Pants on the Ground

All I can say about these coffee mugs--if you haven't seen the guy on American Idol singing "Pants on the Ground," you need to go to You Tube IMMEDIATELY and watch it!

Monogrammed Notecards

While in Michael's the other day, I found some really cute $1 initial/monogram stamps. I was lucky enough to find the J & the R for myself. This weekend I decided to try out a few monogrammed notecards.


I love how both of them turned out. I used some heavy paper that was patterned on one side and white on the other. When I fold the paper, the inside is blank. I also used my nestabilities to create the scalloped circle and scalloped square.

I may need to go back and see what other letters I can get. I could always use my Cricut to print letters, but they wouldn't be as pretty as these detailed ones. By the way Aunt Pat, I picked up a P for you. I was going to get the W and let you turn it upside down for an M, but it was too obvious that it wasn't an M.

Another Birdie Valentine

I made another Valentine's Day card using my new digi stamp (see previous post). This time instead of using my Copics to color it I used my Prismacolors, OMS, & blending stumps. I like using the Copics for coloring, but prefer the Prismacolors for doing backgrounds. The problem with doing both on the same picture is that they typically require different ink to prevent smearing. Of course my Copics smear with inkjet printed images, but only if I color across a line.


I know the purple bird is not realistic, but I wanted a purple bird. I'm okay with how this turned out, but for some reason everthing I tried on Saturday looked off to me. I guess it's just a creative block. Hopefully it will pass.

Digi Stamp

Here's a Valentine card I made Friday night with my new digi stamp. For those of you who aren't familiar with digi stamps, they are kinda like clip art, but they are made in black and white and are designed to be used like stamped images. The awesome thing about them is that you can resize them. I just picked a basic size and printed off 6 of them to play with.


This was the first digi stamp I've ever bought, and I bought it off Etsy. It was also my first Etsy purchase. You can check out more that this artist has at her website www.jessicaweible.com. She has other items also, but I loved this image. It's easily a Valentine's image, but I think it could be used as just a springtime image too.

Winter Forest

Happy Saturday afternoon to everyone. I've got another card to share, but this one is definitely not a Valentine's Day card. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but I like it.

I've been wanting to use this stencil since I bought it about a year ago, but this was my first time to take it out of the package. I ran it through my Cuttlebug so I wouldn't have to use my embossing tool, and I'm pleased with how well it embossed. I used navy cardstock with a white core. After embossing, I sanded through to the white, then used brown chalk. I mounted it on tan cardstock. I'm thinking maybe it's a sympathy card, but it could be a a manly birthday card.

Love Bugs

Here's 2010 Valentine card number 3. I had the image of these cute little bugs and decided they were perfect little love bugs. I'm not sure if Stampendous intended for one to be a bumblebee and the other to be a ladybug, but that's what they looked like to me.

I gave them human colored faces. I'm not sure why except that's what I was in the mood to do. I really like how this one turned out. It may be one of my favorites this year. PS--I'm not really up before 8am on a Saturday morning, this is a scheduled post. No calls before 10am.

You're Such a Treat

I wanted something quick and easy that I could color while listening to Joey read "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," so I decided to color this ice cream cone image I've had for a while.


I used some ribbon I bought on clearance at Michael's last year. It's brown with pink candies on it. The inside sentiment is "You're Such a Treat." I couldn't get a good picture of it. This card really makes me want a chocolate ice cream cone!

Totally Nuts For You

Believe it or not, I actually played with paper again this evening! I bought a $1 stamp at Michael's yesterday and couldn't wait to try it out. The background says "totally nuts about you" all over it. I broke out the acorn wheel (once I finally found the handle for it) and covered the background of some redish pinkish paper.

Isn't he precious? This is a large card, probably 5 x 8. Pretty simple, but I think it's adorable. I usually have a few guys at work who want Valentine's Day cards, so I figured I better get started. I'll show yall another one tomorrow. Good night!

My new notebook

Good evening yall! Today I decided I wanted a break from etching glass. I really wanted to get back to my roots, which means PAPER! Last week I got Jason to pick me up several speckled notebooks while they were on sale at Office Depot. Here's what I made.

I love how it turned out! The little girl and tree were chipboard that I painted. I can't remember the last time I actual painted anything! The little birdie and the flower on her dress are rub-ons and I decorated the tree with buttons. The spine of the book is covered with purple cardstock that I punched along the edge.

The back uses a coordinating piece of paper. Instead of the intricate flower punch down the side of the back spine piece I used a scallop. I put solid cardstock on the inside of the front (pink) and back (turquoise) covers.

Here's a great before and after shot. I'm very pleased with my new notebook. I've got 2 more just waiting to be redesigned! I'm not sure when I'll get to them, but I'm happy I spent the time this evening to do the first one.

I think I may bring this notebook to work. I could use something to brighten up the dull gray walls of my cubicle and I'm always scribbling random notes down. At least this way I would have one notebook full of scribbles instead of sticky notes and scraps of paper scattered all over my desk. I hope everyone has a happy MLK day tomorrow. Jason and the kids are off, but I've got to work. Joey has his best friend spending the night tonight, so it's not like I could sleep in tomorrow anyway. I'm sure they'll all be up bright & early! I better get some sleep now. Yes, I know it's not 9:30pm yet, but I'm old. Maybe not in years, but having small boys is just tiring. Have a good night!

Hoppy for you

This week my friend Jodie found out she's having a little girl, so I wanted to make her a congratulations card. She loves frogs, so I thought this image was perfect. It's another simple card, but I like simple.

Jodie said it was my best card ever. I'm glad she liked it. It reminds me of a picture she has of her little girl Layla wearing pink & green frog pajamas. Anyway, I'm HOPPY you stopped by to see what I've been up to!

Happy Birthday Momma!

My mom had a birthday on Monday and this is the card I made her. She is a great seamstress, so I decided to go with the House Mouse stamp "Mouse Bounce."


It's a pretty simple card, but I think it turned out cute. I used my nesties to cut out the mice and popped them up on pop dots. I used my largest pop dots, so the panel sticks up pretty high. I actually made this Wednesday night (yes, the kids let me craft!) and Jason brought it and her present to Daddy's office Thursday. Yall know I'm late for everything. Anyhow, just wanted to share since this is the first card I've made in a LONG time. I've got another one I'll post tomorrow. See ya later!

I planned, so why did I fail???

Ever heard the saying "If you fail to plan, then plan to fail?" Well, this week I've been freezing cold and exhausted every evening. I crawl under the electric blanket after dinner thinking when I warm up, I'll work at my craft desk. It hasn't happened yet. This evening, I had a better plan--workout with my Biggest Loser game for the Wii so I wouldn't be so cold, then craft before the kiddos get home from church. Well, I did a full workout and the stupid thing said I only burned 37 calories, which I thought was ridiculous. I know I didn't do all the exercises PERFECTLY, but I tried my best. It's not my fault one of my jumping jacks landed me into the side of Joey's bed. Do you know how long it's been since I did jumping jacks? At least I recovered quickly and kept going. After the warm up, 2 circuits, and cool down, I ate a quick dinner and guess what--it's already time for the kids to come home! I'm not freezing, so that part worked, but by the time I get my first craft supply out the kids will be running through the house. Oh, in the middle of my workout I did stop to etch glass #7 for the year--a fleur de lis trifle bowl. Anyway, enough griping. I'm gonna try to get something done, even if it's just picking out what I want to do next time I have a free 5 minutes.

Wine, anyone?

Here is another Sunday evening project. One of the girls at work told me she wanted to use this empty win bottle to keep dishwashing detergent in by her sink. She loves fleur-de-lis and has them all over her house, so she asked if I would try etching one on the bottle.


Now all she needs to do is fill it up and put a cork in it. I think this is a very cute idea. She mentioned she had a lot of empty wine bottles, so maybe she'll share a few with me. If not, I guess I could just buy a few pretty ones and drink them empty. Ok, so that was a joke, but I'm sure she'll share. This bottle was the 6th thing I etched this year. The first 4 were fleur de lis on square containers and the 5th was the trifle bowl I showed you yesterday. I'm getting a little tired of taking pictures of fleur de lis stuff over and over, so I don't have any pictures of the 4 square containers, but I'm sure you can imagine what they look like (if you even want to). I'm hoping work is a little easier this week so I can make some stuff and share it. Actually, I hope work is a lot easier this week because last week was way too hard. Too much brain power required. So if you don't see anything for a few days, cut me a little slack, ok? I'll do my best to entertain, but sometimes I just need some sleep!

New trifle bowl

Hey everybody. I hope you have enjoyed your Sunday. I worked all day yesterday, so I tried to make the most of my Sunday. Of course that included skipping church, sleeping til 10am, AND taking a nap. What can I say, I have priorities! Anyway, enough about that. I've decided this year I'm going to keep count of how many items I etch. This evening I etched 6 items. I'm gonna share one with you this evening. I've been wanting to do a scripture-type trifle bowl.

This one says, "As for me & my house, we will serve the Lord." There are some changes I will make next time I do one of these. Mainly, I will put the rows of words closer together. Actually, that's probably the only change I'll make. Other than that, I'm very happy with how it turned out. What's that? You're asking about that bright light in the background? Oh, that's my new Ott light I bought at Michael's today. They are regularly $69.99 but the sale paper had them for $29.99. I got the ONLY one they had, and it had been taken out of the box. You've gotta love local stores and corporate sale papers not communicating. I'm hoping that my new light will not only help me making cards, but also in photographing them. Anyhow, that's all for tonight. I'm gonna schedule a post for tomorrow and then probably head to bed. The electric blanket is calling my name!

Driveway Painting

For Christmas, Aunt Pat & family gave the boys a sidewalk chalk set that included paint :)

The boys had a great time painting the driveway. They also painted several of the outside toys and themselves.

They really enjoyed the paint, even if it was a bit messy. Joey got a little upset when Anthony accidentally mixed the colors, but that's just the difference in their personalities.

After 2 weeks in the house during the Christmas holidays, it was nice to have an outside activity to keep them busy!

Making Meatballs

It's a freezing cold Sunday here in northern Louisiana. I do not like cold weather! Anthony asked his daddy for some meatballs, so they decided to cook some. Anthony is helping his daddy with his favorite food today.

Jason learned to make homemade meatballs from his Mawmaw, who passed away last year. This meal is very special to him now as he reminisces while he cooks.

Anthony really liked getting to help daddy roll out the meatballs. After that they worked on making the homemade sauce. Maybe Anthony will be a great cook like his daddy when he grows up.

Isn't he just precious! Joey has no interest whatsoever in meatballs--not cooking or eating them. He's trying to defeat his new DS game right now--Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. I hope yall have a great Sunday.

Happy New Year!

Hey yall. Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year! You know it wouldn't really be me if it wasn't late. I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays. We had a blast New Year's Eve. Jason got a Blu Ray player for Christmas that will play streaming videos, so we watched You Tube videos on the tv. Joey's favorite is "Funny Cats" but we all laughed until we cried watching the Bill Dance fishing bloopers. They were awesome. The boys stayed up until 10:30pm and for the first time ever, actually slept until 9:30am Friday! Yesterday we worked on cleaning and organizing more stuff in the house, then went to Pizza Hut for dinner.

Ok, so I guess I should share some New Year's Resolutions. I've thought about it a little, and I really think I need to build some flexibility into them. For example, I'd like to say I will exercise every day, but with next week's work schedule, that's not gonna happen. I'll be working late every day plus I'll be working Saturday. I don't really think I'll have the time to exercise. So keeping that in mind, here's my list for 2010.
1. Spend more time with the family. In 2009, I skipped out on a LOT of family time. I need to put into practice the fact that it's not all about me.
2. It's kinda hard to continue this list with wild kids jumping on me. Maybe I'll continue it later, or maybe not. Remember--it's all about the flexibility!