Thursday, December 11, 2008

Chip Chop Chip

It has been quite busy in my world lately. Picking up new tasks at work and trying to get a class out of the way so I can focus on my other one. Fun times! :-P

I saw Jim Gaffigan's show last weekend that he was taping for Comedy Central. It was great, aside from the punks in the row in front who totally runined the Hot Pockets bit.. GRR!! But after the show, I was able to meet Jim so that made up for it. Hoooot Pockets!

The weather has been quite crazy lately. Earlier this week, it was in the 80s and by night, there was icy rain. It's been driving me nuts switching from freezing cold to sweatin' my bum off. Hopefully it will make up it's mind soon.

I have been doing alot of baking lately - eversince Thanksgiving. Making pumpkin cheesecakes in my new mini cheesecake pan. And then I learned how to brown butter and make madelines. I've made several dozen batches of cookies and of course, cupcakes! I hope that I can get my butt into gear and do some paper crafting, but I think I need to focus on Christmas shopping! >_<

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Been A While..

It's been a while since I've updated anything here. I've just been way too busy with work lately. Hopefully, I can get back into the swing of things after this week. I need to catch up on sleep. But on a good note, I'm back on a Blackberry!! Woohoo!! :-P

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Dragon Boat Weekend!


Things have been quite busy lately. I spent most of last weekend in Sugar Land waking up at before 6 in the morning for two days for Dragon Boat stuffs. I know, I know... that's REALLY early for me!!


The weather was awesome for the races. Plus, the new location was great. Hopefully we get to stay in Sugar Land from now on!


Tim made it out and got to help with the Finish Line! *click* ^_^


My buddy, Irsan! He showed us Bubble Tea place a couple minutes away from our event with some yummy Milk Tea!!


This is where I spent my two days helping out. Jenny and I ran Merchandising. We were pretty lucky with our location. We could see the main stage and the races!! The 2008 season is over! Yay TDBA!

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Property of Joey McIntyre


Watching the videos that VH1 had recorded when I went to see the New Kids on the Block concert still gives me chills!! I can't believe I went to see them and what is being shown on TV... I was there in the 11th row! I was soooooo happy that Joey Mac was mostly on the side I was on!! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~~


Proof I went to the show! :-P
Pictures from the Concert

Single


My Favorite Girl


You've Got It (Right Stuff)

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Yippee!! It's here!!


It finally made it!! Yay!!!!!

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

The Block!



EEEeeeeeeee!!!! The New Kids on the Block released their new album today! Although, I am quite bummed since I pre-ordered the album through their website and I didn't get it in the mail today. :(

I did find a temporary solution that will hold me over and hopefully it will be in the mail tomorrow, along with my t-shirt! :-P I did stop at Best Buy today and picked up the Singstar 90s for the PS2, which has a New Kids song on there. How could I have missed this before!? I am ashamed. :-/

Monday, September 1, 2008

Inexpensive Ink Storage Solution

I took the plunge and went to the Container store. This is a dangerous place for me, along with bookstores and hobby shops. At one point, I had a handful of items in my hand, but I walked out with just one item (for my scrap stuff). It's a box from a company called Livinbox. This is the Stationary Organizer and it was only $9.99. Double-stacked, I can fit up to 36 SU stamp pads in there. These are supposed to stack on each other, but I'll worry about that when I fill this up. :)



Below is the label on the box:


I think I am at 30 SU stamp pads, so I have room to put my other stamp pads if I want to.


There was another one available for 8.5x11 paper for $14.99, but this one had a deeper tray. I think this would work well for rubber stamps as well, but I am debating on whether or not I want to unmount those.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Oodles of Doodles

My first SCS Inspirational Challenge. I had a really tough time with this one, but I am not quite sure why. I think it may be because I had thought about it too much when I first saw the challenge. All these ideas popped in my head. After a couple attempts at a card, this is what I ended up with.

Inspiration (IC142 - Marimekko Umbrella) and card:





I stamped the card with Rhonna Farrer Flowers with Stazon. Then colored in some accent points with my Copic. I doodled the edge of the card to try to mimic the style of the stamp and the umbrella. I wanted to keep the card simple so I pulled out my Stardust pen and colored in some accent spots. Popped up the large sun-looking flower, added a silver dew drop and tied a little ribbon. I wish I had a different color ribbon though. :-/

I was having trouble with the result since it seemed like too simple of a card, but I think I kinda like it now. :)

Saturday, August 23, 2008

First SCS Challenge

On Wednesday, I decided to join SplitcoastStampers. I've been inspired by so many of the cards and ideas on the site, that I figured it would be fun to participate.

Taking a break from fighting with the computer, I took some time out to try this week's Wednesday challenge. Here is this sketch and what I ended up with an hour or so later:





I pulled out the stamped Whipper Snapper image I had gotten from Jody at retreat. I thought it would be fun to do a summer-y card even though summer is just about over. I accidentally flipped the background angles from the sketch, but it was my first try at this. Next time, I'll pay more attention. :)

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Time for a Break

Alot of things have been going on lately with work stuff. A friend and I decided to meet up at Archiver's to work on our fun therapy. She worked on her scrapbooking pages and I worked on making cards.

For the retreat, my scrap supplies took up my entire trunk and half my back seat. Somehow I managed to narrow it down to just one bin, my 3 tackle boxes and a bag of paper. All of which filled about half my trunk! So it is possible for me to slim down on what I bring, but I know at some point I was thinking, "Darn, I wish I had that with me." Oh well. I managed. :-P

So my 2 and half hours there, I made two cards and here they are. :)


Fintastic Friends: Sonburn Cardstock, SU Whale Wishes Stamps, Only Orange Ink, Nesties, Dew Drops, Paper Studio Ribbons, Crystal Stickles


Simple Tiled Card: Basic Grey American Crafts Cardstock, Papertrey GuideLines, Versamark, Flowers

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Stinkin' Cute!

Skunk stamps are too stinkin' cute! :-P I colored the Whipper Snapper Skunk with my Copics. Used my Stardust pen for the "stinky" parts. The sentiment is from a retired SU set that I saw in the last year's catalog that I had to have. The ribbon I found at Target over the weekend that was on sale.



Fluffles says "Happy Birthday!" I had colored Fluffles last week and decided that I should probably do something with him. I had picked up cardstock from Sam's over the weekend, which is the light green paper. The blue card base was from Archiver's. I found the flower embellishments over the weekend at Target as well. I thought they matched up pretty nicely. :)



Snappy Birthday! This card was fairly quick. At first, I was not sure about all the layering, but after putting it away, I like it now.



Below is just a little tag that covers a bag of goodies. I realized that I didn't have any candy to bag up and put it on so it's just the little card part. I distressed the edges and used the Tim Holtz distressed inks for the stamping and inking.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Be Sure to Check Your Cup Before You Drink

I went home for the weekend for a family get together in Dallas. On the way there, I decided to stop at McDonalds in Waco to grab a coffee for a mid-afternoon pick-me-up and some food to hold me over until I got home. I had brought a soda with me when I left the house so I didn't get to my Iced Coffee until maybe an hour later.

My first sip was.... interesting. I noticed something was in my mouth that didn't quite seemed right. Thank goodness I didn't bite down. When I pulled it out, I first thought it was a coffee bean until... I saw legs! AAAAAAAAAAGH!!! Needless to say I was grossed out and I still am.

The only thing I could do was call the McDonalds that I had purchased it from and let them know of my finding. They seemed shocked and asked what they could do for me. The last thing I would want right now is another coffee from them. I think I'll pass and just get a Starbucks instead.

I am not saying to stop drinking the McDonald's Iced Coffee - just make sure you check your cup before you take a sip. Otherwise, you might get a little icky surprise. >_<

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Duuuuuuuuude....

Found the perfect cup for the Prismacolors that Jody gave me! I was at Walgreens picking up a few items and ran across this cup! It's a good height, made of plastic and totally cute! And.. only $1!!



I went ahead and picked up some plates, bowls and more cups! This set will stay in the kitchen. :)

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

More Organizing Fun

Since the last time, I organized, I purchased a few more storage items. Archiver's was selling some hooks for a different organization set, but I thought it would work for what I had. It was a bit tight to get the hooks over, but a little bending, it was perfect. Now I can store items outside the basket, especially some tools and all my non-wood-mounted stamps.







Jo-Ann's had a 50% off sale on storage items. Got a canvas basket with a chalkboard that you can write on, but I don't have any chalks yet. Nesting baskets work great for my inks and CD cases of Nestabilites and Papertrey stamps.



My Iris rolling cart works great with my tackle box.



I downloaded a Copic Marker Color Chart and filled in what I had. Although it is missing the Warm Grays and Blacks. I guess I'll redo this when I get a chance. For now, it works nicely. :-P

Monday, August 4, 2008

Back From Retreat

Got back from my quarterly crafting retreat. I did end up making a good amount of stuff, but most of which I gave away before snapping photos of them. :)

This is a simple card that I made with the 3 lady owls hootin' together. Got to use my color drops.



I also tried out making water bottle packet holders. These were pretty easy and turned out really cute. I am not really sure what I'd make them for, but at least I've tried it. :-P



I had attended a card class a couple weeks ago and saw that someone was making card holders. Great idea. Their design was taller, but I preferred a more square look since most of my cards are the standard 4 1/4 x 5 1/2. I took a 12x12 sheet of cardstock and cut it to 12x9. Scored it longways at 6 and shortways at 3. This way I could fold it and create a two sided pocket page. I found that using nice two-sided cardstock does a dual purpose of decorating itself once it's done. This particulr card holder was made from the Cloud 9 Designs Chocolate Chalet. I definitely want to get more of this paper. It's soo nice! The leftover 3x12 cuts from the card holder can be used to decorate notepads. Perfect use of scraps and great for gifts. I had made another holder/notebook set using the SU Berry Bliss paper which I have already given away. :)



Below are just a couple notepads I had made.



Here is my attempt at a spinner card. I think after trying out this card, I am definitely going to purchase the SU Word Window punch. It was a bit of a challenge to do it by hand. It works, but it could've been quicker and easier. Plus, not I have another justification to purchase that punch. Yay!



I had also made a candy bag playing around with the distressed ink. Although I didn't get a picture of it before I gave that one away. Darn! I guess that just means I have to make another one!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

SU Retirement Party

I attended an SU retirement party last nite and got to learn and try some new things I had never done before. One of which was using a water brush. I have to get one now!! You can see it in the bucket of apples card below.



The other thing I tried was using the stamps that have a base and an outline. I definitely still need some practice as you can tell in the flower on the right. :-P



The last card I made was really simple and nice. I did end up ordering this paper since it was retiring. :)



The order I had placed a couple weeks ago came in and I can't wait to use my new stamps and punch!!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Camera Fun

In my previous blog, I was having trouble taking photos of my stuff. Today, I decided to see if I could cross this task off my list. I messed around with the lighting and camera angles, but I am not quite 100% satisfied. I think I am still needing something else to help me make it the way I want it.

Below are some pictures that I thought were not too bad, but not quite bright enough for me.

Stamping Bella - "Matilda Muffinbread" Test Shots:



Kim Hughes - "U R A HOOT" Owl Test Shots:



My ultimate goal: complete white background like the pics below, but with a richer color.



Needless to say, this test run has a huge improvement from the old photos so I'm happy! ^_^