Honorable Mention!!!

I got an honorable mention on Nicole's blog! I am on cloud 9!! I will be walking on air all day!! The folder that I made came from a template I got from Samantha (who is an amazing paper crafter and also a super sweet person. I asked her is she cared if I entered using her template, and she said no because she is just sweet like that.) You can find the template here on her blog. She even has a tutorial and her directions are so easy even I can follow them. I also have a similar project here on my blog where I used the sunflower/daisy stamp from Garden of Life. So anyway this just makes my day, my month, my year! If I had video on here you would be watching me jumping up and down screaming with my kid looking at me like I am crazy, plus you would be scarred for life because me + early morning = not a pretty site! Have a great day!

Black and White

I love the simplicity of this card. It uses the fabulous guidelines set from PTI. Stamping that pattern is so much easier than it looks! The ribbon is from Michaels, black cardstock is from MM, dew drops from Robins nest. I love those dew drops. Awesome stuff.

In totally unrelated news... I managed another spin class last night. Self, once again, thought we were going to die. But all was well... my legs hurt today but other than that I am good. Have another date at the gym at 3pm today. I so wish I could love exercising. I want to be one of those people who just loves it. I am not, pretty sure I never will be.

Crafty Things are on Hold

So I got some crafty things made but I never got around to taking pictures today. I had a lot of good intentions for the day, but as usual my good intentions did not all become reality.
I started my morning with a trip to the gym. Sad to say but I did not go to the gym the whole time I was working on the science institute...roughly seven days. Now one would think seven days wouldn't be that big of deal given that I have been working out regularly now for nearly 20 months. One would be very wrong! I decided to do a little spin class today because I felt I would work harder than working on my own upstairs on the elliptical. So I walk in and I see its the beginner level class, spin 1. Normally I take spin 3, sometimes spin 4. I do this 3x a week. So here I am, "oh level 1", I think, "how easy." I get on the bike. I go 5 minutes. I think I might die. I try that self talk, "Self you do this all the time. Self this is not hard, this is a fraction of what your regular class is. Self there is a 65 year old woman riding next to you and she is kicking your fat ass!" Self wasn't very happy. In fact, Self was demanding we leave, like 10 minutes ago. So to make a boring story shorter I did indeed finish 35 minutes of the class, I was soaked in sweat, I managed to stumble out and stretch. Then I decided because I was such a wimp in spin I would make up for it by lifting weights. UGH! It felt so much heavier than usual! I did manage to crank out some bench presses (yeah I can only press the bar, thank you very much), lat pulls, curls, and tricep push downs. Not a very spectacular effort. The weight will never come off if I keep this up! So tomorrow I begin anew, and it will be with a 45 minute class at level 2 or 3, it will be a new reason for Mondays to suck.

Finally!

Its been a long and awesome week teaching science to a bunch of K-2 teachers. I am completely exhausted, but here we are at Saturday, our final day of the institute. Mostly it has been a fabulous experience. This is by far the largest professional development program I have been in as an instructor and I have really enjoyed myself. Of course there are always one or two that have to spoil a good time. We have the participants fill out an evaluation at the end of each day. We read those and in our debrief meeting we use them to guide and help plan the next day. Most of the evals are nicely worded with helpful suggestions etc. But then there always has to be one or two who are rude and uncalled for, and truth be told completely unprofessional. You know teachers (me included) always complain about not being treated like a professional but then sometimes the way some teachers act its easy to see why they arent, kwim? In any case I am glad to be at the end because I feel like I need to sleep for a week! Hopefully I will be back with some crafty things tomorrow.

More Guidelines

So sorry there hasnt been anything new for so long. I am teaching at a science workshop all week. Its been great fun but the days have been long and havent allowed for much else... I haven't been able to craft a thing all week. We end on Saturday, so I should be back then. In the meantime I made this card a few weeks ago using PTI's new guide lines set. Its such a fabulous set and very forgiving. I would totally recommend it. The cardstock, ribbon, and ink is all by PTI as well.

Happy 4th of July!!

A special shout out to my dad who is celebrating his 58th birthday today! Happy Birthday Daddy! When I was little my dad used to tell me and my brother that all those fireworks were just for him. Of course we believed him... I mean he was our dad why wouldnt people want to shoot off fireworks for him every year?! So one time when I was 4 or 5 he asked me, "Why do they only have fireworks on my birthday and not yours?" I thought it over and then stated very matter of fact: " Oh Dad! You know why... my birthday is in the day and yours is at night!" Hehehe I was clever even back then. Happy 4th!

Wise Owls

This is a notecard holder and notecard set that I made for my daughter's teacher as an end of school gift. Her class is always known as the Wise Owls. So cute! She has tons of owl stuff that has been given to her over the years. I usually give the teacher a cookie bouquet as an end of the year gift but this week I just didnt have the time. So I came up with this. My daughter says she really really liked it. Note: The colors are really off in the first photo. The note card photo is a much better reflection on the actual colors.



Ingredients: Sassafrass Lass paper, hero arts owl stamp, PTI ribbon in berry sorbet. Berry sorbet ink, MM expresso ink. Lettering is my handwriting, American crafts pen.

Guide Lines

This is made with Papertrey Ink's newest releases. We have vintage cream cardstock, plum pudding cardstock and ink. Plum pudding ribbon and then the terrific guidelines stamps. They do have a bit of a learning curve, but they are so forgiving! Its really hard to totally screw it up. I only wasted two pieces of paper getting started. What can I say I am a slow learner. The happy birthday is from birthday basics, I believe.

Just Hangin' Around

A kiddie card! I made this for my friend's three year old's birthday. I used Hero Arts stamps. I just picked these up the other day at my local stamp store, which I must say is a very good store. They have all the latest and greatest. They even carry scor-pal and nestabilities! The name is Stamper's Corner and if you are ever in the Sacramento area you ought to check them out. Anyway back to the card. Images are stamped with palette black noir and colored with Derwent water color pencils. The green cardstock is bazzill and the white is stampers select by PTI. The ribbon is from Michaels.

We Interrupt Your Crafting to Bring You This:

Oh my this is so funny! Especially since I am related to several engineers and I, of course, own 6 cats.

More Sunflower Goodness & Some Non-Crafty Rambling

A few more of the sunflower cards. I have all the ingredients in the previous post. I really had fun using these colors I would normally shy a way from.




In other news, we are preparing to take a little trip to my husband's cousin's wedding. Its going to take a week before we are back home. The wedding is in Paso Robles. Its a cute little town. About a 4 hour drive for us, maybe a tad longer since we will have to stop for the kids. Of course, with two kids in the car, it may feel like its a 14 hour drive. We do not have an onboard DVD player. No its old fashioned travel for us. Are we there yet? How much longer? I have to go pee! Dont you wish you were coming with us?

While we we are on the road we will be sans computer. I fully expect to have withdrawal symptoms but sometimes I think its good to step away from the technology. So I am leaving the mac at home and I am going to just go cold turkey. I did upload a few blog posts to appear while I am away. More cards and crafty stuff, I hope you enjoy them.

It's Blog Hop Time!

This month's challenge was to use acetate. Let me just say that I now hate acetate. LOL. Honestly I had the worst time with this, it did not come easy. For my card I actually recycled some packaging to make a 3D window in which to hang my stamped flowers. The flowers are stamped from the Garden of Life Set. I used all PTI products on this card with the exception of the Hero Art sparkle embossing powder, DMC floss, and crystal stickles. I cut the square hole using my nesties. I glued everything down with glue dots.

Sunflower Goodness

This is a little notecard set and holder I made to give as a gift.... not sure who is going to receive it yet though. The holder I made with the help from an awesome tutorial I found over at Samantha's blog. She rocks. Her directions are super easy to follow. I made five cards; a get well, a thank you, a generic hello, and two blanks. Then I stamped 5 matching envelopes. Almost all the supplies are PTI. I will put a full list below. Thanks for coming by. I love when you leave comments, it totally makes my boring little day!


Sunflower Notes Ingredients: PTI Cardstock: Summer Sunrise, Lemon Tart, Spring Moss, Select White. PTI Ribbon: Summer Sunrise Swiss Dot, Spring Moss Twill PTI Ink: Summer Sunrise, Spring Moss, Lemon Tart. Stamps: PTI Garden of Life NON PTI ITEMS: RIBBON: brown: offray sparkly gold: American Crafts. INK: Making Memories brown OTHER: fiskars punch, nestabilities squares, Cinnamon stickles, Cowboy dew drops.

Ribbon Storage

I modified my MM embellishment center so that my ribbons would not have to be on the dowel anymore. I always liked the way it looked, but using the ribbon and changing them out was time consuming and tedious. So I took out the dowels and I threaded elastic through the holes. Now I just stand my spools up behind the elastic. It works great!

More Money Saving...

This time I hit the jackpot at Tuesday Morning. Oh there was so much scrappy goodness it was hard to keep a hold on my wallet! I got two sets of MM clear stamps, MM acrylic block, 3 sets of Heidi Grace chipboard Alphas, 2 pads of 6x6 MM paper, 8 mm stamp ink cubes, two huge sets of MM ribbon on a spool, a set of basic grey ribbon, 1 pkg basic grey rubons and a 12x12 pack of MM paper! All for the unbelievable price of 40 dollars! I felt like I had struck gold!! So my goodies are now home and unpacked and I cant wait to scrap some more this week.

Casual Midweek Challenge 11

Over at the PTI message board they have the Casual Midweek Challenge, I just love the name. Its like...no we dont need any commitments... just come as you are. I have spent half the morning trying to load this card on PTI's gallery but its not working for some reason. So for now I thought I would just put it here.

Recipe: PTI's Aquamist, Select white, and Lavender Moon cardstock, aquamist and versamark watermark ink, lavender moon ribbon, hero arts sparkly embossing powder, crystal stickles

Quiz Time

A bit of fun I found on Sheri's blog. I am surprised my score was that high!

53 As a 1930s wife, I am Average Take the test!

A Little Birthday Crafting...

My old college roommate's son just turned three so I made him this little cupcake card. I used Birthday Basics and It's a Celebration from... where else? Papertrey Ink... yes i heart them....very very much! I think the cardstock is Bazzill but I am not positive I just pulled it out of my stash. The white is PTI's stamper's select. The ribbon is from michaels. The ink is the dew drops chalk ink and the bling is unknown, sorry I bought it so long ago, just like so much of my stuff. Hoard much? Why, yes I do. Anyway hope you like.

Cookie Gifts

I meant to post this picture two weeks ago when I made it. I was also going to post pictures of my disastrous kitchen, the clock blinking midnight when I finally finished them, etc. There is a reason the bakeries charge $50 for these things... they are a huge pain in the butt! After they were all done and I went to wrap them up I noticed that the bags were a little small. I think Michael's has stopped selling the ones I normally use. I need something between tiny and gigantic (the only two sizes Mike's is carrying). Do any of you crafting divas know where I can buy more little bags in Medium? I just love individually wrapping the cookies because it looks so professional. Anyhow, the cookies were a huge hit with my son's preschool teachers. Thanks for stopping by!

Did I Just Say That Other Card Was My Favorite?

Well that was before I made this one! I really like how it came out. I was on a card making frenzy the other night. Its been nice to be able to stay up late and not have to worry about work the next day! I have been taking my daughter to school but hey I can do that in sweats and a ponytail (Yes, I am a Glamour don't).

Ingredients: PTI Garden of Life stamps, PTI cardstock in sweet blush and white, PTI inks in lemon tart, sweet blush, and spring moss, PTI ribbon in spring moss. Tag cut using a cuttle bug die.

In non-crafty news I am working on getting to gym everyday. One failure so far. I will be back at it tomorrow. I see my endocrinologist this week. Hopefully I will find that everything is going well. (I am a type 1, insulin pump wearing diabetic). My son is adjusting to being home with mom, I am adjusting to actually doing my housework. I spent two hours on it today... a record for me to be sure. Katie asked about how the playhouse was coming along.... my contractor (fundaddy) quit. He hasnt worked on it at all! Hoping he will be back out there soon so I can get it painted this summer.

My Most Favorite Card....

well most favorite in the last couple of days anyway. All supplies paper trey ink except for some of the colored inks, those are dew drops chalk ink. The flowers and bee are from the PTI honeybees set.

Another Day, another card....

This was made for a friend of mine's baby to be. The baby is going to be named Emilia. I used Papertrey ink patterned paper, ink and boxs, bags and tags stamps. I also used a Brenda Walton letter set for the E. finally I added in a good dose of stickles.

On another note, School is OUT! Which means a good 9 weeks of vacation for me!!! YIPPEE!!! Lots of days to do absolutely nothing! Well I still have to watch my kids and take care of the house... but thats hardly anything.....

More Crafty Stuff

Another card... I have quite a pile going on my craft table... now if I could just get back into scrapbooking... I have such a back log of pictures. Anyway this little card is all PTI... including their fabulous new kraft paper cardstock... that stuff is awesome. If you havent checked out PTI you should. The link is in my sidebar.

Bee Card

I made this card as a little thank you for my dentist and his assistant. (Lets just say I am a troublesome patient). I used Papertrey ink cardstock and ribbon (summer sunrise), palette ink (black noir), PTI honeybees stamps, stickles (diamond), and glossy accents. I used my scor pal to score the rectangle around the bee. Its a nice simple card and definitely easy to make.

Saving Money AGAIN!

Just call me a Big Lots addict. Today as I was driving home from work I heard a little voice say, go to Big Lots... you have time... there is something so good there!! So instead of heading home to the burbs I turned the van to go deeper into the 'hood. I parked my car, noticed that their were the two requisite cops sitting out by the liquor store, and then I headed in to Big Lots. I just knew there was going to be something awesome. I walked over to the scrapbook section (pitifully small) and lo and behold! What do I see???? Its Basic Grey all over the place! It was all I could do not to snatch it all up! They also had some awesome MAMBI kits but I had already promised myself no more paper after my last three purchases of super sized paper slabs. So I had to pass those up...it nearly killed me!!! Anyway I was so very pleased with my haul... now to use it... hmmmmmm... maybe I will just look at for awhile.

SCARY!!!!

I found this on my computer today. I think its my boy... its beyond creepy!

Two Weeks

is the amount of time left before summer vacation! Ahhh the best part about being a teacher, you still get summer vacation! Its not as carefree as it was when I was a kid but its still awesome! Tomorrow I have a day long meeting... bleh. Then the rest of the week is business as usual, except for Friday which is movie day. Gotta love movie day! Also this week my kids begin swimming lessons... I am hoping this is the year they actually learn to swim. My daughter is so close, I am hoping and praying it "clicks" this time! The boy... well he is still trying to learn to put his head under, so I have a feeling its going take a few more lessons for him.

Another Card

This was the other card that I was working on for the papertrey ink blog hop. It also has grid style scoring. I like everything about it except that I tried to heat emboss the crown and I think it looked better before I did that. I am not sure who this will go to. Its just sitting in my stash with several others.

PaperTrey Ink Blog Hop

Its that time of the month! Time for the PaperTrey Ink Blog Hop! See all the details here. This month's challenge was to use score lines. It was a challenge for me.... I had to use my old grey fiskars and the scoring blade... it was tricky. I made two and couldnt decide which to show.... so I just played eeny meanie.

Some Crafty Stuff for You

I have been playing in my craft corner.... testing out my new papertreyink stamps. I made a few cards, one is for bloghop so I have to keep that to myself for now... you will see it Wednesday night. Of the two I posted, one is for my friend who is expecting a baby girl in September. I used bitty baby and lavender moon from papertrey ink. The other is made from papertreyinks new Kraft paper and the new honeybee stamp set. I was just messing around, not sure if I like this card or not. It went into my stash for the next time unexpected card occasions arise.

Been Slackin'

I have been slacking with the blog. I don't know but lately I just haven't had a whole lot to say. I have been crafting but I haven't taken any pictures of my creations. Maybe today if I find the time. I have the day off for Memorial Day. We are getting close to the end of school, just three weeks left! Hard to believe summer is almost here! I am looking forward to loafing around all day.

Some other things going on:
Gave a "scrapbooking" lesson to a friend of mine yesterday. Loaded her up with Joann's coupons. I think its safe to say that I lured in another one. She was all ready to run right out and buy a trimmer, paper, albums, etc. This after completing just two pages. Papercrafting is an addictive and expensive little hobby. I did try to give her some money saving tips: Joanns and Mikes coupons, stop off at Big Lots frequently, watch for Target clearance.

Getting a crown put on Wednesday, and not the princess crown I deserve! Man I hate going to the dentist. I am finally at the final step of this crown nonsense. I pray I never need another one!!!

Tripped over my stupid cat on the stairs Thursday. Fell on my butt and apparently jarred every muscle in my body. My neck is still aching. I think this means I am getting old.

Speaking of stupid cats, both my indoor cats have parasites and so they have to take medicine. Anyone who has ever tried to give a cat meds knows exactly what I am talking about!! These stupid cats have clawed me, bit me and spit their stupid medicine all over me! Cats are so ungrateful!

So thats the update here... you really didn't miss anything, my life still holds all the excitement of a snail.

SAVING MONEY BIG TIME!!!

What you see is an American Crafts Modern 12x12 D ring album... Its that funky cardboard color because you add your own paper and embellies to make it gorgeous. I found this baby at Big Lots... do you see the price??? A mere $5! I bought 3... which truely was showing restraint because they had 8 and I wanted to buy them all! Do you know what these retail for down at the local scrapbook store?? Let me tell you... $19.00!!! And even online they are $17 (plus shipping) Dont believe me? Look here. I feel the need to shout it from the rooftops! "Look at the amazing deal I got!" I didn't shout when I came home with it though... I kind of snuck in the house and slid the giant bag of albums (and ummm a few other good deals) under my craft table where hopefully my husband will just walk on by... otherwise he might start questioning me on why I need yet another (or three) empty scrapbook albums.

Random Stuffs*

Just a collection of random stuffs* floating around in my head:

It's May which means school (a.k.a. my job) is almost out!! I have four weeks left until summer time! Time to be lazy, hang with my kids, slide my walrus like body into my swimsuit and wish that I had worked out more and indulged in cookies less this past winter.

I have been working alot! Grades, summer project, yearbook, final edit on the newspaper... they are all eating into my crafting time. Looks as if crafting will be on hiatus for a few weeks.

My tooth hurts. I am in the process of getting a crown and its not going well. The only highlight is that my dentist is hot. and nice. And Hot. and he is uses the Novocain well. Oh and did I mention he is HOT? I wish I could think of a good reason to sneak my camera in and get a picture... but all scenarios end up with me looking like a loon, a stalker, or a desperate housewife.

I found a new blog a few weeks ago. Its heart wrenching. Its heart warming. Its sad and yet its uplifting. Its about a man and his baby and his beloved wife who died the day after their daughter was born. This all happened a mere 7 weeks ago. The writing is beautiful, the pictures are poignant. The entire thing is so beautiful and yet so sad. The link is in my sidebar. Its called Matt, Liz, and Madeline. Get your tissues before you click.

My boy outwitted me in the flip flop saga. I was outwitted by a 4 year old. Hmmmm... just what does that say about me?

Its late... ok its not... is 9:10. But I am old and I have to get up at 5:20 and I need all the beauty sleep I can get. So happy Wednesday to you all! Thanks for stopping by my little piece of the internet.

*stuffs is a word my son says frequently. I am not as illiterate as I seem to be. I have a piece of paper that says I am qualified to teach young children... hmmmmm... maybe you should be worried.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Yesterday I went to the giant bullseye and bought my boy some Transformer flipflops. Now my boy has some perfectly good spiderman flipflops but they were from last summer and he wanted some new ones. So being the good mother I am I complied. We get said flipflops home and the boy puts them on and decrees they are too tight, they hurt, and he hates them. Furthermore he is never ever going to wear these flipflops. So I put them pack in their packaging and put them on the counter so I can take them back or trade them in for a bigger size.
This morning:
Boy: Momma where are my Transformer flipflops?
Me: In the bag, I am taking them back to the store to get a bigger size.
Boy (screaming): NOOOO MAMAMMAAA NOOOOO!! I want them, I love them, I want to wear them!!!
Me: No they are too small we will trade them for bigger Transformer flipflops
Boy: NOOOOOOO!!! I want these, I love them, they fit! Please mama please I want to wear them.

Now a less experienced mother might have given them back. But I know my boy, he would have worn them just long enough to make it impossible to return them and then they would have languished in his closet because "they hurt and I hate them." So I stuck to my guns. And experienced a lovely Mother's Day tantrum at 8:15 am. So heres hoping your Mother's Days turn out a little better!!!

(BTW, Mine has gotten nothing but better as the day has gone on... I love these kids even if they do make me question my sanity.)

Guppy Update

(Sorry if you are here looking for crafty things...hopefully I will get some pics up this weekend)
So the guppies made the trip to school just fine. I wish I had a camera when I delivered them to the second graders. Only children could get that excited over a few fish. The fish are all set up in their new homes; customized two liter bottles, with blue and green gravel and some aquatic plants (and NO HEATERS!!! TAKE THAT PETSMART!) Everyone was still alive and well when I left school today. Oh and everyone had been given names....some that stick in my mind: Jazmine, Danny, Lola, Annie, Hareema LOL! I love it! Now I just need to go get some worms to deliver to my first graders and we are all set with animals until the end of the year. Which would be June 12th.. not that I am counting or anything!

Guppies... Alive and Kickin

Well they are alive and swimming anyway. My husband went to the big local fish store here and purchased them for me. 15 cents each. Plus some little plants to go in their new two liter bottle homes. He is out right now buying some food for them. Tomorrow I take them to school. We were suppose to bring them in on Monday but I just didnt get a chance to go out after them. Anyhow they are oh so cute and swimming happily in their vase for the moment. Oh and for what its worth, my husband said the aquarium lady was totally fine without them having a heater. So there, Petsmart! Take that!

Guppies and Goldfish...who knew they were so delicate?

So being the fabulous science teacher that I am, I decide that the second graders will raise guppies as part of their life science unit. Not only will we raise the guppies but we will build them tiny fish homes out of two liter bottles, aquarium rocks, and aquatic plants. Now I am not a novice at this, we did this two years ago. It worked beautifully. The guppies were happy in their two liter home and there were many happy second graders. The guppies even obliged us by having babies. Oh sure they ate some of their young but really there were quite a few. The kids didnt seem to really care. Anyway earlier this week I decide its time to go and purchase the guppies. Now the last time we did this one of the other teachers took care of procuring the fish so this was new territory for me.

My kids and I arrive at Petsmart in our lovely little suburb around 5 p.m. I am super tired, I just want to buy guppies and get the heck out of there. We go up to the fish person who is looking oh so busy twirling her hair and smacking her gum. Below is our conversation. I will just call her FP (fish person).

Me: Hi I need some guppies.
FP: What?
Me: I need some guppies, about 20 or so
FP: What kind?
Me: The cheap kind.
FP: What kind is that?
Me: Ummmm I dont know maybe feeder guppies?
FP: We have these.... waves her hand towards a tank. I see those guppies are 1.29 a piece.
Me: Wow thats a lot for feeder guppies.
FP: no not really. Look these are more... waves hand towards guppies that are 2.54 each
Me: I think these are maybe way more fancy than I need.
FP: You do have a filter and heater right?
Me: No
FP: you need a filter and a heater
Me: I didnt last time.
FP: I am a fish expert, you need a filter and a heater
My boy: MOOOOOOMMMM when are we getting fish... I want some. I want some to keeeeeppppppp!!!
Me: Look fish person I just need 20 guppies, cheap. They are going to a bunch of school kids. They will live in 2 liter bottles. I have done this before
FP: oh no you cant do that
My boy: MOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM can I have this snake. PLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE??????
Me: ok fine what about goldfish. I can improvise. You have cheap goldfish?
FP: Gold fish need a filter.
Me: Are you freaking kidding me???
FP: Gold fish waste is highly toxic. Without a filter the goldfish will die in 3 days
Me: Are you for real?
FP: I am a fish expert. I am telling you they need a filter
My boy: MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM I need a bird....look my hand fits in the cage.... pleeeeeeeese?????
Me: Look lady, I had goldfish that I bought at woolworths when I was 12. They lived in a tiny bowl that I rarely changed the water in. They were still alive when I left for college. Then I think my mom killed them. Point is they had no filter. I am not for a minute believing this crap about goldfish needing a filter.
FP: I cant sell you any fish
Me: Are you kidding? What fish go in the fish bowl if you need a filter for everything
FP Betas. i can sale you betas.
ME: yah. you think I am buying 20 betas at 5 bucks a pop? Are you on drugs?
FP: Look lady I am highly trained and I am not selling you any fish if you arent going to put them in a tank with a filter.
ME: yah ok, you arent selling me any fish

So I extract my child from the parrot cage. Remove my daughter from the rabbits and get the heck out of that crazy fish store. I call up Capitol Aquarium. Hi there, I need some guppies. Feeder guppies
CA: sure we have those
Me: how much
CA 15 cents each
Me: do I have to buy a filter?
CA: are you kidding? for feeder guppies?

Yah I new that FP was insane! I just cant figure out why. So the guppy saga continues. I buy them Monday. I will let you know if they all go belly up.

Hellish

Its been a hellish week, the details of which I cant go into a public blog, no matter how well I think my identity may be hidden (yeah not well at all...oh so easy to see pics of me...but I digress) So back to the main subject... yes hellish... its been hellish. I know sometimes bad things happen, and sometimes those things are completely out of your control, and you cant make them better but it still feels like crap. So thats where I have been this week...(ya know in case my one or two readers are wondering). I think I will be back in the swing of things this weekend. I have a very funny guppy story for you as soon as I sit down long enough to type it out. :)

Here Fishy, Fishy

My latest card. I made this using the PTI Pond Life stamps, Lemon Tart cardstock and ink, and Summer Sunrise ribbon. This is the last card I made before going on a scrapbooking frenzy the other night. I did 10 pages in one night, granted they were 8x8 but still 10 in a night is quite a few. Finally finished my Chicago album... yes I did take that trip LAST summer. I am a wee bit slow.

Today I took my kids, my friend and her three boys on a 30 minute drive to go to our local splash playground. We get there and would you believe it? No freaking water until May 1!!!!! So we had 5 very disappointed kids, 2 irritated moms and drove back 30 minutes and went to a regular (no water ) park. That lasted about an hour but it was so HOT. So we went back to my friends house and the kids played in the water at the house. Now we are home and its time to get back into the school /work routine. I always hate Sundays for that very reason.

PaperTrey Ink Blog Hop

PaperTrey Ink is hosting its monthly blog hop tonite. You can go here for the details. This is my entry. I stamped the mum from the garden of life set with summer sunrise and black noir. I colored on it with some of American Craft scrapbooking markers. I cut my small squares of PTI ppaper into a lovely little border to frame my image. Its all adhered to PTI cardstock and tied with a lovely summer sunrise bow. I really like the way it turned out.

Handwriting- Cruel and Unusual Punishment

Have you ever had the pleasure of teaching a small child how to make their letters? It ranks right up there with potty training or being stabbed repeatedly in the eye with long, sharp stick. My son is in preschool. I went back to work, so as part of my punishment my son has to go to "daycare preschool" not to be confused with "parent volunteer-free love hippie preschool" that my daughter got to attend during the few short years I could afford to be a stay at home mom. So anyway, I digress. My son goes to daycare preschool. Its a nice place. The teachers are lovely. However they feel the need to send home homework. The homework involves lots and lots of writing practice. Its horrifying really. Try teaching your 4 year old boy who can barely hold his pencil how to make the lower case a. The correct way mind you, where you start from the top and go around and then up the stick and down the stick. See I know this stuff. I teach school. I have taught handwriting to whole classes of 1st graders, even Kindergartners. It sucked then too... but nowhere near the way it sucks now. My son is a perfectionist. He HATES to be corrected. But unfortunately letter a can only face one way and when one makes it backward one must be corrected. And then the crying, the whining, the gnashing of teeth. I participated in this for a half an hour tonight and I must say I feel as though I have been tortured. Want to break those detainees in Gitmo? Give them a four year old, a penmanship sheet and tell them the 4 year old must produce legible writing.... within the next hour... without a snack. Yep that should do it.

New Stamps=New Card

PaperTrey had another release on the 15th and I managed to spend LOTS of money on new stamps, paper, and ribbon. The package came Friday and now my crafting corner is a HUGE mess. For some reason I am unable to clean up as I go. So far I have made a couple of cards and done a whole lot of playing around. This card is going to my dad for Father's day (that is if I can find it by the time June rolls around). Between school (my job) and two extra committees I am on I havent had a moments peace to do much of anything except take care of my children, which explains my once a week blog posts. I will try to do better. Happy Sunday.

I'm Back....

So after being in bed most of the weekend, I sucked it up and went to work yesterday. I am still not 100% but I am feeling MUCH better. Unfortunately now the girl is sick. She is going to miss school today, hopefully she will be on the mend soon.

My computer and wireless router (mac airport) went totally crazy on Sunday night. I did everything possible to fix it. NOTHING. Now it used to be I could sit and surf tethered to my DSL but once I went wireless... well people there is nothing like surfing from the comfy couch or bed. So I knew I could not live with this crazy mafunctioning (and might I add BRAND NEW) airport. So I called my tech guy from work (He does not work for the school district and that is why he is AWESOME). And would you believe he came out the same day, worked on my computer for over an hour, fixed it and then only charged my 40 dollars!? I heart him very much. He has a friend for life. He was telling me that he and his friend do it so cheaply because they just like helping people, especially teachers. I know of no one else who makes a housecall for 40$. Again, I LOVE him! So I am back to surfing wireless again which is wonderful.

Hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday!

Freaking Sick!

So its been like five days since I posted... my life is boring as heck so that could be why... but actually its because I have been sick or have been taking care of a sick child all week. I did manage to drag myself to work, which is probably why this thing has hung on for so long. My body decided it was done earlier this evening and I have been in bed ever since. This of course means my two children have had the run of the house with little to no supervision. Lucky for me my girl child made her brother peanut-butter and jelly for dinner. She even served it up with a side of goldfish crackers. She made herself a bean burrito and then she brought me a soda. I have raised that girl right. (She is 7 by the way). Anyway after she served up her brother dessert (skinny cow ice creams) he came up here, crawled in my bed and fell asleep. I dont have the strength or energy to move him so I am just hoping he went pee before climbing in. My dd is watching Sponge Bob downstairs, how could I deny her after the excellent care she has given me and the boy. Anyway thats my update. Hoping to feel better tomorrow because I have a billion things to do and not one of them revolves around lying in bed all day.

PS. Katie and Tommie, I haven't forgotten your prizes... they are packed and ready to go, just waiting for me to take them to the post office... hopefully tomorrow, but definitely by Monday.

New Card and Funny Story

So this card is made with all papertrey ink supplies. Its an expectant parent congrat card for some friends of mine. I really like the way it turned out. I wasnt sure when I first started putting it together. I had to rework it a few times.

And Now onto the FUNNY STORY
So my boy is in the bath splishing around and of course, because he is a boy, grabbing his parts. He looks up and says, "Mom where are your intestines?"
"In your stomach" I say. He glances up looking at me very strangely.
"Where??"
"In your stomach."
"No they are not!"
"Yes they are in the area of your stomach, inside you."
"Look MOM! They are right here!!!" He is grabbing his sack
Yeah Cole those arent intestines... those are testi*les!
"Well thats pretty much the same thing!"
rofl (changing the spelling of certain words so I dont get some bizarre google hits)

We Have a Winner! (And a runner up!)

Here is our winner! Congratulations Tommie! Please email me (derbylea at mac dot com) with your snail mail info and I will get your prize right out to you! And then because my son threw a huge fit when my daughter got to draw the first name, we have a runner up. So congratulations Katie! Katie, I still have to check my prize drawer but something crafty will be making its way to you as soon as you email me your snail mail info. My email: derbylea at mac dot com

Almost Finished Castle and blog candy

So here is the nearly finished playhouse. The kids are beyond happy. FunDaddy just needs to put on the finishing touches. What color should we paint it? The boy wants fire engine red with green trim (ummm NO!) The girl wants "rainbow" (I am afraid to even know what that means!). What color do you think we should paint it? (Our house is a yellow color... like wheat maybe?).

BLOG CANDY

I have been meaning to do blog candy when I hit 5000 hits... well Nichole Heady (from Paper Trey Ink) linked me on her blog the other day ( I should mention I screamed, shouted, and danced with glee) and since then I have had like 900 hits... LOL. So I am well passed 5000, which means its BLOG CANDY TIME! Up for grabs is one brad stencil from All my memories, one package of studio G stamps, and one pack of stickers (of which I cannot remember the brand at this time). Leave me a comment, tell me what color you think I should paint the house, and I will use one of my children to randomly draw a name from all my commenters. You have until 12 noon on Sunday, April 6th to leave your comment. I will draw names and post a winner on Monday. I will ship in the USA or Canada. Thanks for playing!

Builder Predicts Castle to be Finished Soon

What? You cant really see the progress in this photo? Well, I guess thats what I get for sending the camera with the seven year old. This was the best picture out of the bunch. By the time I looked at them it was dark and thanks to Daylight Savings its still dark! Why cant they just leave the clock alone? Anyhow, I digress. The castle now boasts a roof, four finished walls, six windows and a new enlarged balcony. It has a front porch and a breakfast bar (you can see the bar in this picture). The children are just waiting for FunDaddy to put the finishing details on. FunDaddy predicts it will take another week to finish out the balcony railing and put on the shingles. More pictures to come.