Family Photo Update

I got a couple cute shots of the boys recently that I thought I'd share.  They're still racing around and climbing the curtains at night.  By day, they're helping me papercraft and contemplating the meaning of life!

Cocoa helping with the cardstock

Yael in the setting sun

Card-a-Copia: Throw-down Cards #2 - #7

I haven't been slacking off on the throw-down challenge - - really!  (In fact, I've got more, but I need to finish the embellishments before I can add them here.)  I've gotten immersed in the Game of Thrones novels and have to read double-time because they're 700+ pages long and  can't be renewed at the library.  What am I going to do when school starts back up??

Stamps:  Stella "Another Drink" digital stamp (Bugaboo)
Papers:  White card base (Georgia Pacific), Basic Black, Old Olive, and Real Red (Stampin' Up!), Sports Xtreme "Motocross Dots" (Creative Imaginations), "Light Garden Pebbles" (Chatterbox), Adobe "Roosevelt Way"  (American Crafts)

Inks: Copics

Misc.: Old Olive ribbon (Stampin' Up!), Real Red eyelets (Stampin' Up!), Crystal Effects (Stampin' Up!), Two Turtle Doves font

Stamps:  Stella "Gene Pool" digital stamp (Bugaboo)

Papers:  White card base (Georgia Pacific), Basic Black, Real Red (Stampin' Up!), patterned (unknown)
Inks: Copics, Basic Gray (Stampin' Up!)

Misc.: baker's twine (Michaels), Basic Black eyelets (Stampin' Up!), CK Hopscotch font

Stamps:  Stella "Roller Coaster" digital stamp (Bugaboo)

Papers:  White card base (Georgia Pacific), Basic Black (Stampin' Up!), "Sunrise Stripe" (Around the Block), Funky Square (Heidi Grace)
Inks: Copics, Basic Gray (Stampin' Up!)

Misc.: yellow twine (Walmart), Two Turtle Doves font

Stamps:  none

Papers:  White card base (Georgia Pacific), green (Coredinations), 
Inks: none

Misc.: pearls (Michaels), flower (unknown), ribbon (Michaels), scallop punch (Stampin' Up!), eyelet punch (Michaels), Clive Barker font

Stamps:  "Penguin in Summer" digital stamp (Torico)

Papers:  White card base (Georgia Pacific), Basic Black, Purely Pomegranate, Crushed Curry (Stampin' Up!), star pattern (unknown)
Inks: Copics, Basic Gray (Stampin' Up!), Sharpie white marker

Misc.: ribbon (Michaels), brads (Dollar Tree), Pea Noodles Girlfriends font 

Stamps:  "Puppy and Chick" digital stamp (Torico)
Papers:  White card base (Georgia Pacific), Basic Black (Stampin' Up!), Quite Contrary "Cute" (My Mind's Eye), Unwritten "Happy" (Reminisce) and Togetherness "Pinwheels" (Cosmo Cricket)
Inks: Copics, Basic Gray (Stampin' Up!)
Misc.: ribbon (Michaels), brads (Stampin' Up!), Stars from Our Eyes font

The Yadda Yadda Buffet: New Furniture

Ohmygoodness, ohmygoodness, ohmygoodness!  I'm getting a "new" table and chairs.  I've been clearing, cleaning, and reorganizing like a fiend to make room for this gorgeous table and chairs.  (Which is why I haven't yet posted my last seven card designs.  C'mon, new furniture totally takes precedence over blogging!)

Family Photo Update

Cocoa's portrait
(2 years old)

Saddles checking out the camera
(17 years old)

Mignon
(9 years old)

Yael curled up
(2 years old)

It's been awhile since I got some shots of the "kids" posted, so I found time this week to try to get some good candids taken.  

To the best of my knowledge, the boys - Yael and Cocoa - are no longer hanging from the curtains for entertainment.  They still like to play kitty soccer with balled up paper and do kitty roller derby at 3:30 AM several days of the week.  Other favorite toys include twist ties, balls of twine and ribbon I've laboriously rolled and stahed in an "unreachable" location, and the sponges I use in my card making.  Cocoa remains nervous with unexpected movement and doesn't like to be petted around the head by someone using both hands.  Yael head butts everybody, which encourages the people around him to pet him but annoys the other cats because it is actually a way of marking territory!

Mignon remains reclusive.  The boys pick on her, which makes her more nervous.  She does occasionally venture out of the bedroom, but rarely goes beyond the guest room or the kitchen.  She was particularly terrorized by all the fireworks that went off last night, alternately diving under the bed or burrowing deep under the blankets on the bed for "safety."

Saddles is the same cranky girl she's been since I got her so many years ago.  She has developed a new weird habit of licking my arm whenever she gets a chance.  Very annoying!  She also likes to lay on the bed next to me and put a leg over my arm.  Very sweet!  She spends a lot of time sleeping and goes outside to take on the world several times a week.  

Card-a-Copia: Throw Down Card #1

Yesterday, I mentioned my goal of creating five new designs this week.  Here is the first of the five.  The image is a digi from Nate Owens, and I had so much fun coloring it!  I'm sending this one to a former student for her 21st birthday.

Stamps:  "Cat Talk" digital stamp (Nate Owens - Squigglefly)
Papers:  Ivory (Stampin' Up! Naturals), patterned (Poppy "Fleur" by Lasting Impressions), lined (unknown), Poppy (Lasting Impressions)
Inks: Copics
Misc.: twine (unknown), chalks (Stampin' Up!), CK Becky font

I know I'm tempting the Fates, but I'm headed back to the stamp room to try my hand at one more before the night is done!

The Yadda Yadda Buffet: Grr...

I just can't begin to tell you how really pissed off I've been at the misdirected anger and subsequent political policy from some Americans - leaders of state governments, no less - toward public sector union employees.  I especially hold Tea Party members in disdain for their attitudes toward the very people who are the core of this nation - middle class police, firemen, teachers, and the folks who help out the poor, elderly, and disabled.  (Don't tread on me, indeed!)

I am appalled that those responsible for the very mess - and a worldwide mess to be sure - that led to infringement of some of my colleagues' collective bargaining rights have not faced prosecution. 

How long did it take before someone from Enron paid the price for what they did to the working man in America?  Why did my taxes - and yes, I pay all of the taxes I am required by law to pay - go to fix problems caused by people who have suffered no consequences for their actions?  Why are we so slow to punish the real perpetrators of  the economic downturn?  

Let's shine a spotlight on the real bogeyman and mete out punishment where it belongs: Big Business that has been for too long under-regulated and running unchecked through this great nation.  Tea Party members should take a long look at these 'leviathans' rather than gloating about gains made by crushing collective bargaining rights of those who are backbone of our nation, because everyone suffers when Big Business is allowed to rampage through the economy unchecked.

Thomas Hobbes, Enlightenment philosopher, notes that humans are essentially self-interested and incapable of doing the right thing without a strong government acting as enforcer.  I completely agree with his theory.  Now if we could only find the firm but fair leadership Hobbes says is necessary for all to live to the best of their potential.  One that doesn't tread on the rights of some of its citizens to the explicit exclusion of others.

Card-a-Copia: Long Live Summer Break!

This as a stampin' weekend - yesterday I stamped with the Creative Saturday group at the public library and today I puttered around in the new-and-improved stamp room that will soon be featured in pictures for all to admire!

This card was a match-made-in-Heaven between unrelated digis.  I fell in love with the Nate Owens image and ran across the sentiment I'd tucked away months ago.  I rarely use my purple Copics and thought a bug/monster would be the perfect image to try them on.

Stamps:  "Bug" digital stamp (Nate Owens - Squigglefly), "Be Yourself" digital stamp (Papiersalat)
Papers: White (Georgia Pacific), patterned ("Whoo-Ligans Batty" from BoBunny), Basic Black and Lovely Lavendar (Stampin' Up!)
Inks:  Copics
Misc.: brads (Stampin' Up!); ribbon (Stampin' Up!)


Since my grandmother passed away in February, I have fewer people to send cards to each month.  In the past, I created a new design for each month because I wanted her to know someone was thinking of her - even if she didn't always remember who "Kelly" was.

I'm slowly getting back into making cards based on holidays and making sure to get them into the mail for others in my family.  This is my Fourth of July card for this year.  (Since I hate how America has perverted this very special holiday, cardmaking is the only pleasure I take from the event!  And you know I'll be standing out in the lawn with the hose next week, waiting for the stupid neighborhood teenagers to catch something on fire!)

Stamps:  "Funky Prim Annie" digital stamp (Sassy Cheryl)
Papers: White (Georgia Pacific), patterned (Yankee Doodles "Circle Doodle" from We R Memory Keepers), Summer Sun and Not Quite Navy (Stampin' Up!)
Inks:  Copics
Misc.: star punch (Stampin' Up!)






And this concludes the first week of Summer Break.  I intend to continue a good thing by finishing the stamp room and designing at least five more cards this coming week.  All the easier if it rains so I feel no guilt about that thing called a "lawn" that festoons the front of the house!