just a question...

The picture is a mirror... I thought it was kind of a neat play on words.
What do you see? vs. What do you seek?

Right now, I am seeking:
- perfect black flats
- a way to keep my skin from freaking out due to funky weather
- a way to fold space-time so I can do all the stuff I want to do AND get 8 hours of sleep a night
- inner poise/composure

What do I see? Hmmm...
- just me.

card made from: pottery barn catalog, silver heart, elsie button, staples, dymo ink, CI paper.

Bloggy goodness... As promised.

I'm baaack! So good to have a functioning internet connection. Amazing how much I depend upon it.....So here is what I have been up to!

Sneak peak of the ATC's I made for the SiS ATC Swap I am participating in:

Daily Card for Saturday, made with digital image courtesy of Hambly and 2peas rock star kit. printed, inked and gesso'd. Also, with Dymo label.

Daily Card for Sunday, made with foil tape, MM sticker, twist tie, shiny paper, and ad from The Stranger (a local weekly newspaper)

Daily Card for Monday, made with AC Slick writer pen, transparency, ink, paint, staple and Riley scraps.
Look what arrived in the mail! A Poppy Ink kit chock full of Tinkering Ink and Elsie goodness. I was really bummed because it sold out at the beginning of the month but then later they apparently got some more in stock. Is this kit totally my style or what?

I am INSANELY in love with that scallop stamp.
Also, a package came from Crafts, Etc (Hobby Lobby) full of Lola and Riley. Here is a picture of my "collection." I LOVE Love, Elsie! And here is a layout that I made with the Riley stuff:

Ooooo don't let me forget about these lil cuties!

Sculpey clay was on clearance sale at the craft store. So, due to no internet, I just watched movies and made these lil embellies. I particularly love the lil skulls.

Hmmm... perhaps I will do this for my next tutorial... What do you guys think? :D

So... that's it for now. Today's card will be made/posted later.

I am off to eat Thai food and watch Hot Fuzz on DVD. Hurray for Date Night!

Fire + outlet + cable modem = bad

So.. I was surfing the web on Saturday night, when my connection to the internet suddenly disconnected. The error message said my network connection was terminated so I went to go look at my cables and the modem.

What do I see when I look at the power outlet? A burn pattern on the wall and a totally melted plug. Scary stuff.

Anyway, I have been without internet since then. The cable people are coming tomorrow, to replace the modem and cable, so once I have that back there will be lots of bloggy goodness. I promise.

The littlest things...

I just bought this. Soooo very good.

It is important to have good music to scrap to. Very important.

A postive affirmation

I don't usually go in for this stuff, but one thing that really resonated with me was when the facilitator said: "Love your neighbor as you love yourself. And so many people do."

Here's to being nice to people. And to myself.

Card made from: Love Elsie/Creative Imaginations paper, ink, dymo, MM sticker.

Thursday's Card

Kind of a busy day...just need to remember to keep calm. And make sure that I take some time in the day for me. Me me me.

So, the last two days I have been immersed in a fantastic work-sponsored class called Increasing Human Effectiveness. It was-- incredible-- for me. It was all about the mind, and how to be a better person, by being more self-aware and trying to positively "reprogram" the brain.

The best part was that we did some amazing journaling. I totally got at least five layout ideas.


Card made from Cherry Arte and DCWV papers, MM sticker, ink, dymo, foil tape.

Thursday Bloggin.

Hmmm. It seems I have kind of been neglecting the blog part of blogging these last few days. Lots of eye candy and not a lot of chit-chat. Well, I suppose that's okay...

So here's what's going on with me. I got my first ever RAK in the mail today! Some very nice journaling spots from the lovely lady at CocoCupcake. She rawks!

I wandered over to Creating Keepsake's website and saw that they had finally posted the classes for CKC Seattle in November. Registration happens on August 8th. Oh yeah baby. I am sooo there.

So far, I think definitely want to go to Shimelle's "Reasons Why" class as well as Ali Edwards "Ali's Top Ten." What I think I am going to do is go to Shimelle's class on Thursday night and then spend all day Friday (vacation day, yay!) at CKC, starting with Ali's class. Still a couple of other classes I am considering...

Anyone else planning on going? Cuz we should totally hang.
Or anyone go to a previous CKC and have suggestions as to which classes I should go to? Also, how are the crops at these things?

I am such a newb, so I'd really appreciate some help.

daily card up in a bit...

Latest look

just a fun one using my new chandelier stamp and some stickers.

Made from: RVA kit scraps, betty sticker, bird stickers, making memories word stickers, ink.

*****ADDED***** The stamp is from Impress.

I think you can get it here

For my friend Tyler...

A layout about his daughter Meia. Isn't she the most adorable kid?

Made from Red Velvet Art June Kit. The frame is a doodle of mine. I think it looks pretty cool.

Just looking for...

not to get all philosophical or anything, but aren't we all looking for something?

What are you looking for?

made with: magazine ad, staples, dymo label, ink, date stamp, heart trim from RVA June kit.

Cupcake Love

made with Red Velvet Art Kit from June.

Crazy Delicious

oh yeah. Red Velvet Cupcake.

Card from: photo, sticker, dymo label, Betty Scraps, ink.

I *heart* Stamps

I'm kinda really into stamps today. Love how I can make my own patterned paper, and texturize things.

I've noticed that these cards definitely help with experimenting techniques. Lots of good messy fun with ink on my hands and paint under my nails. I'll create something and I don't like it because it's imperfect or I smudge something and ruin the design (see Friday's card).

I just keep telling myself "It is okay." I can just try again tomorrow.

Card made from: staples, cardstock, graph paper, cardboard, ink, stamps, dymo label.

And now, back to the studio...

One of my fav quotes from Bridget Jones' Diary.

I figured it was high time that I posted about my happy place--my scrap space. I have an Ikea Mikael desk squished in the corner of my bedroom that I have crammed full of scrap/crafty goodness.

It took a lot of work to come up with a storage system that works for me/did not break the bank. I'm pretty happy with it now, but I know it's still evolving.

The hardest part for me is that I really don't have a lot of space to scrap. Just my tiny little corner desk. So, I have to really "make it work."

One thing that helped was having a uniform storage set. I basically went out and bought ALL of this cool office set on clearance from Target. It all matches--black with silver hardware. I lurve it. Ties everything together visually, and is of appropriate size.

So, here is a little bit about how I store my stuff:

I store my decorative scissors in a pen cup. That way they look like a happy lil bunch of scissor-y flowers.

Yes, I do store my little scraps in a vase. I must see things to use them!

I have one big magnetic bulletin board that I use for inspiration/weird size product storage. I got these neat little magnetic baskets from the back-to-school locker stuff section. Fits my Elsie stamps perfectly.

My other bulletin board is half cork and half magnetic dry erase. I bought a bunch of those little silver tins (originally wedding favor tins) and glued magnets on the back. Waaaay cheaper than buying the ready made spice racks and the other stuff I saw at the office supply store.

(Before I did that though, I had found these scented candles in the same kind of tins that I scraped the candle out of.. that worked alright but it was super messy and my embellies kind of smelled like the candles did...)

I have a pen cup on my desk for pencils, etc. There is a fake hydrangea flower bunch on top. So it looks like it's just a vase, but there are pens in there. Just a little thing that is cute, camoflaging something kind of boring.

I keep all my buttons in those Ikea spice jars. I keep my ribbon in vases. Again, must see it or I will forget it is there.

I also have black open-top metal boxes where I store paint and my extra stamp stuff.

I have a thing for spiral bound notebooks... and those little Real Simple organizer books (begging me to alter them, begging!)

My paper and paper-like items (vinyl sheets, fabric, foam, felt) I store in Cropper Hopper holders on a shelf.

I keep my transparencies, photo paper and b&w cardstock in a separate paper holder shelf thing from the office supply store. It's made of cardboard, and I am currently looking for a replacement item for it.

Also not pictured is my scanner/printer which is on the top shelf of my desk. It's just above my head, so I have to be careful to always put the little printer arm out when I print stuff or I get smacked in the forehead with the finished paper.

This is what the desk looks like on a neat scrapping day:

You probably don't want to know what it looks like when I am doing multiple projects or painting.(shudder) Yeah......you know how it is.....

Questions? Comments?

What kind of stuff do you use for your scrappy space?

I totally finished...

reading Harry Potter 7.

Started at 8pm.... finished at 3am. (I'm a fast reader...and no, I don't skim)

I think it was awesome. I kind of have mixed feelings about the ending...but overall, it was really good. I kind of want to re-read the whole series again now...

Time for bed.

Saturday is the loveliest day of the week...

Today was awesome. This is why:

1. New peeks of Elsie's upcoming lines (on her blog, link is to the right)

2. HL is now selling Lola + Riley on line. I went ahead and treated myself to some stamps and those fabulous cardstock stickers.

3. Sleeping in and then going out to coffee with the boy is just the best thing ever.

4. Greg's parents throw amazing parties.

5. I got some quality scrapping time in. (More of the vacation book)

6. HP #7 came in the mail today. Thus the theme of the daily card. Card made from: delivery label, ink, Borders' ad.

Working on some other things. Some goodies and whatnot. Probably more info tomorrow.

Hope everyone else had a fantastic day!

Friday *Re-post*

Weird, I just looked at blogger and my original post is gone. I am assuming that it was eaten by Blogger. So, posting it today, Saturday.

Sorry peeps.

Card made from: Magazine ad, ink, white out, dymo label.

This pretty much sums it up...

made from: ikea catalogue, karen foster sticker, white out, dymo label, ink.

Everything that is cool right now is happening this weekend. For example:

- CHA (I'm not going but it's cool, right?)

- Online crops (with my SISters)

- Multiple hours of dedicated "studio" time for creating

- Greg's parents' annual summer party

- Rubber stamping & scrapbooking expo at the WW fairgrounds (still not sure if I'm going)

- ATC Swap at Rubber Monkey Love Stamps (not participating but thanks for the heads up Tallynt)

- Harry Potter #7

And most importantly:

- sleeping in

"oh no you di-int"

The Urban Dictionary defines "oh snap" as: (exclamatory phrase) a playful indication of surprise, misfortune, or insult popularized by Tracy Morgan of Saturday Night Live, OH SNAP is seemingly derivative of "oh no you didn't" where an insulted person, for example a guest of Jerry Springer or often a spunky African American woman contends the insult being made against him/her. While derivative of "oh no you di-int," OH SNAP has more of an emphasis on playfulness and can be said by people other than those being insulted.

Card made from: metal tape, magic mesh, ink, dymo label, heidi swapp letters, ikea ad.

Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers.....and the internet

Otherwise, how would I ever have got my hands on these fantastic products?

Thank you Elly and Maureen for taking my money and mailing me these fantastic goodies.

Bwhahahahahahahahaha. Must go now....

Tuesday Rain

It is raining in Seattle. It's kind of a nice change.
Card made from: ink, dymo, magazine ad, white out.

Monday Blah.

So, they sent me home early from work today. I managed to clock about 45 minutes. Nasty cough won't go away. I think I scared some of my co-workers.

Today was pretty good. I rested. Drank some fluids. Did another page in the vac book.

Also, watched some tv on the internet. I discovered this show called Daybreak. It's really addicting.

Off to bed now...

Nerding it up about fantasy books being turned into movies

Here's today's card. Made with scraps from the vac albumn.. or vac epic... whatever.

Oooh, we saw Harry Potter today. I thought it was quite well done for a 2-hr movie adaptation. Cannot wait for the new (and possibly final) book to come out!

What was also really cool was that we saw a trailer for The Dark is Rising, which is an adaptation of the first book in a series by Susan Cooper. I LOVE that series. It was one of the first fantasy series I ever read when I was young. The trailer looks like they will do it justice. I love that Christopher Eccleston is going to be the Dark Rider. (woo. go doctor who! get your evil on)

More of the vacation book

It's official. This is not a mini-book. This is a freaking albumn. Just of a smaller size.

I'm at page 17 and I still have three days of vac left to scrap. Wowza. Good thing I stocked up on all that Toby goodness.

I am completely in love with that picture of Greg and I at the beach. You may have guessed by now, we're not exactly the type of couple that goes and lies on the beach to get a little sun. (did my paleness give it away?)

We basically ran into the Pacific Ocean (at the end of Golden Gate Park). We walked up to it. I put my feet in the sand, then we left (we were kind of starving by that point).

The second layout shows the windmill and bison (yes, bison) that we found in the Golden Gate park. The background pp is a transparency I stamped with paint. I think it looks cool.

Make Art. Make Friends.

Can I just say that I am pretty much addicted to anything cute and japanese?

Card made from: postcard, stickers, gel pen, dymo label

So many cards, so little...

Went to Target for some more cold meds and some house stuff and what do I find?
Really rad playing cards. Pink, black and my new fav, clear.

It had occured to me that I would need to buy more than one deck of cards if I was going to get through doing a card a day and also the card swap I signed up for but this is too cool.

So excited to play with my new lovelies. I have no idea what I am going to do with the clear ones yet, but there have been so many good ideas for transparency stuff lately that I'm sure I will come up with something.

Two for the price of one?

Wow. Sorry for the lack of update. The last two days have been kind of gross. I seem to have caught some weird summer flu. Yesterday I was pretty much a sleep zombie.

Today I feel better, but still kinda blah. Turned down going to the Harry Potter movie. Just feeling too weak.

Card for 07-12 is made of ink, cardstock and dymo label.

Card for 07-13 is made from cardstock, ink and dymo label. Image is from Elsie's blog (where she debuted her two new lines Lola and Riley--link is to the right)

These lines are exclusive to Hobby Lobby. Unfortunately there are no HL stores on the entire west coast.

Fortunately, some of my SIStahs are going to sell me some. So hopefully that will all work out.

Hope everyone has a lucky Friday the 13th.

Effer Dare + Red Velvet Kit = Bliss

Woo hoo. First landscape. Pretty cool. Also, pretty mushy.

Sorry guys.

The challenge was to recycle something and put it on your layout. Mine is made from: Bandolino shoe box paper. Red Velvet Art June kit papers, buttons and measuring tape, Betty stickers and letterbox letters from hardware store and dymo label

Now to get crackin on that card...

Okay, card made from: love elsie papers, buttons and stickers from MM and Kinokuniya bookstore, ink, date stamp.

Just relax...

Here is my card for today. As you can see, I used the Red Velvet kit I got today.
It's quite a change for me. So very, bright.

I'm groovin on it though. Card is made from RVA kit, MM stickers, bird sticker from Kinokuniya bookstore, ink, date stamp and business card.

Red Velvet Love

Just got home to this!

Red Velvet Art Kit from June! Wooo hoo. So fantastically cute. I cannot wait to get my lil scrappy hands all up in that stuff.

I love this kit. You need to check these ladies out. Seriously. They rock. The link to their site is over on the right. Go. Go now.

*sigh of happiness*

Hey, did I mention this?

My "New Attitude" layout is in the slideshow at One Little Word. It's the 7th one from the start of the show.

Love that site. So very inspirational. Congrats and happy thoughts to Lisabeth for her layout about her son. I'm very happy that people liked my layout too. The new Word comes up tomorrow. Yay!

Still working on my lo for The Dares. Hope to finish tonight.

Peace out for now.

Stamp crazy

Okay, so I went a little crazy with the stampage on this one. Those Technique Tuesday star stamps are just so great though!

Also experimenting with the tiny steelfish fontwerks stamps. They are unmounted, so that was an interesting experience. As you can see, I need a little bit more practice before I wanna put it on a layout.

Card is made from: page from my dayplanner, cardstock, fortune cookie fortune, flower, dymo label, love elsie scraps, ink, stamps by Technique Tuesday, Fontwerks and Love Elsie.

Today was kind of lamesauce. I had a really weird allergy attack at work and felt generally awful all day. Neither I nor my doctor have any idea what I am allergic to so I just popped a benadril and hoped for the best. I napped for about four hours after work. Am now going back to bed.

Wishing good things for all of you. Nighty-night.

Happy Sunday

Hey all.

Hope you had a fantabulous Sunday.

I did. Not a lot of success with the thrifting, but that's okay. I got to spend some quality time with the boy, which was nice.

Here's today's card. Just a fun, happy little reflection on today. Trying to think positive thoughts about the end of the weekend. It's always a little too short, no?

Card is made from: gel pens (smeared, dang it!), food label, starbucks brochure, dymo labels, scraps from love elsie and 7 gypsies.