Ahoy, mateys!

Now that I'm done with all the October family birthdays, I was excited to be able to sit down yesterday and spend some time making whatever my little heart desired. I wanted to work on Christmas cards, since A) it's almost November already, and B) I have some fun new Christmas stamping goodies that I haven't even had a chance to use yet.

Sadly, my back decided to be achy yesterday, and I discovered that it wasn't very comfortable to sit for prolonged periods of time at my dining room/crafting table. Drats and double drats. I did, however, manage to make one card, and it's an idea that's been in my head for a few weeks:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^®, unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Under the Sea set, Pirate Chickie, Small Solid Palm Trees (all DeNami Design)
Card stock: Cool Caribbean, Bermuda Bay, Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Crumb Cake
Ink pad: Jet Black StazOn
Markers: Daffodil Delight, Bermuda Bay, Garden Green, Soft Suede, Pumpkin Pie, Early Espresso, Going Gray, Close to Cocoa, Real Red, Crumb Cake
Accessories: Cupcake Builder punch, 1" circle punch, hemp twine, wave pattern scissors (Provo Craft), Crystal Effects, Champagne Glass Glitter, Dimensionals

I suppose if I could only finish a single card, there's some consolation in the fact that it's a cute one (at least in my humble opinion). I bought the little Pirate Chickie stamp at the Rubber Stamp & Scrapbook Expo about a month ago. I already had the palm tree, boat and treasure chest stamps, so as soon as I saw the pirate, I knew I had to buy it so I could make this card.

I started out with the Cool Caribbean card base and added a layer of Bermuda Bay for the water. I tore a piece of Creamy Caramel into an island-y shape and adhered it on the "water." Then I added another layer of Bermuda Bay (with the hemp twine for embellishment) in front of the island and popped it up with Dimensionals to create some depth.

I stamped the boat, trees, pirate and treasure chest on white card stock, colored them and cut them out. I tucked the boat behind one of the waves and played around with the placement of the other pieces until I had an arrangement I liked. To create the "treasure" in the chest, I put a small amount of Crystal Effects on the chest and then sprinkled on some Champagne Glass Glitter -- it has just the right sparkle. Then I used markers to add some sand and wave details.

For the sky, I used the Cupcake Builder punch to create clouds and a circle punch to make the sun. I left some open space in the upper right corner of the card in case I decide to stamp a greeting later. I'm pretty happy with how this card turned out. And I think it was easier than it looks; the only part that took some time was cutting out the little pieces, but I actually enjoy that.

Thanks for stopping by! Arrgh!

A farmer in the dell

I can't remember the last time I dressed up for Halloween. I think costumes are a lot of fun and all; but since I don't go to Halloween parties or anything, I don't really have a reason to dress up. Well, this year I decided I'd wear a costume to our infant/toddler Halloween party at work.

I had a few criteria for my costume:

• It had to be identifiable for the toddlers, but not scary.
• It had to be comfortable. When we have our Halloween party, I spend a lot of time running around moving furniture and putting up/taking down decorations. That's in addition to the usual running around that is required with toddlers.
• It couldn't be too fussy (no time to make something intricate or search for hard-to-find items) or cost a lot of money.

I finally settled on being a farmer. I found some overalls ($15) and a hat ($5) at Ragstock and borrowed a shirt from my sister. (I couldn't find the red-and-white gingham-print shirt I really wanted, but my sister had a green-and-white one that was similar.) For a couple of other little details, I put braided pig tails in my hair -- tied off with red bows -- and bought a brown eyebrow pencil at Walgreen's (about $4) to make freckles on my cheeks. So I spent about $25, but it's all stuff I could technically use again. I'm not sure about the overalls, though; they're pretty big, and I don't know when else I'd wear them. So they might go in the donation bag. And I guess I don't have a lot of need for a cowboy hat, either; but then you never know ...

We had our party this morning, and I got up really early to make myself presentable. Thankfully I'd had my sister part my hair before I went to bed last night, so I could just roll out of bed and start braiding. It took a few tries, but I was finally happy with the finished product. I also discovered that it's really hard to draw freckles on my own face while looking in the mirror. The whole left/right thing was just throwing me off. It probably didn't help that it was about 5:20 in the morning.

Anyway, the party was a hit, and the toddlers seemed to like my costume (Olivia asked me if I was a "cowboy girl"). Maybe next year I'll start planning earlier and come up with something a little more exciting. Thanks for stopping by!

Cards for OWH

I haven't been doing much stamping the past couple of weeks (other than finishing my Halloween cards, which I had to do so I could mail them), but I made myself sit down today and make the last few cards I needed for Operation Write Home (OWH). Now I have thirty-five cards in a variety of categories (birthday, love, thinking of you, thank you and blank):

Tomorrow after work I'll sort the cards, tuck them in envelopes and get them packed up to be mailed this week. Yippee! This will be the second batch of cards I've sent to OWH. I feel like I could/should still make more, but I have to stop and send them at some point, right? Then I can start working on the next batch.

It's a good thing I'm finally getting these sent off because November is just over a week away, and I need to start thinking about my novel for National Novel Writing Month. I don't have any plot or character ideas yet, so I better spend some time brainstorming this week. I'm already feeling like I can't possibly write 50,000 words in a month. What have I gotten myself into?

Thanks for stopping by!

Halloween cards are done!

This weekend I finally finished my Halloween cards, so I thought I would share the last batches of cards.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^® unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Spooky Bingo Bits
Paper: Too Cute to Spook - Full Moon patterned paper (Bella Blvd), Whisper White, Basic Black, Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Peach Parfait, Kiwi Kiss, Wild Wasabi, Going Gray, Crushed Curry, Pool Party
Ink: Jet Black StazOn^®, Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Peach Parfait, Kiwi Kiss, Wild Wasabi, Going Gray, Crushed Curry, Pool Party
Accessories: Black and white fibers (On the Surface), 1-1/4" circle punch, 1-3/8" circle punch, 1-3/8" square punch, Stampin' Dimensionals^®

I think this set of cards was my favorite. They're a fairly simple layout, but I think it works here. I love this patterned paper, so I wanted it to be visible on the cards. And I like how the punched circles matted on black squares coordinate with the polka dots. I probably wouldn't have put these colors together myself and thought of Halloween, but I think they work!

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Too Cute to Spook and Best Witches (Unity Stamp Co.)
Paper: Too Cute to Spook - The Boo Crew  patterned paper (Bella Blvd), Whisper White, Basic Black, Perfect Plum, Peach Parfait, Kiwi Kiss, Wild Wasabi, Crushed Curry, Pool Party
Ink: Jet Black StazOn; Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Peach Parfait, Kiwi Kiss, Wild Wasabi, Crushed Curry, Pool Party and Blush Blossom markers
Accessories: Black fibers (On the Surface), Basic Black 1/8" taffeta ribbon, Ticket Corner punch, Dazzling Details, Rock Diamond Stickles (Ranger), black rhinestones (EK Success), google eyes (Inkadinkadoo), Stampin' Dimensionals

This patterned paper is from the same line as the polka dots, and I think it's adorable. I had purchased the stamp sets at the Rubber Stamp and Scrapbook Expo a few weeks ago, so I was excited to run across these coordinating papers in Archiver's. I used a large piece of the paper on each card and then a layered focal image stamped with either the monster or the witch. Some fibers and a bit of a sparkle here and there, and that's it! These cards also have a pretty basic layout, although they took a bit longer because of the coloring.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Spooky Bingo Bits
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Blue Bayou, Pumpkin Pie, Wild Wasabi, Crushed Curry
Ink: Jet Black StazOn
Accessories: 1-1/4" circle punch, Bitty Bat punch, Cupcake Builder punch, and Jack o' Lantern layering punch (EK Success),  Spooky Fence die (Amuse Studio), Stampin' Dimensionals

I made two cards with this design. They were quick -- minimal stamping, mainly just punch, glue and go! The jack-o'-lantern is a three-step layering punch, so by punching the layers in different colors, I made the jack-o'-lantern look as if it is lit up. The moon, clouds, bats and fence finish off this not-too-spooky scene.

Well, now that my cards are done, I just have to send them off. (I often forget that the work isn't done just because all the cards are made ...). Thanks for stopping by!

A few more cast members

Well, I had a quiet, but fun, birthday. I slept in a bit Thursday morning and spent a good portion of the day lying in bed in my pajamas reading a book. In the afternoon, my dad brought over a bouquet of flowers for me, and I watched Singin' in the Rain.

Then while I was at belly dance class that evening, my sister put up streamers to decorate the apartment, and my parents and brother brought over cake, ice cream and presents.

One of the "presents" my mom gave me was an ice cream bucket filled with my old Legos from when I was a kid. There's nothing quite like receiving something as a present that was already mine, and we all had a good laugh about it. (My sister said she is going to start doing this; I told her I have a bunch of DVDs I've never opened that she could literally "regift.") But it was fun to have them and compare the different pieces then and now. I think one of the things that's changed the most with Legos is the people. I had forgotten, but they used to be large round heads attached to a small piece that also had jointed arms. The hands were small circles that could be attached to the knobs on the other Legos. That's it; no bodies.

I had three people in my old bucket o' Legos. I had to build bodies for them, which was interesting. They're about twice the size of my other Lego characters, so I'm not sure how I'll incorporate them into any future stories. Maybe they'll be stricken with gigantism. Or they'll be the last three ancestors of a Martian colony that crashed into Earth two hundred years ago. Who knows.

But without further ado, here are the new members of my cast:

Lucas (in white) is the self-proclaimed Biggest Star Wars Fan Ever. He has all of the movies memorized, and he even made his own light saber (it's hard to see in the picture).

Sally (in blue) is a vigilante, The Exasperator. She tracks down robbers and then tells them bad jokes until they agree to give back what they stole.

 Cy, the cyborg, has one regular hand and and one magnetic bar. It's handy for picking up the screws he drops when doing self-repairs, but it makes rolling through the refrigerator aisle at Sears a challenge.

The two detectives, Clive (magnifying glass in the right hand) and Basil just opened their own locksmith business, Sure-Lock Homes. They are hobby sleuths and discuss their cases everyday over high tea.

The guards, McCartney and Harrison, are in a Beatles cover band on the weekend. They are talented singers and musicians, but they consistently get reviews that they are too stiff on stage.

Cleo and Patty have their own Vegas-based snake-charming show. Currently they are on hiatus after an unfortunate incident with an escaped python.

Jean is the understudy for Pebbles Flintstone in an off-off-Broadway production of The Flintstones: Their Hip-Hop Caveman Life. She believes in fully immersing herself in her roles.

Mac lives in Antarctica with a colony of emperor penguins. He is mastering the intricacies of waddling and hopes to someday be able to catch fish without a fishing pole.

Li'l Pete is Paul's ultra-rich cousin (see A cast of characters) and the styling director for Paul's fashion shows.

Rocky wants to be a movie director and is making money throwing boxing matches so he can pay for film school.

So there you have it. I'll leave you with a quote from one of my favorite shows, The Big Bang Theory: "It's not enough to make the Legos move; they also have to capture your heart." -Howard Wolowitz