Oh, how I wish . . .

. . . I could show you what I've been up to! Alas, I can't. What I will tell you is that we survived the nor'easter! It is WICKED cold, but we have not lost power, knock on wood, and we were able to keep warm all weekend. Mind you, I slept with THREE blankets, but warm I was all night long. Church was a no go on Sunday due to the weather. That's how bad it was! Anyway, hope you are keeping warm and I'll be posting soon some other stuff I've been working on that I CAN show you!

I need more sleep . . .

cause these days I'm WAY too easily amused! I saw this over at Katie's blog:

so I had my apple juice and now I'm all set for the day! (*v*)

Don't Try This at Home . . .

. . . you know what I'm talking about . . . those great ideas that come to you in the middle of the night! Sometimes they should just stay there! LOL

I've had really bad insomnia for about two weeks now. Yesterday was a bad day. I was cranky, irritable, short-tempered, crying and just a huge mess and a cry-baby! :) Be glad I didn't talk to you! LOL

Anyway, last night, instead of tossing and turning, I got up and just kept myself busy. I got the bright idea to alter a large container I keep my acrylic paints in. I've used TAC paper that is no longer available, but I wanted to show it to you because I thought it came out rather fabulous! I love the bright colors of this paper! I didn't want to use the letters on something that was going to sit on a shelf in my craft room, so what I did was cut out the outline of the letters and stick those on solid colored paper. That was the bad part of the idea. That involved detailed cutting with a VERY SHARP Cutter Bee tiny, itty, bitty scissor and when you are tired, well, that's just asking for trouble. The good news, there was no blood shed ON the finished project!

Then I had this clipboard that I wanted to alter with the same papers. Again, I just love the colors! At first, I could only get ribbons on the ends of the clips, but I thought it looked "weird" with nothing in between. I got the "bright idea in the middle of the night when I REALLY should be sleeping" to run a wire through the clip, tie it and thread the ribbons through that. Well, let's just say, I didn't mean for the clipboard to have THESE many ribbons! It never occurred to me that the wire would "stretch!" I thought I'd be tying ribbons till dawn.

Supplies: TAC paper and ribbons from my stash
It all turned out good though! I finished like around 4:00, laid down on my bed to admire my handiwork on top of my desk and must have fallen right to sleep cause I don't remember admiring it! :) Slept through till about 10:30 this morning. I think it was a better idea than drinking warm milk but just maybe a bit more dangerous! LOL

It's Snowing, It's Snowing . . .

. . . so shouldn't an old man be snoring? Oh, no, that's a totally different thing! :) It actually is snowing and boy is it coming down! It's supposed to be really bad between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m. so, boy howdy, am I glad I'm not working at the moment or I'd be stuck in an awful commute! :) Phew!

Today is Jay's birthday. He's 22! My daughter told me I was too young to have a son that old. Yeah, I think she wants me to turn her cell phone back on, but I saw right through that little ploy of hers! :) LOL Nonetheless, she's RIGHT! ;)

I did get our Christmas tree up and it's a live one!! Here is a picture of our tree. I'm posting one that I took at night, cause it looks prettier and it needs all the help I can give it in that department because I can't find the angel topper, garland and all the white ornaments! I'm just glad I could get a tree up! :) The ornaments are light pink and a hotter pink with a pearl finish. These are new. I did buy them last year, but didn't get to hang them on that tree. I was able to find some large silk poinsettias in shades of red and white and a large gold ribbon bow. I'm using the bow as our topper and I used the poinsettias as "fillers" for the tree.

I also managed to mail out 60 Christmas cards! I need to quit making friends! LOL Tomorrow, I call my mom and find out what she thought of the card I made for her. I'm scared! Seriously!

Well, I've been super busy finishing up altered items for gift giving. I have but a few more things to finish and I'll be all done! This crazy guy I know actually asked me if I could alter 14 wooden pocketbooks by Christmas. OK, I said he was crazy! :) LOL I should try to do so, because the money makes it really tempting; however, isn't this time of year supposed to be stress-free? Or is that just an elusive dream someone was wishing on me? LOL Anyway, I told him I didn't think I could do the pocketbooks, but maybe some journals. I made this one for a friend and he's "thinking" about it. Jeez, I hope he decides soon and doesn't decide to wait until Christmas Eve to tell me he wants the journals! LOL

Supplies: The Paper Collection - Vintage and unknown script paper; cardstock; ScrapGoods and TAC stamps; ribbon; Ranger embossing ink and powder; Colorbox inks

My Mom's Christmas Card

I had high hopes for this week. I intended to finish a heap of things and get all this checked off of my Christmas to-do list. What did I want to accomplish this week? Well, I'm in the middle of altering, get this, one clipboard; two wooden box purses; four Whitman chocolate boxes and one small wooden box. I haven't bought our Christmas tree yet. My son's birthday is next Thursday and I haven't shopped for that. I have a Christmas party to attend next weekend that I haven't had time to completely freak out about. I have approximately 50 Christmas cards that I've been attemtping to address and get in the mail. I joined a Christmas tag swap that is due the 15th and I cannot find the five almost-finished tags I started last month so I may have to restart those! I write an annual 'Twas the Night Before Christmas parody every Christmas and I've only written four verses out of 16! I've been trying to finish all of these things this week but one item has kept me from doing so. What could be interferring with all of my creativity you ask?

I've been totally freaking out about my mom's Christmas card. I've made a total of (I think) about seven this week alone just for her! It has to be perfect! HAS TO BE! Let me show you the first one.

Supplies: Pink Cat Studio stamps; red organza ribbon; unknown PP; cardstock; glaze pens; Ranger embossing ink; ScrapGoods red embossing powder; fine glitter; ColorBox ink

When I finished it, I thought it was very pretty. But then I started critiquing it. And critiquing it and critiquing it and by the time I was done, I'd worked myself up into a tizzy! So then I started on a second one, and then a third one, and by the time I was done, I ended up with this:

Supplies: Cardstock; TAC pp, tags and Oh Christmas Tree stamp; Stampin' Up Felicidades Siempre stamp; Ranger gold embossing ink and powder; gold organza ribbon; ScrapGoods nailhead; Colorbox white ink; Tim Holtz Peeling Paint and Vintage Photo inks and Vintage Photo distressing powder; foam dots; fine glitter
So I am posting this now as quickly as possible before I talk myself out of it and make another one!
And now to get to my regularly scheduled program and maybe get some work done! :) Next week, I may have a post for every day! LOL I hope anyway! :)

Holy Cow!

Have you been checking this out (for those not familiar with links, you'll want to click on the word "this" and it will take you to where I want you to end up . . . well not really, ;) but it will take you to a cool blog . . . the explanation for the link is for those that haven't figured out what they are . . . not to name any one person in particular . . . *cough* *Harley* *cough*! Hey, I didn't use your real name!)? There's only one word for it . . . as they say here in New England . . . WICKED AWESOME! The only thing I haven't gotten into over there is signing up for the daily give away because . . . are you kidding me? He has like OVER 700 comments almost every day! When I sign up to win something, I want to know it's a sure thing! That's why I buy lottery tickets! ;)

Just call me BAT Girl!

Some of you have heard the story about the bat we had in the apartment back in the beginning of 2007. Well, guess who came calling again? You should have heard all of the screaming going on! I finally told Jay to calm down and be quiet before the neighbors called the cops! ;) Anyway, I wish I knew where they were coming in from! Today it swooped up from the floor from the direction of my bedroom. So YOU KNOW I can't wait to go to sleep in there! After cowering under the covers for a few seconds that seemed like hours (I'd been vegging in front of the TV under some blankets to keep warm), Jay convinced me he'd NEVER find it if I did not come out and help him look for it. So I did and I immediately saw it up by the living room window. Jay stood guard while I ran into the bathroom to call the police because of the two of us, Jay is the MAN OF THE HOUSE and so it is his responsibility to get rid of rodents! I had VERY high hopes that the police would be over fast, quick and hurry to arrest the darn bat! Anyway, while I was in there I heard thumping and banging coming from the living room. Turns out the bat swooped away from the window and Jay swung at it like he was trying to hit a home run with the broom! He knocked the bat down, amongst several other things, and ran to get some work gloves. He picked the hairy beast up, took it outside and threw it in the dumpster. I just hope it was dead and it is not trying to find its way back into the apartment to get its revenge on us! Jay reminded me that the last time we had a bat in the apartment, the police officer told us that it was more scared of us than we were of it. You know, somehow that helpful piece of information just did not offer me any comfort this time EITHER! Now I'm all paranoid and seeing shadows every where! :( So anyway, I hope everyone else has a good night!

Sisterhood 3 of the Blogging Stampers

My friend Heidi called tonight to tell me about this great blog, Sisterhood of the Blogging Stampers that she found a link to over at Flossie's Follies. They have started their 3rd group and I had to jump all over it. I think it is a great way to find other bloggers and stampers! Go check it out yourself!

I have been scrapbooking since approximately 1976, but did not really get addicted until August 2003. Now, instead of trying to find a cure for it, I just go with it! :) I also discovered rubber stamping at that time and I think that came out of necessity! My kids became unreasonable teenagers that refused to pose any more AND winters in NH can be VERY long sometimes! I'm not an outdoorsy person so I had to find an outlet and what a fun outlet! I didn't even try to put up a fight with stamping . . . I just went with it from day one! :)

I Give Up!

I have visions of sugarplums dancing in my head . . . wait . . . that's something totally different! lol I always have visions of creating something elegant or shabby chic. My friend, Heidi, is an EXPERT at that! I just love her style! I try to make something elegant and shabby chic and end up getting stuck and have to call her! Well, this time I refused to do that cause when I do call her, when I'm done, it doesn't feel like I made it! lol But anyway, I need to accept the fact that I have a "cutesy eclectic style" that the owner of my LSS says I have. Jeez, I hope that's a good thing! :) I altered a wooden pocket book with this really cool paper of a lion. One side has the eyes staring out at you and the other side has a lion and lioness sitting in grass. Anyway, I've become quite intimidated by stamping or drawing on it, so I've decided to give it a rest for now. I then tried my hand at this one (this is the front):

I could see visions of . . . something ;) with this beaded ribbon and I thought the colors went really well. And I KNEW I wanted to stamp something on it, but not sure what! Oh, boy. But then I didn't know where to go with it! lol Anyway, this is the back:

This is the inside of the pocketbook:

Supplies: SugarTree pp; Miss Elizabeth's rhinestones; Delta acrylic paints; Champion spray paint; ribbon - from my stash.

I feel like it's not finished, but not sure how to finish it. Oh, boy. Oh, and can someone please tell me how to seal it to protect it?

That's when I decided to give up trying to make something elegant or shabby chic. I decided to just go with and accept my "cutesy eclectic style!" lol I'm almost finished with that one, but I'm waiting on a great-niece's input on something I want to add. I want to make sure it's "hip" and "now!" lol Hey, I said I was cutesy eclectic, not "hip" and "now." ;)