Busy Busy…

Posted on | September 6, 2010 | 9 Comments

Just a few days before the trip and I have a list of last minute stuff. Since it’s just the girls and I there’s nobody else to rely on but me, myself, and I in terms of what to bring… or what makes it to the car. I have to remember to bring the important stuff and not be like our California trip where I left my camera on the kitchen counter. AURGH!!! That was the worst photographic trip ever!! Also, even though a drive to hubby’s family in Mississippi is a lot longer than our we’ll be passing through a few countries so I need to remember to have with us our passports (ALL of them, we have two each since as a military dependent we have to have a regular passport and another one – a no pay they call it – where the UK Visa is stamped — weird I know) and other documentations. BUT, in between all the prepping I managed to relax a bit while the Jove was napping and created this.

I’ve been eye-balling this digital kit by Quirky Twerp, The Retrospect 365 set (paper, elements, and tags) at The DigiChick and I found the perfect sketch to use it on: Sweet Sketch Sunday. If you like Webster’s Page or Prima you’ll LOVE this kit. So so so pretty and the colors are just so vibrant!! I felt a bit guilty when creating this card because a lot of gorgeous images were covered in the process. The below is just the paper!

Here I just want to show you how my card (and I do this for a lot of my work) looks from the side. I am not heavy on the glue. I use different size dimensionals and even when I use adhesive (ATG 1/4″) I’d only glue the bottom (or top or side, depends) part to give the card a more 3D effect. For example on the tag. The flower above it I used the ATG just on the bottom and one dimensional, close to the tag. I like to center my dimensionals if possible for two reasons, to not be too visible from the side and to also give it a more airy look — like nothing’s holding the paper on.

I did a few things on this card. I sprayed the tag and base with Tattered Angels ink. I tied two bows through one hole on the tag. The seam binding, Martha Stewart, I scrunched on the spot again. Then I rolled some twine (Etsy) around the tag and tied a big bow. I also didn’t cut the loose ends too short for a more “fun” feel. The little lace is Melissa Francis and the button’s from PTI. I did a lot of trimming. My hand went numb a bit but all’s good. Layered here, layered there — followed the sketch I did — and voila.

Here’s the sketch. I promise it looks just like it!!! For the base I did that flower pattern paper for the dark top portion. The tag is the light portion of the base. Then for the scallops, well if you look at the card there’s a line on the right side. That’s my divider line and instead of scallops I left it as is. For the center it’s obvious and I actually do have a strip of scallop paper, look to the left of the butterfly. The green strip.

I love sketches because they give me a starting point and after that I can move it around as I see fit. The stamp sets I used are Ever After from WPlus9 and Vintage Frame from Waltzingmouse.

Have a great one. I am super super sleepy right now. I’ll prob. edit a lot of stuff after I get up and have some coffee {::SMILES}. Been up late the last few finishing a few things up.

The next time I post it’ll probably be from Germany. Until then!

M’s First Day

Posted on | September 4, 2010 | 12 Comments

Yesterday was Emma’s first day back at school. Year 2 or 1st grade!!! She looked so grown up walking to school… short but grown up! It felt a bit quiet around the house after she left but it was nice. I could go back to tidying the house while Jovie’s napping and have it be nice for a few minutes at least. It was zen-like too to not have anybody going: Mom, mom, mom, mom, can I, I can I, can I, pleeeeeeeeeeease… Ahhhhh, love and duct tape!!

I’ve also been doing last minute prepping before my “big” drive to the mainland. I cannot wait!! The driving I can do without but oh the adventure and the new things to see along the way!!! I got M’s absence paperwork submitted (it’s really strict here to take your kidlet out right at the start of the semester), got the car kit, got our paperwork together, got the house sitters for our two dogs and four chickens, and tomorrow we’re going junk food shopping. I gotta have my beef jerky. I kind of wish I have an American car… or a car with a cup holder. Ya know a lot of cars here have either a small or no cup holder? It’s not illegal to eat, drink and drive but it’s more strict than in the US. Kind of like this case.

The other night I made a card too. It’s another sketch from Waltzing Mouse and it was challenging for me! But, after all’s done I like the end result. It’s kind of fun and still based on the sketch (squint if you can’t see it, ha!).

I got another Tim Holtz embossing folder and the other day the craft store on base had a 50% off sale and I bought a few Tattered Angels glitter mist and did some spraying.

Except for the Waltzingmouse sentiment (L’il Buddies) and the round circles (COMING SOON at the WM shop!!) on the tag everything you see came from two digital kits that I got from Sweet Shoppe Designs: My Wish for Him by Kristin Cronin-Barrow and Family Time by Penny Springman. These two kits are full of awesome goodies. Great for hybrid projects AND a lot of digital scrapbooks!!! Doesn’t my new little Samsung laser printer print beautifully? Love that thing!!

For more visual and feel I added some twine and Making Memories pom-poms ribbon. Oh, sewing again and now I wish I have a machine with more stitches!!

Ok, have a great one!

Thanks!

Posted on | September 1, 2010 | 7 Comments

Another post and another Sept. new release: Topiaries. This time it’s from Clear and Simple Stamps! I also want to use this post to say THANK YOU to all you readers. I just checked my stats and I have over 500 readers and almost 250,000 visits since sometimes in January of 2008 (when I added the stats option). Since the blog was actively used in November of 2007 I’ve had 824 posts and 7,494 comments. I am amazed!! I’m not the most regular blogger and I’m not always going around commenting either. So to get any visitor and comment is a big plus for me {::SMILES}. As for myself, I can’t believe I’ve posted 824 times!! Goodness! I’m not a new blogger, I’ve been blogging – of a form of it – for ten years or so but never commit to one for this long until now. Well, I guess that’s a lie. There was one that I committed too, my first one but I’m not ready to share with the world what it was. Only my close friends know (and don’t you all tell!).

So thanks everybody for supporting this blog via your subscriptions, visits, and comments. I truly appreciate it. I know that I’m not that great at replying to each comment but I do read each one and they always make me smile! I haven’t been a good blog visitor either because SOMEBODY keeps wanting to use my keyboard and when she’s sleeping I’d either be doing chores or working on projects. But, she’s only little once and I do want to spend a lot of time with her and also Miss M so I hope you all understand. Maybe after M starts school again I’d feel less selfish if I’m on the computer more — when Jovie’s sleeping of course.

On the card… I LOVE how well these CSS stamps stamp. So crispy clean!! For the card stock I used CSS brown aka Espresso Your Style and baby blue aka Trendsetter Blue. Very pretty together!! For a little bit of accent I added a bit of ribbon, also CSS, and of course a button. For the sentiment I used CSS’s matching brown ink. Perfect!!

I also LOVE the Tim Holtz embossing folder. See how deeply embossed the brown is? This is just another clean and simple design. Sometimes one can be so into buying tools and all sorts of products, been there myself, but in all honestly all you need are some good basic sets and you can make a lot of pretty cards. Oh, don’t forget the twine — it’s my thing now {::SMILE}. Have a great one and THANK YOU again!!

Today’s the Day

Posted on | September 1, 2010 | 7 Comments

For you to get yourself a WPlus9 Ever After stamp set and for me to get a Chip and PIN (EMV) bank card!!!

Yes, I am going to be like the Western Europeans and a lot of other countries (some Asians too I think… not sure about African countries and E. Europe) and no swipe and sign when using my debit/credit card. Half the time it’s been a stinkin’ hassle keeping our American bank card.

How does one use this chip card? You use a chip card like you’d use your credit/debit card at an ATM station, the machines that don’t swallow your card. Stick it in and enter the PIN. It’s less paper too. There’s no paper to sign and that extra credit card receipt. Also, there’s no international transaction fee. We’re lucky that our bank, USAA (BEST bank ever!!), waives ours (at least for a year) but most don’t. The fee ranges from 1-3%. If you ever overseas, check your statement. You’ll see the charge AND the transaction fee. It adds up!

Weeks ago I made an appointment but I had to cancel. I made another one two weeks ago for today. I know, right? Two weeks to schedule an appointment to open a bank account!! In the US one can just walk in to a branch and 45-minutes later walk out with a bank account. Hopefully tomorrow I can get everything taken care of and in a week or two have a shiny new card that I can use anywhere. We can’t even use a self-service anything now because they don’t take swipe cards. Sucks!

Card details…

First of all I love the color combo. I used sky blue, purely pomegranate, kraft, vanilla, mellow moss, and yellow. I had a lot of fun with this card because I used a lot of my favorite things on here. The best part was that I did a lot of sewing. I think my machine and I are buddies now! What did I do? I cleaned AND loosened it up. I guess that’s what that little knob was for. Before the thread was too tight and that’s why the thread always broke mid-way when I did zig-zags.

I’ve been loving layering my bows too. The base is PTI twill yellow ribbon. After I made the bow I tied another knot and bow, the crumpled seam binding from Etsy, over the twill knot. Then over the two I tied another knot and bow with the baker’s twine. To cover all the layers I added a button. The sentiment came from two different sets: Magical Moments and Funky Flowers.

Here I just want to give you a side view of the flower layers. I used dimensionals on the Gardenia and the leaves I just put a dab of glue on the bottom edge so that the only the edges would stick and not the whole leaves. I like it this way to give the card a more fluffy/3D feel. The rose, kraft paper, I glued on to the card base. It’d be too thick if I used dimensionals on everything.

The pattern paper that I used came from Paislee Press which is available tomorrow at the DigiChick. She’s guest designing and I couldn’t be happier – LOVE her!! I can’t wait to make a scrappy page with the kit!!

Ok, that’s it! I’ll be posting in a little bit too for another Sept. 1 release. Stay tune!!

What a Month!

Posted on | August 31, 2010 | 12 Comments

One more day of August! Can you believe it’ll be September tomorrow? Where did the time go? Tomorrow’s also the release day for WPlus9’s Ever After set and if you like what you’ve seen the last few days then you gotta get it! It’s a great set!!

If you’re not convinced, check out the other DT’s creations!!

The card design is based on the current 2Sketches4You challenge.

August… August could have been better if hubby’s around BUT, I’m not the type to complain or count down the days until I see him again. I always try to make the best of every situation. Plus I don’t want to make anyone suffer through my countdown, via this blog, Twitter or Facebook. Four days of countdown to a new stamp set if fun. Six weeks of counting down until the hubby’s back will probably make you vomit {::SMILE}. Despite his absence, August has been great because I got to spend the whole school break with the girls. M’s been taking horse riding lessons and it felt wonderful when I could tell the girl that I will be available anytime to take M to her lessons. M also enjoyed the fact that she doesn’t have to go to daycare. We’ve had so much fun together doing whatever she pleased (so far she hasn’t asked for anything unreasonable) and exploring the areas around us. As much as I want to go back to working full-time, or at least part-time, I know now is not the time. Sometimes my brain would complain and we’d go job hunting and bookmark a few but each time I’ve managed to tell it to be patient. At least until Jovie starts pre-school, which is next school year. I know I have all these different activities to keep me busy but it’s not the same. There’s no regular adult interaction. I miss having daily adult conversations! I miss going to conferences and presenting now and then — granted I can most likely do this on my own it won’t be as fun.

August was also cool because I got a new phone. I got an Android OS and a Google Nexus One phone. It was tough, I’ve always wanted an iPhone. I was going to get one and glad I didn’t because we found out soon after that we’re coming to the UK. So I waited. But after much research and looking + feeling I thought that the Droid would be a better fit for me. Sure enough, I LOVE it! Yes the iPhone still looks good and the camera + video is a lot better looking than the Nexus but the multi-tasking feature (ok, the iPhone is starting to do this too) and the ability to tweak it if I want to was what got me. I am an Open Source girl at heart.

In a few days, Friday, M will be back at school. We did all her uniform shopping and she’s ready to see her friends and new teacher. First grade or year two. My baby’s growing up! Each day I look at her I see a bigger M. It makes me want to hold Jovie so much tighter while telling her: Don’t grow up too fast, don’t grow up too fast.

I hope your month has been wonderful! Right now I am very much looking forward to September. There’ll be many more memories to make and I am, we are, looking forward to each one of them!! Have a great one!!