I have a card party coming up!

Happy Labor Day! I hope you've had a nice and relaxing day. We've had a good day with family. We made slaw burgers, home-baked beans, and homemade custard ice cream. It was all so yummy! I'll post the recipe below.

I will be hosting a Bring-a-Friend Stampin' Night at my house on Thursday, September 17. I've altered the format a bit. Rather than making 12 cards (2 each of 6 designs), we will make 6 cards (2 each of 3 designs). This will allow us to get off work, stamp a few fun cards, and get home early enough to relax! The cost is $9. If you place a $20 order, your class is free. If you can't place an order or don't need anything right now, just make sure you come for the class! Your friends will love getting your creations in the mail! Call me or e-mail me to RSVP.

Vanilla Custard (I quadruple this recipe to fill a 5 qt ice cream maker)

3 large egg yolks, slightly beaten (12 large egg yolks, slightly beaten)
1/2 cup sugar (2 cups sugar)
1 cup milk (4 cups milk)
1/4 teaspoon salt (4 teaspoons salt)
2 cups heavy whipping cream (8 cups heavy whipping cream)
1 tablespoon vanilla (1/4 cup vanilla)

Mix egg yolks, sugar, milk, whipping cream, and salt. Heat VERY slowly (this took me over an hour to do) until it is almost boiling stirring constantly. Do NOT boil! The mixture will become very thick and will begin to coat your spoon. Pour into a chilled bowl and refrigerate 2-3 hours until the mixture is at room temperature. Stir occasionally. Stir in vanilla. Pour into ice cream freezer and freeze according to manufacturer's directions.

Enjoy!

School and Scrapping Updates

Wow. I've been absolutely swamped during the past month! I defended my proposal on August 12 and it passed! Woo hoo!!! I'm so excited. Now on to all the other things that will lead to the next step. :/

School started back almost immediately after my defense. Actually, I went to work the day after. School is hectic, but I think we are starting to get into a groove. I have a lot to do. I'm adjuncting at TJC (did I mention that?) and it's very busy trying to keep up with my school and my work, and that too.

On the other hand, I scrapbooked last week. I was actually a hostess on SCS for the August 09 VSBN. I completed my page as well as a few others. It was so much fun. I remjmbered why I love doing it so much.

I've never hosted a VSBN before and I've really had a good time preparing for it. It was so hard to come up with a sample because I rely on all of you so much to cheat!

I used (more than!) three of my favorite things:
* a sketch (I used Pencil Lines #126 for this and made a coordinating facing page)
* metal (brads, in this case)
* ribbon
* Pretties kit
* chipboard
The technique I don't use enough is heat embossing. I love it but just don't do it as often as I should!

I sponge-dyed the pretties flower with crushed curry and then sponged the tips with melon mambo for dimension and gradation.

Stamps: baroque motifs, circle circus

Paper: whisper white, razzleberry lemonade dsp

Ink: versamark, rich razzleberry, melon mambo, crushed curry, soft suede

Accessories: crushed curry polka dot ribbon, melon mambo polka dot ribbon, flower designer brads, another SU designer brad that wasn't in the correct container so I don't remember which it is offhand!, embossing powder,on board batch of blooms chipboard

Techniques: sanding, heat embossing, sponging

This page is for Jennifer's challenge in the August 09 VSBN. My name acrostic is:
H - hectic
E - encouraging
A - attitude
T - thankful
H - honest
E - enigma
R - ready to graduate
I got finished and realized that I forgot to do any kissing! Durn. :) Well, other than the first picture. Let's agree there is no STAMP kissing!

Paper: kraft, bermuda bay, soft suede, textured white, Tiding/Winterming, Fruitcake, Basic Grey

Ink: bermuda bay, soft suede

Accessories: pretties kit, big shot, serif essentials, assorted buttons

These pages are for the August 2009 VSBM. I used the Pencil Lines sketch 150. There is a flower on the right page that is a little hard to see. I made it with the You make Me Happy set and used "you make the world special just by being in it" as the stem. The journaling says: Two baby brothers. Pesky, Always in my business. Warts. "Dogging" me. Successful. Honorable. I wouldn't trade them for the world!

Stamps: jumble alphabet, you make me happy

Paper: bashful blue, whisper white, to the nines specialty designer paper

Ink: close to cocoa, bashful blue

Accessories: dimensionals, two way glue pen, dazzling diamonds

These pages are for the August 2009 VSBN, "Color My World". I used one of my favorite colors, ruby red, and some paper I've been hoarding for too long.

I've recently began a love affair with taking photos of nature. I think there are so many beautiful things around us that I take for granted too often. You are going to think I'm weird, but I even like dead trees - I think they are full of grace and character.

So I pulled out my nature photos and combined them with all the beautiful colors I could pull in. The layout for the left page is sketch #14 from Pencil Lines. The right page is a fairly generic layout I've used before with some tying elements to the sketch.

There are two hidden journaling tabs on the left and one on the right. Each journaling tab is secured with a rhinestone brad. From left to right they read:

(with a hidden photo I couldn't fit on the page!) I have recently become enamored with taking nature photos. I love the colors and amazing intricacies found in nature, clean and unblemished, pure and holy.

I think this is a fabulous picture. Eva Grace and I were at the Children's Park in Tyler. The photo was not staged, but it is reminiscent of Picasso's Hand with Flowers.

The final journaling tab is a Stampabilities stamp with the Bible verse: "For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised. Psalm 96:4"

Stamps: Stampabilities, Psalm 96:4

Paper: ruby red, very vanilla, so saffron, bashful blue, mellow moss, MME tan/red stripes, wild asparagus maroon floral

Ink: mellow moss, bashful blue, soft suede

Accessories: pretties kit, so saffron grosgrain ribbon, bazzill flowers

Techniques: hidden journaling

Getting stressed

I am getting more and more stressed. I am scheduled to defend my dissertation prospectus/proposal on Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. A few days ago I thought, Well, I either know it or I don't. I've done a million presentations and this one is no different. But it is. Now I don't know if my powerpoint outline is too much or too little. Did I even put the right points in it? What should I expect?

My mother thinks I should drive down today and spend the night so I can work and rest and relax beforehand. I probably don't need to spend the extra money but the getting away doesn't sound so bad. Especially as stressed as I am now. I don't need to be ugly and I'm afraid I going to get that way later today.

As for post 10 a.m. tomorrow - I plan to reward myself. Some may choose to engage in illegal activity or to get drunk. I plan to hit the scrapbook room and play for quite a few hours. It will be nice to get a few pages done and lose myself in creative ventures rather than technical. After all, I have pictures of an event I'd love to get recorded from last weekend.

Almost done!

I spent around seven hours in the scrapbook room yesterday. It is almost done. I sent Roy to buy a shelf system for above the paper storage. I thought it sounded like a good idea in my mind, but when he started installing the shelves, I realized that it wasn't going to suit my needs. So I had him return the shelves and buy plexiglass. He had it custom cut and created a solid shelf on top of my paper racks. It now holds my two SU ink racks. I also have space between them for some storage cubicles when I get everything finished up. It's looking good! I'll be posting a picture as soon as I get it all finished.

Another day, a little more progress

I took yesterday off because it was my birthday. I'm 36 now. Just another day. Roy took me to Kiepersol last night and we had a good time. The last time we went I really didn't think it tasted very good. Last night it was sublime. I saw that they are going to do a Shakespeare in the Vineyard at the end of the month. I bought tickets for us today. I can't wait to go. It will be lots of fun.

I spent another four hours down in the scrapbook room today. I threw away a bunch of stuff - probably 4 or 5 boxes - that wasn't worth keeping. I also gave away another 3 or 4 boxes to someone who will put it to good use. I rearranged the room and am down to the point where I just need to put away things and organize more. I've outgrown my wall of stamps and need to start using another shelving unit. I hope to get a lot accomplished tomorrow. I'd really like to scrap soon. I hope to have a new piece of art posted on here soon. Check out the scrapbooking challenges on SCS. There are some amazing artists that donate a lot of time and talent. That's where I'll get my inspiration for the next pages.

Some Progress

I feel like I made some good progress. I spent almost 3 hours in my scrapbook room cleaning, reorganizing, and generally getting things back into shape. I hope to be able to scrapbook within the next couple of weeks. I really miss it!

On the other hand, I got quite a bit done this morning. I have gotten into the routine of going to The Diner to write since they have free internet and they let me sit and write without bothering me. Unfortunately, this morning the internet was very sketchy. Sometimes it wouldn't work and when it did, it was almost as if it were on dial-up. Veeerrrrryyyyyy slow. I ended up leaving earlier than I had expected. I hope I can make up some time later tonight.

Five Months

Spring is HORRIBLE for me. I guess I'm just going to have to come to terms with that. I know that next spring will not be any better since I will be finishing my dissertation and hope to defend by mid-late March.

I haven't scrapped at all since early February, probably the first week or so. I'm looking forward to clearing out the scrapbook room and cleaning things up. I'm wanting to have things set so that I can sit and scrap to relax. In theory I will be able sit and scrap a little at a time - even if it's only 15-20 minutes at a time.

Here's to another whirl.

Sneak Peek Before the Real Post

I went to dinner with an imaginary friend last week. I had the best time. We ate at El Charro's, the best (I think) Tex-Mex restaurant in town. Afterwards we went to Andy's Frozen Custards. I tried to pick things that were uniquely Tyler. More deets later.

No crafting today

I'm not crafting tonight. I'm having a Pampered Chef party. My mother and I joined a PC club last year. We committed to spend $23 a month for 8 months and got one month of benefits. I had my club meeting in November. My mother's night to be hostess is tonight. The theme for tonight is Valentine's chocolate. I'm going to get the cookware tonight! I'm really excited.

I'm getting excited about Thursday. Lela (from SCS) is on a business trip in Dallas this week. We are getting together on Thursday night. I don't know if I'll cook or if we'll eat out, but I can't wait to get together later this week!

The last two VSBN challeges

Here are my last two VSBN challenges for this round. The second one was just done today.

Je t'aime

This challenge was to scrapbook the loves of your life. I made a page about Roy, my husband. There was extra credit to include a French theme. I've tried to get to this layout for two days now and it's finally on paper. This is my submission for JAN09VSBNI. I used a very old sketch - SBSC39 - as my starting point though I did make a few changes. There's not a lot of stamping, but I adore the Urban Garden paper and wanted to keep the overall feel masculine. I also wanted to do a lot more journaling on the page than I am used to doing. I did throw in my only French set - Carte Postale. I included the Mon Amie stamp (My Friend). I had planned to use some of the other stamps as elements on the page. I just ended up liking the simplicity of the page too much to add those. I really like the journaling. Rereading it made me cry. I think it's good because it made my mother cry too. It's very sweet.

me

This challege was the most difficult for me. I never scrap myself. I included almost every picture I have of me in the past three years. I'm always snapping the pictures and don't get in them often. This is the last VSBN challenge I'll be able to get in under the deadline. I hadn't had time to work on it all week long and finally made time today. I used the Pencil Lines sketch 119. I also tried a new technique to me - sanding photos. I'm really happy with how it turned out. I'm also finding that I'm going to my distressing tools and sewing machines more often.

Two More VSBN challenges

Girl Time - One of my favorite things

This challenge was to scrap your favorite things using your favorite things. JAN09VSBNG submission. This was a hard one for me! I couldn't find pictures that fit want I wanted. I used one of the Got Sketches? that I loved but never got a chance to use. It was also a starting point for the JAN09VSBNF challenge. Journaling says: Eliza. Eva Grace. Girl time. Scrapbook sketches. Ribbon. Anything metal, especially Hodgepodge. Brads. Sweet girls. A few of my favorite things.

Dream House

Submission for JAN09VSBNH. The challenge was to scrap something new and to stamp on acrylic somewhere in the layout. This is our current house. These are pictures that I took when we looked through the house the last time before making an offer. We did make some changes before moving in but only a few. We had the carpet in the master bath removed and replaced with 18" travertine. We also removed the carpet in the living room, hallway, and formal dining and had a wide dark walnut put in. Everything else - including the paint - stayed the same.

VSBN - spread out

I've not been on in a couple of weeks. I participated in SCS's VSBN last weekend. VSBN is Virtual Scrapbook Night, but it actually lasts three days. There are challenges posted every two hours starting Friday night. There are challenges all day Saturday and much of Sunday. You have two hours to complete the challenges if you are participating in the contests, but you are welcome to complete them at any time in the future. I'm a bit OCD about certain things so I have a ritual I follow. I don't peek ahead (even though I'm done with all the pages I'll submit for the contests) and I have to do them in order, even when I get behind during the challenge weekend.

This round of VSBN I was able to complete seven of the challenges and making fourteen total pages. I'll upload them in a few blog posts so it doesn't take forever!

Acolyte

JAN09VSBND submission using Sally's sketch. I did alter the LO a little and I added the right page. I'm also working on my distressing techniques. The week Eliza was scheduled to be an acolyte for chapel her 4K year, happened to fall on Halloween. That year she wanted to dress up like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. I couldn't find a costume that didn't look cheap and tacky (in my opinion) so I decided I was smart enough to make one, right? I took homemaking in high school (who's counting decades?) and I have several college degrees. That counts for something, right? I'll take a break from the story for those of you having to clean the beverage you spewed laughing at the thought of me sewing. Ok, time's up. I stayed up all night (yeah, I waited until the day before) trying to sew this costume. I laid it out, cut the pattern (I did have the sense to buy a pattern) and tried to piece it together. It never really worked. I'm sure I bought a faulty pattern missing at least twelve pieces. So I stopped, thought about it and started again from a logical point of view. I pieced it together and made a dress that looked really cute (if I may say so myself) on the outside. Just don't peek inside - it was a mess! I was on maternity leave at the time so I was able to go to this chapel. It was still warm enough to use the outdoor chapel in the woods.

I can't live without you

JAN09VSBNE submission. Distressing is one of the things I think I do worst, but I'm trying to improve. I struggled to distress my first VSBN submission and opened up challenge 2 and I was distressed, to say the least! :) I also broke out the sewing machine I just *had* to have several years ago. The only thing I've made on it was the Dorothy costume (see VSBN submission 1). I sewed a border! I was quite proud of myself! I used the Flower Fest set stamped on the reverse and cut out to make the flower shapes

Swordfish

JAN09VSBNF submission. I was going to use the sketch but I decided since I'm running so far behind I would do a "fast" one. I've never bought/used a Simply Scrappin' kit. My upline gave me Creative License a long time ago and I pulled it out for this challenge. It really went well with what I had in mind. Eliza wrote her first research paper this year. The students had to choose an animal they didn't know much about. What did my child choose? A swordfish! Do you know how many books are written about swordfish? Ones appropriate for a child's research paper? I finally found one and she read it and searched in the internet for more sources. They had to read their sources and write note cards. They wrote a first draft, edited and revised, and wrote a final draft. Finally, they illustrated their research.

I used: S(tamping) - title only. C(hipboard) - I flaked on this one. R(ibbon) - who can scrap without ribbon?! A(lphas) - title in Headline Alphabet. P(atterned paper) - contents of Creative License Simply Scrappin' kit. B(uttons) - under the ribbon. O(numbers) - stickers from SS kit. O(circles) - part of the patterned paper. K(udos) - woo hoo! my first SS kit attempt!

Inspiration Challenge and Copying Gina

I found a challenge on SCS the other day that I really wanted to try. It involved creating a button border of some kind. You got extra credit for using hand stitching and using one of Sally's sketches. I love the look of stitching on pages, but I've never been brave enough to try to do it. I also combined it with a challenge to scraplift Gina (Mousey'sMom). I didn't scraplift one of her pages, but I tried to emulate her beautiful distressing.

I was exhausted! I really liked the grid look in the sketch and I didn't have grid patterned paper, so I made my own using whisper white cardstock, the tempting turquoise stampin' marker, and the lines on my stamping grid paper. I hand stitched a dark turquoise circle in the pink circle (the free form next to the button ring) using some embroidery thread. I really enjoyed it and think it looks nice! I really admire Gina's work, however, I'm a *terrible* distresser! I've talked to her this week about "how to" and I decided to give it a whirl. I already had my pictures cropped and matted, my colors picked, and the layout of my dps. I did all of that Monday night. Wednesday night I spent almost 2 1/2 hours distressing, inking, and getting it to look right! I even embraced the tear. :) Whew! Hats off to you, Gina!

Turning Four


Stamps: best friends upper alphabet
Paper: gable green, pretty in pink, dots and dashes dsp, tempting turquoise
Ink: close to cocoa, tempting turquoise
Accessories: SU distressing tool, simon upper chipboard, assorted buttons, dimensionals, pink passion stampin' marker, tempting turquoise stampin' marker, crystal effects, sponges, embroidery thread
Techniques: distressing, sponging, sewing

Blog Award!

I've never gotten a blog award before! Gina gave me this! Her work is AWESOME and AMAZING! I'm supposed to list 5 addictions and then pass it on to 5 others. So, here goes...

1. my family

2. the internet/SCS

3. my phone

4. current Bible study

5. scrapbooking

And to pass it on...

1. Jennipher

2. Cassie

3. Anavon

4. Tessa

5. Barb

More New Creations

I spent the day working on a few things I've had on the back burner. I joined a Rolodex scripture swap a while back and I've never made my cards. They are due by the end of the month. I finally bought the Rolodex (and thus the cards to make my swaps) last week. Making them was a little easier than I thought it would be. I ended up making my swaps (6+1 for the hostess + 1 for my mother + 1 for me) plus an extra card (one for me, one for my mother, one for the hostess) that wasn't truly a scripture, but I really liked the verse. I also made another card from a new spring catalog hostess set.

God writes the Gospel

I made this card for my own file. I thought it was a beautiful sentiment and could be used as a divider card within my file.
Paper: whisper white

Ink: close to cocoa, old olive, ballet blue, regal rose

Stamps: Friend to Friend, Season of Friendship

Accessories: dimensionals, regal rose grosgrain ribbon

1 Corinthians 13:13

I've always loved this set and could never bear to get rid of it when it retired. I am definitely not a soft (and/or) subtle person, but these colors jumped out at me when I started visualizing this card.

Paper: whisper white, bashful blue, pretty in pink

Inks: bashful blue, certainly celery, pretty in pink, almost amethyst, basic black

Stamps: Peace and Love, So Very

Accessories: tab punch, stamp-a-ma-jig, scallop punch

Rustic Rooster

I fell in love with this guy when I first saw him. I tried not to get him, but I couldn't resist. I don't even particulary care for roosters, but this one is French. Must have been his accent I fell for!

Paper, ruby red, chocolate chip, so saffron, very vanilla

Inks: really rust, chocolate chip (stamped off once)

Stamps: Rustic Rooster

Accessories: 1" circle punch, chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon, pastels, distressing kit

It's a New Catalog!!!

So many things have been happening. First, the new SU catalog is out and I'll post the link tomorrow. I've made several things over the last few days including some using new stuff! Here are the new things in my gallery.

love you lots! page

Paper: whisper white, old olive, pink pirouette, riding hood red, raspberry tart dsp (NEW in the spring catalog)

Ink: kiwi kiss, pink pirouette, riding hood red

Stamps: Doodle That, Best Friends lower alphabet

Accessories: Big Shot, top note die, kiwi/vanilla satin ribbon, dimensionals

Notes: I cut the top not die out of the raspberry tart paper with the intention of cutting it in half and having a different layout. I couldn't bear to throw away that beautiful paper so I used the negative space to create a different block.

Pacific Love You Much

I've seen so many beautiful cards using this stamp set and pacific point/baja breeze. I wanted to create something simple that my customers could make easily and quickly that was not too girly and not too Valentine-y. This is what I came up with.

Paper: pacific point, whisper white, real red

Ink: pacific point, real red, bashful blue, mellow moss

Stamps: Love You Much

Accessories: scallop punch, triple heart punch, real red grosgrain ribbon, stampin' markers, dimensionals, tab punch

Bella Bookmark

I fell in love with these bookmarks last fall and have wanted to use one ever since in a class. I bought the hodgepodge bulk buy just to make these. I finally made it for this month's class.

Paper: whisper white

Ink: riding hood red, old olive

Stamps: Bella Blooms

Accessories: vanilla hodgepodge hardware, vanilla brad, button boquet, linen thread, baja breeze double stitched ribbon, crystal effects

Happy Birthday, Roy

Today is DH's birthday. He won't read this and doesn't even know the web address to get here (and he thinks that blogging is ridiculous and a mark of Generation X), but I want him to have a good day. He only has us and I hope we've made it special.

I have to make boxes/gifts for the school board members. It's Board Appreciation Month and I have to have them by tomorrow night's meeting. By the same meeting, I also have to have a presentation put together over the dyslexia program at the middle school. I'm thinking I'll be able to create the powerpoint tomorrow and get a small booklet put together to give to all the members.

mini-VSBN Challenge 5 - St. Louis Cathedral

I made one final DPS last night before Roy began pouting. :) That means I have challenges 6-8 left to complete by Sunday. I really want to get them all done.

Challenge 5 was to use one of Sally's sketches (always awesome). I made it into a double page spread. This on is not Stampin' Up only because I had these lime green chipboard letters I wanted to use, so I threw in some Paper Studio paper and Primas as well. These were taken last February when I attended SERA in New Orleans. I had been to NO once before, but was only there to board a cruise ship and we didn't even stop. I spent five days there last year (the week after Mardi Gras). It was truly an eye-opening experience.

Paper: real red, only orange, whisper white, Paper Studio "blue with green dots" and "green with white stitches"

Ink: real red, only orange

Stamps: Doodle This

Accessories: wal-mart chipboard letters, Primas, brads, SU bold bright brads

His Holy Name and Scripture Challenges

I just grabbed two blinkies (see my toolbar on the right) for two challenges that I'm going to try really hard to complete this year. You can check them out at SCS. They are the His Holy Name Challenge and a Scripture Challenge. Here is the link to find them. They are meant to be non-stressful and edifying. My kind of challenge since life (and school) is so unpredictable that challenges are sometimes hard for me.

Happy New Year!

We're having a mini-VSBN at SCS today. So far I've completed 3 of the challenges posted. I'll post pictures now and update with details later. Come join us!

January 1, 2009


Stamps: Bella's Bloom, Independence Day, Fall Flair, Merry
Paper: basic gray, confetti white,whisper white, so saffron, baja breeze, kiwi kiss, tangerine tango
Ink: so saffron, baja breeze, tangerine tango, kiwi kiss, basic black
Accessories: kiwi kiss ribbon, baja breeze ribbon, pumpkin pie ribbon, 2-way glue pen, SU microfine cosmo green glitter, journaling computer generated

Holiday Baking




Stamps: big deal alphabet
Paper: holiday treasures dsp, whisper white
Ink: baja breeze
Accessories: aspen ribbon, old olive grosgrain, chocolate chip taffeta, riding hood red taffeta, brad Techniques: sewing

Playing Lincoln Center


Stamps: Elegant Notes, Headline Alphabet
Paper: whisper white, basic black, elegant eggplant
Ink: basic black
Accessories: recycled buttons, scallop punch