An end of day ranting post...

I sent all my scrapbooking stuff home with Marg so I wouldn't have to drag 45 lbs. of stuff behind me on the ferry. It was a great idea and saved me from a trip to the chiropractor, but...she's not coming home until tomorrow. I have so much creativity coursing through my veins right now and it's very hard to make anything when I don't have my scissors. I can't use any of my class scissors because their all righties! Oh, woe is me. I have managed to die cut, adhere and paint some stuff and it helps, but just a little bit.

Here's me and Donna.

I look stunned.

Discovery Channel: I Love the World

I had to share these youtube finds.

Josh Groban - TV Medley Performance (60th Annual Emmy Awards

Our Big Scrapbookin' Adventure

If you have been tuned in for the last couple week, you know that Marg, Tara and I went to Parksville this weekend to take part in the Scrapbookin' Adventures 2nd Anniversary Extravaganza! We had a great time. We met Donna Downey, C.D. Muckosky, and Kah-Mei Smith.

I actually have to go to work this morning, so I will come back later and give you a play-by-play of our big adventure! (Marg was sweet enough to take our luggage with her so we could walk on the ferry so I can't show you what we did yet.)

Here's a couple of pictures to keep you occupied until I get back.

This has to be the Sweetest Person on the planet! C.D. Muckosky! She's also probably the cutest. See that tattoo on her arm, I made that. Marg, Tara and I each had one and each one had a different person's name on it, mine said 'I think Donna Rocks!'. I inked C.D. and she did the awesome lettering and we all, including Kah-Mei's daughter, had a little photo shoot.

There were many memorable moments but by far the best was this one...can you read that?

That's right, fellow Coquihalla travellers, it says SLOW DOWN NOW FREE!!! That means $20 more to spend at the scrapbook stores!!! Which by the way, we found another great place to put on your list of stops while in the Surrey/Langley/Cloverdale area, Country Lane, check it out. I'd do a link but who knows where you'd end up, Google it, you'll get better results.

I can't wait until Marg brings my luggage back on Tuesday. I can't wait to play and use all my new found knowledge and goodies.

two days before I meet Donna Downey!

On the way to school Emily asked if we were for sure going to the Anime Convention next year. I said I think we are, I would like to take them again. She said 'Good, now I can stop saying "if we go" and say "when we go to the Anime Convention"'. The things kids think about...

I have sent some of my stuff off with Marg, like diet Coke, and my AMM tote filled with scissors, adhesive and other important crop tools, so I haven't been able to do much in the creative field. And speaking of scissors, I picked up a pair of pinking shears yesterday. I'm left handed, the scissor people don't make them lefties. I was once told that once in a blue moon they flip the machining tools around and make left handed pinking shears. I was waiting to see when and where these would be sold. I now believe That Someone thought that lefties were gullible.

My head cold is hanging on. My tooth is aching, could be sinus related but I think and have always thought that there is still some root in this tooth. It's been over 2 years since I got a root canal because I had to have a filling replaced and then the tooth broke and I had to get a crown, the whole time I've complained about pain. The dentist says it's my sinuses, it's a ligament in my jaw, it's not the tooth. I have had nothing but problems with it, he's reshaped the tooth so my bite is different too. Needless to say, when he told Kerry he needed to fix 2 older fillings, I told Kerry to go to someone else.

Tonight is TV night. I have to watch Grey's Anatomy and ER so that Tara and I can discuss them on the way to see Donna tomorrow. I also have to tape The Office, and I think there was something else, maybe My Name is Earl. I really wish the networks would spread the good shows out, maybe put one or two on Wednesday instead.

I've been scanning photos for my mom all morning. She has a bunch of old photos she found at my Grandpa's and wants to scrapbook them. Not being an avid scrapper, she was going to just put the photos in her book, but I told her that she needed to keep the originals and I would scan them for her to print of later. She's got photos from the 40's, maybe earlier, of my Great Grandpa, whom I never met.

This is my Grandpa, at 91 on a Harley. (not his)

This is my Great Grandpa, my mom's mom's dad, not sure where he's going, the bus has Japanes writing on the top.

My 12 Year Old...

can take better pictures than I can sometimes. I did set everything up ahead of time and hand over the camera and say "Take a good picture of me!" and she did, lots of them too, thanks to the burst mode. And the best one, of course had Shawn L's car pullin into the driveway as Emily snapped away.

I needed this for one of the classes I'm taking this Saturday, maybe I told you already, this one is for C.D. Muckosky's class. She's from CK magazine, if you didn't already know that. 2 more sleeps!!! Well, really, 1.48 more sleeps, becausse I probably won't sleep tomorrow night. I'll be tossing and thinking about whether or not I packed my Heather Bailey patterned paper or if I remember my scissors, or ipod earphones, or dental floss...

And check out my new top. It's kind of purple in this shot but it's more like dark grey, smoke, it's totally Stacy and Clinton approved. There's a tie at the back, just under my bust line to emphasis my 'smallest' area on my body, and when I got to work Judy declared I looked great and that I had lost weight! NOT really, it's the top, I said, and the fact I didn't have on my 'big' bra, and she said shut up and take it for what it was, a compliment. True was, I had lost weight, a whole pound, because I'm back on the wagon and was sick so I didn't eat much this past week. When you have a nose full of snot, nothing tastes good so why bother?

And the Winner is....

CLAUDIA
She's got a blog, check her out!

http://claudiafranson.blogspot.com/


I will need your address! I have your email address, so I will contact you!
After I get my stuff sent off ahead of me to see Donna Downey, did I mention I'm going to see Donna? Anyway, later this morning, I will package up your goodies and send them off to you!
And your stash will increase, yet again!

Learn something new

You can teach an old dog new tricks. I saw it on Mythbusters.
And I know it to be true because I have seen it in everyday life.
Sally has realized that her pesky 'brother' just might be good for something. In his eagerness to pick plums, his big puppy head knocks down a few plums, Linus has his plum in his mouth, Sally picks hers off the ground. They could go all day like this.
I figured out how to use Emily's Copics today. I haven't touched them for fear I might love them and need my own. I was right. I love them. I can colour better than I can take a clear picture today, must be the super excited to show you something shakes.

I actually coloured the witch first, so she's nothing spectacular, but check out the webs on the card, that was me getting fancy...as I heated the black embossing powder I threw glitter on the hot melting powder...only to have it blow all over me...some did get on the card. The rest is on my front and Linus's back.
And we found another gross disgusting spider. This time it was in the plum tree and I found it while picking. This puts an end to my picking. That's a loonie, not a penny.

And as a follow up to the last blog post...I have an idea of how much stuff I have, but my Kerry does read my blog, so let's just leave it at that.

10,000 Hits!

Okay, I know about 3000 hits are from me, and about that many are from Tara, but the rest...I know aren't from Kerry. I know this because last night as I was diligently working on my swaps for Tuesday and packing for my weekend get-away he saw my Big Shot. All this time I thought he didn't really pay attention to what I had in my room, but he knew this was new. He asked when I got it, I told him we had had a discussion about it when he was almost asleep and I kept telling him to wake up. I told him it was a good business purchase, he didn't seem to mind. Then he asked how much it cost (after declaring that it was sturdier than my Accucut machine that I sold), and I told him $118. He looked thoughtful for about 2 seconds and then said "What can I buy for $118 for my bike?" and then left.

He did seem mildly impressed by the stuff I had embossed with the BS. (that's Big Shot, not bull$hit)

So in honour of hitting 10,000 hits I will do a draw tomorrow, Tuesday, for some goodies. Just leave a comment and tell me this...if you had to count up all your scrapbooking supplies and total the amount of 'inventory' what is the number, the dollar amount, you would have to put on your insurance forms?

Don't worry, I'm sure your spouses don't read my blog.

Sept. 20!

Today is the day I decided to never again hold the Benvoulin Craft Sale.
After 14 years of organizing what has become one of the better craft sales in town, I'm throwing in the towel. I've been having to hunt down the crafters to get their fees, to get them to even let me know that they were doing the sale, add the other stress of booking things, planning set-up, and everything else that I do for very little pay and the fact that I don't even sell my woodcrafts anymore, and the fact that the only people that seem to really appreciate the sale are the ones that make very little money but do it because they love it and the customers. I feel terrible for those people.
The final straw was a crafter, one who has been in the sale almost every year, who told me she didn't like the fact that her fees might go towards me making a profit, that she shouldn't have to pay as much as others, that she didn't get enough space, and oh, nothing made her happy, so she was thinking it wasn't worth it for her. She had the nerve to say that she only made $200 last year, I had to point out that she had in fact made $1400, almost $1500. And then she was singing a different song, one about how she hardly had anything and she made that much? Wow, maybe should would do it, but she wasn't happy with all that other stuff. And she said it wasn't right that for all my time I don't make that much, well, lady, you just finished saying I didn't deserve to make any money.

Anyway, enough of that. I will lose money on the hall rental if I cancel so I'm gathering my resources and planning a scrapbooking related day at the Benvoulin Church, Nov.9th. But I'll tell you more about that later.

Thank you for your support!!!

Still sick

I am determined to get rid of my head cold. I'm trying to get rest, but every time I recline, my head fills with snot. I so don't want to be 'the girl that gave Donna Downey a head cold'.
I have had classes most nights this week, and have them almost till I leave, so I must try to get in some kind of rest standing up right.
Tonight, my first Brazilian student signed up for scrap booking classes. Yay for international students!
Got my hair cut and coloured, and my hairdresser is now in my will, she said I looked like I was in my 20s! Even with my puffy eyes and red nose.
I met Tara at Costco and did a terrible job of shopping for essentials, so I will have to go back in the next day or so. Drat. Costco on the weekend!
Emily is spending the night at my mom and dad's, Kerry thinks he's getting lucky because we are home alone. But he's got another thing coming! I'm going to sleep, in front of the tv, sitting up so my head doesn't fill up with snot again. Such a turn on!

The germs got me.

I have a sinus cold. It's not that bad, yet. I'm hoping to kick it before next week.
I've got classes tonight, tomorrow night, Sunday, work on Monday and a class, a meeting Tuesday after work, new TV shows to watch Thursday, so I don't have much time to be sick. I can be sick Wednesday, that's it.
Add to that the lists of things I have to pack, most of which I need for classes and won't be able to pack until the last minute, the clothes I have to pick out to look good in for when I meet the Scrapbooking Goddesses, the lists I need to leave for Kerry, the groceries I have to get so my peeps won't starve, and whatever else I'm forgetting...Breath in the Love, Breath out the Stress, I just read that here...http://booshay.blogspot.com/...I'll let you know if it works.

Not enough hours in the day! {edited}

I have to work tonight. I love my job at WW but I want to stay home and play.

I'm trying to make up for it by making as much as I can today. I made these two cards this afternoon. That is after I got home from going to the scrapbook store, Ever After, again, this time with Sue and we saw Marg there too. I am not going tomorrow. Really, I'm not.

I used the scalloped circle with shrink plastic, and the circle turned into an oval.

I used the packaging from the embossing folder to make the 'transparency'. I ran it thru the Big Shot and then inked it with White Stazon, it's stapled on under the felt ribbon.

And then I made this...My little Oreo was screaming to be decorated and I know these pictures are for Kah-Mei's class, but I had to make this...here's a few pages.

I will add more journaling to it.

Seriously, I LOVE it.

I am totally waiting for my Top Note die, but in the mean time, I'll make do with my large scalloped circle. I made this with all the circles I cut earlier. I'm a keener. I know.

It's my Oreo Cookie book. Blackboard covers, acrylic and 4 round coasters.

It's so cute I could eat it.

I've "Die"d and gone to Heaven

I was holding out, I wasn't going to get the Big Shot. I was going to wait. And I did. I waited until Kerry was asleep, told him I needed one and took the drooling to mean "Go ahead and get it".

So I did. Most of the stuff is back ordered, but I did get the machine, and the large scalloped circle. I bought the Stampin' Up one. It's a decent deal, all black.

And in the minutes I have before my students descend on me, I have cut out a bunch of scalloped circles. I cut them out of the brand spankin' new blackboard chipboard that I got at the brand spankin' new scrapbook store in Kelowna, Ever After. Amanda, formerly of Memories and More, has opened her own shop in the cultural district right next to Prospera Place. http://www.everaftercrafter.com/ She's got lots of new products, unpacking more as I type this! She's very enthusiastic and loves what she does. Check her out.

Anyway, back to my circles. I cut them out using felt, plastic, fabric, velvet framing mat board, acryllic and whatever else I could find. I regretted selling my Accucut a few months ago, for a few minutes, and now I don't. The Big Shot is sturdier, and heavier. Love it.

Not My Calling

I need a pile of pictures for the classes I'm taking in less than 2 weeks. I had forewarned the kids last week that there would be a mandatory photo shoot in the near future.

Today was the day. With lots of grumbling, lots of 'hurry ups' from both adults and kids, lots of name calling, lots of giggles, eye rolling, snot, and 83 shots later, I have at least 8 decent shots.

These are the kind of shots they would like, action ones, with goofy things going on. And I do like it, it's what they do best, but I wanted serious 'portraits'.

I realized afterwards that one kid, Emily, is quite tanned, has been out in the sun shine, and day light and fresh air and has a healthy glow, while the other kid, Shaun, has not. He's white, porcelin, glowing. Very noticeable in the photos(that are a tad over exposed)

I love the way she's looking at him. I think she was remembering this moment....

when she got to put her arm around his shoulders, this would be almost a hug.

I'm paying better attention to things, like lighting, this last picture would have been great if I had paid attention to the lighting when I actually took the picture.

The first shot, kids and dogs, the dogs were awsome, didn't move, blink, giggle or snot. I had to take about 8 shots to get that one.

All colour phots are sooc, all black and white are doctored with Pioneer Woman's actions.

Tagged

I made some cute fabric tags, 3 to be exact, tonight for my MIMI tote. Gotta look good for the crop coming up. They are my own pattern, made with ribbon, fabric, and felt. The other two are T and M for my little cohorts, because in exactly 2 weeks, we wil be meeting Donna Downey, C.D. Muckosky, and Kah-Mei Smith!

I LOVE MY DOG I LOVE MY DOG I LOVE MY DOG

This is what I have to tell myself, my mantra, if you will. The last 3 days have been very trying, and tiring. Linus needs an attitude adjustment. I need a break.

Today, we played 'pick your own switch'. Back in the day, my dad said he that when misbehaving at school, he was told to get a branch from a near-by tree. So he picked the nicest one he could find, only to find out it was to be used as a switch to punish him with. That's what I pretended we were doing today. We, me and Linus, pruned some trees. Hazel nut, plum, forsythia, and lilac. The lilac switches were the best. No, I didn't beat him with it, as much as I wanted to. We played strip the leaves and eat the branch instead. And now he is napping because it was too much work for his big clumsy body. We also picked up poop, deposited more, ate more plums and tried to dig up the grass.

I'm getting tired of the constant barking, biting, and pawing. We had a mishap last night involving 2 12 year olds and Linus, the 12 yr. olds know better and were pretty sheepish afterwards. Linus escaped twice yesterday and this wouldn't be a big problem if the jerk didn't run across the street. He doesn't look both ways and with the school traffic, he could easily get hit.

So today, I have been practicing sit/stay when he is misbehaving. Sally is getting the grinds too. She is one of the problems, she gets so nervous and excited that it gets lazy bones going too.

I'm not a cat person, but lately I'm thinking of becoming one.

DQ treat

Music class started up tonight for Emily. It's almost dinner time. So for a treat tonight, we stopped at Dairy Queen, we usually only stop for Blizzards. But tonight we had the full meal deal.
I remember when $20 would feed our family of 4 at a fast food restaurant. Tonight, 3 of us ate not even full meal combos, 3 got Blizzards and it was well over $30.
I decided that since I'm back on the WW wagon, I would make smart choices. I ordered small poutine and a small caramel sundae.
I realize now that if poutine is not in the WW Dining Out Companion that does not mean that poutine must not contain any points. So I checked other companies poutines and went with 12 pts. The sundae was 7 pts. The Blizzard I decided not to have, small Cheese Quake, would have been, (are you sitting down?) at least 16 pts, a medium Cookie Dough Blizzard is 22 pts. When you only get 20 a day, that means a lot of veggies for the rest of the day. And you think that small dipped cone is low in points, check again, it's 8 pts.
I'll eat veggies tomorrow.

And this is because Linus and I have too much time on our hands.

Last year, as a puppy, he started jumping up to pick his own plums. We thought he might not start this year because he was just picking the ones he could reach, but today, he started jumping. This causes a few to fall and then Sally gets to eat some too. They have learned not to eat the pits. Too bad plums cause gas.

Place Title Here

Another Christmas card, with non-traditional colours. And these...love the stamp set. I can see the possibilities with this tree! There's glitter on each card, snowflakes, flowers, and leaves. The birds are on square clear SU buttons, I always wondered what to do with them.
I'm thinking of printing a bunch of my own pictures to hang on my walls. Since we painted, I have hung a few black & whites, in black frames. I'm thinking I need to print some of my favourites and hang them up so I can appreciate them. Why not? They aren't just for scrapbook pages! I dare you, print, frame and hang some of your favourite photographs that you took.

Cool Dude Lovin'

Like I said, I can't wait to use my new stuff.
So I didn't wait and this is what I made. I prepped it for my Stamp-A-Stack and now I'm thinking that might be crazy talk.

Christmas time is HERE!

Okay, so Christmas time isn't really here, but Fall definately is! It just felt like Christmas because I got my SU pre-order of the Holiday Mini stuff.

After I taught my card class with the following cards, the orange and brown one features the Dahlia Fold. I pre-punched, and pre-scored all the circles for the girls and they just had to do the folding. It's a bit time consuming but is a very nice touch on a card or layout. The second card is slowly building up to Christmas.

This is the Autumn Vine Designer Series paper and Season of Friendship stamp set. Love it!
But I love this paper more...Ski Slope. It's very similar to Chatterbox's stuff, before they changed, and I like that the pattern is the same all across the paper. Love the colours! Check out the ribbon!!! That's striped grosgrain, like a candy cane, it's 1 1/4" wide, probably not a great size for cards, but whose going to use it? It's way to beautiful. And that Ribbon Originals! That's Alpine, it has 2 spools of FELT ribbon in Chocolate and one yummy striped spool!

Stamp set is Too Cool Dudes. AND I can't forget the felt SNOWFLAKES, in 2 sizes, Little Felt Flurries and Big Felt Flurries. I can't wait to see what I make!
Emily really wanted the Tart and Tangy stamp set. I didn't really know what I would do with it, but yesterday, I was playing with it and came up with this layout. Check out my fancy scalloped edge punching on the photo, I cut that right into the photo and layered red cardstock underneath.

Not a pretty picture.

We ate dinner outside. I went to close the curtains on the deck to block the blinding sun, but instead got an eyeful of this...

So of course, I had to get my camera. I could only get this close from the deck, so then I had to get closer and that's when Kelly-Next-Door came home and I went to get some shots from her side.Which disgust me even more. I detest spiders and would die if this thing dropped on me. It's huge, and I'm not exagerating. If you look in the picture, you can see fruit flies in the web. With the legs out, this thing is the size of a loonie or bigger. And it's orange. And has hairy legs. Gross!

Clogged Arteries 101 or How To Get Your Kids To Eat Veggies.

Emily is not a veggie eater, she'll eat lettuce and raw carrots, maybe pickles.

But today I found the Golden Ticket!

We have a plethora, an over abundant amount of veggies. My mom's been bringing us beans, cukes, apples, Terrell brought peaches and nectarines, Jaynee gave us beets and carrots and then we got our Urban Harvest box and now have more beets, sweet potatoes, fruit, and more veggies.

So, in my infinite wisdom and hunger, I decided to deep fry things today.

First off, sweet potatoes and beets sliced super thin with my magic slicer. Deep fried until crispy... Lightly salted and handed over to children without telling them what they were eating. They ate the 'chips' and asked for bowls more, said they were delicious.

Second into the hot oil, eggplant dipped in tempura and panko crumbs, over kill I know but how else am I supposed to get Kerry and Shaun to try them.

Thirdly... zucchini, mushrooms, beans, bananas, all battered with a nice tempura and ...

this will kill you...

seriously, it will kill you...

WW fudgy chocolate bars in tempura...I think the deep frying increases the 2 point value.

Sweet potato and beet chips.Whole empty bottle of oil, it was full.

Layout and tin made before my arteries were clogged. Before my hands, eyes, and face were covered with a fine, thin layer of oil.

Chapters Inspiration

Last night, Kerry and I wandered around Chapters looking at the 'Not Books' section. It was very hard to resist the urge to buy some of the funky note books. I kept telling myself "Go home and make some notebooks, you'll never use them either way". So that's what I did. I made a Sally/Linus one for me, an Emily Williams' Original Artwork one for her, and a Pokemon Card one for Eli. They each took literally minutes to make. I love the Bind-it-all.

Another post today?

I forgot to tell you about my roasted corn. I peeled back the husks, removed the silks, melted Becel and olive oil together and added salt, pepper and cayenne pepper, then spread this on my corn. I wrapped the husks back over the corn and tossed them on the bbq. The sun came out for a few minutes, late afternoon sun is always nice for dog portraits. I was trying to get some lens flare. Didn't work, but I did figure a few things out. The sun is behind the dogs, upper left corner, my ISO is 200, flash on. The pictures are a bit blown out, but I really like the fact that ...
1. both dogs find something in the corner more interesting than me and my treats (my secret for getting decent pet shots)
2. both dogs sat within striking distance of eachother.
3. that even though the sun is behind the dogs, I managed to light up their faces! Yay ME.

Shortly after the above picture the dogs were on to me and my not-so-generous treat giving.