All things buzzy and purple

Late last night while my husband was sleeping I was in my scraproom creating with the beautiful Pink Paislee kit from Simply Obsessed and flipping thru the tv.

I came across an infomercial. Normally I change the channel, but this wasnt any ordinary infomercial.... and if you are easily offended please dont read any further.....

This one was selling *cough* Vibrators.... Seriously. Not a joke. It was either on Oxygen or the WE channel (I cant remember). I just started at it dumbfounded for a minute... like is this for reals? Who buys one of those things from the television in the middle of the night? I mean I know people buy them. Ive bought one in college (sorry Mom) but from the TV?? At 3am? Yikes!

I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants. I almost woke Matt up and made him look, but I really didnt want a grumpy hubby today. Please tell me Im not the only person who has ever seen this!! It was hysterical.

Today is MICRO day at Caardvarks. You girls know what that means... You only have 1 day for your chance at the prize! Get your purple shmurple cards in before midnight tomorrow. If you are new to Caardvarks... you must go over... iof only to see Lauren's Purple People eater card. (and yes Im singing it too Lauren) Here are mine:

Hoppy Easter!

Happy Happy Easter. (yes Im a few days late) Its been crazy around here. Im working overtime due to March Madness Basketball but I still managed to have a fun holiday with family.

I actually didnt feel rushed this year. We always go 4 places because both of our parents are divorced. (and drive too much) I made it thru the entire day on 3 hours of sleep. I was out the moment I hit the chair in my living room. At 10pm. That is like a normal person falling asleep at 4pm for the night.

I have managed to squeeze in scrapping to the wee hours of night a few times this week. It stinks not having my normal day off (where I get to scrap/clean most of the day) The extra $$ is good though. It means I can can buy some new stuff. :) Here are a few of my recent layouts :)



Road Sign stamp (stop sign) is Penguin Press.

oh and my super funky Caardvarks fruits & veggies card! Check out the blog for our most recent spotlight Rae Brathel.

Oh and watch for a micro soon!

Happy St Patty's Day

Happy St Patty's Day! This is one of the craziest days in my world. Being a bartender I have to be the sober voice of reason. Most days that isnt a problem... but St. Patty's day.... well... Its a whole other animal. Perfectly respectable normal people go completely wild and irrational. I will probably be sworn out at least 5 times for cutting people off. I end of going home angry and tired with green stained fingers and a pretty full wallet. If I make a good amount Im seriously splurging!

In honor of St Patty's Im going to give you a drink recipe! These shots are green and really yummy!

Scooby Snacks
1 oz Midori Melon liquer
1 oz Malibu Coconut rum
1/2 oz Pineapple juice
1 squirt of Redi Whip

Pour all over ice in a shaker. Shake vigorously. Strain into 2 shot glasses or take it all yourself.

Its also time for a new Category Stories challenge. This one's theme is "If I had a million dollars" I cant help but sing the Bare Naked Ladies every time I think of it (havent you always wanted a mon-key?)

I used a real $$ bill for my photo because well... I couldnt think of what else to use. lol

This awesome challenge is sponsored by Kitty Robot etsy shop. Jodie seriously makes the cutest sculpy buttons and bits for your pages. I think the winner gets one of her rockin kits. Ive got to figure out Austrailian time to EST so I can make sure I get one.

I also found out I won a rak at SIStv yesterday. I won the coolest Skullie stamp from Angie Delarie Stamps She makes unique and edgy acrylic stamps. Check her out. She had lots of fun sets in her etsy shop.

Stamps & Snow

Its a blizzard around here. Im buried in snow. Its been a long time since Ive seen snow banks as tall as me. (Im 5'10) It reminded me of my childhood. It had snowed so much we couldnt leave the house on Saturday or 1/2 of today. Our lot wasnt plowed and we couldnt get the car out.(believe me, we tried) I lucked out that work called and told me I didnt have to come in because I would have had to walk. I swear we got at least 20" of snow. I loved it. :) It was beautiful to watch it fall.

Of course getting snowed in is a good thing. I got to spend some romantic time with my guy and I got to play a bit in my scraproom. The other day I got a caardvarks envelope with 3 darling sets of Penguin pants stamps and Ive been stamping myself silly ever since. I just cant get enough of these. Now I wont show you the card I made for the fabulous upcoming caardvarks challenge, but I will show you some of the other things I made with these fabulous stamps.



Do you want a chance to win a Big RAK?? and help children with Autism?? My girl Christine is working hard and raising money for Autism Speaks. Stop by her blog and check out her giveaway!! She will draw the winner on April 1st so you have plenty of time :)

Election Day

I voted today. I dont know why it is really, but voting makes me happy. It makes me feel like an American and very grateful that Im given the opportunity. Ive always been interested in politics. It was even my major in college. I love watching election coverage too. Although I didnt get to watch much tonight due to a power outage.

There is a huge ice storm going thru the area. Its super windy and cold. There have been many power outages today. There were several polling locations that were rushed generators so they could keep the machine up and running. I was only without power for a little over an hour. I spent the time stamping with my headlight on and surrounded with tap lights.

The DT projects and newsletter went up for Simply obsessed today! I am in love with this kit. When I first got it I was quite intimidated with the brightness of the Tinkering Ink Wild Woodland, but the more I played with the papers to more I absolutely loved what I was creating. They are so vibrant and fun. I used a Slick writer to add definition to the KI chipboard. I also used the ribbon add on (that black ruffly stuff is worth the $ alone!!)

Speaking of Simply Obsessed... we are having a March Madness crop March 14th-16th. Come join us for lots of challenges, prizes and games. I'll be hosting Sunday at 1pm. :)

Here are a few cards I created with the kit. The last one is for the Caardvarks Caard Trip challenge! Come check it out!

Marching on

I seriously cant believe its March already! Before I know it spring will be here! (which is really hard to imagine at the moment considering the 7 inches of show on the ground and the frigid temperatures)

I love spring. I love watching the tulips and daffodils poke their way thru the dirt. I cant wait til I have a yard and can plant then and watch every year. Downtown living is awesome, but I miss the little things... like the dirt.

Some fun news! I have joined the fabulous Category Stories challenge blog. Have you seen the lineup of funky fabulous scrappers they have here including 3 of the NEW SIStv fashionistas! Im so honored to get to play with them. Check out the new challenge Best Day Ever over at the blog.


Its alsoCaardvarks micro time! *** picture that with me singing and dancing like peanut butter jelly time***
You gals know the drill... these are fast & furious. Make sure you get your cards in before tomorrow night! The winner is getting some of the super cute stamps from Penguin Pants and let me tell you... they are super high quality acrylic and they are totally cute. There are so many on my wish list. (because a girl can never have too many stamps)

A little vacation day

Ahhh gotta love government holidays. I got to have my hubby home with me all day. I didnt get as much done, but I got to sleep late, cuddle up and watch tv and cook a big dinner. Sometimes its just nice to do nothing together. We both vowed not to leave the house (its snowing like mad) and to only take calls from family. (which pretty much requires he turn his phone off)

I did manage to get one layout done (while he was watching the Trek) I combined my survivor week #2 layout at tally with Random Chaos #3.

I has a busy weekend full of baby showers and birthday parties. It was good to be able to spend time with family. I stayed late and the shower running my mouth so I couldnt get to the mall so I had to make my mom's birthday present. (doh!)

What I came up with is this little box. Its about 6x9. It used to house a mini bottle of lotion and a bath & body works gift card. I think Im going to make her a mini album to go inside. Im just waiting for her to gather up the photos. The little panel inside is where the wedding vows will go. I lucked out that the box was already printed with the plaid print.


Now I want to make one for me! I think I have another box laying around here somewhere.

Happy Valentines Day

I hope everyone had a happy Valentines Day! I know I sure did. We decided not to go out and about since neither of us was feeling the best, but we had a fantastic night anyways. We joked around, cuddled & talked then ate pizza and chocolates while curled up on the couch together. Matt bought me a beautiful engraved crystal with the defination of soul mates and our names on it. Its gorgeous. It was so nice to have some alone romantic time together. No meetings, no cell phones.... just us. :)

Its time again for the Loooooovefest at Caardvarks. Week 3 is up and ready for your cards. Mine is above and features stamps from Queen Kat designs. I used staz-on and stamped onto a leftover piece of transparency and then layered it over the heart doily (which came from the target $ spot) I actually made something *gulp* without patterned paper.... and I did it voluntarily. Shame shame.

I also have been experimenting with kit making. I made my own kit for a challenge at Tally then I had to scrap a layout with it. Here are 2 layouts made with my "kit"


My parents will probably hate the last one. Hehehe. I am lucky for the most part. They have a pretty amiciable divorce. It has been over 20 years afterall. But every now and then.... I want to scream and pull my hair out. I cant imagine how hard it is for those with parents constantly going at it. Mine can always be in the same room (unlike my inlaws)

Im a sick puppy

Against my better judgement I went to work sick last night. I figured Id suck it up and go in... I needed the $$. I got my ass kicked. We were so busy and of course I couldnt breathe because I was so congested. So I basically ran for 7 out of the 9 hours I worked. Everything hurt when I got home. Overnight my cold mutated into something evil. Sucky thing is I also picked up a shift tomorrow for extra cash so I cant rest.

So I did nothing all day. Well nothing strenuous. I hosted a crop challenge this morning at Simply Obsessed. Then Matt and I watched Shrek the third (which was so cute) and he got us Chinese takeout so I didnt have to cook. We watched some saved tv (I heart my dvr) then got up and scrapped a bit. Here is what I did this weekend

Tagged!

I have been tagged by the lovely Leah. Five things you want to do before you die, based on the movie The Bucket List. So... let's see.

1. Finish my college degree. Maybe get another one.
2. Visit Rome, Paris, Greece & Amsterdamn
3. Have babies (and grandbabies)
4. learn to paint
5. renovate an old house

I am tagging all of the Caardvarks girls in honor of the challenge going up today. Check it out.

"Tin"kering Ink

GO GIANTS! What a great game. I was so glad to see New York win. We went to a superbowl party at the theater. There was tons of food and the game was shown on a movie sized screen. We even had a few beers in the balcony. The commercials werent as good as they were in previous years. Im going to have to see if I can find them online. I do remember laughing at the lizards dancing to Thriller.

Afterwards I got to play in my room. I played alot of the day today too (between loads of laundry and cleaning) It seemed to be tinkering ink day at my house. This months MTS kit features the bright and happy perfectly posh line and a darling little bandage box to alter. Ive even started a little mini album to tuck inside this box.




You could also make little love coupons and tuck them inside for your sweetie.

Then I used the color filled Blur line to do the challenge for Random Chaos You had to create a layout with at least 6 manufacturers. My six include.... Tinkering Ink, Hambly, Glitz, American Crafts, Maya Road and Scenic Route. I handcut the heart out of the stiff glittery felt and inked the edges.

Yes the name of the game is so weird! Its become all the rage in the last year and seriously... its all about throwing a bag of corn thru a hole in a board. I dont really see the appeal but its everywhere. They even have tournaments at bars in the summer. My brother and sister were getting competitive at her grad party. It was pretty comical.

Sweet Lincoln's mullet!

I found out the other day that I made the design team over at Simply Obsessed kits. It has been so hard not telling anyone. Im super excited to work with the rest of the design team and play with the awesome kits!

I had a cropolicious weekend. The More Than Scrapbooking 24 hour crop was super fun. The cool thing is the challenges dont end until Midnight on Sunday! That means if you get bored watching the superbowl (or you are like me and scrap while watching football) and you want to play there is still time. Just make sure you create a NEW layout for any of the challenges here and you can have a chance at the prize. I dont think Lori has given out the Big Bite yet either. How many can you do tomorrow?

I also hung out over at the Tally Crop. I won some cool prizes playing jeopardy. I also got to do a few challenges and chat with my girls. Other than the utter crappiness of my night at work (I hate ufc nights) today was a pretty good day.

Holy Pinched Nerve batman

I have been in pain since Sunday night. I dont know what I did it just hurt. I couldnt turn my head to the left at all. Sleeping was horrid. Anytime Id move Id wake up from the pain. I was actually more comfy sitting in the recliner with my shoulder propped up than in my bed.

Good news is after 2 trips to the chiropractor it feels much better. It still hurts and work tomorrow is not going to be easy, but I think I will survive. I have muscle relaxers but they are EVIL and I hate taking them.

Having the extra time off helped me get my scraproom in order. I bought some new storage and moved some things around (my room is so small) Im almost done with everything but the paper. (and I am a paper whore)

The layout above is my last official ((sob)) layout for Allyscraps. It uses the Fancy Pants holly jolly line. I cant belive my term is over in 2 weeks. It seriously flew by. Allyscraps is such a fantastic store to work for. Im so going to miss it. I'll probably scrap a few more layouts for them (I still have lots of my kit left) but this is my last official one. That makes me sad.

More challenges

I love how some songs are so catchy that you can hear them once and find them dancing thru your brain. Last week we went to see Sweeny Todd and for some reason the songs stuck with me. I hope they have a soundtrack. I already know I need the Juno soundtrack, might as well pick them both up at once.

I have really been loving challenges lately. They can so help when the mojo is just not there. This layout is actually for 2. The theme was inspired by the Scrappin the Music #20 Blessed by Martina McBride. The paint was inspired by a challenge at Tallyscrapper to paint at least 40% of your layout. Its a sloppy mess, but its mine :) I accidentally ripped the L off and liked how it looked so I didnt glue it back on!

I also finished this layout for Allyscraps using the Owl pals line from Sassafras Lass. Since Ive owl'd it up before I used it in a non-Owlie fashion.

My grandmas ring is very special to me. She died right before I turned 12. She had lung cancer. One night she went thru her jewelry piece by piece and listed who she wanted to have what. This is the ring she left to me. I wear it on special occasions so I can take her with me. I love the big pearl. Its so pretty and funky.

The lace chipboard circle is handmade. I used a piece of an old lace shirt to cover the circle. The rest of the lace is vintage from The Embellishment Studio (as are the buttons)

The old couple in the theater

The other night we went to see the movie Juno. It was completely adorable and heart warming. I loved it. It was witty, funny and full of charm. My husband claims is a chick flick disguised as a comedy. I think it was nice to see a smart comedy.

I did however go see it at the 7:30 show. Since the schedule I work makes me somewhat nocturnal I rarely go to a show at that time.

The theater was filled with children. Popcorn throwing, joking, commentating, loud talking children. (or me 15 years ago) They made me laugh harder. Except for one part. The part that made me realize I was now old to them.

At one part in the movie Jason Bateman kisses a girl. When this happens every little girl in the theater screams ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww. (and someone even yelled "he's old")

Um... hello?? Jason Bateman is seriously CUTE! How do they not see that? Okay he isnt exactly at his hottest in this movie but he is a kissable guy people. and he is MY husbands age. He is so NOT old! Im still not used to him being the dad in Arrested developement (which I really miss)

Im so excited to have today off to play. Queen Kat designs sent us gals at Caardvarks the CUTEST stamps to use for next months Lovefest. I cant wait to ink them all up.

Here are a few layouts I made for challenges over at tallyscrapper.

Challenge Time!

I love a good scrappy Sunday. Today I got to scrap and watch football. My favorite kinda Sunday. Unfortunately I was rooting for Green Bay & San Diego (a whales vagi...)

I wandered over to ScrapMojo and played along to their newest challenge. I trash dig alot so this was a fun challenge for me. I used some old 50/50 tickets (shoved in my purse instead of thrown when I lost) A tulle circle (which was around a baby shower favor) and those cute little Yes/Maybe tabs from Lucky Magazine.

The darling little crown stamp is from Queen Kat designs.

The photo is of my husband pretending he is Gerhard Reinke of the short lived, but oh so funny show Wanderlust. It was a travel show spoof that was on back in 2003. We discovered it on reruns a few years later. We taped most of that (2005) trip with a fake German accent and have several thousand "Ouch" My ANKLE moments.

The next Caardvarks challenge is sponsored by Heart in Hand Scraps. They are generously donating a fabulous prize to the winner of the kick ass BLUE MOON challenge. Here are my cards for the challenge. The last one sucks, but I was trying to be creative... lol

I know a secret....

I know a little secret... and it has nothing to do with this layout about me making pie :) But it does pack a BIG BITE.

In honor of the brand NEW site. More than Scrapbooking is having its first EVER 24 hour crop-a-polozza! The crop starts 5pm (mst) Friday Feb. 1st and runs until 5pm Saturday Feb 2nd.

So come on by and SINK YOUR TEETH into the brand new message board. It has so many cool features including My Studio (a myspace type program for scrappers) The design team is working hard on multiple challenges, games and technique tutorials to keep you inspired long after the crop is done. Plus there are LOTS of prizes.

The owner Lori will kill me if I tell you what the grand prize is, but I will tell you IT'S BIG and IT BITES and with it you'll definately be SET when you get it. ;) **hint hint**

Stop on by and play with us for the crop or stop by a register now and be a part of it from the beginning!

Fun with thickers

I am a thicker addict. Im serious. I just cant get enough and I rarely make anything thickerless. The other day I was playing with some plain white chipboard thickers and I had an idea. I got out my markers and I turned those white thickers into this....




Basically all I did was outline the letters with a black American Crafts slick writer then I scribbled with my bright sharpies. It could be a little neater, but I like things kinda messy. I felt like a genious. Im sure Im not the first person to think of this but I love the way it looks. I know Im gonna wanna do it alot. I guess Id better buy more white thickers.

Here is the layout I created for Allyscraps with the new Junkitz destinations line. Imagine how boring it would look with plain white thickers. Kahunaville is a fun little tiki bar restraunt inside Treasure Island. (more Vegas baby)

As for the wedding, the weather was beautiful and so was the wedding. It was in a gorgeous state park in FL. My brother was so happy and I love his new wife to pieces. It was SO warm. This Ohio gal was thrilled to be swimming at midnight. I'll have layouts to come to show you all about it.

Oh and since Im outlining thickers.... here's a little peek for the Jan 20th Caardvarks challenge.