CosmoBella

Well how flippin' cute is this little gal? Why can't I look like that in a pair of jeans? Oh wait, it's because I drink too much wine. Sigh, I digress. Anyhow, if you have a birthday in May or June (or July, August, September for that matter) AND you drink martinis, you are getting some variation on this baby. She is so fun to color, and I just learned this awesome technique whereby you spray an acrylic sealer on your image BEFORE you color it, and the paper doesn't pill. How cool is that? And, it totally works!!! :):):) Ooh, another fun technique I learned is to take your watercolor markers and color on a CD case lid...then, you can use a blender pen to pick up the color. Wipe the lid off with a baby wipe, and voila...a cheap, easy painters tool. Happy Tuesday techniques for you!

What else made my Tuesday so good? Well, I hired a lawn service this summer. Yes, I know it's lame. But, given all of my training and how burned out I am, I have decided it's the "S.O.T."----Summer of Terri. Yes friends, I may lay by the pool, read some books, drink some wine (whoops, already do that one!) but I will NOT train for any darn race. So, I thought a lawn service may be just the ticket to increased enjoyment. Yet again, I digress. So sorry.

Well, enjoy CosmoBella. She's having an apple martini. Sounds deeee-lightful. PrezzieBella may make her debut tonight yet. It's nice and sunny, and I feel like stampin!

PaperTrey

I got my PaperTrey stamps AND my Bellas yesterday. More enabling, I'm afraid! I love how the PaperTrey stamps come packaged...such a clever idea! They suggest storing your clear stamps in CD cases. How convenient and Type A, just like me! So, since I am home waiting for a pump to arrive, I thought, "Well, I'll get out my new stamps and make a card for Liz!" (So Liz, sorry if you read my blog and I ruin the surprise!)

Anyhow, if you want the website for either the PaperTrey or Bella stamps, let me know. I'll try to post a Bella later today. She is currently drying, as I had to apply some tacky glue to her backside. (I, on the other hand, need NOTHING applied to my backside...It's big enough from all that biking!)

P.S.-The photo does NOT do this card justice. The flowers are stamped with (Shannon's new fav) Almost Amethyst, and since Liz loves purple, I wanted to do the flowers a pretty purple shade, but they didn't show up well in the scan. She is also getting another little care package from me, but I'll keep that a secret. She will LOVE it!

Baby Shower Favors

Wow, I took a lot of time off! Work has been just crazy, and Sunday I spent recovering from my bike crash instead of crafting as I had planned. Anyhow, I am hosting my friend, Lisa's, baby shower this weekend. She and her hubby just adopted a little girl from Russia...Katie Grace. (cute little bugger, I tell you!) So, I wanted to give out little favors. I have to give credit where it's due though...I got the idea from Liz's shower, as her friend Liz G. made little magnets that were so cute. I just pretty much stole the idea and changed them around a smidge. So, here they are. If you want to try the idea, LMK and I'll post the directions. They were SUPER easy and only took me about 30 minutes to complete!

Ooh Ah...

You wish you had a Cuttlebug.
Ooh ah, you wish you had a Cuttlebug.

Man, I love the Bug! What did I do before Cricut and Cuttlebug? (I'll have to brag about Cricut in an upcoming post) I bought the Bug at Mike's with my 40% off coupon. I'm pretty sure they weren't supposed to let me use my coupon, but I say that makes up for all the times I forgot one. And while we're on the subject of "what did I do before...?" WHAT DID I DO BEFORE 40% OFF COUPONS? What would happen to the world if they were discontinued?

Well, the Cuttlebug is a cool little tool. It's dry embossing without the rig-a-ma-roll of embossing. Have you ever embossed? It's not terribly fun. And, it's time consuming. So now, I can make all of these cool patterns on things by just rolling a piece of paper through a machine. My kind of work! Allows me to drink my wine and roll, all at the same time, thanks to the suction cups that hold the little guy in place.

So, I urge you to run, not walk, to your nearest store, 40% coupon in hand and buy a Cuttlebug. You will thank me someday!

(And yes, I know, I should sell the thing on QVC. Wouldn't I make a lovely QVC hostess? Maybe someone from QVC will read my blog and bring me in to interview. Oh, how lovely!)

Challenge put to work

OMG, I just received the highest compliment EVAH! Liz (you know, my friend with the twins AND cancer...dear God, who could make that up?) just told me on my blog I'm the funniest person she knows. Has she met herself? Has she read her own care page? It makes me laugh out loud...and it's so dang clever. I have not a clever bone in my bod. Ability to copy stuff bone? Yep, got one of those!

OK, back to my story. So, it is literally so miserable here in MI today. It is like raining/sleeting/snowing. Has Mother Nature checked in to the calendar to see THAT IT IS APRIL?!?!?!?! Hello????? Ugh, again I digress. So, crap weather=stamp time. (and wine time, but no one's here to see that!) So, I made a card for the Sketch Challenge that I posted earlier. I really, really like this sketch. The other thing I like is that you can print all of the other sketches from previous weeks, and VOILA, new card ideas. So, here dear friends, is my card. I love the springy colors these days. Makes me hopeful that one day my tulips will rear their pretty little faces.

Sketch Challenge

Anyone up for a sketch challenge today? This makes a pretty darn cute card. My first attempt was a birthday card for my friend Lisa's daughter, Katie, who was adopted from Russia and is turning one this weekend. I'll have to try another one this afternoon if there's time.

Color Challenge

Well, I started this card off for a color challenge on SCS...and then realized that the green in my patterned paper is nowhere close to the green in the challenge. Poop on a stick! So then, I just went ahead and used my new thanks stamp from CTMH and made a thank-you note for the Willey family. They were so nice to have us over on Easter when my Mom abandoned us. (JK MOM!!!) Dont'cha just love rhinestones!

Thanks to Michelle, Molly's cousin, for helping me with the photo upload process. Man I am a complete moron when it comes to this kind of stuff, but I am learning!

My very first blog

Wow, welcome to my first blog! I have had great intentions of starting one, but I just found the whole process so unbelievably overwhelming. Then, my friend Michelle passed along this website and said, (and I quote) "it's the web equal of macaroni and cheese". Clearly, she has no idea of my computer abilites. (or lack thereof!)

Nonetheless, here it is! I hope to keep card samples, templates and the like on here for you to see, borrow, whatever. And, I'll be happy to upload any of your crafty ideas too!

Happy Monday all!