Life Update

Oh boy!  Whew, wow, is it dusty in here!  (Takes a Swiffer cloth to the blog). 

Hello out there!  I've recently had some folks (thank you, Louise and June) reach out to me to the tune of "Tina, are you okay? You haven't posted on your blog in a while!" Yeahhh, sorry about that! I guess a part of me wondered if my content was getting stale since my day-to-day life doesn't really change that much: CrossFit, crafting, work, food...RJ. And I was just feeling meh about blogging, but the kind messages I received have reenergized me, so I'd like to get back to posting every now and again (as opposed to dropping off the face of the planet).

CrossFit is still going strong. New news: I did cancel my regular gym membership at the end of October because I found the combination of CrossFit and spin class very draining. The relationships that I've made with the people at CrossFit are much stronger than the very few I've made at spin class. Plus, my sister holds me accountable for going to CrossFit, whereas I didn't have that at the regular gym. I just needed to be honest with myself about where money is better spent, and yeah, it's great having that gym membership money not be taken out of my paycheck anymore.

One of my friends asked me to make some topiaries for her parents' wedding anniversary party. One down, one more to go! It's kinda nice to do something new!

We had a fall potluck at the office this past Monday. My contribution was a pumpkin cheesecake. Other people brought green bean casserole, turkey enchiladas, sweet potatoes, stuffing...yum! I got several compliments on the cheesecake and came home with an empty pan. 

My sister and I went to Target this past weekend. I walked by this shirt and was like "Ok, let's not make an impulsive purchase. Let's think about this overnight and see how we feel about it in the morning." Yeah, heh, I went to another Target the next day and thankfully they had these shirts there too, so I bought it. Harry Potter fan for life!

Second Physical Therapy Appoinment and Beaded Heart Order

I decided to take a sick day today. I did have my second physical therapy appointment after all. Heh. It went really well and the PT was happy with the improvement in my range of motion from last week's appointment.

PT- "Are you going back to work today?"
me- "Nope, I took a sick day."
PT- "Oh yeah, because you look really sick."
(Heh.)

Jessie asked me to make 10 beaded hearts for her students and with the extra time that I had today, I was able to finish her order. By the sixth one, I didn't have to look at the tutorial anymore. :)

CrossFit Open Games Workout 16.1 and a New Crafty Project

The day is finally here! The CrossFit Games Open have begun, something the gym has been talking about for months. The workout was released last night so I knew what I was getting myself into. It wasn't really the exercises that I was worried about. It was more the time because 20 minutes is a long time to be going all-out.

 

CrossFit Games Open 16.1 Scaled (AMRAP - Reps)
20-Minute AMRAP of:
25 Ft. Front Rack Walking Lunge, 35#
8 Bar Facing Burpees
25 Ft. Front Rack Walking Lunge, 35#
8 Jumping Pull-ups

I got through 5 complete rounds and tacked on 25 ft walking lunges and 8 burgees, 143 total reps. More fun to follow next week!

A few days ago, Jessie asked me if I would make a bunch of 3D crystal hearts for a project she wants to do with her students and linked a YouTube tutorial in her email for reference.

My first instinct was to say “But that’s not paper! This is totally outside of my comfort zone. Like in another galaxy!“ But I wanted to give it a shot before I said anything. I bought supplies after CrossFit this morning.

After a few hours, I made something resembling a heart! Hey, not too bad for the first day of trying! I will need more practice, but I’m getting somewhere.

Before

After

Running in ATL

Well, the meeting today went fine.  I think I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with the project though because it's all about evaluation and that's not something that I've dabbled in very much.  Also, this project is supposed to only take 30% of my time, but after this meeting, I have a feeling that it's going to be more than that.  Whatever.  I'll worry about it on Monday.

Getting home had been quite an adventure.  There were 4 of us total from my organization that went to this meeting.  One guy wanted to be dropped off at a train station so we did that and the 3 remaining people rushed to the airport.  Except we experienced 4:30 PM Friday traffic.  OMG, it was so stressful because the cars were just not moving.  Once the traffic let up, my boss zipped the rest of the way to the airport.

Except we had to return the rental car.  My coworker and I flew out of the rental car, basically ditching my boss (with her permission), and ran to the train that would bring us to the terminal.

Then we had to go through security, which was also a nightmare because while we had our boarding passes on our phones, the security guy directed us to the pre-TSA approved line.  But we weren't pre-TSA approved.  Ugh, it was awful because I thought it had something to do with my phone and so I rushed to print a new boarding pass and go to the regular TSA line.  I told Elizabeth to get to the gate (save yourself!!) and once I got through security, I ran in my flip flops and dress to the gate with about 10 minutes to spare before they started boarding us on the plane.

If I knew I'd be doing this much running today, I would have warmed up and done some running this past week.  Sheesh.

The good thing was that I got a whole aisle to myself.  Whew.  Never ever do I want to do that again!!

Tuesday Trigger: Finesse the Dress

Funny RJ story: I was in the process of emptying my dishwasher last night. I opened a cabinet to put away my cutting boards and left it open. I turned around to put some other dishes away and then turned back to the first cabinet to close it. I finished putting away the other dishes and then thought "Hmm, I wonder where RJ is. He was just here. That's weird." I went into the living and dining room area. Not there. That's so weird. Then I hear a faint thump thump noise. Ah ha. I opened the cabinet where I put the cutting boards, and RJ walked out. Oops. This has shades of the time that I closed my closet with my cat in it back in high school. He started making a commotion in there that my mom, on the other side of the wall, wondered why I was making so much noise. Then later in the day, she wondered where Oliver was. She found him in the closet sleeping. He probably wore himself out from all the banging around.

At the office: I got my flu shot today. The office was offering them for free. While filling out my paperwork, I automatically started writing my parents' address. Sigh, old habits. I also got many compliments on the dress that I bought at Target yesterday. I wanted to blurt out that I got it on clearance for $13. ::evil laugh:: Style doesn't have to be expensive, right?

Card: Here's my take on this week's Tuesday Trigger challenge: Finesse the Dress. I wanted to incorporate the teal and grey colors into the card. For the background grey piece, I used the faux letterpress technique that I saw on the Hero Arts blog a few days ago. I love how that piece added some texture to the card, both with the raised dots and also the splotchy ink (since I used the a Distress Ink pad). Then I wanted to address the swirly design on the dress by heat embossing a swirly floral image with gold embossing powder. The sentiment, butterfly, and gems were added as a finishing touch.Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Personal Stamp Exchange- Detail Gold
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird. Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Weathered Wood.
Stamps: Hero Arts- Thinking of You Messages (sentiment), Inkadinkado- Floral
Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug (Swiss Dots)
Paper: American Crafts- Merrymint
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment border punch, Martha Stewart- Classic Butterfly

Song of the day: "I Wanna Be Rich"- Calloway. Heard it at spin class tonight.

Molds from MoldMuse

Today didn't really start off on the right foot. The left side of my neck was killing me, and I thought I could last all day at work, but I ended up going home around lunch time because the pain got so bad. I'm hoping that a full night's sleep and a Salonpas patch will do the trick.

The good thing about today was that my sister and cousin came over to hang out around dinner time. My cousin hadn't seen my new place yet, so I was happy to give him the tour. "Wow, it's so nice! It kinda feels like a hotel." Well, that's because I've only been here for a month. Maybe if you wait a little longer, it'll look more lived-in.

My molds from MoldMuse arrived today so I tested them out tonight with the polymer clay that I purchased at a yard sale last weekend. I picked out 3 types of flower molds - sakura, rose, and mum. The rose and mum are easy to use, but the sakura one is a little more tricky with all the detail. Here are some of the flowers that I baked tonight. I can't wait to get some gloss to put on them and attach earring posts to them for homemade jewelry.

Two-Step Masking Technique

One of the computer guys told me today that he knew this guy that had a cat that he needed to give away because his fiancé's allergy to cats. "Well, I know that you like cats." Aww, how thoughtful. Too bad I'm not already settled into my place, I might have considered it!

I was reading Papertrey Ink's Nicole Heady's blog this morning and I saw this post/video about a 2-step masking technique. I wanted to try it tonight, using my newest stamp set. I ran into a little trouble with the flower on the lower left corner. The scrap of cardstock was too thick and when I stamped the flower over it, some of the ink didn't make contact with the cardbase. I covered up the empty space left behind with the paper punched butterfly. Next time, I'll use a scrap piece of copy paper (like in the video) to avoid this problem.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Warm Green, Prussian Blue, Dark Peony, Rose Coral
Stamps: Inkadinkado- Nature (leaves, butterfly, flowers), K&Company- AB Lotus Greeting Stamps (sentiment)
Punch: Martha Stewart- Classic Butterfly, We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Pearl: Queen & Co.- Sunflower Yellow

Letterpress Technique with the Cuttlebug Machine

The monthly staff breakfast is tomorrow, and my department is one of the two that is hosting it. I went to the grocery store with one of my co-workers to pick up juice and fruit. We walked by some candy. I just couldn't help myself and exclaimed, "Ooo, candy!" My co-worker was walking behind me with the cart, "Let's move along now. Geeze, Tina. I'm like a parent, grocery shopping with a kid." Well, I paid for the groceries! Who's the grown-up now, eh?

For today's card, I wanted to try use my Cuttlebug machine as a letterpress. I inked up one side of the embossing folder and sandwiched my cardstock in between and ran it through the machine. It took a couple of tries to get it right. Even the white cardstock that I used wasn't perfect, but I thought the majority of the resulting image was good enough to use for this card. Uh, hello traffic light. Ha ha.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Yellow Ochre
Paper: Die Cuts with a View- Nana's Kitchen
Punch: Fiskars Threading Waters border punch
Brad: Recollections- Rhinestone Brads
Flowers: Prima
Stickers: American Crafts Chipboard Thickers in Typo
Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug (Victoria)
Ribbon: Sweet Petites from A.C. Moore

Learning From Others

I finally got my lazy butt to the gym tonight for spin class. The last time I went was ::groan:: last week. Oops. At least I ran a few times in between! There must be something in the food that Mom brought home from Taiwan. I want to eat all of it and then when I do, I go into a food coma and suddenly napping is a wonderful idea.

For tonight's card, I wanted to take some techniques that I learned from fellow card makers. First, I did the embossed lines using the groove in my Fiskars trimmer. I saw this technique used in Kristina Werner's Make A Card Monday, April 18, 2011. Then, from Britta Swiderski, I learned that by using a square punch, you can create even banner ends. Well, provided that you line everything up properly, but it sure beats trying to cut them. The card didn't exactly come out the way I had planned, but I think it worked out just fine. The embossed lines were supposed to be on all four sides, but that set didn't turn out straight, so I cut them off. Then when I stamped the dots, the ones at the bottom got wonky so I cut them off too and added a punched border. Ta da!

Card Specs:
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Warm Honey. Colorbox chalk ink in Yellow Ochre, Blackbird, Maroon.
Punch: Fiskars Apron Lace Border Punch, Fiskars Square squeeze punch
Stamp: American Crafts- Boutonniere (flower), Fiskars- Thank You (sentiment), Hero Arts- Cling Dots
Foam adhesive: Thermoweb
Pearl: Queen & Co.- Pearl
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials

Resist Embossing Technique, Part 2

Funny things that happened at the office today:

• I went to go visit my former officemate in the main building, and one of my co-workers walked by and asked her is she missed me. "No, because she's over here all the time." Ha ha. It's true. I was in the main building a total of 4 times today. There was leftover meeting food, so that was an extra incentive to go over and also visit.
• When a bunch of us were getting leftover lunch, one of the guys said that he was having a snack. I asked him if what he was getting was within his new dietary restrictions (he recently found out that he was diabetic). "Yes, Tina..." Then another person noted that my comment was very mommy-ish. Oops. I can't help it!
• My boss and I are going to be traveling together for work in May and renting a car. me- "Do you want me to bring my GPS?" Boss- "Um, sure, that'd be great. I use maps." Oh, gosh, is she talking about a fold out map? How old school.
  

I decided to try another emboss resist card with the same stamp I used on Monday. This time, I stamped the music score stamp first and then I used clear embossing powder to stamp the bird image on top. I was expecting the music score to stand out more, but you can't even see it through the clear embossed part of the card. Maybe I needed to zap the music score image with a heat gun before moving on. Oh well. I went over the card with some Distress Inks, expecting the colors to be more vibrant, but they are definitely more toned down. It's definitely not my style, but I think the teal, tan, and red kinda work together. Same stamp, totally different look.

Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in clear
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Broken China, Warm Honey, Barn Door, Antique Linen. Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird.
Paper: Die Cuts with a View- Stack 7
Stamp: Hampton Art- Bird Collage, American Crafts- Rue, Stampendous (music score)
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials

Resist Embossing Technique

I decided to go visit my cousin after spin class and I'm SO glad that I did because he had one cupcake left from Georgetown Cupcake!!! What perfect timing (or not so good timing, depending on how you want to look at the situation)! He must have subconsciously known that I was coming to visit. I think the one that I ate was the Cherry Blossom one...very seasonally appropriate.

I recently saw this blog post about Resist Embossing Technique, and I wanted to try it out with some of the items I purchase this past weekend: watercolor paper, 2 stamps, and patterned paper. I've also seen Jennifer McGuire do something like this too, but I couldn't find the specific YouTube video that she talks about this. I don't think there was any logic to the colors that I used or the placement, and while I'm a person that appreciates order, I kinda like how the colors are dispersed across the bird image.

Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Personal Stamp Exchange- Black
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Peeled Paint, Broken China, Tattered Rose, Warm Honey, Barn Door.
Punch: Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment border punch, We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Paper: American Crafts- Abode
Stickers: EK Success- Hearts
Stamp: Hampton Art- Bird Collage, Studio G (sentiment)
Foam adhesive: Thermoweb

Song of the day: "If I Could Turn Back Time" - Cher.

Yeah.

No judging, mkay?

P.S. Tomorrow is Free Cone Day at Ben and Jerry's!

Happy Birthday to Me, Part 2

This morning, at the end of spin class, the instructor rummaged around and said "Ok, who took my shoes?" One of the ladies that was just about to leave realized that she was the culprit and gave them back. I guess she was running on auto-pilot, even though she had put her street shoes in a bag before the class started. Ha ha.

I went out with my friends Robyn and Meg for my birthday dinner. Although the wait at The Cheesecake Factory was over an hour, it was totally worth it. I got the chicken marsala and because the portion is so big, I'm happy to report that I have leftovers for tomorrow. After dinner, we went to Borders, which was having a storewide going-out-of-business sale. And then we ended up back at the house to finish our cheesecakes that we got to-go and rehashed stories from college, which, yes, are still funny the 10 billionth time. Meg got me some paper crafting supplies (candy/cupcake themed this time, instead of the tropical theme last year) and Robyn got me a cute cat coin purse and some paper made from elephant poop. Yes, there is such a thing! :)

When I was reading some blogs this afternoon, I saw Christine from ScrapTime create some fabric flowers, and I wanted to try it out for myself. I had bought some fabric last week and this was a great opportunity to use it. In the video, it looks like she's using something like a giant glue dot to get the fabric to stay put when rolling the flower together. Since I don't have that product, I just used my ATG gun and dabbed some Glossy Accents in some of the folds to keep the flower together once the adhesive dries. I guess I could have used a hot glue gun, but it has a tendency to be messy (although, that's what I used to stick the gem in the center of the flower).

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Warm Green, Blackbird
Stamps: Inkadinkado (leaves), The Paper Company Studio- Greetings (sentiment)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Martha Stewart- Classic Butterfly
Brad: Recollections
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials
Ribbon: Sweet Petites from A.C. Moore

Movies at the Office, Day #3

Today's feature presentation at the office was Sling Blade. Like yesterday, I was in the middle of a conference call so I had to pass on the movie. I found it ironic that even though I was the one that organized the movie marathon this year, we didn't watch any of the movies that I brought in. But that's okay. As they are MY movies, I can watch them whenever I want. :)

I didn't find a new origami model to fold, but I did find a video tutorial on how to make fabric Kanzashi flowers by folding fabric and sewing the petals together. Fortunately, Mom had some leftover fall-y fabric, so I used it as a test until I can get to the fabric store and get fabric of my own. I have to get me a hot glue gun so that I can attach buttons and embellishments to the center of the flowers without worrying that they'd fall off. This regular glue is not going to work for fabric projects. I guess we all gotta start somewhere. On another note, I found it funny that the name of the person that made the video tutorial is Tina, too.

Here was this week's One-Layer Wednesday challenge (#34): Make a one-layer card using only one image stamp and no more than two ink colors. You may also use a sentiment stamp. Hmmm, this is kinda limiting, right? I guess that's why they call it a challenge. Duh. Here's what I came up with. I went with a mini card (2.5 inch square) because the regular A2 size was kinda big and intimidating to me for this challenge. Besides, I don't do mini cards very frequently so it was nice to step outside my comfort zone. I wanted to use my new Dear Lizzy stamps somehow, so I chose a bee and a sentiment stamp from a set that Meg gave me for my birthday last year.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Charcoal, Yellow Cadmium
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Stamp: American Crafts- Dear Lizzy- Warbler (bee), I can't find the brand of the stamps that the sentiment comes from.

Merry Christmas!

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas, and for those of you that don't celebrate it, hope you had a fabulous day. :)

Today marks the first year anniversary of my blog. Holy. COW. I've had a really fun time maintaining this blog, whether it's sharing my crafty adventures, food, travels, or just random silliness. I am so appreciative of the comments and feedback I have received on the blog as well. I'm hoping that the new year will bring some new and exciting news worth sharing. Thank you, blogosphere!

Because the family celebration took place last night, today was very chill. Major activities including listening to the Paperclipping Roundtable (episode #50), eating, napping, and crafting. Through TPR, I was introduced to another crafty blog called Scrap Time. The blogger Christine has pages and pages of information on techniques, tools, and products. I came across her post on Pop-Up cards and was inspired to do one today. This is totally unlike me because I very rarely do anything to the inside of my cards. My other goal for today's card was to use some of the American Crafts goodies that I got yesterday.
Card Specs:
Paper: Die Cuts with a View- Citrus (butterflies), Recollections (red stripes), American Crafts- Letterbox (everything else)
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Chestnut Roan, Rose Coral, Warm Red, Maroon, Prussian Blue. Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Chipped Sapphire.
Stamp: Studio G (sentiment), American Crafts- Dear Lizzy- Warbler (clouds, flowers)
Foam adhesive: Thermoweb
Punch: Martha Stewart- Classic Butterfly, Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment border punch
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials
Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug- Victoria

By the way, I got the American Crafts goodies from AllScrapbookSteals. This was my first time purchasing from them, and I was pleased with my shopping experience. I ordered on December 17 and my items were shipped on the same day. A week later, my complete order was at my doorstep. Woot. :)

Wrapping it up for today, I really liked this reflective post from BenDoesLife.

See y'all tomorrow!

Rainy Thursday

It's been raining ALL DAY LONG. So gross. I guess we need the rain though. I just hope it clears out by Saturday so that I can go have fun at yard sales and Crafty Bastards.

I got an Etsy custom order today, all the way from New Zealand! It still boggles my mind that mail somehow finds its way from here to the other side of the WORLD. How does the USPS do that?

Today's card is brought to you by my friend Cristina. All the paper elements, excluding the kraft cardstock, is from the stash of wedding invitation scraps that she gave me a while back. The border was made by using this technique from a Fiskars video that I saw today. I thought it was a great way to get the most use out of a border punch.

Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Personal Stamp Exchange- Black
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Warm Violet, Wisteria
Stamps: Fiskars- Romance (flowers), Fiskars- Sentiments (sentiment)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Fiskars Threading Waters border punch
Die: Cuttlebug- Flowers
Foam adhesive: EK Success
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials

Caardvarks Clean & Simple Challenge

Ok, 2 weird things that happened today:

• I went into the bathroom to put my contacts in, reached in the contacts container-thingy. Nothing. Nada. HUH? What gives? I searched around. I even looked down the drain, and they were hanging out in the drain catcher. Gross. Sigh.
• I went for a run right after I got home from work. I felt motivated because a) I didn't go to the gym yesterday (took a nap instead) and b) I ate a lot at work today. I had to use my Nando's free 1/4 chicken before it expired, and we also had leftover meeting food from Potbelly.

So, guess what. I'm not the only artsy-fartsy person in the family. My sister is the cartoonist for the college newspaper. The comic for this week is below (click for a clearer image). Given that today is the first full day of fall, I thought this would be appropriate to share. Except it doesn't feel like fall at all with the 90+ degree weather we've been having today.
Today's card was inspired by Caardvarks's clean and simple challenge. They were showing off a bunch of Hero Arts Christmas/holiday cards, so I figure I could go with that theme too. I used this as an opportunity to use my new Swiss Dots embossing folder that I got last weekend. I also used the stamping off technique that I used on Tuesday. To make the Noel sentiment stand out majorly, I used black embossing powder. Pow!

Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Personal Stamp Exchange- Black
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Deep Green
Stamps: The Paper Company Studio- Christmas Expressions (sentiment), SEI- Winter Song (leaf)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 8
Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug (Swiss Dots)
Paper: American Crafts-The Goods Ceremony Paper

Breaking Out the Colored Pencils

I was determined to use a rub-on today. I started out with blue lotus flower. That didn't work. Then I tried cutting out a flower rub-on. That didn't work either. Hmmm. I thought about using a flower pot stamp with a leaf/stem stamp. ::light bulb on:: After I got the flower rub-on adhered to the cardstock and stamped the leaves and flower pot, I still thought that something was missing. There was still just too much white. Then I remembered a package of blending paper stumps that I had yet to open and use. I broke out my colored pencils and baby oil and used them to color in the flower pot and leaf. The baby oil is a substitute for Gamsol, but the technique is pretty much the same. I thought the card still needed some dimension, so I added some bling.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Warm Red, Warm Green, Chestnut Roan
Stamp: Fiskars- Friendship Garden (leaves, pot)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Rub-on: American Crafts, Mini Marks, Accents, Book Three (flower)
Color pencils: Prismacolor in Dark Brown, Peacock Green
Other: Red Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker

I added my Trigger Target badge on the left. :D

New Crafty Adventure

Ahhh, comp days are awesome! Just like last Friday, I woke up just in time to make it to Anna's 1-hour spin class this morning. It was quite a work out. I'm not sure if it was because I had gone to spin class last night or because I've been a bum the last few days. Anyway, it was a great workout. At the end of class, she pondered "Hmm, I guess it's just another weekend, right?" Someone in the back of the class spoke up "There's the World Cup!" Anna- "Oh, right." Person- "Well, your home team isn't playing." Anna (she is originally from England)- "They were quite rubbish." Person- "They were almost as bad as us!" I found the conversation amusing.

After spin, I was quite busy! Post office to mail off orders, grocery store to replenish my supply of yogurt/cereal/milk/ice cream, did 1 load of laundry, put paper scraps away, vacuumed my room, read some crafty blogs, and sent some work-related emails. Whew! However, productivity took a nosedive when I put the freshly laundered sheets on my bed and took an afternoon nap.

Back in January, when I was writing my New Year's Resolutions, I decided that one of them would be to learn a new craft. I found some cute crochet flowers on Little Birdie Secrets and wanted to make some of my own. I had seen this blog post a while back, but at the time, didn't have the desire to start something new. I thought these would be a wonderful alternative to Prima flowers. I knew that Mom had some leftover yarn from when she was crocheting winter hats for us, so all I would need to get is a crochet hook. After dinner tonight, I made my craft store rounds. I bought some flower ribbon, 2 stamps (each stamp was 50 cents, what a steal!), and a set of crochet needles (with 50% coupon, the 6 hook set was less than $6!). After watching the LSB YouTube video and working with the maroon yarn, I was able to crochet my first flower! ::patting self on the back:: I saw how it looks like a stitched brad was used in the flower center of one of the example flowers in the blog post, so that's what I did in today's card..

I picked up a bag of Lifesavers Gummies. They are yummy, but they kinda all taste the same, despite having 6 different flavors advertised. :P
Card Specs:
Ink: StazOn in Jet Black
Stamp: Studio G
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Brad: K&Company- Wild Saffron
Paper: American Crafts-The Goods Ceremony Paper
Other: Black Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker

Pleated Ribbon

I ran across this pleated ribbon tutorial over at Pretty Pink Posh, and I wanted to try it out for today's card. It's definitely a different take on how to use ribbon. I can see myself using it to make a bold focal point in future cards, as an alternative to the traditional bows and knots. I think the key is to have a very strong adhesive to ensure that the pleats stay put. The Tombo Adhesive tape runner just wasn't cutting it, so I had to use a dab of Beacon's 3-in-1 craft glue to secure each pleat to the black cardstock. In retrospect, I should have used a different color of ribbon since the cardstock base was white, but I think this is a good first try.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Yellow Ochre
Stamps: Fiskars- Sentiments (sentiment)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Fiskars Apron Lace border punch
Brad: K&Company- Wild Saffron

CPS #164

Today was a (_) good day, (_) bad day. Check one.

Today was a (X) good day, (_) bad day. :)

Let me elaborate.

• Ah, got a good night's sleep due to clean, freshly laundered sheets.
• Woke up to a sale.
• Didn't make it to spin class this morning, BUT I did go to the gym (to watch reruns of The Hills, hah!)
• Cute front gym desk guy was working this morning, extra bonus.
  
• Ate yummy potato salad and pasta salad leftover from last night's family BBQ.
• Ate Edy's peach pie ice cream. I haven't had ice cream in what seems like forever.
  

Even though I went to ACMoore on Friday night and didn't find anything that I really wanted or needed, I saw that they were having a sale on cardstock this week. Overheard at ACMoore today:

• Little girl- "Oooo, that's SO pretttyyy." Yes, honey, that's how they getcha. With really pretty packaging and colors. Welcome to my world.
• Girl talking to her friend in the scrapbook paper aisle- "I buy paper that looks so pretty, but then I don't know what to do with it." Ah, yes. I feel that way often.

For tonight's card, my goal was to use the new chalk ink that I bought today. The card was inspired by CPS's #164. Tonight, I used the emboss resist technique, which means you heat emboss with some sort of embossing powder and then you use a cotton ball, tissue, or something similar to add color to the cardstock. I heat embossed the flower image with white embossing powder and then added color using a tissue. I didn't want to go with all purple, so I blended in some blue too.

Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in clear and white
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackberry, Ink It Up! in Lavender and French Blue
Stamps: Fiskars- Thank You (sentiment), K.I. Memories-Blooms (flowers), Inkadinkado- swirl
Foam Adhesive: Making Memories
Punches: Fiskars Threading Waters border punch, We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper

**SALE ALERT**
Oh, P.S. in an effort to clear some inventory, I'm having a sale over at my shop! Until May 2, 11:59 PM EST, buy 2 cards, get 1 FREE. Purchase all 3 cards and get the least expensive card for free. Refund via Paypal. Happy browsing! :)