Yay! Crafty Mini-Haul

I hate going to the post office to get our mail. It’s inconvenient, kinda creepy, and I usually have to pee by the time I get there, and there aren’t any restrooms around. Well, there is a nasty port-a-potty in the parking lot of the grocery store next door, but…no. However, when I know there are crafting goodies waiting for me, I can’t wait to get there.

I’m on a pretty strict budget; I get paid every week so I try to break up my budgeted amount so that I order something every other week or so. Sometimes I order just once from one retailer so that I save on shipping costs; sometimes I order from several different retailers because I can’t get everything I want from one place.

I received some cool stuff on Tuesday from Sweet Stamp Shop, and then yesterday from Simon Says Stamp and Stampendous. Here is what I bought this month:

From the Sweet Stamp Shop I bought the Beer Wishes and Handcrafted stamp sets. From Stampendous I got this adorable dog die from Dreamweaver Stencils. And from Simon Says Stamp I got the new Abandoned Coral Distress Marker by Tim Holtz, PrimaFlowers Brush Strokes stamp set, and Mama Elephant’s Hello Script die.  Sorry for all of the links, but I am cheating and posting this from work, and I can't get pictures to post. Shhhh....

I can’t wait to get busy creating with these new goodies! I also have the SSS card kits from January – March to play with; the March kit has my head spinning like you would not believe! I have to get my room cleaned up (current status: looks like a F5 tornado hit it) so that Les and Jim can hang my new (to me) ceiling fan/light. I am so excited!! Imagine, I’ll actually have an overhead light in my room at last. No more getting to work to discover my shirt has stains on it that I couldn’t see when I got dressed, or that my socks actually match. It is a really cool looking fan too; it will go with my ultimate décor once I finally get to start on that. I will post a picture when it’s installed.

Before I go, I wanted to say WELCOME! to my two newest followers: Karen Hasheck and Darnell Knauss. Thanks so much for following my blog; it really means so much to me. Please take a moment to check out their great blogs!

Well, gotta go. I plan to make something for this week’s Monday Mojo’s blog challenge, so I’ll get creative tomorrow! As soon as I get up! Which hopefully will be before Noon! I’ve got to say, while I am very grateful for the new work schedule (Tues-Fri, 7am-6pm), combining it with the new Daylight Savings Time is just about to kill me. Yesterday I went to the bathroom and fell asleep in there. I was dreaming and everything! I didn’t even know I had fallen asleep until I woke up because I hit my head on the toilet paper dispenser. Sheesh. Oh well; I’m sure it will get better with time.

TTFN!

A to Z Challenge – Am I Nuts?

Once again I am going to join the A to Z Blog Challenge. I really enjoyed doing it last year, even if I only made it about halfway through. It was fun and I made some new blogging friends. I really hope to complete it this year! I think I will stick with a similar theme as last time: random words/thoughts pertaining to the day’s assigned letter, along with a movie, TV show, or book that starts with that same letter. I now know something this year that I didn’t know last year – you can type up blogs in advance and then set them to post at certain times/dates. That will help me out a lot!!

Wish me luck!

Mojo Monday #389

Woo hoo! I did another challenge! And this time, I'm posting more than an hour before it closes.

Here is the sketch:

And here is my interpretation:

Gaahhh!! I just noticed the "Your text here" thingy from iPiccy - how the heck did I miss that? Please ignore. Sheesh.

And here is the inside:

Sorry for the picture quality; it isn't too bad, but the best light in the house today is in the bathroom! The card is on the window sill; fortunately I was able to crop out all the dead flies.

I'm only sort of happy with this card; the sentiment is crooked for starters. The tan paper is not what I wanted to use; I was sure (and I still am) that I had some cream paper in my stash - this is more of a tan and it's a little too dark to coordinate with the patterned paper. 

I made this a 6" x 6" card. (I'm thinking about doing this exact same card over again, but in the classic A2 size.) I switched the side that the diamond and flower area are on to hide a boo-boo I made with the ribbon. I'm still learning about embellishments; I don't quite have the knack for knowing what type, how many, etc. to put on my cards. Since I'm not a huge user of flowers, I used several little paper ones I've had in my stash for years in lieu of the one large one; I also used some sequins, which is waaaaay out of my comfort zone!

I'd also like to enter this card in Darnell Knauss's NBUS (never before used schtuff) challenge. She left me the nicest comment on my last post; please check out her blog - she is super talented and super funny! Pretty much everything on the card is a NBUS, but my favorite is the DP. Isn't it gorgeous? I have been dying to use it ever since it arrived in my PO box!

Well, that's it for now. I am very happy that I had a chance to do something crafty this weekend. I read (and follow) tons of blogs, look at cards on Pinterest, and watch videos on YouTube. and it makes me crazy that I can't carve out more time to make things right now. I think about them when I'm at work, while I'm driving, and I even dream about them! But when it comes time to actually make something, I seem to freeze up. I think I'm afraid of wasting paper and other things by making something that I hate, or that just doesn't work. I also sometimes feel intimidated by all the other crafters out there that are so much better than I am; but I am determined to get over that. I just need to practice, and I know that others that are tops in the crafting world make mistakes or wind up with stuff they aren't happy with but they keep going. And can I just say how AWESOME the crafting community is? Everyone is so encouraging and positive; I have never seen a mean or cutting comment left for someone. I really appreciate that. It can be hard to put yourself out there, especially if it is something you made yourself and you are proud of it.

Here is what I used to make the card. Thanks for taking the time to stop by - I appreciate it! 

• Card base: some cool lavender stock I had in my stash
• Designer paper: Docrafts Papermania Capsule collection - French Lavender 8x8 paper pad
• Yucky tan paper: Recollections Neutral paper pack
• Ribbon: Tempo Celebrate It - purchased at Michael's
• Sentiment: Hampton Art Jillibean Soup clear stamps - Handwritten Sentiments
• Small paper flowers: EK Success Jolee's By You - have had these for a million years
• Sequins: Doodlebug Design rainbow assortment pack - the bottles are teeny but you get about a billion sequins in each bottle!
• Paper punch used inside the card: The Paper Studio flower chain border punch

TTFN!

Mojo Monday 388 - Whew!

I did it! I managed to get a card made, uploaded, and posted! And only 2 hours before the deadline!

Sheesh.

Anyhoo, here is the sketch I used from Mojo Monday:


And here is my card:

Sorry that the picture is a little wonky. I hope you like it!

The card base is a not-quite-black from Recollections; the yellow "Woof" background, paw prints, and hearts are all from Bo Bunny - Happy Tails; the large circle is white card stock that I accidentally dropped by foam ink blender tool on, so it has Antique Photo distress ink blended on it; the stamp is from a Hero Arts Operation Write Home stamp set. I fussy cut the dog collar out of some more Happy Tails paper, and the two copper dots are from All That Bling.

Thanks for looking!

I Think I'm Back in the Saddle Again!

Woo hoo! I think I am back online again.

Remember when I said that my computer died a few months ago? I had been researching what kind of computer to get - that I could afford - to replace it. I was checking on HSN and QVC, mostly because you can make 4-6 payments, which would work great with my budget constraints. I was also checking out Amazon. One thing that keep coming up in my Amazon searches was something called a Chromebox. I wasn't really sure what it did, and generally kept ignoring it. Then, one day, I was reading a New-to-me craft blog that I follow and was reading some of her past posts. Her post was talking about how their home PC died and they replaced it with a Chromebox, and how much she was loving it. So, I went back to Amazon and took a closer look at it.

To make a long story short, I decided that would work for me; and at $150 vs. $400-500, the price was right as well. I asked Sis if I could borrow the money from them, and Les decided that they would just buy it for me - no loan required. I got it the other day, and I'm now up and running! I had to buy a cordless keyboard and mouse ($40 at BestBuy) and an adapter cable for my older monitor ($50), but it was totally worth it. If you want to know more about it, leave me a comment and I'll try to answer any questions you may have.

Now I should be able to post pictures, etc. without problems, and without trying to do it on the sly at work. It bothered my conscience to do that; that's why there haven't been many posts lately. I can't wait to be able to share things again!

I can't remember if I mentioned in my last post that Mom fell and broke her collarbone? Well, it turns out that she broke it in two places, with one of them being a subluxation - meaning that the bones are misaligned. She has a large lump near her throat, which is the end of the fracture that is subluxated. They don't do surgery or anything for that; you just get to live with it. Sis is still having trouble with her own health and we decided that I need to help her out with Mom. Sis goes down to Mom's (150 miles from here) on Thursday evening and often stays until Monday evening or Tuesday afternoon. Then she comes home for a few partial days and one full day - depending on when she gets here - and she cannot get anything accomplished at home, and she doesn't get to spend any quality time with her husband.

I asked for and was (very surprisingly) granted a change in my work schedule. I'm now working four 10-hour days with Mondays off. Sis comes home on Sunday nights, I go down Sunday afternoon and stay through Tuesday morning. I get Mom off to work Monday morning (yep, she still works at 79! Full days Monday and Friday, half a day Saturday), pick her up from work Monday evening, and I head to work Tuesday morning from her house. I get a three-day weekend and get to spend more time with Mom; Sis gets to spend three full and one partial day at home with hubby and the fur-kids. So far, everyone is happy with the arrangement.

Well, thanks for listening, and I hope to participate in some card making challenges where I can actually link the picture to my blog! I really enjoy the challenge blogs; I've started following several new ones and love all the creative people and inspiration I'm getting from them. Hopefully, maybe, perhaps I'll gain a few new followers as well. It might make dealing with stupid daylight "savings" time a little more pleasant. *grump*

TTFN!