Random

Today is going to be a post of random things...

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! I for sure did. I got the opportunity to hang out with a few families from my church for the day and we had a blast. Have you ever played the game Cranium Hoopla? If you haven't you definitely need to, it is so much fun! The whole group works as a team so everyone wins or everyone loses.

I am busting with excitement today. My parents are flying out to visit for a few days. I get to pick them up from the airport tonight--I have been counting down days. There is nothing like having family around during the holiday season. I will be sure to share a few pics of their visit.

Things I am thankful for...

*Family--the kind that are blood and the kind that aren't.

*The experience of living in California

*A car, even on that has cost me a lot to repair in the past few months. I don't have to walk everywhere or take the bus.

*Forgiveness and Grace

*...I could go on and on. I have so much to be thankful for!

And a card...

altered lip gloss box

Here is another project from this past weekend. This window box is one I got with a free lip gloss sampler. (What is better than free product that comes in a cool box to alter?!?!?!) I covered the outside of the lid and the bottom inside with paper from My Mind's Eye. Each panel of the box has its own separate piece of paper. I used mod podge to glue the paper down and then also on top of the paper to give the box a smooth and shiny look. If I did this again I would sand the box before covering it because the shiny covering on the box wasn't good for making my designer paper stick.

I haven't decided what gift I will put in this box yet--I want to give it to someone who will appreciate it ;) My friend Jami also suggested making it into a shadow box...so who knows?

The Night Before Christmas (mad lib style)

You all did such a good job coming up with creative responses!
I compiled all the answers and here is what we have...

The Night before Christmas

'Twas the eon before Christmas, and all throught the hobbit hole,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a shark.
The mittens were hung by the armoire with care,
In hopes that St. Georgia soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their chairs,
While visions of sugar-noodles danced in their toes.
And third cousin's brother-in-law in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang to the dishwasher to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
kicked open the shutters, and jumped up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,
Gave the luster of mid-Renaissance to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear?
But a pretty McDonalds, and eight tiny dogs.

With a little old driver, so lively and bumpy,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Georgia.
More rapid than hyenas his dogs they came,
And he whistled, and ran, and called them by name;

"Now, Dasher! Now, Abraham! Now castle and Vixen!
On, Johnny Appleseed! On Duck Billed Platypus! On shirt and Blitzen
To the top of the Porch! To the top of the scrapbook room!
Now sneeze away! sneeze away! sneeze away all!

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof,
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,
Down the armoire St. Georgia came with a bound.

His eyes--how they decided! His dimples, how crunchy!
His ears were like flowers, his spleen like cream of wheat!

He spoke not a word but went straight to his work,
And filled all the mittens, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his rib aside of his patella,
And giving a nod, up the armoire he rose.

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whisper,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exlaim, as he drove out of sight,
"Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good eon!"


to see this or other crazy libs, check out http://www.rinkworks.com/crazylibs/

Scrapbook Diva Designer Challenge

This weekend has been a great creative weekend for me. There is nothing like stamping/scrapbooking/just being crafty to put me in a good mood! This scrapbook page is for the Scrapbook Diva Designer Challenge on Splitcoaststampers. It is SBDD01TAYLOR--Taylor's challenge. The challenge was to take one of the sketch challenges (meant for cards) and use it as inspiration for a page. My inspiration was sketch #18, but it after I had the pictures I knew I couldn't cut them down any smaller to fit the challenge so I switched to sketch #111--so I was inspired by both really. Size of page is 12 x 12

These are not my kids, but they are both very near and dear to my heart.

Here is a close up of the corner so you can read the journalling and see the flowers (they are from a punch).

I need some participation!

This post is going to stay at the top for a few days so people see it.

So I am in the mood for a little fun so I am taking this idea from my friend Stina's blog. See my side bar for a link to her blog.
We are going to do a mad lib together (actually the website I took this one from calls it a crazy lib) If you would like to join in the mad lib fun, please leave a comment with the number of the blank you are filling, and your choice of any word that fits that description... please, if you don't know what an adjective is, don't try and guess. :) Feel free to fill in multiple spots (I don't know that there are 36 people that actually read my blog), but don't hog all the words. And please try to keep it clean. I will try my best to update the ones that are taken...

1. noun--McDonalds
2. noun--castle
3. noun --scrapbook room
4. noun, plural--flowers
5. adjective--pretty
6. Adjective--bumpy
7. Adjective --crunchy
8. Verb, Intransitive, Past Tense--ran
9. Verb, Transitive, Past Tense--kicked
10. Verb, Transitive, Past Tense-- jumped
11. Verb, Intransitive, Past Tense--decided
12. Verb, Intransitive, Past Tense--sneezed
13. Animal --Shark
14. Animal--duck billed platypus
15 Animal, Plural --dogs
16 Animal, Plural --hyenas
17. dwelling --Hobbit hole
18. Body Part--spleen
19. Body Part--rib
20. Body Part --patella
21. Body Part, Plural --toes
22. Body Part, Plural--ears
23. Time Period --eon
24. Time Period --Renaissance
25. Sound--whisper
26 Relationship--third cousin's brother in law
27. Person --Johnny Appleseed
28. First Name--Georgia
29. First Name --Abraham
30. Food, singular --cream of wheat
31. Food, Plural --noodles
32. Article of Clothing, Plural--mittens
33. Furniture --armoire
34. Furniture --dishwasher
35. Furniture, Plural--chairs

quotes and a card

Here are a few quotes for you to ponder today.

"If you haven't got all the things you want, be grateful for the things you don't have that you don't want." Unknown

"The most flammable kind of wood is the chip on the shoulder." E. Joseph Cossman

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." Thomas Edison


And a card...

stamps: Close To My Heart (Rustic Flowers) and Stampin' Up
paper: Rose Red, So Saffron
ink: Cool Caribbean, So Saffron, Close to Cocoa, Rose Red, Certainly Celery
other: brads

In My PJs

When I first saw the My Friend Ronnie-In my PJs stamp by Inky Antics I knew they would be perfect for paper piecing the pajamas with different patterned paper. So when I headed to Jami's to try out her new stamps I brought along a whole container full of patterned paper and spent a while just stamping images on cardstock and patterned paper.

The first card is all about what the sentiment says "Just one of those days?" I was thinking about one of those bad days when you don't feel like getting out of your pajamas or maybe it is one of those days where things keep going wrong and you wish you were still in your pajamas! This card is another sewing machine card. I picked the craziest bad day kind of stitch for around the image--I don't even know what it is called!

The background was too plain at first so I thought about what would make--just one of those days--for me. Ever have a card all made and then you drop it on an ink pad? That is the effect I was going for!

After I made my card I was on Jami's blog and saw what she did with this same stamp in this post. After I saw it I knew I needed to try out that layout--it is so fun! Here is my version.

Pictures of me

A few people have asked for pics of my curly short hair. So I decided to do a fun little photo shoot with myself. Please keep in mind that I was holding the camera in my hand for all of these.

Cowgirl Carrie and a tutorial

A few weekends ago I went out with a group of friends and did some country line dancing...well I attempted to anyways. I think that the only dance I am good at is the electric slide, which actually goes well with quite a few country songs! I don't know what part of the brain makes a person able to pick up dance moves, but mine is underdeveloped whatever it is. I can follow along if I watch long enough, but if I am next to a person who is dancing fancy moves it messes me up for the whole song--so I spent quite a few songs on the sidelines trying to figure out the moves. It was a blast though!

When looking through the Rubber Romance stamps at eP I saw a great cowgirl named "Carrie" that I knew would be perfect for cards for my country loving friends. So here is what I came up with.

This card was pretty easy to make, but took quite a bit of time. I know the picture really doesn't show it, but the shirt, arm, cowboy hat, and boots are all paper pieced on. To make the wall I masked Carrie,sponged So Saffron and stamped Weathered. I sponged the floor and drew in hard wood flooring.

The photo corners are a fun little addition and very easy to make. Since I am borrowing a friend's camera for the day I thought I would do my first tutorial to show you how to make them. (click on any "how to" picture to enlarge)

Photo Corner Tutorial

Step 1: Cut a piece of cardstock 2" x 2"

Step 2: Cut the square piece in half from corner to corner. This gives you the two pieces that will be your two photo corners.

Step 3: Take corner A and fold it to meet corner C.

Step 4: Take corner B and fold it to meet corner C.

Step 5: Take your scissors to cut across from corner to corner (you will cut off corners A, B, and C by doing this)

Step 6: Flip pieces over and wrap around any corner.

Things that make me smile

Random things that have made me happy in the past week...

-mail--I got a letter from a friend who is teaching in Pohnei.
-big smiles from my 7 month old pal and hugs from his 6 year old sister.
-phone call from my cousin after I called and left her a message wishing her a happy birthday 9 days early (oops ;) ).
-stamping time--I have been pretty busy, but I have had some extra creative stamping time.
-good friends that take the time to just listen.
-getting to visit the eP warehouse--that place is so cool!

What has made you happy lately?

wavy sewing fun

Here is a quick post before I head for work. I am sharing another card that benefited from my sewing machine sitting out. I literally just stuck the paper in an free-sewed wavy lines (free sewed is kinda like free-hand drawing ;) ) The flowers are on shimmery paper, adding just a touch of sparkle.

stamps: Pollen Dust (Fancy Pants) Petal Prints (Stampin' Up!)

paper: So Saffron, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery

ink: So Saffron, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery

other: brads, ticket corner punch

technique: sewing

Weekend question

Today I had the theme song from "Friends" running through my head... You know where it says.. "So no one told you life was gonna be this way. Your job's a joke, you're broke, your love life's D.O.A. It's like you're always stuck in second gear When it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year" Some days I think that part of the song was written about my life...why doesn't anyone tell you that life in your 20s is hard??? (please don't berate me with comments about how all of life IS hard) I won't admit that people tried to tell me life after college wasn't a piece of cake, but I wouldn't hear any of it. You go through college so excited to get out into the real world. I thought life had to get easier than paying $20,000 a year to write pointless papers, do busy-work assignments and work my butt off for unpaid internships. hahaha. No one told me I would still be broke after college because even if I was making money I would spend years paying off college debts. No one told me my dream job might also be the dream of seventy-five other people and that there would always be at least one person applying who is related to someone in the company and has a fast-track pass to the job. No one told me that I might not like the career I chose with my major in college or that I might spend years trying to find "my place" in this big world.....oops I didn't mean to rant, can you tell I have been having a bad couple of weeks? I forgot I was supposed to ask my weekend question! My question for you is--What do you do to cheer yourself up when you are having a bad day, week, month...?

Elzybells

If you haven't checked out Elzybells stamps yet, check them out Elzybells. They are all the newest rage and they are soooooo cute! My friend Jami was kind enough to let me check out her Elzybells order when she got it and even try them out! The stamp I used for this card is called "A Winter Song."



I took my sewing machine out last week to make a few Barbie outfits for a little friend of mine. Since it is sitting on my desk I have been using it on cards also. You have to look closely in the picture, but I used the machine needle without thread to go around the outside of the Chocolate Chip layer and then I did a waved line at the top and bottom of the same layer.

stamps: A winter song (Elzybells)
paper: My Minds eye, Chocolate chip, Whisper white
ink: Basic Black, various SU! markers
technique: paper piecing, sewing