Bertie Bird is Best

Color Inspiration Challenge #54

2009-06-14T17:16:00.000-07:00

I love all the colors for Kristina's color inspiration but seriously, these challenges are getting well...challenging. I struggle each and every time I see which colors she has chosen. I think my brain is just on overdrive and sometimes in dealing with everyday struggles I find it hard to think.
I have a few birthdays coming up so I thought i would make birthday cards instead of my typical Thank You cards.

Happy Birthday

I had a hard time finding teal paper. That's one color that I don't have in my stash of paper/cardstock.

Anyways... I can't believe that half the year is almost over. I received an invite to go to a 'Christmas in July' card making party. What the heck!! Christmas already!

Have a great week!!

Color Inspiration Challenge #53

2009-05-24T19:41:00.000-07:00

Isn't that a cute pic? I love his "mom" shirt! This weeks challenge from Kristina used the colors of his little robot. I really love his little robot. I wasn't sure how to incorporate the black with the other colors. But then I remembered that I had a robot stamp I bought from Paper Source and I also needed to make more thank you cards and I combined the two and came up with this card.

Doomo Arigato Mr. Roboto

Yes, it's from that Styx song. I got to use my 'Doomo Arigato' stamp and my copics. I'm still learning how to use the copics. I have a 'stamping phobia' but using the copics makes stamping more fun.
Monday is Memorial Day and for those of you who don't have to work...Enjoy your day off!!

Color Inspiration Challenge #52

2009-05-20T11:57:00.001-07:00

Here is my card for Kristina's challenge.

I found this really cool wood grain stamp and used to stamp and emboss the background. I really like the effect and it even looked like wood. Felt like wood too!
I had a hard time with these colors. I wanted to use green.

Lately I've been making a lot of Thank You cards. The past few weeks (months) I've been dealing with some health issues and received so many flowers, gifts, leave donations and well wishes.
I went to Starbucks to get a couple of g/c and I loved the new g/c they have. I used the same colors that were in the g/c and used my new Quickutz die. Love that funky tree and that bird.
I must be on a bird kick because the past few cards I've made had birds on them.

Thank You

Maybe it's Emma rubbing off on me. Everyday for the past 2 weeks she has caught a bird or lizard and brought it into the house to show me. I have found many dead little sparrows in the middle of my living room floor, under my desk and even a bird feathers in my scrap room. I hate playing hide and go seek with Emma and her little friends. The other day I found a couple of lizards walking around the kitchen. One of them, the size of Godzilla, crawled under the stove. Emma is so good at catching creatures that one day she brought me a humming bird!

Color Inspiration Challenge #51

2009-05-06T21:49:00.000-07:00

Just another quick card for Kristina's challenge.
I planned on making a Mother's Day card, but I really needed a bunch of thank you cards so I thank you cards instead. I'm still loving that Top Note die cut.

thank you

Color Inspiration #50

2009-04-29T14:59:00.000-07:00

I made a quick card for Kristina's challenge. It will probably be a while before I post again so I wanted to make a simple card.

Happy Birthday

I bought the Stampin Up! Top Note sizzix die and I really love it. I can see myself making a mini book using this die.

Enjoy your day and have a great weekend!

Happy Clouds

2009-04-23T14:25:00.000-07:00

Many Tanks!

2009-04-20T11:52:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is Quickutz Club so I thought I would post a quick card.

Many Tanks!

Emma and the Jay Birds

2009-04-19T19:51:00.000-07:00

Every year the Jay birds come and build a nest and lay their eggs in our lemon tree. I'm not a Jay bird expert but their squawking is loud and they are very annoying and have no fear of my cats.

Emma loves to sit in the backyard but the Jay birds hate it and think she is out to get their babies. The Jay birds have every right to be concerned. Last year Emma waited patiently under the tree hoping a baby bird would fall out. Mom and Pop Jay bird had a fit but Emma didn't care. Good things come to those who wait, right? And it did...little baby Jay bird fell out of it's nest and Emma promptly caught it in her mouth and brought it lifeless, featherless body into my house to show me. This year the Jay birds must have remembered Emma as all they wanted to do is attack Emma. She didn't care and took it like a champ.

The Jay birds seemed extra squawky this afternoon and I thought maybe Emma was out there pestering them. Later this afternoon Chuck is out in the backyard watering the the fruit trees.
He noticed that under the lemon tree there was a baby bird.

Baby J

No wonder mom and pop Jay bird were making such a fuss today. Junior had fallen out of the tree. So Chuck rescued it but couldn't put it back in the nest since it was up too high and too far inside the tree. So he got a pie tin and made a little nest for it and placed it in the tree.

New Home

And where was Emma when all this happened? Sleeping in my scrap room missing all the excitement!

Color Inspiration #48

2009-04-07T12:11:00.000-07:00

I made a quick Easter card for Kristina's Color Inspiration. I made a boo-boo on the card and didn't want to start over so I fixed it with a 'band-aid'. I hope no one notices.

hippity-hop

My Dad

2009-04-06T20:32:00.000-07:00

January 12, 1932 - March 23, 2009

Color Inspiration #46

2009-03-20T10:54:00.000-07:00

I saw these colors for Kristina's challenge and it reminded me of my last post. I deleted the picture from that post so that I could use it for this challenge (so it that cheating?).
I added a little blue heart so I use all of her colors.

Valentine's Day lunch

Have a great weekend!

It's a NAOMI Day!

2009-03-17T19:33:00.000-07:00

Maybe today is St. Patrick's Day, but for me and Naomi today is our day!
Naomi celebrated her one year Blogoversary and was giving away some blog candy and I won a Close to My Heart paper pack of my choice. Along with my prize, she made me a card. It's very cute and she embellished it with pom-poms. Seriously, go and check out her blog. She makes some very awesome cards!

I bought some Girl Friday paper from Cosmo Cricket. The line is so cute, I can't wait to make cards or use it in a layout.

This past Saturday I went to a crop. I usually don't go to many crops because my brain seems to freeze up and I have a hard time trying to create. I usually end up just eating snacks and talking, but I surprised myself and I finished 5 layouts! And I hardly do 12 x 12 layouts, so I was extra proud of myself!

Chuck and I went to Palm Springs to eat at a deli. I made a two page layout. Chuck says I'm the only one that takes pictures of food. I can't help myself. I just love food and love to eat.

A couple of years ago Chuck received about 10 bottles of wine for Christmas. I'm not a wine drinker but Chris likes it and promptly opened a bottle and drank it. The problem is he gets that "Asian Glow" just like me. He'll probably kill me knowing that I posted this layout. Oh well!!

Do the Math

Even though the layouts I made are simple, I'm very happy that I completed them. I even finished my Thanksgiving album from 2007.

Naomi Day was a good day for me! I won a prize and completed some layouts. I feel so lucky and I'm not even Irish!

Color Inspiration #45

2009-03-11T21:59:00.000-07:00

For Kristina's challenge this week she chose three colors, black, white and gray. I thought about making a wedding card since these colors would be perfect for one, but sometimes it gets monotonous making the same old thank you, hello or thinking of you cards. So this challenge I thought I would do something fun and humorous.

Fork and Spoon

This card is a play on words. I hope no one is offended. Again, I just wanted to create a fun card.

Ikea Goodies

My trip to Ikea was very successful in which I bought mainly snacks. I love the Ginger Thin cookies and the mini cinnamon rolls were a perfect bite size treat. But I must warn you, the Daim candies are VERY addicting. I could not stop eating them. I felt so guilty that I had polished off the entire bag but David told me that he was addicted to them also! Now I only feel half as guilty since David ate the other half. Seriously, the bag needs to have a warning label on it stating that "Once consumed, addiction will occur"!

Have a super weekend!

Color Inspiration #44

2009-03-06T10:53:00.000-08:00

Another Kristina Color Inspiration and for this challenge I just made a really simple card. I even stamped!

Hello

I'm off to Trader Joe's. I love anything from Trader Joe's. They have the best pizza dough and I get a lot of my fresh veggies and snacks from there.

Have a great weekend!!

Catching Up

2009-03-01T18:22:00.000-08:00

It's been over 3 months since I've posted so I thought I would do some catching up.
In November I got sick at work. I thought I had the flu. Little did I know that was just the beginning of my health issues.
I made several trips to the doctors, two trips to the ER and was hospitalized twice (the first time was the week of Christmas). The holidays last year for me was not fun at all. The family brought me my gifts to the hospital and I enjoyed a Christmas lunch of fake chicken and pumpkin pie. Yuck...
Finally after the second trip to the ER, I was diagnosed with an abscess on my kidney. It needed to be drained and a nephrostomy tube was placed. One of the doctors think I'll need surgery on my kidney but I'll find out for sure on my appointment this Wednesday. Other than that, I'm feeling much better than I did a couple of months ago. I've been off work for a while and need to get back so I can get paid!!

Yesterday Chuck and I went to see Slumdog Millionaire. It was a good movie, but after seeing it. I don't think I'll want to visit India. Now I'm sure there are many beautiful places to visit in India, but none of that was shown (except for the Taj Mahal and even that area didn't impress me). It's sad to see people living in those conditions and all I can say it that it's a good thing they didn't have "smell-o-vision" in the movie.

Mr. Potato Head

Last week Steven was in town and we went to Disneyland. The first attraction I wanted to ride was the new Toy Story Mania.
***Disney trivia*** How many rides are at Disneyland? One - Mr. Toads Wild ride. The rest are called attractions.
If you get a chance to visit Disneyland you must go on Toy Story Mania. It is so much fun. It's in 4-D, which is better than 3-D!! haha

I also tried making my favorite sushi, Futomaki. I tried making it the way my mom does, but it's so much work to cook and prepare everything and though my family likes sushi, I'm the only one who likes futomaki. So it doesn't look like it's something I'll make often but need to so I can practice. I needed more vinegar in the rice and making the kanpyo took a long and the rolling part was not that easy. Here's my attempt at futomaki:

Futomaki

Now that I'm feeling much better I hope to be posting and scrapping and making cards more often. I really missed making my cards. I bought a bunch of Quickutz but have not had a chance to use them. I have lots of ideas swirling in my head but no time to do them.

Today was a beautiful day. 82 degrees! But I think it's suppose to rain tomorrow. That's ok because the Governator said there is a drought in California.

Hope everyone has a great week!!

Color Inspiration #43

2009-03-01T18:05:00.000-08:00

Wow! Kristina is on Color Inspiration #43. It's been a while since I've participated but I bought some really cute American Crafts paper and I thought the colors were perfect for the challenge and I needed to make some thank you cards.
I've been sick for a while (a long while) and I'm very fortunate to have such wonderful family and friends. I wanted to write thank you notes to all that wished me well and helped me when I needed it.

Thank You from the bottom of my heart

Have a great week!

Color Inspiration #30

2008-11-11T16:09:00.001-08:00

It's time for another one of Kristina's challenges. A couple of days ago she made a clear acrylic card and stamped some snowflakes on the acrylic. It was very cute. It inspired me to use the same technique. I made a snowglobe card for this challenge. I knew I couldn't "shake" my card and make the snowflakes float around, but I did make it interactive. (Sorry for the crooked picture. I was getting a horrible glare from the acrylic and tilted the card just a little so I could get a clear picture.)

Let it Snow

This weekend I made another trip up north. Steven is moving up there so I went with him for the company and so he could check out his new job. I'll miss him a lot when he leaves. Anyways, I was able to visit Green Tangerines in Rocklin, CA. It's a pretty awesome store. All the chairs in their crop room were those executive office chairs and looked super comfy. There was also a digital studio that had computers so you can make digital scrapbook pages.

Green Tangerines

Tomorrow it's back to work after a 5-day weekend. But I only have to work 3 days this week so I guess I can live with that!

Have a great week!!

Five Things

2008-11-07T12:34:00.000-08:00

It's Friday and I thought I would list 5 things that make me happy.

1. Five day weekends. Tuesday, November 11 is Veteran's Day and a holiday for me, so I just took Monday off from work and today is my regular day off which luckily became a 5 day weekend! Whoo Hoo!

2. I bought this cute little birdie ornament stamp. I heart him...

3. I went to Superior Market and bought some Mexican pastries. Pumpkin empanadas are amazing and feites are my favorites.

4. Texting... How did I ever live without it?

5. ATCs...My friend and I have weekly challenges and swap them. Each week we come up with a theme. Last week I picked Halloween, this week she chose Travel. I'll post them when we complete them.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Color Inspiration #29 and other stuff...

2008-11-05T17:50:00.000-08:00

When I saw these colors for Kristina's challenge, it reminded me of Halloween. I know, I know...Halloween is over, but it is my favorite holiday. And that little mouse cracks me up!

BOO!

This year for Halloween we went on a cruise to Cabo San Lucas. The ship had a Halloween costume contest. I dressed up as Lucy Van Pelt and Chuck went as, you guessed it, Charlie Brown.

Kick the football, Blockhead!

We were picked as one of the Top 31 costumes but the winner was this girl who was a zombie. She was an excellent zombie and she scared the bejeezus out of me! Her boyfriend is Phillip Jeanmarie from the soap opera, Passions (now canceled). They are seriously the cutest and sweetest couple. Phillip was so approachable and so modest and I wish him all the best with his career.

Phillip, me, Joy and Sara

This weekend we were suppose to go Arizona to take a train trip to see the Grand Canyon but we must have gotten some cooties on the cruise because David, Chuck and I got sick. So we are postponing our trip until January and we plan on taking the Polar Express! OH MYLANTA!! I'M GOING TO SEE SANTA!!!

I have a 5 day weekend coming up. Yup, 5 days and I can't wait.

Color Inspiration #26

2008-10-16T22:08:00.000-07:00

I love frosted sugar cookies. They are absolutely my favorite cookies of all time.
When I saw Kristina's new challenge, the colors and cookies reminded me of Christmas.
Even though Halloween is just around the corner, it's never too early to start Christmas shopping and card making.
It's funny how the right idea can pop into your head. There's no thinking involved. You know exactly what you want to do and that's how this card came about.

Joy

I am not the glitter type of person, but I bought this Heat and Stick powder from Stampin' Up! and it's absolutely wonderful. The glitter doesn't not rub off the card. I used clear embossing powder on the 'J' to make it glossy and look more like a candy cane.

I have started some Christmas shopping. I bought Elmo Live and it's a little freaky on how 'alive' he really is.

I have a busy weekend coming up. In 11 days we are going on a cruise. Because we will be on the ship during Halloween week, we are going to dress up and just have fun. I have so much I need to get done and I'm always a last minute person. I promised myself I would get everything done early and this is the weekend to do it.

Have a great weekend! Enjoy the cool weather. It's starting to feel like fall! Whoo Hoo!

Color Inspiration #25

2008-10-10T17:48:00.001-07:00

Yup, it's that time again. Another Kristina challenge.
Simple card with a simple message. I don't think we use the letter 'x' enough. Maybe it's misunderstood. :o)

Thx

Sara on Ellen

2008-10-06T21:26:00.000-07:00

For those of you who were not able to catch Sara on the Ellen Degeneres show, catch her here.

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think!!

Misoscrappy-Etsy site

2008-10-05T20:58:00.001-07:00

So I did it.
I created an Etsy site to sell some of my cards.
I don't expect to make a million $$ but it gives me a chance to use my supplies and have fun.
I made some very simple cards and tried not to over price them.

If I sell one card I'll be a happy camper.

Check out my site here: Misoscrappy Cards

Thanks for looking and let me know what you think of the site.
Chris said he would help me with a banner and I think that will help 'jazz' it up.

Have a great week!!

Sara and Ellen Degeneres

2008-10-03T20:23:00.000-07:00

My daughter Sara is going to be on the Ellen Degeneres show Monday, October 6!
She was chosen to perform her hidden talent.
Hope you are able to catch her on the show.

Julia Louis Dreyfuss and Cheryl Burke and Maurice Greene from Dancing with the Stars was on the show, so hopefully that will help in finding the episode she will be on.

If you are able to watch the show and see Sara, leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

Scrap Pink

2008-09-26T08:51:00.000-07:00

Going to Scrap Pink in Victorville.
It starts today and ends on Sunday.
I have never gone to a 3 day crop before!
I'll post when I return.

Color Inspiration #23

2008-09-16T22:42:00.000-07:00

Another Kristina Color Inspiration Challenge. I tried to stamp a card. I really, really, really tried to stamp a card but I think I'm stamp-phobic because I struggle with it so much. I received a really cute stamp set from Stampin Up! and I wanted to use it. It would have been perfect because this color challenge had fall colors and the stamp set had a bird, tree branch and leaves. I grabbed my stamp pads and cardstock and tried to stamp something creative and couldn't do it. I began to panic because I knew I couldn't submit my card tomorrow because I will not be home.
I made a mini, non-stamping card. I know it won't make Kristina's Top Ten, but I still had fun making it.

Chicken-Hi

Anyone have any suggestions on how to overcome my fear of stamping? I would love to learn something new since my cards are beginning to look all the same.

My Friend Sela

2008-09-14T18:34:00.000-07:00

My friend Sela is 3 1/2 years old.
She is a great artist. She loves to draw.
Her grandma is a talented tole painter. Her mom makes beautiful quilts. Her auntie makes some incredible cards. As you can tell, artistic blood runs through her veins.

Yesterday I paid her mommy a visit so she could cut my hair.
I walked in and there was Sela sitting on the sofa. "Hi Nomi" , she said to me.
He showed me her cute little outfit and her new haircut.
She has a magna doodle. Just what a 3 1/2 year old artist needs. She showed me a picture that she drew on it. It was a self-portrait. The resemblance was amazing.

Once her mommy started to cut my hair, Sela started to put pen to paper.
She drew a picture of me. I never looked so beautiful.
She drew Mickey Mouse. He looked lovely in his bow tie.
Lastly, another self-portrait.
I asked her if I could have it and she gladly gave it to me.
I knew I needed to have this drawing.

Sela-A Self Portrait

If you are wondering...Yes, Sela's eyelashes are that long!

Color Inspiration Challenge #21

2008-09-03T21:38:00.000-07:00

I'm suppose to receive my Stampin Up! shipment tomorrow with the new In Colors.
I won't have time to create something for the challenge tomorrow so I had to use what colors I had on hand. I had an idea in my head on what I wanted to make. I had to hurry up and put it together before I forgot what was swirling in my head. What do you think?

hello

Sometimes the thoughts in my head are a mess and lately I haven't been in the creating mode.

Anyways, on to messy thoughts, here are some random ones:

I got a jury duty notice! Whoo Hoo! I'm one of the few who love jury duty. Hopefully I'll get picked to serve on a nice, long trial. Oh wait, hopefully I'll get on a trial that lasts until Oct. 24 since I'm going cruising to Mexico on Oct. 27!

Jason Mraz's new CD (We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things) is awesomeness.
So is Gavin McGraw's CD.

This Friday the LA County Fair starts. I love the fair. Love to watch the slice 'em and dice 'em exhibits.

I'm in the process of setting up an Etsy site. Chris was home this weekend and helped me put it together. He is going to see if a classmate can make a banner for me since I am totally incompetent at stuff like that. I'll will basically sell some simple cards and maybe mini books if I have time to make those. I told Chris whatever monies I get I will give to him to help with school. I don't plan on paying his tuition but maybe I'll get enough to buy him a pencil.

Enjoy the rest of the week!!

mata ne!

In a Slump...

2008-08-25T09:24:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I have actually feel like making anything creative. I don't know what it could be. I still have my challenges with SAM but even the last few creations have been pretty lame.
I took a few days off from work and my son and I went up to Northern CA to visit my sister and parents. Every time I make a trip up north, the area seems so foreign to me even though it's where I grew up and went to school and everything. Eventually I hope to move back up there and live near my family, but I think a part of me is a SO CAL girl. I can't imagine not living at least an hour from the beaches, desert, mountains and Disneyland.

I have been wanting to visit The Paper Garden in Sacramento. My sister was kind enough to take me even though she doesn't have any interest in any stamping and scrapping stuff. The Paper Garden is the cutest store. It is jammed packed with stamps, mostly A Muse News stamps and products, but she did have lots of other cute stamps and stuff like Copics and Asian themed items. They were so nice and said I could take pics of their card samples but the battery in my camera was dying so I was only able to get a few.

Stamps Galore!

I need to make another trip up north just to go and visit this store. If you happen to be in Sacramento you should stop by and visit The Paper Garden. It's off of Fulton and Marconi next to Noah's Bagels.

The Paper Garden

I also had to go and visit the scrapbook store near my sister's house. I loved shopping there because they had lots of different patterned papers that my local scrapbook store didn't carry. So I walk up to the door and there is a sign that reads, "40% OFF EVERYTHING". I thought, it's my lucky day. They are having big sale. Big sale, yes. Lucky day, no. It was a going out of business sale. They are closing shop. And of course the sale started a week ago and I got there too late. There really wasn't much left in the store except there was a ton of patterned paper. I need more patterned paper like I need another hole in the head, but I thought eh..what's another hole in my head so I grabbed a bunch of Sassafrass Lass paper and some other cute stuff.

I have the day off so I think I'm going to sit in my room and see if any creative juices start to flow. Hopefully they won't leak out of that hole in my head.... :o)

Sunday Scoop

2008-08-10T18:35:00.000-07:00

So it's Sunday...It's not that something exciting happened today, but I just wanted to post some thoughts.

1. I just wanted to say 'Thank You!!' to Brooke. She nominated me for this little award.
I am honored. It was a good way to start off the weekend. In order for me to accept this award, I have to nominate 5 others. I'm somewhat new to the blogging world and I really don't have any dedicated followers so I'll just nominate the same people when I got this award. Thank you again Brooke!

2. I received a phone call from SAM. She told me that Michael's had the Martha Stewart Halloween punches. I had to have them and made a trip to Michael's. Luckily, the nearest one is about 5 miles from me. Martha Stewart had 4 Halloween Border punches. I only got two, the picket fence and the dripping goo. There was also a bat and pumpkin border punches. I also got an 8 x 8 paper pad. It's stinking cute. I love Halloween!

3. So on Friday I get my usual Iced Green Tea w/ melon syrup at Starbucks and find out they have this promotion called 'Treat Receipt'. It's where you buy a drink in the morning, get your receipt stamped and bring it in after 2 pm and you can get any medium-size blended drink for $2. Needless to say I have made 6 trips to Starbucks in 3 days. With my 'Treat Receipt', I got drinks that I normally wouldn't get. I can't drink Frappucinos because the milk, coffee and all that sugar that goes in the drink upset my stomach, but for $2 I had to have one (or 3!)
The first day my stomach really paid the price from drinking that reduced-price Mint Chocolate Chip Frappucino. You would have thought that I learned a lesson, but nope...my inner cheapskate kept telling me that it was a deal to get these $2 drinks. It's not really a deal if I don't drink them all and I get sick from it. Oh well...

4. I made 7-Up pie. Soooo Yummmy...Here's the recipe if you want to make it yourself.

7-Up Pie

1 small package of lime jello
2 - 7 oz bottles of 7-up (I just measure 7 oz in a measuring cup)
1 small container of Cool Whip
1 graham cracker crust

Heat 7 oz of 7-Up.
Dissolve jello into heated 7-Up.
Add other 7 oz of 7-Up.
Refrigerate until it is the consistency of egg whites.
Fold in Cool Whip. Pour into graham cracker crust.
Refrigerate until set. Enjoy!

It's a nice, cool summer treat.

5. I'm not much of sports person, but the Olympics are fun to watch. Did you catch the opening ceremonies? Some guy was flying then running around the top of the entire stadium! Craziness!

I hope everyone has a great week. I think I'm going to work on my ATC challenge and watch the Olympics.

Mata ne!!

Color Inspiration Challenge #18

2008-08-07T21:04:00.000-07:00

For this week's challenge, Kristina shortened the time on when to submit our creations. I only had one day! EEK! But luckily the deadline was midnight (MDT) and since I'm a night owl, I didn't have a problem staying up late.
Since I only had one day to think of an idea, I came up with a really simple card. The colors she chose were so out out of my norm. But I guess that's why it's called a challenge.

'Sup

I apologize for the really bad picture. I had such a hard time getting it right. With the embossing and glitter I got so much glare. I think the card looks much better in real life.
I'm not usually the glitter type, but when I put the plain letters against the embossed background I felt it needed some sparkle.
Anyhoo...David liked the card, but you know kids... that's how they greet each other!! (FYI - 'sup is slang for 'What's up!')

Gotta hurry and post before midnight!!

Mata ne!

ATCs Galore!

2008-08-06T20:16:00.000-07:00

Wow...it's been a while since I've posted. I suppose time has gotten away from me. Some days I wish there were more hours in the days...especially the weekends!

A couple of Sundays ago I met Wendy at the Stamp Expo in Riverside. Though it wasn't as big as I thought it would be, we still got some fun stuff! I picked up some new stamps and I'm hoping to improve my stamping skills. One of the booths we visited had some awesome stamps. Every stamp you purchased they gave you a copy of a sample using that stamp. Also, they had this awesome technique where they embossed in black all the stamped images and then colored in this image. Wendy and I loved this technique because it makes the image pop. Wendy bought some Twinkling H2O and I now regret not getting them. She has posted a couple of cards on her blog using them with the black embossing technique and her cards are beautiful.
She bought this wishing well stamp and made this card and it turned out so much better than the sample that was on display. I'm not just saying that... it seriously was.

So before we met up at the Expo, we decided to do an ATC swap. I have never done a swap with anyone much less make an ATC. We decided to swap 10 and I was stressing because I had a really hard time coming up with ideas, but once I got the hang of it I had so much fun. I also like them because it gives me the chance to use up my scraps.

Here are a few samples of the ATCs Wendy and I made:

Wendy's ATCs

My ATCs

I showed SAM the ATCs and she loved them. She wanted to create some. She wanted to eat, live and breathe them. Ok.. maybe I'm exaggerating, but she did love them and we decided that our weekly challenges should be switched to ATCs. So last week I chose the theme which was 'Animals'. I had two ideas swirling in my head, so I was able to create them both! Woo Hoo!!

My Animal ATC

SAM's Animal ATC

Ain't that Frankenstein the cutest?? It reminds me of Peter Boyle in 'Young Frankenstein'. I love the scene where he is singing 'Putting on the Ritz' . It's not the same unless he sings it. Oh and when I eat a Ritz cracker it reminds me of that song.

For our next ATC challenge SAM chose the 'Leave it to Weaver' Border punch. I am stumped on what to create. Challenge is due on Monday. I better get my rear in gear.

Mata ne!!

Color Inspiration Challenge #16

2008-07-18T09:14:00.000-07:00

Yup...another challenge. Even though the colors Kristina chose are a great combo, I struggled putting them together, especially the pumpkin pie. In this challenge I wanted to try some stamping but didn't. I find it difficult to stamp. I don't know why... And trying to come up with a creation to submit this challenge was such an effort. I think my creative mojo just needs a swift kick!
Anyhoo...I made another acrylic card. (One of the engineers at work was cleaning out her cubicle and throwing away some old reports. I immediately snatched up the acrylic covers on the reports and recycled them to use for my cards. Score!)
There isn't any stamping on this card except the SU! Polka Dot background stamp. I just {heart} that stamp. And while I was putting it together, Miss Emma Peel started to gnaw on the big flower. I hope cat teeth marks doesn't disqualify my submission. :o)

i love you

I like to incorporate some ribbon on my cards but not this one and I think it needs some ribbon.
I found that "i love you" sticker somewhere in my stash. Not really the sentiment I was going for, but it was late when I was finishing up this card and I was getting tired.

Next weekend there's a Stamp Expo in Riverside. I'm meeting Wendy there and I can't wait to meet her and also pick up some awesome stamps. Hopefully I'll learn a thing or two at the expo or from Wendy. She's a talented artist herself!

Mata ne!!

Mini Book

2008-07-13T21:28:00.000-07:00

I love mini books. They are quick and easy, kinda like a card. Instant gratification.
A few months ago Big Lots had a bunch of Basic Grey scrapping supplies.
I got a few of the BG 6 x 6 paper pads and I thought, "Why not make a mini book?"
I wanted to scrap my Cherry Blossom Festival pictures and the Lily Kate pad was perfect. It has an Asian feel and some of the papers had Cherry Blossoms on them. I used my Quickutz Chopsticks font for the front cover. I folded the paper in half (3 x 6) and left the top open to make a pocket and made journaling tags.

Front Cover

Today we went to the Korean market in Diamond Bar. I bought some white Donut peaches, also called Saturn peaches. Oh My Lanta! They are so super sweet! Sara took a bite and she said it was so sweet that it tasted like it was injected with sugar. Ok, maybe they weren't injected with sugar, but they are yummy. I only got 3 lbs. but I now wish I had bought more. They were only 79 cents/lb. What a bargain! I love summer fruits...

Super Sweet Donut Peaches

I'm still slowly trying to clean up my scrap room. I was able to weed out and get rid of some stuff, but unfortunately I also bought more goodies. Hopefully I'll be able to get it all cleaned up by the end of this month and post some "After" pictures.

Have a great week!
Mata ne!!

Color Inspiration Challenge #15

2008-07-11T17:41:00.001-07:00

I had made two cards for this challenge and I know I can only chose one. I asked Chuck which one he like the best and he said, "The bird card". So I'm going with that one and hope Kristina likes the bird card too.

Here's the other card. Chuck didn't like the stickers I used to spell Happy. I thought it looked cute.

Happy Fall

Anyways, gotta hurry. I can't miss the CI Challenge deadline!

Award Nomination

2008-07-09T21:35:00.000-07:00

Can I just say "SHUT UP...GET OUT OF HERE!!" I've been nominated for an award!
Travelingmama (aka Tina) has nominated me and I am so honored. Her cards are amazing and I am flattered that she thinks mine are too! She's been chosen a few times for Kristina's Top 10 CI Challenges.

Here are the rules:

1) Put the logo on your blog.

2) Add a link to the person who awarded you.

3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.

4) Add links to those blogs on yours.

5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

I am new to the blog world and I only know a couple of bloggers. The others blogs that I have chosen are ladies who have left me comments. I love all of their cards and I know you will too.
Here are my 7 nominations:

1) Scraps and Ink Wendy's talent is awesome. She has some mad skills with the Copic Markers. Did you check out her "Life is Good" doggy card? Doesn't that put a smile on your face?

2) Star Designs by Jules I have known Julie forever. I look forward to her Christmas cards ever year. Julie has an Etsy site, so check it out tell a friend to buy a card or two.

3) Chavez Designs I really like Anthonette's style. And did you see that cute little picture of her son? Adorable.

4) Stamping the Details Heather has left me lots of comments and I appreciate them all. She's a moose lover too and whats not to love about that!

5) Chloe-Jill Designs Did you see how cute her cards are? Need I say more?

6) Designs by Brooke Brooke is a Stampin Up! Demonstrator. I love SU! and Brooke's cards.

7) Stampin Cos Its Fun Jean is also a Stampin Up! Demonstrator. Check out her awesome cards!

I hope everyone has a great week and I just want to thank Travelingmama again!!

Mata ne!!

THANK YOU!

2008-07-05T15:32:00.000-07:00

I freaking can't believe it. I made Kristina's Top 10!!
I'm so super excited! Thank you Kristina! And a thank you to everyone who has left me such kind comments!!!

Color Inspiration Challenge #14

2008-07-03T06:38:00.000-07:00

I wanted to submit my card to Kristina's CI Inspiration , so this is just a quick post before I head off to work.

I really liked the colors she choose for this week's CI Inspiration. When I saw these colors it immediately reminded me of a card I created a few months ago basically using the same colors, so I decided that I would use that idea but modify the card just a little.

LOVE

I used the Quickutz male/female icon and love die. The icon die is one of my favorite dies. It reminds me of the symbol on bathroom doors, so I refer to this die as the "potty people" die.

Anyways, don't want to be late for work.

Stay cool! It's suppose to be a hot one today!

Mata ne!

SAM Challenge #2-American Crafts Canisters

2008-07-01T21:13:00.000-07:00

It was my turn to pick the weekly SAM Challenge. A couple of months ago I scored some really great deals at Big Lots. One of the items were the American Crafts canisters embellishments. All the canisters were different with either foam, felt, plastic and chipboard shaped embellishments with different themes. Because we had so many of these canisters I thought it be a good challenge. I didn't want to think I just bought these on a whim and because they were so cheap. I wanted to put these embellishments to use.

SAM's card was perfect for the upcoming holiday. She used the foam curly brackets to highlight the flag. I loved how she used the cute button letters to spell out FREEDOM. I feel proud to be an American! :o)

Freedom

I used the plastic and foam shapes to make flowers. The blue piece was a bucket but I cut the handle off and used it as a pot. I've noticed I've been using a lot of flowers on my cards. I must be on this flower kick.

For My Friend

Next week SAM will be on vacation, so we postponed our challenge until she returns.

Mata ne!

Challenges with SAM

2008-06-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

My scrapping friend (we refer to each other as SAM) and I have decided that we are going to have weekly challenges. Every Friday, each of us will take turns in coming up with an idea and then on Monday we will bring in what we created and swap.

Our first challenge was cupcakes. We both love cupcakes especially the one's at Martha Green's.
I wanted to participate in Kristina's CI Challenge this week, but I ran out of time. I had actually started a card but didn't quite finish so the cupcake challenge was perfect for me because I had all the colors I needed and could actually complete my card.

Here are the colors that Kristina used for her CI Challenge #13.

Color Inspiration Challenge #13

I'm kind of disappointed that I didn't get to submit my card to Kristina's challenge, but oh well.

My cupcake card

And this is my SAM's card. She stamped the cupcake image and then traced with this cool glitter pen. Topped it off with a little heart bling and voila! a cute, yet simple little card.
I'll have to use the stamping/glitter pen technique. It really made the cupcake pop. These challenges are great because we learn from each other.

SAM's Card

Gotta get ready for my "date" with Chuck. We are going to see Wall-E, and then I'm taking him out to lunch and then at 2:00 Nubi is having their grand opening! Everything will be 50% off. I'll probably eat too much frozen yogurt and make myself sick. That's ok... it will be worth it.

Mata ne!

Hot Weather and Nubi

2008-06-22T19:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend was so unbearably hot. I think Saturday was 110*. At least it felt like it. The heat makes me cranky, tired , sweaty and feel yucky all over. Luckily, a Nubi Yogurt just opened 5 minutes from my home! Nubi's plain yogurt pretty much tastes like Pinkberry. Nubi is great because they have at least 10-15 different flavors. Pinkberry has only 3. My favorite flavors at Nubi's are the plain (which tastes like Pinkberry), raspberry/pomegranate and blueberry. They even have Dole Pineapple Whip like like the kind you can get at Disneyland! The one good thing about Nubi is that it's self serve and you pay by the ounce. They even have my favorite topping, mochi. Oh and did I mention it's only 5 minutes from my house. I heart Nubi!

Sara at Nubi

Because of the heat I spent most of my time at home. I wanted to catch up on some scrapping. I sent an online photo order to Costco and was missing 4 pictures. They were the 4 pictures I wanted to use for a layout! Grr! I called Costco and they said they would replace them but that means I would have to download those 4 pictures online, drive out in that heat to Costco , find a place to park, pick them up and drive home. It's just a pain in the arse to have to go through all of that for 4 pictures. (Did I mention the heat makes me cranky?)
So instead I made a card. My friend Jennifer had a baby a couple of months ago. I found the cutest stickers and used it to make her a card. I don't have any stamps for a 'baby' sentiment. I guess I need to find one because the front of the card looks pretty bare without it.

Baby Monkey

I hope the weather cools down soon. If it doesn't, I know a place where I can get some frozen yogurt. And it's only 5 minutes from my home!

Ja mata ne!

Color Inspiration Challenge #12

2008-06-21T08:02:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post so I can submit my entry for Kristina's CI Challenge #12. Her challenges are quite addicting! I made my first acrylic card and used my favorite Stampin Up! stamp set. Doesn't that 'happy' make you feel Happy? I must say, it was pretty difficult trying to take this photo. I kept getting a lot of glare and you could see smudges and fingerprints on the acrylic. Anyways, gotta run really quick. I think I'm going to be late for my class!

Happy Birthday-Acrylic

Stay cool!!! It's been hell-a hot out here!

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-15T10:07:00.000-07:00

I made a simple Father's Day card for Chuck using my Quickutz.

Hey Good Lookin'

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there and wishing them a very special and relaxing day!

Color Inspiration Challenge #11

2008-06-14T14:30:00.000-07:00

Another Color Inspiration Challenge from Kristina Werner.
I wish I were a stamper. There are so many beautiful cards made with stamps. I don't have many stamps, only alphabets and some seasonal stamps. When I do get a stamp set, I'm intimidated and don't know what to do. Whenever I try to stamp, it looks like crap...seriously.
In my next life...I want to be a stamper.
Anyways, again at the last minute I came up with this card. I wanted to submit a card before Kristina's deadline. I'm not happy with it, but Chuck said he liked it. Hope Kristina likes it too.

Have a Great Day!

I'm so lucky...

2008-06-08T21:34:00.000-07:00

Last week was my birthday.
I normally don't tell anyone when my birthday is. Especially co-workers. I hate the fuss and the attention that comes with it. Absolutely. Hate. It. So every year I take that day off.

I had no plans for that day. Just wanted to do the things I wanted to do. I went shopping for a bit, had Chick-Fil-A for lunch, went home and sat with my cat and made a few cards and started on a mini book. Throughout the day I would get phone calls, text messages and emails from family and friends wishing me a Happy Birthday and it was nice to be remembered by them. I feel so lucky to be loved. Truly I do.

I have to post what I received for my birthday. I did get some pretty awesome gifts.
I bought myself this cute little red colander (to match my scraproom) to put some random stamps in, but all my goodies fit in it so I took a picture. Here are some of the gifts I received: an Ipod Touch!!! , a season pass to Disneyland, a knit shirt, Lotto tickets (I haven't check to see if I'm a millionaire yet) a little pig Webkinz and a kitty Webkinz, Target g/c, Michaels g/c, Claim Jumper g/c, Black Cherry See's suckers, a cute cupcake, calendar and Happy Birthday clear stamps, oh and some good ol' cash from mom and dad.

Birthday Goodies

For dinner, Chuck and David took me out for sushi.

The card maker in me had to make to some special Thank You cards. So here are a few that I made. I just love the robot paper from Sassafrass Lass. Sara loved the card so much, she wanted to keep it for herself.

Doomo Arigato Mr. Roboto

I also have seen in magazines these cute little crochet flowers. I really wanted them but I have never been able to find them in stores. So I got crafty and made a few. They're not as cute as the ones I've seen but they'll do for now until I figure out how to make them like the ones in the magazines. I covered up a lot of mistakes with the big button. haha!

Thanks so much

Tomorrow it's back to work. Ugh... I guess I better check my Lotto tickets to see if I'm a gazillionare. But seriously, I already feel rich with all the wonderful family and friends I have.

Hope everyone has a great week!! Ja mata ne!

Color Inspiration Challenge #10

2008-05-31T23:11:00.000-07:00

Kristina had another Color Inspiration challenge and though these colors were difficult for me to put together, I had to make a card. I'm hooked on her CI challenges. I was afraid I wasn't going to make her deadline because I'm going to be out on Sunday so at the last minute, this is what I came up with.

You make me Smile

I had a hard time stamping straight with my little alphabet stamps and my stamping came out a little crooked but it adds character, right?

Four Day Weekend

2008-05-26T19:43:00.000-07:00

So I had a four day weekend. I really didn't have anything planned and it's a good thing that we didn't have any travel plans. Chuck had been sick with a horrible cold since Wednesday and he had been off work to try and re-coup. Today he finally started to feel better. The weather has been really strange. Just last weekend it was over 100 degrees and then in a matter of a few days the weather turned overcast, dreary and rained. There was even a tornado! I love rainy, overcast days. It was a perfect weekend to stay home and make a couple of cards and clean my house!
I made the tree card using my Quickutz and then made a couple of cards using cupcake stamps. The paper I used for the cupcake cards is from Sassafrass Lass (so cute!) and the cupcake couple (love it!) and Hey Cupcake stamp is from A Muse news.

Hello

Hey Cupcake
Sweet Thing

The Japanese Office

2008-05-24T14:28:00.000-07:00

For "The Office" fans.

Whoo Hoo!

2008-05-17T17:01:00.000-07:00

My card was on Kristina Werner's blog!! I'm so excited! It wasn't chosen as her Top Ten Favorite, but it was chosen as one of the ten randomly selected. Chuck says it's like winning Miss Congeniality, but I don't care, I'll take it! It was my first time entering and just to have a corner of my card seen on her site means the world to me! I want to thank everyone for stopping by to see my card and those who left comments. Oh and thank you too, Kristina!!!
My next mission...to be chosen as her Top Ten favorite!!

Color Inspiration Challenge

2008-05-14T21:43:00.000-07:00

Kristina Werner's blog is one of my favorite. She's the cutest little thing and super creative. Every Monday she has Make a Card tutorial and once a week she has a Color Inspiration Challenge. Her birthday is Thursday and so I accepted her challenge and made her a birthday card.

Happy Birthday Kristina!

I haven't been posting as much I would like. So many crazy things have been going on. Hopefully things will settle down and I can sit and make some cards. In the meantime, have a great week(end) and I'll post again soon!

Ja mata ne!

35 Tips for a Peaceful Life

2008-05-01T12:48:00.000-07:00

I received this email from my friend Julie and thought I would post it here. Thanks Jules!

1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile! It is the ultimate anti-depressant.
2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
3. Tape your late night shows and get more sleep.
4. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement, 'My purpose is to __________ today.'
5. Live with the 3 E's — Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.

6. Play more games and read more books.
7. Make time to practice meditation, yoga, and/ortai chi. They provide us with daily fuel for our busy lives.
8. Spend time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of 6.
9. Dream more while you are awake.
10. Eat more food that grows on trees and plants, and eat less food that is manufactured.

11. Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan salmon, broccoli, almonds & walnuts.
12. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
13. Clear clutter from your house, your car, your desk and let new and flowing energy into your life.
14. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
15. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

16. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.
17. Smile and laugh more.
18. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
19. Don't take yourself so seriously.
20. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

21. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
21. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about and should be excited to find out what yours is.
22. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
23. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: " In 5 years, will this matter? "
24. Forgive everyone for everything.
25. What other people think of you is none of your business.

26. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
27. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your family & friends will.
28. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
29. Envy is a waste of time — You already have all you need.
30. The best is yet to come.

31. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
32. Do the right thing!
33. Call your family often.
34. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements: I am thankful for __________. Today I accomplished ___________________.
35. You only have one ride through life so make the most of it and enjoy it.

Avon

2008-04-23T20:03:00.000-07:00

My friend Jennifer is now an Avon representative.
Check out her site here: http://www.youravon.com/jagee

You can now go online and shop at your leisure and have the items shipped to your home. I like the idea of having it shipped to your home!

I'm taking a little break from my card making. I'm still trying to clean and organize my room. I have a lot of new goodies I want to use!!

Booty!!

2008-04-14T21:15:00.000-07:00

In pirate talk that means, "Arg... I got good stuff!"
Last week my friend and I went to Big Lots and found so much scrapbooking stuff made by American Crafts and Heidi Grace for $1 and $2. We got paper, ribbon, rub-ons, flowers, chipboard, etc. and these really cool felt and foam alphabet stickers called Thickers. We went to 5 Big Lots and every store had something different. Of course I had to get one (or two) of everything!! Here is part of what I got:

The Goods

I wanted to use my new stuff to make a couple of cards. A couple of years ago I went to the scrapbook expo in Ontario. One of the vendors had this great deal on My Minds Eye paper pack set. It came with cardstock cut out pieces, double-sided cardstock and these cardstock frames. I knew I never would use the frames in layouts, but then later it dawned on me. Use them for my cards!! So I used my new ribbon, rub-ons,the Thickers and the mats.

Make a Wish-Birthday Card

Still trying to stamp some cards. I need to find some cute stamps.
Have a great week!

Ja mata ne!

A Good Week

2008-04-06T19:28:00.000-07:00

This past week was a good week.

1. I was supposed to get a 5% raise on my check. But somehow personnel in HQ messed up and only gave me a 3% raise. I emailed my personnel specialist and she realized the error. My personnel specialist isn't someone who does things in a timely manner, but within the hour my supervisor gets an email to approve my Range change and raise. I thought it was going to be the other 2%, but it was for another 5%, for a total of 8%! I haven't topped out at my range yet and this will get me there quicker. I think it was another boo-boo but my boss already signed and approved my new pay and HQ better not take it back!!

2. A co-worker and I went to lunch at Martha Green's. I had a pulled pork sandwich with sweet potatoes fries. It was so good that I want to make pulled pork sandwiches. I'm on the hunt for a good recipe.

3. Saturday we went to LA. Little Tokyo had the Cherry Blossom Festival. The weather was nice and we had so much fun. We had lunch at a ramen house. It looked like a dive but I have heard good things about it. We probably waited about an hour but it was worth it.

Bertie likes ramen too!

There was also these guys who did some amazing origami. One guy made a bunny out of dollar bill. Another guy made a Koi fish also out a dollar. Check out the detail, down to the scales on the koi and the placement of the eyes on both the bunny and koi.

Bunny

Koi

Then we walked to Olvera Street and and looked around there. After that we walked to Philippes and had a French Dip Sandwich.
I can't believe the price of gas at one station that was across the street from Philippes! People were even pumping gas there!

HOLY CRAP!

There weren't any Cherry Blossom trees in Los Angeles, but 3 years ago my sister and I paid a visit to Japan and were fortunate to see the Cherry Blossoms in bloom. So I thought I would make a Cherry Blossom card.

Cherry Blossoms in Japan

Cherry Blossom card

And I thought I would make a card for that awesome bowl of ramen!

The Japanese writing on the card is a stamp and it says 'Konnichiwa' which means hello.

I hope eveyone had a great week and weekend like I did!!

Ja mate ne!

Just a Note

2008-04-03T22:33:00.000-07:00

Found another $1 stamp at Michaels. I also used my Stampin Up! Polka Dot block stamp. I love it! It's absolutely my favorite stamp. I bought a package of gray cardstock and I like how it matches so many colors. Maybe I'm going through a phase because last week I bought a bunch of black cardstock!

Just a Note

Not a Stamper...

2008-03-31T12:44:00.000-07:00

I had a four day weekend and it went by so fast I felt like I didn't accomplish anything! The only thing I did finish was the wedding album for Krystal's friend. YIPPEE!! I hope she likes it.
Krystal had to create a book or something for work and she bought the new DCWV Spring mat stack along with the coordinating cardstock and rub-ons. She only used what she needed for her project and gave me what was left, which was quite a bit. So I decided to make a couple of cards.

I've looked through lots blogs and thought I could gather some inspiration from them to stamp a card. Kristina Werner has a fun blog. Every Monday she has a card tutorial. I also came across another blog (Hey Wendy!) where she stamped the image and then used Copic Markers to color and fill in. Amazing!!

I don't have many stamps and the ones that I do have are either sayings, alphabets or background stamps. Stamping scares me because I'm not very good at coordinating colors and what not. So I looked through what stamps I did have and made a couple of birthday cards last night. I do have to give credit to Kristina Werner because these cards are inspired by her designs. I tried to make one girly card and one for a guy.

Hey Cupcake!

Happy Birthday

I am very disappointed in how my cards turned out, which only proves I'm not a stamper. I couldn't find the sentiment I wanted on my girly card, so I wrote it out which was a mistake because I hate my handwriting and it came out crooked. I don't like the color of the package of the other card, but I guess creating a card at midnight looks better then than during the day! Oh well, they can't all be beautiful!
I'm not giving up though. Hopefully, I'll be able to get the hang of stamping.

Tomorrow is QK club day at my scrapbook store. I have a couple of card ideas swirling in my head. We have also been asked to make some sort of cultural dish. I'm going to make mochi. It's easy, peasy Japanesey!!! haha

Ja mata ne!

Happy Spring!

2008-03-25T18:46:00.000-07:00

I'm not much of a stamper, but I found this cute little stamp at Michael's for $1. It's so simple and so me and I thought it be fun to use on a card. I made a few and sent them out to friends. I'm trying to make more cards and send them out, and hopefully I'll gather some inspiration from stamping.

Catching Up...

2008-03-22T20:30:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted.
Lots has been going on and I haven't had the time to sit down and write.
For some reason the computer has been running sloooowwww. Because I don't have the patience for a slow computer, I haven't been online much.
Chris re-formatted the Mac and installed this new OS-X Leopard thingy and the computer seems to be running much better and faster!

First of all, I just want to say don't take good health for granted. Growing up I never got sick, but it seems lately that's all that's been happening to me. First that nasty virus that's been going around and then I made a trip to the ER. I am also extremely tired all the time and I hate that feeling. Hopefully the doctor's can figure out what's going on and I can get back to feeling like myself again!

So....I've been trying to clean up my scrap room. It's a disaster!

BEFORE

Even Miss Emma Peel was snooping around in the mess. I hope to have the room cleaned up soon. I'll post AFTER pictures when I'm done.

Because my room is in such disarray, I don't feel like making my cards. But because I have the Quickutz club I usually makes a couple of cards for that.

Wedding or Anniversary card
Father's Day Card

Krystal has asked me to make her friend a scrapbook of her wedding. I thought it would be fun and easy, but because the pictures are of people I don't even know, I find it extremely difficult to scrap. Why is that?? I wanted to try to finish it this weekend but because my creative juices are not flowing I don't think it will happen (**insert sad face here**).

Now that my computer is up and running a little faster, I plan on posting a little more.

I hope everyone has a Happy Easter!!

Ja mata ne!

P.S. Chuck won $4000!!! He's a lucky SOB. We plan on going on a cruise and of course I'm going to get me a new Quickutz alphabet and dies! hehehe

Star Design by Jules

2008-03-05T11:48:00.000-08:00

Hey all,

My friend Julie has started an Esty site.
She is selling beautiful handmade cards and frames.
Every year she sends me a handmade Christmas card and I love receiving them!

Please check out her awesome work and buy a card or two!

Star Designs by Jules

Back to Work...

2008-02-18T21:17:00.000-08:00

Today is my last day of vacation. I took 10 days off from work, but only charged 2 days of vacation because of the holidays and my 9/80 schedule. I take vacation every year at that time. It's such a good deal, I can't pass it up!
I wanted to go to Vegas or visit my family up north, but didn't confirm on anything. I basically stayed at home and relaxed. I imagined this is what it feels like to be retired. I enjoyed every second of it.
I told myself that while I was off work, I would clean my house throughly, cook dinner every night, watch my diet and exercise. Hahaha.....

So, this is what I actually did...

Bertie and I went to Ikea with Steven, Krystal and Harold. I love Ikea. I want to buy everything there. And of course we had the 99 cent breakfast!
I bought some storage units to hang on my wall to hold stamp pads and my tools. It's a perfect fit and it was so inexpensive. We also bought some silly hats.

Sara and I went to Disneyland and California Adventures. We had so much fun because the park was not crowded at all and the lines for the rides were only a 5 minute wait! Sara and I decided to get something to eat, so we shared a turkey leg. Right behind us was a cat. Yes, a cat!! Just hanging out. Sara named him Jasper and we fed him some turkey. I guess Jasper got tired of us because he decided to go to the other side of the park. Everyone who saw Jasper was quite amazed that there was a cat there and Jasper didn't even care that he was at Disneyland.
Chuck and I drove up to Lake Arrowhead and then spent the day at the cabin in Green Valley Lake. There was still lots of snow up there and the lake was frozen. I tried to make a snow angel, but I'm so awkward at doing stuff like that I think I just made a snow blob.

For Valentine's Day I got a Brownie Edge Pan. I love brownies and I especially love the corners and edges. With this pan, every piece will have an edge or corner. Awesome!!

I ate every piece of Valentine's day chocolate and/or candy. And the only exercise I did was walk around Disneyland and Lake Arrowhead. I did clean up the backyard and sorted through some old paper and threw those away.

But the one thing I did manage to stick to was cook dinner and today I made some chicken that was really good. I got the recipe from the Everyday Food magazine and I had all the ingredients on hand. The family loved it. I served it with a rice pilaf and a salad.

Lemon Roasted Chicken

1 chicken cut up into about 10 pieces
6 garlic cloves, smashed
2 lemons, quartered
1 tsp. dried oregano
3 Tbls. olive oil
1 tsp salt or to taste
pepper to taste

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Squeeze lemons into a bowl and add remaining ingredients, including the quartered lemons and mix gently. Place chicken on a baking sheet, skin side up, and cook through about 25-30 minutes. Enjoy!

So even though it doesn't seem like I had a real vacation. I actually enjoyed myself only because I didn't have to go to work. I need to work on a few birthday cards as I know four people who have birthdays this week. And I am going to try (again) to start eating right...

So tomorrow, it's back to the grindstone. Being off work was fun while it lasted.

Ja Mata ne!

I'm a Winner!!!

2008-02-10T21:08:00.000-08:00

Bertie and I went to the Quikutz club and Spencer and Loren from QK were there. Because they forgot to bring the new release dies they promised to give out some awesome gifts and they didn't lie!
Four of the raffle prizes was a QK alphabet of your choice (depending on what alpha you choose, the value could be $200). They raffled off the new QK magnet tool (which I won) and there also was a gift bag worth $200 and a $300 QK shopping spree.
A lot of people brought projects (including me) and it was determined that Loren was going to judge the top 3 projects. I got 2nd place!! I won the new Cookie Cutter alphabet Rockstar. First place prize was the alphabet of your choice, but I'm not complaining that I got 2nd. Actually, I'm flattered that out of all the entries, I think there were at least 40 or so, mine was chosen. And it wasn't even my favorite card. I really didn't like it compared to the other ones I made, but I'm glad I brought it to the class.
So here is my winning entry along with my magnetic tool:

Since they guys forgot their products, I'm suppose to email Spencer and he will send me my Rockstar alphabet. But this is what I will receive:

I'm working a 1/2 a day tomorrow and after that I start my vacation. Looks like I'm off to a great start!!

Ja mata ne!

Super Bowl Un-Fun Day

2008-02-03T16:11:00.001-08:00

I'm not a big football, Super Bowl or any kind of sports fan. I think growing up with my sports fanatic dad has made me numb to all or any kinds of athletic events. His obsession is so over the top that we always joked that if there were championship tiddlywinks on at 2:00 am, dad would watch it! So the game is on now, and I thought I would jump on the computer for a bit.

I'm feeling much better now. My voice is back to normal and my bouts of coughing has decreased. I felt so good that I even cooked dinner and baked cookies. Last night I made Ravioli Lasagne. Sounds crazy, but it's actually really good. It's the lazy persons version of lasagne.

Here's the recipe:
1 bag of frozen cheese ravioli ( I use the Costco/Kirkland brand in the blue bag)
Spaghetti sauce (I usually make my own, but Prego will work!)
Mozzarella cheese (shredded or sliced)
Parmesan cheese

Boil the ravioli for a couple of minutes, do not boil these all the way as directed on the package.
Spray pan with Pam. Layer spaghetti sauce, ravioli, parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese in that order ending with mozzarella cheese. Bake in a 375 degrees oven for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Enjoy!

I'm in a Quickutz club at my local scrapbook store. Every meeting there is a raffle to win prizes. For every item you bring using one of their dies, you get an extra raffle ticket thus increasing your chances to win a prize. The next club meeting a Quickutz representative will be there and he will bring lots of goodies to give away. The grand prize will be a $200 shopping spree. I so want to win. How awesome will that be? So yesterday I made a few cards. I have a few more ideas in my head and need to make my cards before the club meeting. I really want to win, no... I NEED TO WIN.
I'm off to run a couple of errands. I think it's perfect timing since the game is still on and I'm sure everyone is inside watching it. Go 49er's!!!!

Ja mata ne!

Finally...

2008-01-30T09:14:00.000-08:00

I know I'm posting this introduction a little late, but it took me a while to figure out how to blog.

So part of my Christmas gift from Chris was this blog he created for me and Bertie. Who is Bertie? He is a bird that found me at Starbucks and I adopted him. When I travel, I take Bertie with me. Juvenile? Probably... Tons of Fun? Absolutely!! And I'm all for the fun factor.

I haven't been traveling as much as I would like to or should, so in the meantime, I'm not sure what to blog about. I suppose random things that are happening in my life. Not that I lead an interesting life, but if I journal highlights of my day, it will help me remember things that I've done or thought about since I suffer from CRS.

So my entry for today...
I've been sick for the past two days and didn't go to work. A horrible cold or maybe the flu. Last week, David had the flu and spread cooties all over the house and then last Friday my boss brought his son, who also was sick and infectious, to the office. So it was inevitable that I was going to get sick. I'm feeling a little better, but I know it will take time to get over the congestion and cough.

Every New Year I make this resolution: Instead of buying cards, make them. Sounds easy enough, right? But for some reason I fall behind and only make one or two cards and then buy the rest. So this year I plan on sticking to my resolution and send out cards. If you receive a card from me, then it's to let you know I've been thinking about'cha! If you want to receive a card, let me know and I'll send one out to you.

Need to go back to bed so I can try to get better and go back to work tomorrow. Ugh...

Ja, mata ne!

Nigel

2008-01-25T16:36:00.001-08:00

RIP
Sunset: January 25, 2008

Nermal

2008-01-09T21:36:00.001-08:00

He's gone. Steven took him to the animal shelter.
I hope he finds a good home. I know obw misses him terribly, so do I.
It's sad that Bertie never got to meet Nermal.