Sick Sick Sick....

I am tired of being sick. I am on day 10 of mucinex and sudafed. Not getting much out now....just all that pressure. Methinks that is not a good sign. I also got a fever today. How irritating! We have NYE plans with mamakimberly and her family. You know.....the kids camping out in the toy room in a tent, lots of glow sticks, sparkling cider...the works! (we like to live on the wild side, don't we?)

But right now, I am feeling SO yucky! Of course, cause the dr is closed til Tuesday. I can go to urgent care.....but it's a $50 copay instead of $20. I think I'd be fine if it weren't for the fever. It's gonna cramp my party plans.

At least we don't have karaoke this year....I am not a good singer on a normal day, but I'd be terrible right now, lol!


Hope y'all are having a better New Year's Eve than me!

Now that Christmas is over....I can share this! I made it for my Mom and Stepdad. I wrote a lot about the year+ that we lived with them while my husband was deployed to Iraq. I wish that we still lived close to them instead of several states away. We really enjoyed their visit this week, but it is never long enough.

I used Basic Grey fruitcake papers on this. Along with primas, mini brads and Basic Grey Wholy Cow rub ons. I think they really liked it.

Hope you are all enjoying the last of the holiday break. I am still sick......I think it might be time for the doctor. After 9 days on mucinex and sudafed every 4 hours, shouldn't I be better? I don't think I should still feel like my face/head might explode from all the pressure. Of course, the doctor isn't open until Tuesday. So I'll have to wait until then. Or pay a $50 copay to go to an urgent care place...I think I can wait it out!

Pink! Isn't it pretty!

So this is totally not stamping related. But I got a pretty new pink phone! Mine was making weird noises and we were due for a free upgrade. So here it is! It'll be here Tuesday and I can't wait! It's the Motorola L2. I could have gotten the L6 version....but it was boring black. I loved the pink, it doesn't have a camera.....but I never used that anyway!

So that's my news for today. I promise a project....maybe I'll even *gasp* stamp a card!....tomorrow! I hope you are all geared up for New Year's!

CONTEST winner!

Well, I totally forgot to announce this on time! There was only one entry before the deadline, so the winner is MaryR (this is her SCS name)! Here is her book:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=427652&cat=6640

Please email me your address and I will mail you your goodies, Mary!


Also, there was another entry that was just past the deadline. I've got a goodie or two for you, just for participating! So frannyb, please email me your address and I'll send you a little something as well!

Thank you so much for playing.....and for reading!

Apple Pie....YUM!

I love apple pie. A warm slice with ice cream....it's the best! I made two for Christmas dinner dessert. I use the pillsbury pie crusts, I made my own before....and it's just not worth the effort! They taste pretty similar, and it's so much easier! Last year, my dad got me the Pampered Chef apple corer, peeler, slicer thingie. I love it! It makes apple pie making a snap!

Here's the recipe I use....it's from my mother.

Apple Pie:

1 1/4 c sugar

1 1/2 T flour

salt

1 t cinnamon

Put bottom crust in pie plate and poke with fork. Combine all ingredients and mix. Add 5-6 granny smith apples (6-8 small ones). Mix together and pour into pie crust. Put top crust on. Brush with milk and sprinkle sugar on top.

Bake for 10 min at 425. Then lower temp to 350 and bake for 45-50 min.

Music.....

So I added music to my blog today. Is this annoying? Please share your thoughts. I don't wanna make my blog irritating to pull up. Thanks!

****UPDATED*****

Okay, music removed. Thanks for the feedback!

So are ya shopping today??

I am a true glutton for punishment....I took the 3 boys out shopping bright and early this morning. We got all the sale Christmas goodies. Lights for the house, wrapping paper, ornaments, etc. The boys each got something with a bit of their Christmas money. They were really really good too. And poor Adam was even a good sport about it. He tripped and fell into a dining room chair last night and bit almost through his cheek. He's ok, just a little puffy today. Really freaky though, you know how mouth wounds bleed so much.

Anyway, I had another Christmas gift to share with you all. I made these for my stepmom. I had intended the C to be for her office/stamp space at home and the H to be for her classroom at school. I made them with paper from the same line in case she wanted to display them together (which she said she does, so I am glad I did it that way!)

They were plain white wooden letters I bought at Michaels. I traced the letters onto the back of the patterned paper. Cut them out and modpodged them on to the letters. I sanded the edges and then sponged classic ink on to them. (I used vintage violet for these.) Then I sprayed them with sealant. (I use Plaid clear acrylic sealer - matte.) After that I just decorated with ribbons and flowers.

Please remember the diamond fold book contest ends tonight at 10pm CST. So far there is only 1 entry!

Okay, I am off to take my cold remedy cocktail again....I am really tired of being sick!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas! We have been up since 6:30am....the kids were a bit excited! We've had coffee cake, opened presents and now we are watching the burning log channel (the boys find this very boring - they do not get why we like it, lol!)





I thought I would share another Christmas gift today. My Dad asked for something to keep his cards in (I am always giving him extras from stamp camp, etc for him to use). Of course I had to make him a tin! Now, I've never made a Man tin before....I really didn't know where to start! I picked some "manly" basic grey papers and painted the top navy blue. I put ribbon around the tin, but use a bit of hemp as well. I also knotted hemp on the handle instead of lots of ribbons.






I've never done dividers for inside a tin, but I whipped these up late the other night. Very, very simple. I cut cardstock to 4 1/2 x 6 1/2. Then I used SU's large oval punch. I wrote the category on the oval and glued it one the cardstock. Quick, easy, and serviceable.



I am going to take my cold cocktail (mucinex, sudafed and tylenol - yes, I am still sick) and then start on some of the cooking. I promise to wash my hands lots and lots. I'll make Matthew make the stuff I actually have to touch.

Merry Christmas Eve!!

and I'm sick! My face hurts from the sinus pressure. I am going to try and take it easy today and rest so that I'll be ready to cook tomorrow.

I thought I would show you one of the smaller gifts I made yesterday. My sister/blogmaster/digi-guru, Kimberly, asked me for one of the mini notebooks I make. She wanted one to carry in her purse and she asked for pink and turquoise. Well, I hope it fits those colors, because I think it's really cute!

I make these by using little notebooks that come in a two-pack at Target. I modpodge the notebook, put paper on, and then modpodge over that. Embellish as you like! I wanted to add a K to hers, and I think I made this way harder than it had to be, lol! I stamped the K in versamark on the paper I wanted to use. Then I embossed it with clear ep. I cut it out and ran a chocolate chip marker around the edges. Then I modpodged it onto the notebook and modpodged over the top. There is definitely a better way!

I also made a little beaded RSVP pen to match. Cause who doesn't want a matching set? For these, I cut a strip of paper and put red liner tape (or o'so sticky strip) on the back - one strip on both sides. I unstick them and then adhere them to the outside of the pen. Then I cut a piece of o'so sticky paper and stick that around (very carefully!) the patterned paper. I rolled it in mini micro beads (from queen pennywise) and then I sprinkled glitter over it to fill in any gaps. This makes it beaded AND sparkly!

Make sure you take time today to think about the Reason for the Season - it's not ALL about the presents!

Holy Schnikes!!

Seriously! Whew, what a day! I have been holed up in my stamp room most of today working on Christmas presents. It was my goal this year to make all my gifts (since I wasn't making Christmas cards). Well, of course I waited til the last minute and am totally rushed! I even knew what I wanted to make for each person....but I am a terrible procrastinator. But like Tiff (my sister-in-law) says....I do my best work under pressure!

I already made about half the gifts, as I had to mail those. But the rest....well, almost all of them got made today. I think I had one of those done earlier this week.

Today I made:
2 wooden letters
1 lunch tin with dividers
2 picture frames
1 3-D cardboard (or whatever it is) letter
1 mini notebook
2 beaded pens

I am probably high on the sealant, etc fumes, lol! Anyway, I am dying to share the stuff I made, but I don't want to spoil the surprise for those getting them. I'll have to wait to share them.

It's getting late and I've still got some embellishing to do. Then I am going to relax with a Mojito. I hope you are all finishing up your Christmas shopping/crafting!


Oh! And I have my first (and only!) entry in the diamond fold book contest! Remember, I must have a link to your entry by 10pm cst December 26th.

More on transparancies....SC103

Remember how I tried stamping on a transparency and it totally didn't work?!?! Well, the ones I stamped in white craft ink.....they dried! I used one today to try out Wednesday's sketch challenge - SC103. I know it's a little late, but at least I tried it, right? I kinda flubbed the sketch too....it said to have something stamped across the bottom. Oh well, I tried.

So this is a transparency stamped with white craft ink and given over one week to dry. I will try this with stazon one of these days and let you know. I also tried scoring it, gently, to see if it would fold onto the card better. And I stuck glue dots to the transparency to hold it to the card stock behind it. I put them under the panel that is outside the transparency so that they are not visible when the card is looked at. This helped a great deal in keeping a little more "flat".

I also used my very first STICKLES! They were in my Secret Sister gift from Jackie G. I put stardust stickles on the flowers. Just a tip....do not turn your work over and put glue on the back while the stickles are wet. I was not used to using them and totally did this. So that's why there are some strategically placed primas at the top of the scallop punch. I got a smudge of cranberry stained stickle up there. Not cool. I am very excited to have the chance to try stickles, but the jury is still out on how I feel about them. I am a Dazzling Diamonds girl at heart.

Overall, I am much happier with this transparency card. I am looking forward to using the ginormous box I have on many more trials with them. I'll let you know how it goes!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

Whew!

So today was the Lostie Secret Sister package opening. It was so much fun!! I cannot believe how many talented crafters we have in our little group! BTW, the Losties is a group of lovely ladies on Splitcoaststampers that got together because we all watch (and love!) LOST. Now we are just friends who chat online all the time.



Anyway, we drew names and mailed each other boxes and WOW did people really outdo themselves this round! My wonderful friend Jackie G had my name - which is too funny cause we live in the same town (the Losties are from all over the map) and we had actually discussed who we had and what we were getting them, etc. She totally lied to me!!! But it's ok, I forgive her cause she totally rocked!!



I absolutely love all the fantastic things she gave me. My favoritest thing is the 'E' she made for me to hang on the wall. I am already deciding where I want to hang it in my stamp room, it is GORGEOUS! Here are the pics of the fantastic things she made me. The message in the bottle is a gift certificate to the scrapbook store here and the bronze holder has a Starbucks card in it - coffee here I come!!!



THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Miss Jackie G!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh boy! It's a contest!

So I thought I would have a little contest! Just for fun...since I know everyone has so much free time on their hands with the holidays and all, lol!!

Well, here it is! Since I just put up this tutorial on the Diamond Fold Books (aka squash books), I want to see yours!

Here are the details:

You must make a Diamond Fold book and submit it by 10pm (CST) on December 26th.

You must submit it by taking a picture or a scan of your completed book and uploading it to splitcoaststampers, photobucket or another photo hosting site. You must put the link to your project in the comments section.

The prize will be some assorted goodies I came across. There might be extras as I come across them!

Have fun and Merry Christmas!!!

SORRY!

I am having issues with the way the tutorial posted...I am working on it though!



Ok, fixed now! I hope it is viewable now! Here's another one I made for my husband for Father's Day last year.

Diamond Fold Book Tutorial

Okay here it goes! I learned to make thesethis summer. I was helping out at a scrapbooking convention and got to sit in on a class that made them. I hope you like them, please let me know if you have any questions!


Diamond Fold Book

Supplies:
2 coasters 4x4 (or chipboard, bookboard, cardboard, etc)
2 pieces of patterned paper cut 5 ¾ x 5 ¾
3 pieces of cardstock weight patterened paper that is double sided (thin will not work for this) cut 7 ½ x 7 ½
Adhesive – mono adhesive or double stick tape, and also something stronger – mono multi or red liner tape (o’so sticky strip)
1 piece of ribbon about 22 inches long ( I prefer narrow organdy ribbons for this)

Step 1:

Adhere coaster to back side of pattered paper. These will make up your front and back covers on your book.

Step 2:
Trim the corners of the paper at an angle so you have ¼ inch at the corner. Do this for both front and back covers.













Step 3:
Adhere opposite sides down to coaster. Only do these two sides. (Top and bottom, for example.)















Step 4:
Use your bone folder (or in my case – pampered chef scraper) and fold in corners. Then adhere those last two sides to the coaster.













Step 5:
Take your 3 squares of cardstock. I usually use 2 that are the same and one that is different. This makes for a nice look when the book is unfolded. Take one square and fold it in half, scoring as you go. Open it up and fold it in half the other way, score again. Open it up. You should have a large square with 4 small squares visible from the folds. Now fold it diagonally in half and score. Repeat this sequence with all 3 squares.




































Step 6:
Take one of the folded papers. To fold into the diamond shape, you must fold the 2 solid squares (no fold line dissecting the square) towards each other. You do this by pushing in the triangle shapes in between. You want the two outer pieces to be folded with the triangle edges tucked forward and the one middle piece to have the triangle pieces tucked behind. When you have them into a folded square, score all edges again.




































Step 7:
Adhere all 3 squares together. You will put the paper you want to see when you open the book facing you when you stick them together. The two squares that are folded “forward” will be the two on the ends. The one folded “behind” will be the center sheet.

























Step 8:
Fold entire book together and score again. You should see the 3 squares in a kind of accordion look now.


















Step 9:
Take the front cover of your book. Use a strong adhesive around the edges and a spot in the middle. Lay ribbon across the middle of this cover.



























Step 10:
Adhere one end of your diamond folding to the cover. Repeat with the other cover on the other end of the book, but do not use ribbon on this part.













Step 11:
Embellish as you like. I often print photos that I have removed the color from to glue inside the book. I have also cut squares slightly smaller than the ones inside the book, then cut them diagonally and used those triangles to decorate the inside of the book. Have fun with it and make it your own! I can’t wait to see some of yours! Please post here and show me!

CC93 - OOPS!

Today is Tuesday.....and I forgot! Since Matthew took the day off yesterday, I was all messed up on what day it was. I thought it was Monday. So I forgot to post the color challenge until sweet Melody reminded me! Thanks, girlie!

So here's a quick card I threw together. I've got a sick kiddo today and he wants his nose wiped every 5 seconds. Doesn't leave much time for fun stuff! Hope you are all busy getting ready for Christmas!

I do still plan to post the Diamond Fold Book tutorial tonight.....

Diamond Fold Book Open

Okay, for some reason when I had this picture in the other post, you couldn't click on it to enlarge it. So I gave it it's own post. Now you can make it bigger! Tutorial coming SOON!

Diamond Fold Book Teaser

This is what I made at the Diamond Fold Book class I taught last month. I have been promising a tutorial on these and it will be here today or tomorrow! Here's a sneak peek at the finished product. This one was made for the boys' great grandmother.

Happy Shopping Days!

Monogram Class

Tomorrow I am having a monogram class. We'll make 10 cards (2 of each) for $10. These can be done all in one letter or 2 sets of 5 with different letters. I loved this idea when I saw it from Chi Chi Allen this fall and decided I would have a class for these. I think they are cute, simple designs and I hope my stampers like it!

I apologize for the dark picture, it's late!

update

Well, no news is good news, right? All tests came back fine. The only bad thing is that there are no real answers either. I got more injections so I'll be sore for awhile. I also had a random weird bacteria come up at a questionable number. So we will recheck that in a month. It is really random, but if that's what I have then it's cured by antibiotics and could be the cause of a lot of this pain. So we'll see what comes from that. In the meantime, injections and stuff. Anyway, thank you for the prayers. There were things they want to monitor, but no degenerative types of arthritis found for now.

Today's the day....

I get to find out the results of all that hideous blood work I complained about. I am so nervous! I kinda feel like I want to throw up. And my appointment with the rhuematologist isn't until 5pm! Good thing I'll be busy today! I've got to run the boys to school, preschool lets out at 12:30 today, I have to run an errand while they are in preschool, etc.

Andy gets to watch the Polar Express and have hot chocolate at school today. I told the younger two that we could do that too after they get out of preschool. So it's Polar Express day here! What fun!

Anyway, if you get a chance to put a word in with the man upstairs today, please pray that everything goes well at the doctors today. And that I can calm down and not throw up.

Teacher Gifts

I got teacher gifts ready for Alex and Adam's preschool teachers today. I am giving them decorated lunch tins with 10 cards and envelopes inside. The cards are various ones from stamp camps, swaps I made extras from, and other random cards I had. This is the tin Adam chose for his teacher. Since he loves red, he decided that his teacher does too. And this was the only tin I had with red on it. I won't get into how I made the tin, because I already wrote a tutorial on it. You can find it here.






Alex chose this tin for two reasons. He said it had to have green on it (his favorite color) and he liked that it looked like a rainbow. Ok, whatever works! He chose not to have prima flowers on top though.


I hope that they like these, I am always nervous about giving gifts that I made. I mean, I like these, but who knows if other people do! I have sold them in the past ($35 with 10 cards and $20 without) so I guess that means some people like them, right?

How I spent my morning....

I had hoped to have a lovely stamped creation to show you. But, no can do! Instead, I spent my morning scrubbing blue crayon off of many many different surfaces in my house! Somehow, during my quick 15 minute workout this morning, my 3 year old son found one blue crayon. He, and his almost 5 year old brother, colored a bunch of tile in the entryway, the walls in their bedroom, the wall in their closet, a wall in the hallway, the door to their closet, the bathroom counter, their bedsheets, the chairs in my stamp room and one of my tables.



However did they do this in a mere 15 minutes?!?!?!?! Lovely drawings, like race cars....hand prints with blue fingernails....tic tac toe boards. OMG!!!!!!



So after punishing them and putting them in silent time out (ie no talking) for the duration of the cleaning time, I went to work scrubbing. The Mr Clean Magic Eraser got it right off the tile, bathroom counter, the door and chairs. However, we have non-washable paint in our house. I know, I know...why ever would we have washable paint with 3 boys age 6 and under?!?! Well, it was on the walls when we moved in and we haven't had time to re-paint. It's on the short list for this spring/summer. And it will be washable. Anyway, the Eraser just takes the paint off the walls as well as the crayon. So that wasn't working.



I googled painting over crayon, thinking it might just be easier to patch-paint over it since we're going to repaint soon anyway. Well, it is a more involved process than I thought. But I did stumble across the tip to use toothpaste. So I got an extra toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste (not gel, must be paste) and went to work. It really did work pretty well. It's labor and time intensive, but it worked. So if ever your children color on non-washable walls, use toothpaste! I still have their bedroom walls to work on, but it'll have to wait. I already had a list a mile long of things to do today.



Anyone know an easy way to get crayon out of bedsheets? I found one, but it was quite involved using WD-40 and such.....these were under $20 a set so I'd rather just replace them if it needs that.


***UPDATE***
HUGE shout out to oxy-clean laundry stain remover! It got the crayon out in just one regular washing! YES!

The Letter 'K'

So I have been so busy trying to get all the Christmas presents done for all the teachers. Andy's teacher has a long last name, so all the kids call her 'Mrs K'. I found this chipboard K at Recollections and thought it would be great for her desk or somewhere else in her classroom. It was pretty easy to make, I did it this afternoon.

I started by picking out some paper (Andy actually picked this paper out). This is from Basic Grey's Urban Couture line (one of my all time favorite paper lines!). I traced the letter on the paper and cut it out. I used mod podge to adhere the paper to the K. Then I mod podged over the paper.

To do the paint, I used Making Memories Acrylic Scrapbooking Paint. I love this paint. It comes in lots of colors, is easy to mix, and dries quickly. I used chocolate on this. I painted the back and all the sides and then a bit on the edges of the paper using a sponge brush. After the paint was dry, I painted the entire thing with mod podge.

Then I just picked some ribbons and tied them on! Really easy, and I think she'll like it. Now the boys each want one for their own names....of course, that means three A's!

Peanut Butter Balls

Peanut Butter Balls

1 c powdered sugar (sifted)

1 c rice krispies

1 c peanut butter

2 T melted margarine

almond bark or chocolate chips (mix semi-sweet & milk chocolate)

Mix together and cool. Shape into small balls and refrigerate. Dip into chocolate and refrigerate. Eat!

These have long been one of my favorite Christmas foods. Weird because I don't even like peanut butter! Anyway, I hope you all enjoy them as much as I do.

My Banner and other things...

Several people have asked about my blog header/banner (or whatever you call it) and my watermark. These were both designed by my blogmasterguru and sister, Mamakimberly. She is way talented. (Said in a totally Clueless voice.) She is a digi-scrappin guru. You can visit her blog (mamakworld) or her store (plain digital wrapper) and see her stuff. Her store has all kinds of cool digital scrapping things and she can even make your handwriting into a font!

So check her out!

Transparancy Overlay

So I totally wanted to try this the second I saw this stamp. I finally got around to it today. I am glad I had a box of transparencies that were free.....cause I wasted several! I got this bright idea to stamp it in white craft ink. So I did 6 and left them to dry. I came back several hours later and they were still completely wet. I asked around and found that pigment ink doesn't really dry on transparencies. OOPS!

So then I tried to heat set it....this just kinda warped the transparency. Oh well. I tossed all of those and moved on to a new idea. Ideally, I would use white stazon. But I don't have that (good thing I was putting in an order today - I will have some soon!!). My next plan was to stamp it in versamark and then put white embossing powder on it. This worked, but was REALLY bright white and thick looking. Not really the look I was going for.

My last attempt was white craft ink with clear embossing powder on top. This worked fairly well and is was I ended up using on my card. I put o'so sticky tap (red liner tap) along the sides of the transparency and wrapped the edges around my layer and stuck it down. I liked the end result, but it doesn't really lay flat....at all. I am not wild about that part. I will play with it a bit more and see what I can come up with from here.

I also made the rivet way way harder than it should have been! I used a blender pen dipped in reinker to color the stamp (because of course, I used colors that don't come in a marker!). Then I went over it with a versamarker and clear embossing powder. I think it turned out cute, but silly how much effort went into a small circle.

Ok, it's late and I am tired. We'll see what I can do tomorrow when I am more awake.

Grandma's Cookies

These are the easiest cookies ever! The reason we called them Grandma's Cookies is that when we were kids, my one Grandma always had them at the ready when we visited. She made them up in large batches and froze them. They are so so good when they are cold! They don't have to be stored in the fridge or freezer, but they are really good that way! I made the stick kind for the boys to take to their classmates. I hope they like them as much as we do!

Grandma's Cookies (Ritz cookies)

ritz crackers (round or sticks)

peanut butter

almond bark (baking chocolate or whatever it's called)

sprinkles (optional)

Make ritz crackers into peanut butter sandwiches. Melt chocolate (I use half white and have regular squares). Once melted, drop cracker sandwiches in one at a time and cover them with chocolate. Use tongs and place chocolate covered sandwich on wax paper. I usually place mine in the freezer to speed the 'setting' time of the chocolate. Then they are ready to eat!

Whew! I have been having issues this morning and this thing has NOT been letting me load pictures! Anyway, it finally worked so here's my card for the day. I made this last night for my stamp camp this week. I am not totally happy with it, of course! I loved rohla's version but didn't have the paper to do hers. I altered it a bunch to make it work with the stuff I had. I can't ever get that 'happy' to stamp straight. I must have it mounted crooked. And yes, I could get out my stamp-a-ma-jig. I do love that thing, but I just didn't feel like doing that extra step last night.

I've got all the cards done for camp and here's a group photo. For some reason I feel like this is a lame camp. Not sure why. I like most of the cards, but I feel like one is lame. Maybe I'll have time to come up with something different before tomorrow night. I stayed up until midnight getting all the cardstock cut so I am ready. Now I just have to get the boys to help me straighten up the house.....we'll see how that goes! Of course, my vacuum punked out on me so I can't vacuum now. I plan to shop for a new one tomorrow. And it will be bagless! I hate that it gets hard to find the right size bags the older your model gets. I mean, just because I took care of my appliance and it's still running - I can't find bags anymore! So annoying.

Blood....

I hate to give blood. I don't like shots, but especially now that I get regular allergy shots, I can deal with them. But the whole taking blood out of your body thing.....it's awful.

I had to give blood today for a ton of bloodwork that the rheumatalogist requested. I won't know the results until my next appointment. It was not fun though. The phlebotomist says "Wow, you must be one special lady!" as she lines up empty tube after empty tube for all the different tests. "I hope you have enough blood!" Sheesh! Like I wasn't already feeling freaked about it.

After she did at least 10 tubes worth, yikes!, she asked if I had eaten yet today. Um...no, they told me not to. So she told me to make sure I ate right after this. Well, DUH! I mean, for those of you that know me, I have to eat first thing in the morning.....or I am totally cranky. I had already promised myself a nice bacon and egg (no cheese cause American cheese is nasty) McGriddle once I got finished. I love those things! I never let myself have them and it'll probably make me sick later (all that greasy stuff just doesn't process well for me) but man, was it GOOD!

Can you believe she didn't offer me a cracker or some OJ?!? Oh well. I just hope they got all they needed and that I don't have to do that for a few more years. You'll never catch me at a blood drive. Sitting there letting them suck the life out of you into some tube. Blech! I just can't stand it. I focus on some point in the room and make myself breathe.

Ok, I should be finishing my stamp camp cards right now....

Color Challenge 91 and more...

So I was working on some cards for my stamp camp this week. I had picked up some of the Basic Grey Fruitcake papers a while back and decided to pull my colors for the color challenge from them. Here is the color challenge for this week! I think this is the first time I have done faux stitching in any color besides white! I think I also accidentally fit the sketch challenge from last week too, lol! It's not my favorite card, but I am extremely limited on my Christmas stamp set choices. I am cheating this year and sending a photo card. So I didn't buy any Christmas stamp sets. Well, the ladies from my class requested a Christmas themed class this month so I had to make due with what I have. I think this is also the first time I have used the Hodgepodge Hardware in a class!

This is another card for stamp camp this week. I did another version of this card last month and just decided to tweak it for camp. I had used black cardstock to stamp the greeting on last time, but I didn't want to do that for class. The drying time for white craft ink is too much for class. So I used a white card base. I cannot remember the last time I used a white base for a card! I am usually a layer freak. I am obsessed with piercing the little holes in the scallops from that punch. Then using the white gel pen to 'highlight' those piercings. I just think it is too cute. I really hope this card doesn't look too simple.

wow....I think I am obsessed with paper piercing and paisley. Almost all my cards use both! But seriously, don't they just work for everything?!?! Ok, I'll have to finish up the other 3 class cards tomorrow cause it's late. Night!

Confession Time....

So I felt the need to confess something. It has been brought to my attention how organized and neat my stampin space is. Well.....it's just not true, lol! It's usually a disorganized mess. I am afraid my photos were a bit misleading. If you'll notice, some of them have cream walls instead of green. That means they were taken over a year ago. Probably the last time my stamp room was clean, in fact. So I just wanted to get that off my chest. No, I am not that neat of a stamper! In fact, right now, you can't even see the tables cause they are covered with junk. Ok, I feel better now.

Also, I wanted to show off my closet. This used to be a regular closet that had just one rack towards the top for hangers. Matthew put shelves in over Labor Day this year, you know.....cause he needed to do some labor. So now I've got my mailing center shelf, my finished projects shelf, my alterables shelf, and then some 'other stuff' shelves. I love it and it really has helped me get more organized. LOL! Seriously, it has helped the mess in here. Those of you that have been in my stamp room are laughing your butts off right now....but it is better. Honest.

Special Card

So I got an email that asked Matthew and I to write out something special for our Home Group leaders from this fall at Church. She suggested cream and gold themed stuff and said it could be a scroll style or a card or whatever. Well, of course I had to make a card! I didn't have much time so I reached for the roses in winter! I used vanilla cardstock and tried to stick to soft shades so the vanilla and the gold would still be the focus. I stamped linen in the background in caramel ink, then did almost amethyst roses on top. I used sage shadow for the leaves. I topped it off with some cream organdy ribbon and gold cord. I went around both vanilla layers with gold zig paint pen. This was different for me, I never use gold! I am much more a silver person. Anyway, I am pretty happy with the results, considering I did it at 11:30pm last night. My grandparents will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary later this month, I may have to elaborate on this idea for them.

On a side note, bummer that Nebraska lost to OU last night. Cotton Bowl here we come, GO BIG RED!