A funny thing about bananas...

Did you know that if you leave bananas on your counter long enough they will liquify? Truly.

{{Don't you love it when you log on here and I have a handy dandy public service announcement for you? I mean where else could you get this valuable information...the government??}}

The other day (it's been long enough now I can type about it and even, yes, chuckle about it) as I was tooling around the kitchen fixing the girls breakfast I noticed a plastic spoon on the floor almost under the cabinet, near the fridge. I thought 'I need to pick that up later.' And of course then promptly forgot about it. Later, in the kitchen, I noticed something sticky on my foot. I wiped it off and continued messing around until a few minutes later I noticed sticky again. Well crap this was not random, so now I need to hunt down the source of the mess to clean it up. I found it.

A couple of overly ripe bananas sitting in their plastic bag on the counter had began to liquify and drip out of the bag. It ran down the cabinet and the side of the fridge and landed...wait for it...on the back of the plastic spoon where it splattered in a fine sheen of ewww on the kitchen floor.

Here's the running dialog of my brain during that discovery for your reading pleasure...

uh, more sticky...what the hell...spilled milk probably....where did it come from...have to get on the floor to see...no...no..what the...damn spoon had sticky...hot chocolate?...no....it's on the fridge...it's on the counter...what in the world...bananas...WHAT!?!? OH GROSS!!!!!

See how that worked from the bottom up? Okay so the moral is: If you want ripe bananas for bread, do not put new bananas in front of them to hide them so your pea brain forgets they are there.

In other news...if I overdose on something it turns out it will be these...



Not these...



As previously thought.

Did you miss me?

I just posted ten minutes ago about this stamp set . I told you I would be using it A LOT.

Stacey's Stamping Stage not only got a blog makeover, she's started a new challenge to replace her Jewelry Challenges. The new challenge is titled Curtain Call Color Challenge and here's Act I:

I used CTMH's Moonstruck and Dutch Blue.

I decided to not only use my new fave stamp, but also try to do a square card for the CD envelope idea.

Now looking at it, I don't care for the stamp I used to coordinate on the envelope at all, so I'll probably change that, BUT, you can see how easy it is to incorporate the circle window into the card's design. And I think if I don't want to use a circle I'll just cover the whole front of the envie with a decorated square of cardstock!

Hope you all are having a great day!

Details: all CTMH unless noted

Paper: white daisy cs

Ink: Moonstruck, Dutch Blue

Stamps: You've Got Flair, Adorning Corners

Other: white ribbon (Hobby Lobby), foam squares, CD envelope/sleeve (D's closet)

Here's a story...

of a stamp named You've-Got Fla-air,
and two very different ways to use that stamp,
ba-da ba-da bump.

Now go back and sing that to the Brady Bunch tune. What? It works.

Okay so here's the story. A few months ago when the summer catty came out, I skimmed the Stamps of the Month. {CTMH offers a special limited edition stamp every month that you can get full price or at a discount depending on your purchase.} When I saw the July Stamp of the Month, "You've Got Flair" I thought...um notsomuch.



And here's the reason why... I must warn you, the following picture is not for the faint of heart. Or you know, for anyone with any decorating sense whatsoever.



That. That is what I see everytime I walk into my bathroom. Granted, I am blessed with a large master bathroom. Not that large. I mean it is heinous. It was here when we moved in and we still bought the house. Since the stamp (specifically that one on the top corner) reminded me of the wallpaper, I was not too gung ho. {Is in gun ho or gung ho?} Okay since my mom says it's gung ho, it's probably gun ho. Ha.

Also all the work I saw with this set online had the images colored in different colors. Now I'm not saying I didn't like other people's work. I'm just saying it didn't to anything to dissuade me from the whole wallpaper image thing.

Meanwhile in a town far far away... Really just another compartment of my brain I was wishing and hoping that CTMH would come out with a really cool damask stamp pattern a la Papertrey Ink. And then sha-zam! It hit me...

If I just stamped tone on tone, I could virtually make a damask pattern. It really was like that commercial where the guy with the chocolate bar gets in the the other guy's tub of peanut butter. I had the stamp, Desert Sand ink and Desert Sand cardstock on my desk and BAM! Here's some more of this idea on this month's workshop (an accordian album). I am totally going to be using this stamp all the time now!

I'll post some better pictures of this project when I complete it. It's what I've been working on during Little m's nap for the last few days which is why I haven't been posting any cards.

Disclaimer: If you have that wallpaper or, love someone who does, sorry. Didn't mean to offend. It's just not my taste. {wink}

In all seriousness...

Normally I try to keep things light on here. I mean except for the political posts. And the PMS rants. And the slight hints of MIL drama. You know other than those things.


But I saw a prompt on MamaKat's blog. I check in there occasionally. It was 'Describe what brought you closer to your faith.' I think I might want to write about that now.


I've always been a religious person. When I tell someone I'll keep them in my prayers, I really do pray for them. I pray for my family daily. I believe in God and the afterlife, I believe that every thing happens for a reason. Although rarely do we get to see the reason.


Several years ago, during the time period when D and I were trying to have baby number two, I found a lump in my breast. My grandmother had breast cancer, so I panicked. I mean I thought, I have an 18-month old, and I'm trying to have another, I can't have cancer. I called my OB/GYN's office and spoke to the nurse. She informed me that if I came in, Dr. S would just send me for a mammogram anyway, so I needed to just make an appointment for a mammogram. I did. It was a week away.


I waited. I worried. I prayed.


I went in for the mammogram. It's very surreal to be there as a 32 year old. I mean they don't recommend a baseline mammogram until 40, right? Anyway. The woman was very nice and chatty which helped. I was very worried about being possibly pregnant and having an xray. D went with me of course. We found out nothing that day.



Or the next.


Or the next.


Finally I called my OB's office on a Friday afternoon. I could not go through the weekend not knowing. My nurse looked at the report and called me back. "I'm not supposed to tell you anything until Dr. S looks it over, but everything was fine."


Thank God. I mean all that worry for nothing. We quickly resumed trying for number two.


Monday morning the nurse called back. Now I know why she's not supposed to say anything. She was wrong. The mammogram was too hard to read--all that dense breast tissue HA. It turns out that I need a Scintimammogram. Otherwise known as a nuclear mammogram. Okay. So we're back to square one.


That mammogram was scheduled the next day. D went with me again. I got called back and the nurse said 'does your husband want to stay for the whole time?' I guess I looked really puzzled so she said 'they didn't tell you that it's going to take over two hours?'. No, they didn't. In fact "they" have explained little to nothing about everything thus far.


"Yes," I said. "He'll be staying the entire time."


The radiologist came and injected the nuclear dye/marker/whatthehellever into my veins and I cried. Not because it hurt, but because he was injecting something nuclear into my veins and there was this slight chance that I could be pregnant and, my God, cancer?


Then I had the mammogram. It took several pictures for 10 minutes each on each side. And then again on the side with the lump. Turns out I had much in common with the woman taking the mammogram. We chatted as if I didn't have a boob stuck in a vise while nuclear dye coursed through my system looking for cancer cells to stick to.


Free to go.


Free to you know, worry some more. I didn't need to worry long. The next morning my nurse called me at 8:30 in the morning. They wanted to do a biopsy. To be specific, a needle-directed incisional biopsy. I asked her if this was done often, and she assured me that most of the time there was nothing to worry about. She recommended a surgeon and said he was really good. She thought that I wouldn't need to be put to sleep that it was likely an in office procedure. It's not.


I had to pick up my results from the radiologist and take them to the surgeon. I of course read them. Here's the quote that is permanently etched in my brain:


"high probability of cancer or other similar pathogen."


I'm not really sure what other similar pathogen means, but it sounds serious enough. Apparently there was a high uptake of the dye in a certain area. Not, interestingly enough, in the area of the lump. The lump which was nowhere to be found. The surgeon was amazing. When he saw the results he said, 'well that does sound serious doesn't it?' But he also said, 'we're going to get you some good news.'


My surgery was scheduled for Good Friday. We called and emailed everyone we knew (just about) to pray. I had the nuns praying for me. I had prayer chains. I had a 2am moment alone in the bathroom railing at God to NOT DO THIS TO ME! I mean, 'high probability of cancer' sounds pretty damn real. All day long my brain kept saying 'I can't leave her, I can't leave her...' I made my husband promise to learn how to paint fingernails.


The technician from the radiologist office called to explain some things to me about the 'needle directed' part. (The only person other than the surgeon to explain things to me.) When I asked her how accurate the Scintimammogram was she said 75%. I was actually relieved since everything I had read online said 95% accurate. So you know 20% in my favor? I'll take it.


It's pretty much your standard day surgery. Except with the optional death-sentence outcome. They gave me something to relax me. Not even close. I was wheeled across the street to have the needle inserted by the radiologist so the surgeon knew what to remove. He said, 'you could have a large indention and some dimpling in the area of the scar.' I just nodded. Not really my primary concern right now mister, but thanks for letting me know I'll likely be disfigured no matter what the outcome.


After a few more hours of waiting, I was taken down to surgery. I remember waking up to a cute male nurse asking me to cough and then leaving me behind a curtain to dress myself. I had adhesive stuck to my face and a tight ace bandage around me chest. And I was just so relieved that the surgery was over. I was wheeled out to my vehicle through the waiting area where my husband, mom, Godmother, brother and sister-in-law were waiting for me. We went home. I had no after effects of the anesthesia, just a little pain in my breast. Not enough to warrant a pain pill.


The weekend we spent quietly. Little d hunted for eggs in the backyard on Sunday. My BFF made a card and everyone signed it and sent well wishes from my Grandmother's house. I was incredibly tired all weekend.

I had to wait until Tuesday for my followup with the surgeon to get the results. It was a holiday weekend after all. I sat in the waiting room with D. I watched another couple in there. A woman and her husband and her mother. The mother was praying. I saw a couple of other patients. One woman was having cancer treatments. All very real.

Finally it was our turn. The nurse came in the room with us and asked how the wound was. 'Did you already call this morning to get your results?'

'No.' I didn't know I could.

'It's okay.'

'What do you mean--there's nothing wrong?'

'Yes, everything was normal.' She smiled. It must be nice to be able to give good news like that.

'Are you serious?'

'Yes.' She left to get the doctor. I cried and D called mom on his cell. Just like that. Everything was normal, except that nothing will ever be normal again. When the surgeon came in he gave a little aside to the nurse while looking at my chart...'you know how unusual this is?' 'Yes' she said. I guess you don't go into surgery too often with a high probability of cancer or other similar pathogen and get good results.

On the ride home, D held my hand and summed it all up with this rhetorical question:

"It kind of restores your faith, doesn't it."

Yes it did. I don't know what I was supposed to learn from that journey. I even said that to D. 'Why did we go through this? What am I supposed to learn?' He said, 'Maybe I was the one who was supposed to learn something, like to never take you for granted.'

I think about it often. Every month when I do my monthly self breast exam. When my BFF found a lump (it was nothing thank God). When I think about my miscarriage. (I think the two are related, but I will save that for another post.)

I sometimes think there was something there and that through prayer God performed a miracle. I sometimes think maybe it was an area that would have turned into cancer down the road and now it's gone. I don't know exactly, but I do know that I feel like God touched my life through this incident. Okay I've cried enough typing this post, off to hug my kiddos!! And my husband!!

Buttons, Buttons, Buttons!

This week's Christmas Card Challenge at Sparkle's Creations was to use stickers. I found some dimensional stickers from We R Memory Keepers in my stash. I decided to use the cute little elf and then cut like a million little stamped buttons out to finish it off.

You know for a while now I've put off making 5x5 cards because I like to have envelopes that match my cards. But then I saw all these CTMH people using CD sleeves with the circle windows to make cute little matching envies. LOVE that idea. And we have a huge box (250) of those sitting in the closet. So you will likely be seeing more square cards from me in the future!

Details: all CTMH unless noted

Paper: green and cream from stash

Ink: Creme Brulee, Olive, Cranberry

Stamps: Buttoned Together

Other: We R MemoryKeepers sticker

Traveler's Inspiration Challenge #4

Last week I just couldn't get a card to come together for Tina's challenge. This week though I was so inspired and very anxious to get to the scrap room.



I don't know exactly what jumped out at me first if it was the colors or the texture! I seem to be really inspired by architecture. I knew immediately that I wanted to use this texture plate and to mimic the stones on the corner. Little d helped with the rest by leaving the keyhole stamp on my desk. How appropriate is that for a door? Looking at it again the only thing I would change would be to use Juniper paper for the pop of blue rather than Twilight.


Thanks for stopping by!

Details: all CTMH unless noted
Paper: Twilight cs, Bamboo Textured cs, Colonial White cs, orange textured cs from stash
Ink: Bamboo, Desert Sand
Stamps: Key to My Heart
Other: Sanding block, edge distressor, cuttlebug embossing plate

Color Chef Challenge #15

When I saw Kelly Jo's latest color challenge I was so inspired. Not only by the colors, but also by the inspiration piece.



I wanted to follow the design of the inspiration piece as well as the colors. I embossed the white flourish and the butterflies. This was a fun one, I'm glad I had the time today to play along!

Details: all CTMH unless noted

Paper: Bubblegum cs, yellow from stash

Ink: Versamark

Stamps: Key to My Heart, Butterfly Wings

Other: white embossing powder

Two Cards

I'm not sure why I'm even posting these cards as they are really kinda plain. This first is for my Grandmother's 89th birthday this weekend. She doesn't like the colors pink, green, brown and probably red. She pretty much only likes blue, but I just had to use this ribbon and I went with a simple black and white color scheme. Next time I use this ribbon I'm adding some color with it!!

This card I made just goofing around. This is the first time I've actually used the lace stamp set. I pull it out all the time, but it never seems to make it to the finished product.

Okay off to eat some chocolate!

Details: all CTMH unless noted

Paper: black cs and white cs from stash, flowers from Unforgettable B&T

Ink: Black, Garden Green

Stamps: Fringed Phrases, Gracious Greetings, Lovely Lace

Other: ribbon (Hobby Lobby) colonial white brads

Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge #33

Sparkle of Sparkle's Creations has a great idea--she is challenging us to make a card a week and then when Christmas rolls around, you'll have all your cards done! It's brilliant really, except that my lazy self has not been playing along...

This week the challenge is to use strips of paper on your card. I really wish I could get the whole paper weaving thing down, so in the spirit of practice practice practice, here's my card.

As you can tell my wEaViNg Is WoNkY. But, with a couple of screaming kids in the tub last night, and a hubby who was trying his best to control the situation so his hormonal wife could veg at the scrap table, I think it turned out ok.

Now go check out Sparkle's card, cuz it's fantastic!

Details: all CTMH unless noted

Paper: B & T from Evensong Creative Basics, colonial white cs

Ink: Cranberry and New England Ivy

Stamps: Christmas Melodies

Other: ribbon (Hobby Lobby) foam squares and glue dots

Obama is not good for my health care...

As he makes my blood pressure go UP!


He just said "if premiums go up (from insurance) then that's money that is not going into wages."

Newsflash!! If taxes go up...then that's money that is not going into wages!

UGH!!!

Last Jewelry Inspiration Challenge!

Stacey's Stamping Stage is getting a blog makeover and along with it she's going to be introducing a fun new challenge. So this will be the last Jewelry Inspiration Challenge. Sniff. I'm a bit sad--I love her showcasing the fascinating jewelry--but I am sure her new challenge will be just as creative and fun!

I also decided to use the Mojo Monday #96 Sketch to complete this card.

The colors felt a bit nautical to me, so I pulled out my New Horizons stamp set and starting working. When it came time to attach a bow, I called up my dad to teach me to tie a nautical knot.

What do you think, Dad? Did I get it right?

Details: all CTMH unless noted

Paper: cranberry cs, desert sand B&T, indian corn blue B&T, colonial white cs

Ink: desert sand

Stamps: New Horizons

Other: twine (stash) foam squares, edge distressor, glue dots-what a lifesaver those are!

Oh the things we will do to keep OUR money...

Remember a while back when I told you we put cows on our land to keep our agricultural tax exemption. Oh and just so we're clear, exemption does not mean free from. The proper word should be discount.


Well as I mentioned in that earlier post we had gone through a few options, one of which was to cut grass for hay. Now it was going to be a little time consuming so D knew a guy at work who said he would lease the land from us to cut hay, thus giving us the ag exemption. Sweet right? No. He kept having issues that prevented him from doing it and before long, the year had passed without us having done anything 'agricultural' on the land. The tax man cometh. In the form of a certified letter.


Our next lesser evil option was to put cattle out there. D owns a few cows that are currently residing on his parent's land. I was gifted a cow from my inlaws several Christmases ago. So we decided to move three extremely old not-going-to-jump-the-fence cows from their herd to our land. Brilliant plan as we were only out the fencing required to span the width of the land to keep the cows on the pond-side not on the house pad-side of the property. Are you all just waiting on the edge of your chairs with this interesting story? I know I am.


Here's where it gets a little more fun. We were denied ag exemption for last year since the appraiser didn't see any ag stuff going on. So we had to send in an appeal. The letter we received said we had 30 days from the date of the letter to turn in the appeal. The letter was dated May 15th. D turned in our form on June 8th.


When he went in to turn in the paper, the woman told him the deadline for appeals had passed. He showed her the letter and she said 'oh' and took our appeal. No surprise here, we then get another letter that says we are denied ag exemption and to appeal we must go before the Board for a hearing Monday (July 20th) at 9am. Oh but first, we have to go in early to show 'just cause' as to why we were late filing our appeal.


Fortunately, D had off and didn't have to take a vacation day to defend our ag exemption.


First he met with the appraiser, Phillip. {Names have not been changed since there are no innocents to protect.} D had to show him the letter we got with the due date for the appeal on it. "Oh" says Phillip. "I didn't know we sent you that." You think, Phillip, that you could look through your freakin' files and note that you sent us a letter with a due date, and that we turned in our paperwork well before that due date so that my husband wouldn't have to get to your office at the butt crack of dawn and could stay at home in bed with me on his ONE DAY OFF, huh!?!?! Oh I guess that is asking a bit much of a bureaucrat. I mean what with all the trips out to our land to measure which side of the fence the cow patties are on, how ever would you have the time to look through the files right?

Phillip then tells D all he can give him exemption on is one third of the land. Why? D asks. The cows are currently fenced on over half of the land. Then D has to show Phillip where the fence is on a photo Phillip took. Oh says Phillip. Then all I can give you is exemption on one half of the land. Sigh. D says 'why only half if I rotate my stock from one half to the other.' Phillip says 'well you have to show proof that you are doing that.' Oh we know, Phillip, we know--you are going to need proof.

Okay. So then D gets to sit in the office and wait until his 9am appointment with the appeals board. Fortunately there are some real people, even a couple of cattlemen, on this board. D gets our exemption/discount without any problems. Oh except all we have to do is turn in the receipt for that hay lease.

I am so peeved that he had to spend even two minutes of his free time doing this, let alone several hours. Why is our government so entitled to our money? Our founding fathers would be more than appalled at our country today.

Read the book "The Five Thousand Year Leap" by Skousen. Absolutely enlightening. I think it should be required reading in American History classes. It was written almost 30 years ago. Spot on for today, because our founding fathers really were quite clairvoyant when it came to seeing where we were headed.

We've been busy! {and July CTMH WS}

It seems I hardly have time to blog. {Notice I didn't say 'hardly have time to sit for hours surfing other blogs.'} This past week I did my July CTMH workshop. My BFF (who always hosts at her house) demonstrated how to make beaded keychains and we did the layouts and card.

Here's the LIVE on stage layouts I did. They are really a departure from what I usually do for a workshop. I took my You Rock and Dancing Dreams sets in case they wanted to scrap pictures of a concert or ballet recital. I think most of the girls were pleased with it. Oh and I totally scammed the pictures off the internet since I took very few myself and none at the actual show.

I decided to use my popcorn card from Kelly Jo's challenge because it's been a while since we've used the Liquid Applique. And I am so glad I did. We had two new people there and they both loved it!

Yesterday I went to a bridal shower for that couple that eloped. It was so sweet. Ahh they are so young. But they've been dating for seven years, so this is no spur of the moment thing. Such a cute couple.

Saturday night I also made a simple card--not sure why I didn't go to bed. Sleep, who needs it?

I guess I do! Today I slept for almost two hours due to just sheer exhaustion. D has been in POC working with my dad and brother at a fishing tournament and I never get anything accoplished when he's gone day and night. Yeah he's back now!

My in-laws are coming and bringing my nieces to visit tomorrow, not sure I'll get any scrapping done. But then things should slow down and I can get back to making some cards.

Sorry for the random drive by post! Talk to you later...

Blessed be!

It's raining!!!!

Pierced Ears!

My lovely Little d is now sporting pink sparkling earrings! We were headed to the mall today to see a balloon exhibit (fun creations made entirely of balloons) so I casually asked this morning if she might want to get her ears pierced.

She's talked about it before, but today was the day. She did so good! And I think it helped that the woman at the Piercing Pagoda had a four year old daughter also. She could totally relate to Little d.

Such a fun day!!

Antique car birthday card...

I dug around in the clearance stamps at Hobby Lobby and found this antique car. I thought it was kinda neat, but I'm not as thrilled with the card. I think if I wouldn't have watercolored the car I would like it better.

Okay that's all I got.


Details:
Paper: patterns (The Paper Studio) cream cs and black cs (stash)
Ink: brown Stazon, cocoa (CTMH) black (CTMH)
Stamps: Happy Birthday (CTMH), antique car (Stampabilities)
Other: antique copper brads (CTMH) edge distressor (CTMH) kraft photo corners (3L) watercolor pencils and water pen (CTMH)

Did you fax John the Baptist your certification yet?

Now I've never tried to obtain a passport because I like hanging out in a country that's free from intestinal parasites. But I hear from a reliable source (okay so she's a drama queen, whatever) that it's a big ol' headache.


And yet, apparently still easier than getting your child baptized in the Catholic church.


It's been awhile since I've sat through Catechism, so I am a little rusty on Canon Law. {No that is not law written to guide your use of an SLR.} Here's a breakdown of my basic religious philosophy. If you believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins, and you ask him to come into your life, you are going to heaven. Simple as that really. Now that's not Catholic philosophy which reads more like "earn your heaven by doing good deeds." It is born again Christian philosophy, but it is laid out pretty basically in the Nicene Creed which a Catholic says at every mass. Ahem.


Now on the whole baptism thing. I have no idea. Most faiths (as I understand it) baptize adults, or at least people old enough to decide for themselves they want to be baptized. Catholics baptize the young, the younger the better. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it's supposed to wash away sin or original sin or something. I know I know--I should study this (believe me I'll have the chance.) Anyway, the parents and godparents make the professions of faith for the infant (i.e. rejecting Satan and all his works). Then when the child is older, junior high or high school age, they make the sacrament of Confirmation, basically saying the same things their parents and godparents said for them many years ago. Okay. So that brings us to the present.


I don't agree with all the tenets of the Catholic church. (I am pro-life, but I don't pray to anyone but God. Oh and the whole confession thing with a priest--no, I'll take it up directly with the Big Man Upstairs, thankyouverymuch.) So the main reason I chose to have my kids baptized in the church, was for traditions sake. I know--excommunicate me--but I don't feel in my heart that God will send an infant to Hell (or Purgatory) who is not baptized. By the way I don't believe in Purgatory either. I'm not a very good Catholic am I?

Okay wait, now we are up to the present. I recently overheard a cousin (yes another one--I have 37 first cousins and 5 first step-cousins) speaking about getting the certificate of the godmother for the priest to baptize her kids. I've been checking around--well I've had my people checking around--here's the scoop. If you are a parent, you need to take a class to be certified, be married in the church, or not living in sin. If you are a godparent you need the same thing, except that only one godparent has to be Catholic. I think. In fact, only one godparent needs be present at the actual baptism. The other can be a 'stand in'. A stand in can have any questionable character whatsoever. Make sense?

Even more inviting: your certification only lasts for a limited time as determined by whichever parish you are using. One year in some cases, three years in others. Make sense?

But at one location you only need to contact them and they can fax a copy of your certificate even if it has expired...without you having to take the class again. Make sense?

I think, and I'm not a hundred percent on this, that I will need the following to have my second child baptized:

• my marriage license
• my baptismal certificate
• my husband's baptismal certificate
• my certification of taking the class
• my husband's certification of taking the class
• the godmother's certification of taking the class
• the godfather's certification of taking the class
• maybe their marriage licenses also--I'm just pulling that one outta my butt.

Here's why I think this is re-donkulous. Back in Bible days I don't think John the Baptist required anything of you to be dunked in the river but your willingness to repent. Am I right? I am certain that there was no certification or faxing of paperwork.

I'll leave you with another list titled Things That Are Easier to Do Than Baptize Your Child in the Catholic Church (from my personal experience):

• get (and keep) a license to sell alcohol in the state of Texas
• become certified to use the Texas Lotto machine
• get waited on at the Social Security office
• get an actual BINGO
• talk your husband into letting you name the children
• and finally, get married in the Catholic Church...no wait, that's about equal.

Smile you're on Mojo Monday!

What I am about to confess may get me thrown out of the card making community. I made this card for someone in particular as a pick me up, but...I just love it too much. I don't want to give it away. Now that's not the deep dark confession. Here's the deep dark confession: While I love this person, and think she is the cat's meow, she's not a cardmaker, so...I am afraid she just won't appreciate it enough. I know I am EVIL!

See, here's the deal. I spent the better part of an hour coordinating paper, ink and not one, but TWO polka-dotted ribbons for this card. I stamped, Cuttlebugged, sanded and measured. I enlisted the help of a four year old to tie the bow. I just want someone to open this card and squeal, like any rational cardmaker would do! Not just smile and say oooh bright colors. And move on.

Okay--I hope you all realize that I am speaking in jest, trying to elicit a cheap laugh...or am I???

Mwah haha ha!

Details (all CTMH unless noted)

Paper: Citrus Leaf cs, Bubblegum cs, Holiday Red cs

Ink: Citrus Leaf, Bubblegum (1st and 2nd generation), Holiday Red

Stamps: Extreme Happiness, Happiness (huh that's funny)

Other: Ribbon (Hobby Lobby), Cuttlebug embossing folder, sanding block, pink floss, glue dots, foam squares

PS I tried something new, I tried linking the sketch picture back to the Mojo Monday Blog. But I linked it here too in case that didn't work. Thanks for stopping by!

JCI #45

Well it appears that Stacey has been to my house snooping through my patterned paper stash! This week's colors also matched a piece of paper I had perfectly, so I used it.

Especially since CTMH doesn't really have any colors close to the inspiration colors. This paper also had a bright green in it, but I just trimmed that off. Doesn't it kind of look like a swan?

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you all have a wonderful day!

(ETA: the link and a grammer correction!--uhg! If only I could get it right the first time!)

Details:

Paper: purple from stash, pattern (DaisyD)

Ink: Vineyard Berry (CTMH)

Stamps: Happy Birthday (CTMH)

Other: buttons, embroidery thread (stash)

Our Cows {lovingly called ground-beef, ground-chuck and ground-round}

And when I say lovingly, I mean not lovingly at all. But I think you'll agree with me after my little story today.

So I had a bit of a busy day yesterday. By busy I mean No Time To Scrap. I went to a baby shower, and then my cousin (who is expecting in November) asked me to 'help' her find a maternity swim suit at Target so I tagged along. I don't get to spend much uninterrupted time with her so I was thrilled that we got a little time to shop.

After that I came home and vegged (played on Farmtown), loaded the dishwasher, and whatever until D decided he was going to take the girls to check on the cows. And rather than stay at home, I decided to tag along with them. So Little d and I grabbed our cameras, we slathered on sunscreen, packed some snacks and water and headed out.

When we got there, D unloaded a tub of "molasses" and Little m stood in the back of the truck. Doesn't it look like she's summoning the cattle. "Come to me cows."

Here they come. Dead cows running!

I don't know if you can see in the picture, but those are "cubes" which cows love. They look like giant rabbit pellets.

Our little budding photographer.

Notice how tame these cows are as D feeds them some cubes. These cows are old people, virtually on their last legs. Even more so after yesterday's incident, but I am getting ahead of myself...

Little d checking out the pond.

Kiddos and cows in sweet harmony. Ahhh. A lovely summer day. Put the lens cap back on.

Now this is where one of the shits headbutts Little m. That's right. One of those dried up hussies actually took two steps forward and headbutted Little m in the chest onto the ground. D and I flew over and the cow ran away and Little m was crying and very upset because all she wanted to do was touch one. In fact she had already touched one on the nose. Little m is fine, she didn't even get the wind knocked out of her, but I am super pissed. I am mad at myself for not being closer and for trusting the cows to be more tame than that. And I am mad at the cow for picking on someone so much smaller than herself!

Originally Little d and I named the cows Beauty, Rosa and Princess. I've changed the names to reflect their standing in my world. Can you blame me?

Memories of my Bible (and art class)

Before I show you my card for the Traveler's Inspiration Challenge #2, I want to tell you a little story. When I was a little girl I used to stay at my Memaw's house alot. She always had stuff for me to do and she was always quite content to spend the whole day entertaining me. Hours on end of reading to me, singing songs, baking...you name it, she would spend time doing it with me.

Mostly she read from the Bible. My favorite Bible was the Children's Bible.

I was absolutely riveted. Not just to the stories that she made come alive, but also the detailed pictures. I was always enthralled with the buildings, the clothes, and the jars. Don't ask me why I was so fascinated with the pottery.

As a high school senior I took beginner's art on a whim. (I was already enrolled in band, debate, psychology, and sociology. I was looking for an easy elective. Hey I was a senior.) Anyway one of our assignments was to draw a cityscape. And time, any place--real or not. I immediately dug out my Children's Bible and drew my rendition of old time Jerusalem. I loved that project more that you can imagine. What is so funny is just last weekend in POC I dug out my old artwork and saw that drawing. I should have taken a picture of it. Well--next time I will.

When I saw the Traveling Challenge this week I didn't see an adobe, I saw an ancient Bible village!

I pulled out my Bethlehem stamp set and made a Christmas card.

I layered the buildings to give it dimension.

This project was a joy to work on. And I got to pull out my Children's Bible again and reminisce.

Details: all CTMH unless noted

Paper: colonial while cs, desert sand cs

Ink: desert sand

Stamps: Bethlehem

Other: colored pencils (EK Success)