New Year / New Me

Okay, I am a VERY BAD blogger. Christmas this year just seemed to slam into me and left me on my butt wondering "what just hit me?". My blog suffered along with many other holiday things, but I am looking to the new year for a new start.

I am going to attempt something new this coming year of 2010. I am going to send out to my faithful JUG's (just us girls) the group of friends that I have had for more than 40 years these are the girls that I grew up with. Well, because we all hate to get nothing but bills in the mail, I am going to attempt to send out a card each month to the JUG's so that they have something fun to open instead of just another bill to pay. I already have my January cards made and I'll post the pic when I know that they are at their destinations.

I am also going to try to post every day in the new year. I may not have much to say but I'll try and touch base each day.

I also want to make a card a week. I would love to say one a day but I am trying to be realistic and keep these goals (I'm going to call them goals instead of resolutions) maybe a goal will be easier to achieve than a resolution is to keep. Time will tell.

I am also going to get a good birthday list and get my cards for a month done and ready to go so that I just have to drop them in the mail. If you would like to be on my birthday list please send me a note.

In addition to these things I hope to eat better (more healthful) and exercise more. Less stress will make me a happier person and I want to be happy this new year.

Do you have "goals" that you hope to achieve this new year?
Please share.

Turkey Day is Here

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS.

YOU HAVE BLESSED MY LIFE AND HAVE MADE ME THE PERSON THAT I AM.

FOR THAT I WILL ALWAYS BE THANKFUL.

NOW GO AND GOBBLE TIL' YOU WOBBLE.

Milestone (pun intended)

Today my car's odemeter rolled over to 100,000 miles.

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

Birthday Wishes

Happy Fall

When I Grow Up

I stamped and colored these images awhile ago but needed to find the SU paper that I knew would work with them. Glad I waited until I sorted through my papers.












Cardstock, patterned paper and images are all Stampin' Up. The images were colored with Crayola colored pencils.

I HATE my new haircut!!!!

Let me preface this with the statement that neither the stylist or my sister-in-law are to blame for me hating my hair. In fact, it was my sister-in-law's hairstyle that prompted me to ask where she got her hair done.

I needed to find a more economical place to get my hair done. The place I was going to is perfectly great, except that it no longer fits into my budget. I had been touching up my roots myself, but only in the areas that showed. It had gotten to the point that I needed to have something professionally done because I could only wear my hair in a bun (due to the outgrowth of color in the back).

The REAL reason that I hate my hair is because I chose a style that was so very drastically different from what I have been used to that I am not comfortable with it. I am WAY OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE!!! The stylist created what I asked of her but it is so short and thinned out with a gazillion layers that I just don't like it. To me it looks like a hair helmet. I miss the feel of thick hair.

I know that it is only hair and that is one of the reasons why I haven't cried over my mistake or have the desire to make more dramatic changes to try and "fix it". It will grow out, I will find a better style that I will like and will look better. But in the interim I will just have to do the best with the little bit of hair I have left. On the bright side, at least I have a full head of hair and that is always a good thing.

Seeing Red

Thankful

My Mom is now at home recovering from a recent hospital stay. Thankfulness was on my mind when I did these two cards.

Switcheroo

I changed out the happy birthday stamp to something a bit more feminine and played around with the patterned paper layers. Same card with some subtle changes.

Birthday in Blue

As many crafters know you can't always find what you want when you want it. Or is that MY problem. I colored some images last weekend and have in my mind the perfect patterned paper to use with them. However, because some of my supplies are in my bedroom and some are in the craft cellar I haven't yet put my hands on them. I did find these wonderful SU patterned papers and made this card last night while watching Survivor. The paper is SU Bella Bleu, SU Very Vanilla, and a piece of navy cardstock from Archiver's. The stamp is from Archiver's and the ink is SU Night of Navy.

Have a great weekend!!!!

A Howling Good Birthday

My niece and god-daughter celebrates her birthday on Halloween. I tried to combine a little bit of both on her card. The inside has a glitter cupcake sticker with a birthday sentiment.

Welcome Home

Here is a card that I put in the mail today. I was expecting to take it with me to a housewarming but either I was a last minute deletion to the guest list or my invitation got lost in the mail. Either way, I waited awhile to hear something about the party and decided to just send the card with the gift via the mail.

I wish that I didn't have to work today because the weather is fantastic. Warmer, bright sunshine, a great relief to the cold rainy weather that we were having.

A Morning Quickie

For those of you who let your minds go into the gutter with my title, let me give you a hand up out of the gutter.

Here is a very simple card that I made this morning before I left for work. Hence, made in the morning very quickly....LOL!

Hope everyone has a good weekend and with any luck I will have more crafty fun to post on Monday.

AAAHHHHH FALL

Nature's beauty, right outside my bedroom window.


These colors just SCREAM fall.


I have so many punches! I want to try to use them more often in my projects.


I just love the patterned paper and the drinks ribbon.

Not Just A Job...

Today I had a bit of an adventure. I had to go downtown to straighten out some business license stuff with the City of Chicago. This of course is not for my business but for the company for which I work. It was odd to not leave the house at my usual time and yet it had a completely different feel from a vacation or weekend day. I went downstairs when I woke up and logged into my computer here at work and did a few things before going back upstairs to get ready for work.

My brother dropped me off at the El station closest to my house so that I wouldn't have to walk the 2 miles. Not that I shouldn't have used this as a reason to get my rear in gear and exercise. I was lazy and it's kinda cold out so I went the way of convenience instead. It's been awhile since I rode the El and I was surprised that a one way trip/ride is $2.25. Still cheaper than driving down and parking. After some help from some nice fellow riders I used the vending machine for my ticket and with the help of a C.T.A. employee figured out how to insert it into the turn style. Why is it that I can so very easily do this procedure at Walt Disney World with no problems but felt like a complete dork today at the mass transit turn style? The ride was interesting to see the work that is being done on buildings and roads and the only thing that I should have brought with me was my iPod so that I could have listened to some tunes. Once downtown I felt a bit confused until I located Daley Plaza and then City Hall. The people (police officers and security) from whom I asked directions were very helpful and kind. Not that I thought that they wouldn't be but it was great to know that if I was a visitor that people in my city are nice and kind. After going to a few different departments and getting an escort by a very nice man (he called me young lady - I guess it paid off that I just dyed the gray out of my hair over the weekend, lol)that I met in the elevator I was finally able to resolve the business that sent me on my adventure. Back on the El, home and then out to the office in the suburbs. I can now say, that it's not just a job, but an adventure.

I will have a picture of the card I made this morning posted tomorrow. Have a good Tuesday!

Days Like This

It's days like this that I wish I had become a school teacher or a banker. Alas, I work not in those fields and therefore cannot spend my Columbus Day at home. Instead I am catching up on work that often gets pushed to the side because I have to deal with the items that have arrived in the mail.

All of the baby shower invitations are finished and in the mail. All of the stamps used have been cleaned and put back into their SU plastic containers. Of course I haven't put those away in the "craft cellar" yet. That would be WAY TOO ORGANIZED! I have been eyeing my fall stamps and paper and throwing around ideas in my head for some seasonal cards. I have also been looking through some of my holiday paper and have been trying to come up with one or more designs for my Christmas cards. I think that I will be doing a few different versions of Christmas cards based on the supplies that I have. I have plenty of X-mas stacks of 12x12 paper and many many stamps that have never been stamped other than to catalog them for my binder so that I know what I have. I have also been thinking about a New Year's resolution which is to make and have all the birthday cards that I need for family and friends done so that all I have to do is place a stamp on the envelope and put it into the mail. I know that this means super organization but that is what I am striving for after all.

Have to put some effort into getting things done for the upcoming craft fair in November. I have a baby afghan that I want to finish along with a lap afghan, so I had better get a crackin'.

The tree out front is gorgeous. I need to take a picture of it before it is too late. The leaves outside my bedroom window are just fantastic.

So, if you are off and enjoying the holiday, well have fun because I am hard at work.
If you are not off but at work like me, well then I hope that you are able to be productive today.

Have a good Monday!

67 Down 13 To Go

The challenge: To make a baby shower invitation for my niece that incorporated the colors of baby yellow (barely banana), baby green (certainly celery), and black. Use the images that she chose and make 80 of them in a span of two weeks from start to finish. (I exceeded the two week time frame - see title of this post).

This is what I came up with after talking my niece out of having a black card. I told her that it would just add another step of having to have a separate insert for the invitation data.

Almost!

Gosh I feel so out of touch with everything. My blog, my blogging friends and their blogs. My friends and family. I have 20 invitations to finish and get in the mail and then I will have some breathing room. I'll post a pick when I am done.

Work has been crazy and I'm getting tired of the hours. It's hard for one person to do the work of three but that is what I am doing right now. I am fortunate to have a job and have begun to "train" the wife of one of the owners to do some acctg stuff so hopefully soon I will be able to lighten my load. My house and yard are a mess and I need to get my fat arse to the gym. Not just for the physical benefits but for the mental as well. Take some of these frustations out is definitely something I should be doing.

Don't give up on me cyber-world, I hope to be back to creating and blogging more regularly in the very near future.

Just Treading Water

Here are a couple of pictures of what I have managed to finish and clear off of my plate. I was in charge of the invitations, party favors and thank you cards for my Mom's 80th birthday. Of course I never took a picture of the invite but it used the SU colors of pumpkin pie and purely pomagranite. To go with that theme the party favor boxes were made using pumpkin pie but this time I used the new "in" color razzleberry (?). They were filled with three Kit Kat mini bars. The thank you cards were made from a paper stack that I got at JoAnne Fabrics (some fall paper collection) and the cardstock is SU. The ink is SU the new razzleberry (I should probably be a better demostrator and know all these colors by heart but alas I am negligent in that area).

I am working on the baby shower invites for my niece Jennifer and although I have many of the components completed I have not yet completed a full card. They will however be out in the mail by Sunday so this here chick has many crafting hours between now and then to complete. I'll post a picture when I am done.

Pretty much the rest of my life is about the same. Working, eating, sleeping. Too much working, too much eating and definitely not enough sleeping.

I Think I See Daylight

Wow, it's been a long time since I updated this blog. I have been busy making the invitations for my Mom's 80th birthday party, along with the party favors and her thank you cards. I will post those and some party pictures at a later date. I wanted to get the cards that were in my camera out onto my blog. Some of these have already been sold as I was in a craft fair earlier this month. I have about 80 baby shower invitations to finish this week and hope to be a better blogger and update more frequently as well as visit all my blogging buddies. Have a great Monday and I hope to be back very soon.

Cards

Here are a couple of cards that I made a little bit ago. I have been busy getting 70 invitations out the door for my Mom's 80th birthday. Have to make the party favor boxes and then design a baby shower invite for my niece. Plus there is a craft fair looming in September.

More Inventory

Inside: Many Tanks



Inside: Many Tanks