Earthquakes & Shopping

WOW! Yesterday was an interesting day. I woke up around 5:30 a.m. to my bed shaking. It felt like someone was standing at the foot of the bed, shaking the mattress. My DH was supposed to get up to go running around 5:45 a.m., so I thought it was him shaking the bed, trying to be funny. I looked around and didn't see anyone and went back to bed. Little did I know that it was the earthquake from Illinois that I was feeling. I couldn't believe that I could feel it all the way in West Michigan. WOW!!!

I got up a little while later and got ready to head off to IKEA. (It's about 2 hours and 15 minutes away) This was the first time I took the girls with me. Now that Emerson is potty trained, she can stay in the kids area. I tried to look up the details and instructions for the kids area at IKEA, but couldn't find anything. So the girls, my mother and I were off to do some shopping. We get there and they are only allowed to be in the kids area for 1 hour. I thought 2 hours at least. I wish they would have noted that on their website. So my mom, Camryn and I raced through the Marketplace (kitchen items, bedding, etc.) without Emerson. That's where we thought she would do the most damage!! It wasn't so bad going shopping with the girls. I would do it again believe it or not. I got some more white storage boxes for my craft room. Now I just need to get another shelf in my room to put the boxes on!!

I also found these adorable spice containers. I got 4 of them for only $2.99! Not a bad deal! I thought these would be cute to have on hand. You could whip one up with candy or whatever you wanted fairly quickly. I made one for my friend, Kristi. I recently joined in on Emily's ribbon share and knew that I wouldn't use it all, so I thought I would cut up some of it and put it in the jar. I hope she likes it! (Sorry about the picture...either my lighting is bad, my camera is mediocre at best or it's the user.....probably all of the above!!!)

I got some of these storage containers for my pantry. We have tons of food in our pantry, but Emerson doesn't eat most of it because she can't see it. (At least that's my theory.) I thought if I put it in clear containers, she could see it and want it eat it. Well.....it worked!! She wanted a mini trail mix of everything in there! Finally!! We can eat some of this food before it goes to waste! The had different size ones...they have another one that is more shallow. I might just use those ones in my craft room :)

Hope you all enjoy your weekend. We are sticking close to home and cleaning! This is our only weekend home without anything on our schedule until the middle of June! Wedding showers, weddings, birthday parties, our anniversary, etc. Busy, busy summer! Thanks for stopping by!

Thoughts of You

ETA: I had this all typed up to post earlier, but Blogger was having issues and wouldn't let me upload my picture until now.


I made this card a while ago and forgot to post it. I cased this card from ncmorgan on SCS. I don't think I have every used More Mustard before this card. I saw that card and new that I had to give it a try. When I first started stamping, I bought the multi-packs of the paper. I still had all of the More Mustard from the pack!!! I love the earth element colors, but this was a color I didn't know what to do with.


(Sorry about the picture, for some reason with the lighting, I couldn't get it to come out clear, but you get the jist.) The stamp sets are Oh So Lovely from SU! and Essential Sentiments from MFT.

The weather is beautiful here today...in the mid-70's. I hope you have nice weather to enjoy today too! Off to finish getting dinner ready and get some good rest tonight because I am heading off to IKEA tomorrow!! Not that I really need anything, but I'm sure the van will be packed when we come home! Thanks for stopping by!

Blog Candy Winner & a card

And the winner is.......Cheryl KVD

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:11
Timestamp: 2008-04-16 18:15:15 UTC

Cheryl wrote:

Happy Birthday!! Sounds like fun!! My fav. color combo is River Rock, Soft Sky and Choc. Chip. Yummy!Thanks!Cheryl KVD

Email me with your snail mail address, and I'll get your goodies out to you. Thanks everyone for playing. I actually was able to play in my craft room last night.....my one last request for my birthday and was able to play around with some of the color combinations you all suggested. As soon as I get a picture of the cards, I'll get them posted.

Here is a card I made a while ago to send to Charmaine's MIL when she was recovering from surgery. This was the first time I had ever used SU's watercolor paper. A friend of mine had some and let me borrow a couple pieces. Needless to say, I just received mine in my last order. I love the effect of the ink bleeding on the paper and I was sold! Can't wait to rip open my package and start using it some more.

Well, my eyes are burning a little from having the contacts in so I think I'll go and take them out and go chill with my Diet Pepsi while the girls are napping/having quiet time. Thanks again to everyone who left comments for the candy. I'll be posting more cards soon with the color combo. suggestions!

Supplies:

Stamps: Oh So Lovely, Warm Thoughts

Paper: Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomagranate, Watercolor paper

Ink: Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomagranate, So Saffron, Brown StazOn

Accessories: Wild Wasabi double-stitch ribbon, ticket corner punch, silver brads

Birthday Candy

Well, I haven't posted any candy in a while, so I thought I would do some in honor of my birthday......I'm a tax day baby :) I'm not quite sure what will be in the candy, but I promise you'll like it!! So, if you are daring enough to play along for something you're not even sure what it is, then leave me a comment. I've been having a problem with color combos lately, so leave me a comment and tell me what your favorite color combo is. I'll draw a winner next Wednesday (probably in the afternoon, as I have to go to an eye contacts "training" class that morning.....for all of us newbies out there who don't know how to put in contacts!!)

I look forward to hearing what your color combos are and hopefully making some cards using them!

Stressed Out Mom

I was at the mall today, looking for outfits to wear to the many (4) weddings we have this summer. I was lucky enough to go by myself. I hire my 19-year old niece to come over and babysit the girls every other Monday so I can go to appointments or run errands or just have some time to myself. Anyway, while I was at the mall, inside a store I heard a little boy (had to have been around 3 years old) saying to his Mom that he was tired and wanted to go home. It was after 1pm, so who knows how long they had been there. The Mom said that they were not going home and the little boy threw a tantrum. We've all been there, right?? The Mom picked up the little boy and yelled and screamed at him calling him an idiot and saying "I hate you, I hate you.....I hate you, I hate you, I hate you." I could not believe my ears. I was just shaking! Do I mind my own business and not saying anything or should I say something? Well, for that little boys sake, I said something. I said to the lady, "M'am, that's not neccessary. I completely understand that you are stressed....I have two little ones at home myself, but that isn't what we should be saying to our children. That will have an effect on him for a long time." She said that she doesn't ever get to get out of the house. I told her that I understood, I was actually out on a rare occasion without my kids, but just because we are frustrated and stressed out, we should never use those words with our children. She just rolled her eyes at me and walked away.

I wasn't trying to get into a confrontation with her. I was trying to be empathetic and understanding to her situation, yet help out that poor little boy. I hope that she thinks about what she says to her child the next time she is frustrated. I've been at my wits end with my kids. I've had to call my husband at 4:30pm and say "I'm done....Your turn!!!" I think we have all had those days. Just remember....words are like nails in a fence. You can hammer nails into a fence and then take the nails out, but you will still have holes in the fence. You can say nasty words to a loved one and say I'm sorry, but you have still left emotional marks on them. I'm NOT a perfect mother by any means. I've yelled at my kids and the heat of the moment being frustrated and having lack of sleep, but have never used words like I heard today. I'm not trying to preach to you, but I just wanted to share my story with you today in hopes that if you hear someone saying/doing unacceptable things to a child, that you would step out of your comfort zone and say something....for the sake of the child.

Okay, I'm off my soap box now. I just felt that I had to say something...again, our blogs are our outlets...craft and other life things. I have been bothered by this all day and can't stop thinking about it, so now that I have said my peace, hopefully I can resume my day :) Thanks for listening.

Thank You's

Here is another batch of "thank you" cards that I did for a friend. As I mentioned in the earlier post, I only had 2 evenings to get all the cards done, so many of the layouts are either the same or very similar.

For my colors, I used So Saffron, Purely Pomegranate and Always Artichoke. I used the Embrace Life stamp set for the flowers and the Simple Sayings II stamp set for the sentiment. I'm a paper junkie, as well as a ribbon junkie, embellishment junkie and whatever else is related to stamping!! Anyway, I have TONS of the Prints DS papers, so I thought this would be a good way to start to actually USE it instead of hording it all, like I usually do. How crazy is that? I have all these things.....LOVE them so much, yet I don't want to use them? Where is the common sense there??? I need to get into the mindset that I have these beautiful things, why not use them to make beautiful crafts to give to others so they can enjoy it as much as me. HHHmmmm....I'll have to work on that!! LOL! Thanks for stopping by!

Changito Thank You's

Here are some more of the thank you cards that I made (see last post). As I mentioned before, I didn't have much time to get these done, so my layouts didn't vary too much. I didn't want to create all flowery cards, so since she has 3 kids, I thought these would be a hit. I love the Changito Monkey....I should really ink him up more often!

I used Sahara Sand for the card bases and then layered them with Chocolate Chip and accented with Garden Green. I used my CB Swiss Dots and Traffic Jam embossing folders.....I love how quick and easy the CB folders are to use, yet jazz up the card to make it look like you've spent much more time on it ;) To color in the monkey and vine, I used my ink pads and Aqua Painter.

Okay, time for me to go take a power nap while Camryn is still napping. We went to the Children's Museum today......bad idea.....it's Spring Break and COLD outside. What was I thinking????? I'm whooped! Thanks for stopping...enjoy the rest of your day!