Monday, April 28, 2008

The Envelope Please...

Or in this case - the http://www.random.org/ sequence generator...

The winner of my Bloggy Carnival Giveaway is comment #43 - Kathy!

Kathy has her own blog called "Head for the Hills" and man... do I admire her! She's got 10 kids! Yes, 10! And she's homeschooling them!!! I'm having a hard time keeping up with my 3 kids!!!
More (Devine) Power to you, Kathy!

Well - Kathy doesn't like scrapbooking, she LOVES it (according to her kids - and those are stats you can take to the bank...) so I'm glad she won! Would be a shame to send these lovely swirly and birdy stamps to a taxidermist that could care less... and you can't swing a dead cat (or a stuffed one, for that matter) around this part of Texas without hitting a taxidermist...so the risk was a great one...

Thanks, everyone, for playing - it's so blessed to give rather than to receive - and it's a good thing that's my attitude - I didn't win any of the bloggy giveaways... (sob). I guess I should have taken the time to enter more than a couple of them, huh? But I had a lot of fun reading your comments, checking out YOUR blogs, and "giving" and I'll be doing it again during the next carnival - so stay tuned!

And here is my "list", just in case you wanted to weep over how close (or not) you came to winning...


Random Sequence Generator
Here is your sequence:

1) 43
2) 46
3) 53
4) 69
5) 79
6) 71
7) 75
8) 40
9) 42
10) 80
11) 57
12) 25
13) 68
14) 45
15) 62
16) 24
17) 76
18) 81
19) 65
20) 59
21) 44
22) 30
23) 22
24) 93
25) 55
26) 4
27) 73
28) 48
29) 84
30) 33
31) 15
32) 50
33) 54
34) 47
35) 96
36) 95
37) 8
38) 13
39) 20
40) 31
41) 16
42) 92
43) 7
44) 32
45) 49
46) 64
47) 36
48) 90
49) 58
50) 28
51) 77
52) 34
53) 85
54) 52
55) 97
56) 27
57) 9
58) 18
59) 3
60) 23
61) 17
62) 72
63) 11
64) 2
65) 94
66) 26
67) 1
68) 5
69) 39
70) 14
71) 60
72) 61
73) 74
74) 66
75) 19
76) 89
77) 41
78) 12
79) 56
80) 51
81) 83
82) 37
83) 82
84) 63
85) 67
86) 10
87) 21
88) 35
89) 91
90) 88
91) 29
92) 87
93) 38
94) 86
95) 6
96) 78
97) 70
Timestamp: 2008-04-28 08:50:26 UTC

Friday, April 25, 2008

Too Good For My Own Bad...

I'm approaching mid-life, I suppose - well... mid-life for some - not me... I'll be living to at least a hundred, if only to spite some people. So mid-life for me won't be for another 10 years... But anyhow, I'm "maturing" in some respects.

What happens to be bothering me at this specific juncture is my lack of reasonable brain activity. Simply put, I'm making bad, or at least unusual, decisions - most of these in the middle of the night...

I'm frustrated at this particular second because I've hidden some treats from my thieving offspring and now I can't find them to quell a late night craving. (or a mid-morning, afternoon or early evening craving either... I've been searching!) Somewhere in this house there is a nearly full can of Pepperidge Farm Chocolate Hazelnut Pirouette cookies. I can just barely hear them calling out to me... That makes me think they may be under blankets or couch cushions - but I've searched there and so far only come up with popcorn kernels, the occasional matchbox car and some broken crayons. Thankfully I was able to find a nearly empty bag of cookies to fill the void in the meantime. But there's still something so wrong about hiding something so well from yourself when you really need to indulge!

Another disturbing development is my strange interest in late night infomercials. I've bought into (or rather invested in) a couple of them lately. First was the Principal Secret anti-wrinkle cream. The big selling point was the 51 year old woman that looked like she was on her way to the 9th grade - only without all the pimples. The second one was for Wen Haircare by Chaz Dean "no lather" hair cleansing conditioner. I figured if it was good enough for Laura Ingalls and the Asian doctor from ER it was good enough for me. No matter that my hair isn't long like theirs and that a one month supply of this stuff would pay for a year and a half of Suave... (not to mention a whole buncha scrapbook supplies. Something tells me Melissa Gilbert is willing to shell out a little more for her no-suds shampoo... That was (almost) my wake-up call - the $30 a month price tag - OH! and the "convenient auto ship" feature. But the most disturbing thing - the way their hair looks. Yeah, it's shiny - but still messy. You know the messy... you see them on the "red carpet" and think, couldn't she at LEAST have gotten her hair done??? Now why do I want to pay $30 a month for THAT?

Good heavens! What have I gotten myself in to???

Well - both products have the "60-day, bottom of the jar guarantee", and if I do send them back I get to keep my free gifts, one of which is a fancy wide toothed comb. You're jealous... I can feel it...

I'll let you know, possibly with before and after photos, how they actually work - But I may have to charge you a convenient reoccurring fee to read my reviews.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

H - B, "T"

Today is my friend, Toni's, birthday. I made her an easy little card that I wanted to share. The cardstock is Bazzill (of course), the patterned papers are Bo-Bunny, the "velvet" scalloped ribbon is Maya Road, the polka dot ribbon is May Arts, the ink is Stewart Superior, the acrylic stamps are Technique Tuesday, the button is Paper Studio and the felt flower is Creative Imaginations (I'm assuming this...since my friend Sally gave me the felt flowers and she happens to have a bit of an addiction to the Creative Cafe Art Bar...)



I also wanted to share a page that Toni made for me! I was so touched and surprised to find out that she was my Secret Sister for the last several months. She did a fabulous job of keeping herself a secret to me – and was a marvelous surprise giver. But it was a “cherry on top” situation because she has become such a dear friend to me. What a wonderful support and encouragement she has been as a homeschooling mom – not to even mention the time we have enjoyed scrapbooking together. I really admire her as a woman of God and wonderful mother. I hope that our friendship only deepens as the years tick by.

Happy Birthday, Toni!


















Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Cool Dude

Our little art gallery in town hosts a show each spring where they feature the artwork of local grade school and high school students. The students are from local public, private and home schools. This is the first year one of my homeschool students (:0) entered a piece of artwork. 15% of all entries received blue ribbons - the remaining 85% received participation ribbons. When I saw Jacob's work, there was no question in my mind which color he'd receive :0)

Jacob entered in the 3rd grade level (all the works are divided by grades) in the sculpture category. His sculpture is called "Chillin' Out" and is made of Crayola Model Magic - his preferred medium. He goes through Model Magic like nobody's business - seems it's always a gift and he's always glad to receive it.

He's been sculpting penguins for a long time now - they seem to hold a spot in his heart. He's made them out of chenille stems (glorified pipe cleaners) as well and seems to have quite an array of little penguins in his personal collection of junque - from gumball machine trinkets and PEZ dispensers, to stickers and stuffed animals of various sizes.

Some details to note:

The igloo is hollow. It's formed over the upside down tub that held the Model Magic.

There is a mailbox covered with snow, and apparently it has some outgoing mail...

The sculpture started out with the two penguins building the "snow penguin".

There is a hole in the "ice" and a snorkeling penguin is peeking out. There was originally a fish poking his head up as well - but he looked more like a beak with spots on it and was removed by the artist.

The "sunbathing" penguin was mom's idea, but Jacob's creation.

The last element added was the "surfer" penguin. He was originally on a toboggan, but then Jacob realized there were no hills for the toboggan to slide down and waves and a surf board were added. I really like the design of the surfboard. At the actual show, someone clearly couldn't keep their hands off and they broke the wing from the surfer penguin. It will be repaired after the sculpture comes home from the show at the end of this week.

Jacob is pretty proud of his work and has inspired his brother and sister to get their acts together and enter artwork in next year's show.


A Scrappy Bloggy Giveaway

Edited to add: We, (referring of course to the royal we...) have a winner! Click here to read more about her!
This is my first ever participation in a Bloggy Giveaway Carnival! I'm very excited. I'm not exactly sure why, but I'm finding it exciting. Hey - I'm a SAHM... I got excited when a door-to-door salesman rang the bell Friday afternoon and offered promises of a clean house and increased property values if I bought a $70 bottle of his cleaning potion... So far the bottle hasn't moved, but I'm watching it closely for the first signs of life... Am I wrong to think that for $70 the bottle should actually do the cleaning itself???

Anywho - I do want to say, "Thanks for stopping by". I love the convenience of having guests when I'm in my PJ's and it's "OK". But - you didn't come here for that... you came for the goods! So on to it.

This giveaway is supposed to "reflect me" so I figured the easiest way to do that right now was to give away something "scrappy". Who knows... maybe I'll give away something "weight loss" oriented next time... or maybe one of the kids... But for this time it's going to be something scrappy.

I'm giving a brand new set of rubber stamps called Chanteuse, by Inque Boutique. This is a limited edition set - there are only 1,000 out there - and Chanteuse is the mirror image of the Nightingale set that is available for sale at the Inque site. The style (swirly & birdy) is very popular with scrapbookers and paper crafters right now. So even if you're not one of those yourself - this would make a nice gift... But be warned - it does say "Promo Only" and "Savoir Free!" on the package... So the recipient might think you a cheap skate... But on the flip side - it also says, "a $10 value!" So that's something, huh?
If you haven't guessed yet, yes... I won these in a contest/drawing - but I've got so many swirly stamps... and believe in sharing the "wealth". These have never been used, but from what I know, they work just like the popular clear acrylic stamps, in that you can see where your design will be stamped due to the close cut of the rubber to the design and the design placement markings on the back of the stamps. They store nicely too - this set fits nicely in it's CD case and even comes with customizable labeling for the side or the end, so you can easily find it later.

The "RULES"


  • This contest is open to United States and Canadian mailing addresses.
  • The contest will end Sunday, April 27th, at midnight CDT. One winner will be chosen from the comments by Random.org and notified by e-mail on Monday, April 28th.
  • If the winner does not respond within 3 (three) business days another winner will be drawn.
  • Leave me a comment (link at the end of this post) before midnight on Sunday, April 27th, and tell me what you'll do with these stamps when you win them.
  • You don't have to be a "blogger", but be sure to leave me your email address in your comment or in your blog profile so that I can contact you.
Click here to get back to Bloggy Giveaways and enter some more giveaways! Thanks for playing!

Monday, April 21, 2008

Yellow Baby Buggy Bumpers

This has to be the worlds quickest card...or at least MY quickest card...

I made this one for a "unknown gender" baby shower.
The cardstock is Bazzill, the patterned paper is ancient..., the buttons are Foo Fa La, and the buggy is of course a Jolee's by EK Success.

The card itself is pretty standard - a 6 X 12 piece of white cardstock, with a 5 1/2 inch square of yellow cardstock, a 5 in square of striped patterned paper, a 4 1/2 inch square of white cardstock and the buggy stuck on top with buttons in the corners. (If I hadn't been in such a hurry I would have put some thread in those buttons - please forgive...)

I need to make some more of these...just to have on hand. How many times am I going to say that before I actually DO it...?

Saturday, April 19, 2008

A Texas Sized "Goodbye"

Just wanted to share the card I made for our young punk Pastor, Will, and his wife Adelaide. I say "young punk" with all affection... This is the first time in my life I've ever been OLDER than my pastor... I'm told that it only gets worse... This was their last Sabbath with us after 2 years and 7 months of service. They're off to the frozen north this week, where he will finish his Master of Divinity degree at my hubby's old Michigan stomping grounds, Andrews University. Maybe - just maybe, it's not so frozen right now. Since Will is returning to academia, that's the route I went with the card - even listing a few of the actual classes he'll be taking on the "class schedule". (If you click on the photos they should enlarge - just hit your back button to return to the blog.)

This evening we had a farewell potluck dinner for them - complete with a Texas Cedar money tree (note to self: check Gibson's for seeds. Gotta get me one uh those...) that just might have enough green on it to buy most of the gas for their trip north... One of our talented members is a very fine quilter and made the Texas Adios wall hanging for them. I was asked to make a card large enough for the entire congregation to be able to sign - so instead of my favorite 6 x 6 inch format I kicked it up a notch (or two,) to a 12 x 12 inch size. It's basically two pieces of 12 x 12 cardstock, hinged on the left with a 12 x 8 piece of printed cardstock folded in half lengthwise.


All of the papers and embellies I used, (except for the Making Memories {Note} Worthy chipboard letters spelling 'Goodbye'), were from a monthly Memory Works kit from my friend Christina's store. Doesn't she have awesome kits?! My Sis sent this school themed kit to me as a gift. I've been privileged to receive a few kits and various gifts from Christina's store, Rubba Stampa & Scrapbooka's Attic, up near Boston - thus the accent :0) She's got a small store - but it's packed with an excellent variety of the latest and greatest STUFF! She's got a good buyer ;0)


The swirly stamps were also from Christina's store - but not part of that particular kit. They're from Autumn Leaves - Swirls v.2 by Rhonna Farrer. I LOVE 'em... I also used the new Fiskar's border punch - Threading Water. My Sis sent me that too, in a recent surprise package. She's a keeper, no? I like the punch a lot - I can see it getting a lot of use in the future.

I believe the cardstock is Bazzill, the patterned papers and cardstock tags and words are Basic Grey from the Recess collection. The journaling box (Class Schedule) is My Mind's Eye. The punch out "Mini Alpha Tabs" are from The Office Line by Autumn Leaves. In addition to those chipboard ledger print letters, I also used my good 'ol Making Memories letter stamps for the words "miss" and "Klinke '08-'09". I used the Evolution font - pretty much the only time I'm fond of evolution... :0) I threw in various inks for the paper edges too - ColorBox Chalk Ink pads (the cat eye size) in Olive and Creamy Brown. I used Memories Pigment ink in a rich brown called "mink" for the swirl stamps.

And to all of you 'non-scrappers'... thanks for indulging me through a "creative" post. I was getting a bit rusty...

We'll miss you Will and Adelaide - come back and visit us often.

Brag Alert...

My kiddos sang for church today. I was pretty excited about it - even though they didn't do parts or anything - but they only started learning the song yesterday afternoon. It was really my week to sing, but I didn't have a piece ready that I wanted to do... Can you imagine... I thought it would be EASIER to get them to do a song than to procure and prepare one myself!

I was proud of them anyhow. Now we need to find something they can learn some simple harmony on...

Edit: Try to ignore the pants that don't coordinate and the tie that was tied to short and needs a good pinning - hey...at least it's not a clip on... And if anyone has seen a navy blue size 14 slim boys blazer could you please let us know... it's just up and diss-duh-peered! And Jacob has outgrown his already! We just bought them last fall!

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Don't You Just LOVE...

To start your day with a call from the 911 operator?

Ah, yes... My favorite way to snap out of that quiet part of the morning - before anyone has started screaming "that's mine!" or "she's in my room!" or "get off of me! M-ahhhhhhh-m!!! He bit me!"

911 - "Ma'am - this is the 911 operator"
Me - "Oh - Good morning!"
911 - "Good morning ma'am. Did you know your phone line has been open to 911?"
Me - "No... Really? How long was that?"
911 - "About a minute or so."
Me - "Really?... Michaela? (who is pouring milk on her honey-nut scooters) Did you call 911?"
Mack - "NO - not me... " (yeah... right...)
Me - "This has happened to us before - except it was my husband that was playing around with the speed dial while going through his 'morning routine'... I was very surprised to answer the door to a female police officer and yelled - 'honey? did you call 911?' and he told me he had just been messing around with the phone while sitting on the pot."
911 - "Ah" (snort...)
Me - "Well thanks for calling..."
911 - "Yes ma'am. (chuckling) Also - to let you know - the police will be stopping by..."
Me - "Great! Hopefully mommy will have time to get her bra on first..."
911 - "Have a good day Ma'am..." (still chuckling)
Me - "Thanks so much... (click) MICHAELA!?"
Zack - "It was me mom..." (the smartest move he's made today...)

A minute or so later the doorbell rang and the dog went berserk. Thankfully I'd pulled on some p.j. pants before the phone rang. You really don't want to leave a police officer waiting on your porch when he's responding to a 911 call...

Zachary got dressed faster than I've ever seen and came in to speak with the officer standing in our living room while I tried to use Oscar the dog to keep me modest...


The doorbell rang again... back-up had arrived.


I was half tempted to ask them to just cuff me and take me away...


Lesson learned - I think. Apparently they didn't believe me when I told them 911 shows up - whether it's a real emergency or just a bit of constipation.

I'm hopeful this is our last encounter with the men in blue.
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