Happy Father's Day

I only had to make one Father’s Day card this year (loooooong story and you don’t want to read it here) As usual, I waited until the night before to make it and I think it came out pretty good. I work much better under pressure. Always have and always will.

Now, on to the details of the cards. I got my inspiration from Nichole Heady’s Special Dad Card. She created the background using her new Guide Lines Stamp Set. I wanted to make a background as well and used the dotted square from PTI’s Borders & Corners Monogram Edition. I used So Saffronink from SU and a “cheap” ink called “slate” from the dollar section at AC Moore. I love this color grey but now I need paper to match and that has been a problem. The sentiment on the card was created using MS word. The phrasing is from another PTI set called Father Knows Best. I don't have this set, yet. If $ were no object, I would have each and every one of PTI’s stamp sets (as well as a ton of other stuff that I don’t need). I know your with me on that!
I hope you like the card and thanks for looking. Have a great Sunday!

Papertrey Blog Hop

I had no intention of participating in the blog hop this month, but, the domestic goddesses were watching over me and the planets aligned because:
· the husband came home early from work
· the daughter went to bed early
· dished were done (by the husband) &
· American Idol ended last week.
So, since I had some free time what else is there to do but stamp!

Here is my Blog Hop card. I think it came out pretty nice considering it was "last minute".

Cardstock: SU’s Pretty in Pink &Creamy Caramel; PTI ‘s white
Ink: SU’s Pretty in Pink & Creamy Caramel; ColorBox Alabaster chalk ink
Stamps: PTI’s b&c monogram edition & trajan monogram
Other: Target – adhesive pearls; Heidi Swapp – polka dot ribbon

Chick-fil-A Safety Patrol

Bobby Brady, watch out, there is a new sheriff in town! The Chick-fil-A Safety Patrol! Apparently, in our small town Chick-fil-A, we now have a self-appointed “Chick-fil-A Play Area Safety Monitor”, CFAPASM for short (or not).
Here’s how it all went down:

M (my daughter) and I decide to go to Chick-fil-A (CFA) for lunch. Tuesday is our day to take it slow. No rushing out the door for pre-school or work. We can stay in our PJ’s all day if we want. Today, we decided to have lunch at CFA. Today was a flip-flop day. Rainy but warm. Warm enough for capris and flip-flops. We got our lunch, ate it and M went in the play area to play.

Me: Keep your flip-flops on b/c you don’t have any socks on.
M: OK

3 minutes elapse while M plays, then she come out of the play area, upset.

M: Mom, that girl in there says I have to take my shoes off and you told me to leave them on.
Me: Yes, I did and if she says something again, just tell here that you are doing what you mom told you to do.
M: OK

M returns to the play area and I can see a Mom saying some thing to M and M getting upset. The Mom gets up and I see her going to the manager and my maternal instincts kick in. This mom is going to report M to the manager for wearing plastic flip-flops in the play area! If this were the ice-age, I probably would have clubbed her. I can feel my blood boiling!

Here’s how that went down:

Me: (to the other Mom) Do you have a problem with my daughter?
Other Mom: She is wearing flip-flops in the play area and she is not supposed to.
Me: Then you come to me and discuss it and not the manager or my daughter!
Other Mom: Her flip-flops are a safety hazard.
Me: My daughter is doing exactly what I asked her to do and if you have a problem with that then you discuss it with me.
Other Mom: I don’t have to discuss it with you, it is an issue for the manager.

I am furious at this point, M is coming out of the play area b/c the manager said something to her and M is upset, again. So, the madness had to stop and my final words were “Just mind you own business”. I could have said worse. I felt like saying worse. I needed to be a good example for M. So, I stopped there and we got ice cream and talked. I wanted M to know the following:

• I am glad she listened to me about her flip-flops.
• I am glad she came to me instead of arguing with the girls and their mom.
• I am glad that she was respectful to the store manager.
  And most importantly
• I will stick up for her in any situation.
  The talk then turned to Webkins and all was well. Kids recover quickly. Especially when the band-aide is ice cream.
  
  It boils down to this: Don't mess with my kid! I know that the rules posted in the play area say that kids should remove their shoes. These were plastic flip-flops, not lethal combat boots. But if that Mom has nothing better to do with her time than to tattle on a 5-year old child who is wearing benign flip-flops in a play area, then she needs to get a hobby. Hmmm… maybe she should start stamping.

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

I had fully intended to participate in the "first-ever" Papertrey Ink Blog Hop tomorrow, but life is unpredictable and "life" will not allow the time. I'll catch y'all next month.

Polka Dots & Paisley

By far, the Stampin' Up set that I have enjoyed the most is Polka Dots & Paisley. I have found so many uses for this stamp set ...from the obvious, cards ... to scrapbook pages and wrapping paper. I love it, love it, love it.

Surprisingly, my favorite stamp from the set is the polka-dot background. It is very subtle and it looks great when used tone on tone with Versa Mark ink. I find myself using this particular stamp over and over. But, I didn't use it on this card, did I? Go figure?

I'm not sure who the recipient of this card will be, but, whoever receives it, I hope they will enjoy it. I sure do.


*********************************************
Stamps: Polka Dots & Paisley
Card stock: Old Olive, So Saffron & Cameo Coral
DP(Desinger Paper): Petals & Paisley
Ink: Old Olive
Accessories: Target- paper flowers; Brads- Making Memories; Ribbon: Michael's

New Design

I stayed up way past midnight (thanks to the time change) and worked on my blog header. I am very happy with it and now that I know how to do it, maybe I'll change it up once in a while. I really like the flowers in the left hand corner ... they make me happy. I still have some "tweaking" to do, but I'll save that for tonight. I think I'm finally getting a hang of this blogging thing! Now I just have to do something about my cheesy picture :).
TTFN

Changes

I am trying to re-design my blog to make it look "prettier". I am doing this during pre-school hours. Have you ever tried typing with a wiggly 5 year old on your lap? I'm sure many of you have. Anyway, please bare with me as I make some changes in the next few days. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Play Time ...

I received numerous gift certificates for my b-day a few weeks ago and I have spent them all! My husband got me a GC from http://www.papertreyink.com/. I have had items in my shopping cart for months, just waiting for me to buy them and this is what I bought:

Beautiful Blooms http://www.papertreyink.com/stamps_beautifulblooms.html,

Borders and Corners Monogram Edition http://www.papertreyink.com/stamps_bcmonogram.html, &

Trajan Monogram http://www.papertreyink.com/stamps_trajan.html

I have not used the monogram sets yet, but the Beautiful Blooms set is awesome. The main reason I wanted this set is b/c some of the stamps were made for the Cuttle bug scalloped flowers die set. The stamps are clear, so placement is almost perfect. For, example, on the card below, the flower and the leaf are made up of two stamps each. It almost looks TOO perfect, but I like it.
And here is another card using different flowers from the same set. The ribbon slide is also a cuttle bug die and placing the "birthday" sentiment on it was effortless b/c the stamp was clear and I could see exactly where I was placing it.

These are my first attempts with clear stamps, so hopefully my future attempts will be much better. Thanks for looking!

P.S. I altered the way I type my posts (proper capitalization now) b/c my DH said the post were too difficult to read the other way. I think he was right :).

Curious? ..... George

well, my baby girl is turning 5 in a week and decided that she wanted a curious george cake and party. do you know how hard it is to find curious curious george stickers? it's impossible ... until the day that i casually look over my shoulder while in line at the market, and there they will be, the elusive curious george stickers. mark my words, it WILL happen.

anyhow, we did find a curious george cake at lowe's foods (and ordered it). i have to admit, of all the things that i make, i have never made her a b-day cake. our tradition is to let her pick one from the book at the store. works for us and the cake is actually very good.

dd and i decided that we would make a monkey themed invite this year and this is what we came up with:

we searched and searched for banana eyelets (even on the internet) and could not find those either. so we went with jolee's stickers. $0.99 for two little bananas! we are both happy with the result. the tree is actually a cuttlekids die cut (dd's not mine) of a flower stem and leaves. it held up very well to the abuse it received. it takes a lot of leaves to make one tree and we made 10 invites. i could run two pieces of cheap card stock through at the same time. however, two sheets of SU's card stock would have stripped the gears ... trust me i almost did!

Oooooooooo... i got my paper trey ink stamps yesterday and will post pictures later today or tonight. i feel like a kid in a candy store!

Scrapbooker's Hangover

scrap-book-er's hang-o-ver [hang-oh-ver]

-noun

1. the disagreeable physical after effects of staying up much too late on consecutive evenings to indulge in the hobby of creating stunning page compilations in scrapbook albums.

2. execssive exhuastion and crankiness as a direct result of sleep deprevation due to #1 above.

[Origin: 2008, M.T. Bustin]

yes, i am suffering from scrapbooker's hangover and i am proud of it. i spent 3 days at wrightsville beach with the girls (hi jen!) scrapbooking my little heart out and staying up way too late. i have no regrets because, in my opinion, i created some of the best pages i have ever done.

this page is one of my favorites. it is of my dd's toes right after her first "big girl" pedicure. how sweet!

I just HAD to!

so... i went to ac moore to buy just ONE thing, some paper cutter blades. on the way to get the blades, i HAD to pass by the dollar stamp section and HAD to "just look". well, i did and a cute pink and brown heart stamp caught my eye as well as a valentine sentiment stamp. so, since they were only a dollar i just HAD to buy them as well as a few other so that they would not be lonley in the shopping bag.

i drove home. i had only 1/2 hour before i picked up my daughter from pre-school. not enough time to clean anything of course, but enough time to stamp this cute card.

you can't tell from the picture, but the dots on the heart and the small heart in the sentiment are colored in with a sparkly gelly roll pen. i'm very pleased with way it turned out. i just need to learn how to take better pictures. thanks for looking :)

i'm still here!

it has been a while...a long while, since i last posted. i am trying to update my blog to make it look "prettier". i want cherries on the page damn-it and i'm having loads of trouble. i'll keep you posted (pun intended).