The Canna is Blooming

Here are the first blooms on one of my canna plants. I love the color combo on this one.



This weekend is my first ever outdoor craft fair. I hope the weather is good, no rain, not too windy and not too hot.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

Just Cards

An Odd Sighting While Sitting In Traffic

So, here in Chicago it's either winter and potholes or summer and road construction. I have to take a different way home from work so that I can go make the company's bank deposit. That route takes me approx. 3 miles out of my way so it's a smidge (15-30 minutes)longer than my morning route. Well, last night I found out that the one road that I travel is now under construction. EEEK, Uck, Blah!!!

My commute in construction is not my story. No instead, I pose the question:
Why do people attach things to the front grill of their vehicle? I understand wreaths during the holiday season but I couldn't quite understand yesterday's sighting.

I drive a Pontiac Sunfire, a compact car that sits lower to the ground. Not as cool and sleek and low to the ground as a corvette, but lower to the ground than a say mini van or SUV.

So I'm sitting in bumper to bumper traffic as the lanes are reduced from two to one. I'm playing with the radio looking for a good song when I look up at my rear view mirror. There, just beyond my bumper, even with my spoiler are two doll heads, one blond (dirty from being on the grill throughout all weather and traffic dirt) and one semi faded redhead. They are about the size of an American Girl doll but are NOT American Girl dolls. Now I am really curious because "WHO PUTS DOLL HEADS ON THE GRILL OF THEIR VEHICLE?" I cannot pull up far enough and put enough distance between his mini-van and my car to see if there are bodies attached to the head. I find this both amusing and weird that I have to call my co-worker to see if this strikes her as odd too. While talking to her on the phone I am able to put enough distance between our vehicles to see that there are no clothes on the torsos of these dolls. There is also something in between them but I cannot make it out. As we move further along and more distance is obtained I see that these are not unclothed baby dolls but they are mermaid dolls. They are not topless but have some sort of bikini or shell bra over there breasts very faded so it looks like they are topless (yup these dolls had breasts). The vehicle moves over to the left lane and at that time I am able to see the whole set up. Two mermaids, one blond, one a redhead. In between a stuffed elephant head, complete with tusks.

Okay, is this odd or am I just overreacting? I, like many others drivers out on the road have an antennae topper and I have Mickey Mouse seat covers but I have never thought to tie a stuffed Mickey Mouse to the front of my car.











Another oldie


P.S. I forgot! He had a bobbing head dog on his front dashboard!

A Movie Marathon

So this Saturday I got my errands done and decided to go to the early (cheaper) showing of Harry Potter. I didn't make the 10:55am showing like I had wanted to but luckily for me the theater had the movie showing in more than one room. I made it to the 11:20am showing. I bought my $7.50 ticket and my $3.50 bottle of water and found the perfect seat. I almost had a private showing but just minutes before the movie 5 more people joined me. About 15 minutes into the movie strobe lights started flashing (I thought it was part of the movie, LOL!) and then a warning signal started to go off. Next came a prerecorded message that there was an emergency and to evacuate the theater, don't run, just exit quickly. The entire building emptied out and the fire trucks and police came. The fire-fighters went into the building with hoses and axes and full on gear. We waited outside for somewhere between 15-30 minutes and then all the fire-fighters came out, the manager issued free passes to anyone who showed there ticket stub and we went back to our theater. Of course my "perfect" seat was taken by someone else which only proves that it was the perfect seat, :-) I have read all the Harry Potter books so none of the movies are detailed enough, and this one is really setting the stage for the next two movies. This movie did not have a lot of action and was more of the story-telling leading up to the last book. The last book is so filled with action that it will take two movies to wrap up this series. After watching this movie I cashed in my free movie ticket and went to see "The Ugly Truth". A cute funny chick-flick. I liked this movie and found myself laughing out loud in more than one place.

Yesterday I found myself out in the garden and was astonished at how fast weeds grow. Spent about an hour weeding,transplanted some flowers from the West side of the yard to the East side, filled up the bird and squirrel feeders and then went inside to do my "chores". I finished the book I was reading "sTORI Telling" by Tori Spelling. Cute, fast and entertaining read. Thanks for the book Cindy!! Forgot to grab a book this morning to start so I will have to choose one tonight. Got a couple of cards done for this weekend's craft fair, got one done for a friend and started another for my brother to use for a friend of his. All in all a productive weekend.





Here are two cards that I made years ago that I recently found in a box.




Here is another card that I made years ago and even though it is very simple is still kind of cute.

T.G.I.F. !!!!!!!

Loved this paper and the stickers that matched.

A Fine Line Between...

There is definitely a love/hate relationship between sales and accounting. When the economy is good and people are able to sell and make money for themselves and the company then all is good in the world. When the economy is bad and the sales reps are frustrated because no one is buying, then because they can't beat up on the customer or management they beat up on the accounting department. Why didn't the customer pay this on time? Why didn't the vendor get paid on time? Why is my commission only this much....On and on and on.

I was the brunt of the frustration today of a very mild mannered salesperson and my day just didn't start off in the way that I wanted it to. I hope that my sweeter than honey response to their rant resulted in them getting even more pissed off. Fortunately for me, if they responded to my response it would have only made them look like a jerk (since the owners were copied on our e-mail stream). Good thing my hair is in a bun today so that a sample could not be pulled for the voodoo doll that is probably going to be made of me.

I Was Bitten

I am not positive of the network, I think that it is the Discovery channel or maybe it's Animal Planet. So far I have seen not quite two episodes of the show "I Was Bitten". OH MY GOSH!!! The people that I have seen by no means should have survived. They are not the same as their pre-bitten selves but the fact that they lived through their bites is astonishing. The first episode that I was only able to watch 1/2 of was the one where a bear bit the head of a man. He survived despite having much of his eye sockets and facial bones crushed. He lives in Alaska and is married with a child. He is blind but all in all he is damn lucky.

Last night's episode was snake bites. Okay, I always thought that the reason you needed to get anti-venom was more for your heart, breathing and nervous system. Well, I was surprised to find out that the anti-venom also combats the digestive effects of the venom. In other words the bite sites were basically being digested while still on the body of the person. The first person was bitten by a snake in Africa. This particular species had no anti-venom developed yet. This man's thumb blew up with a giant blood blister. It was gross, so gross that I turned the channel. The second person was bitten by a rattlesnake and the after effects of his bite was trauma to his entire arm, skin grafts, deformity of the hand and thumb area. Yikers!!!! If you have the stomach, it is an interesting show on how much most of us wish to survive. I know that there are stories of shark bites, spider bites and bee stings. Unfortunately, my stomach can only take this show a little bit or should I say bite at a time. LOL!

You Just Can't Get Beyond....

So last night while watching the baseball game there was a commercial for Quiznos about the new toaster sandwiches. My brother Rick asked me where there was a Quiznos near our house because he thought the sandwiches looked good. I told him I didn't know because ever since they ran those commercials with the little hamster like things with teeth that I can't even think of ever eating at a Quiznos.

Have you ever seen something, a commerical, a print ad... that made you so freaked out that no matter what you or the enterprise does you can't get beyond the creepy to buy anything from them?

An Uneventful Weekend

This weekend was very uneventful but productive. I was supposed to go see Harry Potter but wasn't feeling up to it yesterday so instead I finished up some stuff I was doing. Here is another card that I made a few of for the upcoming craft fair.
Enjoy your Monday.

Beautiful Day

I LOVE this weather!!! For some this is not summer weather, but for me, the highs in the 70's and this evening down into the high 50's low 60's is PERFECT!!!!

I have plans to work out in my yard and rid it from all the weeds that were allowed to grow during the last heat wave. I am going to the matinee showing of Harry Potter on Sunday. I also want to drag out my sewing machine and do some sewing for the upcoming craft fair. Only two weekends to get stuff done before the show. I found out that my booth number is 13, so I feel lucky that it will be a good show. Since this is my first show outside I hope that the weather is good and that sales are outstanding.





P.S. Dear Julie - To answer your question as to what I sell at the craft fairs - this fair will be greeting cards (many of the ones that I have posted on this site) and crocheted baby afghans. I hope to also get a few things sewn and will post any items that will be done in time for the show.

Finished Book and More Cards

So I finished the "in between" book (see yesterday's post) and I still do not have the answer to my question. Very disappointed, but I still like the author.

Here is an image that I colored months ago that finally has been used in a card.

Stephanie Plum

So I have been reading the series from Janet Evanovich that feature her character Stephanie Plum. I just read the 15th book and feel that I have missed something between book fourteen and fifteen. I know that it has been a while since I had read fourteen but there was one GIANT question that I had in book fifteen. "What happened between Lula and Tank?". No mention of the fact that their engagement had been broken off in fourteen. No mention of the relationship at all. What gives Janet? Did you think that we forgot?

I am currently reading one of her "between the numbers" books in hopes of finding out something but I am 3/4 of the way through the book and no answer to my question.

On the bright side, at least I can soon say that I have recently read two books. LOL!

Some of the Craftiness from Sunday

I had these dinosauer three dimensional stickers and finally figured out something to do with them. They came three to a pack (the other is in yesterday's post). I had three packs so I made six cards like the two below. I am in a craft fair on 8/1 & 8/2 and need to get some inventory done. Right now I am concentrating on making at lest 4 to 6 cards of each design. I am also trying to get a vast array of cards, sympathy, get well, male birthday, female birthday, thanks.... My goal is to get at least five cards done a day. Hope I can do it. I received notification that my booth for the above craft fair is #20. Not too sure if that is a good spot or bad but at least I now know my space number. Have a good Wednesday!

Just a Card

Production and The Proposal

This weekend I used my time being very productive making cards for an upcoming 2 day craft fair. I also took time to meet up with some of the J.U.G.'s and had a nice dinner outside (The Corner Bakery) then went to see the movie "The Proposal". Had an excellent turkey sandwich and much needed smiles with my friends and the movie was great. It's definitely a chick flick, romantic comedy and Betty White is a hoot! Loved her in this movie. Sandra Bullock is in fantabulous shape. Wow! Ryan Reynolds, OMG what a hunkster! I laughed out loud, it was a much needed outing.

Basic Wedding Card

Just a basic white, black and red card with a store bought embellishment. Everywhere I turn I keep finding more embellishment treasures. My goal is to keep finding them and using them and then hopefully selling the cards. Have a good weekend everyone, I am going to meet the J.U.G.'s (just us girls) for a movie over the weekend. I'll post my review on Monday.

Use It Up To Make More Room

This economic downturn of both the public and my private finances has made me aware of how many craft supplies I have (fabric for sewing, paper supplies for cardmaking, yarn for knitting & crocheting).I have been crocheting in the evenings and making cards in the morning and trying to come up with new ideas while I am at work (shhh, don't tell my boss).





P.S. Thanks for stopping by Julie B and leaving a comment. The flowers are stickers that are layered and have a glitter added to them. They came in a package and some of the preceding cards were made using those stickers.

Every Girl Should Be A Princess

A Crafty Weekend

I continue to try and use my at home supplies and stay out of the craft stores where I always spend too much money.

Aloha Long Weekend

Have a safe and restful 4th of July weekend!