Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto

I had seen this stamp set on someone else's blog and commented on how cute it was. And then I stopped at the LSS and I had to buy it. If you know me, you know that 98% of my stamps are Stampin' Up. This set is from Hero Arts. It's acrylic, I'm a rubber and wood block lover, I find acrylic too soft. And you can see that I have a problem stamping in the bottom photo, I usually get the edge, or some fuzzy on the acrylic and it leavs a nice inky mark. Oh, and the best thing about this set...I needed one that I could colour in and get some Copic practice. Perfect.

And really, what do you do with a little Asian, possibly Chinese doll stamp set? Really, what? And I think it's an Oriental set, people are Asian, things are Oriental. That's #1 on my list of grammer things to remember, right above Lay/Lie...things lay, people lie. How true that is.

While stamping a few songs ran through my head...I'm Turning Japanese, Domo Arigoto Mr. Roboto and Mister, Can You Tell Me Where My Love Has Gone, He's My Japanese Boy. Politicallly incorrect? This is my favourite, but you can see that there is a little black mark by her face, and I can't colour in the lines, but over all I like my shading and colour choices. I really did have problems picking out a skin tone, do I go yellower? Or is that too yellow? I don't want to offend anyone. Let alone any relatives that might receive this card. And if I wasn't Japanese would this be an issue?

I think I'll name her Suki Yaki.

Whoooo...?

So last night, Kerry and I went for a walk with Mr. L. I'm wearing my owl hat. We're holding hands and I say to him "WHOOO do you love?" and he says "Um, you?" and I'm like "NOOOO, WHOOOOOOO do you love? Get it I'm an owl! Whooo Whooo?" Ya, he didn't get it. And I'm not sure if he loves me now.

I asked the dr. what to do about his snoring. She mentioned a few things, like maybe he should come in and see her, or put a rolled up towel under his neck or...I could get ear plugs.

Anime Convention Revisited {Updated}

I finally finished the Anime Convention mini album. I love the frosted look of the album, but hate the fact that the cover won't stay closed. It's nice to finally have it finished.

I went out last night. Not to make cards or scrapbook or to work. I went out socially. I had a drink, I ate appies. I had a great time. When I got home Emily was still awake. She's 12 yrs. old and we still tuck her in every night, both of us. So at tucking time, I wasn't there, so her routine was off. She mentioned to Kerry that it was late and unusual for me to not be home. And it was...It was a very late 10:30!

Needless to say my decision to not drink pop went out the window when the very nice unknowing waitress asked if I'd like anything else! ONE DIET COKE OR PEPSI for me please!

And so I didn't get to sleep until late late last night. Darn caffeine.

In my travels today, I found and finished all 3 remaining layouts from CD Muckosky's class in September.

And then my Stampin' Up! order came with all my new goodies.

I got a bunch of new dies for the Big Shot.These 2 are Bigz Clear dies.This is the Movers and Shapers die, you can move that curly window all over the place.

And the Billboard alphabet. It's cute and little. Great for cards.

cracks me up just thinking about it.

We watched 30 Rock last week and I still laugh when I think of it.

Liz Lemon and Jenna, doing a Guy from Sling Blade(Billy Bob Thornton) meets Oprah.

Liz pretending to eat, in her Billy Bob/Palin accent: I love fried chicken.

Jenna: I love fried chicken too, Oprah.

And I couldn't stop laughing. I like to throw it in all our conversations...I love fried chicken!

Which Emily usually follows up with a "That's what she said! That's what she said!" from the Office.

Soon, very soon, we won't have to think for our conversations, we will be able to rely on good old tv quotes!

Look over to the right...I've added a new button for my {drum roll please} etsy shop!

Not much there, but I'm working on it.

I'm working on some other stuff. I have plans to use all my scrapbooking supplies before my Pick of the Patch kit gets here. Yeah,I agree, those are pretty lofty plans, maybe I'll just use a couple stickers and call it a day.

some layouts

Don't adjust your eyes. I have the shakes and it shows in my picture taking. This one is all pretty and pink and features little Z. on her B-day. Why do I have the shakes? Maybe because of lack of sleep. Kerry has taken up snoring, and every little noise woke me up.

I started a few of these a while ago, but didn't have any photos for them.

This Christmas layout was for a class.

This is the best one...it's week 7 or maybe 6 from DYL. It's Cathy's Vampire Lovin' layout. I made it this afternoon.

I love love love Making Memories little alphabet stickers. I have been using them on all my layouts for my journaling. Takes forever, there's not enough of the letter E.

A close up of the journaling for all you that complain about not being able to see the details in my pictures. Maybe you need glasses.

I'm sending bad vibes to someone.

Not you.
And I know that for a fact because you wouldn't break into my van and some of our neighbours vehicles and steal our belongings.
I know you wouldn't take my float(yes, I know better than to have a container of cash in my van) and take the Tupperware container it was in, I'm more choked about the container than I am about the $40 that was in it. I know you probably wouldn't want the $5 gift card from the packaging store in Langley, well, I know you would, but I know you wouldn't break into my van to get it. I know you wouldn't go through my garbage, glove compartment and junk.
I know you wouldn't violate someone that way, because most people are good people that hold some kind of respect for other people's belongings and they wouldn't do something like this while those people are sitting in their living rooms watching SNL.

If you can't tell by all that...we may have left our van unlocked, and some crack head went through it and our neighbours (plural) vehicles and possibly 1 house. Our neighbour thinks they may also have left their vehicle unlocked, but they like us 'never' do that. It probably happened when the motion detecting light when off, around 11 pm. I saw it happen, thought it was the wind. Shaun came home at 1 am and noticed the van was unlocked. So while we were awake, in the living room, aprox. 6 feet away someone gross was riffling through our stuff. Jerks. I hope the drugs they buy suck. One neighbour probably doesn't even know they were robbed, another neighbour has an extra vehicle ashtray that doesn't have an owner. The cops don't seem to care. Nice.

Workin' It

I spent the better part of yesterday organizing scrapbooks, adding journaling to layouts that I had made a long time ago and never finished, and doing a few other scrapbook related things. Then at about 9 pm. Kerry came into my room and said something about something and I looked at the calender and HOLY CRAP I have a Stamp-A-Stack class today. No cards made, not a thing in mind for the class other than we are doing birthday cards. So I tidied up so that could have more than my usual 12 x 12 inches square to work in. (Table is about 5 feet by 5 feet square.) And I went to town, by 10:30 pm I was finished. I got 4 cards prepped (total of 36 cards.) Whew...I even managed to watch a bit of SNL afterwards.

Today, Emily and I have already had our Mother/Daughter bonding over 111 Copic markers. We stamped and coloured for a few about an hour.

This is my new/borrowed(?) set from my dad. I actually thought he only had a dozen Copics, which I could handle buying off of him but when he dropped them off, I could hear bells ringing...This is almost a $200 set. He said we'd figure it out. Anyhoo...I love them.

So these are the cards I made. I have very few stamp sets that need to be coloured. Probably because I didn't enjoy colouring with my other markers. Now I need some new sets. Drat.

I watched a tutorial from Youtube that Sue had sent me. I picked up a few tips on shading from it. I put those to use. When I was done, Emily, the pro at Copic colouring, said "wow, your shading is so smooth, how'd you do that?" A little bit of me thinks she was stroking my ego! I told her I did what that tutorial said to do and she said "oh, yeah, I'm going to try that." And she did and was very happy with the results.

Off to look at some line drawing stamp sets...

Copic Coup

Months ago, I ordered a bunch of Copics from Ellen Hutson for my dad. He used them for a few days and I don't think he has done much else with them. So after I did a bit of colouring with Emily's markers and then got heck for not putting them back in order and putting them in the wrong way, I asked my dad if he wanted to sell the markers back to me. And so I have managed to accumulate a very nice collection of Copic Markers! (No payment has exchanged hands yet.)
I can't seem to get the picture up, it is a most beautiful picture of my 36 markers, minus 1 because dad misplaced it.



Kerry took the day off yesterday. We started the morning off on a good foot. Had breakfast at De Dutch, did some boot and jean shopping, and he got a new mountain biking mag. Then we came home, I sat on the couch to watch soaps, usually I'm in my room working with the tv on so I'm productive. Not on this day, I stayed on the couch for hours. Then made dinner and then watched more tv. Howie Do It is very funny, Dirty Dancing is a classic, so I had to watch those. Oddly enough I wasn't tired when we went to bed.



I'm working on my Project 365. It's off to a rough start, the first week was great, I took a photo a day, I made my layout. Then the second week I took almost a photo a day, I didn't make my layout. 3rd week, not as many photos, 2 layouts behind. As of today, I'm caught up. I've let go the "gotta get a photo a day" business and am more a "get at least 7 different photos a week" person.

Emily's friend's grandma knitted and crocheted this Chain Chomp for him and Emily was modeling it for the camera. Very talented knitting!

Ah...BEEF...no more words needed.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/01/steak-bites/

Check out the Steak Bites. To die for. (And will probably be the death of me)


Had a small amount of the above Bites, falafels, tzatziki, and roasted brocolli and cauliflower for breakfast. Definately the breakfast of champions. (Champion Gas Makers that is, good thing I'm home alone.)

I'm getting tired of the waiting...I waited for the new catalogue to show up, I waited to order out of it, I'm waiting to get the product, I'm waiting for my POTP Feb. kit (I know it's still Jan., but I'm excited about this), I'm waiting for the weight to start melting off me, waiting for the sun to show up, for the snow to melt, for the weekend! Oh woe is me.

A good thing or maybe a few good things...

It's a good thing...

1. that Emily has a bus pass because I forgot today and tomorrow are short days! She would have been one pissed off kid at day's end if she didn't have that pass to get her home.

2. that WW zero point soup is 0 pts. because I'm sure the 3 buttermilk biscuits I used to soak it up were not point friendly. No siree!

3. that Linus is so cute, or else he wouldn't have made it to his 2nd birthday.(Linus is a dog, not a kid, if he was a kid, it'd be a different story, oh, he'd make a bad kid)

4. that LOST is on tonight!!! There haven't been any good tv shows all week, except for Desperate Housewives.

5. that I bought this cook book for Shaun, he hasn't used it but I have! Lots. So much so that I went to Costco to get another one for me because he might take it with him should he ever leave the nest, and they were sold out! I love it, it has tips, info on the best potato masher, corn syrup, frozen veggies, etc. and the recipes are easy to follow, lots of pictures. But the Hollandaise Sauce did not turn out, this recipe has twice as much butter as my original recipe and it just wouldn't emulsify.

6. that I can let go of things, like my ability to take a photo a day when there's nothing but grey skies and dirty snow in my view finder. I have come to the conclusion that there won't be any 365 photo stuff going on, but more like 52 or maybe 245 which ever I feel like doing. If I take a photo a day, great, if I don't, no big deal. I might even take 36 photos in one day and no photos for the next 2 days, and that's OKAY.

I think she'll like them

I spent a bit of time on PS7 trying to put the little chibi people that Emily drew on a background without ruining the original picture. With a lot of patience and little tiny brushes, I managed to do a not too shabby job. I printed both pictures on photopaper, and used Golden Gel medium to adhere the paper to the chipboard but I got some warping as the medium dried. So I tried again after using my big ol' brain and decided to print the pics on clear labels and then apply the label to white or vanilla cardstock and glue that to the chipboard. Works great!

I used my BIA to make 4x6 note pads using some plain pads I picked up at Office Depot. I really think she will be pleased. She wants to sell them.

Updated...

She did like them. I heard a big "OH WOW!"

Have some fun with this...

http://obamiconme.pastemagazine.com/

Happy Inauguration Day! I'm watching it, I can't help but cry! What a day!

In other news, Emily trusted me to scan her latest drawing...she probably won't be happy to know that I'm sharing it here but I have to, it' s amazing. She printed the line drawing off the internet and the coloured the whole thing with Copics, white gel pen and watercolour crayons. Check out that shirt...it was white, now it's shaded and has some crazy dimension to it. I'd like to take credit, say that she's a chip off the block, but she's self taught, using the internet and all the tutorials she can find. She wants to make some notebooks with her drawings on the cover to sell at this year's Anime Evolution convention, I think my trusty Bind-It-All and I can work something out.

I have to add that I scanned it 3 times, this is the darkest one, very contrasty but doesn't really look like this in real life.
It looks more like this. I'll leave the scanning to Emily.

Oh the horror!

I'm organizing my receipts for taxes. That in itself is amazing, it's only January, usually it's June, as in late, not early. I thought "oh, what fun it would be to document my purchases by month". What am I? Stupid? I now have written proof for Kerry to find. I know that most of my purchases go towards classes that bring in money, but whoa...I spent a lot of money on ink and photo paper to statisfy my 'must print it now' addiction.
I have yet to add up my monthly income, or any income for that matter, and holy $#!% it better be more than my expenses or I better find another job!
I think for an even more exciting evening, I should graph my spending. Maybe the highs corrolate with the moon phases...

My childhood days came rushing back yesterday

It was terrible. I had to get my scrapspace cleaned up for a class last night and Kerry just happened to be in the line of sight of the chaos. And then he said it..."I think someone needs to spend some time tomorrow cleaning their room." Ugh...just like being 12 years old again.

So I did just that today. I tidied a few things up, I got rid of more things, I am donating a huge pile of stuff to E's school for Cardmaking and Scrapbooking Club. Maybe they will ask me to be guest speaker! Bwhahahaha...ha!

Things I found...a pile of photos...a pile of cards I love and never sent out...some 12x12 page protectors, identical to the ones I just bought...an unopened pack of Heidi Swapp ghost snowflakes...brand new Melissa Frances mini albums in an assortment of shapes piled under a bunch of other stuff I had forgotten about...

I made a huge dent in the mess, but it's still not finished. I have this terrible printing habit, I print of pages and pages of things, photos, tutorials, etc. and never know where to put them afterwards. I also collect books and magazines, and have no room for those...My scrapspace is the second largest room in the house, I must do a better job of organizing, I doubt Kerry will let me have the living room if I outgrow this room!

More Love Notes

I made this super cute little card box with 6 cards for a Valentine's Class.

Love Notes

Sometimes I get ideas, good crafty ideas, in the shower. Must be the smell of my Victoria's Secrets Love Spell body wash opening up my brain. This came to me this morning and I had to make it right away so that I didn't forget, which happens routinely. It's to hold all those Valentines the kids get every year. There's a 'file' for each grade, from K to 7.

This is an up-coming class!

Some Sneak Peeks!

It's here, I've made my wish list, I'm glad to say I don't have to sell a child to pay for what I want.

Love the colour combos here.

I think I might need this set.

I don't have a sympathy set and love the tree and some of the sentiments.

The bird is cute, but I really like those trees!

I will probably get the little birds, and I already have those big flowers!

Some new frames and patterns.

Love these big flowers! They match the Decor Elements.

The game sets are cute but not my thing.

Some sets that match the oval punches.

New pattern paper, kind of retro.

And new Big Shot dies. Like Movers and Shakers, there's a card front and a curly label die that you can move to any spot so your window can be anywhere!

Went to Costo, found this rack thingy. I am going to use it to organize classes. Instead of using pizza boxes that take up so much space, I can easily see what is in the drawers. I put it together, it took over an hour to get those lovely drawers put together. It better last forever!

Spent the day colouring...

and all I have to show for it are these two cards.

My downline, Sue, came over today so that we could play with Emily's Copics. Sue has a huge selection of Penny Black stamps which are perfect for colouring.

I don't have sentiments for the cards yet...I'm thinking for the dog...OH crap, I weigh less than I thought!

For the cat...I'm not a cat lover...they crap in our yard. So..."Heard you got your cat drunk and it drown in your tub...You GO Girl!"

They Came! {updated}

8 big beautiful boxes of catalogues finally came today!
I have gone through quickly just to get a feel for the catalogue. There are some great colour combos! I'm a bit disappointed that SU decided not to put the supply list in the back, but opted to post it on-line.
There are new dies for the Big Shot! They are on my list as are a few other goodies.
A few NEW things...
-textured designer series paper, glossy too
-single stamps, just a few
-rub-ons with multiples, better for cardmaking or classes
-card making kits with embossed and scalloped cards
-less background stamps, but there are textured plates for the Big Shot
-lots of little birds
-a coffee set
-different sized brads, and other metal embellishments

I usually make a wish list, and then go over again and whittle it down a bit. Last catalogue didn't have very many stamps that I NEEDED. Hopefully this one won't either!


Updated to Add...
My first go thru of the catalogue came to over $400, but after going thru it again, I'm down to just over $300. Now to decide how to buy it all...all in the next month or a bit at a time? I'm opting for the sooner the better!

Quick Weekend ReCap

I'm still tired.
We did a bit of junk removal from the house.
E and I went to ZB 4th birthday.
We went to Shawn and Tara's for most delicious dinner.
Kerry got spanked for saying that my gravy is from a package.
E got a bus pass! Freedom for both of us.
Kerry, Shaun and Emily got books at Chapters, I didn't, I pouted.
I'm off to work.

I QUIT!

That's right! I quit working for Weight Watcher's this morning. Some stuff, corporate stuff has been making it more stressful than it needs to be for me. So I made a quick decision after listening to myself talk to a coworker, and I stuck to it. I already feel pounds lighter. I will be on the other side of the scale. I'll probably lose weight now.

Sew I waited

and waited. The mailman didn't come at all. No bills, no junk mail, no complimentary catalogue. So I just kept sewing, but first I cleaned bathrooms, made my soup and lasagna, I was ready for that catalogue.

I made a couple of Kleenex holders, one to match my purse.

Then I made 2 sets of matching items, coffee cozy, Kleenex holder and purse organizer.

Here's a close-up of some of the new fabric I picked up yesterday. It's older fabric but I have been looking for it since I saw it in Donna Downey's Fabric Scrapbooking book.

Then I made 6 more cozies. I already gave 2 away. This last week, Emily's sock monkey, Marcy, lost her ear. We couldn't find it, we think Linus ate it. So I had to use a new, un-matching sock to make Marcy's new ears. The operation went well, and the new ears hear better than the old ones. Here is Marcy, and Button the Cat at their photoshoot.

Waiting with baited breath

I don't even know what that means...but I'm doing it. I got my Canada Post notification that my complimentary Stampin' Up Spring/Summer 2009 catalogue would be here today. So far I have received my order from Ellen Hutson, which is great, but when it's not what you are waiting for, it loses it's appeal. I didn't even open the box.
To take my mind off of the long wait, I'm sewing, no big surprise there as of late. I'm making kleenex holders, purse organizers, and coffee cozies. I might sell them, I might give them as gifts.
Kerry's going to a hockey game with his brother and his mom. They had a funeral to go to today and it's nice that they decided to do something with eachother later. I'm hoping to have my catalogue and I will be making my wishlist while he's gone.
I made crockpot WW soup, let's cross our fingers and hope it helps.

The best thing I've ever made...

I think this is the most useful thing I have made yet. It's a purse organizer. I had seen one in the Water Garden a while ago and thought my mom could make that thing. She didn't get it when I tried to explain it to her. So then after I got my sewing machine, I thought I could try it. So that's what I did this morning. I used some crazy assed thick iron-on interfacing stuff I had bought for something else, and it was so thick after I got the thing folded that I bent a needle. Good think I had some denim needles on hand. I used the Amy Butler fabric that I made my purse out of, I am so glad I bought a meter of each. So now when I reach into my bag of tricks, I can find things with ease. As you can see, I have a matching purse, organizer, and coffee cozy. This was one of my first cozies and I used Velcro. The good thing is that it can fight all kinds of cups, the bad thing, it's Velcro and Golden Retriever fur sticks to it. But I can still use it on my snazzy favourite drinking apparatus that is filled with un-sweetened tea. Don't even get me started...the barista at my local coffee house forgot to mention that the bottle of sugar-free vanilla syrup was empty. (That would be Kerry, he makes my morning coffee and puts it in the fridge so that it's cold for me when I wake up, he's really sweet, but kind of forgetful.)