Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Kit n' Kaboodles!!!

Hey all! Wonderful day isn't it? Its slow at work and after yesterday and Monday I am completely OK with it!! lol. Here is one of my projects from the August kit at Kit n' Kaboodles. The file folder was sooo much fun to complete. Everything is from the kit except the stamps! All the middle is flaps and it all opens up! I am going to use it for my mini trip to Washington in two weeks! can't wait!!



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Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Projects....

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I made this "family" Sunday while my boys were catching up on their DVR'd Pokemon shows. It has lots of glitter (sorry you can't see it). The panels are Bare Eements. They came In a box with the whole alphabet. They are 8 x8. I have had them for along time and just decided it was time to DO something with them. Paper is stampin up and some other paper I had that matched, but mostly stampin up. Ribbons are mm.



Below is my stamp project. I started it late Saturday afternoon and finished up Sunday morning. I have 50 CD cases full and about 11 more stamp sets I need to cut apart and put away. I would have done them Sunday but I ran out of CD cases. I LOVE them this way!! The second picture is all of them stacked up labeled and ready to go. I cut card stock to fit the top of the CD cases, where you put the "album art", and stamped them with the stamps that are stored in the case. I put all my misc stamps in categories. Birthday, Christmas, flowers, etc. All my stampin up sets I left in the sets, and labeled them accordingly! I can see myself using them a TON more.



It was a pretty easy job really. You have to micro wave the stamps to melt the glue a bit to peal them apart. Some of the stamps were still too sticky, so I just stuck them to my clothes and pulled them off a couple times before I put them in the CD case. Some of the stamps are not sticky at all and you just use some double stick tape to keep them on the acrylic blocks while you stamp and then when you put them in the case. I noticed that the older my stamps the harder it was. Stampin up stamps were the easiest to pull apart. Hardest stamps were the old Dots stamps (old CTMH). I don't have many of those left but they were a bugger. All in all it wasn't too bad. It did however take forever to get all the glue crap off my hands. Several washings!



While using the stamps I had removed, I did not notice any difference in the stamp quality because all the padding is STILL under the rubber. You pull the entire stamp,and padding off the block. It works great!



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Today after work we are headed to a birthday party for cousins. Its at a fun park with minature golf! I hope I remember my camera!



OH Lois ~ I have the pictures almost done and should have them ready to send back to you on Monday. I had to put 2008 photos on it to make up for the missing 2007. Sorry.



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Friday, July 25, 2008

mounted or unmounted?

That is the question. I have over the last 11 years collected many many rubber stamps. I am actually very good about purging, donating and loving every last one of them. Ok I won't lie I still have several rubber stamps I have not used. I think part of my problem is my storage. Right now I have them in the original boxes (most of them are stampin up) and stacked in LARGE crates that fit in a closet maid cabinet. They are a bugger to dig through and by the time I find them I run out of creative juices.



I also have a BUNCH of acrylic stamps. I use these stamps a TON more. Not because they are superior to the wood mounted but because I just grab the case and use them. I think I might have more acrylic stamps than I do wood because of their ease. They are stored in a canvas bin in one of my cubbies under my scrap desk.



My dilemma. I have spent a lot of money on wood mounted stamps. I want to use them, I NEED to use them. How can I make that happen? I think quite possibly I am finally going to take the plunge and take my rubber stamps OFF the blocks and store them in CD cases. I have wanted to/ thought of doing this for years. With the downsizing of scrap area ( OK my desk is the same size but my storage is not) I think its time. I need more room to organize paper. So I am going to try it tonight. Just take the plunge! Of course it will be with an old set I wont worry much about.



Anyone with me on this?? Are you following? I am RIPPING my stamps apart...hmmmm.



Wednesday, July 16, 2008

AUGUST!!!!

The August kit is up at Kit and Kaboodles!! This has to be by far my favorite kit they have had!! If you have been thinking of joining a kit club or just want this one I would highly recomend it!!!



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Thursday, July 10, 2008

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

KNK layouts!

Here are a couple layouts with the July kit over at Kit and Kaboodles



Smarts Evidence



I just got the August kit and I am sooo in love with it! I can not WAIT for the reveal on the 16th!!





ok...where to begin?

Had a fantastic 4th. We went camping (slept in a tent...gasp) and had family and dutch oven cooking, fishing, games. Had a BLAST! Then had to come home early Sunday to do laundry and get the boys ready for their fathers. I have been spraying weeds and doing some yard work. Getting ready to plant the lawn.



I have my work computer back, but it is still slower than molasses. Not even using it. Still using the office 'spare'. I thought that IT was slow, but compared to mine its smoking! I can't even get my email to work properly on the other.



I have photos and projects to share so I will try to do that tonight from my home computer!



love me



Wednesday, July 2, 2008

educational?

As I sat here this afternoon, wishing I was at home of course, searching the web for scrap booking videos I came across this site and had to share. Although it may not be a "scrapbook site" it is definitely a "how to" site. They do have some scrapbook videos though nothing too tricky. However they have sooo much more. From how to cut a chicken apart to how to give the Heimlich maneuver! Check it out!



http://www.monkeysee.com/



Tuesday, July 1, 2008

OMG!

this here post is a rant. not to you the readers of blog world, but to life in general...



holy crap...



my son comes home sick as a dog from his fathers. Get him home get him a bath, because he's filthy. Get him calmed down and we figure out tummy troubles can be fixed by a visit to the bathroom. Seems OK just VERY tired after that. We go to see Wall E for my bday with my kids. Taylor falls asleep at 7 that night! (VERY odd for him)



Sunday its hotter than all blazes. I have cleaning planned and air conditioning installing planned. Head to Dad's with boys to make a little 'stand' for the air conditioner with left over wood. If I do say so myself I did a good job. The entire time Taylor is inside half a sleep with a head ache and just general blahs. By the time we are done he has had it. I get him home and put him to bed with some motrin and he is OUT....



Me and Chris in the mean time try to lift a hundred pound air conditioner into the family room window onto our LOVELY (yes I rock) stand. Now I have lifted this in my old house and never had to lift it more than like 3 feet off the ground. It was tough, but do-able then. This year however the air conditioner could be installed from the outside. Only problem is i had to lift it up past my waist. OK girls we soo do not do well with upper body strength. It was so hard I almost dropped it. Chris helped the best he could and we FINALLY got it up there and then my little extenders were to short for the window!! For now I have card board covering the rest. I am getting some acrylic this afternoon, but for now that has to work. So i have the air conditioner in. Its barely working on any freon. Its helped a bit but it needs to be re-charged. My neighbor said I didn't necessarily need to have an air conditioning guy to come charge it up. He said depending on the freon it uses I might be able to just go to the auto part store and get something to put in some tube. What?! How am I supposed to know WHAT kind of freon it uses, much less how to OPEN the darn thing to find out and then what? Is there a reservoir like in my car for windshield wiper fluid? I don't think it will be that easy.



After I did all that it was already 4 and I was so sore and tired from the heat and my back was KILLING Me. I took a cool bath and made my inside to do list ( all my general weekend cleaning) and then just looked at it. I did a couple loads of laundry and put them away but thats it. I was useless the rest of the day.



Back to Taylor. He woke up still feeling like crap and sooo tired and emotional. Crying and whining... not hungry...I thought maybe my ex had traded Taylor's brain for his 16 year old step daughter's brains with all the mood swings he was having. As I was cuddling the sobbing boy I smelled his breath. I don't know if you all know this but my kids breath smells medicinal when they have sore throats. I know, weird, but I can always tell if they have sore throats. I thought he may have an ear infection because he had been complaining that his ears were farting. Yes....farting. I don't think that the medical dictionary my mother has in her home office would give me the technical terms to describe farting ears. So yesterday morning I took him to the doc. They got him in early, and the doc did some checking and said "it looks like just a summer cold he will have to get over, but lets run a strep test anyway". Better safe than sorry. After CHOKING my son to the point of vomiting they proceeded to tell me the results came back positive! I am going to be a grandmother!! OK that's not even funny...sorry. He has strep. Poor kid has felt like CRAP (yes mom I said CRAP) for a reason. Got him antibiotics and stayed home with him. He is doing so much better that he even tried to bargain his way out of a simple chore. Yeah he's back.



Chris lost his glasses. His BRAND new glasses. It not really that easily explained. It's not entirely his fault, but it sure is a lesson learned. We are going to replace them but he has to pick out a brand new frame because the Dr has switched labs since he got his other ones....a month ago. I really hope he has learned his lesson.....



I am wiped now. I feel better. Somehow less stressed...back to work!