Well, I Started to Stamp…

I threw this card together from scraps while listening to my poor little DD cough herself to bits. As soon as I started my second card, she woke up screaming. I feel so bad for her! Working on two bottom teeth, super stuffy nose, hacking cough, fever — yuck. She’s taking it like a champ, though. So anyway, I’ll give up stamping for her tonight. And I am planning to stay home with her tomorrow. I’ll miss an important meeting, but oh well. My boss won’t mind!

I used SU Basic Black (cardstock and ink), Certainly Celery, Creamy Caramel, and oval punches. The dp is Basic Grey, Scarlett’s Letter. The primas are from several different collections – I’ll have to figure out which ones, and edit this later!

Can You Have a Nyquil Hangover??

Seriously! I took 2 tablespoons at 10:45 last night. And I’m sitting here at my desk this morning, barely able to keep my eyes open! Getting out of bed was horrible (and it didn’t help that today is one of those dark, dreary days perfect for staying at home), the super hot shower didn’t wake me up, and I’m halfway through a can of Diet Coke and still sleepy!! Man I hope this goes away soon! Otherwise I’ll be worthless all day. Wait, maybe that’s a good plan…

I’ve set aside stamp time tonight – woohoo!!! And planned out some cards in my mind, so hopefully I’ll be able to zip through a few! I’ll post again later tonight!

I Want A New Toy!!!!

I recently discovered the Bind-It-All. Holy cow!!!!I want want want absolutely have to have this little gizmo!!!! I was told by some fellow SCS’ers that Bonnie’s Best was the most awesome place to buy it. But I feel guilty for even thinking about it!! I have a Cricut, a Wishblade, a Cuttlebug (which relegated my big old Sizzix to a drawer!), a Xyron 900 (for 8.5×11 sheets, laminating, etc) and a Xyron 250. Do I need more gadgets? On the other hand, nothing I have does anything remotely similar to this little dude.  Think of all the little coaster albums I could crank out! I just don’t know what to do….or how to explain it to DH!!

Those That Can Do, Should!

Wow – what a weekend!! We planted 8 Blue Star Junipers and a Golden Globe shrub at the end of our driveway on the bank next to it, and mulched the whole area. And man, did DH ever encounter some tree roots digging those holes! We planted a beautiful Arbor Vitae and another Golden Globe near the house, and mulched that whole area, too. And I potted 25 Marigolds, some Heliotropes, and some Salvia. We are soooooo sore, we can barely move – we’re like a couple of old people shuffling around the house complaining about our aching backs!! But it looks great outside, so that’s exciting. We are planning to do more junipers and shrubs all along that bank out front, and mulch the other side of the walkway near the house, too. And the stone edging DH did looks amazing!! At least we can say we were productive this weekend!

I made this card last week, and it has a quote from Mother Teresa on it: “Spread your love everywhere you go.” I think that is extremely important – why wouldn’t you want to impact this world in a positive way; why not leave it better than you found it? I think it is crucial to share the wealth that we have – not just material wealth, but intellectual too. If I look around my little world, I see that there is always enough food, clean water, shelter over our heads, heat, air conditioning, cars to take us places, money to provide for our child, and leftover money for extravagances like books, stamps, toys, clothes – anything we want. So I do what I can to share what I have with others. Remember, if everybody put a drop in the bucket, the bucket would overflow!

To me the monthly donations are merely projects. Something my family can do that impacts someone else. But to these kids at the school, and the family we sponsor in Ghana, the kids in Haiti we sponsor, the women in war ravaged countries I donate to — to them it is real life, filled with hunger, pain, fear — things I don’t truly understand. So if a few bucks and some crayons can alleviate that for just one child, I’m in. The handwritten letters we receive from a mother half a world away, sharing her joys of life with me are amazing. And I cry every time we receive a letter from Haiti, thanking us for stickers, or hair ribbon, or whatever small thing we fit in an envelope and sent. Did they cost much? No. Did they light up someone’s life, if only for a little while? Yes. I got a personal email from the school in Granada we made a donation to, about 3 days after I made it. The director apologized to me for the delay in her response. Apologized!! As if she doesn’t have more important things to do.

Whew! I managed to get a card in!

Well, surprise surprise!! At 1:30 today, my sweet little honey walked in to my office carrying a blue bag with a gift in it for me. She was closely followed by her dad, carrying another stunning bouquet of tulips. The gift was a vintage silver bracelet and a certificate to get my hair done tomorrow – yippee!! And now my kitchen is filled with tulips – 3 bouquets in a little over a week!! Yay!

We also went out to dinner tonight at a fabulous restaurant. Who knew we’d manage to find such a fabulous little place down here in nowheresville?? The restaurant is called Molasses Grill. Fabulous wine list, great beers on tap, excellent liquor behind the bar. And the food…..yummy! DH had scallops with sweet potato and bacon hash and braised red cabbage. I had rainbow trout stuffed with crab and served over fresh snap beans. My goodness! And dessert was Bourbon pecan pie with Jack Daniel’s ice cream for me, and caramel ice cream with pecan chocolate chip cookies (like an ice cream sandwich) – both homemade. I can’t wait to go again!

My card tonight uses my new Scarlett’s Letter paper by Basic Grey. It is so gorgeous!! The stamps and cardstock are SU. It was a quickie, done after Bones ended, after feeding little munchkin another bottle and rocking back to sleep, but before Lost started. So I had about 25 minutes. But I really like it!

Sorry…I’m gonna update!

Been a little busy at work, and at home. Got some errands to run this afternoon, but I will upload a new card and a new post later tonight!!! Thanks for checking in!!

So Far, So Good!!

Well, I got to stamp again today! Only for a little while, but I’ll take it where I can get it! I made a super quick and easy card, for today’s technique lover’s challenge, which can be found here. The challenge was to use only browns and vanillas, and the card could not be chocolate or coffee themed. I so wanted to use Roses In Winter, and do the technique that Jeanne put up on her blog (Inky Paws) today, but those silly roses just would not cooperate. So I moved on to the old standby, Lovely As A Tree. I am challenging myself to use stamp sets that I have not used in a while, so this one fit the bill. I also made use of my Cuttlebug, and some brown primas. The ribbon came from jacksonbelle’s store (big shock, right?!?) and so did the primas, I think. All of the paper is SU – Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, and Very Vanilla. I used Creamy Caramel and Close to Cocoa ink on the tree.

 

 

 

 

I got a beautiful arrangement of tulips hand delivered to me at work today by sweet hubby and wonderful baby girl. Wasn’t that nice?? They brought me some last week, too. And we went out to dinner tonight (we left the sweetie with her great grandparents, though) at a new Italian place in town. Not bad!!

Today was weigh-in day for my weight watchers plan. I lost another 1.5 pounds, bringing my total to 21 pounds. Yippeee!!! What a fantastic feeling this is – I love it so much!

A Challenge A Day…Take Two!!

Yippeee!! I stamped today, for the first time in a week. When the little one passed out on the couch, I seized the opportunity for some quality time with my rubbah and ink, as DH was engrossed in XBox 360 (and how can I compete with that??) I did the Featured Stamper challenge today. Duckwaddlequack is fantastic inspiration – her cards are always so cool! If you’d like info on today’s challenge, you can find it here. Anyway, my card is called “Ooh La La” – really creative, I know. I used my Cuttlebug on the background, and managed to slide  a couple of Primas on there, too. Hey, we were supposed to change some stuff, right?!?! All stamps, ink, and cardstock are Stampin’ Up; the patterned paper is from Basic Grey’s new “Blush” line. I bought the Basic grey, pink velvet ribbon, and the pink/black ribbon from jacksonbelle’s eBay store. She has such an awesome collection of goodies to buy!! And she just got more new Primas in, as well as restocked the new Basic Grey. I need to use mine faster so I have an excuse to buy more!! (Disclaimer: Lindsey does NOT ask me or pay me to say any of these wonderful things about her. I do it because she is a wonderful small business owner, a fellow SCS’er, a super nice person, and I think it is important to support that!)

It has been a wonderfully restful weekend. I think we are all finally well (whew!). The house is clean, DH just finished the laundry, the munchkin is peacefully playing. I have gotten some stamping done, some reading in, and not left the house once since Friday afternoon. So great!

I wanted to share with those that drink wine: last night we had a delicious 2006 Sauvignon Blanc from Kim Crawford. It was a New Zealand SB. I can’t say enough about this wine’s value – Wine Spectator rated it a 92, and it was only like $12 at Costco (or maybe Sam’s??). I am never one to be able to pick out subtle tastes in wine, but I could with this one! It was very fresh, with an overtone of grapefruit. DH made brie en croute to go with it. Anytime you want to serve me cheese, I’m there.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Evidence of My Prima Addiction

Ok, here is my stamp/craft space. The desk/hutch was DH’s when he was little – it is one of those brown cargo furniture pieces. When we got it I painted it cream and then distressed it with a taupe-ish brown. I love it!! It hold soooo much stuff, and you can’t possibly hurt that big old hunk of furniture!

Anyway, on the shelves are most of my embellies – brads, clips, and other goodies are in the drawer-thingy i got in the tools section at Wal-Mart (way cheap, like $7 !!), SU eyelets and brads are separated in the other 3 drawer stack on a different shelf. That also hold chipboard letters. The Primas take up 3 whole shelves, obviously :). Also on the tops shelves are some Prima ribbon stax (clearance @ Target – woohoo!), Ikea jars with polka dot ribbon the jacksonbelle made me buy (j/k Lindsey – you know I am an addict!), water glasses with various ribbons, and somewhere up there is a jar (with primas on top!) that has the yummy velvet ribbons.  On the desk part itself are my Cricut and Wishblade.

         

The small dresser under the tv (gift from DH) holds adhesives and extra cardstock. The brown box on legs holds hanging files, which is where all of my SU cardstock is. On the floor next to it is a plastic box that has hanging files for other cardstock. The green tall cabinet thing has my SU catalogs, minis, SSs, and old Creating Keepsakes mags. My Cuttlebug is on there, and all of my craft books are in the bottom.

In the closet are are the two Ikea dressers that hold all of my stamps, my Xyron machines, and various odds and ends. Next to my ink pads is my 12×12 cardstock, printed cardstock (Basic Grey, Cosmo Cricket, etc), and printed paper (like specialty vellums, etc). On the wall hangs horizontal paper holders for my SU neutrals that I use alot. On the old bookshelves (you know, the ones you’ve had forever that move from apt. to apt. to house and then from room to room depending on who needs them?? well, that’s these. they are sturdy little buggers!) are my ink spots, pens, markers, cutting tools, (all in the drawers), boxes with envies in SU neutrals, more ribbon, just a huge pile of stuff!! in the white plastic drawer set are things like punches, 2 drawers of ribbon, stamp cleaners, and empty albums waiting to become gifts.

    

Not pictured but also in the room is an antique wardrobe that I hung plastic shelves in. It has my Carl and Fiskars cutters, alphabet & background stamps, extra notepads, SU wheels, my notebook with the sketch challenges, color combos, and CCRAK list, and other extra stuff that might be needed but doesn’t have a home (like the powder pals/trays) but I use often so I need to get to quickly.

When I get to stamping or doing scrapbook pages, I pull out the card table so I have more space. This room is also our guest bedroom, and the elliptical machine is in there. So I can’t completely take it over!

Thanks for looking at my room!!

Sniff…sniff…sneeze…

Well, I’m bummed. No stamping yet this week – and it is now Thursday!!!!! Poor little DD had what I thought was the sinus ickies but it turned out to be the throw up ickies for 3 days again. So that was horrid. And now the weather is getting to me – 70 during the day, 40 at night. That means my sinuses are on strike. Uuuggghhhh the pressure! I am determined to stamp tonight, though! I was gonna last night, but DH wanted to go buy me some new clothes….and who turns that down?!?!?!?!

 So cross your fingers I can catch up on some challenges tonight!

4 Sizes Smaller!!!!!!!!!!

So, DH and I went shopping yesterday at Potomac Mills, just outside of Washingtin DC. I strolled on into the Gap, tried on a pair of jeans…..and they were too big!!! Happy Dance, right?!?!! Well, I then tried on another size, and they looked and felt pretty good – but a total stranger told DH she thought I should go a size smaller, because those looked roomy in my butt. I protested (I mean really – why press your luck while shopping for jeans????) but I did it – AND THEY FIT!!!!!!! Whooohooooo!   So I guess the 19 punds I’ve lost since Jan is beginning to pay off! This is such a great feeling – just had to share 🙂

I have taken pics of some of my craft space, and am planning to post them this afternoon or tonight. We got back late last night, and the seasonal allergies are killing poor sweet DD. She threw up (I guess from too much drainage from her nose) and managed to get it all in her hair, so we had to have a bath at 2 am. Kind of a bummer.  So I am a bit behind!

A Challenge A Day…..

Ok, so I am joining some other CCRAKers in a challenge amongst ourselves – do the challenge and post it on the same day for at least 14 days in a row. Yikes!! I think we are starting on Monday, but I am gonna get started today, to try and get in the habit (and get some mojo going!!) I love Jen’s challenge today – to use Bold Brights. If you want to see the details for LSC106, click here.  I already have some ideas, and am planning to use the Beautiful Beach set to make some cards for my mom. I am also planning to take some pics of my craft space to share on here – as soon as I clean up from my last adventure!!

And guess what?!?!? Wonderful hubby bought me a Wishblade, and it is out for delivery today! Yippeee!!!! What a fun weekend I am going to have! And tonight is date night — woohoo!!

Hello world!

Ok, I caved. I started a blog!! Everyone else’s all seem so interesting and fun – I had to jump on the bandwagon 🙂 Now, what in the world am I going to talk about? I guess I should start with my blog name – Musings of an Addict. What am I addicted to, you ask (or maybe you didn’t but I’m tellin’ ya anyway!)?? Paper (oooooooh how I love paper – it could be cardstock, printed cardstock, stationary – I don’t care!), stamps, embellishments, ribbon, PRIMAS….let me move on to non-craft related stuff: my husband and daughter, taking pics, wine (mmmmmm…….), reading (although there never seems to be enough time for this!). Ok, enough for my very first post. I have to take some time to figure out what in the world I’m gonna upload first!! See you soon!