Where's the rope...?

It's soap without a rope. But it does have it's own knitted sweater. This is the COOLEST birthday present! Wool to boot. My knitting/co-worker/"twin lost at birth" made this for me. Ok, so she's not really my twin -- since she's 8 months older than I. But people do mistake us for sisters/twins. We don't see it, but others seem to. Lots of others.

Anywho. She says that as it is used it will felt together. I can't wait to try it out. I'm very interested in felting. I haven't tried it yet, but it's on my list of things to do -- eventually. What a great way to combine soap and cloth!!! Find out all about it here at her blog: Fruit of My Hands.

I consider her one of my crafting mentors and one of my best friends. She's a wonderful knitter and quilter. She inspires me to keep learning and trying new things. I know, I know...socks are on the list too. I just think my hands are too big & clumsy for DPNs.

I guess that's all for tonight. I really need to go to bed. Moving to my new office tomorrow. WOOHOO!!!

L8R

p.s. Edited to say that she must think highly of me. Wool makes her itch -- badly.

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The Limelight has faded...

...another birthday come and gone. It was a very good one though. Forty-four (44) isn't so bad -- yet. But then again, it's only been a day.

I received lots-o-goodies from my friends and family. Everyone should feel special on their birthday. I know I surely did!

This is the first card I received. It's from my mom (and dad. She made it.). It reminds me of the purple shag carpet in my bedroom (1976-1983). I got to pick the carpet & color. I used to LOVE purple. I still LIKE it a lot -- I just love GREEN more now. I love this image. It's from Summer By the Sea. She used clear EP (embossing powder) so it's shiny IRL.

She's doing very well in her cardmaking I think. It only took us (sister & I) about 5 years to convince her that she could do this. She always admired the cards we made, but thought it was too hard. We showed her the easy stuff. She's taken off since then. Guess that can happen when you're retired!

Can you tell who this is from? Yeppers. From Brian. He's getting better too. It looks like red hearts and flower, but they are really Rose Red. Pink & green are two of my favorite colors together. I don't know if it was by accident or if he remembers me saying it. I love it anyway. He even used a rub-on and stamps on the inside. I won't gag you with the mushy stuff. It's very sweet though...just like him! He's definitely a keeper. I would never find another man that would love me like he does. God put us together for sure. I always tell him, "I don't know what you did bad enough to deserve me, and I surely don't know what I did good enough to deserve you!" And that's the truth!

Moving on before I cry....

This card is from my mother/daughter friends. They are in my monthly stamping group. The mother is also a co-worker of mine. We have lots-o-fun at our stampin' get-togethers. I enjoy sharing my love of stamping with them. And they teach me things too. I love the colors of the patterned paper. Very summery and fun! Thanks gals!

Last but not least is the card from my sister. Did I mention she owns a scrapbooking store? Remember When Scrapbooking? (Ok, biased plug for her store. She can pay me later...heeheehee.) This one had 4 gift cards to my some of my favorite restaurants (in the holder on the front). That's a very clever card! She said the gift card holder came premade from My Mind's Eye (paper company). I haven't noticed them before. I'll have to go look tomorrow night.

She the best sister in the world!!! She knows most of my faults and loves me anyway.

I need to post separately for one of my gifts. I hope I can get it right. More to come....

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1930's Wife?

Saw this test on In Em's Closet blog and had to take it. Here's my score:

109 As a 1930s wife, I am Very Superior Take the test!

Definitely not my era, I probably should have been born in the early 50's instead of the mid-60's. Or at least I used to think that. I'm not really as liberal as that 50's generation. And the older I get -- the more conservative I get! I guess that's a good thing.

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Happy Birthday....

to me! WOW.

Mom called to say she had a hard time believing that it had been 44 years. She said she was as big as a cow (thanks Mom), and they stuck a needle in her back that would reach to New York (from Kentucky). Such fond memories. No wonder she waited 4 .5 years to have my little brother. And before me it was 8.5 years (big brother). And yes, one more time...6.5 years after my little brother, I got a little sister (who just turned 33 last week. Hi Shan!)

Anyway. So far I've celebrated with my co-workers (FOOD DAY!), and friends/sister (LUNCH). No tellin' what's in store tonight @ church.

AND, so far I've received 5 cards, 3 of which are handmade. One of them, by my DH, Brian...has my favorite colors...bright green & fuchsia. What a sweetie!

I'll post again later.

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WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!

I made Kristina's top 24. Oh yeah! Go girl! It's my birthday -- well, close. I'm so STOKED!

Ok, so I didn't make her top 10 or her random 10, but I did get a mention/link. In her first paragraph she says to click on each of the orange linked words to view other cards that had the same inspiration as she. I'm the "how" link. That's too cool! My first time to make deadline....

Thank you so much, Kristina, for linking to my card & blog. You made my day!

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OMGosh!

I couldn't post any more last night. My eyes were so heavy after posting my CIC card. But I just have to post about this.

A little background.... Friday nights are usually my night to stay up late (i.e 4-6 am), because I'm usually at Remember When untill 11pm. So I usually make cards or just play around on the computer. That being said, there's not much on TV that late. I have "What Not to Wear" DVR'd every week. But last night I got to watch it. Actually both of them. The previous week's is usually aired before the new one.

Anyway. After those were over, and I had watched "10 Years Younger" (I like that too. I would refuse the Botox and other stuff they inject into you -- ick!), I was flippin' channels and came across CMT. Now I'm not a CMT fan. My favorite music is Contemporary Christian. But "Trick My Truck" was on, and having a hubby that's a truck driver, I like that show. So I watched 2 episodes. And yes, I cried!

And guess what comes on after "Trick My Truck"? Yep, you guessed it..."My Big Fat Redneck Wedding". It's the first time I've ever watched it. It will probably be my last. But I ended up watching 3 episodes of it. This is all I have to say about that. ".............................................................. OH MY GOSH!!!!!"

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CIC #12

I've been thinking about this all day long. I made challenge #11, but I forgot to post it to Kristina's blog by the deadline -- can we say DUH! I blame it on it being late when I finished and put it on my blog. That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.

I love this place mat. I reminds me of cutwork/hardanger. Something I've always wanted to try. But I've given away most of my x-stitch stash. I traded it for ink, paper, and stamps. A trade up I'm thinkin' (although I will always love x-stitch).

So. I really wanted to take this one literally. It's a very classic/classy look. Super crisp.

I'm so glad that Stampin' Up! came out with textured CS. It looks just like the linen place mat. I used it in Whisper White & Sahara Sand. I used smooth CS for the So Saffron and Wild Wasabi circles (I'm going to miss that color!).

Anyway. Here's the card I made. The sentiment says, "I'm here for you always...". And inside it says, "please know that I care". I thought the Curvy Verses stamp would go with the circles.

You can't tell from the picture, but I used a clear Glaze gel pen (by Sakura) around the circles -- to mimic the edging on the place mat. It looks good IRL.

Guess I'd better go and link is to Kristina's blog before I forget!

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CIC#11

Just a quick post for Kristina's Color Inspiration Challenge #11. This is first one I've attempted to do. The idea is to take a color combo and create a card or scrapbook page using those colors as inspiration. This is the inspiration picture. You can get the details here. Then she picks her favorites and a few random ones.

I think these are pretty cool. I enjoy seeing everyone's interpretation. That also usually links me to other blogs -- blogs that I probably never would have found. There are some incredibly talented papercrafters on the WWW.


Anywho. Here is my card. I thought the colors were great. So Saffron, Rose Red, Old Olive, Going Gray, and Whisper White. I combined the challenge with a birthday card I needed for tomorrow. It would have been much better if it hadn't needed to be a masculine card.

I only have a few sets that are "masculine". And this one isn't -- necessarily. But it was quick and easy. The inspiration picture was mostly yellow and white -- so I tried to keep my card mostly those colors. I used the other colors sparingly. I never did see the Old Olive in the picture. Maybe I'm just missing something. I also added a little Taken with Teal for the bubbles.

Also, you can't tell from the pic, but I clear embossed the fish strip and the fish/words images. I was going for a watery look -- and it kinda looks wet IRL.

I think I could have done a better job with the challenge if I had made it more feminine. Oh well. Maybe next time.

I did make one more card for tomorrow. I used the same stamp set (Very Puny, a 2007 SAB set). It's also for a male, but this one is 3 years-old. It's totally more fun. And I had more fun making it. I guess it's because I've made a similar card before. This is one of my favorite color combos : Bashful Blue, Ballet Blue, and Gable Green. Very "oceany" to me.

Ok, that's it for tonight (eeks! this morning). HEYYYYYY! Stampin' Up's retired list comes out in an hour. I can't stay up for it. I'll just have to check it in the morning....phooey!

Good night.

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What Happened?

Something happened to my header/title. I'm going to have to try to fix that after church.

Ta ta for now.

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Quick post...

Ok, this is supposed to be a quick post. We'll see....

Just wanted to post since I hadn't in a few days. Seems like Sunday night is "my" time to post. This weekend was busy.

Saturday morning was spent with my mom, sister, and two nieces. We went to sister's scrapbook store to scramp (scrap & stamp).

Mom stamped a little. But mostly she organized my sister's box of ribbon. That's mom -- always cleaning up after us.

My oldest niece made the cutest paint can. Her friend is decorating a nursery in frogs (for a little boy). I don't know the company that made the paper, but it jumping frogs on a brown background. She paired it with green/lt. green polka dot paper. TOTALLY CUTE! Wish I had gotten a picture of it. I think she may have taken a pic w/her phone. I'll have to see.

My youngest niece needed a graduation thank you card for her boyfriend's mom. So we worked on that. I have a new punch from Easycut Craft. It's the LACE design. We used it on the bottom front edge and we made a small circle. We also used the Quickutz Revolution to cut a "t" (the bf's mom's name starts with T). We put it on the circle. It turned out really cute. She liked it. Wish I had taken a picture, duh!

Sister had to work -- so she didn't get anything made -- not that she had planned on it. But she did help out with the paint can. She used the Silhouette to cut the baby's name. She also helped the other women that were there scrappin'.

I got cardstock cut for one of my projects for this coming Thursday night. It's our monthly Stamper's 10 meeting. I really look forward to our stamp night. We have so much fun!

The card that I cut the paper for is the Father's Day card (see May 31st post). It's the Bronc Buster card. I love that card. It's so fun to make. I hope they will like it too. The girls at the swap did!

I also put some "pages" in a scrapbook. My first time to try a scrapbook. I received it in my door prize at the Shoebox Swap. It's a 5 x 7 book. And it had coordinating paper with it. I've never really scapped before. So 5 x 7 isn't as intimidating as a 12 x 12. I got about 4 pages put together...without photos. I'll have to find some to add to it. But it is cute, and I think I could get hooked on scrapbooking too. Although cardmaking will always be my favorite papercrafting love.

Saturday night, Brian & I went to the movies. We saw the new Indiana Jones movie. I really liked it! But then again, I like most movies that I see. They transport me to another place/time/world. I like to get taken away like that. I love going to the movies. Brian doesn't understand why I like to see movies on the big screen. He's happy to rent a movie and watch it at home. That's ok too sometimes -- but there's just something about the big screen and getting caught up in the "reality" of the movie that can't be experiences at home. Maybe the feeling that I'm in the movie too...right there with them. Or maybe it's the larger-than-life size. I don't know what it is, but I REALLY like it. Maybe if we got a big screen TV... (hint, hint). LOL!

Today. After church I worked on another card for Thursday night. I didn't make it long though. I got up to go to the bathroom and ended up taking a nap (no, in the bedroom). I was only going to sleep for about 45 minutes. Ended up being about 2 hrs. I just couldn't keep my eyes open.

So I worked on the card tonight after church. I cased the card from SCS (Split Coast Stampers). Actually, it's from 2 cards in the gallery. I'll post it later in the week. I think it turned out really cute. It's using the new Fresh Cut/Fresh Cuts Notecards. It's one of Stampin' Up!® June specials.

Now, I just have to make another card for our meeting. I will use the other special. It's about eScaping -- from the "e" (electronic world) -- and making a handmade note/greeting/card. I'll post pics when I get it finished too. And links to the Stampin' Up!® website.

Well, I wanted to keep it short tonight. Yeah right. Didn't happen. Oh well. No biggie. It's my post, and I'll make it as long as I want.

Going to bed now. L8R.

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Ch...Ch...Ch...Changes

Ok. So how do you like my new template? Can you tell that green is my favorite color? I came across this template and fell in love with it! It looks like it's been stamped. It's at Jackbook.com. I am by no means a html guru (like my friend/co-wkr.). But I did figure out how to tweak it a little. The font was really small. So I changed it. I don't think I did it right -- but it's ok until she (the friend) can look at it.

So far I've only told a couple of people about my blog. I wanted to get this template uploaded and ready before I sent it to everyone I know (heeheehee). I'll probably send out an e-mail tomorrow. I'm too tired tonight.

That's all I wanted to talk about tonight. Gotta go let the cats out. Then I'm going to read for a few.

L8R

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Shoebox Swap a Success!

Here it is Sunday night already. And look...it's late again. But I just had to say that Saturday's RWS (Remember When Scrapbooking) Shoebox Swap was a success. I had a really great time. I hope the other ladies enjoyed it too. We made some awesome cards and a mini-album. They totally rocked! I'll scan and upload pics later. This week is going to be pretty busy. Maybe I'll get to them on Thursday.

Anyway. I just want to say thanks to Shanna for letting us have our swap at the store. We had lots-o-space, and we got to shop too!

And thanks to the ladies that participated. It was fun meeting the new ones and seeing the "old" ones. You guys are too funny!

Anywho. I've got to go to bed now. I have to be @ work early for a training session. We're getting a new "system" for the whole university. I can't wait to see how it works. I've taken a few tutorials...but it's nothing like hands on.

What else before I go? OHHH, the highlight of my day. My 5-year-old pseudo-son (my friend's son) gave me a BIG HUG this morning during song service and said, "Tonya, I love you." It was all I could do to not cry. He's such a cutey! Of course I told him that I loved him right back. It was a priceless moment. I'll never forget it.

It's too bad that Brian and I can't have children. But then again, I wouldn't be as close to all my friend's children if we had our own. Someone asked me the other day if we had children. I said, "No, but I'm not childless." I have several friends with children. I've helped raise some of them. The oldest ones are now 24 (yikes), 22, and 19. I met them when the 19-year-old was 9 months old.

My best friend's two girls are now 15 (in Aug.) and 11 (in Sept., born on our 2nd anniv.). Where has time gone?

And my other friend's children are 7 (Nov.) and 5 (July, he's the one that gave me the hug). And these are just my friends' children.

My nephews are 27 and 11. My nieces are 24 and 18. And my great-nephew is 8. How crazy is that?

Wow! I can't believe I've watched these kids grow up. I can truly say that they ALL have been such a blessing to me. And they're not the only children I've been around. I really love kids! (Although I'm not as tolerant in my old age as I used to be.) We've played with most of the kids at the different churches we've been to. DH love to pick at people -- especially kids. Who am I kidding? He's the biggest kid of them all. He loves to laugh and have fun with them. And they seem to love picking at him too. I'm glad. It makes life so much more fun to hang out with kids. Keeps us young (wishful thinkin').

Jiminy!!! I've started rambling again.... Ok, gotta go. More L8R.

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