Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Sets

Today I had a lot of fun creating two sets of cards. I had to stop by Hobby Lobby first to get a new paper trimmer - mine was screwing up my paper!


Arg!!
I ended up with Fiskars 12 Inch LED SureCut Folding Rotary Paper Trimmer. That's a long name. I really wanted Xacto's Laser Paper Trimmer but the Fiskars one was available at Hobby Lobby and I was able to get it on clearance. It works great so far!

I've been experimenting with picture taking, trying to take better photos of my work. I found the tripod I used for my film camera works well with my little digital camera. The only problem I'm having now is lighting. My house faces North and is surrounded by huge trees. I've found the area with the most sunlight is in the back hallway, with the back/west door open, at around 5:00. And it's still not very good lighting. All things considered, I think the photos turned out pretty well. At least they turned out better than my older photos have been.

  





This looks a bit more pink than it is - it's a normal red color.
 






I also made more of the feel better soon cards that I made earlier.


I'm definitely liking card making better than scrapbooking. It takes less time to get one card done than it does a page, so it feels more rewarding. I feel like I have to embellish the crap out of my pages or else it looks too plain, but then sometimes it ends up looking too busy. 

Practice, practice, practice! Practice makes perfect.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Little Shop of Me!

My best friend Erin has been nagging at me to create an Etsy shop for years. I finally did it today. I figure there's nothing to lose. Once I created my first listing I found there is something to lose - 20 cents per listing!  =O

I've started by listing four cards, three of which I just created today. I'm on a roll!




  


I didn't list this one yet:




Wanna take a lookski at the shop? Here it is!

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Father's Day Gift & Cards

I usually don't give anything for my parent's birthdays, anniversaries, or mother or father's day. I'm poor, especially after losing my job, and I always call them or spend time with them on those days. I was browsing through Pinterest and found a fabulous printout and just had to do it. The templates can be found here. I made this for my father-in-law and I will be sending a card to my dad, since he lives out of state and I can't afford to pay for shipping.

Crunch Bar

Sun Chips & Life Savers

Pistachios


Beef Jerky

M&Ms

Packaged in a shoe box

Along with A&W Root Beer!

And of course I had to make cards!

For my father-in-law
  
For my pops

Layers!

 Sunday will be lunch at the grandparents with good food. Can't wait! 

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Trigger: Rainbow Bright

I feel I should start out with apologizing for my last post. I've had a difficult time dealing with myself. It's been better yesterday and today. I got on the treadmill, started to clean the house, and I've become hopelessly addicted to Pinterest (thanks, Cath!). If anyone wants an invitation to Pinterest, just let me know. I have five invites!

I tried to make a card or a scrapbook page several times over the last several days (or has it been weeks?), but nothing came to me. I found myself on several occasions, sitting at my desk and staring at some sparkly patterned paper for 30 minutes until I realized I wasn't getting anywhere.

Today I would say I got somewhere. I at least a finished project - for Moxie Fab World's Tuesday Trigger. I normally have a hard time being inspired by the triggers - I take them too literally and come up with something totally ridiculous and I don't even bother submitting it. Hey, at least I'm learning and I'm trying! This week the trigger really inspired me.



I have a stack of paper with some bright and fun rainbow colors that I bought from a scrapbooking store that recently went out of business, and I've been dying to use some of it. I began by totally scraplifting a card that was given to me by Cari (who I found worked for Paper Crafts!)

Cari does a card swap - every month or so everyone swaps a card they made. This is one of those cards.



I really liked the idea of the flap that tucks underneath the bird, but there were a lot of details I didn't like so much. The glitter seemed odd, or poorly placed, or something, and I wasn't digging the frayed twine/string/ribbon thing.

This is my take:

Be patient with me on the quality of the photos - I'm still learning :)



I'm thinking about giving this card to my "Little Sister" someday. I will officially become a "Big" tomorrow when I meet Jade!

I'M. SO. STINKING. EXCITED!

Alright, 'nuff of that. Run over to Moxie Fab to submit your project!

Sunday, June 12, 2011

I don't know what I'm doing to make people hate me so much. Believe it or not, I try to make people like me. 

Then why did I get fired after being on the job for only one month? Yes, my boss was more difficult than anyone I've ever dealt with in my life, but does that mean I'm not to blame? 

She told me it's not going to work out because I gave her the silent treatment all day. She "doesn't have time for the games". 

Yes, I did avoid her. Because she called me stupid earlier that day. I was hurt and angry. I didn't want to engage in conversation in fear she would insult me further and/or that I would say something unprofessional and regret it later. I wanted to quit there on the spot. How can someone talk to another that way? In a way where its only intention is to hurt? 

She called me immature. She said she needs someone more mature because she doesn't have time to babysit me.

I got fired from my last job because I was rude to a patient who insulted me over, and over, and over.

I don't know that I fully understand people. I don't know that I understand their actions and their words. I don't know that I understand life. I don't know that I understand money and responsibility and social decency. I don't know that I understand happiness.

This year has not been good.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

I'm Sew Excited!

Moxie Fab World's June challenge is all about sewing! Hop on over to participate!

I just got this stamp set from Hobby Lobby and I had so much fun with it!


Woot!

Day 66-69: Glitter and Flowers


Nothing too exciting going on over here in the Paper Candy land. I had a nice break from scrapping and played Rift and HoN a lot. These past couple of days I had the crafting itch again.

I'm pretty sure I'm the slowest crafter in history. It takes me forever to be happy my project and I spend forever revising, revising, and revising some more. I also have a hard time with embellishments. I know I want them but don't want to pay for any so I spend forever trying to make them. The other day I made some Tim Holtz tattered florals:

and I tried for about an hour to make flowers out of lace and tulle. The lace one looks ok but the tulle did not work out at all. Gah!

The other day I found this fabulous "Sweet Matstack" at Hobby Lobby and thought it would be perfect for a stamp set I hadn't used yet. I wanted to make a card for my best friend who has a birthday coming up.

Card for Erin!

Stamp on the inside

I finally took some pictures of some flowers (my first garden!)

We used this bucket for our wedding.
  
I kind of ran out of flowers... 

I got lazy and dumped five whole packets of seeds in  this planter. They are all perrenials. I figure the ones that actually grow I will transplant into the garden next year.

The Cosmos are growing!

A small section of the garden. I planted a bunch of seeds which is why it looks so bare. The the back is a bleeding heart plant my mother in law gave me.

See the gnome on the left!? I love gnomes.