Invitation

Stamp lifted from my friend at work. Stampin Up paper, ink, background stamp. Classic inks and card stock- Only Orange, Yoyo Yellow, and Green Galore. On the Spot background stamp. Random alphabet set of stamps are from a garage sale I got approximately 12 years ago. The Pajama stamp is by Hampton Art Stamps. The ribbon is from Michael's.

Bazzill Bling Flowers!

Went shopping with Cindy today. We found the new Bazzill Bling Blossoms by Imaginisce. So excited! We agreed to each buy them and then we split them between us. I bought pink (also known as Pink Cadillac, the small ones & Feather Boa the large ones). And Cindy bought the small and large purple ones (sorry don't know their real names!).

Came home to make a card and here it is! Am going to give it to my friend who just got a job promotion.

The patterned paper is Guava Dots by Lasting Impressions. The stamps are a mix: top 3 words on the left and bottom 2 on the right are by Technique Tuesday called Wonderful You. The bottom two on the left are from Stampin Up sellabration set So Very, and the brackets at the bottom are by Fontwerks called Classy Bracket. The ink is classic ink by Stampin Up in Basic Black and Pink Passion. The ribbon is light pink organdy by Stampin Up. The flowers are Bling Blossoms by Imaginisce, the center is a pastel Rhinestone Brad by SEI.

quote of the day

Happiness is an attitude.
We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong.
The amount of work is the same.— Francesca Reigler


Found this one on Wendy Sue Anderson's blog.

Needed this and what she had to say about happiness (on Feb 12) being a choice. After having a really rotten day at work yesterday. It is so hard to make happiness a choice in the middle of a bad day, but really that is what it is, a choice. I am trying hard to be happy in the middle of rotten days at work. The stress though is getting harder to smile through. I apologize in advance for not always having a smile on.

I won...

blog candy from Sarah! I won on Valentine's day. Seriously best day ever in 2007! Well so far that is. And strictly stamping/scrapbooking wise.

Got it today when I picked up my Stampin Up order through Sarah.

AJ had picked up CM and I's order as well as her own.

Sarah's generous gift included stampin dimensionals- Sarah's favourite embellishment tool, flowers,4 types of mini cards with envelopes, ribbon and this cute card!

Thanks so much!! I am so excited!!

Vintage Violet

Woke up to SNOW today, but that didn't get in the way of going stamping today! Whoo hoo I love to stamp! Met CM today and we went to AJ's house. It was my first time meeting AJ and yet it didn't feel that way. We had a good time sorting through our new Stampin Up goodies, which AJ had picked up for us. Thank you AJ!

CM was kind enough to let us use her good SU scissors for cutting. Well, actually, CM got a blister from all the cutting she did while we mounted our new stamps! Sorry CM!!

Finally we got a little stamping in. I made this card with mostly SU products. The card stock is white from my non-SU stash, Almost Amethyst and Vintage Violet. Used the set Heartfelt Thanks. Stamped with classic inks Vintage Violet and True Thyme for the stamped flower and Craft ink Whisper White for the front outline flower stamp. The background was stamped using versamark. The background oval was run through the cuttlebug with the swirl template. The ribbon is from my blog candy stash from http://www.stampinsars.blogspot.com/ and the new(ish) vintage violet ribbon. This card was inspired by the elegant card by Cindy. I thought it would be more elegant in the purples, but wasn't as inspiring as I thought it could have been. May need to test out a few more to get an improved elegant card.

The O.C.

Also saying goodbye to my friends at The O.C. tonight. It is the final episode and I am going to miss them. Especially Ryan (Benjamin Mckenzie). *sigh* All good things must come to an end. Hopefully we will see Ben again soon.

all work and no play...well almost

Work has been in the way of my creating cards/layouts this week. Shift work is a crazy thing. It makes your sleep schedule all wonky for days after. I know this isn't an excuse, but this is the truth for this week. Since I am a night owl by nature, it usually means that after my night shifts I am up late for nights on end, till I absolutely have to get up early.

I rented a few movies Tuesday night, since it is the week before the Oscars. I figured I had better see a few of the movies before Sunday. And because my mind is wide awake at night and I needed something to occupy it. I want to feel informed for some of the films. I am usually quite into the Oscars, but this year I just haven't had the time till now to get interested. I rented Little Miss Sunshine, Babel, and The Departed. I also *really* want to see The Pursuit of Happyness which Will Smith is nominated for Best Actor. My friend highly recommended it to me. I probably won't see it before Sunday though.

I am one of those movie watchers that feels *guilty* for only renting a movie AFTER it has won an Oscar. I just feel that I should make the decision for myself, and not because it has won. Hence my feeling of urgency to rent/see movies this week.

I still need to see Babel, other wise I would post which one was my favourite.

Orange Moose ( really it is)

Okay so I have to admit I really love moose. I have for several years. I even frequent a coffee shop here in B.C. called The Blue Moose. I love seeing what moose products (t-shirts, mugs, plush, paper products, etc. they bring into their store.) I even have a ring with moose on it. I am not sure how well it will photograph, might have to try taking a picture of it.

This here is the famous Orange Moose. I got him for a friend of mine who loves orange 2 1/2 years ago. In the amount of time it took me to mail him off to her I had decided that I needed one too. So I went back to the Blue Moose and brought this one home with me. I think he is absolutely adorable.

My valentine's day card

Made this card for all my single girl friends and mailed it to them so they would have something for Valentine's Day.

I have had the saying and the girl stamp for a while now, and had been wanting to make something with it but hadn't gotten around to it. I finally did it 2 weeks ago at the Craft event at Sarah's church. I went with Cindy and we met Sarah there. We had a great time stamping the night away. Lots of ladies asking us questions about stamping and Stampin Up.

The saying is by Rubbermoon. The woman stamp is by Stampendous. Cardstock, ink, ribbon is Stampin Up's new In Colors: Cranberry Crisp and True Thyme. The white cardstock is shimmery and from my stash. The background stamp is the Paisley by stampin up (thanks Cindy for letting me use it, really do *need* it!). Colored the woman with my watercolor wonder crayons, which are as you guessed are...Stampin up. They are awesome with a water blending pen (such as the aqua painter in the SU catalog, mine is just from my lss where there are 3 per package).

big blossom

Made this card at Cindy's on our blogfest/ crafternoon on Tuesday.

All Stampin Up products used except for adhesive was dollar store special.

Cardstock-basic black, going grey, tempting turquoise, cameo coral.

Versamark ink for background stamp, tempting turquoise for the flower, craft whisper white for the saying.

Big Blossom, Simply Said, and the background stamp was in a mini catalog with Simply Said last year, and is retired I believe Dots and Daisies. I ordered Big Blossom with my latest order, but it hasn't arrived yet. So I played with Cindy's for practice.

I trimmed the edges of the flower to fit my layer.

Big sale results

Returned from the big day out with Cindy with a full heart and full arms. Good for the spirit, but need to go back and work another day for all that goodness. *Sighs contentedly* It was all I expected, hoped for, and more. Very excited to announce that Technique Tuesday and Amuse have the cutest stamps of the day. Cindy settled on Amuse for her 50% off coupon, and I chose Technique Tuesday. The idea was so we could each benefit from the other's coupon. I ended up with the better deal, because Cindy didn't find any Technique Tuesday stamps that she couldn't live without. But she was convinced to possibly give acrylic stamps another try after seeing the Technique Tuesday stamps- whoo hoo! I however found 5 Amuse items (3 stamps, 1 package of cards, and 1 acrylic block) that I had use for. After much debate I ended up with the Technique Tuesday Provence Capital Letters XL and Provence lowercase XL alphabets. The detailing on each letter is super nice IRL. The webpage picture doesn't do them justice in my opinion. The other selling point is the Capital letters include a small version of common words such as : a, an, and, are, is, of, for, the. They letters are about 2" tall by 1.5 - 2" wide. The common words are .75" tall and .5" wide per letter. Super nice for scrapbooking! The lowercase alphabet has 6 small flourish stamps included. The letters are about 1.5" tall by 1.25" wide. I am very pleased with my coupon usage! All in all it was a fabulous day, despite the rain. Thanks Cindy! Let me know when you are ready for another road trip! Hopefully we can find another good sale!!

Insomnia or Excitement

Woke up around 5 this morning. Tossed and turned and finally got up at 6. Even though I don't need to be up till 8. I think it may be from excitement. Yes it is Valentine's day! But that has little to do with my excitement. My excitement is that my LSS (sort of- 40 minutes away, but one of the best in the area) has a one day only sale today. 40% off the entire store (some exceptions may apply according to the email, but they aren't specified). Whoo hoo! So I emailed my friend Cindy and we are taking a road trip to the sale!! almost 5 minutes after emailing her I got another email from the other good LSS with their sales, including a 50% off coupon for any one manufacturer. You get to pick your favorite company and then get all your items for 50% off. Plus other good bogo items, as well as 40% off Valentine's day stamps. Whoo hoo!! So I have been in bed for the past hour debating which company to pick and what items I could get for 50% off! Plus I keep thinking of all the items on sale for 40%. Hence I got up out of bed! There is no use sleeping when I have shopping to get to. Hopefully it is the best Valentine's day ever for all of you! I know mine will be good!

Seattle

I love Seattle. There is something in the air that is addicting. In my nine years here in the Northwest my love has only grown for this city. To my great excitement A new show came on TV two and a half years ago called Grey's Anatomy. Imagine the pleased look on my face when during the early episodes I saw the city line of Seattle on TV. In every episode I would look for that glimpse into the city. In my opinion it really has the most gorgeous skyline at night all lit up.

This past month I was just outside of Seattle in Lynnwood at a stamp shop where I saw this Ferry Boat Stamp!!

With great joy I purchased it, with the words of Dr. Derek Shepherd aka McDreamy from Grey's Anatomy echoing in my ears "I have this thing for ferry boats." It actually was in an episode way back in the first season, and repeated again in this past week's episode. I was so inspired to hear it again that I had to make this card. I used Twinkling H20's to add some color and sparkle. Here's a peak at the inside too.