I Have To Do What? By When?

As of yesterday all swimming lessons, camps, and general running around have come to a stop. I got all the laundry done...and when I say done, I mean all the hampers are empty, the clothes are put away, nothing in the "I'll put it away later" pile, nothing is sitting in the dryer, waiting to surprise me the next go around. I don't think this has ever happened!


Today, I attacked my room. My dresser has become a catch all for anyone passing in and out of the room. I threw away a huge bag of junk and actually got down to the dresser itself!

The kitchen is relatively clean...we still have to eat I suppose.

So what else did I get done today?

Well, while sitting at the computer wasting time working hard, I got a call from a friend reminding me of a quilt square that is due at church tomorrow.

I knew it was on my list of things to get done, but always got pushed to the bottom.

I thought about cutting out some fabric pieces with the cricut and sewing them on. But then remembered my sewing machine is out of commission for a while...and that my mom had all my fabric at her house.

How are those quiet books coming along, Mom?

Then I thought about just ironing some felt shapes to the quilt piece and doing a little hand stitching. But then remembered my sizzix machine is also at my mom's...along with my felt.


I had just about given up doing anything for this quilt square until my friend mentioned she was just going to draw on it with markers.

Hey, I have markers!

I have never stamped on fabric before and was kind of concerned about the loose weave this piece had. I held my breath and went to work. It turned out better than I thought.



Stamps: SU! Loads of Love, CTMH Charms Alphabet
Inks: Brilliance Graphite Black

Now I'll just leave all the sewing for the other ladies in charge of this project!

*Please excuse the abundance of smiley guys in this post, they were feeling neglected!*

Summer Run Around

For some reason, I had great visions of this summer. Visions of staying at home and playing with my boys and in my closet. Why didn't anyone tell me you get more busy during these "lazy, hazy" days of summer? I have chauffeured my boys back and forth from home and Camp Invention, getting them to Cub Scout Day camp (okay, I only really had to get him to the church and then the leaders drove the 45 minutes to the actual camp), and now this week is swimming lessons. There is not enough time in between going places to actually sit down and get something done around here!

You know what I realized today?

5 weeks until school starts back up again.



The card I have for today took me about 5 days to complete: 1 day to color, 1 hour to put together, and all the time in between to shuffle things around the table for meals, etc.

But now it is done!

I made it for the home page contest for the Stamplicious group. The theme was red, white, and blue. Since it didn't necessarily have to be a patriotic card, I went with this Sugar Nellie stamp by Liz Bell.


Stamps: Sugar Nellie Summer Ice Cream
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black
Papers: CTMH Blue Ribbon Reflections Kit

Maybe if swimming wears them out enough, I'll have some quiet time to make some other things...I'm seriously behind on my scrapbooking!

Sharing...

We spent the day out at Old Tucson Studios today.





Engineer's company had an event out there for all the families and so we loaded up the van, the sunscreen and headed off into the sunset...well, actually, the bright, midday desert sun. After getting our fill of burgers and beans, horses and gunfights, we loaded up the van, the sunscreen and headed off to our air conditioned home. And this is when I finally sat down to get this card done.

Hey, you're saying, that card looks like the last one you posted!

No way, Jose! say my boys. I just used the same paper because it was still out from last week.

This is actually my first digital stamp card ever. The girl, aptly named SuzyQ Diva, is one of the Owl Whimsy digital stamps. I belong to quite a few Yahoo groups and this particular company was the focus for this month's homepage contest over at CopicCabana.


Stamps: Owl Whimsy SuzyQ Diva #2
Inks: NONE...unless your count my printer ink
Papers: CTMH Emporium Reflections Kit

I have stayed away from digital stamps in the past...because I'm biased, honestly. Nothing feels like a good stamp in your hand when your making something. But I do have to admit I like stamping this way also. Not only can you resize the images to what you need, but I printed out a whole sheet of these girls...you know, for all my mistakes I make. The best thing about it, however, came as a surprise. My three boys sat at the table and colored their own girls, just like mom!

Oh be still!

So they said I could share their artwork with you.



They also asked if they could use my markers.



Notice how great their girls look in colored pencil?!

Stamplicious

Are you one of the millions of crafters suffering from "Stampitis"?
Some symptoms include staying up all night for new release parties, blog hopping till your wrist is sore, spending your budget for supplies three days into the month. At this moment there is no cure for stampitis, but there is help.

If you need somewhere to turn to talk all things stamps, to learn of new companies you didn't even knew existed, or just to get silly with a bunch of grown women, then you might want to check into the Stamplicious Yahoo group. Enablers of all kinds are welcome!





Join the dark side, we have chocolate!

Lesson Learned

So I came back from vacation, all rested and relaxed. Then I saw the huge pile of laundry that was awaiting me and

But I quickly realized I had two extra helpers for the summer and the boys and I quickly got those 11 or so loads down to nothing...mostly. I hope my washer and dryer made it through.

My family (us, my parents, siblings, in-laws, neices, nephews) goes every year to the same timeshare up in Ruiodoso, NM. I love going because it is about 30 degrees cooler than here...and seeing all the family, too. But is makes the last couple of weeks of May busy, busy while I try to get end of school stuff done and pack for this week long vacation. This year, while doing all this planning, list making, packing, shopping I forgot to get my mom's Mother's Day card made. And while she can tell you it's not an unusual thing for me to be late with cards for her, I still always feel bad about the whole thing. Even though she says it's okay.

I did have all the good intentions to have the card made, take it with me and hand it to her in person. But that didn't happen either. All the pieces were cut, the coloring done, I just ran out of time, plain and simple.

To make me feel even worse, while at church on vacation, we watched a short film called The Mailbox. It is a story about a lonely mother that makes her daily trek to her mailbox, hoping to get something from her children. It's a sad little movie and made the room full of women teary eyed, to say the least. And the whole time I'm thinking of the card, not put together, on my kitchen counter. So I learned when I tell my mom I'm sending her a card, I better well get it in the mail!

After all the laundry got done, I was able to sit down and get it finished! So Mom, this card's for you!



Stamps: Stamping Bella SuperBella, CTMH Tiny Typewriter Alphabet
Inks: Brilliance Graphite Black
Papers: CTMH Emporium Reflections Kit

Now all I have to do is get it in the mail...