Batten Down the Hatches!

That's right. It's 10 AM and it's PITCH DARK. After months of having the entire state burn, we are actually going to get some rain today. You know it's a desperate situation if I want it to rain because I really can't stand water in any of its forms... But boy oh boy do we need it.

I thought I'd better post my scary pirate ship before I had to go below deck. Parts of the city are already without power and getting hailed on - wheee! :)

I made this card for a VSN sketch challenge - it was so fun, because I got to use this cool design on the Nautical Expedition DSP for two of the sketch elements - so this was a very quick card.

The cool anchor from The Open Sea tricked everyone -  most people who saw this card thought the anchor was a charm - but I just stamped it and cut it out. I added an Antique Brad and a greeting from Ahoy Matey and kaboom! Easy all blue piratey card!

So I'm off - it's getting pretty dramatic out there. Have good rainy Thursday!

I Went to Sleep a Tape Girl...

And woke up a glue girl.

It's like when you find you've been transformed from someone who hates cutting things out, to a complete cutting maniac. Or from a non-colorer into a line art loving, coloring fiend.

It just happens sometimes. I could find people to blame, but the bottom line is, I now love glue because it STICKS. I've learned to just use a little so I don't get warping or squish extra glue out. I'm a known over-adherer so this was tough, but it can be done. I also think, although I haven't completed my study, that it is more economical than tape runners. I will study and report back.

I've already gone through a few bottles of this. 

Now, speaking of economical - a brief sidetrack. Grocery store foil is for suckers. I use a lot of foil, because I put it on my cookie sheets, make hot sandwiches, etc. I probably use a few square feet a day. A roll of foil - even the big roll, wouldn't last more than a few weeks. Ridiculously expensive. But, about a year ago, I bought a box of the foodservice foil sheets like this at Costco and experienced a budgetary epiphany! It's .0242 per square foot. Even at WalMart, the presumptive price leader, foil is .039/square foot. That's a pretty hefty difference if you use a lot of foil. The bonus? Not sawing your hand off or tearing jaggedy strips off those dumb boxes, because the foil sheets are precut. WIN! That's my random share for the day.

Now my NOT so random share is the sample I made for our Paper Button Tutorial at Splitcoast today! Have you made these? They are so easy and cute, and frugal since we're on that topic!

On my button, I used several layers of Crystal Effects instead of just one, and man does this thing ever look like a real button!! The rest of the card was super easy - four die cuts, an embossing folder and some ribbon.

Stamps: MFT Flowers Ink: Basic Black, Soft Sky Paper: Soft Sky, Bo Bunny, Whisper White 

Accessories: May Arts Ribbon, 1" Circle punch, 3/4" Circle Punch, Crop-a-Dile,

Die-namics dies - Rolled Daisy, Well Worn Words, Decorative Doily, Dizzy Border

Cute as a button, eh?

Now go forth and find bargains.

The ROI of an Espresso Machine

I had to clean my espresso machine yesterday. After 200 shots, you have to drop a little tablet in and listen to it make all sorts of crazy noises while it takes a little bath.

During this process, you have to turn the dial around and flip past the counter that tells you how many drinks you've made. I was startled to see that I had made 817 drinks. Not because that's a lot of coffee, but because of how much that would have cost me at Starbucks.

Everyone thinks espresso machines are really expensive. But think about this. 817 quad short breve lattes at Starbucks would have cost me $3700. I got this machine as a gift many years ago, but it was probably about $900. (That's 36 large stamp sets :) ) So if you take the $900, plus the $62 in coffee beans it took to make that many drinks, maybe another $30 in half and half - we're still looking at a $2700 payback!!

If you love espresso - you might want to check it out! The company that made mine - Capresso - has discontinued it, but they have all sorts of other ones. If you get one, get one that grinds beans for you and has a ground coffee option, and DEFINITELY get one with a milk steamer/frother wand built in. You don't want a separate grinder and frother, especially if you're working with my teeny amount of counter space.

So I think that justifies at LEAST $2700 worth of my stamp expenditures over the last few years, don't you? I feel completely guilt free! Makes it so easy to enjoy creating! :)

Stamps: MFT Up Up and Away Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Crumb Cake, Soft Sky 

Paper: Soft Sky, Whisper White, Crumb Cake Accessories: MFT Die-namics -  Flat Bottomed Cloud  Well Worn Greetings, Dizzy Border, Bleach, Paintbrush, Sponge

I love this quote so much - it's so true.

I know you can't see on the big picture, but the balloon is all glittery - I rubbed some Extreme Glitter paint on it with my finger - it's so beautiful.

Doesn't all that blue just make your eyes happy? Or wait - is that just me?

Congratulations to my Big Shot Die winner - Anne S! Anne, please email me your address and I'll get your goodies in the mail!

Now for the rest of you -  your assignment for the week is to focus your imagination! Make coffee and stamp something!

Loveyameanitbye.

What in the WORLD?

I have a typically random assortment of things for your amusement today.

First - just a ponder I had yesterday. My sister and I were having a conversation about a third world country, and it occurred to me that we appear to be missing the SECOND world. When you talk about third world countries, everyone knows what you mean. They also know that by comparison, non-third world countries are considered "first world." So what is the second world? Is it something like the dream world from Inception? Is it the Matrix? I'd like someone to get right on this and let me know. It could be that there are FANTASTIC opportunities for entrepreneurs in this mysterious second world. What if they don't have Hello Kitty yet? Or Iphones? Are you starting to see how important this is?

Second - we had major festivities yesterday - Mother's Day brunch followed by a combo birthday party/retirement party for my dad.

We had a high old time, including this rousing rendition of Happy Birthday that we all played on kazoos:


If you don't see this hilarious video above, click here for Kazoo Birthday. It may surprise you to know that is is actually more melodious than all of us SINGING it would have been. :)

Also, we played Boggle, which I've never played before and it is HARD! I love that game. I downloaded the Boggle app so that I could improve my skills.

Nursing my Boggle defeats, I retreated to something I know - STAMPING!! I made this card using the Texting Skills Challenge from CAS-ual Fridays, and a bleach technique I'm teaching in a class on May 28th - let me know if you want to sign up and make this card and two others!

Stamps: Texana Designs Poppy, Because I Care Ink: Basic Black 

Paper: Whisper White, Newsprint, Poppy Parade 

Accessories: Derwent Inktense Pencils, Derwent Blender, Bleach, paintbrush

I hope you all had a fabby weekend! I'll be drawing my winner of the Big Shot Scalloped Squares die and other assorted goodies tonight - so stay tuned!

And Also With You...

My day started oddly.

With an alien sighting.

I was driving back home from Starbucks and it was quite overcast, so everything was the same shade of boring grey and it was harder to make out details than normal.

This is when animals that don't come out during the day like to move around, because they know there is less contrast and it's harder to see them.

Aliens know this too.

So when I was almost right up on the alien, the first thing I saw was just motion. It was flesh colored, and naked, of course. I've never heard of aliens wearing clothes. It was just a few feet tall, but very thin and sort of wobbly. It wobbled out into the street.

I slammed on my brakes, as did the SUV next to me, and then, when we were stopped, we watched it.

We had startled the little alien and it was scared. But it turned and looked at us, and we realized it was a brand new baby deer.

It was so tiny and new to walking, and it was about 85% leg. Such a delicate little frail thing. I don't know why he ran out into the street - I hope it wasn't fire ants. But he turned and ran into the woods instead of running across the street, so we were relieved. Be safe, little deer! Run like the wind! May the horse be with you!!!

I laughed so hard when I saw this stamp - I had to have it. Here's a tip for stamp stores - have card samples in your restroom! It was on a card in the restroom at Stamp Salado that I saw this greeting, and of course I went out and looked for it.

I clear embossed the little horse from Wanted (retired) and then sprayed him with Adirondack Color Washes in Lettuce and Stream to get that nice green. The embossing folder is a Tim Holtz one, and the brad is from the Antique Brads collection.

Don't forget - I'm giving away a Big Shot die! All you gotta do is make a card! Details are in the Fred post.

Until we meet again - may the horse be with you!

Sweet Holidays

I was making a cute little piñata card for Cinco de Mayo when I realized that most holidays are not, in fact, pagan or Christian or anything else - they are just candy vectors for kids. It's fall? Let's dress up and ask strangers for candy. Spring? Let's see... Oh - I know - a large rabbit can hide candy for us in eggs. Because everyone know bunnies lay eggs, right? Oh here's one - let's whack a donkey with a bat till candy falls out!!

Come on people, I think we all know no adult came up with these plots. The same crowd that brought you the hot lava game and banana fana fo fana is in charge of your vacation days. So be nice to the little buggers.

So speaking of whacking a donkey till candy comes out....

Isn't he the cutest?

I inked up the little piñata from Cumpleanos in Versamark and then striped him with the new Melon Mambo, Wild Wasabi and Tangerine Tango embossing powders so he looked like the little pinatas we had at virtually every birthday party I went to when I was little.

I dangled him from some clear tinsel trim, and punched out 1" circles from Wild Wasabi, Tangerine Tango and Melon Mambo to go behind the oval. To make him stand out a bit, I outlined him with a Versamarker. The greeting is from Something to Celebrate.

I hope you agree that he's way too cute to hit with a stick! You'll just have to get your candy at Walgreen's!

Happy Friday!

Squirrel Lanes

It's City Council  election time here in Austin. This means it's time to select a new group of clinically insane people to replace the current clinically insane council members we have now. Most of the asylum escapees who run for these positions seem to focus on new and different ways to impede traffic in our town. They like trains that go from places no one lives to places no one works. They like to substitute bike lanes for car lanes. The new group probably likes horse drawn wagons or perhaps roller skates combined with little outfits with sails on the back. Basically, they are focused on anything and everything that makes it harder to get to and from work. I am convinced that this is because it makes the men in white coats' job much harder chasing them when they escape from the asylum.

Gotta give 'em props for that.

Anyway, I have my own proposal for something that will make traffic even worse in Austin.

Squirrel lanes.

Every day, I see dozens of squirrels in peril on our roadways, or, rest their little furry souls in peace, already dispatched to the oak tree in the sky.

I will vote for the city council candidate who will add squirrel lanes to all of our Austin roadways. In my mind, they would look like little Habitrails, and there would probably have to be about six of them on each side of the road, because we have a lot of squirrels. They need to be enclosed, because squirrels can't control their fits of crazy brain that make them dart out into the street. The city would need to make these go up over the intersections at every light, and so that would probably mean shutting down our busiest interchanges, which is in sync with their goal of complete gridlock at all times.

You're welcome, City Council. No need to give me credit. I'll be breathing carbon monoxide and sitting perfectly still on south Mopac if you need me.

Here's a little transportation themed ditty for the occasion...

This is the new The Open Sea set. I stamped the globe on Pacific Point Blue and used it for the moon. You don't know the earth isn't someone's moon - stop yelling at me! I stamped the ship's log image in Crumb Cake on Whisper White, rubbed the edges on my Crumb Cake ink pad and then sprayed the whole panel with Gold Glow Smooch Spritz. I stamped the ship in Basic Black on the Whisper White card base, and again on the log panel, and then just lined them up. The greeting is from Asian Artistry (retired).

I'm almost ready to show the results of my card catalog reorganization project! Whee! And in case you missed yesterday's blog post, I'm giving away a Big Shot die and some other goodies, so check it out!

I'm off to feed the squirrels and vote.

Loveyameanitbye.

Come and Listen to a Story About a Card Named Fred...

Yes, we named our card. Fred.

We?

Yes, we.

See, sometimes it takes a village to make a card. So gather round the fire, and let me tell you the story of Fred.

We have a friend named Sue Farrant. A spunky Irish gal, Sue entertains us with baby animals, fantastic cards and the most outrageously hilarious auto-correct mistakes you've ever seen. She tweets pure hilarity and we love her dearly.

Her mother must also have been an incredible woman to have shaped the little ball of fun and talent we get to enjoy every day. We didn't get to meet her mom, but Sue loved her, so we loved her too. And when the time came for Sue to say goodbye to her mother, we thought that maybe together we could do something better than we could do alone to show her that we wanted to divide her grief, as she has always multiplied our joy. We love you, Sue.

Friendship improves happiness, and abates misery, 
by doubling our joys, and dividing our grief.
--Joseph Addison

Hence, Fred was born. Fred is a progressive card, that has passed through each of our hands, and become the better for it. Fred was born in my stamp room, as this boring little fella:

That's what he looked like the last time I saw him, so I will be seeing his evolution today along with you, as you hop from friend of Sue to friend of Sue. To celebrate this great lady, her wonderful mother and just the joy of having friends like Sue and all the wonderful women who put this card together, we are going to have some gifts for you as you watch little Fred grow and become a man-card. :) See the end of this post for details on my gift.

But now, let's take a look at Fred's journey by traveling through the circle of friends below.. (these are in the order of Fred's evolution)

1) (You are here) - Lydia
2) Dana Keith
3) Mary Dawn Quirindongo
4) Leslie Hanna
5) Lisa Adametz
6) Michelle Hanway
7) Dreena Guptil
8) Tara Liddicoat

I will enjoy watching little Fred grow up today.

When you're done, please stop by and leave our good friend Sue a little love... After all, she has to live with Fred now! :)

For my gift, I ask only that you make a card for your mom or for a friend, and post that card on Splitcoast or on your blogs, and come back here and post a link. Everyone who enters by the end of the day on Mother's Day will be entered to win a Sizzix Bigz Scallop Squares Duo die as well as some fun surprise goodies from me.

Exhaling...

I feel like I've held my breath since September 11.


And while I didn't completely exhale when I heard the news, I did breathe. There aren't many days when I don't hear Mark Bingham's mom's voice in my head, and I never walk down a jetway without thinking about Barbara Olson and Todd Beamer. And I've waited, and waited, and waited with all of you for some human justice. Just something to show for all that breath holding.

It's not enough, but it's something. And those Seals have my complete gratitude and awe. God bless those people that care enough about us to do unimaginably brave and daring things.

So how about a ship for those brave Navy souls?

Stamps: Sail Away Ink: Basic Black 

Paper: Whisper White, Real Red, Welcome Neighbor DSP Accessories: White Felt

God bless America.

Not Just Friends, Friends with KITTENS!!

Stampy people amaze me. I got two cards in the mail this week that reminded me of just how nice crafty people are. Both of these are cards I fell in love with when I saw them online, and then POOF - they arrived at my door, like some glitter covered stamping fairy is in charge of the universe.

Perhaps that is the case.

First I received this card from the completely amazing Crafty Frugalista - she is the one who created the sketchbook I told you about here. She was kind enough to send me this hilarious card I loved so much! I laugh every time I walk past it on the Shelf of Fame in my room. Thank you Cindy!

Then today I opened the mail and I see THIS beautiful, yummy and perfect card and bookmark from my pretty, pretty princess, Jimmi Mayo!! Can you believe it??? It's making me happy next to my monitor right now.

I'm feeling like a very lucky girl. I feel like my friends are actually from Dairy Queen, where everything is just better, as you can see from this new hilarious commercial. (Thanks Kim!)


(If you don't see a video player, click here for the amazing kitteny goodness.)

When you stop wishing you really DID have a bottle of bubbles like that, it'll be time for me to say see ya later... :)

This was a card I made for a Free For All Friday On Edge challenge to give a card a fun edge. I decided to give mine GATOR TEEF to match my gator from Long Fellows. The little sunburst behind him is from A Little Somethin', and the edge is a strip of Cherry Cobbler I cut with my Tasteful Trim die.

Hope you're having a fabby, Dairy Queen style week!

Loveyameanitbye

Happy Birthday JJ!

Today is a very special day for all critter lovers. It's John James Audubon's birthday.

When I was little, my parents had all sorts of wondrous books, like those Time-Life series about nature, with beautiful pictures and all sorts of trivia that fills my head to this day. And while I loved the photos, I loved the illustrations, like Audubon's, even more. I loved the combo of nature and art. And I love birds.

My apologies to anyone with bird phobias (David, cover your eyes). But I love their coloredy, feathery goodness. I liked how he made them just a teeny bit more dramatic than they were in real life. He wasn't fooling me. He added some bird bling to some of those birds. And it rocked.

I bought a little book of birds with his illustrations in it for a dollar at Half Price books and have had a lot of fun making cards with it. 

The CAS challenge this week was for the Artist's Rule of Three. I didn't even have to do anything, because Audubon took care of it for me - the two birds and those berries are the perfect balance for this rule. Perhaps because he actually WAS an artist!

Stamps: Artistic Etchings, You're a Gem Ink: Basic Black 

Paper: Very Vanilla, Basic Black, First Edition DSP Accessories: Curly Label Punch, Black Jewels, Audubon book

I, on the other hand... I need to confess that the card is entirely backwards. It opens on the left, so for those of you who inhabit a strange mirror world - this would make a great gift. I did not discover this until I was TOTALLY finished with the card!! This is how things end up in the trash. And perhaps also why you should not craft at 5 AM. :)

Anyway, maybe JJ would understand. After all, nature isn't perfect either.

Queen For Way More Than A Day

The days are just packed, as Calvin & Hobbes says.

For one thing, we've got a royal wedding this week. I find this amusing for a few reasons. First, the horror of people who have to get up at 4 AM to watch it tickles me. I'm awake at 4 most days, and so it does not provoke screaming or fainting.

Back in the days before Tivo, there was another royal wedding.

I went over to my BFF Mary's house to spend the night, so that we could get up and watch it. Mary was obsessed with the royals, which I didn't understand, but it was going to be a fun night of brownies and TV watching, and we didn't have a TV. So off I went.

When the alarm went off, we bounded out of our racks to begin the ooh-ing and aahing over what I remember as a completely out of control poofy dress. It was poofy even for the 80's, people - trust me. I heard on the news this week that the wedding was delayed because they hadn't considered the logistics of getting that poor woman and the 87 squillion yards of fabric into her Cinderella carriage. It was about the point at which we got our first poofy glimpse that Mary started barfing.

Yep. Barfing. She was one of six, so there were a lot of germs to be had. And trooper that she was, she was content to watch the wedding while barfing into a trashcan.

I, on the other hand, have no such devotion, and went promptly home. I hope this one goes better. :)

I made this little royal bird for the Teapot Tuesday challenge this week - how in the world could I resist a blue bird?

Stamps: Nature Walk, Artistic Etchings  

Ink: Basic Black 

Paper: First Edition, Retired DSP, Whisper White, Ballet Blue 

Accessories: Pearls, Doily Triple Layer Punch (upcoming mini), 2.5" Circle Punch, Curly Label Punch

Now that, my friends, is some Royal Blue!!

Clear your calendars and fluff your PJs for Friday night - we'll be having a Virtual Stamp Night Mini with 5 challenges! The theme is a Pirate Party, and it's going to be a blast! I hope to see you there!

I will also have a MAJOR prize post later in the week, so stay tuned :).

Earth with heaven above rejoices...

See the land, her Easter keeping,
Rises as her Maker rose.
Seeds, so long in darkness sleeping,
Burst at last from winter snows.

Earth with heaven above rejoices...  ~Charles Kingsley

Stamps: Nature Walk 

Paper: Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Botanical Gazette, Karen Foster Designs Old Fashioned Eggs

Ink: Basic Black, River Rock, Pink Pirouette, Peach Parfait

Accessories: Recollections bling, Trinket Crowns, Pear Pizazz Seam Binding, Corner Rounder, Blender Pen

Happy Easter!

Orange You Glad You Have a Crockpot?

I am. I'm also glad there are nice people on the Interwebz that will share fabby recipes with me. If only I had had a crockpot and the Interwebz in college - just THINK of all the MSG I could have avoided consuming! The endless packages of 11 cent Ramen I cooked in a hot pot just make me shudder now.

Well thanks to Ali Edwards and A Year of Slow Cooking, I have a new crockpot recipe for you that I have to say rivals the Mac & Geez! It's Sundried Tomato Risotto, with a few modifications to the original recipe.

First of all, I have one of those crockpots large enough to put a baby in - not that I would ever put a baby in my crockpot - babies are dirty! :) Because of the size, I had to double the recipe so that it wouldn't turn into risotto brittle in a thin layer on the bottom of the crockpot. Second, the recipe needs a little salt. Third, I happen to think Swiss Cheese tastes like a dead ferret, so I substituted. All these things came together into one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten! And it's even better left over! So get the babies and the dead ferrets out of the room and give this a try.

Ingredients:

8 oz. Mezzetta Sundried Tomatoes in oil
3 C. Arborio rice (I used Vigo)
8 C. Chicken broth (I used Central Market Organics)
8 oz. Shredded Asiago cheese
1 tsp. Salt

Pour oil from the tomatoes into the bottom of the crockpot. Finely dice the tomatoes, and add them with any remaining oil. Add rice and stir all this together in the crockpot until the rice is coated with oil. Add the chicken broth and turn the crockpot on high. Cooking time depends on your machine - check it at about 2.5 hours. Mine took about 3.5 hours, so at 3 hours, I added the cheese, stirred it and let it go another half hour. Feel free to reverently whisper my name when you have that first bite :).

So speaking of orange, I made an orange card as a late entry in the Free For All Friday "Orange You Glad" challenge.

It was really easy! I inked up a flower from Fabulous Florets (upcoming Summer Mini Catalog) in Peach Parfait, and then shaded it with a Poppy Parade marker, huffed and stamped. The strip behind the main panel is Poppy Parade, and the greeting is from Happy Greetings (upcoming summer mini).

Orange you glad you stopped by today?

Leeward...

I've taken a million personality tests. They are so fascinating and so fun. I love that shock you get when you see the results. The "oh my - that IS me" moment. Much more revealing than looking in the mirror.

The Myers-Briggs is my favorite and to me, just dead solid perfect. I read a great book about that test that described the different types of personalities it defines, and one of those types is a person most often described as a connector.

A connector is that person in your circle who just seems to know not just everyone, but who knows everyone you really need to know. They are magnetic, and they are universally liked. People describe this person as someone who makes them feel energized and happy. Very frequently, they make people laugh.

Fortunately, I know more than a few connectors. And they've connected me to wonderful people and fun experiences. One of these people has a birthday today.

If I had to describe her in one word, I'd pick smiley. :)

She bounces into an online conversation like Tigger, with joy and warmth and exuberance and you just can't help but love her.

Her name is Lee.

And this is what I think of her.

Stamps: Unity March & April kit of the month Ink: Basic Black, Melon Mambo, Versamark  

Paper: Retired DSP, Melon Mambo Textured Cardstock, Whisper White  

Accessories: Ribbon, Bling, MFT Doily Die, Corner Rounder, SU Label Punch

That's right. Sassy, pink, hipster little Lee is growing up! She's probably at LEAST 21. :)

We are having a little LuvLee blog hop in her honor, so check out some of my homegirls' birthday cards for the sweetest, kindest little connector I know!!

Here are my friends' cards in no particular order:



Alison
Joanne
Paula
Lori
Misti
Crafty Math Chick
Nancy
Carole
Christi

Have fun hopping around, and count your blessings for all the sweet friends that stamping has brought you!

Happy birthday sweet Lee. You are a treasure!

Old Fashioned Shaving Bunnies!

I thought it was time to bring you some Easter fun, since we are getting close. In addition to all the regular fun of Easter, like pastel Easter dresses for church, Peeps, Cadbury Eggs and pink jellybeans, Dairy Queen was nice enough to bring back Old Fashioned Shaving Bunnies for Easter 2011.

If you, like me, are suffering through income tax prep at the last minute, you definitely need to take a look at these Dairy Queen bunnies.

Hilarious.

It sort of has the feel of those Old Spice Commercials. I love and appreciate that companies as big as Dairy Queen still have a sense of humor.

Now I sort of want a mini-blizzard and an old fashioned shaving bunneh.

Anyway - remember my Smooch Spritz Resist tutorial? Well I used that for a WAY non-traditional Easter card for the last Virtual Stamp Night. And by non-traditional, of course I mean BLUE :).

The challenge was a mashup challenge - to use multiple techniques. So in addition to my smooch technique, I added dry embossing and Scherenschnitte - say THAT three times fast!!

The little girl is from Easter Blossoms, and she is stamped in Pacific Point Blue. The embossing folder is Perfect Polka Dots, the background stamp is French Filigree and I used Gold Glow Smooch Spritz and Pacific Point for the background.

I hope you get some old fashioned shaving bunnies in your Easter basket!!

Shift Happens....

It's true. The whole earth shifted with the earthquake in Japan.

And smaller shifts happen too. I'm listening to a fascinating book right now on my walks. In this book, there are all sorts of interesting behavioral studies.

For example, there was a study done with rats about empathy. Rats could press a lever and get food, and they were trained to do that. Then, the experiment was changed, so that sometimes, when they pressed the lever, a rat in an adjacent cage got a jolt of electricity. So the rats ate much less, to avoid causing their little furry friends pain. Don't underestimate the feelings of our furry friends.

The one I heard this morning on my walk really surprised me. They studied people typing, by monitoring the brain activity associated with each letter strike on a keyboard. They found that when people misspell a word, the pressure they apply to the WRONG key in the word is significantly less than the pressure applied to the correct letters. And their brain activity level is completely different at that moment. So your brain is trying to stop you from typing "teh" instead of "the", but it can't always get to your fingers in time...

It happens. :)


But I did get a chance to play with some new toys this week, and do some organizing with the card catalog. To those of you who commented that you want to see the finished product, I promise I will post pics. In the mean time - check out the fun new Flower Garden embossing folder and the three step punches from the soon to be revealed Summer Mini Catalog! I inked the Embossing Folder in Crumb Cake before embossing. Did I use some hoarded Soft Sky? PERHAPS. :)

You know what IS absolutely perfect in every way?

Nature. Behold some 100% unretouched photos from my flowerbeds. Amaryllis, American Beauty and Clytemenestra.

Have a happy Friday, peeps!!!

Loveyameanitbye.

Cleaning Products and How to Avoid Cleaning With Them!

I hear from people who are PROBABLY telling the truth that products like bleach actually have a housekeeping purpose. But as every stamper worth her colored pencils knows, that kind of talk is just a crazy waste of air.

I can guaran-dang-tee you that no toilet is ever going to be as pretty as what I'm about to show you!

When I saw Beate's video for Bleached out images on Splitcoast, I knew exactly what I was going to do with my BELOVED new Fabulous Florets set. These flowers were perfect for this technique! I have bleached stamped images before, but always on colored cardstock, not Crumb Cake and it's stunning! It turns the cardstock this yummy buttery color and provides a great base for coloring



Now I did not emboss my images first - I just stamped them in black. If you do this, just paint the bleach inside the lines so you don't bleach the outlines of the images. If you do get bleach on them, after it dries, just use a marker to put the lines back in. I used colored pencils for my flowers, because I wanted a bright, intense blue. I put some uncolored bleached flowers on top of these after curling them with my bone folder, and I added fine black glitter to the flower centers.

The greeting is also a summer mini set - Happy Greetings. I love that font.

Now on to important stampy matters. I was lucky enough after a lifetime of searching to find a 72 drawer card catalog! I have wanted one of these for SOOOOO long, I can't tell you how excited I am to have found one.

It needed a little work, so after a sweet friend helped us with that, we moved it into the house this weekend.

Before I could get all the drawers back in, I discovered how a card CATalog gets its name.

Betcha didn't know that either...

Loveyameanitbye.

Quilt Me!

Yesterday I did make & takes at Scrapology for quilters on the Bluebbonet Quilt Shop Hop in Lakeway.

I don't know if it's just that I think of quilts as a more historical craft with longer roots or what, but as I was sitting there with the quilters yesterday I realized something shocking.

I didn't have a cellphone in college.

It's true. I'm that old.

I really can't imagine not having one, or even describing this to a college student now and being believed, but not only did I not have one then, I didn't have one for much longer than that. I thought back to my first ginormous cell phone and I thought it would be fun to share with you my personal cellular evolution. This is a picture of every cell phone I've ever owned, at pretty much their relative sizes. I think someone could make a quilt out of this!

Whoa. That first one gives me a brain tumor just looking at it.

Well at least you could make a call on the old ones. The new ones - not so much! :)

I decided to do a quilty make & take for my quilters, so I took a fabulous design from Scrappykat on Splitcoast and came up with this clean & simple number using Clearly for You. It was really fun & quick!

Are you Ting G I F? :)

I hope you have a fun & crafty weekend! I might live craft some Easter fun on my Ustream channel - watch the Understand Blue Facebook or blue tweets for times!

PS - don't forget to click my "Crazy Bargains" tab to help me de-stash my stamp room at amazing prices!

The Buds and the Bees

I'm a world renowned expert in growing roses. I know you didn't know this about me but it's true.

Now - by "world renowned" - I mean that I know this, and maybe two other people know it. But isn't everyone always saying it's a small world?? So there.

Anyway - here's the deal. At our first house, we had a nice, expansive yard. And by nice, I mean expansive. It was a very tiny house with a very large yard. And by yard, I mean a big limestone rock with 1/16" of dirt covering it. It was not exactly a gardener's paradise. There was not one green thing there when we moved in. When we left, it was a sea of beautiful St. Augustine, 12 feet of irises, a stunning clematis along the fence, and my true pride and joy - incredible roses.

I'm only indirectly responsible for these gorgeous life forms. I am at best a lucky gardener - it is not one of my spiritual gifts, although I enjoy growing things. Stamping makes you forget that there are living things around you, yes?

However, I do listen to the radio. A lot. And one day in 1998 I was listening to a gardening show and heard a tip that has served my rose friends well, and that was to put a banana peel in the hole before you put your rosebush in. This person said it creates a slow feed to a traumatized rose and has all the right stuff.

My 4H brain rebelled. I thought - SUGAR?? Won't that rot, draw bugs, grow mold? But I did it, because I didn't know any better. And in an absolutely impossible growing environment, I grew the most beautiful, healthy roses I've ever seen.

So I just did it again. And lo and behold - in one week - what do I see?

A rose.

Sigh.

I can't wait.

In other garden news - my 600 pounds of poop was apparently full of dandelion seeds. The battle begins. And apparently, this little fella didn't get the memo that bugs aren't supposed to like rosemary.

Look how pretty he is though with his fur and his beautiful sky blue stripe! (click him for a closeup)

So after all that nature, I thought I ought to reflect that in a little art, so I busted out some bees for today's Splitcoast tutorial for a pentagon treat tube. I made this one live on UStream, with a little help from my friends - Bunny and Mary Dawn and Leslie. They are actually the ones that suggested what I consider to be the crowning glory of this project, which is the pom pom trim around the back of the tab. Those ladies are SMART. And a little smart-alecky, but that's a topic for another day.:)

It really was quick and easy and fun to do. I used Nature Walk and Botanical Gazette paper. Go check out the tutorial. Completely adorable pressie that's totally do-able if you're in a hurry and have some cute candy to give away.

Like Bit O Honey, for example.

MMM.

Happy Wednesday.