Fun, fun, fun

Okay... so I'll double check with my mom, but let's tentatively plan on Thursday evening at the Bitikofer home for scrapbooking. (And Jaime, you're definitely invited! It will be good to see you again.) We'll do the same thing we did last time... bring your craft and a snack to share and we'll meet around... 7ish? Feel free to come later if you need to get kiddos into bed first. And we'll craft to our little hearts' content. =D

Oh yeah... I'll check the blog, but to get in touch with me, email me (I think most of you have my email) or call my folks' house. They're in the phone book.

VOTE!

Okay girls, when do you want to have our little scrapbooking get-together? Dana's out for Tuesday night, so what about Thursday, or Friday (23rd, or 24th)? Place your vote below (via comments...)

• Thursday, August 23rd
• Friday, August 24th

I leave tomorrow for TX. Woohooo!

Eeeeeeek!!!!

That's an excited eeeek, if you can't tell. You see, I'M GOING TO SELL MY CRAFTS AT A CRAFT FAIR!!!! I'm so excited. I was literally bouncing with excitement earlier today, as my mother (from the other end of the phone) can attest. I've looked into craft fairs before and have been discouraged by $125+ entry fees. That was more than I wanted to invest for my first dip in the craft fair pool. But as I was researching fall activities (such as corn mazes), I came across this place having a one-day craft fair. It's October 27 (mark your calendars!!) and they still had space available, so I called them up to get some details. It's a $25 entry fee, with unlimited space - you just have to bring your own table. WOW! So I signed up. I'm so excited. So, so excited.

My Muse...

My muse did send inspiration yesterday afternoon when I pulled out my SPS kit and started creating. Once I got over the fact that I could indeed cut the beautiful papers in my kit I was raring to go! I'll have to get scans/photos of my work yesterday, but I got 2 one page and a two page layout done. Then this morning I got up and finished another one pager. Now I've got about 30 minutes before we head out to dinner, and Leif said he'd watch Ellie while I crafted. So... I'm off to see what else my muse has for me!

And so I sit....

So here I am, in my craft room, just sitting. I've carved out the whole afternoon for crafting and even have someone coming over to craft with me in a bit. Ellie is sleeping, dinner's in the crock pot cooking, the house is clean, and I have 3 clean craft tables to play at. I've got my marvelous SPS kit here, still untouched. The world is my playground and still I sit. I have no idea what the deal is. I'm just not inspired. Sheesh! I've been a craft maniac lately, working on stuff and cleaning up after myself. Yesterday alone I made 4 cards and 5 layouts for the scrapbooking store. Then I made another attempt at an AIO baby diaper (more on that later...). But today, when I've carved out the time to craft? Nothing.

Who wants to play?

So I'm heading to Longview in a couple weeks (I'll be there from the 18th to the end of August)... Anyone want to have a scrapbook night? Let me know and we'll plan something...!

It's like Christmas!!!

Today I feel like a kid sitting under the Christmas tree, having just opened his gifts, not knowing which to play with first. I love Christmas!!! And today feels just like it (minus the glitzy tree, of course...).

First off, my mother in law came to visit today and she brought my Sizzix order. Yippeee! We played with it a bit this afternoon to find that the dies and the embossing folders work in my Cuttlebug, as I suspected they would. Always good to be right after ordering something in hopes that it will work!!

And when I checked the mail today? Jackpot!! The motherlode of Purple Onion Stamps has arrived!!! One of my favorite things about Purple Onion, too, is that Michele always throws in a few extra stamps for free with your order. So even though I knew some of what I was getting, opening that envelope is always a surprise! Yeah... I just got done applying the pressure sensitive adhesive, so they'll be ready to play with in the morning! Woohoo!

But that's not all!! Also in the mail came... a circle journal!!! That layout I did months ago for Andrea's Music journal finally has a home!!! And I have to say that her journal is AWESOME and now I'm even more excited to get my own back!!!

Oh yeah... and yesterday my Sweet Pea Scraps kit arrived! I pulled everything out and caressed it lovingly before I put it away until I have a little more time to play with it. It's beautiful!!

*sigh* I love days like this. Anyone up for some eggnog?

*SO* excited!!

I am *so* excited!! For several months I have been thinking about subscribing to a kit club, just to try it out. It's been on my to do list for a long time (like participating in a CJ and submitting for publication) and I finally did it. I knew that if I went for a kit club I'd subscribe to Sweet Pea Scraps, since that's what Julie's been doing since she closed down her LSS here. I miss the Thursday morning crops at her store!! So... a couple days ago I signed up for a 3 month subscription, since I *LOVE* the August kit and the September sneak peek looks awesome! And it looks like I get my kit TOMORROW!!! I am *so* excited.

I also ordered stuff from Purple Onion Designs recently, including a stamp that is the signature Hambly flourished circle. I can't wait for that baby to arrive!!

I also put in an order from Sizzix for some dies to use with my Cuttlebug, so those should be on their way via my mother-in-law at some point in the future, too.

All in all I am really excited for new stuff to play with! I know I already have a whole craft room FULL of stuff to play with, but I can't help overflowing with anticipation for more, LOL! What can I say? It's an addiction...

Effer Dare #71

A while back I decided I was going to do the Effer Dares one at a time, in order. That was when they had about 15 of them and I did the first four in one week. Now they're at #71 and I've given up on doing them in order, so I just jumped right in with this week's. This challenge was to use fabric on your LO. Now, I know that my MIM challenges weren't nearly as cool as the Effer Dares, but I just have to say that I did post this exact challenge last fall right here on this blog. I did not, though, use the same LO for both challenges, and I made a whole new LO for this one. I used flowery fabric I bought as a remnant just for scrapbooking! I love the brown, red, yellow, and blue combination. The title letters are Heidi Swapp, and the felt flowers I made by stamping the Rhonna flower on felt and then cutting them out.

Oh. and I tried to use the blog feature of the new Dares site to upload the layout, but something weird happened and it showed up on the main page (hey! I was on the Dares main page!! my claim to fame!) and didn't even have the photo up, so I deleted the entry. However, I can't figure out how to delete the faulty photo upload post, so I am still up there, looking like an idiot. Oh well! Maybe someday the site will be fully functional and they will delete my post for me. In the meantime, it's midnight and I really ought to head to bed. G'night!

I WON!!!!

Just for kicks, I decided to participate in the Caardvarks Junk Bowl Micro Challenge the other day. And I won!! I never win anything, and I wasn't *thrilled* with my entry, so I was surprised to get up this morning and see my name as the winner. Woohoo! Thanks, Caardvarkians!

I'm on a roll...

I don't know what's gotten into me. If I were 9 months pregnant, I'd call it nesting, but since I'm NOT I'm just going to chalk it up to insanity.

My craft room is still clean. But that's not the insane part. The crazy thing is that I got my recipes organized and planned out meals until I head to TX in 2 weeks. AND... I cleaned out and reorganized the pantry. Then we went to Sweet Pea (*WOW* btw).

... and when we got home from Sweet Pea I cleaned out the fridge! Now, this isn't your throw-away-the-moldy-food average cleaning. No... this was the pull-out-all-the-shelves-and-deep-clean kind of fridge cleaning. WOW!! The inside of my fridge is sparkling clean!!!

So what's on today's list? Well, if I keep up the motivation, I need to clean (as in vacuum and spot clean) the back seat of the car where Ellie's formula has leaked all over and gotten crusty. Ewwww! I also need to buy groceries. Maybe I'll get that done while she's sleeping and Leif is working on his thesis today. Hmm... that's an idea.

Okay! Off to get more done! I can't believe I'm on a roll here... it's completely insane.

Day Two...

Not only did I scrapbook AND make a couple cards yesterday, but my craft room is still clean. Yes, I put everything away when I was done using it, including paper scraps.

And in the rest of the house? Well, I've got the dishwasher running, the laundry put away, and I'm getting ready to go put my newest menu mailers in the book and plan meals for the next little while.

Last night we had a menu mailer crock pot meal (love that crock pot! the house smelled wonderful all day!) but tonight I don't have to cook dinner because... IT'S SWEET PEA! We're going to go see the show tonight, and I'm picking Leif up from work, so I imagine we'll either eat at Sweet Pea or grab something quick in town.

Also, on a food related note, I'm back on the Spark Wagon and working on day 2. Life would be great if I can keep all of this up for the next couple weeks! Maybe I'll even get back to Fly Ladying. Wow. That would be something.

Anyway- off to plan meals!!

That's more like it! (Caardvarks Micro Challenge - Junk Bowl #2)

After my first, somewhat unsatisfactory, attempt at the Junk Drawer challenge, I went back to my craft table to see what was left of the pile. From the remains I pulled a shard of ric-rack, rhinestones a plenty, an eyelet, and a couple clips, as well as a half-completed card face that got thrown into the reject pile when I was experimenting with card ideas for my card classes this summer. Then I put them all together and came up with this. Yes, THAT's more like what I was looking for.

Caardvarks Micro Challenge - Junk Bowl

See this jar? It's got little things in it that need to be put away. These are the few goodies that didn't get dealt with when I cleaned my craft room earlier today.



Lucky for me, a micro challenge was posted over at Caardvarks this afternoon and it specifically called for cards made from such a stash as this. Good thing I didn't put absolutely everything away, isn't it? So... let's see what we have in this little jar of mine, shall we??



Flowers, rhinestones, GOBS of white paperclips, some random brads and snaps, a couple beads, a couple mini tags, a bookplate... There was NO WAY I could use ALL the paperclips. No way. But I did use quite a few of them. It's cheesy, busy, and the heaviest card I think I've ever made. It might even be the ugliest card I've ever made. But I'm entering it anyway, and it was a fun challenge. So here is the final messypiece....

Prepare to be AMAZED!

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have been in my craft room.

I was there late last night.

I was there this morning before my daughter woke up.

And I have done marvelous things.

What be these marvelous things, you ask? Well, let me tell you. I CLEANED MY CRAFT ROOM. All 3 tables picked up. Floor vacuumed (that in itself is a miracle!). And this afternoon... I played. I actually sat down at my newly cleaned table and made a scrapbook page. It has been a good, good day, Ladies and Gentlemen. A good, good day.