Happy Boo to You!

I had to do it...I just had to make ONE Halloween card! I love this stamp set...got it last year when it was going to retire. I was just itching to use it! So, here is what I came up with...my own Michelle Zindorf knock-off! (BTW, if you have not seen her blog before, you are missing out! Check her out here.)

I love the concept of the card, but I am not 110% happy with how the card itself came out. I think I needed a brighter color on top of the black to make it pop more. Hummm....

Anyway, wishing you a very Happy Halloween full of treats and no tricks!

Stamps: Booglie Eyes, Season of Friendship (SU)
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Gray, Black
Ink: Ranger Vick Bantock Lamp Black, Versamark, Barely Banana, Apricot Appeal, Chocolate Chip, Night of Navy, Not Quite Navy, Bashful Blue, Copics to color the images
Accessories: Silver Cord (SU), Google Eyes, White Gel Pen

Technique: For this one on Whisper White cs I stamped the tree in Versamark and then Chocolate Chip, immediately sprinkling with clear EP. I heat it to set.

Then, I stamped the witch and mummy, colored in with Copics, colored over with a Versamark Pen and sprinkled with clear EP, then heat to set.

After that, I punched a circle with a post-it (you know how I like those! LOL) and put it over the witch. I then took my brayer and covered the card in Bashful Blue. I layered Not Quite Navy and Night of Navy until I got a good sky. I removed the mask for my moon and sponged in the Barely Banana and Apricot Appeal.

Thanks for looking! BOO!

Last Laugh

Remember the friend I made the Cowboys card for? Well, she is such a doll...for my birthday she sent me a monster care package, full of all the things a crafter loves...embellishments, punches, stamps...and chocolate!

See, it is not just chocolate she sent, but See's Candy! For those of you who have yet to have a piece grace your life, well...all I can say is heaven! At any rate, Lisa even sent me a full pound of my very favorite candy, the scotchmallow. Imagine marshmallow atop creamy caramel coated in a nice dark chocolate shell. I know!

DH had not "experienced" See's prior to meeting me. Needless-to-say, he is also now a fan. Unfortunately for me, he also enjoys the scotchmallow.

Thankfully the day my birthday package arrived, DH was at work. I thought I was so sneaky...I hid it immediately in a place where my kids and dogs would not find it (well, after trying a piece of course! I mean, I had to make sure it was still good; it had a long trip here!). Additionally, I kept moving its location in case one were to find it...heh!

Apparently the last laugh was on me. Dang DH! (Victoria, you are so laughing right now, aren't you?)


**In case you cannot read the note, it says, "Did you seriously try to hide this from me"

The Monkey Family

DH and I have always called our kids "monkeys". It started with our first born and has ceremoniously continued.

In fact, DH likes to play a game where he hugs our kids, does not let them go, and then is a very deep voice announces "You can't get out of the Monkey Hut!" (Hence the blog name.)

Of course, the game is to get out of the Hut, which they always do...and come back for more!

So, the third child arrived and we started calling her by her nickname, which just so happens to rhyme with "monkey", so it became the norm to call her ____-monkey. Even her siblings do it.

Today I went to pick her up at preschool and the teacher told me they had an inspection today. The inspector asked my daughter what her name was and she proudly announced "____-monkey"!! In fact, the teacher could not get my daughter to say her real name! Of course, I was laughing inside, but I had to put on my game face and say "Oh, thank you! We will work on that at home!"

I must go now and try to convince my 3 year old she is not really named ___-monkey. This is going to be difficult, almost like trying to reintegrate a child raised by wolves, but in this case a group of monkeys. Did I mention she is 3 years old and stubborn as all get out?

Season of Fall

I purchased Season of Friendship a month or so ago and was instantly in love with it! It has so many possibilities! Plus, it was a perfect replacement for the Trees Three set I sold recently!

Since I needed some additional Fall cards for my November birthday list, I went to town. I decided the leaves needed some dimension, so I used the rock and roll technique to jazz the edges. I also used the stamped off image of the leaves to make the ground cover! I did not want the leaves that fell off the tree to compete with the focal point, thus I decided they needed to be a little lighter.

I continued with my trend of using vellum for the sentiment! No messing with the white craft ink this time, however! Amazing how quickly the normal ink dries! In addition, I cannot seem to steer clear of the Chocolate Chip cardstock! I am really starting to think I have a subliminal thing going on here...apparently, my stamping mimics my life because I do LOVE chocolate! Or maybe it is just that you cannot see my chocolate fingerprints on dark colors (must stamp with M&Ms!) :)

Polished the card off with some brads and a little hodgepodge hardware and ribbon.

Hope you are enjoying your weekend!

Stamps: Season of Friendship, Hugs and Wishes (SU)
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke, Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sun, Not Quite Navy
Paper: Naturals Ivory, Always Artichoke, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Vellum
Accessories: Antique Copper brads (CTMH), Hodgepodge Hardware (SU), Ribbon (SU)

Something's Fishy

While DH was in Iraq a couple of years ago, the base sponsored a trip for all of us left behind. It was to the Asamushi Aquarium! I adore aquariums, as do my kids, so were in!

This was a smaller aquarium, but it did have a really, really cool feature: you could pose right next to a real life dolphin!!! How cool is that? I mean, we were literally inches away from it. I know, the littlest things excite me!

They also had a really cool dolphin show. Unfortunately for us, it was all in Japanese! Well, of course it would be...we are in Japan, after all! At the time we had only lived here for a few months and I will still adapting. See, although we live off base, we pretty much spend all of our time on base and interact with only Americans. It is really kind of strange, because at times I do have to remind myself that I am in Japan! Although we could not understand the narration of the show, it was cool to listen to the inflection...you could surely tell when something big was going to happen! LOL

Layout: Becky Higgins

Paper: BasicGrey, SU In Colors 08

Accessories: CM Circle Punch, Cricut Paper Dolls Dress Up, Opposites Attract, Cat's Eye for brown shading

Packin' Heat

"Guess what I want for my birthday this year?" I asked DH with a huge smile and gleeful tone.

This could be a loaded question, so I notice DH treading lightly.

"What would that be?" he tentatively asks.

"A gun!" I exclaim.

"Excuse me?" He says, as if I have lost my mind. See, DH may be a military man, but he does not care for firearms in the house.

"I want a gun for scrapbooking! It is a tape gun, silly!" There! I sold it! He was expecting something like a Smith & Wesson and all I want is a 3M ATG knock-off, so I am surely going to get it now!

I have wanted this ATG for a while, but could not justify $50 for the gun. For some reason, I can spend $50 at the store in the blink of an eye, but I cannot do it for a tape dispenser! LOL

As the story goes, I was surfing SCS and found a thread about a different version of the ATG that was cheaper and worked just as well! Even the tape refills were cheaper ($1.50/roll for 36 yards!)! And...the best part...they ship to APO addresses! It was meant to be...

So, now I am the proud owner of a new tape gun! If anyone decides to break into my home and can get by my dogs, they better beware of my new gun!

If anyone wants the info on where I got my gun, check out thetapedepot.com. The gun is the ATG-50 and the refills are ATG-7502. Free shipping for orders over $35!

Happy Wife, Happy Life

This past weekend was my organization's Far East Bazaar. To my husband, this equates to a bad period in our bank account! To me, it is a shopping mega-high that lasts for 3 days! What is the old saying..."Happy Wife, Happy Life"? All of the proceeds to go charity as well, so HOW can you go WRONG?

This bazaar is a labor of love. Our organization operates as a non-profit. We are comprised of approximately 110 members, have a board of 25 and a Bazaar committee of 33. We work insanely hard for months to put this together, and then work even harder the weekend of the event. Vendors come in from all over Asia: Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, etc. It is truly a unique experience. We do this twice a year: once in the Fall and again in the Spring. Our proceeds help to fund Welfare Requests locally, as well as our scholarship program. I am delighted to be part of it!

At any rate, I had to share a few of my weekend "finds"! I find it a testament to my multi-tasking ability how I can "manage" work and shop at the same time. It is a gift, really!

This is going to be an entry table one day. I envision a pretty mirror above it. Right now it has to live as a telephone table because I am out of room in my house!! The drawers have a cool way of opening. If you press the middle one in, the side drawers open!

This chest fits nicely under the above table. One day, I want it to live next to the table as an accent piece on the floor.

This vase has a younger sister that came home with me as well! I think they will look good on top of the entry/pseudo-telephone table one day. For now, they are on our floor, hopefully not to turn into a dog chew toy.

This is a picture of the corner of a large mirror: 32" x 32" square. I just could not figure out how to get a good picture without taking one of me in it, so you get to see only the corner! I liked this for an entryway as well, but think it will end up in my daughter's room when we move. I just love the distressed yellow and the painted flowers!

This final piece my husband wanted. It stores DVDs in the drawers. We currently have our bedroom TV sitting on top of it. This actually replaced a nightstand DH's Mom bought for him in 1992! She found it at a garage sale! It survived 6 moves, 2 of which were international!! I would say that was a great find!

Hope you enjoyed seeing the newest additions to my family! :)

Another Covered Bridge

Right now you are likely asking yourself "does she own another stamp set?!" Yes, in fact I do. In fact, DH would probably be happy to count all of them for you, just to point out that I have more than I know what to do with! LOL I just wanted to try out some different techniques and I needed a Fall card. So there you go!

It does not hurt that this set is so versatile and lends itself to many different techniques. So, for this card...which is the FINAL in the series (for this season anyway...they have 3 more stamps in the set!) I wanted to watercolor.

I used SU's inks and an aqua painter on watercolor paper. It was fun, but fairly time intensive. Additionally, I had not watercolored in such a long time, I forgot I should have used Staz On rather than my Adirondack ink pads. As you can see, my tree smeared a little. That is OK...it now has a distressed look to it! :)

Stamps: Changing Seasons, Sanded
Ink: Adirondack Espresso, Versamark, Aquapen with various SU inks
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Really Rust, Watercolor, Naturals Ivory (base)
Accessories: Photo Turn (Hodgepodge Hardware), Brads (CTMH), Gingham Ribbon (SU)

Thanks for visiting!

Spotlight on the Bridge

Funny how I did not use this set for almost 5 years and now I LOVE it!! Well, I always loved it, so I am really not sure what I was waiting for! Anyway, here is another version of my Cracked Glass card.

I had purchased these circles from CTMH with full intention of using them for the spotlight technique. (I will not disclose how long ago I made this purchase, for fear it will really showcase my hoarding problem! But I will say I have not had them as long as the stamps!!)

To get the color only in the area where I needed it to be, I punched a 1 1/4 inch circle out of some scrap paper. I used the paper with the circle hole in it as a template, laying it over the image and colored within the circle. It worked out really well!

I really like these circles, because they do seem to pop the image!

When I proudly showed my creation to DH, he asked "aren't you going to color the whole thing?" **sigh** I don't think he will ever "get it"!

Stamps: Changing Seasons and Sanded (SU)

Ink: Adirondack Espresso, SU ink pads for Watercoloring with Aqua Pen, Versamark

Paper: Watercolor Paper, Really Rust, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla

Accessories: Copper Brads (CTMH), Hodgepodge Hardware and Old Olive Ribbon (SU), Ticket Corner Punch (SU)

Budding Artist

My 6 year old gave this to me as a "gift".

Isn't it cute?

At first I thought the dotted line was just accent detailing, but then I saw the little scissors! Hee Hee Apparently, I am supposed to "cut" there!

Life Lessons, Part 1

Never take your heat tool and turn it on directly over your embossing tray that still has mounds of loose EP sitting in it! UGH!

For those of you non-crafters, this would be equated to taking a hair dryer, pointing it at a bowl full of lets say, sugar, and turning it on.

As if that was not bad enough, that lesson was learned TWICE tonight. Obviously, I am not a quick learner, Jenny.

Oh yes, it looks like ol' man winter came can vomited on my craft table!

Off to grab some Windex, paper towels, the vacuum and my brain. Maybe tomorrow I will make a Scarecrow card...

Pen Pal Challenge #3

Just in case I have not previously addressed this, I am in a rather large Pen Pal group on SplitCoast. We were the brain child of Lana (Kota48) and quickly grew from a few people to over 120 when we closed off to new members. It is a fabulous group, full of very talented ladies, who have turned into dear friends! I am truly blessed to be part of such a great group!

At any rate, we decided to do some challenges. Challenge #3 was Bonnie's choice. Since Bonnie had a little issue with mice in her attic, she chose to have us make cards with House Mouse images (or critters if you don't have any HM stamps). As a side note, you will be thrilled to know that Bonnie hired an exterminator and the mice are now gone. :)

Being that I needed some additional birthday cards, I picked this stamp. Since rediscovering vellum for the swap cards I made, I opted to use it again, stamping the sentiment in white. (How long does it take white craft ink to dry? I even heat set it and let it sit for an hour...still smeared. Ugh!) Maybe it would have looked better had I used a solid background? I just thought this DSP was perfect for a birthday card...and it was sitting in my scrap pile just waiting to be used!

Stamps: House Mouse Make a Wish, SU Heard from the Heart
Paper: PTI White, watercolor paper, Kiwi Kiss, Red Riding Hood Red, unknown DSP, vellum
Ink: Palette Noir, SU White Craft, Prisma's and Baby Oil
Accessories: Stickles, silver brads

Thanks for looking!

Cracked Glass

So, you know how I was gloating about being done with my cards for this month? Yeah...well, I kind of forgot about a few I needed! That is fine by me, though...because it gives me a "reason" to make some cards! (As if I need that!)

This is actually an old retired SU set. I purchased it in 2003 or 2004. It has 4 images of covered bridges in all 4 seasons. The sad truth is that it has never seen ink! I am not sure what I was waiting for...I absolutely love it!

When thinking of a good layout, I thought it would be cool to try out the cracked glass technique, as if you are looking at the bridge from your window. Of course, it would be a broken window...but no one was hurt in the development of the card! LOL

I must admit...this technique was tough for me! I used SU's glassy glaze with versamark and had a difficult time getting good coverage. In addition, I think I may have ended up with more dry glaze on my desk, pants, and dog than I did on the card! It kept blowing off when I tried to heat set it! It took about 4 layers, working in quadrants, to get the glaze thick enough. Even then, I think it needed more. If you are a seasoned cracked glass person, feel free to share your technique secrets in the comments! :)

So, here you have it. What do you think? Flowers are not really Fall, are they? For some reason, the ribbon/hemp was not doing it for me. I don't know...it was just kind of difficult overall I guess. But as long as my friend likes it, that is all that matters!

Stamps: SU Changing Seasons, Weathered

Paper: SU Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, Old Olive, Very Vanilla

Ink: Adirondack Espresso, Versamark; Aquapainter with various SU inks

Accessories: SU Hodgepodge Hardware, Primas, Glassy Glaze

Hope you are having a fabulous Holiday weekend!

And More Pages

I know you don't believe me, but I do actually make more cards than I do scrapbook pages! It just so happens I have enough cards to make it through the month with Pen Pals, birthdays, and other odds and ends, so I am concentrating on my neglected books. :)

This page was of my son opening his birthday gifts from our family. I used the next page in my layout to guide the design and flow of this page. (I know, I know...it is that flow issue I have).

Paper: Reminisce Genuine Stripes, Karen Foster Navy, We R Memory Keepers Marigold, CTMH Ivory

Accessories: Cricut George for the stars, Street Sign font

Paper: Reminisce Genuine Boy, CTMH Ivory

Accessories: Cricut George for the Stars, Opposites Attract font

It was also fun to use this paper, as it brought back great memories! I purchased this paper while on a trip to Omaha a year ago. In fact, I got it at Mangelsons, which was the best store ever! Oh my gosh, how did I miss that place when I was in college? I mean, really...I lived in that town for 4 years and I had never set foot in there! They had all of their Halloween stuff out...holy smokes; every costume under the sun! Their craft section rocked...picked up some Webkins for the kids...I could have stayed there all day!

To digress further, I had not been back to Omaha since 1994...Elkhorn used to be the end of the Earth and now it is a suburb of Omaha. Oh my gosh! It was shocking...not because I did not expect the city to grow, but it was just so different! Thankfully, one thing the stayed the same: my favorite place, The Garden Cafe, still has one little restaurant left...and I enjoyed the best breakfast, complete with a yummy muffin! Thanks Tonya for driving my rear around all day! I had so much fun!

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Part 2

I know, you were just waiting with bated breath for the next pictorial tour, weren't you? :) Well here it is!

This is probably 2 minutes walking distance from my house. As you can see, it is a field surrounded by homes. I am fairly certain there are no zoning laws here. You see fields everywhere...next to a casino, drug store, where ever. I have no idea what they are growing, but I will say this..."mary jane" grows wild here. No kidding. In addition, they burn it into their fields. That, my friends, is why I think everyone is so happy and nice here!

I ran across this "Little Witch Country Store" on a walk one day. Isn't it cute? (And Jill, I am posting this for you because I thought you would really appreciate it!) I honestly don't know if this is a real store, or just a decorated little shack. It did appear to have things up in the windows, so it might be a honest to goodness storefront! I might have to check back one day!

Here is a picture of a nicer Japanese home. As you can see, no one has a garage. If they have anything, it is a covered parking area. The mud rooms are really cool. In fact, it is impolite to enter someones home and step out of the entryway wearing your shoes. You are to take them off and leave them at the door. We have always done this at my house anyway...only because I was sure my kids would end up with black eyes or killing one another if they had shoes on and a full up brawl started!

Hope you are enjoying your week so far!

BFF Gold Card

My friend Jill, gave me this award...isn't she sweet?

Do you know why it means so much to me? Well, because Jill in my friend IRL...and we used to scrapbook and make cards together! In fact, I was with Jill when we both really learned how to stamp! So, she was the recipient of some of my early creations, which I am sure are quite scary!

Jill is also a very talented scrapbooker. My favorite page of all time was her Happy Apple page (isn't that what you titled it?). She cut the words out for the title free hand. She really is the woman!!

Miss you too, Jill!

World Cardmaking Day

So, World Cardmaking Day was Saturday. Same time every year...first Saturday in Oct. You would think it would be like a National Holiday to me...I would remember...and celebrate it!!

Well, you know what I did? Scrapbook pages. I know, once again...a day late and a dollar short! I am sure in May on National Scrapbooking Day, I will blogging once again about the cards I made that weekend!

Here are a few of my creations from the weekend.

Snow Day:

Paper: **hummm** nothing is marked! I got it here at our little Arts & Crafts Store. That is helpful, isn't it? :)

Embellishments: stickers from the Arts & Crafts store as well.

This was a 2 page layout (as we have already established the fact that I have issues with the "need" to do a flowing color scheme!), but the 2nd page was boring, so I did not post it! You can tell I pulled this layout from my head and not a cool designer layout book!

Make A Wish:

Paper: CTMH Free Spirit

Embellishments: CTMH Stickease

Layout: CTMH Minuet from "Imagine"

Thanks for looking and Happy World Cardmaking Day to all , especially my SCS Blog Buddies!!!

Quirkiness MeMe

Jen tagged me for another fun game! This time I have to list 7 things about myself that are "quirky". LOL For those of you who I only know via cyberspace, please don't let this scare you away! And for those of you who know me...well, this will only reaffirm what my DH so lovingly calls me...his little freak of nature!

1) I have thing about wrapping paper. I really, really enjoy a good quality wrapping paper. You know, like Hallmark. There is something to be said for paper that you cannot see through, does not rip easily, and has nice grid lines on the back so you can cut in a straight line.

I know, you are already scared and we are only on item #1!!

2) I don't mind separating the laundry, putting it in the washer, transferring it to the dryer, and folding it. It is the putting it away in the drawer that kills me. It can sit in the laundry basket all day just staring at me...and I just can't muster the energy to put it away! Of course, since I like a tidy house, it usually drives me crazy to have it sitting there...so it does get put away in a reasonable time frame.

3) I don't like clutter. It drives me crazy! I literally cannot function if my house is a disaster. I have to clean it up before I can sit and watch TV or whatever else. I also clean behind my kids all day. No, not time efficient at all...but mentally good for me! (We have already established the fact that I am a little OCD, as evidenced by my Copic labeling here, so this may not surprise you at all!)

4) I think it is cool that I am resident of State I have never lived in. (No, it is not a state of insanity either!!)

5) I must have a piece of chocolate after I eat lunch or dinner. If I don't, I will slowly wither away to nothing...like dust...or just become mean! :)

6) I will not take my kids to the doctor unless one of the following conditions exist: a) it is time for a well-child check; b) they are bleeding out; or c) they have broken a limb. Having a nurse for a Mom "who sees sick people all the time" stinks if you want to play sick from school one day! I am sure this will cause them to spend years on the leather couch...

7) I can rationalize any retail purchase I make. DH likes to say that I am "spending like we are about the switch to the Euro and the dollar is going to be worthless". What can I say? It is a gift...

"When you are 18..."

My kids are constantly asking us if they can have dessert for dinner or why they cannot use certain "choice" words (which for us are things like "stupid" or "hate").

"When you're 18", we patiently explain over and over, "you can make those decisions for yourself, but we hope that you will do the right thing."

So, last night as I was washing my 6 year old's hair, she said to me "Mommy, I can't wait to be 18. Then I can do what I want!"

"Yes, you can, but what is it that you want to do?"

"Hummm," she replied, and after some thought, she gleefully exclaimed, "I want to wash the dishes!"

Joy to the world! I can make that happen for her before she is 18!

More Pages

Here are more pages I completed at the crop:

I am pretty sure this LO came from Becky Higgins. Paper and Flowers from Prima marketing, Vellum Quote from Creative Memories, Post-its from 3M! LOL

This is the second page of the previous layout. Do you do 1 or 2 page layouts? I like to see my colors flow, but if it does not work out, then it doesn't! This used all the same supplies as the first page.

My Sleeping Beauty! Paper and saying by Creative Memories, Rub-Ons from Stampin' UP.

There is absolutley no question that my daughter has an allergy to Amoxicillin! You can kind of see that her poor face is swollen and blotchy!

Layout is Becky Higgins and Paper is CTMH.

Thanks for stopping by to look! I hope you have a wonderful Friday!!

Tagged

So here I am, minding my own business, going through my Google reader, only to find that Lou tagged me to give 7 random facts about myself! :) She is just naughty, isn't she?

Here is the fine print: 1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog.3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Alright, here we go:

1) I will not sing in front of people. I did break that little rule recently when I sang "Love Shack" at a Karaoke bar here. I mean...I am in Japan for goodness sakes...it is like a National sport here...I kind of *had* to. I will admit, it was fun. :)

2) My college roommate's family nicknamed me "Murph". No one else calls me that to this day, but I love it when her Dad does! Great memories...

3) While I check the computer at night, DH plays Halo 3 on the XBox 360. This is an exciting night for us. Yes, we are lame!

4) I am a total Type A personality.

5) My favorite cereal is Honey Bunches of Oats with Strawberries, which I only recently discovered! (Thanks, Christy!!)

6) No one has come to visit us since we have been in Japan. We are beginning to get a complex and think that no one likes us...even our family! LOL

7) I have a hoarding problem when it comes to pretty scrapbook paper. There. I said it! And if it puts us over the weight limit going home, I will never hear the end of it!! :)

OK, now who is getting tagged??? Let's see: Connie, Bonnie, Rachel, Rachel, KittyKat, Jill, & Lesley

Happy Tagging! :)