10 on Tuesday

This week's topic: What do you do to get the creative juices rolling

1. Go shopping/work @ Scrapbook Destination (Mary Kay's fab store)
2. Blog Stalk my favorite folks
3. Just start on a page (I usually do 2 LOs at a sitting, usually not in love with the first, but the second usually makes me happy)
4. Surf the galleries
5. Surround self with people that make me streeeeeeeeeech my boundries
6. Paint
7. Challenge myself to make something out of the scraps on my desk
8. Organize my space --- finding forgotten goodies is the best
9. Look through cookbooks (hey a girl's got to eat and the styling usually gets things rolling)
10. Turn up the tunes

Peace of mind...

is priceless --- or if your a crazy dog mom $85 for a trip to doggie er at 9:30 pm.

So my little buddy found a plastic frisbee in the field and we played with for awhile. Soon after we come inside he starts to pant heavily, gag and this wierd hiccup like thing. I let it go for about 30 minutes and then started to get really worried. What if a piece of the frisbee broke off and was lodged in his throat?

Fortunately there is a 24 hour pet emergency clinic about 5 minutes from the house...so off we go. By the time we get there he stopped panting and gagging and only did the hiccup thing a few times. We waited about 30 min to see the vet --- as usual Tanner made quick friends with everyone. The vet could feel something small, but nothing major and gave him a treat. She was so nice, I felt like an overreacting mommy...but I had visions of a pieces of plastic stuck in his throat and there was no way I would have been able to sleep. But once the all clear was given we had a peaceful, restful night.

My Scraproom...

is just about done, here are a few pics...The first is what you see when you walk in the room, even Tanner is in his typical place in the middle of the room. Then I have my little sewing station. So nice to be able to leave my sewing machine out and have space when the mood strikes.

to the right of the sewing machine is the 'Walmart' special bookcase with all sorts of goodies. I filled it up so fast I really need another one, but don't know where to put it. I have another small work station that's holding the mess of ribbon I have. On the opposite side of the room is my main work station and the altered kitchen cabinets that hold the computer equipment.

Just a few more things to make it 'perfect'--- shelves for either side of the canvas work, an area rug and a small bookcase to hold paper instead of the dog kennel.

A Quick Post to make you smile...

This is really for my mom, but I thought others might get a kick out of this joke someone posted on the message board this am

He was just in the postoffice and this little ole lady walks in with a small dog.

Postmaster: You can not bring a dog in here.

Little ole Lady: He's my seeing eye dog.

Postmaster: You have a YORKIE as a seeing eye dog??

Little ole lady: Oh my gosh! HE'S A YORKIE???

More Layouts

I left work about an hour early today and finished up these layouts. One is for a challenge at Two Peas

and the other is a store sample with some new goodies from one of my favorite companies --- Scenic Route. Isn't Tanner the cutest?


Speaking of Tanner --- poor guy was so scared this afternoon. We had a serious thunderstorm roll through, he tried to hide under the bed.

A Little Thursday Fun

Fun Cards

Here are a few quick cards I made over the weekend. Can you tell I am in love with this little Quickutz dress die? It's so much fun --- it reminds me of my friend Charlene who is a total QK junkie. (yep I totally outed you girl, no more hiding in the closet ). It also reminds me of this great 'toy' I had as a kind some sort of Barbie pretend designer gizmo. It had several different rubbing plates that you could mix, match and color to create endless fabulous outfits. So I'm trying to think of ways to use this little dress like that. Mary Kay and I brainstormed a whole 'Sex in the City' card set with it. Stayed tuned for that.

Speaking of MK, I'm headed over to the store to see all the latest goodies she picked up at the show. After a month of seeing 'sneak peeks' online, I finally get to see and touch in person. Ooh La La!!

***10 on Tuesday***

Ok I know it's Wednesday, but I thought I'd sneak it in. Plus this week's topic required some serious thought and I'm not quite done. It requires digging a little deeper and those who know me well know I block and compartmentlize just about everything that involves real emotion --- the problem is to be really successful (and I'm one of the best) you have to block the good with the bad.

Top Ten Nicest Things Anyone has Done for You...
(in no particular order, gosh it was hard enough to think of these)

*When I was about 4 or 5 my mom bought me my first 'big box' of 60 crayons, I often wonder if that was where my love of color began. It's also one of only two memories I have of myself before age 10 so it must be pretty special.

* My dad who bought me my first horse --- a beautiful white arabian named Rosie. She helped me survive some tough early teen years.

* Random strangers who bought gas for me and my Freshman roomate after her jeep ran out of gas and neither of us had any money. Denverites will especially appreciate this moment to know that we ran out of gas on I-25 by the old Mile High Stadium. A questionable at best neighborhood

*Mr. Jorgenson, my AP history teacher who when handing back a research paper thanked me for taking the class and let me know I was the only one who received an 'A' .

*My sister and her hubby, Troy for letting me live with them for 6 months rent free while I got my life back together a little.

*Same aforementioned Troy for giving me the time to come to the decision myself to let go of Abby even after she attacked Lindy for a second time.

*My good friend Carol, who gave me my start in the Scrapbooking industry, always allowed me to express myself and provided endless positive feedback --- taking me on a scrapping cruise to the Caribbean ranks high too!

*My mentor Margaret, who gave me a strong foundation and belief that while the old saying 'change a child, change the world' may be corny it is the truth.

*Emily, Mary Kay and Vivian who welcomed me with open arms at the first pea crop. It was the first time I thought I hadn't made a major mistake in moving to Colorado.

Ok, I know that's only nine, but the others all run together into a bundle of memories that make up life.

Presto Chango!

Wow the weekend went fast --- as usual, but this weekend seemed even more so. Maybe because I was fairly productive --- at least by my scale.

Shelley and I spent the day together yesterday --- we hit the farmer's market in Highlands Ranch. I'm hoping to make this a regular habit. This time I picked up some gorgeous tomatoes, a cucumber, some cherries and a little kettlecorn, Yumm-O. Shelley splurged on some delicious looking apple strudel. We laughed and debated whether she would save some for Troy when he comes home from fishing trip tom or if she would eat all of the evidence on the 'eat for two' excuse.

Then off to Park Meadows for lunch and some maternity clothes for her. I wish I would have known that's how we would have ended up so I would have taken my camera and had some pics for the baby book.

Speaking of being productive...I finished a home project this weekend. Finally I made pillow covers for the couch and love seat. The couches came with this...




Which is a fabulous fabric if your into contemporary styles, strong graphics and bold colors. Me? Not so much, although there are times when I find those things very appealing. For my day to day life I am a Classic Girl. Plus the only things I have of artistic value in the living room have none of these colors. So what's a girl to do? Crafty girl to the rescue --- find great fabric and cover the cushions of course. About a month (ack maybe more) I found this fab silky stripe on sale at Jo-Anns and bought three yards. An hour of focused cutting, pinning and sewing time and voila 'new' pillows
.

New Layouts

My closest scrapping friends are all at CHA --- the vendor show for the crafty set. There getting a sensory overload on all the latest and greatest of the scrapping world. The two peas gang decided to host a 'CHA in spirit' day full of challenges to scrap. I played for a large part of the morning yesterday and finished two layouts. So the first LO it is from my trip to Disney (well the hotel at least), if you remember(yes, I do expect you to remember everything I write, there will be a quiz at some point.) from my post a few weeks ago I was intrigued my the number of images of Mickey that surround the area. Here are a few that photographed reasonably well. When I got home I learned that there is a whole sub-culture of Disney elite that look for and report the hidden Mickeys from the various properties and resorts. Check out some more places and see Disney from space here.


The next LO was a challenge to use a 'scrap' from your life on a page. I am totally addicted to this yummy organic raspberry lemonade. How lemonade is organic is really beyond me, I guess the lemons and berries could be grown organically. So I combined the label with a couple of pics from the farmer's market last week and a pic of the bag from the new grocery store just down the street from my house. I love the Sunflower market --- my kind of organic grocery --- cheaper than Whole Foods or Wild Oats one of the first things you see is a row of bulk chocolate and candy. Luckily the fruit looks even tastier than the candy so I don't go crazy. So I'm being successful at buying the healthy stuff --- now if I would just eat it before it goes bad.


The good news is that I won a prize for this LO in the challenge, not based on it's merits as a great page, but that a little boy picked my name from the list of entries, but I'm not picky. I love prizes any way I can get them.

Today is cleaning with cramps day and hopefully a trip to the farmer's market with Shelley.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Another random fact

Most who know me, know that I am not usually a big environmental person. Recycle if it's convienent, global warming still wonder about, but one thing I am sure of is there is a finite amount of oil on this planet and lives are lost daily because of it. (yep, that would be the first major political statement I've made on the blog in case anyone is keeping track). While this doesn't have me running out to by the latest hybrid car (although my next purchase will definitely be one), I do think about other ways to reduce my personal use.

Here's the latest random factoid...it takes the equivilant amount of oil to manufacture 14 plastic grocery bags as it does to refine a gallon of oil for my car. I always knew plastics were not friendly and have always 'thought about' buying some resusable cloth bags...but like many things in life 'thought about' = action about 40% of the time and I hadn't done it. However today's stat moved me over the top and straight to the online store Earthwise bags. Believe it or not the bags are pretty cheap 10 for $12.50 plus shipping via UPS so about $20 in all. If only I could turn all of the plastic bags in my house into gas for the car.

Random Trivia

In honor of my cool brother in law, I ran across some totally random trivia today and wanted to spread the knowledge.



Have you wondered where the term 'dog day afternoon' comes from? Worry no more...



Believe it or not dog days are not about or connected to the lovable cannines which many of us enjoy. Although looking at Tanner after a good play session on a hot afternoon I would certainly think so.



Let's begin with a slightly different phrase, "the dog days of summer." Dog days are actually referring to the star "Sirius", also known as the dog star, found in the constellation of Canis Major, deriving its name from the Greek word '"seirios", which means "scorching".The star sirius is most visible in our hemisphere during the summer months as the brightest star in the heavens (not Polaris, the northern star).So, "dog day afternoon" actually means nothing more than a hot summer afternoon.



So there you go...you can thank me when you when a trivia contest. :)

A true Olivia fan

So this is my first time trying to add a video...so much easier than I thought.
Check it out, it totally had Tanner. He kept tilting his head and watching the laptop with a WTF look on his face.

10 on Tuesday

I was inspired by the message board on two peas another 10 on Tuesday list. This week's topic:

10 Things You Love to Do in the Summertime

Here's mine
*walking barefoot in the grass or sand when I'm lucky enough to be by the beach
*flip flops (the next best thing to being barefoot)
*capri pants and cute summer skirts
*running threw the sprinklers (ok maybe not threw, but close enough to feel the mist)
*watching my sister's dog play with the hose
*sitting on the deck and watching the stars
*sweet corn on the cob
*flea and farmers markets
*looking at people's gardens
*garage sales

Denver's in the news again...and it's not for a blizzard. This time a crazy guy walked into the state capital with a gun and claiming to be the emperor of Colorado. Luckily for us,he didn't get the governor. Unlucky for him state troopers shot him. I was just at the capitol a couple of months ago and didn't think about security at the time, does anyone really think about it before it's too late? The building is beautiful and is probably a nightmare for security folks --- lots of offices, stairways, exits, etc.

A Creative Weekend

Back to teaching Scrapbook classes --- I'm really excited! The first is for a beginner series --- this one is all about adhesives/glue. I used more than I could ever imagine using on a page or project, but all the students will able to try them all and find their favorites. I think the pages are much cuter in person --- my scanner just totally sucks, I promise everything is straight. Someday I'll get a new one, after everything else on my wish list.

Not much more to the weekend...farmer's market and a few garage sales. Little bit of 'real' work and a little spot cleaning. It went too fast!

Seriously?!?

A light lunch break and some random trivia to fill your Friday.

From random website...
The fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia, a specialized form of triskaidekaphobia, a phobia (fear) of the number thirteen. Strangely, there is evidence to suggest that Friday the 13th is actually unlucky. Psychologists have found that some people are especially likely to have accidents or fall ill on Friday the 13th.

This has been attributed to such people feeling a heightened state of anxiety on that day. The Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina estimates that in the United States alone, $800 or $900 million is lost in business each Friday the 13th because some people will not travel or go to work.

Hmm...interesting, glad I only have to travel a few miles to get to work. Must be careful at lunch.

'ribe tuchus'

Remember that observation writing tool kit I picked up at a flea market a few weeks ago? It's full of cards that are supposed to inspire writing. I've had enough random stuff to say the past couple of weeks that it's been sitting lonely in the corner.

No more of that, today I broke it open and pulled out a card. it said simply 'ribe tuchus'...sit still. Apparently ribe tuchus means sit still in Yiddish. I thought what does this have to do with writing, I turned to the guidebook to find out more. And it was a huge challenge to sit still for an hour and do nothing else but write. I don't think I could ever do it --- I don't sit still, at least not completely --- ever. Not even when I was a little girl. I remember sitting on the couch and my mom trying to bribe me with a candy bar if I could sit completely still for 5 minutes. I put on a pretty good show, except I was moving my finger under a blanket. My mom tore of the blanket and I was busted. No candy bar --- heartbreaking huh.

So now I surf the net, watch tv and snack all at the same time or tap my feet while scrapping. Based on the mess my sheets are in the morning, I'm not even still in sleep.

10 Favorite Things

There is a thread on the Two Peas Pub board that asks people to list there 10 favorite things. Seemed like a fun thing to blog so I thought I'd post it here too. Disclaimer:These are my 10 favorite things at this moment in time and likely to change the second I hit post.

1. My furniture
2. The beach --- any beach you can put you can stand and let the waves wash the stress away
3. Creative Projects
4. Tanner running in the field
5. Discovering new music
6. Fresh flowers
7. Getting anything other than bills and promo material in the mail (hint, hint)
8. A perfectly cooked steak
9. Cabin at the lake (not quite the beach but the next best thing)
10. A clean house (especially if I don't have to clean it)

Eye/Brain Candy Part 2

Finally! I must have whinned enough --- my sister finally broke down on Sunday morning and went to see Ocean's 13 with me. I wouldn't go so far as to say it was a great movie, but definitely entertaining. The plot doesn't change much from the previous movies, who cares these guys are mega hotties. I'm sure I'll have to watch it about 3 more times before I get everything. One of my favorite things about this series are the camera angles --- so retro. Funny, because I'm not usually a retro girl.

Back to work today--- tougher than normal. Just couldn't hit my groove, hopefully it will be better tomorrow.

Weather update --- 11 days of 90+, grr...the weather man is promising that it will be in the low 80s tomorrow. Oh, I hope. I hope.

From the random observation category: diapers and condoms are on the same aisle at King Soopers. Interesting --- an aisle I don't usually go down, but needed a pacifier for the baby project I was working on for the store.

I'm Meeeeeelting!

Yuck! 100 degrees --- one of those days were the steering wheel burns your hands. No fun. I took Tanner out for a morning walk at 7:30 and it was already hot.

I took him along to the Paris Street Market we saw lots of cute things but nothing that I couldn't live without at the time. Of course now that I'm home there are a couple of things I wish I would have bought. Tanner was a great sport in the crowds, he staying in a perfect heal postion most of the time and made some new fans.

At last a creative post...w/pic!

Yep going into work a little bit later than usual this am. I just finished these letters last night and wanted to post since it's been so long since I shown anything creative. We're getting ready for a marketing event at the store --- giant baby shower at Babies R'Us. My assignment was to alter wood letters for a baby girl's room. Eventually these will be going to a co-workers daughter. I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out...although as usual I got a little carried away with the bling. You know I have this tendency to 'over-do', I should probably take these to the store so I'm not tempted.

And in case your curious...I did not add the flowers and matching table cloth specifically for this little photo shoot. Pure luck that everything is so coordinated. It's my everyday table cloth ---Garage sale bargain $3.00 and the flowers were a little splurge to myself earlier in the week also on sale.

Happy Friday!

Happy Indpendence Day!

(totally not my pic, I found it online here --- lots of great photos but many are copyrighted and tough to share)
Hope your day was great! A little bit weird to have it in the middle of the week...but nice to have a midweek break. I spent most of the day getting my house back in order, it's been about a month and a half from my last super clean. Plus LOTS of laundry!

Spent more time trying to get my scrap room organized. I broke down and went to Wal-Mart to look for a bookshelf I can afford. Sure enough I found one for around $30 --- looks just like the $99 one a Target. I put it together and started loading it full of stuff. Now I just need to put the finishing touches on the room. SOOO excited to almost have it done.

Curiosity killed the cat...

Ok so I was pretty sure that only my mom, my dearest AK friend Charlene, and occasionally Rachel read my blog on a regular basis...but I was curious to see how many random hits I had so I added one of those silly (but ego boosting) counters to my page and there appears to be a few more consitent readers.

So fess up...who are you?

Even if you don't want to 'come out' and post a comment, I just want to say thanks! Thanks for caring about the silly random things I like to talk about and thanks for caring about ME! It means more than you can know.

For all of us(ok, mostly me...creative therapy) I'm trying to be more consistent in writing and will try to stretch to find more ideas.

The good news...did you notice I set a new record for blog entries in one month...Hooray!!! Here's hoping July will be even better!