Thursday, March 29, 2012

Challenge.

It's been a long time since I participated in a challenge. I saw Moxie Fab's Paper Scraps Challenge (click here to join in on the fun) and I thought I'd submit a few cards!

A while ago I saw a post on Paper Craft Connection's website about using scraps, and I've been hooked since.

I hate wasting. No, I wouldn't say I'm a hoarder, or even a pack rat. But when it comes to using up the last of the peanut butter in the jar, leftovers from Applebees, or the last drops of milk in the container, I can't throw them away. My mother instilled a weird habit in me as a child. Her mother grew up in the depression, married a farmer, and had six children. My mother had eight kids so she had to scrape just to feed bellies. And I'm just neurotic.

I have an incredibly hard time throwing away paper, no matter how small. I always say to myself "I'm sure I can find a use for this 1x1 square of white cardstock in the future!" and in my stash it goes. My biggest heartbreak is using diecuts that leave large, odd shapes. They're always small enough that you can't do a thing with them, but large enough that I always save them anyway. That's why I LOVE this challenge and anything revolving around scraps!

I know Moxie Fab challenges are to create in innovative ways, and I know that these aren't exactly innovative for the average crafter, but they were so much fun to make and a new experience for me.

For the first three sets of cards it was my first experience paper piecing. I think I expressed my hatred towards paper piecing before.






Even though I learned of my hatred for paper piecing, I love the way these cards turned out. They're so bright!

My last card was made from a way cute paper set that I don't remember the name of.


Again, nothing innovative here. But I like it, gosh darnit, so I'm submitting it too!

Thanks for stopping by. I love visitors!

Friday, March 23, 2012

Heart.

"Happiness is in the heart, not in the circumstances."
-Dove chocolate wrapper

I've never heard that before. And I love it.

I’ve been meaning to post, but I’ve been able to come up with some awesome excuses. I have an announcement to make:

We adopted a cat! A totally random, unexpected and spontaneous event that happened several Saturdays ago. Adam said he wanted to go to the Humane Society that day to look at dogs for his grandma. Grandma said she wanted a dachshund. She also said she wasn’t ready for a dog. We went anyway. The dogs there do nothing but bark, even though there was an adorable beagle that I wanted to squeeze and a gorgeous husky. No dachshunds.


Our Humane Society has glass rooms full of cats that are waiting to be adopted. You can go into one of the rooms and pet the cats. I went inside once with Jade, my “little sister”, and it was stinky. Adam said he wanted to go into a room but I declined, remembering the stench. He went in and spoke through the glass, saying it wasn’t bad at all. So I took a step inside, and he was right, it wasn’t bad. There was a cat stand directly to the right after entering and a young cat was standing at shoulders height, looking at me. He literally crawled across my shoulders and into my arms and sat there purring at me incessantly. He was so friendly, so trusting. My heart melted. It seemed like a sign that I should take him home, like he knew he wanted to live in MY home and he was ready as ever.

Normally it takes a long time to adopt from the humane society. You have to fill out an application and they have to call references. It must've been nearing the end of his stay because they didn't hesitate, they let us take him home within the hour.


The Humane Society named him Atom because he was found by the nuclear plant, but seeing as it sounds identical to Adam, I had to change it. Nuke seemed to fit. Short, and still keeps the only known part of his history in his name. I got him a black collar with white skull and cross bones.

He acclimated well and instantly in our home. He and Coco haven't had any issues and in fact play all the time together. He knew instantly to use the kitty litter box in the basement. He learned quickly not to jump on the counter tops and kitchen table.


We had to get him declawed, though. He scratched and poked me all the time without even meaning to, even when I was just petting him, his claws would dig into my leg! We were also worried about him scratching Coco since they play so often and so rough.

Nuke has his declaw surgery last Monday (12th). Poor thing has been in so much pain. It breaks my heart. His left front paw was swollen and he won't put any pressure on it. We took him back to the vet and got antibiotics for him. He's eating and drinking, but wasn't using the kitty litter box. He solved that problem yesterday morning when I went to take him out of his kennel and the pillow he was laying on was sopping wet. And he was sopping wet. Poor thing hadn't gone potty for days (yes, I did TRY to make him go, don't think I'm a bad mom!!) I threw his back half into the bath to get some of the stink out of him and he did NOT like that.


He is pretty much 100%, just a slight limp but is running around again and being annoying like before.

We have a little family now. A dog and a cat. Just missing a little human being.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Merci.

And now my last card from Stamp Camp! It took me a really long time to make this card. Rita has a die cut and embossing folder combo that I loved, but I couldn't figure out what to do with it once I put it through the Cuttlebug. The solution? An easy mini card:









I don't know why it took me so long to see the solution, but now that I have, I may have to hunt down that die cut/embossing folder combo for myself!

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Love.


This is the second card I made at Stamp Camp. I like it, but it's boring. I like the butterfly, the bling, and the sentiment. The card is just... not special.

Look at the difference between my old lighting with flash:






and with my new lighting at 8:00 at night:




I'm very pleased with my expensive lights!

Friday, March 2, 2012

Glitter.

A few months ago my coworker Kelsi introduced me to her friend Rita, who stamps. That's what they call it here. Stamping. Not crafting, scrapbooking, cropping, creating, or whatever else people call it. (wait, what do people call it??)

Kelsi took me over to Rita's house one Saturday to spend a day at Stamp Camp, aka Rita's crafting room. It was a lot of fun! Rita's super generous and I left with a diaper box full of goodies! I made three cards at Stamp Camp and today I'm sharing the one that I don't really like so I can save the best for last.

The part I do like about this card is the red glitter embossing powder Rita has! I want some! The picture doesn't pick it up well because my New Camera donation jar is painfully empty. Thanks a lot. Yes, I blame you.

I just realized that I have a few more followers. Ignoring the fact that I have no idea how that happened, I suppose I should warn said followers to never read what I write. Because not only does it never make sense, my dry humor is usually offensive.

On to the card.... Adam let me invest in some natural-light light bulbs for my craft room. I tested them out at 8:00 last night. What do you think?





I definitely think this picture looks 100% better than any picture I took before. I had no idea my lights were so… not natural looking.


It's fun playing with other people's supplies.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Wish.

I love card with negative dies. I don't know why, especially after seeing so many you would think I would've lost at least some interest.

This simple card was painfully created with the negative of Tim Holtz' Movers and Shapers "Wish" die cut and Spellbinder's circle die cuts.







I like this card!