Mad Woman

Believe it or not, I've been busy creating. But it's all been for that baby shower that is this SUNDAY. I have one project done, of at least 3 more that I need to do(and let me just add a little teaser here..... MY FIRST PROJECT TURNED OUT JUST TOO STINKIN' CUTE!! (yes, this one, I'm quite proud of how it turned out....hoping that I didn't use all my creative juices on it!!) .
Stay tuned. If all goes well today, I may get at least one project uploaded tomorrow. If not, I PROMISE I will have something for you to look at on Monday!

Tagged

I have been tagged. Imagine my surprise when I saw this on Dawn's blog. Sooooo, here goes:

8 TV shows/movies that I watch regularly
None. Snort. Ok....let me explain. We have a TV, but it is not hooked up to cable. All we can watch is DVD's/videos on it. And, since most of our DVD's are geared towards my two boys...I don't hardly ever watch it (tho I have been known to get sucked up in watching The Myth Buster DVD's)

8 Things that happened yesterday
1. Walked the dog for an hour then did my 20 min of H- - - with Jillian Michael's 30 day Blast
2. Got talked out of following all the lemmings in a panic e-mail re: a school incidence by DH
3. Talked to another friend on the phone waaaay too long about above incidence (and by then was pretty mad at the parent's who started the stampede)
4. Went to Babies R Us to try and find two baby shower gifts needed this weekend.
5. Went to Target for more ribbon for those party favor baby bottles (can I just mention the panic that went thru me when I saw the bin of my favorite Target ribbon nearly empty with the red clearance tag on it?!! Yep..I cleaned them out (of the few rolls that they had left)
6. Went to Michael's for some expensive white M&M's for above baby bottles and an airplane die for the cuttlebug that I need to make a card for the previously mentioned baby showers
7. Went to my LSS and bought NOTHING!! (how sad!!)
8. Took DH his stuff needed for his basketball practice with the 5-6 grade boys and then walked for another hour with a friend while the boys had their practice

8 Favorite places to Eat
1. Isabella's
2. Cuca's
3. Gourmet Pizza shop
4. Macaroni Grill
5. My MIL's (especially since that means that I'm not having to cook)
6. Los Fuentes (I know that that is not spelled correctly)
7. AJ's Chicago Pizza
8. home

8 Things that I am looking forward too
1. The market to go back up
2. My creative mojo coming back
3. Spring
4. Long bike rides on the weekend
5. The weekend to be over
6. Reading
7. The basketball season being over
8. ?

8 Things on my Wish list
1. Tim Holt's new stuff
2. That the pile of pictures in my office would get organized
3. That the pile in my office cupboard would get organized
4. 20 pounds lost
5. My creative mojo (yah, I know I already used that one....but it is on my wish list!!)
6. New couch
7. ?
8. ?

8 People that I've tagged
ok...this is a hard one. I tend to lurk on blogs. Not post a whole lot. Plus being new to the blogging world...I don't believe that I have that many followers. Soooo, here's the deal. If by chance you are reading this, tag yourself and let me know!! I would love to read your responses!!

Martha Won

Bet you thought that I would never get anything creative posted again. Me too!! This is what I have been working on!

Remember the post where the wannabe Martha Stewart and the reality Erma Bombeck were fighting it out to see if a 3D project that wasn't working out would get done? Sigh.....Martha won. That woman just would NOT let me sleep until I got this stupid thing figured out. Soooo, for all my sleepless nights, you get a tutorial (if I can figure out how to post that many pictures that is!!)

Several months ago, I made a large baby bottle for a friend's shower that can be seen here. Well, two of the teacher's at my children's school are expecting within the next 6-12 weeks (they are due one month apart). The mom's at the school are throwing them a joint baby shower and that dang wannabe "Martha" opened her mouth and said that she would make party favor sized baby bottles. Piece of cake, right? NOPE. The smaller version just didn't work out like the larger version and I had to figure out how to make it work on the smaller scale. Here is what I came up with. Supplies Needed: 1 piece of 6 3/4" x 2 3/4" piece of transparency/acetate, 2 pieces of 3/4" x 7 1/4" strip of crimped paper, 2 circles with hand drawn 1/4" tabs, 1 circle with NO tabs, 2 hand-drawn baby bottle nipples, 24" piece of ribbon, an adjustable circle cutter or Spellbinder circle die, 1/4" anywhere circle punch, Exacto knife, red liner sticky tape and double sided tape.

Take your red liner and edge the short side of your transparency and make a tube. Figure out the diameter of the circle and using your adjustable circle cutter (or spellbinder die, if one is the right size) and cut out a template circle. Draw 5-6 angled tabs around the circle and cut out. Trace 2 onto desired colored card stock. Cut out non-tabbed circle on same colored cardstock.On one of the tabbed circles, place red sticky tape on BOTH sides of the tabs. Fold tabs around the circle. Remove the liner and position the circle tab around the bottom of the tube. Adhere (I use a pencil inside the tube to help). Remove the outside liner now and take on of your crimped strips and line it up along the bottom of the tube, covering the tabs. Use another piece of red liner to tape the end down.Ok....now using your double sided tape, adhere your two baby bottle nipples together (but just at the top, you want to be able to fold back the bottom part). I outline a "shadow" using copic markers on both side. Trace the length of the nipple on the INSIDE of the other tabbed circle (your red liner tape will be on the OUTSIDE) and cut out with an exacto knife. Insert the nipple into the slit and then adhere the tabs down with double sided tape. Then take your UNtabbed circle and place over the inside (to make it look nice and neat on the inside of the baby bottle lid)

Remove the liner on the OUTSIDE of the tabs and place the second crimped strip along the edge. Using your 1/4" punch, punch out an even number of circles along the crimped edged. Thread your ribbon thru and then tie your bow. I have been making my bows so that they cover the seam of the crimped edged, but you can place it where ever you like. And WAHLA!! You now have a baby bottle!! I fill these with white M&M's (still need to make a run for those. I really don't want to put them into the bottles until closer to the shower date (don't need to encourage any ants to move in). I hope that this tutorial was helpful. I will work on the asthetics of the tutorial layouts (HEY!! I'm pretty proud that I got this to work at all and only with a little bit of help!! I'm SOOOO not computer savy, so this is HUGE!!!) Now I need to finish off the last 10 bottles. Stay tuned for creativity on a MURAL scale!!

Helmar blog candy

Just wanted to give you a heads up on some adhesive blog candy!! Helmar is coming to the US and is giving away TWO boxes of goodies!!
Now, I personally haven't tried their products, but would love the opportunity to give some new adhesives a go. I love doing 3D projects (in fact, have one in the works right now.....hoping to get the deets up for you tomorrow!! Dang sun is going down now and that doesn't make for great pics!! Sorry, I digressed there) and find that I need some different types of adhesive and don't know where to turn first. Sooooo, here's crossing my fingers that I get some of these goodies to try out!!
Head on over to the Helmar site and check out their stuff!!

I haven't fallen off the Face

of the Earth......really. That other life of being a part time Physical Therapist is just taking over for one more day. All my creative juices are being used to come up with "torture" (as my patient's describe it!!) exercises!!

Erma Bombeck vs Martha Stewart

Ever try to be Martha Stewart in your creations? Today the Dirty Dozen Gallery opens on Splitcoaststampers. Love it each month. And each month I aspire to create something that is "DD" worthy. But here is my reality. I'm more of a Erma Bombeck kind of gal. I don't make many things from scratch but if I can make it out of a box~no promblemo!! (and if it can be nuked, that's even better!!). I want things to look like Martha made it, but am basically lazy and want it to come easy.

BUT!! Here's the funny thing. In my every day life, somehow I've gotten the reputation of being a "Martha Stewart" (which I just find HILARIOUS, since I "borrow" most of my ideas from either SCS, Martha Stewart herself, magazines, etc.) Soooo, what does that have to do with anything?

Somehow, the "I wanna be just like Martha" said "she" would recreate a project that I had previously made (but on a larger, therefore EASIER scale). Great. Except that for the life of me, I CANNOT get the smaller scale version to work. Talk about FRUSTRATING!! The "Martha" (a.k.a. the devil angel) is telling me that I just need to come at it from another angle and is keeping me up at night trying to find such angle. The "Erma" (a.k.a. the sweet, angel) is telling me to just admit defeat and go buy something that will work for the project instead.

Can't decide who to listen to at this point. Good news is that I have a little bit of time still. Bad news is that I seriously need some major chocolate just thinking about all of this and don't have any.

Stayed tuned to see who wins......

An apology to my Master Yoda

hehe.....ok....My Master Yoda (aka BadSherry on SCS (splitcoaststampers) has made this padawon realize (once again) how much she has to learn (not only in making cards, but uploading information and blogging.

The B/W Love Silhouette card is 5 1/4" x 5 1/4 inches. I like the suggestion of layering it again on black then onto the white, finishing if off with a bow. Will have to see if I can make that work.

The other information that I failed to mention was that the hearts were made using cookie cutters. I have ordered the Spellbinders Nestabilities hearts, but they just got ordered, sooooo~I dug around in a drawer and found my "nesting" cookie cutters. I think that having the hearts closer in size would help me in adding more layers (ok! Sounds like a good reason to me for having ordered the Spellbinders Nesties!! Now to just convince DH!! BWHHAAAAAA!!)

Beyond Master Yoda's Help

Ok....this card has been sitting on my desk for a couple of days now. It seems that something is missing. What? I have NO IDEA!! I have tried to put something in the lower right corner, but then it looks too crowded. I have tried to add the dreaded ribbon. WAY too crowded. I even went so far as to contact Master Yoda (what?!! You don't have a Master Yoda to contact when you get stuck on a card?!! hehe.....) but, alas, being the stubborn padawon that I am, I didn't heed her advice (it just messed with my force connection). Sooooo, I have come to the conclusion that it is in the design of the card itself. I like this idea....just needs tweeking......somehow.

Supplies used: Paper~SU Whisper White and Basic Black

Accessories: Sizzix Big Shot, Bird w/Leaves & Flower die cut, Provocraft embossing folder

So, I'm going to walk away from this and move on to the next REQUIRED project. Think babies. I may even try and do my first tutorial. Stay tuned. You never know what excitement we might encounter on our next crafting adventure!!

Enjoying other's creativity

YIKES!!! I have an unfinished card idea sitting on my desk. Soooo, what do I do? I picked up a book (actually, it was a two in one book) and FINISHED IT IN ONE DAY!! Bad habit! Now, instead of finishing my card, I have to get REALLY creative and try to make it look like I've been a busy bee all day before DH gets home!!

Cross your fingers that I can pull this off so that tomorrow I can finish my card!! (better yet, cross your fingers that I don't pick up another book....I bought two others on the same day!! geesh.....the binds I can put myself in!!)

The Card That Didn't Want to Be Made

Uggghhhh...... How hard can it be to make a card? Remember the sympathy card that I needed like YESTERDAY? Just got it done. Finally. BUT!! It wasn't easy. Maybe it was just the nature of the card itself. Sympathy cards are never easy just for the fact that they are needed. Soooo, after much discussion with the Trash Can, we decided to do what all smart stampers do when they need help. I went to the incredibly talented Sharon Johnson's blog and looked for a card that would inspire me or that I could CASE (copy and share everything). Sharon has such a talent for making simple, yet elegant cards that are just right for every occassion. Her talent has bailed me out numerous times. Go visit her blog. You will be BLOWN AWAY!!

http://notimetostamp.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/

Ok....so on to this card. I'm going to ramble on my struggles with it. Why? Because sometimes, I feel like I am the only one who struggles even with the simple cards. And when I do read of someone struggling with their creations, it kinda gives me a "See?! You are not the only one!!" lift.

Ok....on to the card. Got it stamped.....got the layers ready. Main layer too long. Cut it down. Main layer no longer matched up to the matting. Re mat. I have removed the paper guide on my ticket punch.....need to put it back on....hence, the "notquitematchedcorners" on the bottom. Oh WELL! Layered the card onto pink cardstock. Can I just say I have a REALLY hard time with pinks? I'm not a girly girl, and man!! That pink was just PINK!! Didn't have any SU Pretty in Pink, only Regal Rose. I finally layered on white. Relief. So much better to my eyes!! Then the ribbon. Another girly thing that I struggle with. The pink was just too "cheery" for me, the black ribbon, too depressing. Finally settled on the green ribbon. Then struggled with the bow. Too cheery again. Went for the knot. Much better. I am going to put this in the envie then go create something fun.

Supplies used~Paper: SU Whisper White, Basic Black

Inks: SU Pretty in Pink, Reagal Rose

Other: Ribbon from Target the wedding aisle, SU ticket corner punch, and of

course, my stampamajig.

Just me and the Trash Can

Yup. That's right. I'm getting to know my trash can REALLY well lately. Sigh. I have got to get two sympathy cards out like NOW. I had this "great" (snort) idea and guess what? In the Trash Can. If this keeps up, I just might have to post a picture of the Trash Can and introduce It to everyone.
Cross your fingers......I will need all the help I can get to get these cards done.

Creating Goals

Being the new year, everyone thinks about goals they'd like to meet. Mine? Easy, lose that extra 20 pounds (again!), keep the house picked up (hehe) and yaddayaddayadda. Creative goals? Easy: Do SOMETHING creative each week. I'd LOOVE to say that I'll create something every day. But in reality, no way. Soooo, here is a quick little project that I did this weekend.

I bought these frames at Michael's for $1 with the idea that I would alter them for the office girls that I work with. Yeah, ok....soooo, moving on to January and I still have 6 of these frames!! My husband had mentioned that he needed to get a frame for the picture of him and our oldest son that was taken while they were out paintballing with a group of friends. I got out my small tubes of acrylic paints and primered then put a base coat of the green on the frame. Then I just lightly drew out some camo shapes. Using my small paint brushes and added the other colors. I had thought that I would add some rub ons to this, but my husband likes things clean and simple. He requested that I "just leave it alone". OKAY!! Fine. Clean and simple it is!!

Today I officially start my journey in exploring creativity. In thinking about what I wanted to accomplish with this idea, I did some research on the definition of creativity. Funny, we tend to think of creating as being something to do with crafts or arts. But, in reality, creativity takes on many different facets, depending on what area of life you are dealing with. Creativity is in business, health, invovations/inventions and relationships. Really, it is in every aspect of our lives.

This blog is my journey discovering new worlds of creativity. Jump on board with me. Together, we may just discover whole new worlds!