Bless this Chick...

Blessthischick has this cool emporium where you can make your own little icon chicks. They're adorable! I went playing with them this morning and made these three... Which do you like best? Try it. It's therapeutic, I tell ya.

3 Bugs Winter LO

Well, Christmas is over and I will soon have dozens of new pictures to scrapbook, as if I have finished the looming pile of previously printed photos. There's something about Christmas that just makes me want to take pictures, and they're the kind of pictures I just want to scrapbook. These pictures are older, but I love them. I submitted these two LO to the DT call for 3 Bugs in a Rug a while back, but I wasn't chosen, so now I can post them online. I can feel many more Christmas and winter LO coming on, but these are the first of the season for me.

Merry Christmas!

Memory Makers has a new online scrapbook program that's free, so I decided to give it a try. Supposedly I can imbed or link to it here. So.... we'll see if it works...

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Etsy Shop

I've been looking to sell some of my crafty things lately, so I started an Etsy shop. For those of you who are not familiar with Etsy, it's an online shop where you can buy handcrafted items. I don't have much on there right now, but will be adding stuff as I have time to post it. I'm not sure if anyone will be interested in it, but I decided to take the plunge and go for it anyway.

Check it out - it's at elizabethwickland.etsy.com

Freecycle

I joined a freecycle group this week. No, it has nothing to do with riding a bike (thank goodness - not sure I'm in shape for that!). It's a group of people in the Bozeman area who post emails listing free stuff they want to give away or find. So... it's like recycling, for free. Get it? Anyway- I was excited to find this group. If you haven't looked into freecycling, you should. Even if you're not a big recycler, everyone likes to get stuff for free.... Check here to see if there's a group in your area.

For those of you who live in Longview, there's a group there, too!

My "Inconvenient Truth" Hat

We watched An Inconvenient Truth tonight. And while we watched, I crocheted a hat. Start to finish. With free yarn. (Thanks Michael - I love swap night at craft night.) Several of my friends have recommended An Inconvenient Truth lately and, like Jenny and Nicole, I've decided to blog my thoughts on it.

My first thought, about halfway through the movie, was that I was a little disappointed. I already knew all that stuff. So... I decided to give the whole thing a shot before making up my mind. After the movie and the half hour update I came to the conclusion that, yes, I already knew all that stuff. At that point, though, instead of being disappointed, I was relatively encouraged -- hey, I already KNEW all that stuff! Thanks to the worlds of PBS, the BBC, and NPR, we've seen and heard our share of news on global trends over the past few years. We've heard about the glaciers melting (we even saw evidence of that when we went to Glacier Nat'l Park a couple years ago), the coral reefs dying, the lakes shrinking, and the relationship between the carbon levels and temperature in ice cores. Yes, we find that sort of nerdy television interesting, so we've immersed ourselves with it whenever possible.

So, nothing Mr. Gore had to say was new to us. But the most exciting part of the whole movie for me was the credits. No, not because it was over. To the contrary, I think it was pretty well done and informative and you ought to see it if you haven't. But the credits were interesting to me because mixed in with the names of all the people were ways you could do your part to help slow global warming. And as Leif and I watched the suggestions go by, it was like a checklist of things we already do.

• Use energy efficient lighting. check.
• Turn down your thermostat. check. (Brrrr... notice I'm crocheting a HAT? There's a reason.)
• Use mass transit when possible. err... Bozeman's still working on a mass transit system. But Leif does carpool to work and I carpool to craft night when I can.
• Recycle. check. We compost, too. (That wasn't on the list.)
• If you can, buy a hybrid car. check.
  
• Ride your bike or walk to work. check. Leif rides his bike in the summer.
• Use renewable energy sources. This one is prohibitively expensive right now. If we had $15,000 for solar panels, we'd do it in a heartbeat.
  
• Vote for politicians who will pursue legislation to change environmental policies. check.
  
• Tell people about An Inconvenient Truth. check.

So that was encouraging. We also use cloth diapers. =) That wasn't on the list, but sort of goes along with recycling and composting. In general, Leif and I agree on what we can do to make a difference and we are both willing to make a few sacrifices to do so. Our reasons aren't necessarily the same, though. Leif usually does things because it's more economical, while I do them because it's better for the environment. I'm not against saving a little money, and he's not against being good stewards of the earth - that's just where our priorities are slightly different.

Here's my thinking on "saving the planet." The earth is the Lord's and everything in it. He has called us to be good stewards of the things He has given us. That includes the earth. As a Christian, I feel that it is my duty to be responsible with the gifts God has given. That means my talents and abilities, my husband and daughter, my body, my property, my neighbors, my enemies, and my planet. Should we save our planet at the cost of our lives? (ie- do we spend so much of our time, energy, and resources on developing new ways to reduce greenhouse gasses that we forsake the relationships we have and demonstrate a lack of love for our neighbors?) No. Do we go into serious debt to put solar panels on our roof? Not right now. And I'm okay with that. There is a balance. But I do believe that where possible, we should do everything we can within reason to take care of God's world. How will our children learn to be good stewards if we don't model stewardship for them? It's a good legacy.

A discussion for another day is how all of this stewardship/conservation thinking affects my favorite things... like scrapbooking. I've got a few thoughts on that subject as well, but it's almost midnight, so they'll have to wait.

If you haven't seen An Inconvenient Truth, do. It's worth the watch, especially if you've never given a second thought to the issue of global warming. And if anyone has any comments on what I've said here, I'd love to hear them. It's good for discussion, and this is a subject that ought to be discussed.

In closing, I leave you with a peek at my "Inconvenient Truth" hat. No pattern, just keeping my hands busy so my brain would be free to process the information at hand. The second photo is of the detail on the top. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. We've all heard it. Here's one way I put it into action. What have you done?

If Martha Were a Geek

She's make this instead of a gingerbread house for the holidays.

Scrapping Again

After a long hiatus, I am finally posting on 2ps again. I've posted several LO in the past couple days, but this is my favorite. It's also my favorite of the LO I've completed recently. I've done a few others I REALLY like, too, but they're for a DT submission and I can't have them posted on the internet until the DT has been chosen. So... you'll just have to wait for those. Who knows? Maybe they'll choose me and it will be worth not having them posted just yet. Let's just say I'm really into sparkly, shiny things these days. =) Like the LO above, for example. Glittery letters, glittery snowflakes, ghost snowflakes (can you see them?), rhinestones... Love shiny things. I'm told I was fascinated by sparkly things as a kid, too. Maybe it's my inner child coming out to play! Whatever the case, I'm just glad to be playing again and posting things to 2ps. I've missed it.

Just for fun...

Create your own friendquiz here

Basic Grey Fruitcake Card

I worked on a LO today using the new Basic Grey Fruitcake line. The LO isn't finished yet, but I did have some scraps, so I made this card. I love how it turned out and I thought I'd share! Hope your holidays are going smoothly. Mine are, and I hope to be able to post more of the craftiness I've been involved in soon. =) I love this time of year!

(okay... so you can't tell from the scan, but the card has a rhinestone and the snowflake is covered with glitter, making this an uber sparkly card!)

My Craftroom

Pie Day!

Thanksgiving is two days away and with Ellie's four month checkup tomorrow and family coming into town tomorrow, too, I'm making my pies today. I've got two pumpkin pies in the oven right now and they smell SO good. We'll see how they turn out, since I used my own pumpkin instead of the canned variety. It's not as smooth as a canned puree would be (I made it in the blender since I didn't have a food mill yet - but now I do!!), but I think it will be fine. I'm not sure I've ever made pumpkin pie completely from scratch (puree, crust and everything) before, but I have now. I'm not making my own whipped cream, though. I could, but that's just one more thing to do. Canned whipped cream from Costco it is!

Okay... now for my pie crust recipe. You asked, Tam! It looks uninteresting, but don't knock it 'till you've tried it!

PIE CRUST
makes one 9 inch double/lattice crust or two 9 inch pies

2 C sifted all-purpose flour
1 t salt
2/3 C shortening
5-7 T cold water

Mix salt and flour together. Mix shortening into flour with your hands. Do not use any utensils. When the shortening is all mixed in and is somewhere between cornmeal and peas, add the water. Adding a T at a time, mix the water into the flour mixture with your hands. Form into a ball. Roll out into pie crust. For unfilled baked pie crust, bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes until light golden brown.

I just have to add a little note here about how great my mom is. A few years ago she took all the recipes my brother and I grew up on (and a few of her favorites found after we were grown) and put them into a recipe book for us. I use that book more than any other cookbook in my kitchen, hands down. I know the recipes are tried and true and they're all right there. Thanks, Mom.

Pie Crusts

Make pie crusts. Check.

Thanksgiving Preparation Schedule:

Monday -

• Clean house
• Thaw pumpkin puree

Tuesday -

• Make pies
• Crush pretzels
• Crush pecans

Wednesday -

• Thaw turkey
• Thaw ham
• Make yambake
• Make strawberry pretzel salad

Thursday -

• Make stuffing
• Make green beans
• Make potatoes
• EAT!!

Two Worlds Collide...

One of my favorite new shows is 'Ugly Betty' on ABC. It's one of the few shows you can watch online. Anyway- Martha will be guest starring on Ugly Betty tonight. Life just keeps getting better and better.

It's Turkey Day!

Today is the day I'm cooking our turkey. My favorite thing about turkey day? The smell. The whole house smells delicious. My least favorite thing? I can't eat it until next Thursday. So tempting, and it smells so good.

Thanksgiving is at our house this year, and we have guests coming in on Wednesday, as well as Ellie's 4 month checkup on Wednesday, too. So I'm trying to make sure I do everything I can ahead of time. Thus, the turkey gets cooked today and is frozen until Thanksgiving. It's one of those tricks my mom taught me - the wonder woman who makes Thanksgiving dinner for twenty some college students each year.

I've had my menu planned for forever, and I've stocked most of the ingredients, though I'll go through and double check that I have everything early next week. Here's the menu...

Turkey Breast
Ham
Yam Bake
Green Beans Almondine
Mashed Potatoes
Stuffing
Rolls
Cranberry Sauce
Relish Tray
Strawberry Pretzel Salad
Pumpkin Pie
Apple Pie
Million Dollar Pie

What are you having for Thanksgiving??

Christmas Cards

I've finished making my Christmas cards! AND they're even signed. Now all I have to do is write our Christmas letter and print out the labels and send them out!

One more thing crossed off the list.

How are your Christmas cards coming?

Three Bugs in a Rug

I went to the LSS today to get some paper and I came away with a bunch of Three Bugs in a Rug stuff. Some Holiday papers and some of their Spicy line. And some rubons. I've got four pages planned and started with the stuff I got (waiting on pictures, though!), including one of Ellie in her cute little Christmas outfit, when we finally get around to taking a Christmas photo. I'm guessing that won't be until after Thanksgiving, because the Christmas tree won't go up until then. But when it does, I've got the LO done and waiting for her pretty picture! And I got to see the new Basic Grey Christmas line today. WOW. It just arrived, but will be on the shelves and for sale when I go back to teach my class on Saturday... and I'll have to get some. Beautiful, beautiful stuff I tell ya.

Anyway- so it appears that the 3bugs papers did the trick and my scrappin' motivation is back in full swing. I'm even motivated to finish those pages I started in Texas. Now if I could only clear some workspace on my desk....

Demotivated

I have had zero motivation to scrapbook lately. None. I finally went down to the craftroom today just to make Thanksgiving invites and even that was sad because I found out my embossing gun is broken. =( Nothing like having to spend craft money on a tool you already have just because it broke. I don't even know what happened to it. It worked before I took it to Texas, and now it doesn't. So... I'm guessing something happened to it while it was in my luggage. Grrr. And unfortunately, it's not a tool I feel like I can live without. I had to use my clothes iron to do the embossing on my Thanksgiving invites. Now THAT takes me back a few years... back to when I started embossing over my toaster and eventually graduated to the iron before getting a bona fide heat embossing tool. Yeah. I'm sad mine died and I'm still not motivated to scrap. Oh mojo.... come back please!

MIM Challenge #4!!

Okay... two weeks for this next one. And because Halloween just passed, I know you have plenty of fodder for this one! Your challenge (compliments of Tam) is to...

USE A CANDY WRAPPER (or ten) ON YOUR LO!

Get to it and I promise we're back on track now! This is a good one for those cute halloween pictures!

MIM Challenge #3 Results

Finally! Here are the results from last month's MIM Challenge #3. Turn something ugly into something beautiful. I used a thread scarf and Tam took an ugly memory and turned it into a beautiful LO to memorialize a friend. Thanks!

Welcome Back, Flylady!

Well, I got with the program and followed my Flylady routines today and last night. It was great to wake up to a shiny sink and clean kitchen, so when I woke up this morning I made my bed first thing and it made me smile. =) I was out running errands pretty much all day, but it was nice to come home to a still-clean house. I didn't leave my breakfast dishes out, and I didn't have things piled on the counter. Woohoo! Routines really do make things so much easier for me... I don't know why I fall away from them, but I do. Today, however, I stuck with it and it feels great.

MIM Challenge #3 Extension

I'm still waiting for pictures for my LO (which is done otherwise, btw) and no one else seems to have done their LO yet, so we're extending this challenge. Plus I'll be in Texas for almost 2 weeks and won't have a whole lot of time to brainstorm on the next challenge. SO.... our next challenge will be posted on Monday, October 3o. Just in time for a great Halloween LO! =)

Product Review: Technique Tuesday Masterpieces of Paisley Stamp Set

Let me first just say that I LOVE this set. I wanted it the first time I saw it, before it was available online or in stores. Basically, it's a build-your-own paisley acrylic stamp set.
I love paisley.
I love acrylic stamps.
I love options.
I love this set.
My favorite thing? You can nestle most of the pieces inside eachother on the block so you don't have to do 2-step stamping. Or you can do the 2-step (or more!) stamping for full color paisley. I debated on getting this set simply because I thought it was going to be tedious to use. But thanks to a lull during the LSS open house, a 15% off coupon, and a lack of other paisley stamps I liked, I decided to go for it. For $20 you get 33 stamps that you can mix and match for the perfect paisley experience. You can build teeny-tiny ones, or pretty big ones. And it's not tedious at all! I filled my acrylic block with as many paisley combinations as I could and made an awesome background stamp. I can't say enough good things about this set and I have no complaints. If it's paisley you want, this is your set.

MIM Challenge #3 Reminder

Just a reminder... challenge #4 will be posted Monday!

New Scan

So... the scanning didn't work so well. Here'a a photo of the LO. Much better! And I DID submit it to Hambly as well. Looks like they're giving out freebies to a couple people besides the DT guest, so maybe I could get one of those! That would be very cool.

Perhaps my favorite yet...

I'm really disappointed in how this scanned. The center of the flower is torn, so the LO can't lay flat in the scanner - it did funky things to the photo in the center. I'm also sad that I can't (okay, I guess I could scan the LO four times and stitch it, but I'm too lazy - two is enough!) get the very bottom edge on the scan, and I seem to have lost part of the side edge, too. Oh well. You get the gist of the LO. I like it. Leif said he likes it, too, which is something I don't hear every day. This Hambly stuff is fun to play with and has been challenging me. Maybe I'll send in this LO, too, for the DT calls. I'll have to work on that scan, though...

Submission

Well, I've done it. I've officially submitted my work for the guest DT spot at Hambly. Am I going to get it? No. But it was fun to create LO to submit and a small step in the right direction for me to acutally get up the nerve to submit my stuff. I submitted my "Oh Sweet Pea" LO and the "Water Baby" LO pictured here. I like playing with this stuff. It's a challenge to keep the Hambly from being too "busy", as Leif puts it. But I'm getting to play with some of my other fun stuff that I haven't used much. Like the Heidi Swapp ghost letters I used on this one. I've had them, but not used them until now. I love the effect they create when the edges are painted. My biggest challenge is how to attach them. Staples didn't seem to fit this LO, so I used glue. We'll see if it holds. I think the journaling is difficult to read on the scan, but easy enough in real life. I've been putting off scrapping these photos because I wanted them to go on a great LO. And I'm pretty happy with the result.

Hambly!!

I got the Hambly papers and overlays I ordered in the mail today. I was so excited I had to pull them out and start playing already. Here's a LO I did about the Sweet Pea Festival back in August. The big teal and copper circle and the little journaling bit in the corner are Hambly. Ooo! And the copper embossed swirls in the corners are my new Purple Onion stamps Leif bought me. I've been waiting for the perfect LO to post with my new stamps, so I guess this is it!

Product Review: EK Success Curvy Cutter

This is the first circle cutter I have owned, but not the first I have used. I love it! It cuts clean lines and you can easily make 1/4 inch thick rings. It works great with paper, cardstock, vellum, and acetate. You can get oval, circle, or rounded corner square templates. The oval template comes with the ergonomic cutting handle/blade, or you can buy the handle separately, as I did. I don't use ovals often (ever?), so I just got the circle template and handle separately. By the way, if you flip the handle around so it's on the outside of the template, you can do even BIGGER circles than the manufacturers claim.

Pros:

• easy to use
• measures precisely in 1/4" increments
  
• cuts large (>12") and small (2 1/4") circles
• cuts thin rings (down to 1/4" thick)
• cutting blade cuts in either direction (counter- or clock-wise)
  

Cons:

• doesn't cut through chipboard (do any circle cutters?)
• paper sometimes slides if you don't hold it down or tape it. I used Aileen's Tack It Over and Over on my glass mat and that seems to work well and doesn't stick to your paper once you let it dry thoroughly.
• requires a glass mat (sold separately - I used a sheet of glass from an old picture frame)
• pricey - $35 for the circle template and handle/blade

If you're looking for a circle cutter, I recommend this one.

Scrapbooking, Anyone?

Hey - I will be in Longview from the 19th - 28th. Any of you Longview-ites interested in getting together to scrapbook some evening?

Last Night's Class

Last night's class went well. It was a tiny group, so they got done WAAAAAY early. That was fine with me, though, because I got to go home sooner to be with my husband and baby for part of the evening. My next class isn't until Nov. 1 - I'll be gone to Texas for a week and a half at the end of October, thus the gap.

Have I mentioned how great it is that Leif takes Ellie and lets me do stuff like this, even though it meant that he didn't get to attend the senatorial debate he was hoping to? And while I was teaching the class on Saturday, he was home with Ellie - not only did he watch the girl, but he did several loads of laundry (including putting them away!), did the dishes, and cleaned the kitchen and dining room. I came home to a clean house after a great day of scrapbooking - Leif is a MARVELOUS guy!

Don't know what's on the agenda for today. I've been in a scrapping mood lately. I got 3 LO done yesterday, so maybe I can get a few more done today. I guess we'll have to see.

Tonight's Class Packets

These are the packets I made for tonight's class. They've got everything for the minibook, except for the patterned paper.

My First Class...

... is over. And it was a SUCCESS! I prepared these (cute, if I may say so myself) little class packets for each of the 5 attendees. I wish I'd taken a picture of one all assembled. Anyway- it was a little booklet with pockets that held the little pieces for each page, plus a card with scrapbooking tips on it at the back of the packet. That in itself was a hit, which made me pretty happy, right off the bat. The class itself ran smoothly. I think teaching kids for the past three years helped - it didn't throw me off when some people were ready to move on sooner than others. In fact, staggering the instructions was almost better because it was a little more one-on-one instruction for the people who weren't familiar with the techniques, but moved more quickly for the seasoned scrapbookers. I was pretty excited that I got to teach new techniques to everyone in the class, especially how to use hinged pages in a page protector. The class even ended almost on time =). We got done at 2:35 - so we ran over by 5 minutes, but not bad for getting two LO done and introducing new tools and techniques! The first LO had a TON of embossing (and embossing on acetate at that!), so that was a little slow as people waited to use the powder, etc. All in all, though, it went great and I got rave reviews! My next class is on Monday night and we're making a mini-book. I only have 3 people and one project, so I'm guessing that class will move a little faster. We'll see! Anyway- I was on a high all night thanks to my class going well. I was giddy as could be and talking 100 miles a minute and Leif finally had to say, "NO more scrapbooking talk!" Sigh.

I also got a circle cutter today - I haven't owned one until now and EK Success just introduced these new circle cutters that were reportedly marvelous, so I've been waiting until our LSS got them. Well, they were in today, so I spent some of the money I made today on one. I tried it out tonight and it is AWESOME! Cuts beautifully... and I think that's the last gadget I'm buying for a while. I've been on a gadget spree lately... Crop-a-dile, notch tool, Fastenater, Circle cutter... it's time for a break so I can PLAY with my tools!

It's Here!!

Well, I mentioned before that Leif got me the Basic Grey Notch Tool for my birthday. Or, at least, he tried to. The place he ordered it from (and paid for fast shipping so it'd be here by my b-day) had it back ordered and couldn't get it from their suppliers, so after a week of trying they refunded Leif's money. Then, they sent it to us for free! And they included another little doodad embellishment, I'm guessing as an apology for the wait. But I'm super excited to have gotten the Notch tool, and to have gotten it for FREE! Now... what to play with it on....

Cosmo Cricket

While I was at the scrapbooking store picking up my class supplies for Saturday, I also bought some Cosmos Cricket papers and die cuts. Then I played tonight and for the first time in a while created a layout I really like. It went pretty quickly since I just had to punch out the swirlies and stuff. There's a tag under the photo that reads, "Wife. Mother. That's what I've wanted to be for as long as I can remember."

MIM Challenge #3

We all have them - ugly things. Paper we bought and now can't remember why. Pictures that we thought would look great and turned out awful. Embellishments that might have been cool in the 80's. Gifts people have given us that we can't find a home for or stand the sight of... Well, I challenge you to use these uglies. Take this dare however you want, but I dare you to

Turn something UGLY into something BEAUTIFUL!

Class Schedule and Projects!

Okay... the schedule is officially out for Keepsakes By Design (our LSS here in Bozeman). I am teaching four classes in the next two months and am pretty excited about it. My first is coming up a week from today! Here are the projects and details for each class...

Hinged Fall Pages
Saturday, October 7
12:00-2:30 pm
cost: $20



Circle Mini-Book
Monday, October 9
6:00-8:30 pm
cost: $18



Baby Pages
Wednesday, November 1
6:00-8:30 pm
cost: $20



Christmas Scrapbox and Flip Card
Saturday, November 11
1:00-3:00 pm
cost: $20

MIM Challenge #2 Results

Well, the picture is awful - I was too lazy to scan and stitch the LO, so I just decided to take a picture instead. The lighting in the basement made the LO look overly yellow... eh, oh well. The challenge was "hand-titling". I used to do a lot of hand titling and at one point I was pretty good at it. Been out of practice for a while (thank you, computer and stamps....) and it appears my hand titling abilities have atrophied. But... the challenge is done and tomorrow we move on to another one! So far I've only heard back from Tam on this challenge - where are all those people who said challenges would be great and they would participate?? Huh?? Well, join in this next time... we still want to see your work! =)

Here's Tam's creation (also an efferdare - #35):

New Toys

I love birthdays. They give me new toys. =) Aside from my new Purple Onion stamps (which I still haven't played with a WHOLE lot, but I have a little bit...), Leif ordered a Basic Grey notch tool set for me. I'm still waiting for that to arrive, and getting more and more impatient. He paid extra for fast shipping a week and a half ago and it hasn't arrived yet. It's frustrating.
But in the meantime, I've got a new Crop-a-dile (which even has Leif impressed... punches 75 sheets of paper at a time with no problem. It also punched through my clipboard very easily. wow... it's a serious tool.)
and I ordered a bunch of Hambly. Can't wait for the Hambly to arrive so I can play with it!! Not that I've gotten much playing done lately. Hmm.... I'm going to have to remedy that. In the meantime, though, I will dream of all the ways I will play with my new toys and look forward to having a swatch of time to do so.

I have all my LO done for the LSS and they're all turned in and on display now. The schedule has also been finalized, so I'll be posting all that info in the near future. Woohoo! I am SO excited about teaching, though I'm a little frightened as well. Eeek! I know it will be fine, but new things are always a little scary.

Well, I'm off to do a few things, like eat breakfast. =) Who knows... Maybe I'll fit some crafting in today. We'll see.

MIM Challenge #2 Reminder

Don't forget, all you hand-titlers, that a new challenge is coming on Monday! If you haven't done your LO yet, get playing this weekend!

New Stamps!

Yesterday was my birthday and Leif got me some Purple Onion stamps - the ornamentals set. I love them! I haven't had a chance to play with them much, but I did get them cut apart and put tack on the back so I could use them. I used a few on the birthday card I made for my mom (which is in the mail now... sorry you can't see it.) and I have great plans for these babies! I love 'em already!!

Fun with Jello

This is a fun idea for serving Jello. I want to try it! I'm sure you could use the fresh orange pulp to make orange juice. Wish we had some oranges...

MIM Challenge #2

Remember when you were in grade school and your teachers tried to teach you how to write with perfect penmanship? Well, whether your handwriting is neat, messy, classic, or funky, now is the time to use it! Challenge #2 is to use a...

Hand Written Title

No stamps, stickers, computer fonts, or premade headers. This is all about your creative skill! Again, post pictures of your LO online and a link in your comments on this post. Let's see what you've got!

2peas Milestone!

I've posted 200 LO and 1700 comments to 2ps. Woohoo!

MIM Challenge #1 Results

My Best Friend's Wedding

Well, MIM challenge #2 begins tomorrow... here are the results for #1. Thanks, Tam and Jaime, for posting your links! If anyone else has finished it, post your links in the comments to this post and I'll add your link, too! Here are the entries:

Tam's entry

Jaime's Entry

If Martha Were A Geek

She might have made this cake. Tam, this sounds like a cake for Dave. Or any Linux geek for that matter. Made for geeks by a geek (who apparently went to culinary school before choosing geekdom as a career.)

Scrapbook Class

I went to my first scrapbooking class last night. I figured if I was going to be teaching them I ought to attend one to see how its done! Now I've got a better idea of what is expected. I also got a couple pages mostly finished. It was fun and I'm looking forward to teaching my own classes. I need to finish making the samples for display at the LSS. We've got an open house coming up in the near future and I need to have the displays done by then. And the schedule is almost finalized, so once it's done I'll post the project sample with the date I'll be teaching. All four of my classes will be in October and November, then I've got one sometime after the new year.

Speaking of crafting, I made some serious progress cleaning my craft room yesterday. Woohoo! It's really nice to have space to craft again. I'm not completely finished, but I'm getting closer. This week is pretty heavy in the crafting department. Monday I had craft night here, last night the scrapbooking class, and tomorrow I've got a crop at the LSS from 6-midnight. I don't know that I'll stay the whole time, but I'm looking forward to a block of time to work on some layouts and projects I need to get done. I need to do my MIM challenge LO (*gasp* I haven't done it yet... bad me.), finish the 2 LO and minibook for the LSS, and figure out what I need for the 3 baby pages and box and card classes. I'd also like to finish the LO from last night's class. (eta - I just spent some time in the good ol' craft room and am pleased to say that the LO from last night's class are finished, scanned, stitched, and should be posted at the top of this post!)

So... that's what the near future looks like. Oh, and my in-laws will be here Friday night to Saturday. Next week looks a lot less busy.

MIM Challenge reminder

So how are those fabric layouts coming? We've got another challenge coming next week!

Martha's On!!

Today is the season premier of MARTHA! I'm sitting here watching it right now and am looking forward to being able to stay home this year and watch every day! Yippeee! Love Martha...

Million dollar pie recipe

Yesterday I watched Oprah. I very rarely do that, but yesterday I did and I'm really glad I did!! They had this woman on the show who won a million dollars from Pillsbury for her Granola Oatmeal Pie. I decided to try the recipe... MMmmmm! Turned out great and it was SOOO easy to make! And I DON'T do pies. I did make the crust from scratch (thanks, Mom, for teaching me how to do that! It turned out perfect and flaky). Here's the recipe. Give it a try!

Million Dollar Granola Oatmeal Pie

preheat oven to 350*

Roll out Pillsbury Pie Crust (or make your own)

Mix together:
½ C butter – melted
½ C brown sugar
¾ C corn syrup
3 eggs beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
2 packets crunchy granola bars (Oats and Honey from Nature Valley)
¼ c oatmeal
½ c walnut (optional)
¼ c chocolate chips

Bake for 45 min at 350*

last 15 min use pie shield so edges don’t get too brown. (optional)

cool for 45 min then serve with ice cream

Fun things

So there are some pretty cool baby products out there. Like Splash, the bottle dryer from Skip Hop. It really does look like a splash, and I think that's neat. Doesn't really match anything we've got in our house... a little too contemporary, but it's sort of fun, you've got to admit.

Skip hop also has the Pronto mini-changer. We have something similar, but this seems like an all-too-useful item. And honestly, it might go on the must-have list for any parents of infants.



And there are other fun things going on in the lighting department. Like this "broken" lightbulb. Sneaky design and pretty cool.

The same company does this floor lamp - the light runs up the center and the plastic casing is illuminated to give its shape.




And Heath Nash makes these amazing lights (and many others) out of recycled plastics. Check out the variety of lamps at the link. Very, very cool. I want to try making one myself. I've made a lamp before, so at least I've got a smidgen of experience behind me as I play...

Speaking of playing, check out these AMAZING gingerbread houses! Apparently they have gingerbread houses on display in Seattle every year. Wow. Almost makes a 12 hour trip to Seattle worth it just to see them. I aspire to someday make a gingerbread house. But I might have to work my way up to get to these!

And for those of you who aren't satisfied eating the store-bought Twinkies and need to make your own from scratch... (you crazies, you!)... here's a kit you can buy to do just that! Okay, I admit... I think it's cool and I would make my own twinkies if I owned this set. I confess my insanity.

But if you're SUPER crazy, make your own ginger ale. And though my gardening skills leave much to be desired, it would be fun to grow veggies with faces on them. Weird, but fun.


Okay... that's all we have time for on this week's fun things. Stay tuned as I find more fun things and post them later. Bye bye!