Catching up.... (mostly cards)

Happy day!

Sorry for the delay on this post. I have been making cards, working my day job, visiting with friends and family and just buzzing around like a bumble bee.

I had a fantastic weekend filled with outings and friends.  Saturday we toured the Widmer brewery, sampled beer, ate chocolate then ate dinner at the Gasthaus Pub.  I had the usual: Pulled Pork Sandwich, German potato salad.   Sunday was early morning breakfast at McRae's with Theresa.  Mmmm... pancakes.  Monday was another breakfast outing with my old roommate, Jenni.  Mmm.... more pancakes.  Have I mentioned I love pancakes.  :)  I do and I can never make them like they do at a restaurant, so that is what I get when I go to out to breakfast.  We were belated celebrating my birthday for both of the breakfast outings.

Over the weekend, I finished the first season of The Big "C".  I love Laura Linney.  The series is good.  Some of the stuff bugged me... especially this 80 year old lady committing suicide (spoiler alert!!).  :(  I also watched "Paranorman"  It was a cute animated film.  I love figuring out whose voice is whose on the animated movies.  I am catching up on new and old movies and shows.  I finished Woody Allen's "Love & Death" and I loved it.  While I am not a huge Woody Allen fan, I do like his movies.  They are sarcastic and funny, so it is pretty much a match made in heaven for me. :)  I finally watched "Glengarry Glen Ross" and I liked it.  It is cool to see the older actors in their younger years.  Great star performances by the entire cast!  I watched "Pitch Perfect".  I'm not the target demographic for the film, but I was curious after seeing a preview.  It was cute and even funny in some parts of it.  I started "I love you, Phillip Morris", but haven't finished it yet.  It was shocking in some places.  I didn't read anything about it, but knew EM was in it, so I knew I would watch it!

Card fun:

I added a chopsticks to the sushi card (after looking at it with the chopsticks, can't imagine it without):
 

This one is super simple, but I am in love with it. I also can't stop using this stamp set I got (I used it on the name on this card.) It is like an old typewriter font. I am obsessed with it! I stamped the sentiment right on the picture paper. I love it... subtle, yet effective!

 

LOVE the colors on this one. I was so stoked to use the sparkly coral(ish) paper for the "M"! Again, simple, but I love the way this one came out!



I had fun with this one and dug out some really OLD monogram chipboard! I added a bunch of flowers to the flower pattern paper and slapped a 7 and a sparkly butterfly on there and voila! A super cute custom card for a 7-year-old.

One more before I hit the hay.... 

This was beach-inspired and I got to use some new washi tape that Theresa's son gave me for Christmas! I love the star paper and the green funky circle design is the opposite side.  Of course topped it off with some sand print paper & flip flops and there you have it.  This was fun to mix all the patterns.  It really is a challenge to use multiple pattern papers and get it to work and NOT be overwhelming!  Sometimes I can swing it, other times I opt for solid paper to go with my pattern paper.

I have more to post, but am tired.  Will post more soon....

Be back shortly....

Happy birthday to me! Yesterday was my birthday and I took the day off & did whatever I wanted.

I have lots of new cards to share, but no time to post at the moment! I'm taking a day trip to visit my aunt and cousins a few hours south & need to get on the road.

Here is a photo of a cake from my birthday a few years ago. My roommate at the time/friend got it for me. Magical Princess Pink champagne cake:

Superbowl, Schmuper Bowl....

I started back at weight watchers & am determined NOT to give up on myself this time. I set a goal for the end of the year. Not sure how many pounds I want to lose, but upwards of 50, I think.... As time passes & the weight drops, I will refine that number.
So the Superbowl has arrived... and I care as much as I have in the past 37 years. :) Which is not at all...
It has been a busy weekend... I went out to dinner on Friday, A birthday party last night, & had another birthday party this afternoon.
I have been cranking out the cards as well. My customers have a lot of birthdays this month. I have a few on my calendar, too. I have a goal for a bunch of valentine cards, which I am having trouble getting to, because of all the birthday cards I am trying to finish up! :)
I love this one... my friend's husband turned 50, which means he was born in the 60s, so she had a 1960s themed birthday party for him. It was fun to make. The peace symbol stamp is from when I was a kid... I swear it is probably 25 years old, no joke. I remember buying it at Coombs on Vancouver Island.

This one is for my friend's daughter who turns six today.... her party is at a roller skating rink.... so I went with a roller skating vibe... I was kind of desperate for skate stickers or stamps & I know Unity Stamp Co. has an adorable one, but I didn't plan early enough to order it & have it shipped. I went on a search of Google Images for roller skates and found a couple of cute images, printed them out in color & fussy cut them out.

A fun, fairly simple girlie one for my number one card customer! Been dying to use this background paper... it's just so cute, quite old, though and I picked it up when it was clearanced out, so you know it's really old!

Of course, as I was creating, I've been watching movies and TV shows to keep me entertained. I watched the following movies: Smooch, Just Wright, The Puffy Chair, Preacher's Kid, and The Guardian. I also watched this TV show called Awkward (Season 1). It was pretty good for something that is on MTV.
I love listening to podcasts (started out in 2007 with Smodcast). I now listen to about 15 different podcasts and am always being turned on to a new one. One of my new favorites is Marc Maron's WTF. This weekend I listened to his interview with Michael Keaton and another one with Elizabeth Banks. Such interesting stories... I love that.
Tonight I started watching "Sports Night" a TV show from 1998-2000 (2 seasons) and highly recommended by Rick Emerson. So far it is interesting. I didn't expect it to have a "laugh track", though. I didn't even expect it to be a comedy, really.

Wednesday is my least favorite weekday...

Really?!?! I was eating my dinner and my temporary crown popped off. :( What a bummer. Guess I'll be heading to the dentist tomorrow so they can put it back on. Ugh! Maybe if I'm lucky, my permanent crown will be in & I can just have them put that on. Oh I hope, I hope, I hope....
Worked on a 12x12 page job for a friend at work. I didn't scan it or take a photo. I wasn't that pleased with my finished product. I'm not very inspired tonight & I wanted to finish & get it to her because I have other card jobs I want/need to get done for this weekend!
I did make this cute little generic birthday card for my basket at work. Just kind of fun with polka dots. I got to use some of my favorite colors... more of that enamel effects stuff and I made a straw with striped paper. Now that I look at the finished product, I think glitter on the "ice cream" part might be cool. I will think about it....

Back in less than a week?! Wha...?!?

I'm back and less than a year has passed. Unbelievable!
This weekend I realized I have a TON of card jobs for February. I also have a goal to make 50 Valentine cards to sell. So I have to get busy. Friday night I busted out the last January card & Saturday I finished a last minute request for another February card. Pleased with the results, but overwhelmed with my list.
I am trying to take it one project at a time, but it seems to be going super slow.
Watching movies/t.v. shows while I'm working on cards is helpful. I have been watching Brothers & Sisters, an ABC series from a few years ago. It is well done. Many dynamic personalities, LOTS of DRAMA & a few laughs make it interesting.
The movies I watched so far this weekend: P.S., Tiny Furniture, Zack & Miri, Bob Roberts, Open Season. TV I caught up on Daily Show, Jimmy Fallon, Raising Hope, Mindy, New Girl...
I finally saw Ted and laughed so hard that it made my tummy hurt. I have a HUGE crush on Seth MacFarlane. I finally saw The Hangover II, as well. I wasn't that impressed with the first one, but couldn't stop laughing at the sequel.
I have been cranking out the cards & am super happy with the latest results:
This card is for a customer who is giving a card to her brother-in-law & sister-in-law. They are expecting TRIPLETS, twin girls & a boy (which is why you see two pink hearts & one blue one on the ultrasound). I'm amazed & can't imagine both how fulfilled & busy their lives are going to be! This was such a fun card to make. Simple & sparkly! (Unity Stamp Co. - Ultrasound & "SO HAPPY FOR YOU" stamps)

Another for my number one customer. This was a fun card to make. I love the gold "R" and the rest of the colors.

Another for my #1 customer. I love this one. The colors are fun. I got to use fun "Sushi" stickers, some stitches, brads & a dangly tag and we are set!

I love this one. It is for a customer whose dad is turning 70 in a few days. He was a soda jerk back in his youth. I googled that and used it as my inspiration. Did I say I love this one?! Ha... I gave it to the customer and she had a blank look on her face. :( Made me sad, because I was so pleased with the way this came out! I made the sundae with my slice machine & used a new product I haven't used on a project yet. Enamel effects for the ice cream. :) If I remember, I will use it again for something. I can't wait for another project to use it on.

A customer asked for an aqua & white, feminine thank you card with some lace. The result is simple, yet effective. I customized it with the recipients initials (one of my favorite things to do) and voila!

More fun projects to come.

New year, new post.... (card scan heavy)

New year, back to blogging. Hoping I stick with it this time.
I have grown tired of Facebook and am going to blog my heart out rather than waste time reading everyone's status updates. The posts worth reading are few & far between.
Plus, I edit myself far too often on FB. I don't want to offend people. For some reason, here I feel I can offend freely. Woohoo!!!
For a bit, I will be posting my cards on here. Just until I figure out my website & how too upload photos.
OR Until I come up with something interesting to say, I suppose.
Had fun with this card for my number one customer, Typewriter & hipster glasses-inspired:

This is my latest. Super fun, sushi & film inspired:

Sister has a birthday on Saturday... pink & yoga-inspired:

Fun Thank You card for a coworker.... robot, pink, glitter-inspired:

Fun card for a new-ish customer... pug, bright colors, manis, pedis & girlie-inspired:

My entry for the Studio Calico card sketch contest. Super simple design.