Required Viewing...

So I love movies...who doesn't, right?  I take my favorites to heart.  My old stand-bys...the ones I could watch a thousand times...the ones I could pretty much repeat word for word.  And I get offended when people don't like my favorite movies.  Which, I suppose is odd.  I actually don't often watch my favorites with other people who haven't seen them, so I don't have to feel awkward or annoyed if they aren't a fan.  Probably the reason for this is many of my favorite movies (I say "many" instead of "all", because there are some ridiculous ones that I continue to love just because they exist), either led to some sort of personal revelation for me or at least made me think about myself or the world a little differently.  So here's some of my favorites...and if you don't like them, please don't tell me, cuz it would sadden me...lol.  :)

1)  Fight Club (1999)
2)  Stigmata (1999)
3)  Office Space (1999)
4)  Moulin Rouge (2001)
5)  Boondock Saints (1999)
6)  Just Married (2003)
7)  Cheaper by the Dozen  (2003)
8)  City Slickers (1991)
9)  Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)
10)  The Hangover (2009)
11)  The Sandlot (1993)
12)  Boiler Room (2000)
13)  Amelie (2001)
14)  Secretary (2002)
15)  Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
16)  When Harry Met Sally (1989)
17)  Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)
18)  Stranger than Fiction (2006)
19)  Talladega Nights (2006)
20)  White Squall (1996)
21)  Duets (2000)
22)  The Broken Hearts Club (2000)
23)  Wall-E (2008)
24)  Chicago (2002)
25)  Romeo & Juliet (1968)
26)  Anchorman (2004)
27)  Meet the Fockers (2004)
28)  Armageddon (1998)
29)  Three Kings (1999)
30)  The Island (2005)
31)  Mallrats (1995)
32)  Empire Records (1995)
33)  Memento (2000)
34)  The Matrix (1999)
35)  Pretty Woman (1990)
36)  The Punisher (2004)
37)  The Neverending Story (1984)
38)  Wedding Crashers (2005)
39)  The Invention of Lying (2009)
40)  Lilo & Stitch (2002)
41)  The Incredibles (2004)
42)  Bolt (2008)
43)  Snatch (2000)
44)  The Transporter (2002)
45)  Morning Glory (2010)
46)  The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
47)  Paint Your Wagon (1969)  <----- This is a Clint Eastwood MUSICAL, people
48)  Elf (2003)
49)  Daddy Daycare (2003)
50)  Keeping the Faith (2000)

And yeah...there's like a million more...but that should be more than sufficient :)  And if you didn't bother reading the list, and just skimmed the first few and skipped to the end...no biggie...this is half posted in hopes that other people might like these, and half for my records, since I'm in the midst of updating my collection  :)  That's all for tonight...more crafting after inventory next week!

The Art of The Sassy Card...

Well, it's been quite a day.  Big plans this morning...finish cooking, go to work and clean the office, run some errands, etc, etc.  In reality, after I finished cooking, I looked at the amount of snow on my car and gave up on the rest of my plans for the day :)  lol.  It's good though...the middle of a mild to moderate snowstorm is a good time to have a day in pajamas, reading a book, watching tv, and being crafty.  So after pulling all my crafting supplies out, I didn't have much of an idea of what I wanted to do.  Which obviously led me to pull out my very favorite inspiration book of all time...all sassy cards:

Get Real Greetings, edited by Jessica Strawser

The important thing to note about a sassy card (particularly THESE sassy cards, which are some of the sassiest I've seen) is this:  You VERY RARELY get to actually send one.  It takes a special kind of situation and a special kind of recipient to appreciate the humor.  However, it doesn't make them any less fun to make, and I'm confident that eventually all my sassy cards will find a good home.  I've sent a few that I've made, but I still have a little pile of them awaiting their perfect moment.  And until then, I'll sift through my card drawer now and again and giggle with the thought of someone's face changing from confusion to shock to laughter over a card that I made and sent them at the perfect time :)

So all that said, here was my project of the evening.  Supplies - super old stamp set (I honestly don't even know who MADE it), cardstock, pens, ribbon, watercolor pencils, and glossy accents:

Validation (Front):

Validation (Inside):

And that's all for tonight :)

An Indoor Kinda Gal...

So, one week ago today, in a blatant act of insanity tied to unseasonably warm weather, I opened the windows of my apartment for nearly an entire day...for exactly the third time since I moved here a year and a half ago...and the first time was just to get the couch in through the window.  I am still wondering what on earth I was thinking, as I get home from work every day to walk into my apartment and enjoy a prompt and violent allergy attack.  When will these miserable allergens filter out of my house again?!?  Blech. 

I am not an outdoorsy girl...at all.  Aside from the fact that I'm incredibly Irish and sunburn in about 10 minutes, I don't particularly like it when it's too hot, too cold, wet, dirty, buggy, windy, etc, etc, and the fact that I'm astonishingly clumsy (which seems to be a bigger issue for outdoor activities than indoor ones)...I'm also allergic to practically everything under the sun.  Dust, mold, pollen, ragweed, carpet, cats, a wide variety of flowers...you name it, I need a Zyrtec for it.  You say let's go visit the flower gardens at the Bellagio in Vegas, and I say, "What, are you trying to kill me?"  I spent almost a week in a hotel room in Virginia with allergy meds and an inhaler, wheezing and gasping for air, and wondering why the hell we needed to go on a family vacation to Williamsburg with all their damn beautiful gardens.  Hell, I spent the better part of my youth drinking juice boxes, because I was allergic to milk...MILK for pete's sake!  Miserable.  And while I love my Zyrtec and adore Visine for allergies, they can really only do so much.  At some point, there's some sort of diminishing returns thing that happens, and I'm a lost cause for the rest of the day.

This summer, in a similar moment of memory-lapse, I decided to be a good pet parent and take Lucy outside to hang out for a while.  I brought a book out, sat down in the grass with her...and she promptly had an allergy attack...and then so did I.  lol :)  It's good that my dogs share the same weird quirks as me.  So now we all remember to go outside and then come right the hell back in to our temperature-controlled, mostly allergen-free (except when I lose my mind and open the windows) apartment, where we can all be happy without sneezing or watery eyes. 

So yeah...I'm that girl who doesn't like to go outside if she doesn't have to.  And I'm unapologetic about it.  And most people who have witnessed me in the middle of one of my debilitating allergy attacks understand why.  I'll do the laundry.  The house will be spotless.  There will be a five course gourmet meal on the table promptly at six every night.  Just please, oh please...don't ever ask me to do yard work.  lol :)

That's all for tonight!

The Joys of Living Alone...

It had been a while since I had lived alone when I moved up here to Zion.  Except for a few months living in the world's tiniest "studio efficiency" (code for one room in the basement of a house with it's own microwave, mini-fridge, and bathroom...woot!), I was always living with someone else.  While there are obvious financial gains to sharing the bills with someone, I am greatly enjoying being on my own for the time being.  That said, it's probably setting me back years in my OCD-esque issues and my dislike for sharing :)  lol. 

I ran the gambit for roommates and apartments.  There was my first college roommate in a dorm room at Millikin, who didn't find it remotely innappropriate to get it on with a different guy every other night in the top bunk of our bunkbeds.  (If you wanna do it, fine, but at least have the courtesy to get home before me and leave a note on the door, instead of coming in at 3am after I'm fast asleep and me having to wake up half motion sick from that nonsense!).  My roommate in a very nice apartment in DeKalb, who turned out to be psychopathic (literally).  Then there were my fab roomies over in Suburban apartments in DeKalb (okay, it's not quality housing, but it's cheap, and that's what's important when you're trying to figure out where your next 50 cent draft is coming from!), by far my most nostalgic and fond roommate memories...wine and knitting, fondue and movies, potato soup and Sex in the City, and let's not forget crazy parties with sinks getting pulled off the walls. 

Then I moved into my studio for a while...it was tiny (my queen size bed wouldn't even fit through the door), the house was crappy, it wasn't in a particularly good neighborhood, but bygolly it was mine, and I made it cute, and I didn't have to share anything!    And while I loved the privacy, I got a job further away in the more-expensive-than-DeKalb suburbs, so I got a roommate again.  We both kind of did our own thing...both worked a lot...when we DID wind up in the apartment at the same time we had some drinks and chatted...it was a nice, comfortable arrangement.  And then there was the co-habitating at a couple of different locations with the ex, which was sort of different than the traditional roommate situation, but the same in a lot of ways too.  I guess the "mine" and "yours" lines get blurred more in that situation...plus, there were less likely to be arguments about who created the dirty dishes and whatnot, which was nice.

The one common thread of having a rommate for me was that I had to let go of my little OCD tendencies, or I would've lost my mind.  Remind myself that I should keep my mouth shut when dirty dishes were put on the counter instead of in the dishwasher, or when the shower curtain is left open instead of closed, or when there are shoes strewn all over the house.  And whether it's a good thing or not, now that I live alone, everything can be PERFECT.  The counter is always clear.  The shower curtain is always closed.  The shoes are always neatly lined up at the front door or in the closet.  There are no piles of random mail and magazines everywhere.  It's a beautiful thing.  And at the same time, maybe it's not...

I can't focus when things aren't perfect now.  The house MUST be clean in order to embark on any potentially creative endeavor, because my mind certainly can't function creatively when there are things out of place.  Under very few circumstances can I fathom being able to fall asleep at night with my scrapbooking supplies all over the livingroom or before my luggage is unpacked and put away when I get back from a long weekend.  But...meh...I'm indulging myself for the time being.  Everything can be perfect for a while longer...I'll live with someone again eventually, and I'll learn to let it go again.  Somehow it's a lot easier when someone else is there...like if there's anyone else in the picture, then that is an x-factor that's out of my control, so I can relax about it.  At least my dogs are running around periodically shredding toys and whatnot, reminding me now and then that it won't be this way forever.  lol. 

Anyway, the house WAS clean tonight, and I WAS feeling creative, so I made a little Valentine card.  It's inspired by a card I got from my sister last year.  I used BoBunny papers, Penny Black stamps (a re-purposed Christmas set), watercolor pencils, the SewEZ tool, and Flowersoft.  I like how it turned out...and I'm glad I wound up using that last stamp in my Christmas set that I hadn't gotten around to using yet. 

Front:

Inside:

That's all for tonight :)  More when I have time!

New Year's Resolutions? Nah...

I'm notoriously atrocious at 1) coming up with New Year's resolutions that I have any intention of following through on to begin with, and 2) even remembering what they were three weeks from now.  In fact, the only resolution I ever kept was the one I made a few years ago to stop making resolutions at New Years, since they seem to always end in irritation and disappointment in my lack of enthusiasm anyway.  That said, this evening I read a friend's post about New Years INTENTIONS, and am feeling inspired to borrow the idea.  While I would like to say "be a more consistent blogger," that would be another one that I have no intention of following through on.  I have finally come to terms with the fact that I blog as much as I legitimately can given how busy I am at work, how much I'm in transit with travel (and thus out of reach of a computer), and whatever else I have going on in my life.  So, although I wish I could say to myself that this year I'm going to make more time to be creative and share it with others, alas...I know it's not true, so I won't.  Here's the ACTUAL list of my New Years Intentions:

1) Read more (I've got a decent start on this, since I'm pretty sure I've read more in the two weeks I've had my Kindle than I did in the entire previous year.  I'm adding a gadget to the side of my page to keep track of what I've read...more for purposes of remembering than tracking.)

2) Actually use the vacation time I earn this year (no promises on whatever rolled over from last year)...and maybe even actually GO somewhere for vacation (a novel idea, I know, but vacationing alone isn't my favorite, and attempting to coordinate my schedule with friends or family is difficult once you're living in grown-up land with jobs and married friends with kids and everyone is busy and you just can't seem to carve out any time.)

3) Continue making strides in paying down debts (those 50 cent drafts are easily $5 a piece by now, at LEAST...8 years later...geez.  But, I have a plan, and it's in action, and we're taking it one billing cycle at a time from there) with the intent to start saving (shocker!) and get a new car (one where the windows seal, the trunk is fully functional, the front dash hasn't bubbled up from dripping condensation from the poorly sealed windows, that doesn't have atrocious cost of ownership, doesn't handle like a boat, gets reasonable gas mileage, has FOUR doors, and isn't cursed to have a ton of bizarro accidents and fender benders with raccoons and people who don't stop for red lights or ambulances...can you tell I'm hung up on this car thing???)

4) Get more sleep (despite that fact that I'm writing this what would seem to be unreasonably late when I have to be at work 8 hours from now...but still...good intentions of doing so.  Perhaps we'll start that one tomorrow!)

5) Make it a point to not get stuck in a rut of work, home, couch, tv, and sleep...go to movies, take myself out to lunch, hit karaoke and the bar more times than I can count on one hand this year...that kinda thing (I swear I used to be fun in college...I vaguely remember it...or at least, I think I do...maybe it was all a dream...work and the real world seems to just sap that energy right out of you.  But "happy" isn't something you just ARE...it's something you choose to be...and I'm happier when I'm taking some time to have a good time now and again, so I'll just have to get off my ass and do so!)

And that should be plenty of intentions for the beginning of a new year and a new decade...we'll see how it goes.  Never hurts to at least throw it out there :)  I would say "more creative posting soon," but it's insane inventory month, followed by Make and Take and a business trip to Minnesota, so we'll see...I'll just go with "more creative posting sometime before March!"  G'night :)

Winter Wonderland...

Well, I'm spending a few days in West Brooklyn.  I probably shouldn't spend quite so much time here, but I have four days off in a row and 1) I don't have much of anything to do at my apartment, 2) my mom and I have actually wound up on really good terms with each other in the last couple of years, and 3) sometimes I really like being out in the boondocks for a few days.  I know everyone that lives in the Gurnee/Zion area thinks it's the middle of nowhere, cuz it's not Chicago.  But I'm telling you...that's all relative, and compared to where I'm from, it's a freaking thriving metropolis in Gurnee.  I still remember being ecstatic back when I moved to DeKalb, because gas stations were open past 8pm, I could get food delivered to my house, AND I didn't have to drive 45 minutes to get to the movie theater.  Thrilling, I tell you.  And don't even get me started on the first time we drove into Geneva/Batavia at night and saw all the lights...it might as well have been Chicago to us.  It's good to be easily impressed, I suppose.  When the opening of the 24 hour WalMart 45 minutes away was cause for celebration, and the most exciting thing there was to do on Friday night when I was in high school...well...you can see why 1) I get a little out of sorts and panicky when I'm thrust into somewhere like Chicago...it's overwhelming compared to bufu, 2) I think anywhere else that I've ever lived is amazing and fantastic, and 3) why I like getting back to the middle of nowhere for some peace and quiet...where I can be annoyed that a vehicle I don't recognize is driving on OUR road (I mean, what are they DOING here?  We're not on the WAY to anywhere)...where I can battle snow that doesn't get plowed till Monday, and not till after school starts, cuz there aren't any bus-riding kids on our road...and where I can park in the middle of the road and take pictures of pretty trees without worrying that I might cause a pile-up.  So here they are :)

Well that's all for tonight...two posts in one day...woot!  :)

Ringing in the New Year...

So yesterday, I helped my mom design and put together her "I-ran-out-of-time-to-send-Christmas-cards-so-I'm-sending-them-for-New-Years" cards.  It was fun...knocked out a couple dozen in about four and a half hours, and felt pretty accomplished.  Now on to filling out and addressing them...woohoo!  They're both made with: Stampendous stamps, American Crafts Ribbon, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher, Polar Ice Flowersoft, Watercolor pencils, and Stardust pen.  Here they are:

Snowflakes

Flurries

Happy New Year everyone!  :)

Zentangles...

So a customer asked Heidi if we had supplies for doing Zentangles the other night.  We didn't, but she was curious and did some online research, and has since created Zentangles monsters of a few of us at work.  In case you're wondering, Zentangles are basically glorified doodling (they were actually included in my vocab post a few months ago before I even knew much about them).  Also known as Zendoodles, they're basically doodling with a purpose that tends to have a relaxing/hypnotic effect (hence, the Zen part).  I scraplifted (yes, that's legit in the world of scrapping) Heidi's book of patterns and have been doing some research online for more, along with templates and whatnot.  I think I'm going to make myself a letterblock tray of them to hang in my livingroom, and I'm SUPER excited about it.  :)  Here's some shots of my pattern book...more to come when I'm further into some works in progress:

That's all for tonight!  More soon :)

OCD mixtapes...

First things first, please note:  I say "mixtapes" for nostalgic purposes only...obviously with the reign of the digital era, they're not truly mixtapes anymore, but you get my drift. 

So anyone that's been on a roadtrip with me in excess of three hours in either direction knows that I take my mixtapes seriously.    For two reasons, I think: 1) I used to be a music major, and 2) I'm a control freak.  One time, my ex said he made a mix tape for a vacation we were going on...it consisted of a half a dozen Pink Floyd songs, a half a dozen Dave Matthews songs, and a couple of random Bob Marley songs tacked on at the end.  I nearly had a stroke over it.  Putting solid chunks of two different CDs onto one CD together does NOT a mixtape make. 

There are three main considerations when making a mix:  1) Varied tempo and style (nobody wants to listen to what  sounds like the same song over and over again when they're attempting to stay awake while driving), 2) a small number of related but unfamiliar songs mixed with older nostalgic ones, and 3) finding the right songs to evoke the right feelings for the occasion.  I'm telling you...I'm seriously OCD about the whole thing...I could spend hours.  I DID spend hours...back in the day when a mixtape was REALLY on cassette tape and you had to record it in real-time.   Oh, how mp3s have saved hours of my life!

Anyway, so all that said, we're having a holiday CD exchange at work instead of the more traditional gift exchange.  I spent WAY too much time on iTunes looking for just the right music...made extra difficult by the fact that typically they just remake the same couple dozen holiday songs every year instead of ever writing new ones.  That said, I did find a couple of new, non-traditional songs.  My official holiday playlist is as follows:

1) (It Must've Been Ol') Santa Claus - Harry Connick, Jr.
2)  All My Bells Are Ringing - Lenka
3)  Someday At Christmas - Jack Johnson
4) Christmas for Cowboys  - Jars of Clay
5) Christmas - Blues Traveler
6) Frosty the Snowman - Fiona Apple
7) Winter Song - Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson
8) O Holy Night - Weezer
9)  Carol of the Bells - Emmy Rossum
10) It Came Upon a Midnight Clear - Sixpence None the Richer
11) The Heartache Can Wait - Brandi Carlile
12) Winterlove - Parachute
13) Maybe Next Year (X-mas Song) - Meiko
14) All That I Want - The Weepies
15) Baby, It's Cold Outside - Lady Antebellum
16) Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - Jack Johnson
17) Melekalikimaka - Bette Midler
18) Feels Like Christmas - Cyndi Lauper
19) Zat You Santa Claus - The Brian Setzer Orchestra
20 ) Must Be Santa - Bob Dylan

We're also making cases to hand them out in (see below).  I made mine with the MME Holiday paper, Martha Stewart Scoring Tool, Patterned and solid cardstock, American Crafts ribbon, TPC Studios holiday embellishments:

That's all for tonight!  More soon :)



Rock lobster...

Back to crafting soon...

M'kay, now I NEVER buy cutesy clothes for my dogs...like, never.  But today...it was like it was meant to be.  I was walking into PetSmart when some lady gave me a coupon she didn't need for $4 off the brand of food that I happened to be going in to buy!  Sooooo...I was wandering around the toy aisle, cuz I'm a sucker and pretty much everytime I'm AT PetSmart, I buy them a toy.  However, on this particular evening, I noticed the cutest little leftover lobster halloween costume on clearance for just $3!  lol :)  Like it was meant to freakin' be...and while I don't really do Halloween, I spent the $3 just to entertain myself and take a couple pictures for my blog and scrapbook.  Hooray!  Lucy's gonna hate me forever now...but...

ROCK LOBSTER!

More later!

By the fireplace...

There's just something about a fireplace, isn't there?  My mom just got one put in at her house, and it's just cozy.  It's relaxing and soothing and the perfect end to a long day.  Since I live in an apartment, I have no fireplace, but I did discover WoodWick candles, which have (shocker) a WOOD WICK.  Doesn't sound like a big deal, but they make a lovely crackling fire noise that's the next best thing to having a fireplace.  Plus they smell lovely, which is good too :)  Anyway, that was the inspiration for tonight's Christmas card.  I used the same Penny Black stamps as the last couple cards, and the same Fancy Pants paper (cut into little rectangles for the bricks, and pop dotted for the mantle).  Cut some free-hand flames, and colored everything with colored pencils. 

And that's all for tonight :)  More soon!

And now for something completely different...

Well I've been posting Christmas stuff for a month now, so I figured it was about time to mix it up.  That, and I have a friend who has a birthday this week, so I needed to make a card that wasn't a Christmas card anyway.  Here's what I came up with...I think my favorite part is how the ribbon turned out.

Front

Inside

It's Hero Arts Stamps, BoBonny Paper, Glossy Accents, Gems, and a Charcoal Cateye Ink.  Pretty simple, but very cute :)  And that's all for tonight!

Customer service? Common courtesy? Anything at all...

It's possible that I may be particularly sensitive to customer service because I work in retail.  But few things annoy me more than somebody in a customer service position who obviously doesn't give a crap about me or my purchase.  That girl ringing my purchase at WalMart who not only doesn't smile, but doesn't even bother to look up at all.  That guy at Menards who is obviously irritated that I have bothered him with a question.  And tonight, my newest example, at which I am particularly peeved:

I have no issue with self-checkers at grocery stores.  In fact, I think they're a genius idea for busy days with lots of people when you only have a few items.  Slip in, slip out, never wait in line.  It's great.  What I do not like is that after a certain time, ONLY self-checks are available.  The first thing I'd like to say is if you can afford to pay some guy to stand in the middle of the self-checks and wait for an "Assistance Needed" beacon, then why don't you  just pay that guy to run a register instead?  Seriously...customer service.  However, I could overlook that issue.  What I cannot overlook is not one, not two, but THREE employees standing around the assistance desk at the self-check area...chatting and complaining about how there's nothing to do on night shifts and it's so boring and drags on and on and on...while I'm scanning and bagging $200 worth of groceries BY MYSELF.  What the hell?  If you have time to stand around and complain about how little there is to do at work, then get off your butt and HELP SOMEONE.  *sigh*  It seems obvious, I think, but apparently not. 

People never cease to amaze me.  Customer service, chivalry, common courtesy...anything at all would be nice.  I don't expect for someone to fawn all over me and tell me how great my purchase is.  I don't need someone to show me around the whole store and tell me all the latest, greatest things.  All I want is someone to look up, smile at least once, not be pissed if I have a question, and give me a hand if I'm obviously struggling.  It doesn't seem like so much to ask.  Perhaps it is.  Meh...oh well...I guess I'll have to get used to it, cuz it doesn't seem to be getting any better. 

And now off to bed...cooking all day tomorrow!

Penny Black, take two...

Another Christmas card with Penny Black stamps tonight.  The same fancy pants paper (the other side of it), watercolor pencils, and glossy accents :)  Woot!

Goodnight all!  :)

Baby it's [not] cold outside...

Wowza...sixty degrees in November.  Ridiculous.  While generally I'd be a fan, that means we're unseasonably warm again just in time for the mall to turn on the heat on November 11th, which means the store will probably be a sauna for several weeks again like it was last year.  Joy!  Anyway, unseasonably warm or not,  I was feeling inspired tonight and made a Christmas card prototype.  I finally decided I'm going to get off my butt and make 10-ish to send out to immediate family and a few long distance friends.  They won't all be the same though, because I get bored easily and I won't finish them if they're all the same.  Probably everyone will get something a little different so I can maximize my playing with stamps time.  Here it is:

Pretty simple...Penny Black stamps, Fancy Pants holiday paper, watercolor pencils, sparkly fluff, and a stardust pen :)  And that's all for tonight...work's still insane, and I still have no time to be blogging, but I'll make a serious attempt to get in one more this week.  Have a good night!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Well, we decorated the store for Christmas today.  It comes earlier and earlier every year, it seems.  While it aggravates me how early it is (and we've had Christmas merchandise for a month already, at least), this is the only time I really get to enjoy it.  Today, I was actually feeling in the Christmas spirit.  A month from now, when normal people (i.e. people who don't work retail) are going into full-blown Christmas mode, I'll be going into full-blown CAN-THIS-JUST-BE-OVER-ALREADY mode.  I'll have seen Christmas merchandise for two months already.  I'll have already been listening to Christmas music in the mall for a month.  I'll have already made Christmas cards, bought Christmas gifts, closed down our Christmas classes, and be wondering when Valentine's Day merchandise is coming in.  Sooooooo...in a snap decision upon arriving home after work, I decided to just put up my Christmas tree at home while I still actually felt like doing it.  Sick, I know.  But seriously...I just won't enjoy it later.  At least I didn't play Christmas music while I was doing it (no need to start that crap any earlier than I have to).  Last year when I put up my tree, I decided that it looked sad without any presents under it.  So, I wrapped up random things around the house that I hadn't used in a while.  And, in a stroke of genius, I decided I didn't really need those things and left them all wrapped and put them with the Christmas decorations, so I didn't have to do it again this year!  (Well, I mean, I wouldn't have HAD to do it again this year anyway, but I'm crazy, so I would have).  Anyway, productive night all-in-all...and now I think I'm going to sit around in the glow of my Christmas tree for a few minutes before I head to bed :) 

Goodnight all :)

What's shakin'...

First and foremost, I'm gonna say right now that posts are probably going to be once a week for a while, cuz right now, life. is. crazy.  Mostly work crazy.  Take tomorrow and Thursday, for example:

8am-1pm - Work
1pm-7pm - Walk/Feed dogs, Eat, Sleep
7pm-5am - Work
5am-1pm - Walk/Feed dogs, Eat, Sleep
1pm-10pm - Work

So yeah.  That's assuming our light install actually happens like it was supposed to.  If it gets hung up, it'll have to be rescheduled to an even LESS convenient time.  *sigh*  We'll see. 

Aaaaaanyway, to relieve stress, I finally took some time to play with my new Unity Stamp Set that I bought at the crop on Saturday (before KARAOKE! Which was awesome, by the way.)  Here's how it turned out:

Card with Lined Envelope

Close-up of the shakers

Closeup of the background (done with a stardust pen)

And that's all for tonight!

For the love of karaoke...

I'd just like to take a moment to express how much I love karaoke.  Honestly, if I could find someone to drag out with me whenever I wanted, I'd probably go twice a week.  At the cost of sleep and everything, cuz lord knows it never starts till 10pm.  When I lived in DeKalb a group of us went at LEAST once or twice a week.  Now that I'm in Zion, times are getting desperate for karaoke.  I haven't gone in almost six months.  I'm nearly to the point where I'd just go by myself...which is a trick, cuz I wouldn't be able to drink then since you usually can't take your drink on stage (something about drunk people spilling beer on expensive equipment), and I wouldn't want to leave my drink unattended in some random bar where I don't know anyone.  *sigh*  The good news is, I get to go tonight!  New location, people from work...yay!  Anyway, I'm off to bed for now, but I'll try to remember to take a couple pics and post them.  Hooray karaoke!

Variations on a theme...

FINALLY started working on Christmas gifts again, which I've been saying I was going to do for the last three or four weeks.  Anyway, I had a few different sets of paper to go with them, since I have a quite a few to do.  Here's how they're looking so far:

1) The Original (My Minds Eye Papers)

2) Basic Grey Papers

3) Cosmo Cricket Paper

4) Cosmo Cricket Paper

5) Cosmo Cricket Paper

So, only fifteen more to go...woot!

Button, button, who's got the button...

Well, my blog has been a little neglected for the last week.  It's been busy, busy, and I made a trip home to visit family since I'm not sure when or if I'll get back before Thanksgiving.  We're short-staffed at work, and the schedule is getting a little hairy at the moment.  Anyway, I was flipping through a card magazine at work the other night looking for crop demo ideas and I ran across these cute little cards with buttons.  Apparently it's supposed to be a button combined with a stamp set specifically designed to go with the button.  However, the designs aren't really complicated enough to necessitate a stamp set in order to re-create them, so I just used a Zig pen to draw in the details.  Here they are:

Chickadee

Up, Up and Away

The buttons are green, brown, and black, although for some reason my camera phone has decided to make them appear purple-ish. 

I think they turned out pretty cute :)  And now off to work on Christmas gifts!  More tomorrow, perhaps :)