My First Day

Well I actually started working at Michael's today! Today was the instructor preview day and I sat there and stamped and worked on a basic scrapbook and made ornaments for 3 hours while people bombarded me wtih questions.

One thing I learned...

I hate stamping in an unfamiliar place. At my house and at my stamping table, I know where everything is and I am in a comfort zone. I'll get used to it, I suppose...but it was just a little odd.

I am sick, however. I was next to the Wilton Cake Decorating lady and she kept force feeding me cupcakes and icing that she was flavoring....ugh...sugar overload. I was supposed to go on a date with the DBF but I couldn't eat because I was so queasy!

He did take me to the LSS though...and can you believe that I walked out of there with nothing!?!?! I was still feeling so lousy that I barely felt up to looking at things! I did see some neat-o things though...

They started carrying tins to alter and new chipboard scrapbooks and HUGEMONGUS chipboard leters....big enough for some wicked cool monogram frames (I saw something similar in the new SU! catty...I'll have to make some and post them up!). Let's see...lots of new papers and some new Primas...and I love the Bazill flowers too...hum.

While I was perusing the LSS, the DBF stayed right there at my side and then he wanted to go to Barnes and Noble which is conviniently right down from the LSS. So we went and I got the Autumn Take Ten and Stampers Sampler to read tonight! Can't wait! The new Rubber Stamper was not on the shelves yet, so I will have to wait to see all those fab creations that I have heard some of our SCS ladies have put in there!

...Think I will have to go back to the LSS tommorrow for some of those GIGUNDO chipboard letters. ;)

Pocket Fold Card and life.

My apologies for the scan being a titch crooked.

Well...JulieHRR posted the pattern for this card on her blog and it was so cute that I wanted to try it. The paper is all just generic paper from the Michael's racks...nothing name brand, just something cute that I found. The ribbon is also just generic and I believe it was leftover from another instructors project, but it matched my card nicely. The stamps are TAC Tag Tidbits and the ink is Colorbox Fluid Chalk ink in Rose Coral. The sentiment is a little acrylic bit by Spare Parts, which I got on sale at Hobby Lobby. Yep....I usually only buy stuff like that when it is 50% off. ;)

I'm a bad poster. I am. I get really excited about blogging and then I just don't do it. Ugh. I did the same thing with my Xanga site and Yahoo 360....which have both gone to the wayside. Oh well. I will get to it when I can get to it. I figure that I am hardly in contact with alot of the people that I used to be in contact with constantly, so what is the point? I guess I am moving slowly into a new phase of life...keeping the friends that I want close and just kind of fading out of the old things.

Ohio Renaissance Festival is one of those things. I used to work there and be hugely active with a group there...but after some unneeded and rediculous drama, I have faded away from that. My life has no room for drama....especially drama that is fueled by one persons jealousy and abject lies. I digress. I loved my job there and I loved those people....but when I was back just to visit on Sunday, it felt weird and wrong. It felt especially weird not being there with Michael. I felt guilty and alone and I missed him.

When I worked there last year and the year before, I was still married and I didn't feel that way at all. I was -happy- to have left the hubby at home...I was thrilled to get away from him. I guess I realise now that I needed to not be with him. He wasn't the one, and I knew that they day that I got married, and I did try to stop it (John wouldn't bring the car around to help me escape....think Runaway Bride ;) ), but I went through with it because I felt I had no choice. The events of the past couple of years have made me realise many many things....

...No one has the right to tell me what to do and how I have to live my life. I will be 26 years old next Tuesday and I can make my own decisions. No one has the right to tell me who I can love or pass judgement on me because of who I am with...even if they do not like him (and especially since they have no reason to hate him as such). And no one....no one at all has the right to make me feel like less of a person because of my choices. When it comes right down to it, they are my choices and I make the choices that are best for me, regardless of what people think.

End of rant.

My Color Challenge for the week

I haven't done a challenge in a LOOOONNNGGGG time...

This is Color Challenge 80 for this week on SCS. Pick a plum: Perfect Plum and/or Pale Plum, Always Artichoke, and Sahara Sand.

Stamps are A Light Heart, by Stampin' Up! and Perfect Plum, Pale Plum, and Always Artichoke CS are Stampin' Up!. The 'Sahara Sand' CS is actually a close match from Matchmakers CS because I don't own any Sahara Sand CS yet. :(

Anyway, the heart is stamped with Always Artichoke on Very Vanilla CS and cut out. I ran it through the Xyron and then stuck it down onto the Matchmakers CS. Everything else is just layered and glued and I decided at the last second to add the sentiment on the Pale Plum with Always Artichoke.

Maybe I can get my stamping muse back now that I have most of the SU! CS and inks...we'll see.

Loss of inspiration

Here I am, in the throes of preparing for several rather big crafting things, and my inspiration fairy just flew her ass right out the window.

I am, by tommorrow, supposed to have 5 or 6 card sets and 5 or 6 sets of coasters done for my friend to set up at the mini craft sale that occurs for the teachers in the lounge at the school she works for (and before anyone has a freak out...no...I'm not using SU! stamps because it will be going on for months at a time ;) ). And by Friday, I need to have a sample board together so that I can start as an instructor at Michael's! The class preview weekend is on September 30/October 1!!! So those two days I have to hang out at this table and do make and takes to get people interested in signing up for my class! But wait....I need to come up with class ideas first! ;)

Yeah. Stressed a bit.

Oh!! OH!!! I got ALL of the SU! inks in the mail yesterday! I bought all of the spots and accidently ordered the CRAFT spots of the Rich Regals instead of the Classic ink. I hope they are ok....the only one I had issues with when I was stamping my color chart was So Saffron....and t was just gooey. Hehe. You would think that 48 new colors of ink would inspire me, but no, now that I have them, I have no idea what to do with them!

I also ordered the IN colors re-inkers (which should be here on Monday) and blank spots so that I can make my own IN color spots to have. I read on SCS today that there are blank markers out there as well, so I am so going to have to have some of those. Next thing you know, I will be buying all of the markers as well! Oh my DBF is going to have a fit! Prolly not...cause he is uber understanding about stamping stuff, in fact, he encourages it.

Well I am off to go outside....maybe I can catch my inspiration fairy again!

Crop in Style

I was reading about them on SCS this morning and decided that I want one. Then I realised that I have one. I think I have the Ford Festiva of Crop in Style totes.

And I want the Mercedes of Crop in Style totes...

Any questions? ;)

Well yeah, it's Thursday. And yeah, I haven't posted in several days. I will get better, I promise.

I haven't done much stamping wise this week. I did do a TAC ATC swap that I need to go ahead and get in the mail tommorrow. I will scan one and post it up in the morning. I also put in my SU! stamp club order for September.

Let's see, what else....

Oi, right. I have a meeting with a lady at Michael's on Monday who wants to see some of my work and see about having me teach a card class on Saturdays and perhaps a few weeknights!!! So yeah, I will be busy stamping all weekend to just make some new samples for her to look at. If anyone has any suggestions or ideas....please please please let me know...I am so afraid of creative block! I -REALLY- want this job!

The scrapbook I was working on for my cousin was a hit! I finished it all and stuffed it and my laptop and digital camera in my backpack and went off to the wedding. I took a ton of pictures and as luck would have it...there was a WalGreens just down the street. So I took the memory card, traipsed down there and printed off the pictures. My Grandpa drove to the reception while I put the photos on the mats that I had made in the book.

So we got to the reception and I gave it to Kristen and her new husband and they were thrilled....then of course they took it around and showed everyone....and then whisked off to their honeymoon with the scrapbook in tow. I even got her two nice sakura glaze pens (red and black) so that she could do journaling to go with the pictures.

It was so popular, that I had to do one for a wedding that my Grandma is going to this weekend! Yeah....hehe.


So this is a picture of the first page. It's a crappy shot, but it was the best I could do with what I had at the time. Her wedding colors were red and white with silver. I made all the mats black and that just made the photos POP!

I made a card last night! Lookie!

The cardstock is just generic pre-packaged cardstock from Michael's. The stamp is SassyCats from TAC (whom I am a demo for, btw :P ). The sentiment in the bottom right hand corner? Oh yeah....Karen Foster snap stamps. I did the doodling too....my first time. Alright, the kitty is colored with a grey prismacolor pencil and then I used gamsol to blend. Stickles are on the collar and the eyes and whiskers as well as the doodling is done with a Sakura GellyRoll glaze pen

I also got my cousins album finished...I will try and take some pictures of it tonight and get it posted up here for all to see!

And....JulieHRR....grrr! Because of her magnificent post on her blog in regards to Colorbox Fluid Chalk Inks....I ordered two sets on eBay this morning: Pastels and Brights. Evil JulieHRR...she's great, isn't she?