Valentine Rakarama 2008 (5th Edition)

Yes kids, it's that time of year again.

Time for my annual Valentine Rakarama.

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about - I belong to an online group of wonderful women for what - the past 6 years? is that possible girls? Anyway each year I send them all a valentine. You can check out past years here

I thought this was the 4th year but I forgot to scan that first year's cards - darn!
Usually I make one design and make one for everyone. One year it was the same basic design and I changed certain elements (monogram). This year I couldn't make up my mind. I had basic cardstock, patterned paper, stamps, and punch I wanted to use. So I said what the heck - I'll just use those items and make a different one for each person. (yes, I was feeling a little crazy!)

I know a few of them have received theirs and the rest should get theirs by today - i hope. If you don't want to see - stop looking girls! The scans aren't great but it was more important to me to quickly scan then get them in the mail. Without further ado....

Some details: i teastained cardstock and stamped on the Stampington main hearts. That eyelet-y looking type lace is cardstock punched using a Martha Stewart punch (I love Martha). The patterned paper is last year's Basic Grey (still looks good this year I think). All the other stamps (the ribbon label, postage, LOVE, music and script backgrounds, small hearts and the faboo Damask) are Purple Onion Designs (only thing not POD is a flourish I used on a few of them - that's Rhonna Farrar). I used a versamark ink as well as StampinUp! inks, some buttons, some ribbon and of course, my sewing machine.

Okay - I gotta get moving for the day. I'm going to do some scrapbooking tonite! Have a good one

Leave it to your kids (kitties) to make a liar outta you

well it's true
kids - kitties - all furry and non-furry children
they like to make a liar outta you
i said on my previous post that the kitties don't like car travel nor do they like the doctor's office
and indeed this was the case
the last time holly and frankie were in the car was a disaster. they frothed at the mouth and, in general, were flipping out. and when we got to the vet's office, the vet had to shake them out of their carriers - by turning it completely over! they held on for dear life until gravity took over - are you getting the picture?
So yesterday I decided on a plan of attack.
First of all I went to unearth their cat carriers.
I searched high and low and was only able to locate one. The darling husband told me later he'd given one of them away and said don't you remember? I said no.
Regardless that immediately set me to worrying - if you have cats who are flipping out in their carrier what will happen when you put two of them in one carrier? I was concerned they'd hurt each other because they'd be in a panic.
I crossed my fingers (and said a Hail Mary for good measure)
I replenished their "little pink sock" with fresh catnip (yes... I was hoping to dope them up naturally. hey... whatever works right?)
and got a bag of their favorite treats.
Then when it was time to leave, I brought them both to the carrier.
I dangled the little pink sock in front of Frankie's kisser and he walked right into the carrier.
Then I set out a line of treats and miss Holly walked right in and I shut the door.
I thought - hey... that was too easy.
I grabbed the carrier and put it into the car on the passenger front seat.
We left and I couldn't believe it (the beginning of them making a liar outta me) - they seemed quite content. They both sat in the carrier and just sniffed the air (it was kind of a nice day here).
No flipping out.
No frothing at the mouth.
I'm thinking okay but surely things will go south once we arrive and get into the exam room.
I set the carrier down and opened the door - out walks Holly (like she owned the joint) and she proceeds to look all around. Frankie wasn't his usual overly friendly self. I did have to pull him out of the carrier but he did just fine.
Whodathunkit?
Now the reason I brought them there in the first place - Frankie had a small lump on his side. Obviously it didn't belong there and I was concerned.
Holly - she has been losing weight. Also not a good sign. This girl likes her food. One of my nicknames for her is "chubs". She had weighed 12 pounds. She has a small frame. At the doctor's office we weighed her and she came in at 8.9 lbs. See what I mean?
So anyway the doctor and I talked for a bit - they did some tests on both cats.
I got a call from the doctor late this afternoon.
My kids are fine. Everything is looking good for them both and I cannot tell you how relieved I was to hear it. Even the doctor said it was nice to make such a happy phone call. I have to keep an eye on Holly's weight but aside from that ....
all is good.
I finished a book "Running with Scissors" - now that was a bizarre book
I'm working on some cards.
We're going to meet up with our nephew and his wife tomorrow nite in DC for dinner. We haven't been into DC for a bit so that should be fun. (I'm secretly hoping to sidetrack into Georgetown to maybe check out Paper Source but that may not work out. We'll see)

a banner birthday

a few days after the fact the birthday queen would like to acknowlege the birthday of a special friend - miss Tina!

here's what i made for her day -

A birthday banner! Here it is hung across my fireplace - so i could show the whole thing at once. But here are some closeups :

I used some Heidi Swapp chipboard letters and Making Memories chipboard hearts and gave them a coating of Martha Stewart fine glitter. I cut out circles for the front and back as well as a scalloped circle (that got sandwiched in between with the ribbon) using my Nestabilities - i really love those Nestabilities!

Glad you had a nice birthday Tina!

Otherwise around here - I stayed up too late watching Super Tuesday results last night. I'm still recovering from the lack of sleep.

I spent several hours yesterday addressing Save The Date card envelopes for my niece who is getting married in July of this year. Addressing, stuffing, sealing, affixing postage. We never did stuff like Save The Date's back in my day. Boy i'm showing my age huh? We just called people. Go fig.....

Did you ever notice the abbreviation for Save The Date is STD? kinda yucky huh?

I have to take the kitties to the vet tomorrow - not sure if both of them have something going on so I'm taking them in just to be safe. Wish me luck - they absolutely detest any travel in the car and are also not fond of the vet office (they love my sister but her office is on the other side of the country! waaaah!)

Valentine - Admit One

It's that time of year :-)

As some of you know, I love valentines.

I've been known to send a few.

But this one - I think I'll keep for the husband

I used Romance Heart Cube from Stampington for the heart. I tea dyed some cardstock and stamped with Stampin Up Purely Pomegranate (just a great color!). The Admit One stamp is from Purple Onion Designs. The background was created using the wonderful Damask stamp also from Purple Onion Designs. I stamped it in versamark and used the Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress embossing powder. The background paper was a scrap from the little secret compartment Nancy Drew book I made my niece for Christmas. I also added a little bit of black rick rack to finish things off.

Yesterday, I forgot to mention a movie we'd seen recently. If you have a chance, go see Michael Clayton with George Clooney. He's enough reason to go see it ;-) but the movie was excellent.

well hi there!

i was planning on posting another birthday queen creation - she's been a busy girl that birthday queen- however i don't wanna post til i'm sure the fille courante d'anniversaire (gosh i hope thats right lol) has seen it!

on to other things - made this card for a college friend of mine. i love this anna griffin stamp! and i love hydrangea.

I made this next card for my brother-in-law whose birthday was yesterday - him and Punxsutawney Phil

I hadn't bought anything new paper-wise in a while. I went to a small local scrapbook store (on my way home from chauffering the daughter somewhere) I haven't been to in probably over a year and this creative imaginations paper was screaming out to me 'hey... take me home - and whilst you're at it grab some of those buttons!' I did make a few cards with the CI buttons but this particular card has some buttons from my own stash. Oh and the stamp is from Stampin Up!

Let's see what else have I been up to - reading. I read a book called Escape by Carolyn Jessop (about her escape from her life in the Fundamentalist LDS church. It was a little repetitive - coulda used some more editing in my opinion but) it was a pretty compelling story.

An absolutely brilliant book I recently finished is Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. Suggested by my friend Donna. I thought why would I want to read a book about a guy who joins the circus? But knowing Donna wouldn't steer me wrong I got it from the library. Wow. What an amazing book - if you're looking for something to read - run - do not walk - to your library and get it. You will not be sorry.

Lost was on the other night - do you love Lost? I do! Now if you've never watched Lost you can catch up on all the seasons by watching on ABC.com They have all the episodes online! However that's a big time investment now isn't it? Okay. Well you can also catch up by watching this video - Everything you need to know about Lost in 8 minutes

Even if you are all caught up this video is hilarious!

Okay - its Super Bowl Day - gotta get moving - Go Giants!