Tuesday Trigger: Farm Fresh

I got an unexpected phone call today at the office (well, I guess it's not really unexpected since it was my boss on the other end...it's more like the subject of the call was unexpected). She told me that my name was brought up in a senior staff meeting as one of three staff members nominated to go to a leadership conference next week. Huh? Wow. That's pretty cool. I'm not sure if the other ladies are going, but either way, I think it'd be a good experience. Perhaps this is a sign of good things to come in my professional life (see New Year's Resolutions 2011, last bullet).

This week's Moxie Fab World's Tuesday Trigger challenge featured a towel with some orange flower pattern and some mason jars. While I don't have any farm-related or mason jar stamps, I tried to incorporate the other elements of the trigger photo instead...the colors orange and blue and the scalloped circles with flowers inside. After I did the punching, die cutting and stamping, I thought the card could use some dimension/visual interest BUT I didn't think the trigger photo needed bling. I thought the pearls added a more subtle finishing touch. It's tough to tell in my card photo, but the orange cardstock that I used has some striped texture to it.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird, Amber Clay
Stamp: Inkadinkado (flowers), Fiskars- Just Between Friends (sentiment)
Paper: Making Memories- Chloe's Closet, American Crafts Specialty Paper in Pearl
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circles Large
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Martha Stewart Doily Lace border punch, EK Success Scalloped Circle punch (2 inch), EK Success Circle punch (1 3/8 inch)
Pearl: Queen & Co.- Pearl

Wee Memories Challenge #49

I took advantage of the sunny weather outside to enjoy Mom's garden. The daffodils are in full bloom. We also have a new addition- Mom bought herself a stone bunny for her birthday last week. Ginger and I took the bottom right picture right before her after-dinner nap and my spin class.

Anna the spin instructor played Savage Garden's "I Want You" at spin class tonight. (awkward pause) Oh, come on. You know this song. It has "chica cherry cola" in the lyrics. Google it if you need to refresh your memory. Wow, talk about a flash back to the 90s and middle school. (shudder) In all seriousness, it's kinda a catchy song. I might have to put it on my mp3 player for running.

This week's Wee Memories Challenge (#49) encouraged us to create any card we wanted. Wow, such freedom! Sometimes I work better with a specific prompt, but it didn't take me too long to come up with a card. I knew I wanted to use a cat stamp from a set that I received for my birthday a few years ago. The layout came to me when I was at spin. I did a little bit of everything for this card: stamping, paper piecing, embossing (both dry and heat), faux stitching, and paper punching...but I think it all tied together nicely. :) Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in clear
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird and French Blue
Paper: Die Cuts with a View- Stack 7
Stamps: Hero Arts- Cat Portraits (kitty), Hero Arts- Cling Dots, K.I. Memories- Pet (fish bone)
Punch: Fiskars Threading Waters border punch
Foam adhesive: Thermoweb
Stickers: American Crafts Chipboard Thickers in Darling (white)
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials
Other: Pink Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker

Song of the day: "I Want You"- Savage Garden.

CPS #211

I woke up a little sore this morning due to the 2-hour spin class yesterday, but not to the extent that would excuse me from going to a 9:45 AM 1-hour spin class. I was so happy that I went because after class, I saw one of my gym buddies that I hadn't seen in a while. I knew she was pregnant with a baby girl and was due at the end of 2010. I had wondered when she'd be coming back to the gym, and there she was today! She showed me pictures of her new girl, and of course, the baby was freakin' stinkin' adorable.

The weather was really lovely today, but after the spin workouts this weekend, I couldn't muster the energy to go for a run this afternoon. The April 10K is looking less and less like a possibility, but I'm still planning for the May 10K.

Here's my take on this week's CPS challenge, #211. I started out doing a grid card like yesterday's, but it wasn't working out the way I wanted to, so I decided to switch gears and try a wreath card. I used a pencil to trace a circle using one of my circle Spellbinder dies. Then I stamped many leaves, using the pencil line as a guide. The first version of the wreath had stamped flowers, but the green was showing through the red ink. I think it would have been better if I had some red embossing powder, so for my second attempt, I used some flower gems. I originally stamped the sentiment right onto the white cardstock with the wreath, but then I didn't think that it stood out enough, so I die cut a circle, stamped the sentiment on it, and then added color to the circle edge. I finished the card off with some ribbon and stamping at the bottom.Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird and Warm Green, Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Chipped Sapphire
Paper: Recollections- Blue Argyle
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circles Large
Stamp: Autumn Leaves- Build-a-Flower (dashed line), Fiskars- Thank You (sentiment, leaf)
Ribbon: American Crafts

Charity Spinathon + Cards Magazine Challenge

The 2-hour charity spinathon went well today. There were a handful of people that showed up for the cause. My quads are definitely feeling it right now, but I thought it was a great win-win situation. The Red Cross got money for their Japan earthquake relief effort and I got a good workout. :)

When I got home, I made creamy taco mac (this time with mushrooms, instead of peppers). Yummm! By the time I finished eating lunch, all my energy was zapped so I took a nice afternoon nap with Ginger the cat. I thought about going to the craft stores today, but I'm REALLY trying not to buy new craft supplies. How do I prevent that? Just don't go. Instead, I tried a new chocolate chip cookie recipe: Vanilla Pudding Chocolate Chip Cookies. They are quite soft and yummy, but I don't think they beat the recipe that my sister uses for chocolate chip cookies. It's tough to beat! I was also expecting the recipe to yield more cookies, but I think that's because I used an ice cream scoop to put the dough on the cookie sheet. Bigger cookies = less of them.

This week's Cards Magazine challenge: cards with a grid format. I started out making my grid using green ink and a dashed line stamp. Then I picked out the elements that I wanted in the squares. I was going for a springy, colorful card so I picked out some paper flowers, buttons, stickers, and a sentiment. I finished the card off by distressing the edges of the cardstock and patterned paper. I didn't think that faux stitching would work in this case because the grid already used dashed lines.

Card Specs:
Paper: American Crafts- City Park
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird, Warm Green
Stamps: Hero Arts- Friendly Greetings (sentiment), Autumn Leaves- Build-a-Flower (dashed line)
Buttons: Favorite Findings in Pink
Brad: Recollections Gem Brads, Making Memories Brad Value Pack- Chelsea's Place collection
Stickers: EK Success- Birds (bird, flowers)
Punch: Martha Stewart- Classic Butterfly
Flowers: Prima

Sighhhhh, just wrote out my checks for federal and state taxes. I did it like ripping off a bandaid- do it and get it over with. I guess it's a good thing that I didn't go shopping today. :P

Fall-To Layout #133

I found this funny dog video on YouTube yesterday: Denver the Guilty Dog.

At the office today, we had a company get-together at a nearby restaurant to finish off Employee Appreciation week. I went to a few planning meetings where we discussed what activities should be available at the event because we didn't want people to be bored and just sit and eat. I volunteered to bring my Wii. I think someone else volunteered to bring board games. However, we ended up just sitting and eating and chatting anyway. Ha ha. The food was really good: veggies + dip, some sort of chicken drumsticks, a few different types of pizza, and some crab dip + pita slices (which was my favorite...it was so good that I had 2 helpings!). Each of us could get 1 drink so I went with a strawberry daiquiri, yum.

I debated going for a run after work, but then decided against it because I'll be doing the 2-hour charity spinathon tomorrow at the gym. I took a post-work nap instead. It was an awesome way to end the work week! :D

Alright...onto card related stuff. I found out this morning that my button "Happy Easter card" was one of the ones showcased on the NorthRidge Publishing blog today (you kinda have to scroll down). Thank you, Paige!

Here's my take on this week's Fall-To Layout challenge (#133). Challenge: "The idea here is to use a 3-d element where the flowers are shown on the sketch. As I described it to my team, use something that wouldn't typically fit in the mail." I didn't want to use any of my dies because, instinctively, that's the first thing I would grab. I wanted to think outside the box. I remembered having some ribbon on spools that was too short to tie on cards, so I cut them into short strips (9 total for 3 flowers). I used my hot glue gun to glue the strips together to make loops and then glue 3 loops together to make a flower. I accented each flower with a pearl brad (I cut the prongs off with Tim Holtz scissors). I love finding new ways to use up supplies...that way, nothing goes to waste!
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird
Stamps: Studio G (sentiment)
Paper: American Crafts- Letterbox
Brad: Recollections
Punch: Fiskars Apron Lace border punch

CPS #210

Here's my take on this week's CPS challenge (#210). The card is for my former boss...her birthday is on Saturday. I think if I send it out tomorrow, it'll still get there on time. I have been gravitating towards the City Park paper collection lately...the colors are just so bright, fun and cheerful. I was really struggling with the main panel in the middle. At first, it was just the yellow embossed piece and the white piece. Then I thought the white piece wasn't standing out as much, so I put some Wild Honey ink on the edges. No, no, now it's too yellow. I found a scrap piece of brown patterned paper from the same collection and die cut another label to be in between the yellow and white. Whew, it worked out! If I wasn't sending this card through the mail, I probably would have put the main panel on foam adhesive so that the card wouldn't look so flat.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird, Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Wild Honey
Paper: American Crafts- City Park
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 4
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Stamp: Studio G (sentiment)
Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug (Swiss Dots)
Stickers: Martha Stewart- Fiesta Icon Stickers

One-Layer Wednesday #46

Some links I found that I thought were worth sharing...

• It's not just the people of Japan that need saving
• The Untapped Power of Smiling
• World's Loudest Cat
  
• Wow, pretty paper bouquet
• A trip to the American Crafts office sounds like fun! Check out all the crafty goodies! ::drool::
  

It was kinda lonely at the office today. My officemate was out of the office on travel and my boss was out on travel to the same place. I saw a few "free food in the (main office) kitchen" emails flash by, but I thought "Meh, nah, I'll pass. I'd probably overeat anyway...." (but that's not stopping me from eating Easter candy as I type this blog post up...). Chocolate? Yes, please.

I broke down a bought a running skirt today (2 actually). The weather is getting warmer (well, not really today, but in general), and eventually my running capris will be to hot to run in. However, the shorts that I have chafe on longer runs. I didn't want to get bike shorts because I didn't like feeling that my butt was out there for everyone to see. I guess it is normally, but maybe it's more of a mental thing? Meg suggested going the running skirt route because the butt is covered more and there is a pair of shorts underneath that won't chafe. I took today off from exercising (and took a nice long post-work nap) and plus the weather was gross outside, but I'm looking forward to trying out the new exercise clothes.

This week's One-Layer Wednesday (#46) focuses on eggs...which is seasonally appropriate and good timing because when I was going through my $1 clear stamps last night, I had a thought "Oh, I haven't used these eggs stamps in a while. Maybe I should use them soon." I had trouble coming up with a layout, so I recycled the hex inspiration from last week's OLW. Like I said last week, it's a versatile layout, great for any season. I like how the eggs have a floral design inside...I think it's great for visual interest and texture. To make this card not exactly like the card I did for last week's challenge, I put a frame around the hex, added some other stamped elements, and moved the sentiment stamp over.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Prussian Blue, Aquamarine, Rose Coral, Yellow Citrus, Charcoal
Stamps: K.I. Memories- Garden (leaf), Studio G (egg, sentiment), Autumn Leaves- Build-a-Flower (hex center), K.I. Memories- It's a Girl (dotted circle, yellow circle in hex center), Autumn Leaves- Doodley Frames (frame)
Pearl: Queen & Co.- Sunflower Yellow