James got happy mail!

Hey yall. James got 2 birthday cards in the mail today and was so excited! We hadn't told him about asking everybody to send him birthday cards, so he was a little confused at first, but happy all the same. Thanks to everyone who has sent one. If you haven't sent one yet, you've still got time! Yeah, I know his birthday is tomorrow, but late birthday cards are still happy birthday cards. Ok, gotta go now, but thanks for all your help!

My New Rileys

Hey yall. Here are the pictures of the Riley cards I made Saturday evening. I have really enjoyed coloring these mooses (I think the plural of moose is just moose, but it kinda sounds funny, so I'm gonna say mooses).

Here are Riley and Sophie at the beach. I made a chalk background. I'm not crazy about it, but it's better than when there was no background.

Here's grillin' Riley. I used my Copics to make the background for this one. For the clouds, I just removed some of the blue with my colorless blender. The blue and green cuttlebug backgrounds are from a swap I was in on SCS.

And here's tractor Riley with similar cuttlebug backgrounds. I had to make his tractor a John Deere. For this one, I colored in clouds with my Prismacolor white color pencil before coloring on the blue Copic, then wiped the marker off the penciled area. I like the way both methods turned out. I can tell I ordered these right before Father's Day, because I ended up with the tractor Riley, grillin' Riley, and cowboy Riley. I'm really impressed I used them so quickly, especially since I bought the unmounted ones. I usually wait a few months before actually mounting them, but this time it took less than a week. I think taking the pictures out by the pool in natural sunlight helped. The only problem I had was that there was a tiny breeze that kept blowing my cards over.

By the way, I don't think I've mentioned this, but my booth at Bayou Crafters has not sold anything. It's only been a week, but I'm a little disappointed. To cheer myself up, I'm gonna bribe yall to leave me comments. In the next day or two, I'm gonna draw a random name and I'll send a card to that person, so be sure to leave a comment! I may even send more than one card, depending on if I get several more done in the next few days. If you have one of these Rileys that you really like, let me know. That way if you win, I can send you your favorite. Thanks!

Don't forget James' birthday!

Hey yall. I just wanted to remind everyone about James' birthday coming up on Tuesday. Even if he doesn't receive all his birthday cards on that day, please try to drop him something in the mail, even if it's just a sheet of notebook paper that wishes him a happy birthday. Here's the card I made for him yesterday.

I wanted to color one of my new Rileys for him, but I received a baseball player Changito last fall in an image swap and I've been saving if for his birthday. It was stamped with Stazon, so I couldn't use my Copic markers. Speaking of my Copics, here's a picture of them all together.

Aren't they just beautiful??? I love coloring with them more than I expected. The ones on the left are the ones my Big Sis sent me and the ones on the right are the lighter counterparts that I ordered to blend with the brighter ones. I colored 4 out of my 5 Rileys last night and made them into cards. I'll post them tomorrow. We've got the youth from church coming over tonight for church & swimming. I hope yall are having a good Sunday afternoon and staying out of the heat!

Anniversary Plate

Hey yall. I was working on stuff to take up to Bayou Crafters this afternoon and had to stop to show yall this anniversary plate I made.

Isn't it gorgeous!!! I used a file I found on the Craft Edge forum. I was wondering how a large etched surface would look, and it etched smoother than I thought. Back to work now, but let me know what you think.

Swimming Lessons

Hey yall. Anthony finished up swimming lessons yesterday. Both of my boys are so cute when they swim!

Here's Anthony swimming to his daddy. Below is Joey jumping off the diving board to show Ms. Cara how well he remembers his swimming lessons. He did so great this year that he didn't have to take lessons.

Yesterday was also Vacation Bible School commencement.

Anthony's group was first because they were the youngest. Isn't he adorable doing his hand motions during the song?

Here's Joey's group doing their songs. I'm glad Jason took lots of pictures since I was at work. It looks like they had a great time.

Time to get going this morning. I need to get some glasses etched to bring up to my booth at Bayou Crafters. I'm a little disappointed that nothing sold in the first week, but maybe I just need to put more stuff up there. I hope yall have a good weekend!

Special card request

Hey yall. I hope you're having a great day. I have a special request. My cousin James is turning 25 on June 30. I'm sure most of my local friends have heard me talk about him at some point. He was born with Spina Bifida and has been a miracle since day 1. By the way, this is Aunt Pat's son, so he's extra special to me since she's my BFF. I want James to get lots of birthday cards on his birthday this year. The age 25 is a milestone for most people, but it is especially major for him. If you need a theme for your card, he loves Atlanta Braves baseball. He also loves LSU and I'm sure he's really excited after watching LSU win the College World Series last night. Here is a picture of him riding my boys in his wheelchair.

I really appreciate all of your help. His address is below. Thanks!

James Murphy, 140 Louie Murphy Road, Winnfield, LA 71483

Another birthday card

Hey yall. I got my birthday card from Andrea last night and wow, it's great.

Isn't it too cute! I love the stitching, the distressed brads, the little metal thingy on the top right corner of the dragon, the distressed edges, everything about this card is awesome!

Yall will not believe the stuff Joey comes up with. A minute ago he said he had a question (he always has a question). He said, "If I asked God in a prayer to play the Wii with me, and I gave him his own remote, would he? He can do everything at the same time, so will he?" It's no wonder I'm always exhausted. Update--Joey asked and God said no, no, no, no, no, no. Friday night he was making a Father's Day card and told me that my cards are not that good. They don't have the "excitement" that his cards have. "I mean, Momma, you can't even draw. You just glue paper on top of more paper, and use a stamp, which is not even something you drew. My cards are more personal. I draw pictures of things the person likes. And then on the inside, all you write is the to and from. I write really cool stuff." I told him I loved paper. He said, "Momma, it's just a flat surface."

Anthony is hilarious in his own way. During swimming lessons he told the teacher that he would jump off the diving board when he was older. Any time she mentioned doing something he wasn't sure about he told her he would do it when he was older.

Now I hear Joey in the kitchen calling himself a genius because he found the cheese crackers in the pantry when his daddy couldn't find them. Somebody help me.

More swapped cards

Hey yall. I've got a few minutes of downtime before Andrea's baby shower this evening, so I thought I'd share a few more cards from the No Coloring Allowed swap on SCS.

I love this card. It's simple, but elegant. The next card uses a technique I want to try.

This is the view of the card as it would come in the mail. You pull the top piece out to see this.

It makes a cute little stand. It looked more complicated online, but when I saw it in person, it doesn't look too hard. Just cut, score, and glue. Anyway, I probably need to make sure there's nothing else left to be done before the shower. I hope yall have a good evening!

Good morning! Actually it's Sunday night, but I decided to schedule a post or two since this week promises to be as busy as last week. I haven't made anything paper related, but I did receive some cards in from the "No Coloring Allowed" swap on SCS. The challenge was to stamp something that did not need to be colored in. Here's two of them.

I love this beautiful card. The paper is super smooth, like SU's Whisper White. They are all beautiful, but this is one of my favorites.

This one is awesome--the little cowboy is cut out of fabric! I'm gonna have to try this some time. After she adhered it she drew dashes around it. There are blue brads in the center of each star.

I hope you enjoyed the cards. Have a great Monday!

Happy Father's Day!

I hope yall are all having a great Dad's day. We went to morning church, Chili's for lunch, and now we're just hanging out. I thought I'd share some of the swapped cards I mentioned yesterday. These are from the SCS monthly card swap I'm in. This month's theme is patriotism.

I think the Riley is my favorite. I just ordered my first Rileys last week and can't wait until they come in. Anyhow, Jason and Anthony just left to go to the store, so I better use the free time while I've got it. Have a good evening!

My 200th post!!!

Hey yall! This is my 200th post!!! I remember on my 100th post I was thinking of opening an Etsy shop. On the day of my 200th post I started my local craft booth instead. I am still thinking about online selling, but I really don't have time to deal with the shipping side of it. I spent most of the afternoon running errands related to my glassware. I'm hoping I haven't gotten in over my head. I've got several things I need to etch, but I might wait until tomorrow to work on them. In addition to my booth, I've got an order I need to make and deliver to a local specialty store in town. The good thing about that deal is that she will buy my items, then sell them in her store. The not so good thing is that I make less of a profit, plus whatever I sell to her I must sell to her exclusively. Also, she didn't really like the standard fleur-de-lis I use and wanted to more detailed one. I'm hoping the one I've found online is ok with her.

I was gonna upload some cards, but just realized they're on the new laptop and I'm working on the old laptop so I can use SCAL. Oh well, maybe next time. I hope yall have a great evening. Jason is cooking country fried steak and it smells WONDERFUL.

Missed me???

Hey yall. This week has been incredibly wild, so I haven't had any time to blog. I've got a few things to show you. I'm opening up a booth at Bayou Crafters today (local craft place) and am so excited. I was making a sign last night to give some basic etching information.

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to etch on the bottom of the glass. Isn't it cute!!!

I also wanted to share a card one of my SBS 24 sisters sent me--thanks Karyn!!!

Last, here's a card I got from my SCS Big Sis on Thursday.

Isn't it cute! I love how the cow has a cowskin purse! The inside says, "What's Moo with You?" She also sent me the Swiss Dots cuttlebug folder. Ok, gotta go so I can take my stuff up to Bayou Crafters. I'm gonna need all your prayers because Anthony is coming with me to "help." I think he'll be fine, but you never know. Catch yall later!

Swimming Lessons

Anthony and his best friend Luke started swimming lessons today. They haven't gotten to play together lately since Anthony is staying home this summer instead of going to day care. Here are some pictures of them in the pool after lessons. Luke is on the left, Anthony on the right.

Of course since they're both 3 years old, I couldn't get them to look at the camera at the same time. After they finished swimming, Luke came inside and played for a little bit. He was amazed by Joey's marble race creation.

They had a really good time together this evening. We don't have lessons Tuesday night, but Luke and Ms. Cara (their teacher) will be back on Wednesday evening. I hope your evening has been as exciting as mine!

Etching Test Results

Good evening. I've got those test results I was telling you about earlier. First of all, the stained glass paint that I tried out yesterday is not dishwasher safe. It seemed permanent when I scratched it, but when the glass came out of the dishwasher, the paint was nowhere to be found. The good news about that is that if I make a glass for a candle holder or something that doesn't go in the dishwasher, I can start over if I mess it up.

The next test involved etching on a regular ceramic coffee mug that has a glossy finish. I had never thought it was possible until I saw it on someone's blog Friday night. Here's the result.

Tada! It looks a lot brighter because of the flash on the camera. It looks like a regular etching in person. I picked this black coffee mug up for a dollar at Big Lots yesterday. I have several precut fleur-de-lis images, so I just used one of those to test this out. I've decided to give this away in a very interesting way. I've got several people from work who visit my blog regularly and most (if not all) of them really like fleur-de-lis. I am going to give this coffee mug to the first person from my company who leaves a comment on this post. I'm pretty sure I know who's gonna win, but I may be surprised. I gotta let Jason do his homework now. Yall have a good evening!

Happy Flag Day!

Yep, it's June 14, which is Flag Day. The only reason I remember that this is Flag Day is because one of my aunts has a birthday today. June's theme for the monthly card swap I'm in is patriotism, so last night I made my cards using some swapped images I've had in a drawer. I couldn't decide which Cuttlebug background I liked better, so I did half of them with one and half with the other. Here they are.

Patriotism reminds me of the 4th of July, which reminds me of my favorite fruit--watermelon! When I was pregnant with Joey, I used to cut a watermelon in half and eat that half in one sitting. Of course, that would keep me in the bathroom every 5 minutes for the next 4 hours because of all the water (as if pregnant women don't already pee every 5 minutes), but it was worth it. I never put salt on my watermelon, but I know lots of people who do.

A few details about this card--the scalloped squares were cut with the Accent Essentials cartridge on my Cricut, the ribbon is some of the small rolls that were on sale 2/$1 at Hobby Lobby last week, the image is one of the Stampendous Bees, and the background was made using a Cuttlebug folder (Traffic Jam & another one that I don't know the name of). Since I've had the images for a while, they were stamped with Stazon, meaning I couldn't Copics. I used my Stampin' Up markers instead. I glittered the salt shaker and salt with some glitter glue stuff I bought on after Christmas clearance at Hobby Lobby. Hopefully they'll go through the mail ok with the 3 knots. I guess I'll find out when I send them out.

I haven't finished my tests glass tests yet, but maybe tomorrow. We've been gone all day and will be leaving again in less than an hour, so I haven't gotten too much done at home today. I hope yall are having a great Flag Day. For those of you who have served or are serving in the military, I appreciate all you have done to make this a wonderful country where people can grow produce and sell it from the back of their pickup truck on the side of the road.

Etching & Painting

Hey yall. As usual Saturday has come and gone quite quickly. I went to Hobby Lobby this evening because I wanted to try out some paint on my etched glasses. The paint I bought says it creates a textured color like stained glass. I've tested it on one of my glasses that I messed up on. I'm gonna run it through the dishwasher tonight to see how permanent it is. It only took about 5 minutes to dry.

Yeah, it doesn't look like much since I didn't do the full design, but I wanted yall to see how it looked. I'll let you know tomorrow how the dishwasher test comes out. I've got another etching test I'm gonna try to run tonight or tomorrow, so be on the lookout for a great new idea (if it works). I hope yall have a good evening!

Cute Hedgehog Cards

Hey yall. I needed to make a thank you card this evening for a friend. After I made the card and was happy with it, I decided that maybe each time I make a card I like, I should go ahead and make several that are similar. That way I will have extra cards for when I need one. Here are the four cards I made this evening using some Hedgehog stickers I had ordered a while back.

I really like how all of these turned out. I wish the picture quality was better, but you can at least tell what they look like. I've still got a few stickers left, so I might try to make some more of these cards. The layout is simple and only takes a few minutes. Since they are stickers and not images to be colored, the card really comes together quickly. Don't get me wrong, I love coloring, but sometimes I just don't have time. I really didn't want to spend the time coloring tonight, so I didn't. Joey went to a birthday party this evening so Jason, Anthony, and I went out to eat when I got home around 6pm. We didn't get back until about 7pm and I had all 4 cards done by 8:30pm. Now it's almost 9pm and we need to get the kiddos to bed. Anthony (age 3) just asked me if I knew what Zack and Cody say. I told him I knew who they were, but didn't know what they said. He told me they say, "Whoa!" I heard Joey (age 6) in the kitchen telling his daddy that he really preferred to be naked all the time, even though his daddy is mean and makes him wear clothes. I hope yall have a good evening. Don't forget--tomorrow is my BIRTHDAY!!!

Howdy Yall!

Hey yall. I made a card for my co-worker Haley's dad for Father's Day this evening. He's into horses and roping, so I had the perfect stamp. I had bought it a while back on clearance and never used it. The reason I bought it is because Joey's school team is the Wranglers. Tonight was the first time I inked it up.

I used white core cardstock for the base, sanded it down, and chalked it to make it look dirty. The red paper is some Creative Memories paper from years ago. The brown paper has a kind of wood grain look to it and was a scrap. The fiber was a little scrap too. I used my Nestabilities and Copics that my Big Sis bought me. The card did not take very long and I love how it turned out. I think she'll like it. The truck card I made yesterday didn't last an hour at work before it was purchased.

Yall would not believe my kids. Joey is "practicing" for second grade by doing math facts. He is begging us to teach him more, so Jason is teaching him some multiplication tables. Joey used the phrase "per se" a minute ago and I nearly fell on the floor laughing. We were talking about how some kids need flashcards, but Joey probably won't. We decided Anthony will need more than just flashcards. To prove the point, Jason asked him what 2 x 3 is. He yelled "BINGO!" Yep, those boys are as different as daylight and dark. Joey just figured out that 50 x 50 is 2500. To think, just 30 minutes ago I was amazed at how he logically worked through 45 + 45. Anthony is playing with a letter stamp set. Between helping Anthony get these letter stamps back in the box and trying to listen to Joey's bathtime math recital, I can barely concentrate here. I'll have to check back in with yall later. Have a good night!

Learning the Copics

Hey yall. I played with my new Copic markers a little yesterday, but was still trying to get the hang of things. This evening I like the progress I've made with them. Here's the card I made.

The coloring takes time, but I am pleased with the results. I've never been able to color with my Stampin' Up markers without leaving streaks. I've seen other people do it, but I just never figured it out. I could probably apply what I've learned with my Copics to those markers, but right now I'm concentrating on the new ones. I bought a C1 & W1 to use with my starter set and they have really helped with blending.

In other news I finally had time to watch the Twilight movie last night. It left out a lot of details that are in the book, but I really enjoyed the movie. I can't wait until November 20 when New Moon comes out. I've always been on Team Edward, but after seeing Jacob in the new trailer, well, I may have to cheer on both teams.

Birthday update--today I received a birthday card from my Mom and Dad. Anthony loved the glitter on the front (he called it sprinkles), so the card is a little weathered looking now. I don't know what I'll be doing the evening of my birthday. Jason's parents will be in town and Jason said they could watch the boys while we go out to dinner, but we haven't really talked about it since Sunday. We usually do a birthday dinner somewhere with all our friends. The last 2 years I have chosen IHOP because nobody argues with me about where I choose on my birthday and normally no one wants to go there but me. OK, yall have heard enough about my special day for tonight. I need to get in the bed and dream about my Copics (yeah, I'm a nerd).

Little boys...

Just wanted to let yall in on what I'm listening to right now. Joey and Anthony are crammed next to me on the love seat. One of them will say, "Butt Cheeks" and then they will both laugh. Then the other one will say, "Butt Cheeks" and the laughter starts again. You gotta love little boys. The later it gets, the sillier it gets around here. Gotta try to put them in bed now. Have a good evening!

New etched glasses

Hey yall. I tried etching on some colored glasses yesterday.

I really like the blue coffee mugs I picked up. I also got some blue drinking glasses.

On another note, I've been very far behind on my blogs lately, but I got a message from one of my favorite bloggers and spent some time catching up. Yall go check out Please Don't Eat Sushi and be sure to leave a comment. After you look at the blog, you can go back to my post yesterday and see the comment that was left. Joey (all knowing at age 6) keeps asking me why I'm smiling. I told him it was too hard to explain, but I hope you enjoy the smile you'll get from this blog.

Anthony's whining to sit in my lap while I play on the laptop and Joey is talking rather loudly about Mario Galaxy, so I'm done blogging. Have a good afternoon!

My Big Sis Rocks!!!

Hey yall. Sorry I haven't posted lately. We're having issues with our internet at home. I got my birthday package from my SCS Big Sis today (my birthday if Friday, June 12). Here's what I got.

2 Disney acrylic stamps sets

Memento tuxedo black ink pad

4 unmounted stamps (witch, fence, & 2 sentiments)

foam to mount the stamps on

red sticky tape

shower gel

a beautiful purple card

This box is awesome! It has pockets on each side and had some sticky notes, a bookmark, and 4 cards and envelopes in it. I also had a wrapped present in the box. I sure was surprised when I opened it!

Yep, she bought me a set of Copics. Yall stampers know what those are. For my other friends and family, these are the ultimate in markers and I never thought I would own a set. I can see I will be watching the Hobby Lobby sale paper so I can add to the collection, but I am so excited to have these! Now, to put this gift in perspective, we are supposed to spend at least $15 during the 3 month period. She already spent that with my first gift, which included a set of Nestabilities (list price $24.99). I looked up this set of markers and the list price is $51.48 at Dick Blick, but they are on sale there now for $36.99. Not only does she buy expensive stuff, but there's no telling how long it took her to make that wonderful box. I can't wait to bring it to work and show my co-workers. Anyway, I guess today was the official beginning of my birthday week, which I will be celebrating through next weekend. In case you're curious, I'll be 32 this year. Last year Joey was so concerned that I was gonna die on my birthday because 31 was so old. Hopefully now that he has made it to the old age of 6 he won't be so concerned. Gotta go help with dinner now. Have a great day!!!