would take with you? This is assuming that pets and family members are already safely out of the house. Some of the answers were bank/stock/personal information (my answer), iPhone, purse/wallet, artwork, and jewelry. The answer that amused me the most was "I'd bring baby blankets and other baby items because if I didn't, the whining that would ensue would make me want to be back in the burning house." That answer got the most laughs out of the group.

I miss those enchiladas that I had on Tuesday night. Man, those were good.

For tonight's card, I went over to clear&simple stamping to see what they had for their Fall-To Layout (#86). I immediately thought of doing a bunch of butterflies because it was a great way to use some smaller pieces of paper that were the result of my recent craft fair preparation. I popped up one of the butterflies with some foam dimensionals to add some interest. I finished the cards with some faux stitching around the perimeter of the beige cardstock. I would have done it in brown, but I don't own a brown marker, so I settled for red. It worked out anyway because there was a red butterfly.

Crafty tip: the red butterfly is actually from a Christmas themed paper pack. Usually Christmas paper packs have non-themey papers that you can use when it's not the holidays. Don't forget about them the rest of the year!

Card Specs:

Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Chestnut Roan

Stamp: Fiskars- Thank You (sentiment)
Paper: My Mind's Eye- Bloom and Grow, Me & My Big Ideas- Sugarplum
Foam adhesive: Making Memories
Other: Sharpie ultra fine point marker

Picking a random commenter for my giveaway on Monday. 10 people have entered so far. Are you one of them?

I hope I can wake up in time for spin tomorrow. I haven't gone since last TH. Yikes!

Happy Birthday to Me

Happy birthday to meeee. Yep, #27, but who's counting, right? For it being a birthday, it was a rather low key day. However, there will be more birthday celebrations Friday (with family) and Saturday (with friends). Can't wait to continue the birthday festivities! Stay tuned...

Thanks for all the birthday Facebook wall posts, tweets, texts, phone calls, blog comments, emails, and IMs! I so appreciate the thoughtfulness. :)

Crafty tip: I made a discovery a long time ago that nail polish remover is great for cleaning stamps. I'm not sure if it breaks down any of the rubber or clear stamp material, but I haven't experienced a problem thus far.

Here's today's card. I wanted to make it simple to follow the theme from Tuesday's card. I love the Jungle set of stamps because they are so freakin' cute! I used the elephant one last Friday and the lizard last Sunday. The buttons were added at the last minute to give the card some dimension.

Card Specs:
Ink: StazOn in Pumpkin and Jet Black, Colorbox chalk ink in Lime Pastel
Stamps: The Paper Company Studio- Jungle (tiger), Fiskars- Kids birthday (grass), Saavy Stamps (sentiment)
Buttons: Favorite Findings in Ocean

Breakfast, Yum!

Yay, it's the last Friday of the month! Do you know what that means? Well, maybe you don't since I think it's the first time I've mentioned it. On the last Friday of the month, we get free breakfast at work, sponsored by one of the departments (a different department each month). The menu for today was fruit, yogurt, and breakfast sandwich bagels. I grabbed half of one that had egg and turkey sausage (the other half went to my co-worker. Gotta keep an eye on the portions.). I think there was some cheese in there, but I scarfed it down so quickly, I don't think I was paying attention. So yummy. I should have taken a picture of it for Project 365.

Here's my companion for the evening. Too bad she's not really up for conversation tonight. Not that she ever is.

Crafty storage tip: keep your embossing powder in clean takeout containers with a spoon. I saw this idea on a couple of crafty blogs. I used to do my embossing on top of an old file folder and then when I was ready to pour the powder back in the jar, I'd just fold the file folder in half. The powder would fall neatly into the crease. Meh, ok, that works. BUT I think applying the embossing powder over the container using the spoon eliminates the put-powder-back-in-jar step.

On to today's card. 3 goals: use some scraps, use one of the punches that I haven't used before from an Ebay auction win a few months back and use another stamp that I haven't used before from the crafty loot a few weeks ago. I also dug up the swirl stamp that I used a few days ago. In the previous card, I heat embossed it with clear embossing powder on a white background so I think it was difficult to see the full effect of the image. I decided to try it with a green background this time, and I think the swirl has a stronger presence this time. My sister told me that the string tied in the buttons looked weird, so I adhered these buttons on the card without the string. I could go either way. What do you think?

Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in clear
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Chestnut Roan
Stamps: Sentiment (Studio G), Swirl (Inkadinkado)
Punches: Fiskars Twist & Flip 2-in-1 corner punch and Marvy Uchida
Paper: Recollections
Buttons: Favorite Findings in Pink

Song of the day: "Haven't Met You Yet"- Michael Bublé. Never gets old. Great song for singles. ;)