No camping, but big fun anyhow

So camping didn't happen after all. Despite leaving early for the weekend, it apparently wasn't early enough and every single camping spot in the 'non-reserved, first-come, first-served" portions of all three parks we went to were full. Well after getting over my disappointment (and unpacking the RV and truck), we "camped" at home. Now we've had wine, frozen lemonade, margaritas, more wine, smores and truckload of camping snacks, ate dinner out with the family on Friday night, watched 8 hours of Real Housewives, two hours of Intervention, four hours of Hell's Kitchen, two hours of Master Chef and three hours of Glee, shopped at Michael's, Craft Warehouse and Jo-Ann's, picked up gorgeous flower baskets at the nursery, saw Cowboys and Aliens, oh, and made a new cork board for my sister (something we couldn't have done camping since the one thing I didn't pack was my Cricut). It turned out so adorable that I just had to post photos even though she's concerned that someone will copy it so it won't be one of kind. Personally, I know it will be one of kind because even if someone else tries to make it, they won't pick the same paper, cut it at exactly the same dimensions or place the houses in exactly the same way. So we found an image on Google image that she liked, traced it in SCAL, then moved the window to a place that she liked better, then cut them out of two colors of glitter card stock, then found a font she liked and welded the words and cut them in SCAL on the Cricut. So then it was just a process of taking out the backing and glass from the frame, inserting the cork board and putting the backing back on the frame, then gluing down the cuts we made. So here's a shot of it all put together (we left the corner protectors on so that it will transport safely back to her house): She bought the paper at Craft Warehouse. She carefully picked out cute glitter paper and found some coordinating card stock for the words. What she didn't know was the card stock she carefully picked out for the bluish gray color on the back was Black Magic card stock by Coordinations. So when she pulled it out today, I explained to her what she had bought and that changed the title all around. Instead of being the solid blueish gray, we ran it through the Sizzix with Script Texture embossing folder then sanded over the raised texture to bring out the blue text. You can see some of that dimension in this close-up:

So I had forgotten to turn off the layer with the house in it when I cut the words and ended up with this extra house. We used it as a test for the texture. The house turned out so cute that I had to use it somewhere, so I made this simple little card using some scraps from my scrap bin of Orbit paper from the Cosmic paper line I got from the Paper Loft. I have no idea what the striped paper is called, but I'm pretty sure it's from the same line at the Paper Loft. I just used some plain paper I bought in a ream at Paper Zone called Nekoosa Linen to make the card base and also to cut with my Sizzix Bigz Top Note die. I used a little bit of Offray gros grain ribbon and some pop dots to finish it off. A simple little card, but it was loads of fun to make.

Anyhow, now I'm going to finish watching this last episode of Glee with her. She had never seen it before and now I have her totally hooked on it with just the first episode. I knew she would love it. I'll make a Gleek out of her yet.

Crafting, I mean camping here I come

So I've just finished packing for my girls' night/camping trip. The RV is all packed with the essentials (TV, DVD, wine, margarita mix, kitty treats for Chewie, DVR with 10 episodes of Real Housewives of New Jersey, the end of Survivor from last season, and the start of Hell's Kitchen, a couple episodes of Intervention and other random things my sister with no TV will want to watch - love, love, love having satellite in the RV). Since I'm going early to stake out our site, the truck is packed with my crafting equipment. Only the essentials, you know. ;) Here's my carousel (much easier than trying to repack all my tools into a tote), my flowers, some ribbon, a cutting pad, paper, and lots more card bases:

Here is my fully organized scrap paper bin (oh and a new tent for my sister and a collapsible crate, just in case...) So here is my tote with stamps, ink pads, embellies, my ATG gun and reference books:

Hmm, do you think that's enough to keep me busy until the RV arrives a little later. By the way, love the new camera too (at least now that I figure out how to turn on the flash - ha ha). Well, I'm off to bed to get some sleep since I don't think I'll be getting much this weekend. I just hope it's not too hot, although I do have two fans packed. Hmmm, maybe I have overpacked just a tad...

Mojo Monday Sketch 200!

Last night I was trolling the blogs, catching up on my reading, when I ended up on You Tube to watch a video posted on Creations with Christina's blog. One of the video choices following that one was this "black magic" technique shown here, which then led me to here. The technique looked easy to do and I actually had all the supplies so I gave it a try, going for something simple with this flower stamp. I use one main color of yellow and a slightly darker color in a few places. I added a little bit of white at the tips and a little bit of brown at the base of each petal and drew in the dark lines that give each petal it's distinct shape.
When I was done, I had this yellow flower, which seemed perfect to use on Mojo Monday's sketch this week (it's the 200th sketch - whoo hoo!). All the paper came from my scraps container, so apparently spending all last weekend cleaning, sorting and organizing my craft room paid off because I can actually find my scraps. This time, I actually do know where the paper came from. The solid orangy-yellow is from DCWV. The orange dotted paper is from My Mind's Eye All Twinkle, Twinkle Little Boy stack, the white and black are Georgia Pacific card stock. I used cinnamon Stickles to give the center of the flower a little bling. I have no idea where the flower stamp came from but the word "cherish" is from Stampin' Up's Warm Words collection.

Well, that's it for today. The day just flew by and now I had better get everything put away, finish that last load of laundry and get ready for work tomorrow. It may be a short week for me but that just means I have to pack a normal week's worth of work into a short period of time and will have to work hard the following week to get caught back up. Maybe that's why I never use my vacation time and always am trying to figure out how to use it before I lose it. But it will all be worth it since I'll have a long weekend to crank out some cards. Believe it or not, my stash is already starting to dwindle.

New camera and Greg Biffle (yes, the NASCAR driver)

For those of you who don't know, my trusty little purple point and shoot Kodak "purse" camera (you know, the kind you can just slip in your purse or your pocket and take with you anywhere) disappeared some months back. The last place I remember having it was in the RV on a winter-time trip. I remember it hanging on a hook on the wall directly over the garbage can. I haven't seen it since then and boy have I looked for it. I half wonder if it didn't fall into the garbage, but I think we would have noticed if that had happened. I've thought about replacing it and have looked at little cameras from time to time, but just never got around to it since I keep thinking the purple camera would turn up. Plus I keep thinking we have a great SLR, what do I need another camera for. Okay, so yeah, the SLR certainly wouldn't slip into a purse. Okay it would slip into one my purses but, honestly, so would half of the closet and I'm beginning to think that maybe the reason I'm shorter on one side is because my purse is compressing that side of my body... hmmm...

Well last night I realized exactly why I need to buy a new purse camera NOW. After work, my husband and I hopped in the truck and drove to this little dirt racetrack a few towns away because Greg Biffle, the NASCAR driver, was going to be there racing that night. We got there and he was signing autographs and all I had was the camera in my cell phone (also known as a piece of crap phone that I must replace since the little track ball no longer works unless I'm standing on one foot in a crouched position, touching my nose with one hand, and holding the phone in the other hand at precisely 47 degrees, or and it also must be a blue moon). So I took my pictures anyway, but vowed I was buying a replacement camera and a new phone as I spent 20 minutes trying to figure out how to set the picture of the hubby and Biffle as my wallpaper without the use of the trackball.

So today we went out to do a little shopping (Michaels clearance Cricut cartridges and a display case for the freakishly expensive die cast car that Biffle signed for the hubby, Cash and Carry for Lighthouse Thai Peanut dressing that has no peanuts in it - don't understand that one but love the dressing and that's the only place I can find it, Craft Warehouse for the mat I forgot to buy for my Sew Easy and supplies for Christmas projects now that everyone and their brother is doing them on their blogs and making think about getting started on my cards and shopping, and then Costco for chicken sausage for next week's clambake over the open fire - yummmm!). So at Costco, hubby maneuvers the cart over the cameras and I finally decide on this little Olympus. It's not very expensive but it has good zoom and megapixels and the reviews on everything but Costco.com said it's a pretty decent camera for the money. I have to say that I had reservations about it and wasn't sure that we made the right choice considering that every single person on Costco.com said they took the camera back. But I knew I was buying a not so expensive camera and I don't expect it to take perfect pictures. I just need something that will take a decent photo, be small and light enough that I can carry it around with me in my purse, and cheap enough that if I lose it, I won't feel terribly guilty. Now that I've gotten to play with it, I think it's going to fit what I need.

So in this blog are pictures I have taken with both cameras (I bet you some of you were wondering what the pictures had to the do with the story, admit it...) when I was playing this afternoon to make sure my new camera was going to do the job I needed. Why don't you leave me a comment telling me which you think it which...?

P.S. The flowers are the ones that dear hubby bought me when I had that horrible, awful, no good, really bad day earlier this week and he went to the store to get french bread so I could work on the Creating Keepsakes one-hour challenge. Aren't they pretty?

Picking berries

We got home tonight and took one look at the raspberries and knew we had to get to work. There was a second batch ready to be picked so we got them all picked, but still have one picking of them left. It was also time to pick the first of the blueberries and sugar snap peas. Everything else is coming along nicely, but isn't quite ready. It's so late this year because of all this crazy weather we're having.

The only bad thing about it is that by the time the picking was done and I visited some blogs, I didn't have much time left. So I used it making 10 more of those "Not available today" magnets I made a while back. Matt's boss saw them and asked if I would make them for all the other stores too. Fortunately I had saved the document and it didn't take long to churn out ten of them. Now I"m off to watch more of Monday night's TV that I still haven't finished (and this is Thursday! oh my)

Scrappy card - Whimsical Wednesday

Tonight while catching up on the blogs, I read In Love with a Bug who was participating in the Whimsical Wednesday Challenge to design a card using scraps. Well, I just loved her design and I have a few scraps left over from DCWV's Nana's Kids stack, so I did a simple strip card. I designed a little bracket in SCAL to hold the Stampin' Up sentiment.

Well, that's it. I'm going to go catch up on my Monday night tv: the Closer, Rizzoli and Isles, Eureka, and Intervention...

Christmas in July

So after a really awful, horrible, no good day at work today with people who just were not rational (I swear there must be a full moon lurking out there because all the lunatics called me today), I came home to find that a one-hour challenge was starting on Creating Keepsakes blog. Well, actually had started about 10 minutes before, but what the heck. The challenge was to make two Christmas cards using twine (don't have), buttons or stitching on each. Well so I knew I didn't have much to work with considering I'm a really crappy seamstress. However, I love one hour challenges, but I had a dilemma. I really had a craving for french bread, which required trip to the store. So one hour challenge or french bread? Hmmm....

So my dear, sweet husband who's very worried about my stress level hears me say that I have this craving for french bread and took off for the grocery store. He came home with flowers for me, red meat for him, and the freshest french bread I think I've had in years. Yes, a few dollar trip to the store was really, really expensive (Matt + meat counter = budget disaster), but oh so worth it.

In the meantime, I fought with the sewing machine requiring that I re-do the major part of one card, dug through my embellishments to find a star and some gift buttons, whipped together two (well, really two and three-quarters) cards in the one hour and uploaded them right at the buzzer.

What's really amazing about the whole thing is that it never would have happened if I hadn't spent the whole weekend (well the whole weekend minus raspberry picking on Saturday and a Harry Potter matinee on Sunday) to clean and re-organize my craft room. So when I started the challenge, I had a clean slate to work with, knew what I had and right where it would be. For instance, the lovely striped Christmas paper was in my scraps storage container in the "multi" drawer (the storage unit right under the desk in the bottom left corner of the picture below) and was able to use scraps for every single portion of these two cards. Of course, in the one hour I made a huge mess of my room again. Why is it that I can't craft neatly? But what I love is that my whole room went back together in less than 10 minutes. Wow, I am just loving the new organization. Oh, by the way Dad, your lottery ticket in sticking up in my carousel just behind Matt's picture. I hope it's the big winner!

Get Well Marley

So one of the blogs that I follow is Madison's at Funky Cards. Madison has a lot of very interesting projects, but my favorite on-going project of hers has to be the "I Feel the Love" project. In this project, crafters make and send cards to a person who is facing a challenge. This month, it's Marley, an absolutely adorable three-year-old with a brain tumor. Since my brother-in-law ultimately lost his battle with a brain tumor, I felt especially moved by this small girl's fight. So I decided to send a card I made recently. The card was pretty straightforward:

But I added a little collage picture inside of Zoey and each of the "furballs" (as I tend to refer to all those who came after her):My experience has been that little kids tend to really like animals and I was hoping that there may be some power in prayer and fur for this little girl. I know it's always been powerful for me. Speaking of that, I think I need to go find a furball for hug...

Having a bit of fun...

Spoiler alert! Spoiler alert! DMM - Do not read this blog post unless you want to see what's in the box coming this week. Spoiler alert! Spoiler alert!

I had a bit of fun this week. Last Saturday, during our trip to Jo-Ann's (when I bought to the cork board), I also bought a paw print border punch by EK Success. I love, love, love this punch and already had one, but this one wasn't for me. When my cousin was here visiting a while ago, I took her to a card camp put on by a local Stampin' Up demonstrator. I used to go to them all the time, but they were pretty gossipy. It was pretty catty even though I didn't know any the people they were talking about, so it stopped being as much fun. Honestly, by then, I had learned most of the basics and discovered that YouTube and the blog world have enough crafters with instructions, pictures and (even better) videos, that I didn't need the card camps anymore.

But now my aunt has started card making and my cousin noted that she wished I lived closer so we could collaborate. Well, that's not going to happen because I'm happy where I am, but I can be a little long distance help. So I sent her links to some of my favorite layout websites and gave her other tips. Then I realized I could share some of my favorite tools. So at JoAnn's, I picked up my favorite paw print border punch. Then I sat down and put together several card samples to show them what could be done with the punch. I then wrote down specific instructions on how to re-create each of the cards.

I sent them packets with the paper they would need to create each card three more times and added the matching envelopes. I realized that I had a lot of tools that they probably don't have. Since many of the stamps I used are retired now, I stamped the images for them, but left it for them to cut out, except for one where I stamped on a bracket cut out from SCAL. I also tossed in the roll of ribbon used, rhinestones, brads and such necessary to finish the cards off. Each card was packed in a plastic bag with one finished sample card and the supplies to recreate it.

Oh, and I also tossed in a cup decal I had designed for my cousin, but never could find the the cup for. How is it that this town doesn't have a single straw cup left anywhere??? Seriously folks, a few months ago when I was looking for my first cup, I couldn't find it and my husband had to put out a bounty for it. Then the cups were everywhere. Now, when I'm out of cups and was looking for them again, they're gone! Oh well, I'm sending it to her unmounted because maybe she'll have better luck finding one. So that's in the box too.

I also wrote down a list of supplies that I wasn't sure they would have yet that would be helpful in making the cards. Yesterday, I hit both Michaels and Jo-Ann's because I had coupons and good sales and got the rest of the things I thought they might not have to finish off the cards. So I tossed in a glue pen, some stamp pads and pop-dots. I then topped the whole thing with some foam sheets. I recently learned a little trick to cut a piece of foam to put over brads, buttons, rhinestones or any other bumpy little thing when mailing the card. Unfortunately, I could only find them in a ginormous package that will probably last longer than I do, so I thought I would save them the headache and include some for their mailing.

Oh, and I can't help but share this picture of Smoke. I opened the window in my craft room yesterday to let some breeze in. Next thing I know, Smoke in peeking his nose up to the window from under my table. But there wasn't enough space for him to climb up under the table. So then he started peeking over the table and then up on the table and into the window sill. He's sat there for hours yesterday and now again this morning. I've got to say, there really isn't a good view. All I can see from my craft window is the RV pad on the side of the house. So I get a glimpse of raspberry plants (they are finally getting ripe) that are the start of the garden, the RV and Matt's old boat that he's finally fixing the axle on the trailer (part of the reason we got the new(er) boat a few years ago). It's not really an attractive view.

Mind you, the cats have a huge fenced in cat yard out back where they can go outside anytime they want. Matt's done a really great job of making it kitty proof so that they can't get out. The birds still fly in (silly birds) for them to hunt and there's plenty of room to run and wrestle and play. There are brick walkways and bushes to lay under (or in as Smoke likes to do). A pond to watch fish (and get a drink - ewwww!) and a cat nip plant in a cage that they can get to some leaves, but protects the plant enough to survive. It's pretty much a kitty wonderland. Yet, he's more interested in the window sills in my craft room, the gym, the guest bedroom and the living room. Of course they all face areas that the cat yard doesn't. I guess it's just his version of cat TV.

New cork board

So the other day I was shopping at JoAnn's. Okay so I know that could have any one of many days, but this was last Saturday when the girls left the guys watching TV during the barbecue. We were checking out the new store when I found this package of square cork boards. It gave me an idea. So today I picked up a scrap booking frame at Michaels and found a piece of fabric left over from making my Expression cover. I covered the cork board in the fabric and put the frame together sans glass. Now I have a cute little cork board that matches my room. I plan to pin up things that inspire me.

"Berry" fun project

So I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but my husband manages the cafe in the building I work in. I cannot express how grateful I am to him that he does so. He gave up his position of nearly 20 years so that we could have nearly inseparable lives carpooling to work together, enjoying my morning coffee break where I run downstairs to fill my cup, sharing lunch together most days, plus evenings, weekends, holidays and such. I know I'm very lucky because some spouses wouldn't sacrifice their careers or for other reasons don't get that much time with their spouses and, sadly, some wouldn't want that much time. But, we do.

But back to the reason I mentioned the cafe... From time to time, I've had to opportunity to use my crafting skills to help out. I've made vinyl lettering for the daily specials board, I crafted signs to the cover the menu boards on days he does "Breakfast all Day", designed little coins and a purse for them for a promotion and other little things like that. In addition to a daily special, there are seasonal specials. This season, there's a salad featuring whatever fruit is in season at the moment. Since the fruit changes based upon what's available, he asked me if I could cut out berries that he could post on the board to represent the current fruit featured in the salad. Well of course I could and I could do it tonight. It gave me the perfect excuse to spend the evening in my craft room where it's nice and cool compared to the 90 degrees outside (I know that's not hot to a lot of you, but it's TOO HOT for me!).

So tonight I cut out a strawberry that I found on The Lady Wolf's blog then laminated the cut with my Xyron using the laminate/magnet cartridge. Then I cut out around the strawberry. I looked for a blueberry, but couldn't find one, so I made my own SVG using some clip art I found and Inkscape. I don't think it turned out too bad. As a bonus, I made him a couple of signs he can put up over things that sell out or when the product otherwise isn't available. Right now he just tapes up one and I thought this would be a little nicer. It was kind of a fun project to work on tonight. Tomorrow, I think I'll work on raspberries since ours are just about starting to ripen so I'm sure that product is going to available soon for his seasonal salad.

Pazzles Inspiration Giveaway - Day 2

Check out was SVG Cuts is giving away to celebrate their new blog debuting on July 10: Pazzles Inspiration Giveaway - Day 2! I must admit I want it! So you can enter, but only I can win (mwah-ha-ha-ha!).

Cup crazy

Okay, so this is the last cup for a while. I've made four this weekend alone and gave my friend Glenda her Lakers emblem I made from a .jpeg on last week at the casino and then cut. Of course, I never could find a cup for it so she'll have to do that. Why is it that when you are looking for something the store never has it, but the minute you don't need that anymore, they are everywhere?

But I've been thinking about making one for my hubby ever since I ordered a big batch of vinyl off of Oh My Crafts. When I realized their mixed pack had yellow, orange and black, I knew there was a Tigger cup in Matt's future. You see, two years ago on August 1st, this little ball of fluff came bouncing down the freeway. We scooped him up, took him to the vet to be fixed up and he's been a part of the family ever since. He's a little skittery (well who wouldn't be after that kind of trauma) but he's a little love. Mostly though, he's really Matt's cat. He loves Matt and Matt loves him. So today I finally finished cutting out the bouncing Tigger from Mardenz and came up with the words "He's had us wrapped around his paw ever since he bounced into our lives" and cut them out in a circle. I learned a little while ago that if you have small cuts, it's best to put a clear overlay over them, so I cut that out of contact paper and covered the whole thing. Well, that's it for crafting today. The in-laws just invited us down for dinner so no more crafting. Good timing too, I just finished the laundry a few minutes ago. So happy Fourth everyone!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July to all of you out there. I hope it's a safe and happy holiday for you all. We celebrated early this year so today will be a quiet day. Thank goodness because it's been a busy weekend already. We ducked out of work early enough to make it to the last matinee of Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon in 3d on Friday afternoon. Then it was home to cut out the mickey cup for Mom and make potato salad (it's always so much better tasting the next day!). My family was over for ribs that hubby finished off on the barbeque. They were amazing even if you aren't a rib fan. Then the girls took a quick trip to JoAnn's where I picked up another storage cart so I could get my project materials stored off my work space and give me more room to work. Then it was back for a Real Housewives of OC marathon with my sister. It was actually disappointing because pretty much all of the women have just gotten bitchy and self-absorbed. Then yesterday we finished helping my friend move her mom, I finished up my dad's Grumpy cup, had dinner with the parents and finally back to finish watching the last OC episode's with my sis. So today, it's nice that I get a quiet day to spend in my craft room and finishing up the laundry. I know it seems kind of backward, but I love having the busy part of the weekend at the beginning and finishing up with a quiet, slow day. I'll be enjoying this little bouquet picked from our yard and playing with some ideas I've been floating around for a while. So hopefully I'll be back with some projects I've finished later.

Cup art...

I made my mom a Mickey Mouse cup but forgot to take a picture of it. I was looking for a Grumpy SVG but couldn't find one so I broke down and borrowed my Mom's Happily Ever After Cricut cartridge to make this one for my dad so they have nice cups to take on their trip. I almost didn't get a picture of this one, but I quickly snapped a picture on my phone before I handed it over at dinner tonight.