Take Me Out To The Ball Game

Last was a good night.  

My feet are slightly more sensitive than usual, but mostly back to normal, so we decided to get out of the house and head out to the ball park. 

I am not what anyone would call a huge sports fan.  

And while  I can park myself in front of the TV and totally get into a good football game, frankly, watching baseball on TV is about as enjoyable as watching paint dry.

But there's just something about being there in person, with thousands of other people screaming & clapping & carrying on, that makes it so much fun.  Maybe it's the crowd.  People watching can be pretty entertaining and you certainly get a good variety at a ball game.  I don't know.  Whatever it is, I certainly enjoy myself every time we go. 

Despite the fact that the lines were long (I will NEVER go on $1 Hot Dog Night ever again!) and there were crickets everywhere, we still had a great time.  We always do!

So, in the spirit of the game, I've decided to share last year's layout  of our trip to the ballpark.  

Ok, so maybe this is from our '08 game.  

I haven't printed the pictures from last year's trip yet. 

I'm having them printed today!  I'm only 18 months or so behind.....

Biker Girl

So today, I'm stuck crafting.  I know, torture isn't it? 

But when I say "stuck" I actually mean, well, stuck.  

You see, I have burned the crap out of the bottom of my feet.  While, in and of themselves, they are not horrible painful-Thanks be to Advil, what they are is blistered.  

I have blisters the size of North Dakota on the bottoms of both feet.  

 

Lovely aren't they?

There are additional blisters on the heels of both feet, but it is surprisingly difficult to take a decent picture of the heel of your own foot.  Maybe I need to start doing more yoga.  

So anyway... what all of this means is that I will not be leaving the house for the next day or so.  It's bad enough to have Steve laughing at my limping hobble as I attempt to get to the bathroom & back, I'm certainly not going to subject myself to the laughter of strangers or the stares of small children who will likely think that I'm the shorter, female version of Quasimoto. 

So I get to spend the next couple of days engaged in guilt-free crafting time, only occasionally interrupted by Steve as he brings me water & Doritos and valiantly attempts to contain his laughter.

Here's what I've accomplished so far. 

Supplies: Cardstock & PP: DCWV, Bike Sticker: Jolees, Letters: TLC, Chipboard Flower: Colorbok

And a card for Steve's cousin, who recently had a brand new baby boy.

Cardbase: Unknown, PP & Cardstock: DCWV, Cricut Cartridge: New Arrival, Ribbon: Wrights, Star Button: Dritz

So far, so good.  Maybe I'll "forget" how I did this and burn my feet more often, but only if you promise not to laugh as I hobble to the bathroom.

Won't You Be My Neighbor?

I live in a fairly quiet neighborhood, on an out of the way street.  My neighbors all go to work, walk their dogs, play with their kids and do all of the normal stuff.   There isn't any crime (that I'm aware of), loud parties or excessive traffic.  But for some reason, despite how very close together our houses all are, Steve & I just don't know our neighbors very well.  Oh, there's a few that we make small talk with, and few more that we recognize and wave to as we walk by them during an evening stroll, but that's about the extent of our relationship.  I'm not really sure why this is.  

I suspect that I might be the resident Bad Guy.  

You see, for 2 1/2 years before Steve moved in, I ran an in-home daycare.  

I had as many as 8 children in and out of my front door from 7am to 6pm, Monday through Friday.  

And if that wasn't enough 2 of my daycare children (twin sisters to be exact) were Screamers. 

I saw you just shudder as you read the words.  I know you know what I'm talking about.

They screamed from the car to the door.  They screamed through snack, they screamed every second we were outside to play, they screamed at lunch time, they screamed during diaper changes, and they screamed from the door to the car.  And when the houses are only 16ft apart, the screaming carries.... 

No wonder my neighbors aren't speaking to me.

   

Despite the fact that the daycare has been closed for almost a year now, I don't really think that my neighbors have forgiven me yet.  

Can't really say as I blame them.

Anyway, the point is (YES! I do have a point!) that I just don't know most of my neighbors names, so to facilitate conversation between Steve & I, we have given the majority of our neighbors nicknames.  

(IE: "Did you see that Sisters got another dog?  I hope this one doesn't bark all the time like the other 2 do!"  or "Did you see the new fence that Construction Guy put up?")   

Most of them are goofy and wouldn't mean anything to anyone but us, but they make me laugh so I decided to make a layout of it.

Supplies:  Cardstock & PP: DCWV, Car Buttons: Favorite Findings, Heart Sticker: Sandylion Essentials, Brads: JoAnn Craft Essentials, Cricut Cartridges: Sesame Street Font, Lyrical Letters

First, let me say that, sadly, yes.  Our houses really are that close together.  

And yes, I did blur the nicknames of most of our neighbors  to protect their identities.  (I'm still tryin' to kiss up & make good with them remember.)

I also wanted to point out that those cute little house shapes-- 

take a minute, scroll back up & look at them.  I'll wait...

..........

............

.............

They're cute aren't they?  

They're on Lyrical Letters! 

I know!

I wouldn't have thought so either!  It's certainly NOT the first cartridge I would have look at in search of a house shape.  Not even in the top 10.

But I stumbled across the house while using Lyrical Letters for another project and thought it would be perfect for this layout.  Just goes to show how much there really is on a given cartridge.  I bought this one months ago for fonts and fonts only, really.  Today I discovered that there's a bunch of cute little shapes on it that would be great all on their own.  

(NOTE: The house- and most of the other cute images- is meant to be part of a larger phrase.  If you plan to use them on their own, without the phrase, make sure you chose the Real Dial Size feature to get accurate sizing)

 I really need to spend more time exploring some of my cartridges.  You just never know what you're going to find! 

So, do you want to be my neighbor??

Wishlist

Mom had her birthday a couple of days ago.  That can only mean one thing.  

MY birthday is only a few days away!! 

Now, I've already received all of my birthday gifts for this year and, believe me, I'm much more spoiled than I deserve to be.  But an upcoming birthday does get a girl to thinkin' about all the fun stuff that she really doesn't need, but really really really wants.

So I've put together  a little crafty wish-list for anyone who might still be debating sending me something for my birthday.

1)First and foremost-- Have you seen this???

image snagged from Theresa Collins Blog

Theresa Collins had come out with a stamp maker.  From what I understand, it's going to be released at CHA in Chicago this month.  But is this seriously not the coolest thing ever??  Make your own polymer stamps, from any image that you can print onto the transparency.  From what I've seen, it's going to retail around $169.99 with the polymer refills running about $1each.  (Don't quote me on that one.  I have no insider information, just what I've read online)

I CANNOT CANNOT wait to get my hands on one of these. 

2)An Epic Letter Press

image snagged from Lifestyle Crafts

This was a new release at CHA in January and I really want one.  I love the look and the texture that they create.  I've been doing way more card making lately and would soo love to add this to my arsenal of toys.   I know that my local Hobby Lobby carries them and every time I drive by the store, I can hear it calling my name, reminding me what good friends we will be....

3) A Cuttlebug

Image snagged from www.hsn.com

If I'm going to get a Letter Press, then I'm going to have to finally cave in to technology and get some sort of  crank-operated die cutting system.  

  

I've resisted for sooo long, insisted instead on stubbornly using my old-school red Sizzix machine.  You remember those don't you?  They came out about a million years ago and you pull down on the metal arm to make it work.  Yeah, I'm still using it.  But I'm a Cricut Girl now. Anything that I die-cut gets done using 1 of my 2 Cricuts and 1 of the 86 cartridges that I've purchased.  (Yeah, you read that right, 2 machines, 2 jukeboxes, 2 sets of software and 86 cartridges.  But that's a whole different post.) I rarely use my old Sizzix dies and really only use the machine with my Cuttlebug embossing folders.  Alas, the Letterpress is too wide for the old Sizzix.  Ah well, guess it's time to give in. I chose the Cuttlebug because, when not in use, it has the smallest footprint.  My room is so crowded with stuff that I need something that takes up as little space as possible, if I have to have one.   

I console myself by insisting that I will only accept a pretty PINK one.   

4) Nellie Snellen Punches

image snagged from 7kidscollegefund 

I know what you're thinking.  

Really Jenne?  Like you need any more punches?  Are you kidding us?  Really?  

But these are too cool.  They are the most Prima-like looking punches I've seen yet.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my Primas and will never ever stop buying them.  But sometimes I just don't have quite the right color, or I don't have enough of the right color, or whatever.  I would love to have some sort of option for the occasions that this happens and I think these would totally take care of it!

5) Mega Mounts

image snagged from Impression Obsession

How cool is that? A HUGE 6x6 stamp mount for those big background stamps.  I tried these out at a make & take done at the Stamp, Scrap Art Tour in Mesquite TX this past January and they super easy to use.  They're a little pricey (which is why I didn't buy one at the time) but they're sooo easy to use and you get such a good impression with them, that I think it would be worth the cost for one.   

Ok, my birthday is on the 21st and I'd be happy to make my mailing address available for anyone who would like to send me one of these things as a birthday gift!  

LOLOL

Well, it was worth a shot.  

But hey, there's always Christmas right?

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Happy Birthday to you.  Happy birthday to you.  Happy Birthday dear Mom, Happy Birthday to you!

I found my inspiration for Mom's card here in

 

Go to Sketches

If you're any kind of a card maker, there's TONS of cute ideas to be found here.  I guarantee you'll be seeing more projects inspired by this one!

Hope you all have a great day and don't for get to eat lots of cake & ice cream!

Duck, Duck..... umm, Duck

Have you ever been out shopping and seen just the perfect thing for your home?  I mean, the perfect thing.  Cute, fun, totally your style kinda perfect?  But for whatever reason, you didn't buy it at the time.  It was too expensive or too big for your car or you just KNEW that you had a 50% off coupon at home somewhere.  

Yeah, I do that stupid crap too. 

Today's project is the result of such foolishness.  

We saw the duck poster.  We looked at the duck poster.  We talked about the duck poster.  The decision was made that the duck poster would be simply Perfect for our upstairs bathroom.  But for no logical reason that I can think of, we did not buy the duck poster.  And now, of course, the duck poster is nowhere to be found.  

Well, to heck with you, big-box-chain-store-that-teases-me-with-perfect-household-good-then-stops-carrying-them-before-I-have-a-chance-to-buy-them.  Who needs you??

I'll make my own damn ducks!

I started with fun papers & a Cricut Cartridge with the right image on it.

And this is the result!  I think they turned out waaay cuter than that dumb ole poster!

Love Song

Good morning fellow scrappers!  Tomorrow, on July 3, it will have been 3 years since Steve & I started seeing each other.  I never imagined when we went on that first date that 3 years later we would not only still be together, but living together & planning a future.  Guess that just proves that sometimes life turns out better when we don't try to plan things.  

In keeping with the spirit of my lovey-dovey mood, I decided to share an mini-album that I made.  

Inside the tin without the album.

Tin with album inside.

Front of album

Back of album.

Supplies used:  Tin: JoAnn Crafts, Patterned Paper: Love Elsie, DCWV, Ribbon: KI Memories, Fun Fur, Flowers: Prima, Brads: JoAnn Craft Essentials, Retail, Inc., Metal Emblies: Making Memories, JoAnn Craft Essentials, Bind It All, Mod Podge, Cricut Cartridge: Zoobaloo, Accent Essentials

The tin for this album is a zip-up metal CD case that I bought on clearance at JoAnn for $.50. (Of course, I didn't buy 1, I bought every one that I could get my hands on!  I'll use them all eventually!)  I used Mod Podge to attach the papers & seal the whole thing up.  Just make sure, if you plan on making something like this, that you attach an 3-D embellishments (like flowers) BEFORE you put your first coat of Mod Podge on, then carefully apply Mod Podge around them.   In my experience, once Mod Podge is there & dried, nothing sticks to it, not even glue dots.  

I used a craft knife to cut the plastic CD pages out, then attached one sleeve to the inside back cover of the tin, thinking that once the album was filled, one could burn a CD of the couple's favorite love songs to keep with it.   

You know, it's been a while since I actually put this little album together and I had forgotten how much fun I had making it.  Next week, when I'm back to being unemployed (Good Gravy I just can't wait!!) I think I'll make something like this for us, to commemorate our unexpected, by thoroughly happy 3 years.