out on a limb

A Post at Last!

2008-06-20T00:45:00.001-07:00

I thought this card may be appropriate for a little Friday Happy Hour ;) The "Lime Stand" was made from the Amuse Lemonade stand. I removed the pitcher of lemonade and doodled the lime. I also doodled the margarita class. The sunny punch is from Martha's collection. Don't you just feel like being at the beach somewhere around sunset sippin on a nice refreshing margarita? waves lappin at the shore, sun kissin the horizon...
Life has been a little hectic lately so my blog has been regretably postless for awhile. However, I have been stampin and craftin like a crazy lady -so I have lots and lots to share!!!

I'll have to continue this tomorrow, it's almost 1am and I should head for bead. I am really turning into a vampire (minus the blood sucking) because my nights have not been filled with restful zzzzzzz's lately and my days have left me pale.

BUT aside from this, Life has been really good, a tree full of limes turned into key lime pie!!!! YUM!

Mother's Day at Last!

2008-05-16T12:29:00.000-07:00

The above card was made for my mom-n-law. The flower stamp is from SU's True Friend set (love that set!) and the saying is also SU. I just got the pearl stickies and Amuse star stickies from the new Paper Tales store -love these embellishments!!! This card is for my abuelita-n-law. I used letter stickers from K&Co backed with lavander flowers from the SU 3-flower punch -I used these same flowers for the four corners with a pearl for the flower-button. I used white ric rac ribbon on top of eggplant ribbon.

There is still more to come! I have to get my Mom's cards back (one from me, one from her grandkitty Mia) to take pictures of them ;)

Happy Mother's Day!!!

2008-05-11T23:30:00.000-07:00

This is a quick little post to say Happy Mother's Day to all of you wonderful mothers!!! I will post soon.

My computer blew up last week while my hubby was away in NY, I lost EVERYTHING!!!-like a semester's worth of gen bio lectures...hmmm a back up would have been nice. I will be taking it to a tech and hope and pray he can fix my SYSTEM23 ERROR!!!!!

I had some great picts of a bunny named Winston (a baby cotten-tail Mia caught to play with -we rescued him and set him free a couple days later), oh how I wanted to keep that cutie, but he is wild -and we already have a bit of a food chain issue with the cat and the dogs, really don't need someone lower on the food chain!!! and of a great journal I made for my bro-in-law who was mugged and attacked with a bat in D.C. (more on that when I get the journal picts).

I will post my Mother's Day creations soon -they turned out really well...Mother's Day was really nice. My Mom and I went out for yogurt and then worked on the most adorable baby quilt, then we had a BBQ at my hubby's parents' house.

ooops this post got longer than I thought it would! It has just been so long since I've been in blog-o-land, I missed everyone!!!

New Post at Last!!!! ATCs a-plenty!

2008-04-27T18:12:00.000-07:00

I am finally feeling well enough to post something. This flu is really nasty -even my toes hurt! Below is my ATC for the Durcan Design swap. These were due a couple weeks ago, but I just got around to posting. I received my swap yesterday, and the other ATCs are just fabulous! Click on the link to see some of the other cards.
I used SU "in colors' for this card -purely pomegranite, groovy guava, and river rock. The corners were punched and embossed with a Fiskars punch. The silhouette was created with coordinated Marvy scalloped and smooth oval punches. The top embellishment was created using copper wiring and matching beads slipped through a copper eyelet. The stamp is from one of my favorite sets from Crafty Secrets.
Below is the wonderful ATC made by Miss Priss. We ended up in separate swaps so we each made each other one along with Allison G (whose ATC is SOOOOOOO adorable!!!!!). Of course I have not yet mailed Miss Prissy's -but I will soon ;) I just love her ATC and felt her pictures just didn't do it justice! I have it hangin in my craft room for inspiration.

sickie sickie

2008-04-23T22:40:00.000-07:00

Sorry I have not posted in a while! I actually have some things I would like to share but I have been really sick. I just wanted to say hey! and I'll hopefully post something soon!

Tag, I'm it (a little while ago...)

2008-04-12T14:22:00.001-07:00

I got tagged last week by Miss Priss over in prissyland. So here goes, a little bit more about me!

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1) smoothie maker (started out in frozen fruit!) at Nectar
2) photographer's assistant

3) organic chemist

4) technical writer

Four movies I could watch over and over:

1) Elf (I know, all my friends have been forced to watch it with me numerous times, but it is great with hot chocolate and freshly baked cookies -and it's Will Ferrel as an elf, where can you go wrong???)

2) Little Miss Sunshine

3) Stranger than Fiction

4) Enchanted -yes I am a sappy goofball that loves feel good goofy movies :)

Four places I have lived

1) San Diego, California (my fav)

2) Barrow, Alaska (not my fav!)

3) Berkeley, California

4)La Jolla, California (I know, that's pretty close to SD)

Four TV shows I watch

1) LOST

2) Daily 10/celebrity 'news' (I know, I know -I gotta have a few guilty pleasures!)

3)America's Next Top Model -another guilty pleasure!

4) science channel shows -especially with that physics guy who is in every special (if you are a nerd-or super intelligent ;)- you know who I'm talking about!)

Four people who email me regularly

1) miss priss

2) my pops

3) my hubby

4) ms helen over at craftyprayer

Four favorite foods

1) cashew chicken with plum sauce

2) mango sorbet (I hate the texture of mangoes, but love the flavor, so sorbet is perfect and refreshing)

3) any breakfast food with eggs over medium, I will eat this any time of day

4) spaghetti when my hubby makes it

Four places I would rather be right now

1) snorkeling in Hawaii

2)at the beach (which I could probably head down to today...)

3) taking a nap in the backyard with Mia....

4) I am pretty content since I am in my craft room right now! ;)

That was a long tag! Next person to be tagged: Helen over at Craftyprayer -You are it!

A Post at Last! Owls-a-Plenty!

2008-04-12T14:02:00.001-07:00

Another owl card! This scholarly owl not only has the world at her feet, but a horde of owl admirers!

I have been so busy these past couple weeks! I am teaching 5 classes at two colleges -this is keeping me driving all over the city and in a constant state of grading papers and prepping. I have just not been able to get my stamp/blog groove on. Especially since my sis-n-law was just visiting with her gorgeous 3-month old baby girl! I'll post some picts soon!!!

The owl stamps are just johanna and the world stamp is from rubber stampede. The polka-dot paper is from basic grey and the yellow card is from the love notes from SU. To do the crowd of owl fans, I used the post-it note masking technique. It really works great!

An Owl Family Band

2008-03-28T19:20:00.000-07:00

A previous post rambled about my compulsive buying of seven JJ owl stamps -what was I ever going to do with all of these owls? Well I decided to start an owl band like the Partridge family.

Creating a replica of the PF bus took some mad paper-crafting skills. I first drew out the bus shape and then used my square and tag punches to cut into appropriate shapes. I photographed the image on a glass surface to give it the reflection.

Below is a close-up of the red-headed smarty pants owl (danny b). For even more good old-fashioned clean fun, find the other partridge family members represented as owls. I used all but one owl (the scholarly owl, which is the one I really wanted...)
I am not sure who will get this one, maybe someone who needs to 'come on get happy!'

Bunnies and birdies and candy, oh my!

2008-03-24T21:05:00.000-07:00

Here are two side views of my Easter table. Every place setting had a place card with a hazelnut chocolate carrot (yummy!!!). I love decorating for Easter. Spring is my favorite time of year with the brilliant colors as flowers bloom and the bustling of new life as chicks start to hatch. A couple of my friends are also having babies -congrats to Nicole who gave birth to a little baby girl yesterday on Easter, so sweat!

This is a top view of the centerpiece flanked by two bunnies.

Here is a top view of the extra table to seat our overflow that wouldn't fit at our expanded tables. The flowers were a fantastic surprise, sent to me from my family and the Easter Nutcracker. They are a beautiful mixture of tulips and irises. They were just perfect for the second table -and what a treat to come home to this past Saturday (thanks again!)

This is 'candle holder' I used as a candy holder. I filled it with light green and lavender M&Ms. I love that they now come in any color -to match any party motif! ;)

Happy Easter!

2008-03-24T20:50:00.000-07:00

Eddie and I hosted Easter this year for his side of the family as my family is back east right now. The weather in Southern Cal was just gorgeous this weekend. It feels like we skipped Spring and went straight to Summer! Easter was just lovely with great food and great company. I wish my family could have been there too, but we may have run out of room!!!

I had a lot of fun making these place cards for everyone. I used my Mega oval punch for the egg shape and then cut it in half with pinking scissors to give it that cracked egg feel. I glued the bottom half down and then glued a cut and sparkled stamped image somewhat behind the lower half of the egg. I then used a pastel button brad to hinge the top half of the egg, and voila! it opens up to reveal a cutie chickie. I used crystal effects and dazzling diamond glitter (both SU) for the raised sparkle dots.

My fav color is lavender, so I was happy to sprinkle touches of lavender everywhere ;)

Above is a close-up. The cutie chickie and the bunny below are both from the $1 bins from Michael's (which I love love love!).

I made a special place card for Eddie, as he is my 'some bunny special' ;)

Happy Irish Kitty

2008-03-19T14:25:00.001-07:00

A little late.....

Since we did not take a Christmas family portrait and I didn't mail off any of the Christmas cards I made this year, I decided that we were going to do a "Happy St. Paddy's Day" card/family update. I have all of the materials (a green bowtie for Chili, my puppy, shamrock headband for Mila, Eddie's puppy, and a cute little hat for Mia). Well, another holiday passes and the cat was the only one lucky enough to get to wear her St. Paddy's Day hat. And she loved it, can't you tell?

Eddie wasn't around to help with this shot -you really need two people when trying to take a picture of a dressed up cat- so this was the best, least grumpy shot I could get :)

It's not like I stole her Lucky Charms or anything...

The Easter Nutcracker

2008-03-16T17:21:00.001-07:00

Look what Mia found gallivanting around our backyard, why it is an Easter nutcracker just in time for spring! Nutcrackers have a bit of a history in my family, okay the history is just between my sister(Nat), me, and the Christmas nutcrackers that once called our parent's house home. You see, my older sister is deathly afraid of nutcrackers.

Yes, a bit odd -and I had nothing to do with this strange phobia! Although, as a young prankster I used to move all the nutcrackers in the house into her room in the middle of the night. I would turn them to face her as a pleasant surprise when she woke up. -well okay the pleasant surprise was the intention the first time. The shrieks of terror in the morning (and my ensuing shrieks of laughter) were motivation for the subsequent nights of nutcracker infatuation with my sleeping sister.

Anyways, it is a tradition of mine to hide a nutcracker in one of Nat's Christmas presents -when she spends every other Christmas in Connecticut with her husband's family; I will hide it in her Christmas package -a nice little treat/memories from home. Well this year, I bought a wooden unfinished nutcracker so that I could send her a special nutcracker, but alas; with putting on Christmas dinner, I didn't get a chance, and my sister never got her Christmas nutcracker.
And then in my backyard, Mia finds an Easter nutcracker!!! How perfect, Nat will never be suspecting this (insert evil laugh)...and my parent's will be visiting her for Easter so I can get details of her reaction:) I used acrylic paint for his body -mixing the purple myself so that his legs are more blue and his hands more pink. I colored his hair using SU orchid opulence marker. I also gave him a little haircut.

His bunny belt buckle is an embellishment I made using shrinky dink paper and a Michael's $1 stamp (so is the egg) colored using prismacolor pencils (shrinky dinks are amazing for making your own embellishments!!!).

As my sister is a disco queen, I made his shoes and sword out of a disco ball (okay, silver glitter ;)) His hat is decorated like a pretty polka-dot/glitter easter egg. He really sparkles!!!
Although I am sure the Easter nutcracker will miss his birthplace and home in San Diego (and his cat friend Mia), he is eagerly awaiting his trip to D.C. to meet my sister.

Just Johanna Saturday Opening

2008-03-15T11:35:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday I went with the Prissy Pals to the JJ shop opening in So. Cal. We had a great time, above is my make-n-take. I love this cupcake stamp with the strawberry on top. Below is the "bucket of owls" I bought. Now what I am going to do with this many owls, I don't know. Maybe start a band like the Partridge Family? I'll need to make a card with a decorative school bus filled with musical owls...stay tuned.I also got some clearance stamps, I am always a sucker for clearance -even if I don't need it.

Hang in there!

2008-03-06T21:40:00.001-08:00

I love this hedgehog stamp from SU -he is just too cute! I made this card for a friend's baby shower last weekend -I barely got a shot of it! I used love notes in white from SU and the paper is from a Spring Fling set I got on sale at JoAnne's last year.

I love making borders with my corresponding punches. I find the best way to do this is to stamp the inner punch first (in this case the 1 3/8 SU circle punch) and then center the punch around the punch out (in this case the SU scalloped circle punch). This was a really fun card to make!

I am so excited for my friend, she is due in a little over 2 weeks -a lucky St. Paddy's Day baby!;)

Another one from Susie's stamp camp

2008-03-03T19:06:00.001-08:00

This is another creation from Susie's stamp camp a couple weeks ago. The colors are wild wasabi and sky blue (SU in colors) and the stamp set is Baroque Motifs. I had such fun making this card -I have to get this stamp set ;)

The button brad is from K&Co -I have so many of these brads, they are so pretty I can't help it!

Too Stinkin'Cute

2008-02-29T16:34:00.000-08:00

A little bit of stinky cuteness for the blog challenge over at CraftyB.
There are 2 criteria:
1. Make it Cute
2. Make it Red

I couldn't think of anything cuter than a couple of skunks in love. And I was diggin the black -n- white/red theme. I usually don't use red (I tend to make my Christmas cards lavender) -so this was a little out of my comfy zone, it's also busier than usual, but this is how my life has been lately ;)

Susie's Stamp Camp

2008-02-25T22:01:00.000-08:00

I went to a stamp camp a couple weeks ago and had the best time. Susie was the hostess with the mostest (I wish she had a blog!) The card tables were all color coordinated by card design (chocolates were available at this table!) And I really like how Susie set up the tables -there were several examples of cards, but enough card stock and such to be able to be inspired by her fabulous designs instead of making a carbon copy of them. Here is one of the cards I made using this adorable Lockhart cupcake stamp -which I now h2h! mmm I am really craving some chocolate right now!!!

Also, I never thought I would love brown glitter, but this MS glitter was just yummy!

I will post more from the stamp camp soon -also it was discussed that I don't need another stampin party, I need a writin party where I actually use the cards I make instead of just hoarding them....

Having Issues.....

2008-02-23T11:47:00.000-08:00

I have been blog surfing lately and finding some amazing blogs! Unfortunately, I have not been keeping track of where I am going. If I happened to leave a comment on your blog lately and you are happening by for a visit -can you let me know so I can find you again? Thanks!

I just start clicking away and absently close my browser and all my new blogging finds are gone...

thanks,
~m

Happy Heart Day!

2008-02-21T13:51:00.000-08:00

This is the card I made for my DH for Valentine's Day. I used the Giga Scallop punch to create a bordered window for that cute little mouse stamp from SU's Happy Heart Day stamp set (love that set). The paper is a mix of SU purely pomegranate (polka dot also SU pp), chocolate chip -similar paper I used for the dream big journal below -I am digging this color combo lately!

The brown scalloped triangle is the Giga scallop square punch cut in half. I LOOOVE those scalloped punches!!!
Here is a close-up of the googley-eyed mouse. I also used a jewel brad on the heart.

Dream Big Journal

2008-02-17T21:06:00.000-08:00

Remember the previous inspirational mail day post? Well I have finally made the journal for my friend who lost her job. I can't wait to give it to her -and I am hoping that she doesn't read my blog first! I am really happy with it and almost want to keep it (like everything I make!!!)...

The stamped image is from Stephanie over at ingenious inkling, the background paper is purely pomegranate and chocolate chip from SU, the striped paper is from the Spring Stack from DCWV, the ric rac ribbon is from the $1 bin at Target, the sticker is from my fav K&Co, oh and I finally used my cuttlebug circle/flower background embossing! The castle punch is from Dizzyland -always good to add a touch from the "happiest place on earth" for a 'pick me up' piece.

The ribbon dancing up the spiral stairs of the journal is actually from my friend's wedding. I was a bridesmaid (her colors were pink and brown) and the dress was strapless but it came with straps, so because I cannot throw anything away, I saved the straps in my ribbon scraps. I thought it was a nice touch to add a little memento from her wedding day to the 'dream journal'.

Where Oh Where Have I been????

2008-02-17T20:52:00.000-08:00

Faithful readers (all 3 of you ;)), sorry I have been M.I.A. -and speaking of Mia (sorry for the bad pun, I just can't help myself!) :

This new "part-time" job has been getting the best of me -okay if you consider teaching 5 community college biology courses "part-time". Hmmm, so I bit off a little more than I felt like chewing... Soooo I have been designing lectures and grading labs, papers and exams -which has left little time for any of my hobbies.

This teaching gig is crampin my stampin style! I am trying to be more balanced and leave a little time for my sanity. I appreciate you for stopping by and viewing my blog, I promise to update more often!!!!

Happy Happy Mail Day!

2008-01-28T19:04:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday I was really down in the dumps. I was exhausted from a long week at a new job that I was just not feeling too hot about (and this is my 'dream job'). I was moping on the couch watching an old 90's movie when the mail man dropped some unexpected delights through our mail slot.

My DH picked it up and brought me over the mail. He was like -nothin special- putting all the junk mail on top. As I sifted through, I got more and more excited.

First -the new Stampin' Up pre/mini catty!!! and I liked quite a number of their new stamps, and now that I am working again, the stampin embargo has lifted!!!

Second -a stamp expo announcement

AND lastly, and bestly a card from Stephanie over at ingenious inkling:I had left a post on Stephanie's blog about how much I loved one of her cards, the sentiment would be so perfect to make something for my friend who just lost her job. She responded by sending me numerous perfectly stamped images of this adorable stamp above. Little did I know that this image was really meant for me this Saturday. It so lifted my spirits, especially receiving such a beautiful card along with it! Thank you Stephanie for your act of kindness! It really made my day, and changed my attitude -for the better ;)!

It also gives me a reason to start craftin'!

Christmas -oops a little late!

2008-01-21T00:57:00.000-08:00

This was the first year that Eddie and I hosted Christmas dinner. It was so crazy getting ready for it, we finally got a dining room table about 3 days before Christmas!!! We bought a beautiful table that is steel and glass that opens up to twice its size -this is perfect for us, not having the room to have a table that can seat 10 (comfortably!) in our dining room at all times. We didn't get a picture of the table with the centerpiece, or any more artistic shots : ( I had bought a silver tree that held votive candles -it was so pretty when it was lit! We were so busy running around that pictures just didn't happen. In the background you can see Eddie's grandma -ready to eat! Can you tell there are some meat eaters from Argentina here??? We had ham, turkey, and Cornish hens, hmmm -next year we could use some veggies eh? -we did have some (green bean casserole, scalloped potatoes ect.) and I did have a salad in mind -I roasted pears and made a pear-lemon-dill vinagarette dressing -but we had too much food, so I didn't bother putting the salad together...

Above is the angel that I made for each place setting. I used a pattern from Martha (yes we are on a first-name basis ;) ), but instead of using a paper plate, I cut out a circle (using a fixar cutter) and then used Martha's doily punch for the edges finishing the angel with an embellished silver flower. They looked really pretty and were relatively simple to create.

Paris: the finale of the mini-scrapper

2008-01-10T21:29:00.001-08:00

This is at Versailles. The large picture on the left is the Hall of Mirrors. It was pretty much as I had imagined it would be. The opulence was astounding when you think about the poverty that was occurring in France at that time.
My favorite parts (not pictured) were the beautiful gardens and the hedge maize -where at the 'end' was an ice cream stand. Even though ice cream is my fav, it was too cold to get any....

This is the ticket to get in. It is Marie Antoinette's bed. To the right of the ticket is a castle punch (out of focus) -I finally got to use the castle punch I bought at Disneyland! I believe it is Cinderella's castle.

This is another 'surprise' pull-out. It's the three girls outside of the castle.

This is in the garden outside the Louvre -my mom-n-law feeding the birds :)

Just an embellishment over a happy accident. The bird is SU from carte postale. The PARIS stamp is again from the Cavallini set (see post below).

Yay- this is the conclusion of the tour through my first scrapbook. I had so much fun making it and I really love how it turned out. I think a mini-scrapbook was a nice way to start. I am now ready for the big time: 12 x 12!
Stay tuned.....

Some more of Paris

2008-01-10T01:00:00.001-08:00

This is Eddie in front of the Eiffel Tower (my favorite person in front of my favorite thing in Paris). It is so amazing in person. The view from the top is fabulous!

-I had originally thought that since I had already seen it in photos that it would be no big deal in person. I was so wrong!-

The picture on the right is a really amazing site too -unfortunately I cannot spell the name and I am a little tired to google it and I do not want to butcher it by trying to spell out how it sounds.
You can also see the best tour guide in France waiting in the van...

This is a Cavallini stamp embossed and then punched and 3D backed. The 'Family Treasures' embellishment came with the kit and I thought it was appropriate on a page with Eddie and Frenchie ;)

The brass 'L'Artisan' embellishment is actually a medal that comes with a bottle of the yummy smelling French perfume from the company Frenchie works for -notice the SU jewel brad holding it there... the ribbon is also SU.

A little bit of Paris

2008-01-10T00:35:00.001-08:00

This is the first page of the mini-scrapper. It is the whole family at one of Frenchie's (a loving nickname for my sister-n-law's new French husband) friend's restaurants. The food was so yummy, but the wine was so good I can't remember what I had ;)

This is the business card from the restaurant -the inset is a 'pull-out' picture, with a gold-embossed tag that says 'bliss'. I really like having removable parts in my mini-scrapper.

This is one of the embellishments included in the kit. The phrase worked so well with this picture!

This is outside the Louvre. Notice the stamps? -they are in the background and also a Paris postmark stamp is in the bottom right corner. I loved these Cavallini stamps and after the trip, I had to have them!
Oh -and you can't really tell from this picture, but behind the picture of Eddie, his mom and his sis is a pullout. It is a little bookmark with a sweet gold embossed (of course) poem on it, it kinda got missed in the picture takin process! -Remember this was a book made for Eddie's mom -an avid reader- for while she was away in New York with her new grandbaby (you can see his sis is a little prego here) which I still have...

This is the Metro ticket to get around Paris. I just love that it's purple and it matched my book ! ;)

A Little Teaser...

2008-01-07T23:32:00.000-08:00

Yay, I finally took pictures of my Paris scrapbook! I used this mini-kit from K&Company. I looooove their paper and embellishments! I knew there was a reason that I kept buying their fabric-y button-brads! Since I lost the ribbon that came with kit, I used two K&Company brads, some twine, and a key embellishment. Using my cropadile, I punched the holes in the board and voila! I was particularly excited at how this turned out! ;)

This is my first scrapbook EVER! :) I have been waiting to use this cute 'official scrapbook' stamp from Catslife Press for almost a year!!!!

I made it for my mother-n-law while she was away in NY welcoming her new grandbaby -which being the terrible blogger that I am, I neglected to mention her birth on 18 Dec 07. She is a real cutie pie! Both mama and baby are doing well, I will post some picts in a little bit -I am running a bit late in 2008! Maybe this should be my motto this year ;)

Also, attesting to my hoarding nature, I still have the mini-scrapbook.... Since my mom-n-law is now back in town, I guess this little surprise will be in person instead of by mail (which will be more fun for me anyways).

I will post the insides tomorrow! I went crazy with pictures on this one. Being my first scrapbook, using a minikit was a great start! I just LOVE how it turned out and I had so much fun making it -hence my neglecting of my sick hubby (LOL). It also kinda validates the copious amounts of embellishments that I can't stop buying!!! ;)

Happy Bird-day!

2008-01-07T16:08:00.001-08:00

So it's been raining alot here in So Cal (okay, let me clarify, alot for here: like more rain than the past 2 years combined -which would be about 4 in)... Sooo being the spoiled sunny weathered girl that I am , I decided on a Spring-flavored card for my friend's b-day. The stamps and paper are SU. I love using ric-rac ribbon instead of a scallop punch. It was my little trick before I went out and bought a ridiculous (by ridiculous I mean I needed them) amount of scalloped punches.

At least with all this rain we will have a beautiful Spring!!! It is amazing how green everything is -it makes my brown thumb look a whole lot greener! ;)

Bride's Tree -the final installment!

2008-01-05T17:52:00.000-08:00

Pinecone for Motherhood and Fruitfulness

Rose for Beauty and Affection (I forgot to take picture -so I had to zoom into a whole tree image)

Okay, at last I have a post! Although the ornaments were finished and shipped off in the beginning of December, I have been so busy with Christmas and New Years that I finally have a chance to post. I hope it was worth the wait! The last couple picts were done in great haste, I was trying to ship the tree with the ornaments off in time. My friend LOVED it, so it was worth all of the work ;), although part of me wanted to keep it!!!

Bride's Tree Ornaments (some of the last ones)

2008-01-04T18:41:00.000-08:00

Bird for Happiness

Fish for Christ's Blessing

Flower Basket for Good Wishes

Tea pot for Hospitality (and I love looove tea :))

House for Shelter and Protection

Bad Wife, Bad Blogger!

2007-12-26T13:51:00.001-08:00

Wow, it has been awhile. This Christmas was the first time Eddie and I hosted Christmas dinner. I have been so busy getting things ready -like getting a dining room table 2 days before Christmas- that my poor little blog has been severely neglected! I am thoroughly exhausted ~but everything turned out perfectly, well except for the roasted pears that never made to the dinner table because there was just too much food (a gourmet salad would have been complete overkill).

I will post pictures soon, but I just wanted to say HEY and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Oh, and the bad wife in the title relates to me finishing my first scrapbook ever last week (yay me!) -except while I was working on it in my stampin room, my husband had food poisoning (which I was unaware of). I guess he was calling me for over 3 hours, but I was croppin, stampin, and singin along to some Christmas tunes and turned an unkowingly deaf ear. Poor thing was shivering and puking and all that not-fun stuff, while I was really having a good time and making a beautiful mini-scrapbook of our Paris vacation. He is doing fine now, but a little concerned in case there is ever a real emergency happening when I happen to be stampin. The world could come to an end, but if I'm stampin, I really won't notice -but in the aftermath of the world's end, a little embellishment and glitter will be necessary!

Angel Ornament

2007-12-16T23:06:00.001-08:00

Another Bride's Tree ornament! This is the angel for "God's guidance in the home". It has been a while since my last post -I have been so busy getting ready for Christmas! This will be the first time that Eddie and I host Christmas Dinner; we are still trying to find a dining room table/chairs that will match our dining area motif, meets our budget, and fits into the itty bitty space we have alotted for it. Yikes!

Happy Birthday!

2007-12-09T22:17:00.000-08:00

It is my friend's birthday tomorrow and I had to use the new "happy heart day" set from SU. I love this elephant and his little heart flowers (which are 3D glittered using crystal effects). I am surprized I got it finished as Mia has been 'helping' me!

Bad Kitty

2007-12-09T22:03:00.000-08:00

This weekend Eddie and I went out to get a Douglas Fir tree for Christmas. I am so happy! Our house now smells like Christmas and the tree is just beautiful.

Every year, it was a family tradition to get a special ornament from my Mom so that when my sister and I moved out, we would have ornaments for our tree. We not only had ornaments, but a tree full of happy memories. My Mom even gave us a couple ornaments from the 1970s that she made for her first tree with my Dad.

So our tree is quite an eclectic collection of ornaments -my favorites are my Miss Piggy angel that was my '2-year old' ornament and the Mexican snowman I got last year.

Okay, so why is this post under the lable "Bad Kitty"? Well, I am sure you can guess, little Miss Mia is no longer allowed unsupervised in our living room. We were careful to avoid breakables at the bottom, but this cat is expert at getting glass ornaments! She is now banished to the stampin room to 'play' with me. By play, I mean she knocks off all my 'loose' stamps from my workspace while I try and type this post!!! She also crawled into my photo-tent while I was trying to take pictures of cards. Above she is almost angelic -looking into the light- but below, she found my hand, one of her favorite toys ~second only to my feet!

Bride's Tree -Rabbit Loves Fruit

2007-12-07T16:51:00.001-08:00

Here are several more ornaments for the Bride's Tree.

The rabbit stands for Faith and Hope

The heart is for true love.

The fruit basket (my personal favorite!!!) is for good wishes.

Stampaholics Anonymous

2007-12-06T17:10:00.000-08:00

My name is Michelle and I am a stampaholic.

I can't stop buying stampstuff. I am also an enabler and a really bad sponsor.

It was my responsibility to stop my friend from buying anymore stamp stuff until after the holidays. She just spent $90 at JoAnn's.

My response: "Ooooooooh! What did ya buy?????"

Bride's Tree -Santa

2007-12-06T15:44:00.001-08:00

Santa is the symbol for unselfishness and goodwill

(the line out of santa's head is the hanger for the tree).

Bride's Tree Ornaments

2007-12-06T15:25:00.000-08:00

My dear friend got married this year, and for Christmas, I made her a "Bride's Tree". I believe it is a German tradition that a new bride should have these 12 ornaments on her first Christmas tree.

So -as a former potter- I picked up some white Sculpey clay and began quite a tiresome clay-making escapade. I am really happy with the ornaments and almost don't want to give them away. :)

After the ornaments were baked, I painted them with watercolors and sealed them with clear nail polish. I won't post all of the ornaments at once, but I will be posting them this week -and no worries, she does not know I have a blog ;)

Christmas kiss

2007-11-30T23:20:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a frenzy of Christmas card making. My friend came over and we had a great time stampin away. My DH stepped in (only for about 30 sec) -I think he was awestruck by all the sparkling glitter that somehow made its way everywhere. Glitter is kind of like that. He has a 1 minute tolerance of all that glitters in stamp central -he tends to wind up with it all over him somehow (is he a closet stamper?). I will only mention the kiss of glitter on his cheek if I catch it before he goes out on a shoot. If I catch it when he gets home , I think it's best he doesn't know (let him think it's his flash that's making all his photos dazzle...)

Hmmmm....you think this toad will turn into a prince? I have seriously gone crazy over silver embossing powder, it works great for a background and for the 'center stage' stamp. I have been using it on almost every card lately!

Snowmen Falling from the Sky

2007-11-30T12:38:00.001-08:00

I love this little snowman, he is just too cute. In this card he is catching a ride on a giant snowflake ;)

Winter Wonderland

2007-11-30T12:04:00.000-08:00

It is actually raining here in So.Cal -so it is almost a winter wonderland or as much as it gets here! I used this snowflake background stamp with craft white, and after embossing it, it was just too pretty to cover with another image. I found this snowflake punchout -embossed it (of course) and added the gemmed SU brad.

Miss Twidbitts Strikes Again

2007-11-28T17:42:00.000-08:00

I made the image small because I cannot believe I am putting her on my blog. There has just been a crazy doll craze and it needs to stop! Marie O.'s creepy doll dance performance (dancin with the stars) and Miss Priss's hedda-bedda spinning face doll have brought up some bad memories!

Okay, this puppet used to follow and harrass me when I was working up in Barrow, Alaska. Now you may wonder why I have her picture? I did not take the picture! It just appeared on my film!

Anyhow, I was bloggin about it to Miss Priss (see above link) and thought a visual may paint the picture.

Gaga for Glitter

2007-11-27T18:02:00.000-08:00

So today I went on a little stampin spree. I found some great $1 Michael's stamps (santa) and this cute amuse ' candy cane a day' saying. I also got the giga square scallop which I love! It is great because it has the lever so it is easy to punch. I am thinking about going back and picking up the oval scallop -although that is outta my budget and I have no space ~but when has that ever stopped me?!?

Another for the Challenge

2007-11-26T16:37:00.001-08:00

Here is another card design for the shimmery silver snow capped challenge. I just came back from Michaels and was disappointed to find no $1 Christmas stamps!!! I did find these cute Christmas stickers (the word saying) that are slightly 3D (think crystal effect from SU) -and of course I had to have them!

Happy Thanksgiving -love Chili!

2007-11-25T18:00:00.000-08:00

This is my puppy Chili. Okay -he isn't really a puppy anymore, but he'll always be a little puppy to me (except when he whaps me with his tail...). Isn't he a cutie? This is Chili dressed as a pumpkin for Halloween, but I felt this costume seemed more appropriate for Thanksgiving. And I am sure that he would have preferred to be something more like 'super dog' or a fireman instead of a pumpkin. I really think this dog was born to be a doggie model -and I am not just biased. I think my hubby's dog Mila may have been whapped with an ugly stick -but just once cuz she is still a cutie.

okay, and just to be fair, I will post a picture of both the pups on Halloween -yes, fair Mila was not a princess, but the wise jedi Yoda. I am sure the pups cannot wait to dress up for their X-mas photoshoot!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-25T16:22:00.000-08:00

So last Thursday was a fantastic Thanksgiving over at my Mom's house -included in the meal was great food, great company and some fantastic margaritas! My mom used a super yummy cranberry-margarita recipe. Notice the cute touch of a california fan palm (Washingtonia filifera in case anyone was interested in the species name of the palm tree acting as a toothpick) toothpick stuffed with cranberries. I think I will be using this one for Christmas -it is just too fitting for a southern california holiday!

The place settings were also just lovely with gold chargers and candlelight. I made nametags for each place setting which turned out to be a hit. They are very simple but have just enough sparkle! I hope everyone had a really great Thanksgiving. It was really great having my sister and her husband in town from Washington, D.C. and having both my family and my husband's family together. There was just so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, I think I could use another turkey dinner ;)

Miss Priss Color Challenge

2007-11-25T16:07:00.000-08:00

Finally an image for the challenge! I finished this card last week but was too distracted with the holidays and holiday shopping to get a picture taken! -and this picture does not do this card justice! I love this card layout and how sparkely it is IRL!

Yippeee!

2007-11-19T17:17:00.001-08:00

My lecture in photosynthesis went really well today (interview for a teaching position). I will be teaching biology part-time at a community college next semester! I am reallly excited. It is exactly what I was looking for -I can teach bio and still have stampin time (now I don't have to feel guilty about buying stamps...)!

This card I made a little while ago, but it really shows how I am feeling :) The stamp is the A Muse 'gymnasts' stamp. I cut the two gymnasts in half and used the legs from one gymanst and the top from the other one.

Comin up rosey!

2007-11-17T16:02:00.000-08:00

This is one of my last roses. I am hoping to get another bloom before Christmas, but it isn't looking so good! I love roses when they start losing their petals -you can start to see all the good stuff (anthers, stamen, ect.). I thought it appropriate to put up a green picture as I should be working on my photosynthesis lecture for monday...

Wild Animals

2007-11-16T17:39:00.001-08:00

These are some Wild Animal Park inspired thank yous. I really love accenting things with the ric rac ribbon. I can never get enough ribbon!!! -but I have restricted myself from buying anything else until I at least START some of my many projects. I am overwhelmed by my own hoarding!

Martini Anyone???

2007-11-16T15:01:00.000-08:00

I thought a little martini may help edge Friday closer to Happy Hour!!!

More of Mia

2007-11-15T14:39:00.000-08:00

See, there she is stalking my feet. 10 seconds later she attacked. I guess she doesn't realize that I can see her (?) but I think that's part of the fun for her.

Here is a close-up. I love these kinds of pictures -up close and personal : )

My Cutie

2007-11-15T14:33:00.000-08:00

I was out taking pictures of flowers in the backyard when this little cutie caught my eye. Of course, she did attack me a few times as I am her favorite prey other than lizards.

A Bug's Life

2007-11-15T13:53:00.000-08:00

I love the "cute as a bug" set from SU! I used the SU circle/flower punchin combo and a little added sparkely for the ladybug spots with crystal effects and glitter.

A Handmade Binkie for NY, NY

2007-11-14T16:31:00.001-08:00

This is the baby blankie that I quilted for my "almost born" niece. Unfortunately for us out here on the West Coast, this little one will be born and livin in NY city. So I found this adorable NY Shopping fabric and thought it would be perfect for a future NYer. I loved the cheetah pattern and had to pair it with NY -as it is a jungle out there:)

Here is a close up view of the front -I love this quilt pattern with the fringe on top, it makes the blanket so cozy! I also love how I could still add an extra touch of pink in the fringe by using pink squares on the back.

Another close-up. This baby was just too much work for just one photo :)

This is the pattern on the top part of the blanket.

This is the bottom of the blanket

Holy Pink Elephants, Batman!

2007-11-14T16:26:00.001-08:00

This is one of my favorite SU stamps. It's just so cute! This card was for the baby shower as Celeste loves elephants too. The colors are a little bright for me (I am more of a soft subtles kind of girl), but lately I have been all bright and bold ~it must be the new found freedom after quitting my job!!!! ;)

Oh Baby!

2007-11-14T16:12:00.000-08:00

My sister-n-law is about a month away from giving birth to a bouncing baby girl. I am so excited!!! In late September I threw her a baby shower with her mom. It was a lot of fun. Above is the shower invitation.

This was the shower party favor. The gold candles were from Target -they are so pretty in person, although I have no idea how they burn. I am hoping they don't make a mess when they melt, at least if they do it will be a pretty mess... The stamp is SU punched with my favorite punchin combo -also SU.

Thanks to Miss Priss!

2007-11-14T16:04:00.000-08:00

I wanted to send out a shout out to Miss Priss for such a warm welcome to the blogging world!!! I will say she is really a fantastic friend and an oustanding enabler -not always a good thing ;). She introduced me to the stampin' world a year ago and really got me hooked on a wonderful hobby -which I hope to share with you all!

Trick or Treat...my little helper

2007-11-07T18:58:00.001-08:00

This is me on Halloween dressed as a 1950's Mousekateer (sp?). With me is my little helper, Mia, dressed as herself for Halloween -she is not one for costumes; however, she is quite the actress, she plays a great little devil!

Trick or Treat...a little late!

2007-11-07T14:24:00.000-08:00

The following are my Halloween cards. They are a mixture of SU, A Muse, and Michael's $1 stamps.