Five More Altered Cards

I did it! :) All caught up on my altered playing cards. Here they are starting with last Thursday's card:Supplies: Chatterbox patterned paper; Making Memories brads, anchors, wordfetti, and rub-ons; Angelina font; misc. off white cardstock; Micron black pen; Me & My Big Ideas woven label.

Friday, December 21:
Supplies: Bazzill and misc. cardstock; Making Memories definition and letter stickers; Uniball Signo white pen.

Saturday, December 22:Supplies: We R Memory Keepers patterned paper; Micron black pen; Studio G acrylic stamp; red stamp ink; misc. red cardstock.

Sunday, December 23:
Supplies: a2z patterned paper; Imagination Project coaster (scanned & downsized to fit); Micron red & black pens; Dymo label; misc. green cardstock.

Monday, December 24:
Supplies: Chatterbox patterned paper; USPS stamp; Die Cuts with a View adhesive backed cardstock; QuicKutz Tangerine font; misc. green cardstock; Uniball Signo white pen.

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The Fallen Ornament Mystery

I found inspiration for tonight's card on Toni's blog. She commented about her kittens knocking ornaments off the tree. Fortunately, neither Cali nor Chester have ever paid too much attention to the Christmas trees (well, except for Ches loving to sit under it). When we lived in apartments, we had a 3' tall artificial tree and they'd sniff it out (like all new things) and then go about their usual daily activities. I worried a tad bit the first Christmas in our house what they would do with a real tree. About the same it turns out - sniff it and then move along. This year we did catch Cali sitting on the loveseat armrest pawing at an ornament after we finished decorating it. I figured since she had seen us "playing" with them earlier in the evening, she thought it must be ok.

Since then, they have left the ornaments alone. Well, we think. About 2 days ago we found Cali's ornament on the floor. I intentionally put the less delicate ones down low just in case. Honestly, I don't think they were batting at it. I think Chester bumped it while heading under the tree for a nap. I've witnessed him brushing the lower branches with his back as he heads to his current napping spot. But the truth remains a mystery and the ornament still sits on the floor in front of the tree:Supplies: Daisy Hill rub-on; misc. red cardstock; Uniball Signo white pen.

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Pause

Besides playing with my blog set-up, I've been working on my altered playing card for today. Yesterday, my friend Katy, left me a comment regarding Sunday's card. The last sentence caught my eye: "What a fun thing to play with, and they are so small, it really makes them seem do-able!" The small size was part of what enticed me to start this project. Doing a 12x12 scrapbook page (or even 8x8) would be too time-consuming for me to fit in every day. However, a little secret here, there are days (like today) that I stress about these things! Seriously. Why do you think yesterday's card was about socks??? LOL Some days a little occurrence (i.e., Sunday's Starbucks outing) will jump out at me and I think to myself "that's it! That's what my card will be." A typical workday doesn't always have those moments. ;)

Tonight, I had no idea what I was going to do. It was after dinner as I sat at the table looking at our peace lily that I decided to take a photo of it's single flower. After coming upstairs and opening it in Photoshop - the idea hit me. Something so simple. Pause to enjoy the season of Christ's birth. It's been evident all around me (from my own blog to the hurried shoppers I bumped into tonight) and a blog post by my friend Theresa on Saturday - Christmas has become so "stuff" focused (parties, gifts, etc) that we overlook the best gift we've ever received. And so I share this simple card with you all. May you feel Christ's love for you tonight and each day forward.
Supplies: 2Peas Old Type font by Two Peas in a Bucket; misc. light green cardstock; Micron black pen.

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Fuzzy Socks

So long to the hot weather we had a couple weeks ago - looks like winter may have found us yet. Tonight's temps are dropping into the low 20s. A far cry from the 70s & 80s I had enjoyed! So I'm bundled up which led to tonight's inspiration - my fun, fuzzy socks. ;)
Supplies: Making Memories metal index tab and wordfetti & TinyAlpha stickers; misc. dark blue cardstock; Uniball Signo white pen.

I worked on my altered card both standing at my scrapbooking table and sitting on the floor. A little someone stole my chair. Chester looked too comfy to move. (He's still there by the way - only now he's napping.)

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Peppermint Mochas

This afternoon one of my neighbors and I got together at Starbucks and enjoyed Peppermint Mochas while taking care of HOA business. We've become the lone two on the architectural review committee. This was a nice way to get the work done and then enjoy a bit of catching up.

Supplies: Starbucks beverage wrap; snowflake punch; Die Cuts with a View adhesive backed white cardstock; misc. green cardstock; Uniball signo white pen.

edited to add...
2ps blog challenge:
What is one thing you look forward to during these last few days before Christmas?
Time with family. :)

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Good Eats

It's been a busy couple of days! The Christmas shopping is all done. Almost all the gifts are wrapped. And the few I need to ship are boxed. I just need to weigh them tomorrow and print the labels. :)

Last night we had my annual company Christmas party at Zely & Ritz Tapas Restaurant in downtown Raleigh. This was the first time either of us had eaten there and it was delicious! Just a great evening overall.
Supplies: Chatterbox patterned paper; logo from Z&R; "Berry Sticker" from Kate Teague's Berry Days digikit at Two Peas in a Bucket; Mistral font; misc. green cardstock; Making Memories epoxy sticker; Micron black pen.

Today was the big "bake off" day here at home. I made our typical holiday sweets - ginger snaps and date nut balls. Yum!
Supplies: Scenic Route and Paper Salon patterned papers; Heidi Swapp photo corners; Making Memories rub-on & wordfetti stickers; Micron black pen.

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Wrapping Gifts

A simple little card for tonight inspired by Dec 7 of dw2007 to use wrapping paper as patterned paper:
Yes, I just began wrapping presents tonight! Good thing too since I had almost no tissue paper. Looks like that will be on the list for my errands tomorrow. I have lots and lots of wrapping paper though. :) Each year I go shopping at Hallmark after Christmas and stock up for the following year. I also buy my cards at that time and just pack them up with the Christmas decorations so I can easily find them the following year.

Supplies: Hallmark wrapping paper & label; Die Cuts with a View adhesive backed cardstock (for carrot nose & arms); Making Memories snowflake rub-ons; Uniball Signo white & silver pens.

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Yellow Glass Ornament

Angela Daniels posted a photo of her ornaments last week on her blog. It got me thinking about how I should start photographing and recording why certain ornaments have special meaning to me. Our tree has some typical shiny "filler" balls that are just ornaments. But it also is full of ornaments that tell a story. With that idea in mind and the prompt from Dec 6 of dw2007 ("create a unique border..."), I created tonight's card:
Supplies: "Black Frame" (I changed it to white) from the Color My World kit by Rhonna Farrer (Two Peas in a Bucket); Bazzill cardstock; Uniball Signo white pen; Making Memories epoxy sticker.

2ps blog challenge:
10 of your greatest joys...

1. my marriage :)
2. my family
3. my faith
4. my scrapbooking
5. my furbabies
6. helping others
7. teaching the preschool Sunday School class

Surely there's more! I'm drawing a blank at the moment. Probably because I'm up past my bedtime. ;)

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An Early Gift

I was soooo excited [can you tell I was excited? ;) ] to come home today and find my prize package from Autumn Leaves! I won the September designing with 2007 contest at Two Peas in a Bucket and was allowed to select a prize. I asked for the "A Rhonna Christmas" line by Rhonna Farrer. Also, they sweetly added the Autumn Leaves book Designing with Details. Loving it all! Here's a photo of the goodies:
My winning entry for the contest was this fun envelope I created for our Disney trip in November. On our previous trip in 2002, I had packed small printed laminated sheets with information such as park hours and the 10-day weather forecast. This time I planned ahead a bit and made a mini album.

Finally, here is today's card. Inspired by the prize and by Dec 24 of dw2007:
Supplies: Paper Salon patterned paper; Autumn Leaves swirl acrylic stamp, button, and part of the button package label; silver glittery stamp ink pad; Micron black pen.

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Hey, Baby, it's HOT outside!

Recording setting hot no less. Today is officially the warmest December day in history around here and the next couple of days look to be just as hot. The a/c was flipped on at work. So far Trent & I have not turned it back on at home, but the windows are open and ceiling fans running.

Last week Trent & I talked about how nice it would be to take a walk to look at Christmas lights and maybe we would do so over the weekend when the lows were only going down to the 50s. As it happens, we didn't get around to that walk until tonight. It was a great night as it was in the low 70s at the time. Perfect walking weather. :) And my inspiration for tonight's card:
Supplies: Basic Grey patterned paper; $1 stamp from Michael's; Doodlebug, My Mind's Eye and Making Memories rub-ons; 5-day weather graphic from WRAL.com; misc. cardstock; Micron black pen; Studio G acrylic stamp; black ink stamp pad.

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Just call me 'Cinderella'...

minus the crown and fancy digs. LOL And, yes, this tale will explain the reason I have a photo posted of my laundry closet. Actually, Trent said I should take a photo. I think it's to prove that there was a time when it really was clean! ;) The tale starts earlier today when Trent commented on how he wanted to move our toolbox (which currently lives in the coat closet) into the laundry closet. As I have mentioned before, we have a small home and it lacks storage space greatly. Well, the conversation turned from moving the toolbox (which still lives in the coat closet, by the way) into let's tidy up the laundry closet. The dryer had stuff stacked on top. The closet itself was a home to more dust bunnies than I've ever seen in my life.

So, Trent pulled out the dryer. Yikes! I grabbed the vacuum and jumped behind to clean up all the lint. We also wanted to redo the vent attachments because it seemed as though we must have a gap somewhere with all that lint. Before doing so, I turned to vacuum behind the washer and WOWZERS!! (that's my nice terminology for it...not exactly the word I used at the time). Forget the lint, there was a messy, soapy, sticky pool of something behind the washer. *sigh* Well, the dryer was in the hall so might as well move the washer over and figure this one out. Turns out the detergent sitting on the wire shelf above the washer had a tiny whole halfway up the back and had been dripping for some time. Ick. This is where the Cinderella part comes in. I ended up on my hands and knees with a scrub brush, bowl of water, a spatula (to scrape at it) and a couple of towels. 30 minutes later the floor was sparkling clean and my knees were very unhappy. Not exactly the fun I planned on having today, but I do have a very clean laundry closet now. And that, to quote Martha Stewart, is a good thing. :)

Now, let me put away my violin and sob story. I did get to enjoy some creative time today. Finally completed the blinkies (aka animated images) for the designing with calendar group over at Two Peas in a Bucket ...

Created our Christmas return address labels [notice the "berries" are 2paws ;) ] ...
And, of course, made my card for today ...
Supplies: EK Success patterned paper; Christmas lights beads photo from Renee Beads; Making Memories epoxy sticker; Dymo labeler; misc. white cardstock; Micron black pen; Studio G stamp; green stamp pad.

2ps Blog Challenge:
Do you make big plans for New Year's Eve?
Our plans usually consist of a relaxing evening on the couch - watching a movie and eating popcorn. Neither Trent nor I are big "party" people and, truth be told, often end up asleep before midnight anyway! ;)

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Christmas in Downtown Raleigh

What a wonderful day! Today Trent & I went into downtown Raleigh for my birthday present. Instead of giving me an item, his gift to me was a trip to visit some of the historic sites in our own county. We've toured lots of interesting places (historic homes, museums, parks, etc) in various other cities we have visited over the years, but keep missing out on some of the special places in our own "neck of the woods." We decided a couple weeks ago to go today so we could see the Executive Mansion with the holiday decorations. As it turns out, there were holiday celebrations and open houses throughout downtown Raleigh and it was sunny, mid-60s so the weather was perfect.

We started at the Executive Mansion. There we were allowed to peek into each of the rooms off the main corridor on the first floor. I took lots of photos. But I did get a curious look and comment from one of the security guards when I snapped a shot of a door hinge! He said most people don't notice the little details. I explained - I'm not most people. ;) I have a degree in architecture and design buildings for a living so I tend to look for the "details."

After touring the mansion, we walked a few blocks to the State Capitol Building. We've both been there before, but not since they opened the third floor to the public. It was fun to take a look around the rooms up there - the State Library room and State Geologist room.

Next we stopped for lunch at the Seaboard Cafe for a sandwich & a burger. It's a great local place and nestled into Logan's Trading Company. While tempted to wander around looking at garden decor after we ate, we hurried over to Mordecai Park to catch the last tour of the day on the Raleigh Trolley. This became our one disappointment. The trolley is in the shop so a bus is being used instead. We decided to skip the tour - as we would rather do it on the trolley for the whole ambiance of riding a trolley versus a bus. So we're saving this fun for the spring when everything is blooming again. We did spend some time touring the Mordecai house and other buildings at the park (Andrew Johnson's birthplace, St. Mark's Chapel, etc) before heading back towards the Capitol Building to see the Dinosaurs exhibit at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences.

If you've read this far, you might be as tired as my legs! I'll end this post with the card I created for today. The front is a photo of the Executive Mansion. Supplies: Bazzill cardstock; 7gypsies foldover sticker; Uniball Signo white pen.

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Bee Movie

After Trent came home from work tonight, we went to see Bee Movie - very cute and very funny. Some of it was corny humor, but I was laughing nonetheless.

Afterwards we just about finished up our Christmas shopping between Pier1 and Michael's. And we made a brief visit to PetSmart for more food for the cats & fish. Gotta feed the critters. ;)

I've been playing in my scrap area since we came home. Had fun creating tonight's card with my ticket stub from the movie. Do you see my "hidden" title? ;)
Supplies: KI Memories patterned paper; Martha Stewart Crafts flower sticker; Making Memories button & TinyAlpha letter; QuicKutz stem & leaf from the Sunshine gift set; Uniball Signo white pen. Inspired by Dec 13 of dw2007 to "design a creative title."

2ps blog challenge:
Are there any family heirlooms in your possession? Tell about them and how you came to acquire them. Have you done a layout about it.
Maureen's prompt tonight really got me thinking. We do have a few items I would consider heirlooms. Most are pieces of furniture - for example, the dresser in our guest bedroom belonged to his grandparents. That particular item we came to own after they decided to sell their house and move into a retirement community. They wanted to pass down items to family members and I specifically asked if we could have the dresser. It's beautiful solid wood. Worn from time & use, but to us, that makes it more special.

I realized after reading the prompt that I have not scrapped about our various heirlooms. Reason to do so is sitting in my bedroom - our bed came from my great-grandparents home in southwestern Virginia. No one has lived in the house for years, but it is still family owned and mainly stores extra furniture, dishes, etc. I asked my grandfather for it in 1999 when I moved to my first apartment. Beyond the fact that it was in that house, no one can seem to recall who it belonged to. I want to scrap the known history of our special items so future generations will realize why these items carried such personal value to us.

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Enchiladas and Quesadillas

Tonight was "boys' night" although it doesn't have quite the same definition it did several years back. Trent would go on Thursday nights to spend time with 3 college friends who were roommates. After one married and moved, the other two (the twins) moved to a new place that's about 45 minute drive from us. These days Trent will occasionally go there, but often the twins end up coming to our home. And, of course, since I'm here - I automatically get to participate [ie, I go to dinner w/ them then hang out upstairs scrapbooking while they watch tv ;) ]. Tonight was an all new "boys' night" as one of the twins brought his girlfriend. The five of us went out for dinner and then came back to hang out.
Supplies: We R Memory Keepers patterned paper; misc red cardstock; Jolee's 3-dimensional sticker; Making Memories definition and wordfetti stickers; stamp ink pad; Uniball Signo white pen.

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Cali's Spot

Cali's turn for a card with her favorite place by the tree - sitting on the armrest to our loveseat. :)
Supplies: Chatterbox patterned paper; Making Memories border, bling & TinyAlpha stickers; Prima flowers; Micron black pen; Bazzill purple cardstock; and Uniball Signo white pen.

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Back up and running

Last night our computer wasn't "playing nice" so to speak and we were unable to get online. Long story short, after toying with the Norton settings (the newer versions have wrecked havoc on the network connections at work so I thought maybe its update yesterday was the culprit), eventually uninstalling Norton and clearing off some junk programs (where in the world did the Family Feud game come from??), it still would not connect to the internet. As a last resort, Trent called our internet provider and Voilà! - there was an outage in our area. Frustrating as it was at the time, I shouldn't complain too much. Being without the internet for one evening is far better than the folks who were without power here last night due to the wind. And tonight we have everything operational again including new anti-virus software by McAfee.

While not toying with the computer, I managed to create another card for my Christmas memories last night. I scanned a copy of our Christmas cards I was working on for the front of it. I try to get cat cards every year.
Supplies: Provo Craft patterned paper; Scenic Route cardstock sticker; Making Memories epoxy & cardstock stickers; Bazzill green cardstock; Micron black pen & Uniball Signo white pen.

Tonight's card includes a photo I took of Chester this morning. He loves sitting under the Christmas tree. I was searching for him to say goodbye (yes, I tell my cats goodbye before I leave the house) and couldn't find him. Glanced over at the tree before heading out and there he was - peering out at me from beneath it. I took a quick photo and then headed out. :)
Supplies: Creative Imaginations patterned paper; Karen Foster rub-on; Making Memories mini metal index tabs; misc navy blue cardstock; Uniball Signo white pen.

2ps blog challenge:
Share with us what the weather is like in your area.
Relatively mild during the day (highs in the 50s-60s) and chilly at night (low 30s). Very, very dry as we're still in a bad drought that started over the summer. While I'm thankful for no hurricanes this year, it is a shame we didn't at least get a tropical storm. Our water supplies are drying up quickly even with harsher restrictions being enforced.

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Shopping & Cinderella

We went out shopping earlier today to pick out some gifts for the "under 4" crowd on our list. One is an angel gift and needs to be turned in by Friday so I thought it would be easiest to conquer all of the kids at once. Maybe we'll be labeled the "mean" aunt & uncle in future years LOL but our preference is clothing and books. Now, not having children ourselves, the clothing part can be more challenging that I realize at times. You would not believe how long the two of us spent running circles in the infant/toddlers department trying to figure out what to buy and what size. I was careful to ask for gift receipts just in case. Tag Supplies: Paper Salon patterned paper; Making Memories grommet, eyelet & epoxy sticker; misc red cardstock; Uniball Signo white pen.

Tonight I decided to take a break from holiday crafts to work on our Disney album a bit more. Here's the two-page design I came up with based on the December sketch in the designing with 2007 calendar:

Layout Supplies: Bazzill cardstock; Déjà Views patterned paper; Li'l Davis chipboard 'C'; QuicKutz Metro die cut font; EK Success 3-d stickers.

2ps blog challenge:
What are 5 things on your computer desk right now?
1. The layout I just finished scanning.
2. A pile of music CDs.
3. My "Coupons for Trade" box.
4. CVS weekly ad.
5. Post-it notes.

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Fall "Harvest" & Tree Trimming

I use the word "harvest" lightly. ;) Today the weather here was sunny and in the mid 50s. Trent & I decided to tackle some much needed work in the yard - raking a few leaves, trimming the junipers, spreading mulch and clearing the garden. Everything in the vegetable garden had long since seen its final days except for my herbs. The rosemary, oregano and chives have been growing for 2 seasons now along with our strawberry plants. Last winter was so mild it didn't seem to affect any of them. So today I "harvested" the last of my herbs to dry and jar. Needless to say, my hands and the house quickly carried the strong aroma.

Cali & Chester (the cats) were thrilled for the opportunity to play outside for a bit. Cali followed me around and meowed at me. She's in my arms in the photo. A moment before she was rubbing her head against mine and purring loudly. :)

After we cleaned up and had some dinner, I turned on the Christmas music and Trent & I decorated the tree. It is finally shining in all it's glory. I created another card as part of my "Card A Day" to mark the occasion:
Inspired by several sources: Tina's mention on her blog of "Journal your Christmas"; Dec 24th of dw2007 - tree design on a card; and, what started me on the "Card A Day" idea [although, mine is more a "Card as the Mood Strikes" ;) ] - Elise Blaha's "let's!" "get!" "crafty!"

Supplies: Autumn Leaves & Wild Asparagus patterned paper; American Crafts, Doodlebug, Li'l Davis & Making Memories rub-ons; Making Memories epoxy sticker; Micron black pen.

2ps blog challenge:
Do you make your holiday cards?
I have made our Christmas cards in the past, but have opted for store bought in recent years as making them all can be very time consuming. Perhaps one year I'll plan well enough in advance, but for now I'm saving the handmade for smaller occasions. :)

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