Whazzup for the Weekend?

I ran around like a nut last night, starting to clean the house. I have a ton to do tonight - food shopping, cleaning and packing. We are probably not going to stay over becasue we're getting another storm on Sun. and we can't take the chance on coming home to a driveway full of snow with the snowmobile trailer.

It'll be fun because my son and his fiance are coming with us. They've never come before (she hasn't). I have to pack double the trail snacks and sandwiches but it's all good.

Maybe I'll have time to play on Sunday. I have a new stamp set I haven't opened. I'm a little disappointed in the size. I thought it was much bigger but it's my own fault. I'd love to get some scrapping in soon too. I have so many layouts just waiting to be completed. Some will be fun - my son's dog, Reese, and her cute outfits. One will be really sad - my uncle and our ALS walk. I may wait awhile on that one.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

I finally managed...

I don't cook on Wed. nights. I made that my night off. Everyone (all three of us adults) are on our own. My hubby usually makes himself salmon. I don't cook or eat fish. Yuck!

Anyway, I didn't even eat right away. I rushed down to my room and started making a get well for my friend. She's a very bright and colorful person so that's why I chose the colors I did. I used an old set of SU dps (forget the name). The cs is SU Old Olive and Cool Carribbean, odd combo, I know. I always have trouble matching up the orange in this paper. It's not Pumpkin Pie and it's not Only Orange. I also tried Groovy Guava but that wasn't it either. I gave up. I did a little bit of sponging and I know that's probably out but I prefer it over all white. Not my best but here it is.
























After that I went about trying to figure out what kind of card to make for my cousin who just got engaged. I had a hard time because my usual engagement congrats is either two hearts tied together or "A toast to you" with champagne glasses. I did this for his sister and didn't want to repeat. So....after all that chatter, here's my card. I made it very muted because it reminds me of them - very neat and classic, not bold and colorful. Do you do this when you make cards? I obsess over what the person is like and what they would want. Crazy! (used the new SU dps from SAB, Kraft cs and ribbon because I didn't have Sahara Sand. Congrats is CTMH, glitter flowers are Heidi Swapp, pearls are Hero Arts.

Who me?!!!....

I was surprised to see this award on Paula's blog. She is an amazingly talented stamper who I visit every day. I really appreciate the luv, Paula!!! You're the best!

Now I'll be "The Spreader of Love" and here are the "rules":


The winner may put the logo on their blog.
Put a link to the person who sent you the award.
Nominate 5 blogs.
Put links to their blogs.
Leave a message for your nominees.
Or you can just enjoy the love!!

It's so hard to choose. I have a group of blogs I visit daily and I'd be lost without all of you! Here are my nominees:


Maia at Ianne'osphere
who always gives me a chuckle, posts great projects and is very sweet!

Stacy at Exceedingly Mundane - who always has great questions to ponder, great food chatter and lots of great book recommendations! And an adorable pup to boot!

Linda at These Are the Days - I'm always brought back to the days when my boys were little like Linda's gorgeous boys. They give me happy memories and many chuckles. She is an incredible mom.

Terri at Theresa's Life - Terri has lots of great movie reviews and wonderful photos of the amazing places she's been to.

Betsy at Delight in Simple Things Who gets me hysterically laughing with her humor. She is incredibly talented at scrapping and has older kiddos like me.

Terri Turbo Tax....

I had no play time again last night. I played Terri Turbo Tax and did my son's returns. I highly recommend filing this way, if you've never tried it. It's very easy to use and if you have your return deposited directly into your account, you see the money in just about 5 days. My oldest didn't have his checking info on him so he'll get a check in 3-4 weeks. It's free to use for a simple Federal return. I got a discounted rate on the State return through my union. I think the regular price is 29.95 and he paid $22.05.

Anyhoo, I seriously need to make a get well tonight for my friend.

p.s. I'm getting bored with PJ Man....plain black today. I'm sure the rest of you are bored with him too!! LOL

New schtuff, no time...

I picked up my SU order. It wasn't huge but I still wanted to play! I had to run to Babies R Us to grab something off a registry before the invitations go out for my niece's baby shower. My hubby came along for the ride and I'm so glad he did. I bought the Pack & Play and boy was it heavy! I have no idea how I'm going to get it into the restaurant. And the wrap job, you would have died laughing if you saw us at the wrapping station. I was ready to strangle my husband. I am very picky and he was taping as I was folding up the ends and things started tearing, bumping, etc. I'm not happy with the results but I don't want to find huge wrapping rolls and do it over.

So, after I got home I started unwrapping my stuff. I love the dp but I need to figure out how to put the colors together. They're pretty light but they're colors I love. I was going to make a get well for my friend in MI who is having surgery tomorrow. I started off with So Saffron, put dp on top and the Bashful Blue didn't look great as a mat to my image. I feel like maybe the card has to be blue and the mat SS or Certainly Celery. I'll have to play some more. I was too tired at that point so I quit for the night.

Challenge at Three Clover Designs...

Ok, this was supposed to be a Thursday Challenge by Kerry at http://threecloversdesigns.blogspot.com/2009/02/3-clover-thursday-challenge-1.html . Better late than never I guess!!

Go over and check out all of the talented ladies who posted their interpretation of the sketch.

My brad was a little off and it was bugging me. I fixed it but don't have time to retake the photo. I used Cosmo Cricut pps, SU Kiwi Kiss cs, Whipper Snapper Koala, Amuse ribbon.

An altered N....

I finally finished my N for Norah! It wasn't as bad as I thought. I ended up just putting the paper down with my ATG instead of Mod Podge. It matches the baby's room pretty well. She has pretty celery green walls and bedding. Her valance is pink with celery and just a tad of lavender. The buttons here look really dark. They're not in real life. They're pretty close to the colors I sponged onto the flowers and the ribbon I used.

I used some things that have been in my stash forever! That paper is from way back and I bought a set of three chipboard flowers a couple of years ago and used two of them. I did buy the celery polka dotted ribbon because I knew I'd use it for other things. It's one of my favorite colors. Thanks for looking!

Keeping my fingers crossed for not a lot of snow. It just changed over and the original prediction was 8 inches. I think it's now down to 4-6. Fingers and toes are crossed.

TGIF....

Well, I didn't get a thing done last night. I ended up doing a little bit of cleaning because my dh decided we will be going snowmobiling again this weekend. I don't mind but I'm tired and I don't feel like cleaning, shopping, packing tonight. I did get a few things done last night (cleaning toilets - my favorite! NOT).

I haven't had a phone call yet for a showing but I know I will, just because I won't be home to make sure my son cleans up after himself.

We got another inch or so of snow and it looked really pretty when I woke up. I guess they got 6 inches or more up north and this is why my hubby wanted to go again.

So...my N is still sitting on my table with all the ribbons, flowers, paper I pulled out to use on it. Maybe Sunday night...

Have a great weekend!

Chatter...

What a night we had! I went to bed around 10:30 and zonked out. Around 11:30 our power went out. It came back on, went back out, over and over. It finally came back on. I went back to sleep after worrying about my son not being home yet and driving in the snow. At around 1:00 or so, it went out again, back and forth with loud buzzing and then a humungous flash that lit the entire house. I thought for sure that we wouldn't get power back for hours. It came back and stayed on. I resest the alarm and went back to sleep. I'm really wiped out today.

My back is aching and I'm almost ready to see a dr. for it. I've been procrastinating. It's starting to take my breath away at times. Sorry to gripe.

p.s. I saw PJ Man the other day and he had shiny RED shorts over black sweatpants. I don't know what happened to the pink?!

Simple card...

I have nothing else to post so I thought I'd post this really simple birthday card. You can't see the textures which make it a little better in person. I used the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots for the pink and the cardstock is Bazzill (look familiar, Linda?!). It's a nice striped texture. I love this paper!! If you click, you can see it close up and the textures will show up.

I bought this doodle flower set from Inkadinkado at Mike's yesterday with a 50% off coupon. My aunt loves tulips so I thought I'd make her card now for March. The sentiment is from a set I got really cheap at Mike's by Scrappy Cat. I colored with Prismas & Gamsol.

I'm finally getting along with clear stamps. The trick is to use a Brilliance or chalky pad first, then you're good to go.

Nothing finished...

I started to alter a wooden N for my little cousin's wall last night. I painted the letter white and then went through my papers. I couldn't find the right one. I went back and forth and finally chose a Basic Grey pattern that was pink and green. Her walls are a pale celery green and the bedding is pink and green.

I cut the letter out and kept looking at it. I decided to go to the registry at Babies R Us to see again what the bedding & valance looked like. It just wasn't working. I was about to give up and go to the lss today to find the right paper when I stumbled across a piece just wide enough to work. So that'll be my project tonight. This is my first altered letter so I'm a little nervous!!

If you have any tips, please leave them for me!

Shout out to Sheet Load....

I love seeing how to make the most of your paper at Sheet Load

They have some blog candy right now. You have the chance to win one of two Fiskars punches! Love the apron strings one.

Change in plans...

I had planned on staying home all day and stamping and/or scrapping a page or two. That changed completely. My aunt called to see if my mom and I wanted to go and visit my cousin and her newborn. I jumped at the chance.

We went to lunch first and met up with another cousin who has an adorable 6 month old boy. We ate at The Cheesecake Factory which I never get to. It was delish.

Then we went to see the beautiful baby girl who is my second cousin.

After I got home I made a quick card for the grandparents since it's their first. I'm not sure who makes the pink cs but I know it's not SU. The pp is SU and the certainly celery is as well.

Baby card...

This is for my cousin who just had a baby girl, Norah! I can't wait to meet her. I finally got to create without CASE'ing. I still cannot get that outine thing right. I mostly used Prismas and Gamsol to color in. The terrible outline is a Copic. If anyone has hints for me, please leave instructions!!

I used SU cs in Certainly Celery and Cool Caribbean. I'm pretty sure the pink is non su. The plaid pink is from my huge stash of paper from Linda! The duck is Rubber Stampede and the sentiment is Savvy Stamps. Pearls are Hero Arts, ribbon from Mike's.

Yum....

More candy here!

Weekend...

Last night I had a little bit of time before my shows (Grey's and Private Practice) so I CASE'd another card. Shame, shame. I just haven't had enough time to relax and create. Hopefully I can do that on the long holiday weekend (Mon.).

Tomorrow we have two showings so we may go out for a Valentine's lunch because you know the restaurants will be packed for dinner.

What was I doing 19 years ago tomorrow? I was in labor with my youngest. Sunday is his birthday so I'll be cooking dinner for the family. We always let them choose whatever they want for dinner and cake. We used to let them choose a restaurant but they always chose one of their favorite meals that either I or my mom had to cook. Fine, it's much cheaper. I always keep my fingers crossed for the chicken, broccoli, ziti so my mom has to cook! LOL The last two times it's been me. So....when I asked my son what he wanted, he said, "I don't really care what meat but I want those cheesy potatoes." They're the Cracker Barrel potatoes. I'll try to post the recipe later if anyone is interested. I thought I'd have ham with them but he said he doesn't really like ham so chicken or turkey will have to do. They pick the weirdest things - homemade mac & cheese or chicken lasagna. I'd be going out for a nice Outback or Longhorn's filet mignon!!

I'm still waiting to hear the cake choice. It was always a standard Carvel since my boys don't really like cake. Last year he discovered an ice cream sandwich cake found in the Kraft foods magazine. I'm not mentioning it this year!

Wishing you a happy heart on Valentine's day!!

Here I go again....

Did I mention how through I am with Valentine's?!! A coworker asked me to bring some in for her to buy. So....I had a few at home that were extra and I made a few quick ones. I ended up CASE'ing again and, of course, I have no idea where I got it!! I'll look. I thought it was Dannie's Designs but it's not. **I found it!! It's from Stamphappy Tammy on SCS. Hers is really pretty!

I used CTMH heart stamps, My Sentiments Exactly sentiment, SU real red dp & black cs.

Another valentine...

I know I said I was sick of Valentine's Day already but I saw this card and decided to CASE. I will need to dig to give proper credit. All I had beside it was SSSSC03 sketch. If you know, let me know please! I hate when I do that. I need to start writing it down when I print out! Ok, I found it! It's Karen over at The Sweetest Thing. Hers is so pretty!

I realized I am out of SU pink pirouette and I already gave my order to my rep!! Grrrr... I used all SU CS & dp (riding hood red, pink pirouette, bella), Hero Arts pearls and CTMH stamps. I feel like I have too much white space again.


Also, I have to share this even though it's horribly blurry. I saw this out the front door and had to take a photo from inside. It was so incredibly beautiful but it only lasted for about 5 min. and then it went back to pink.


















p.s. Pia, you would have laughed out loud this a.m. PJ Man was in Street Paint yellow from head to toe since he didn't have his heavy jacket over the sweatshirt.

Quick valentine...

I needed one more valentine for my son and his fiance. I pulled out some Chipboard stickers I had and slapped it all down. It's not my best work but it's done! Like some of you, I've had it with Valentines!!

Sorry for the crooked photo, as usual! I feel like I should sponge the edge of that white. I've seen others use white and I like it but it's hard not to mat it.

Wow, more candy....

There's some amazing candy at Ink Something!! I would love to win!!

Talk about limited supply stamping...

I forgot to say that after my ride on Sunday, the boys brought me back to the house before going out again for a quick ride, and I stamped with my friend.

She asked me to show her how to get started and use what she had. It wasn't the easiest. She has some stuff but not a lot. She has some SU stamp sets and a limited supply of paper (no brown or decent white!!). She has some store bought markers that were horrible and bright. She had three stamp pads to choose from so this is why I chose the color combo I did. She had SU Basic Brown, Almost Amethyst and Mellow Moss and a nice pad of dps. I ended up ruining my card by stamping the sentiment that wasn't cut right so I had a mess around it. When I got home, I cut out the sentiment, used AA instead of CC and added a little color with pencils. I added some primas too. She didn't know what primas were. Oh yeah, and I had to use a gunky glue stick to adhere.

On my next trip up, I'm bringing her some brown, nice white, primas, etc. I told her she should order some SU markers at her next party. (Please excuse the lousy photo/crop job)

Blog sweets....

You *need* to check out my friend, Kristen's, blog. She's incredibly talented and she has some sa-weeeeeet candy you can win!!

Ok, I won't lie...I hope I win!! hehe

Oh, the sights you see....

You see some beautiful and not so beautiful sights while snowmobiling. You go through sand pits, junk yards, fields, orchards, across streets, etc.

On Saturday, we got to this pretty field and then saw a dead animal on the side. It was so disgusting. Apparently some coyote got a small deer and mangled it apart. A hawk flew off as we drove closer. Just when I thought it was over, I saw Bambi's poor legs off to the side. It really freaked me out.

On to the good stuff....here are a few shots. There's one farm (Pike's) that we see from up 9on the mountain. It's surrounded by mountains and lakes. And then there will be some lake shots. There were quite a few fishermen out there with their huts and ATVs. I get very nervous on the lake. You can see a few wet spots. We stayed on the side while our friend drove for a bit.

The basics....

First off, let me start with some of the things you need.

Here's my perty helmet. It used to match my "sled" but then I got a new one. Oh well...






Trail snacks - what would riding be without them?! We always take beef jerky (YUCK!), trail mix (usually consists of yogurt pretzels, nuts and a bunch of sweet stuff), water, rice crispy treats, sandwiches, twix and other candy bars, cheese and pepperoni, etc. It's all about keeping up our strength HAHAHA!






More later

Snowmobiling 101...

Let me start by saying this may be incredibly boring for some of you. Feel free to skip~! I'll post pix in the next post.

We went snowmobiling this weekend in Maine. The conditions were excellent! We found some new wider trails and were having so much fun on Sat. The weather was beautiful! I think it got close to 40 degrees. No ride is without issues though.

We always stick with the same old local trails that are pretty narrow and windy, and sometimes rocky or muddy. My dh has been studying the maps to figure out how we could connect with the ITS 89 trail. It's like a highway for snowmobiles. It's groomed and wider, well marked, etc. So we were speeding along since the conditions were so nice and then we got lost. The local trail wasn't marked so we drove around and around. We went down some dirt roads and the machines tend to overheat when you're not in snow. So you try to go up the snowbank slightly to get snow under the tracks. I hate that part.

Anyway, we found our way and loved it! The way home was much easier when we realized the mistake. We do have trail maps but, like I said, the trails aren't always marked.

Oh, and I forgot, we were heading around a corner going pretty fast because it was beautiful and we seemed to be the only riders out there. Well, we weren't. My hubby isn't used to being "point man" (the front guy). He saw the oncoming snowmobilers and took the turn too wide and got stuck in the deep snow. The guys quickly pulled him out and we were on our way. Whew!

On Sunday, I went out with the guys (Sat. was us and another couple). The conditions were slightly different than Saturday because it was warm and the snow had turned to what we call mashed potatoes. It's not bad but when you are coming around a corner a little fast, sometimes you get caught up in a pile of mashed potatoes and swerve a little.

They took me to Sebago Lake. It's a huge, beautiful lake which we usually go to during the summer. The trail leading us to the trails that lead to the lake is railroad tracks. We drove for miles around 50-60 miles an hour. It was fun. The little local trails leading to the lake were very windy and bumpy. Oh well, we can now say we made it to Sebago.

I'll try not to be so gabby in my next post with the pix.

Didn't happen....

Well, I forgot I had a hair appt. last night so I got home at 8, cooked a quick dinner and then watched my shows. I'm so mad....I missed the first minute or two of Grey's!! Tonight I have to food shop & pack for the snowmobiling trip.

Over and out for the weekend! Have a great one.

Want to win a Cricut Expressions?!!

This is amazing!! Danielle at Life, One Layout at a Time is giving away a Cricut Expressions. Just go there and leave a comment and send your friends too. If they win, you get a prize. Just tell her I sent you over, please!! I only have the little bug. I'd love the expressions!!

Sorry, bad blogger here....

I just haven't been able to play lately. Things have been a little hectic. I thought I'd get to stamping last night but my spoiled son got to me once again.

He works at a shoe store at the mall. Since he started in Nov., the kid has purchased at least 6 pairs of shoes. Yes, you can say he's addicted to fashion. He shouldn't be working there because he's actually not collecting a paycheck. It all goes back to the store. Grrrrrr.... So yesterday he called to see if he could borrow money because the shoes he's so desperately wanted finally came in. I said no. He already owes me money. Then I kept feeling bad all day. I texted when I got home and said if he REALLY wanted them, I could go up to the mall and buy them as part of his birthday gift (next week). He was thrilled! Why do I always cave?! I can't stand myself for it but I can't help it either.

Ok, I saw PJ Man this morning. It's been quite a while! He had on the street paint yellow with the same color shirt. He looked like a street light base. LOL

I hope to get something done tonight but I may not. We are going snowmobiling this weekend so I have to get some cleaning, packing and shopping done today and tomorrow.

More sweet treats....

Go and check out the candy here at cards and coffee.

It looks like a fun package!! Hope one of us wins.

More sweets.....

Check out the candy here at Kristine's blog

She has some adorable cards to check out while you're there as well!