Countdown to Christmas

Only nine more shopping days 'til Christmas.

I haven’t been getting much done lately. Now that the craft show season is over I have to finish getting ready for Christmas. I have done a little bit of my shopping and hope to finish getting the stuff I need to buy this weekend. I still have some items that I want to make for gifts. I’m getting together with a group of stamping buddies this weekend to make some more calendars. They are fun and make good gifts. I’ll post pictures next week. We’ll probably get more gabbing done than calendars but it will be fun any way.

Early next week will be busy at work. We have a faculty candidate coming in and I will be in charge of getting him where he needs to go for a couple of days. It will make for busy days. I’ll be glad when it is over.

Why is it that this time of year causes so much stress?

I did get a couple of swap cards done and mailed.

Puppy Pictures!!!!!

You can see pictures of our Thanksgiving Day dog walk here.

A great time was had by all.

Sponges and Bubble Wrap

After years of buying catnip mice and other miscellaneous cat toys I have discovered that the things that make my four-footed kids the happiest are sponges and bubble wrap.

Mouse, my little grey beast, keeps stealing my stamping sponges. If I forget to put them away after I’m done I will find them in various spots all over the house. I don't get her fascination with these items as they just don't seem that entertaining to me. She also has a fixation with rubber bands and has been known to open drawers to get to them. I do my best to keep the rubber bands locked up tight so she won’t eat them. I think she gets a little PO'd at me for this. When I need rubber bands I put them on my wrist for safe keeping so I don't forget and leave them out where Mouse can get to them. Once in a while I’ll forget I have one on and when I least expect it the little grey beast will attack. She’s pretty darn quick. I’ve had to wrestle the little munchkin once or twice to get her to let go (picture a cat attached to a rubber band and hanging from my wrist).

Pima, my striped beast, has a thing for plastic bags and bubble wrap. Bubble wrap being the preferred item to carry around the house while making her “here I come with my baby” howl, which is usually after bed time when its nice and dark and I’m about to fall asleep. I have, on several occasions, awoke to a piece of bubble wrap or a small plastic bag on the floor near my bed. She doesn’t chew or eat these she just carries them around during her nightly prowls. She has other toys she will move about the house too. These are tiny dog toys that are big enough to not end up under the furniture and small enough to be carried and tossed around. The little hedgehog is my favorite. One morning I woke up to a pile of these animals and a plastic bag next to my bed. She had a busy night.

They are such creative girls. Now if I could only teach them to dust or something.

Tuesday Humor

The Procrastinator's Creed:

1. I believe that if anything is worth doing, it would have been done already.

2. I shall never move quickly, except to avoid more work or find excuses.

3. I will never rush into a job without a lifetime of consideration.

4. I shall meet all of my deadlines directly in proportion to the amount of bodily injury I could expect to receive from missing them.

5. I firmly believe that tomorrow holds the possibility for new technologies, astounding discoveries, and a reprieve from my obligations.

6. I truly believe that all deadlines are unreasonable regardless of the amount of time given.

7. I shall never forget that the probability of a miracle, though infinitesmally small, is not exactly zero.

8. If at first I don't succeed, there is always next year.

9. I shall always decide not to decide, unless of course I decide to change my mind.

10. I shall always begin, start, initiate, take the first step, and/or write the first word, when I get around to it.

11. I obey the law of inverse excuses which demands that the greater the task to be done, the more insignificant the work that must be done prior to beginning the greater task.

12. I know that the work cycle is not plan/start/finish, but is wait/plan/plan.

13. I will never put off until tomorrow, what I can forget about forever.

14. I will become a member of the ancient Order of Two-Headed Turtles (the Procrastinator's Society) if they ever get it organized.

Happy Thanksgiving

This card is a replacement card for the November COTM. The one I originally sent was returned in pieces yesterday (no wonder I hadn’t had a message that it arrived). Apparently the machine at the post office got hungry. At least my return address was legible so it could be returned and I know to send out another one. I’m amazed this doesn’t happen more often.

This is the front side of my pages for the 2007 Collage Calendar. My brain has trouble with collage. It seems to want everything to be symmetrical and not too cluttered. I’m working on it. It’s kind of like the class I took where we had to do free motion quilting by machine. The instructor kept telling me to loosen up. It was really a struggle for me but when I got it I liked the results. I need to LOOSEN up with collage.

The back side of the page isn’t quite done yet. Life got in the way recently and I haven’t finished putting the pieces all together. It is my goal for this evening.

We’re getting together with friends for a nice dog walk tomorrow morning before starting the Thanksgiving ritual. The weather should be nice and the dogs will LOVE it. It is always to fun to see them all together.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Quote for the day

One only needs two tools in life:

WD-40 to make things go and duct tape to make them stop.-

-G.M. Weilacher

Star and Bell

I've been taking some online classes at Joggles. This one is taught by Carol Murphy. Here are my first attempts. They definitely need some work.

Quick Cards

I had three goals this weekend:

1. Get something done!
2. Use some of my pretty paper.
3. Use some stamp sets I haven't used much.

I've been having a creative block so I went back to cards I'd made before and to Splitcoast Stampers for some inspiration. I tend to get overloaded with ideas when I do this so I quickly picked a couple of cards I liked and stopped looking. Here is what I came up with.

These are CASED from Craftygirl04 on Splitcoast.

I got to blow some dust off of my Bernina for these.

These are cased from Laurakj at Splitcoast.

A quick upload today of some cards I made for the Winter Card Swap.

This one is made in honor of our wonderful swap hostess Lorian. She loves dogs too.

Closed

Open

This one is a new pull out card that I learned from Susie my Demo extraordinaire.

I hope to get some serious creating done next week as I’m taking a few days for R&R. I have some new ideas flying around in my brain that need to get out. I can’t put too many more in there until I get rid of some. There's just not enough room for everything I need to keep in the noggen. As I get older there seems to be less space.

Five Random Things About Me

I saw this on another blog and thought it might be a good way to introduce myself a little.

1. I like animals. I have two rescued cats, Pima and Mouse. They are my kids. I love them but I wish I could teach them to dust or something.

I love big dogs! Two very special big dogs are Daphne and Daisy. They live with my parents but I consider them mine too. I’m the #1 dog sitter. You can see pictures of them as well as some of their friends and relatives here.

I’m learning to appreciate all breeds, shapes and sizes of dogs through volunteering at the local animal shelter. I walk dogs on as many Saturdays as I can and help as other various events throughout the year. I used to do rescue transports and home visits for rescue groups.

2. I’m not a morning person. I’m getting better as I get older. I don’t wake up easily especially in the winter. I’m not the kind of person who can just jump out of bed and be raring to go. It takes time to get moving. It is best not to be too cheery around me until I’ve been up for a little while.

3. I am not very artistic (my brother got that gene). I dabble in different things: stamping, bead jewelry, quilting, etc… I enjoy trying different techniques and projects. Participating in swaps has really forced me outside my box and to try different things. I’m also my own worst critic.

4. I cry at the drop of a hat. It gets really bad when they start airing the sappy Hallmark commercials around Christmas.

5. I watch too much TV. I’m trying to back off some and have been successful in cutting back to only watching on 4 nights a week. I’m slightly addicted to Grey’s Anatomy, more for the McScenery than anything else! My closet favorite is Men in Trees (don’t tell).

Quote for the day

Let each man exercise the art he knows.

Aristophanes, Wasps, 422 B.C.Greek

Athenian comic dramatist (450 BC - 388 BC)

Getting Things Done

The jewelry show went well and some of my stress has been relieved. I was able to spend all day stamping with friends at a “Stamp Till You Cramp” workshop done by my Stampin’ Up demonstrator. Susie does a great job and is very creative. I always learn something and we made some really great cards. I came home and used several of the ideas for the winter card swap.

We have another jewelry show this weekend so I’ll be spending the week making jewelry and then I’ll be able to work on the other projects on my list.

I did get the Trash to Treasure: Junk Mail swap done and in the mail. Here is the card I made using an envelope and words from a credit card solicitation. I’m glad I was able to put it to use rather than shredding it for the landfill.

What have I been doing with all my time and why don't I have anything to show for it?

It has been a while since I posted any artwork. Not that I haven’t been making any just that I don’t get it posted. I’ve been busy making cards, ATCs, chunky book pages and calendar pages for swaps. Sometimes it feels like I never have anything to show for all the work because I mail everything off. Realistically I know I have a lot to show for it because I get great stuff in return. One of these days I just need to take some time to make things for myself so I can put it on my walls or in my books and say that “I MADE THAT”. I try to scan everything I make but it isn’t the same as having something tangible to hold in your hand.

I have done three swaps lately that include getting my own contributions back. I sent in pages for two chunky books and a collaborative calendar. I’m beginning to like these kinds of swaps more and more because it is a group effort and all of the contributors get to see what everyone else made.

Maybe if I make a list of things I’ve done lately I’ll feel like I’ve accomplished something. So here it goes:

CC SWAPS
Bathing Beauties Chunky Book pages (35 pages) - FINISHED
Alphabet D card (1 for 1) -FINISHED
Trash to Treasure Desk Drawer card (1 for 1) - FINISHED
Anything But Rubber card (1 for 1) - FINISHED
Latest Purchase card (1 for 1) - FINISHED
Alphabet E card (1 for 1) - FINISHED
White Chunky Book pages (36 pages) - FINISHED

MIDWEST STAMPERS
2007 Calendar – September (12 pages) - FINISHED
“Your Choice” Scary Creatures card swap (6 for 6, not identical) - FINISHED
Autumn Card Swap (6 for 5, not identical) - FINISHED
Autumn Trading Card Swap (7 for 7, not identical) - FINISHED
Card of the Month for August, September and October (1 for 1) - FINISHED


Here is what I’m looking forward to for the rest of October and for November

CC SWAPS Pending Swaps (updated 11-19-06)
Trash to Treasure Junk Mail card (1 for 1) - FINISHED
Fabric Swap card (1 for 1) - FINISHED
Alphabet F card (1 for 1) - FINISHED
2007 Collaborative Collage Calendar (14 pages) - FINISHED
Alphabet G card (1 for 1) - FINISHED
Stitches card (1 for 1) - FINISHED

MIDWEST STAMPERS Pending Swaps (updated 11-19-06)
Winter Cards (6 for 5, not identical) - FINISHED
Card of the Month for November - FINISHED

Mom and I also have three jewelry shows coming up. It’s a good thing I have her because I’ve been sick for the last 2 ½ weeks and haven’t had any energy or a creative inkling. It is just too hard to cough up a lung and create at the same time. I have made a few pieces of jewelry and hopefully will be updating the web site soon. Mom has been very creative and making wonderful jewelry for the shows. She and dad have also been providing TLC and meals when for there needy, sick daughter. I don't know what I would do without them.

So it is time to get off my soap box and get creative!!! If only I didn't have to have a day job...

Altered CD

My first attempt at an altered CD. I used torn paper for the background which I learned from Try It Tuesday.

Altered Canvas

On Creative Cards and CC Swaps (Yahoo Groups) our list mom Trish presented us with a challenge to alter canvases. I've always wanted to do this but have been a little reluctant to dive in. I finally decided there was no time like the present. So here are my canvases after Step 1.

I was a little timid with this first one.


When I started working on this one I was thinking about trees.

This one is for a sky. I made it for a project I've had in my head for a while.

Tune in to see how they turn out in Step 2.

Another Rainy Day in Iowa

I've been taking advantage of the rain and have been working on a couple of projects.

Here are my latest ATCs.

Quirky Quips

My most recent project is a swap I'm doing for the Yahoo Group CCSwaps. It is a 4x4 chunky book titled "Quirky Quips". This is the first chunky book page I've done. Here is my page (think Wizard of Oz):


I can't wait to see the finished book.