no bon voyage!

So our cruise got cancelled after all due to Hurricane Ike. Funny, though, how a completely unplanned week filled up in a matter of minutes once we knew we were going to be home after all! Nothing like trying to get back time you thought you had already lost...

I'm posting this card for Kristina Werner's 23rd color inspiration. I am so in love with this branch image from Eastern Blooms. If you don't already have it, WHAT are you waiting for?? The set is on SALE until the end of the month ($18.66+tax+shipping!). And shopping is so easy now...all you have to do is go to my Stampin' Up! Demo website and click "SHOP NOW" and shop! Of course, you are still more than welcome to shop the old fashioned way by calling me or sending me an email. : )

Anyways, I used markers to color directly onto the stamp. I do not have a marker for bravo burgundy so I used a blender pen to pick up the ink from my ink pad and applied it that way. Easy peasy. I mounted the image on old olive and used some more retired Au Chocolat paper. The ribbon is left over from a project from Neesha's wedding. She and Jeff are about to celebrate their one year anniversary and I still have oodles of that ribbon laying around! Must use it all!!

Gotta run for now. Savi is on a tirade over here. She's looking at one of the pictures from our wedding and is upset because she and Jaya aren't in the picture with us. Um, that's because you guys weren't born yet!! She didn't like hearing that so she's telling me how she's "going to broke your dress so you can never wear it again" (no worries, Sav, it's never going to fit again!) and that "it's too late for you to be married." She's a pistol, this one! And Jaya needs more milk. She's being very loud about it. I think Sach and I are going to try to watch a movie tonight. That is, if neither one falls asleep before the movie starts. Hope you all are having a good night...

a surge of cards

Thankfully, my friends and family in Houston are safe from Ike. They had to deal with the inconvenience of not having power and water, but everyone is safe. I am so very grateful and my heart goes out to those in other parts of Texas who weren't as fortunate.

I spent the day stressing. But I learned something about myself today: when I am r-e-a-l-l-y nervous, I clean. My victims this morning were the floors in my bathroom. I could eat off of the shower floor if I wanted to. It's that clean. I mean, I never would, but I do wish the shower was that clean the time that Savi was in there with me while I was pregnant with Jaya and she licked the drain. Gross! I digress. Sorry. When I was tired of scrubbing, I decided to take my nervous energy and apply it elsewhere. So I made these cards.

I saw this awesome card on Dawn McVey's blog and was instantly inspired. I LOVE the branch image from Eastern Blooms. I had a little trouble getting my branches lined up as nicely as hers, but I pulled out my trusty Stamp-a-ma-jig and all was well. Of course, the versions that weren't so great could not be thrown away or even tossed into my scraps. I had too much going on in my head that I needed to work out with my hands. So, I made the most of it. I used the Three for You punch and added flowers (with stick-on rhinestones) in the messy places. I made two cards smaller. I added a band of cardstock, patterned paper, or ribbon to hide flaws. All in all, I am pleased with what I came up with. And now I have some cards in my stash for last-minute card emergencies. The sentiments are from Bella Blossoms. I paired pink pirouette paper with riding hood red ink and pale plum paper with perfect plum ink. Sorry if the pictures are off, we had a strangely sunny afternoon here.

I also made this card using the small flower from Bella Blossoms. I used some of my much, much hoarded Au Chocolat paper (it retired ages ago!), but it was worth it because I really like the way this card looks.

Hope all is safe in sound in your corner of the world and that you enjoyed my storm of cards. Until later...

Hurricane Ike - Yikes!

Surprised to see another post so soon?? No worries. I am too! The last two days have really been full and crazy...mostly thanks to Hurricane Ike. This beastly storm is about to make land fall and Galveston is pretty much ruined. I am worried for my family and friends in Houston. Hopefully, there will not be too much damage and difficulty for those riding out the storm there. My in-laws drove up this morning so are safe here with us, but my mother, father, brother, older sister, brother-in-law, nephew, and niece are all there. When I last spoke to my mom, she said things were fine. No rain yet, just darkened skies. She actually asked me why I sounded so worried. Seriously??

On a much more selfish note, we're scheduled to take a cruise on Monday that leaves from Galveston. I'm just a little worried about our vacation, but I'm mostly shocked that they haven't cancelled the cruise. We got an automated call today informing us that the cruise is still leaving on Monday. What?? I can't tell you what we were thinking when we booked a cruise during hurricane season, but we were really looking forward to some time off. The girls are super excited about their "boat vacation" and have been practicing their pirate voices because naturally, only pirates take boat vacations. You should hear their "ahoys" and "me hearties"! (Thanks, Wiggles!) So, more stuff up in the air around here. Joy.

The card was one of the fastest ever that I have made. I made it a while ago, but it took about four minutes! I used pumpkin pie prints papers (now retired), die-cut blooms (not retired, yay!), flower fusion felt flowers (also not retired, yay!), and a rhinestone brad on a rose red base. Fun, fun, fun, fast, fast, fast! The sentiment is from Enjoy Every Minute. I think it's one of my all-time favorite "thank you" stamps.

Hope you all are keeping safe tonight. Settle down, Ike!

So much to post, so little time!

I am a complete blogging loser! I know. But I think about blogging all the time. If thoughts count, I post all the time... : ) I am behind in so many aspects of my life right now that I am just trying my best to get through days and consider myself lucky when I cross something off of my mile-long to do list. Anyways, I do have lots of catching up to do here, so I'll give a few quick and dirties about things going on here (with some pictures and cards I've made all in between, just in case you like picture books better than chapter books!):

On my girlies: I am currently sandwiched between these two angels in my bed since neither barely slept this afternoon. We are watching a new Wiggles DVD that Jaya and I checked out from the library this morning while Savi was at her dance class. Savi has started a 3-morning-a-week-3-hour-a-day-ballet-tap-gymnastics-program. This is our third week and things are going well except for the occasional and unexpected drop-off drama in which Savi does not want me to leave. Usually, Jaya is crying about wanting to stay with Savi, but the last few days, Savi has been crying. That, in turn, makes me want to cry. Oh, the insanity!

On Convention: Although it feels like forever ago, I thoroughly enjoyed myself at Stampin' Up!'s annual Convention in Salt Lake City. I had such a great time with Jenn and Lydia. They are my stampin' sisters for sure. I really enjoyed the City of Salt Lake and was only asked once how many times I hit the tanning salon to achieve my shade of brown. : ) I ate awesome sushi, learned cool stamping and business techniques, oohed and aahed over the new catalog, met Kristina Werner, and got a break from being a mommy! All good stuff.

On swapping: Since this was my first convention, I thought I'd take a few swaps just to see how the whole thing works. Well, I'm glad I did, but swapping is crazy!! I made 20 of the baby boy card below (see the second picture for how I set up for a mass-production) and 20 3"x3" cards like the one I made in my open house. It's funny though that I think making 40 cards is a mass production (for me it was, though, since it was literally an eleventh hour decision to do so). Some ladies had like 300 cards to swap. CRAZY. I didn't have that kind of time or energy, but I was very happy with my swapping experience. I stayed up until 3:00 am the night before leaving making these, thus the poor lighting in the pictures:

On my job situation: After interviewing for and being offered a teaching job in Houston, I decided that just wasn't the best course of action for my family. I would have had to fully devote myself to work (teaching just isn't a 8-hour-a-day kind of job) and the girls would have been in their school for waaay too many hours a day. I wasn't ready to subject them to that. Also, I got word that I'll have a semi-longterm contract coming up. I still haven't started that work, but had a short contract in August. I so wasn't used to working! It was so hard for me to have the girls at home all day (without naps!) and meet deadlines. I managed by waking up at 5:00 am to get some peaceful work time. That was a feat for a non-morning person as myself.

On moving: Still up in the air! How frustrating!! Well, the move (specifically, the house we move into) depends on the kind of job I have and since I don't know about the contract yet, I don't know about moving yet... That and I believe that when things are meant to happen, they should happen without too many road blocks. All we have had so far on this road to Houston has been road blocks! I've decided to stop pushing and see what happens...

On having a third child: Wow, I know. Sach actually brought this up after I thought it was off the table. I've always wanted a third child...but is it going to be possible??? Will keep you posted!!

On these four cards: This is what we made at my August class. Don't you wish you had come? Email me to find out when my next class will be so you don't miss out!! I used two (of the four!) of the sets that I got at Convention, Inspired by Nature and Eastern Blooms for the three "regular" cards. The popsicle card was an idea I got from a swap and I made it using the Wow Flowers set and scallop punch. These cards were really easy and really fun to make. I used some of the new in colors as well: pirouette pink, kiwi kiss, and baja breeze. Sorry for being sketchy on the card details....the natives are getting restless because the Wiggles DVD just ended! If you want to know any more about the cards, please leave a comment or email me!

Take care!! Leave me a comment to let me know what's been going on with you. : )

quick color inspiration

WOW! I just realized that it has been a month since I last posted. Yikes! To say that I have been busy would be an understatement. Lots of happenings to report on, but I'll save that for a time when the girls are tucked away in bed, rather than literally hanging off my arms as I type...

I made a quick card this afternoon for Kristina Werner's 19th color inspiration. I know I'm supoosed to save my big updates for later, but I actually met Kristina at Convention (!!!) and she is just about the sweetest person...especially given how awe-struck I was upon meeting her. Imagine meeting a celebrity and being at a complete loss of words and then acting like you know that person because you blog stalk or "blalk" her. That was me. Kristina was very gracious. I was fortunate enough to cross paths with her every day of Convention (which is a feat in and of itself with some 5,000 mad stampers in attendance!) and even got a picture with her. Again, these are things I will elaborate on this evening...

On to the card! We were to use basic black, basic grey, whisper white, and any color of our choice. I chose summer sun as my bonus color. My initial thought was to use regal rose, but Savi decided on yellow for me. And as Neesha's been telling me for months, yellow is the "in" color of the season, so there you go. I used the set Fabulous Flowers, which is a carry-over into the new catalog, but is a set that I just got, so it's new to me! I am in love with that big flower. Prepare to see lots of that flower! I stamped said big flower once in grey and again in black and cut out the parts I wanted. I used the sassy swirl from the retired set Carte Postale. I was very sad to see that set go. I don't think I'm going to be handling it very well. Especially since I had just ordered it right before the retiring list came out. Note to self: don't buy sets in the few weeks before the retiring list comes out. DUH. Anyways, that set is new to me too so I'll be playing around with it lots. I created the frame with strips of basic black as I wanted to mimic the framing on the bedding.

That's it for now. I have hungry children. Like I said, though, I'll be back later to post what's been going on this last month. Until then...

back to normal...?

First off, let me apologize for being so absent here. My July has been insane: lots of back and forth between here and Houston, lots of interviews, lots of house hunting, lots of changes, and then not so many changes (I'll try to explain, I promise, but it's still so confusing for me...), and sadly, not lots of card making! The cards here are some that I had made previously but didn't get a chance to share...they are pretty straight-forward. If you have any questions about them, please leave me a comment or shoot me an email!

I am happy to report though that the last two days have been the most normal days we've had around here in a while! We've been at home and have had a chance to do "regular" things. WHY? We've decided to postpone our move to Houston. We were trying get there so that the girls could start their Montessori school on time, but their start date can be flexible and since Sach is still working from home and I'm about 98% sure that I'll still be working from home doing freelance writing (YAY!!), we have some extra time to get things sorted out properly....AHHHHH.

I promise I'll be back soon with new cards to share! I have a whole box full of new goodies that I haven't even touched yet. That will be remedied, be assured...

Thanks for stopping by!

trying to get all caught up...

Tonight is all about trying to get all caught up with stuff around here. Catching up on blogging (posting here and reading my faves), catching up on laundry (which I discovered I actually can't do because we ran out of fabric softener....), and catching up on DVRed shows (The Bachelorette tonight...yes, I admit that I watch!)...... Anyways, we've actually been back from Houston since Wednesday night, but it takes me a while to really get back into my groove again. And plus yesterday was all funky for us. I'm thinking the stress of our situation is starting to catch up with our bodies. Sach slept in and didn't check email almost all day long (which for him, being a work-at-home-aholic is huge!), I went to lay down for a nap at 1:00 when Jaya went down and didn't wake up until past 5:30 (!) - seriously, that hasn't happened around here for a long, long time. Then I woke up to find that Savi had quietly come downstairs and colored red crayon all over the carpet in our bedroom! She's had the hardest time since we've been back home. I think that all the back and forth, not to mention all this change, is very hard for her and when we're in Houston, she's pretty well-behaved (for Savi) and when we're here, she just has to get all of her naughty out. So, by the time I got the red crayon halfway out of the carpet, we had already missed most of the Fourth of July party we were supposed to go to. At that point, I just called it a day. Sach and I were in bed, ready to sleep at 8:00. What are we, preschoolers??

On to the cards: these are a few that I made before our trip to Houston for some friends we were seeing. Above is a get well card that I made with Splitcoast's color challenge 172 in mind. I really like how the taken with teal, wild wasabi, and whisper white all look together. Definitely a color combo that I will use again...especially since I have a great deal of that awesome polka-dotted Making Memories paper still!

Next are two baby cards. This first one is for Splitcoast's color challenge 171 (kraft, basic black, and soft sky). I have to say I wasn't sure about how this card was going to turn out, but I'm really happy with the end result. It's not your typical baby shower card colors and I like how it worked. The second baby card is more traditional as far as color goes. I had some cute Making Memories paper that I wanted to use that matched well with lavendar lace and pretty in pink. I used Nursery Necessities images for both cards as well as the scallop punch. I actually cut the star out, but just ordered the large star punch so no more crooked lines on stars for me!

Back to personal stuff: we found a house that we like that we can build in a neighborhood that we like in Houston. Now, I just need to find a job!! I've been writing for an educational publisher and it would be my dream to continue to work for them, but they have no grant money to continue right now. Any super-rich people out there with money to invest in some pretty cool educational math and science tools for students?? Email me! Also, I've applied to at least a dozen different schools for teaching jobs, but haven't heard anything yet... I'm hoping principals are just on vacation and that my resume doesn't stink. Then, I just read a whole bunch of inspiring articles in On Stage about demonstrators who make a living and support their families off of sales from Stampin' Up!, but I don't know if I'm cut out for that. Again, anyone out there just want to hire me to make cards for them? I can, and I'd love to! Anyways, sorry! I guess I also needed to catch up on my venting...

As always, thanks for looking! Hope you're having a good long weekend...