Crafts & Confections

Riley Stamp Release Winner!

2011-10-02T09:15:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Just wanted to announce the winner to the bloghop!

It is BLUEINKS Design!

Congrats and be sure to send me an email at jhuangatc@gmail.com with your address and which new stamp you'd like to receive from this release!

Thanks!

Riley goes to the Movies Stamp Release!

2011-09-29T19:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome everyone to the bloghop for the latest Riley and Co Stamp Release! The theme is Riley goes to the Movies and we have got a ton of cute Riley stamps capturing some of the most iconic images and characters in film! This is such a cute release because there's a little bit of everything for everyone. You have stamps for period themed cards (Old South? 50's? 70's?), some perfect for Halloween (Catwoman, Spiderman, Batman anyone?), and others perfect for the movie fanatic or friend who works in the industry!

Now I'm excited to share with you that we have some GREAT specials for this release. Riley and Co is offering

FREE DOMESTIC SHIPPING on all new orders placed by Sunday night (promocode: FREESHIP)

FREE LIMITED EDITION & NEVER RELEASED stamp (witch with broom <-perfect for Halloween) included with all purchases made within the next 24 hours.

10% off if you purchase the whole set!

Now I'm excited to share with you the two projects I've made for the blog hop.

First up, Rocky Balbomoose! My friend is crazy about Rocky so naturally I was VERY excited about making him a card with Riley as Rocky front and center! Of course, it being rocky, had to add in a little bit of Philly in it.

Second I used Sophie as Sandy and Riley as Danny for the inspiration for my shaped card. I loooooveeeee the 50's and so of course I thought of big records and poodle skirts!

Of course I had to title the record label with "You're the One that I want!"

Now that's it from me! Head on over to Kelly's, but before you do, make sure you leave a comment to enter in your chance to win a free stamp from this latest release! Good luck!

Sneak Peek #5

2011-09-28T07:28:00.000-07:00

Here's the final day of sneaks before the big Stamp release! I chose to showcase the Sophie Monroe stamp today. Usually I struggle with using the Sophie stamps (just because I tend to make a lot of cards for males) but I LOVE the ones that come with in the release, especially the ones that echo iconic 50's images.

When I saw this stamp I knew I had to make something with the New York city skyline and images of old Hollywood glamour. I stuck with a black/grey/white motif to capture the feeling of old school movies with Marilyn Monroe being a focal point. I tinkered with photoshop and welding images to make the background and colored Sophie with Copics in the same color gradient.

A couple flourishes, stickles, and star brads around the sentiment complete this Clean and Simple card.

Diamond's may be Marilyn Monroe's best friend but stickles are my best friend! I just love how her dress turned out!

Alright everyone, make SURE you don't miss out on tomorrow's blog hop. We're kicking off at 10 PM EST and make sure you leave a comment on each blog for a chance to win some free rubber!

Now go and check out what everyone else has to showcase for today!

Sneak Peek #4

2011-09-27T08:44:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, here's another sneak peek from the new Riley release! Riley is going to the movies this time, and I chose to use the Popcorn Riley for a special card I made for a friend of mine. He's out in Seattle playing with the Mariners and was kind enough to play tourguide and explore Seattle with me. It's a beautiful city and we decided that we had to watch Sleepless in Seattle since we saw the houseboat in the movie in our Ferry tour and could see the houseboat from his apartment. Here I have Popcorn Riley enjoying the classic Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan image! I also used the Baseball Riley which was perfect since the Seattle Mariners mascot is a Moose!

Here's a close up of Popcorn Riley

The front of the card was made completely using .jpgs I converted into .svg cuts using Inkscape and then cutting it out with Sure Cuts a Lot 2. I kind of wished he played for a team with a less complicated logo.

The front flap is of the Seattle Skyline with Mt. Rainier in the back. It opens up to show the complete Seattle logo as well as his jersey number. I added the penguin because he absolutely LOVES penguins.

Everyone be sure to check out the Blog Hop for our much anticipated blog hop starting in TWO Days! You'll get to view as well as order all the amazing new stamps from the new Release of Riley goes to the Movies. It starts on Thursday, September 29th at 10 PM EST.

Be sure to drop by all my Moose mates and check out their creations for the day!

Sneak Peek #3

2011-09-26T05:00:00.000-07:00

Here's the 3rd day of sneak peeks for Riley and Co. newest stamp release, Riley goes to the Movies! Today I decided to use the Moose Butler and Sophie O'Hara stamp to celebrate the University of Alabama, my alma mater! I added classic Southern images of the magnolia flower and iconic Denny Chimes.

The images were matted on crimson cardstock and houndstooth patterned paper since the University of Alabama's unofficial "3rd color" is houndstooth!

I colored both riley images with copics and added some stickle bling to O'hara, because every southern girl can't resist some glitter!

Be sure to check out all my other Moose Mates and their creations! And be sure to join us for our huge stamp release and blog hop on Thursday, September 29th at 10 PM EST!!

Sneak Peek Day #2

2011-09-25T05:00:00.000-07:00

Here comes Sneak Peek Day #2! Today I decided to use Riley Pottermoose for the peek. My best friend loves Harry Potter so it just seems fitting. I wish he was a fan of Slytherin because I would have loved to have added a snake and made the Thanks into "Thanksssss".

I'll be honest, I'm not a big Harry Potter fan, but I absolutely loved this stamp. It has sooo many amazing details and I actually cut out a huge swirl of clouds and stars coming out of his wand.

I will be back again tomorrow with another Sneak peek for you. Don’t forget the Riley & Company Blog hop which will be held on September 29th starting at 10 PM EST.

Now go check out all my fellow Moose Teammates and all their designs!

Riley goes to the Movies!

2011-09-24T20:37:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Sorry I'm so late on posting. I've been on a flight back from Seattle all day and finally got some internet. It's time for the new Riley stamp release sneak peeks! The theme for this release is Riley goes to the movies, and there are tons of iconic images you'll go crazy over! There are 18 new Riley images this time around and we'll be giving some sneak peeks throughout the week until the Blog hop on Thursday, September 29th!

I decided to use Sophie as Sandy as my inspiration for todays card. I decided to go with the 50's diner color theme and music notes. I just absolutely love the 50's and I hope my niece will love it too.

Be sure to check out all my moose mates and their great sneak peeks!

Riley Challenge!

2011-09-20T11:27:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, today our challenge is brought to us by Heather Prince

The challenge is to create a distressed/shabby chic card with at least 7 layers (matts are counted as a layer) but the more layers the better!

For my card I used Bundle of Joy Riley to celebrate the coming of my sister's new little baby boy. He's due in October and her three lil tykes have decided to call him "Henry", much to the dismay of my sister. We will see what they actually name him!

The cut comes from the Cricut cartridge, Beyond birthday, and the shadow cut was cut twice and popped to give it some more dimension. The diamond shape was from the Jasmine cartridge and turned into a kite. Hope you all enjoyed and don't forget to see everyone elses! I TRIED to distress the edges but I think I have to work on that a bit more hahah. Obviously I don't do distress (or layers) all that much so this challenge was a lot of fun to get out of my comfort zone!

Don't forget to check out the Riley and Company Design Team's card on their blogs.

Cindy Haffner
Frances Byrne
Heather Prince
Jovita Torres
Joy Stagg
Juliet Huang
Kelly Santi
Laurie Clout
Margie Cortina
Michele L
Sarah Gough
Silke Kittmann
Gina Lindsay (September's Guest Designer)

Riley Design Challenge!

2011-09-06T02:26:00.000-07:00

Hi Riley Fans!
Hope you're all ready for today's challenge, and I'm proud to say that I'M hosting it!!!
My challenge is a School/Team Spirit sort of theme. Basically, to celebrate the start of school, the football and hockey season, or post season baseball...make something that shows spirit for either a school or Sport team ie: (your alma mater, kid's high school, using your favorite sports team colors/Riley sport stamps, etc)

For my card I decided to use Hockey Riley since the season is just right around the corner!

I keep in touch with several of my former players and this was a card I made for Freddy who played for the minor league team I interned for a couple years back.

So this was a birthday-ish card for him, but really its a "just because" card, and boy was I excited to use my Riley Hockey Stamp! I based the colors off of the Ontario Reign colors, and colored his jersey in to look like their orange ones. He's number 12 so I cut those out using the Sure Cuts A Lot Software. The dark blue background was cuttlebugged using the argyle folder, and the card was triple matted (the Riley one was popped up). Riley was colored in with Copics, his skates were colored in with my Sakura gelly roll silver pen, and the ice got a little bit of Stickle treatment! I added a couple brads, because what's more manlier than brads?!

On the back, I added the Ontario Reign logo using Sure Cuts A Lot to cut out a picture I found online. I have to admit, I was pretty proud of how well it came out compared to the real logo.

Sorry for the blurry image! I guess I just wanted to make mine look better ;)

Freddy in action

Be sure to check out the other members of the Riley Design team to see what they've come up with!!! I hope you enjoyed this challenge!

Riley Design Challenge

2011-08-09T16:18:00.000-07:00

It's the time for another challenge!

This challenge is brought to you by Kelli Santi. The challenge is Oceans of Fun with Riley! Bring out your nautical side! Use a boat, ocean, beach (etc) and include the colors of red and blue!

I used Surfer Riley for my layout and cut diagonal pieces of blue paper (using my Martha Sewart Scor-board). Added a red strip of cardstock on the bottome and some pattern paper. I used the Cricut Cartridge Stand and Salute for the Anchole and 3D stars and the stamp was a dollar bin find at Michaels!

hope you guys enjoyed it! Be sure to check out the other DT designs!

2011-07-31T09:41:00.000-07:00

It's wedding season! So how is it possible that I have yet to showcase a wedding card? I attended the wedding of my bestfriend from college this July in Huntsville, and boy it was beautiful to be in attendance of his festivities. I decided to make a card for him and his bride using their colors.

The digital stamp is from The Greeting Farm and colored with copics. And the shape was cut from the Create a Critter cartridge. The stamp is from Papertrey Inks and the lace border is the Martha Stewart border punch. I made sure to stickle the wedding dress! Here are some pics from the wedding.

Riley Release Winner

2011-07-30T18:40:00.000-07:00

We've picked our winners. Using the random number generator, my winner is...APRIL, over at http://aprilsalley.blogspot.com/. Congratulations you are the lucky winner of an awesome Riley image of your choice!

Please email me at jhuangatc@gmail.com with your choice of Riley and your mailing address!

Thank you to everyone for participating in the Blog Hop! We had some problems at the store on the night of the release, but everything is working fine now at Riley and Company!

Have a Great Day!
Juliet

RILEY RELEASE BLOG HOP!!

2011-07-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Riley and Company’s blog hop! Come join us as the Riley and Company Design Team takes you on the road tonight! If you didn’t start at the beginning of this hop, you might want to head on over to the Riley and Company blog so that you don’t miss out on anything!

Be sure to leave a comment on everyone’s blog as you travel from blog to blog as each of the Riley and Company Design Team members will be giving away one new Riley stamp to a random person who leaves a comment on their blog!

24 new Riley stamps are NOW available from the Riley and Company Store.

ALSO Riley and Company is running some great great specials for this release, you ready??

FREE DOMESTIC SHIPPING on any new orders until Sunday night (be sure to use the coupon code FREESHIP)

All orders placed WITHIN THE FIRST 24 HOURS will receive a FREE Swimmer Riley

And if you PURCHASE THE ENTIRE SET you will receive a FREE Surfer Riley!

For my first card today I used the Italy and the Cruise travel stamp set. I used Sure Cuts a Lot for the cutouts and used a pic of when I went on a Cruise to the mediterranean. I figured, it would be a perfect complement for the Riley Italy stamp!

My second Riley Peek is Hunting Riley!

Added some Cricut cuts from Create a Critter and a handwritten Sentiment and Hunting Riley is all set! I colored him with Copics and made sure his vest was perfect in all it's Camo glory.

Well that is about it from me for today, now it is time to hop on over to Sarah Gough and see some more cute Riley cards. I LOVE LOVE LOVE what she makes along with all our other Design Team members!

Enjoy the rest of the hop and thanks for dropping by! Don't forget to leave comments on all the blogs, so that you have a chance to win! I'll draw the winner tomorrow at 10pm EST, good luck!!

Sneak Peek #5

2011-07-27T08:29:00.000-07:00

Today is Sneak Peek #5, the last one before the July stamp release on Thursday! Be sure to follow us on our blog hop at 10 PM Easten time. The theme for this release is Riley goes on Vacation. There are a ton of new stamps and a bunch of cute ones that are perfect for scrapbooking as well as card making.

I made this card for a new member of our staff. He just recently moved down to Mobile, AL and so I figured what better way to celebrate the occasion then with a handmade card.

I used the Riley "or Bust" stamp for this card. Riley was colored in with copics and all of the background images are representative of Mobile, (state, state flag, and of course pelicans).

I made him some pillow cookies as well as a little housewarming gift. They are off of the website, bakerella. Here's the recipe...Bakerella's Pillow Cookies.

Be sure to check out all the other Riley Design Team members and their creations as well as our guest designer for this month, Sarah.

See you guys all tomorrow for the release!

Sneak Peek #4 and Challenge

2011-07-26T07:19:00.000-07:00

Sneak Peef #4 and our Tuesday challenge brought to us by Sarah...it's R is for Recipe. The recipe is Riley, Red, Rhinestone, and Ribbon!

I chose to use the new Riley stamp of Viva Las Vegas. I thought it would be a perfect complement to the Red background and rhinestones as well as Ribbon.

Be sure to join us and the other Design team members in our Blog Hop on Thursday for the new July release of Riley Stamps! It will start on Thursday at 10 PM EST!

Sneak Peek Day #3

2011-07-25T06:02:00.000-07:00

It's Day #3 of the Riley Sneaks for the upcoming July stamp release. The theme for this release is Riley goes on Vacation and trust me, these stamps are cuuuteee and perfect for scrapbooking as all as cards!

Today I decided to share Map/Lost Riley. Trust me, I know what that's like. Be sure to join us on the blog hop on the day of the Stamp Release. It's this Thursday (July 28th) and starts at 10 pm ET. We have a guest designer with his this release, Steph over at the Hooney Bootique, and TRUST me, her stuff is too cute! Enjoy and be sure to check out all my other Moose Mates and their sneak peek creations!

Klinker

2011-07-24T17:50:00.000-07:00

So one of my favorite baseball players, Matt Klinker, is having a bit of a rough season and has been stuck in a rut playing for the same team he spent the majority of his time with last year (in minor league baseball you want to be continually moving on up in the system). Needless to say, he's a little frustrated (in the game, we like to call it "being salty") so I figured I'd try to give him a little pick me up and maybe it'll give him the boost to get him back up to AAA.

Right now he plays for the AA team for the Cincinnati Reds, the Carolina Mudcats, so I decided to stick with that theme! I used the pitcher from Kenny K digital stamps and modify it so it fits their jerseys. I heat embossed using clear embossing powder a little Michaels dollar bin baseball stamp over the background to give a subtle pattern. Using Sure Cuts A Lot, I cut out a wonky square shape as well as the Reds logo so the red would show through. I also cut out his jersey number as well using Sure cuts a lot. The card base is using Papertrey ink cardstock in smokey (I LOVE THIS STUFF FOR BASES) and cuttlebugged the diamond plate pattern. I added Recollection brads for some bling and that was the front!

The Back I used Inkscape and svg. the Mudcats logo into three cuts and cut them out using Sure Cuts a Lot. Klinker's name is also cut out using the Sure Cuts A Lot and the background was cuttlebugged with the Diamond Plate folder as well.

Because Matt is so salty right now I figured I'd help him balance it out with some sweets by making him some cookies!

He loved everything. So this is an insight of some characters that I get to deal with everyday. Klinker on the other hand is a pretty 'special' person anyway. Needless to say, he doesn't take himself seriously.

This is what he normally looks like =) I don't mind him either way =)

Sneak Peek Day #2

2011-07-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

Sneak Peek Day #2!! I chose to display the Riley and Sophie under the sea stamp for my sneak peek for the upcoming Riley on Vacation stamp release! This cute little image was perfect for my shaped card with a bit of a Hawaii/Island theme.

It's a bit hard to see, but the background is heat embossed with a clear flourish stamp and the background is sponged in a bunch of sea colors. Here's a closeup of the cute stamp colored in with copics

The flourish kind of ran through mermaid Sophie's hair. I also added gelly roll sakura in red to give her hair some shimmer.

Enjoy and be sure to check out my other moose mates and their design!

Sneak Peek Day #1

2011-07-23T06:10:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! It's that time again, Sneak Peek season for the brand new stamps from Riley and Company! The name for this release is called Riley goes on Vacation, and it is CERTAINLY right up my alley with all the traveling I do. It's super super super super cute, and I had a blast designing and creating with these. So let's get started!

I made this card for one of my friends who plays baseball in the Braves organization. He's originally from Australia and has been over here in the states playing for the past 3 years. Needless to say, I enjoy ribbing him a bit for his strong Perth accent, but just wanted this card to remind him to keep living the dream, don't stress about his baseball results, and enjoy the moment.

These images are super cute and mimic the style of the international stamps that you get in your passport. Let's just say I loved the creativity and coloring of all of them!

This July release is huge and consists of 24 new Riley images and they go on sale on July 28th! The Riley Blog Hop release starts at 10 PM on July 28th.

Please check out all the other Design Team Moose Mates on the links to the left and DEFINITELY don't forget our guest designer Stephanie Hill. She is VERY talented and I look at her blog daily and admire her creativity and bright colors she incorporates in her coloring. GORGEOUS!

See you all tomorrow!

Tag Riley Challenge

2011-07-12T15:26:00.000-07:00

I really loved this challenge! This Riley and Company challenge is hosted by Michele L. The challenge was to make a birthday tag. I used Mason Riley for my tag.

The tag was cut with the Cricut using the Don Juan cart and then stamped with Versa Ink and a background script stamp picked up at Michael's on clearance. Then it was heat embossed with clear embossing powder.

Next I used Tim Holtz distressed inks in Antique linen to ink the edges and colored Mason Riley with copics

Finally the starburst was cut with the Cricut using the Don Juan cart and pop dotted. The Sentiment and ribbon was a dollar bin finds at Michaels!

Be sure to visit all the other Riley Design Team members to check out their creations!

We just got the images for the new Release....they're SUPER SUPER cute. I absolutely love them. So excited to create and share with you guys.

Riley Challenge

2011-06-28T17:50:00.000-07:00

Another Riley Challenge is upon us! Today's challenge, brought to us by the lovely Joy. I've been in a creative funk and this was a toughy challenge for me. I was trying to make sure that all I used were dies and punches. The cutesy stamp is of course from the Riley goes to the circus collection and is the Seal and Riley. I also used the flag accessory to add some interest and paper pieced it.

Riley was colored in with copics and various random dies were used and a martha stewart punch. It was tough not pulling out the cricut or cuttlebug!

Be sure to check out the rest of the design team for much inspired creations!

Riley Challenge

2011-06-24T14:26:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, I actually made the card in time for the challenge. Unfortunately I've been having technical difficulties and my camera decided to be a priss and not upload my pictures. So without further ado AND delay...here is my Bows and Buttons challenge! I promise you, as the Lord is my witness, I WILL indeed have next Tuesdays challenge posted ON THAT DAY.

So For this challenge, I used the adorable Expecting Sophie stamp from the Riley and Company and colored her in with Copics. Sophie was then fussy cut out and adhered to three mats that were fanned out. To incorporate the button theme, I used this button paper I found in Hobby Lobby a year or so ago. I glossy accented a couple of the buttons and them cut them out to add some interest to the bottom of the blue square. A yellow ribbon was used to give Sophie a bow as well as some interest to her frame. The two pearl flowers are actually nail art stickers I picked up at the drug store.

I stamped the mini sentiment from Papertrey ink on a scrap piece of yellow cardstock and adhered some flower brads from Michaels in matching colors to the buttons. I then adhered little mini rhinestones (once again, a nailart find) using a dab of glossy accents to each flower center to give them some bling and match the pearl flowers.

Close up of Sophie

Close up of the sentiment

I made this card for my older sister who is expecting her 4th child! It's gonna be a little boy!

Here's her and her little minions

Hopefully she enjoys it!

T-town Never Down

2011-06-01T08:06:00.000-07:00

This is a very special project for me that I have for you today. On April 27th, 2011, a F-5 tornado tore through Tuscaloosa, AL where the University of Alabama is located. The tornado killed 50+ people, injured hundreds, and left thousands with absolutely nothing left. This touched me deeply because the University of Alabama was where I went to undergrad for 4 years. It shaped a lot of who I am and where I met my 3 lifelong friends. Going back, I was stricken by how so much had changed and how whole neighborhoods were gone.

View from where my sophomore year dorm use to be

Aerial view of the path of destruction of the tornado

Worse yet, hearing the personal stories from friends still at the University really touched a soft spot in me. As an athletic trainer, I worked hand in hand with the University of Alabama athletics. If you're from the South, you would know how all consuming sports, especially Football is to the state of Alabama. Sports Illustrated released an article, with the cover story being about the effect of the Tornado. Reading the article, it saddened me to hear about how one of my former football players girlfriend was killed in the tornado. They were taking cover in a closet and she was tragically ripped from his arms. Also hearing about how two of my former baseball players, who I had just seen less than a month before when we played them IN Tuscaloosa, had lost everything was just heartbreaking. If you have the time, please read this well-written article http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1186008/index.htm

Mainly I am so proud of how the athletics has stepped up to help in relief efforts. They have taken their time out to spend time passing out water and goods as well as helping with the cleanup. Former players who are now playing in the NFL have also donated thousands of dollars in food and water to help those who have literally be left with nothing. Thanks to Javier Arenas (aka Javy) and all those athletes who are helping to patch things up.

So now that my season is done and I have some extra time on my hands, I set out on making something to help represent the strenght, spirit, and pride of Tuscaloosa. Houndstooth has a very special meaning for the University of Alabama because it represents the hat that the legendary football coach, Bear Bryant famously wore at each game. Every Saturday in the fall, the campus is filled with fans decked out in red and houndstooth...from pretty co-eds to fat old drunken men. A houndstooth ribbon has become the symbol of support for the relief efforts down in Tuscaloosa.

I used the ribbon off the stand and salute cart, as well as the shadow to make the base and cut it out with the cricut. I then cuttlebugged the white ribbons with the houndstooth folder and while they were still in the folder, I brayered the ribbon with black ink, kind of like the reverse of this technique shown on youtube I then used Sure Cuts a Lot to cut out the Alabama A logo and glued it on.

I didn't think it was enough so I went ahead and used my gypsy to Weld the shadow of the ribbon and banner (also found on the Stand and Salute cartridge) together to make a base. I then added the words "T-town" which is our affectionate name for Tuscaloosa to the ribbon and cut out two versions (one solid, and one with the letters so it could show through). I'm not sure which one I like better, the white or red. Any suggestions? I wasn't sure if I wanted to make these into cards or just keep them as is and make them into a magnet or even something to hang in my car. But I may even sell them on etsy and have all proceeds go to a charity of relief for Tuscaloosa.

Anyway, I know this is a long post but this just meant so much to me, so thanks for all that actually read this. I'll leave you with pics that show the resilient spirit of the people of T-town. Roll Tide!

Circus Themed Design Challenge!

2011-05-31T06:28:00.000-07:00

It's a challenge Tuesday!! This week our challenge hostess is Cindy Haffner, and she has challenged us to create a Party theme card/project for a child's Birthday.

I used the Carousel Riley stamp from the NEW Circus Release over at the Riley and Co Company! He's been colored in with Copics and the card was made welding the label off of the Create a Critter Cart using the Gypsy and Cricut. the cute little flower, ticket, popcorn, and inside sentiment are all also part of the new release. I just added some adhesive gems that I got at Michaels and colored with my copics, and some stickles!

If you want to participate in this challenge all you have to do is create a card/project and upload it to your blog and/or to your SCS Gallery using the keyword Riley1111.

Bes sure to check out the rest of the Design team designs and happy Tuesday!

Don’t forget to check out the rest of the Design Teams blogs today so see what they created for this challenge.

Cathy Edgar - Cindy Haffner - Heather Prince - Jovita Torres - Joy Stagg – Michele L - Kelly Santi - Laurie Clout - Margie Cortina - Michele L - Sarah Gough - Silke Kittmann

Memorial Day

2011-05-30T18:14:00.000-07:00

Happy Memorial Day everyone! I just wanted to share a card I made for my good friend who is overseas now in Afghanistan. He left about 3 weeks ago bu I was lucky enough to get a chance to see him before he did when he invited me to his pre-deployment ball up at Fort Bragg!

I wanted to make him a little card just to show how much I appreciate everything he's done over there and hopefully he will get home safe and sound.

The digital stamp is from Sassy Studio Designs and part of the military honeys collection. They just have the cutest little images and I love coloring them and hardly have a chance of making cards with them! I tried to color her (using copics) in the look like me, but I didn't want to color the hair in too dark to lose the outline.

I used my gypsy and cricut to cut out an oval with the mini mongrams cart (just adjusted the size to 2.5"x4". And used it as a frame. The Frame around the sentiment was from the Heritage cart and the dog tags and ribbon were from the Stand and Salute cart. I added some hardware brads that I got from Michaels and there you have it! Inside I just decorated it with added some mini dogtags to for some interest.

I'm not one for using dimensionals but I figured I'd give it some depth!

Here's a pic of us at the banquet/ball

and I leave you guys with one of my favorite poems/quotes for the military:

"If you are able, save a place for them inside of you...and save one backward glance when you are leaving, for the places they can no longer go...be not ashamed to say you loved them, though you may or may not have always...take what they have left and what they have taught you with their dying, and keep it with your own...and in that time when men decide and feel safe to call this war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind" - Major Michael O'Donnell

Riley Winner!

2011-05-30T17:43:00.000-07:00

We've picked our winners. Using the random number generator, my winner is... Hannahsbugsmom, Congratulations you are the lucky winner of an awesome Riley image of your choice!

Please email me at jhuangatc@gmail.com with your choice of Riley and your mailing address!

Thank you to everyone for participating in the Blog Hop! We had some problems at the store on the night of the release, but everything is working fine now at Riley and Company!

Have a Great Day!
Juliet

RILEY RELEASE BLOG HOP!

2011-05-26T19:01:00.000-07:00

Come one and come all, It's finally here!!

Welcome to Riley and Company’s blog hop! Come join us as the Riley and Company Design Team takes you to the circus for tonight! If you didn’t start at the beginning of this hop, you might want to head on over to the Riley and Company blog so that you don’t miss out on anything!

Be sure to leave a comment on everyone’s blog as you travel from blog to blog as each of the Riley and Company Design Team members will be giving away one new Riley stamp to a random person who leaves a comment on their blog!

16 new Riley stamps and new sentiments AND accessories are NOW available from the Riley and Company Store.

For my first card today I used the Lion Tamer Riley. I used the cricut create a critter cartridge for the circus tent cut and some stickles and brads to give it some interest. I had so much fun coloring this image in and it's by far my favorite. Riley just looks so dapper in his ring master outfit. I punched a border using a fiskars punch just to tie in the blue and versamarked the grey background with some flourish stamps.

My second card is the Cannon Riley with one of the new sentiments.

Cannon Riley was matted on some navy and yellow cardstock which was cuttlebugged with the swiss dots folder. Some dollar ribbon was added to tie in the colors and that's it!

Well that is about it from me for today, now it is time to hop on over to Sarah Gough and see some more cute Riley cards. I LOVE LOVE LOVE what she makes along with all our other Design Team members!

Enjoy the rest of the hop and thanks for dropping by! Don't forget to leave comments on all the blogs, so that you have a chance to win! I'll draw the winner tomorrow at 10pm EST, good luck!!

SNEAK PEEK Day #5

2011-05-25T12:40:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone! Final day of the sneak peek and the post I had ready and pictures didn't post!!!! I'm stuck 5 hours away from home in Monroe, Louisiana for our baseball tournament with only my ipad so I did the best I could and was able to scrounge up the colored image of the riley stamp I used for today's card. I colored him in with copics and used a Sakura gelly roll pen for the gold pole. Once I get back to Alabama I'll be sure to post the finished product for today's sneak peek!

Don't forget that tomorrow's blog hop starts tomorrow at 10pm Eastern time for the new stamp release over at Riley and Company. You'll get to see all the great images and all the stamps can be purchased immediately following the launch of the blog hop! Be sure to leave comments with each Design Team member for your chance to win some goodies!

We're leaving for our first game right now so wish us luck during the tournament!

SNEAK PEEK Day #4

2011-05-24T14:00:00.000-07:00

Day number four of the sneak peek. I hope you guys are getting REALLY excited about the release on Thursday over at Riley and Company! I used Clown Car Riley for this card and tried to step out of my comfort level of using colors and combinations I normally wouldn't. I even used PATTERNED paper!

The release is going to be a blast and I can't wait for everyone to see the WHOLE set. And believe me, it's BIG. There are 16 Riley images as well as an accessories and sentiment pack to match it. These stamps are perfect for numerous occasions and I've had a ton of fun working with them (I just wish I had more time!)

See you guys tomorrow for the final sneak peek and I hope you guys are counting down the days of the release just as much as I have!

SNEAK PEEK Day #3

2011-05-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

Get ready for the 3rd day of Riley sneak peeks! Today, I used the Hula Hoop/Rings Riley. When I was coloring him in (if you can only imagine how de-stressing it is for me to color a bunch of happy Riley mooses are after a long day outside) I thought about how the hoops looked like the Olympic Rings and decided to make a card for my friend who is an Olympic hopeful for games in London in 2012! So here's my card as just a little bit of motivation to keep working hard and the eye on the prize. Cuts were used using my Cricut and the Destinations cart, as well as Sure Cuts a Lot for the numbers. Made a little gold medal and stickled it with some gold bling (drat for my elbow smearing it before it was completely dried).

Now I'm not one for dimensionals usually since it's not very mail-friendly, but I got a little frisky today and wanted to highlight Riley a bit more!

Remember everyone to stay tuned for the Riley release on Thursday night at 10PM EST hosted by Riley and Company! I will be sitting on a bus headed to Monroe, LA tomorrow morning so these posts may be a little scattered on when I get them up!

SNEAK PEEK Day #2

2011-05-22T21:15:00.001-07:00

So here's my 2nd day of sneak peeks! I had a little 6 year old helper for this one. She picked out the colors and helped cut the paper and I think she did a fine job! I used the juggling Riley stamp off of the upcoming stamp release this Thursday! The sentiment is also part of the stamp release. Slapped on some embellishments and we had a nice little card for her to give to her momma who she says is super busy "juggling a ton of things all at once!".

If you're just tuning in, this is going to be the largest Riley stamp release ever! There will be an accessories pack as well as word sentiments! We're kicking off the festivities with a blog hop on Thursday night and there will be a chance to win prizes! Hope everyone enjoys these sneak peeks!

SNEAK PEEK Day #1

2011-05-21T21:00:00.000-07:00

Now even this may be a more than simple card than I usually do, but no matter what, I couldn't get it just right with adding just a little bit more. I needed a quick little "just a note" card, and I decided to counterbalance my usual palette of solid colors by using patterned paper. Not just one..but TWO...gasp! I loves the cute image so much I didn't want to detract too much away from it with being too fussy. Besides, I've been super busy this past week with 5 baseball games every week and practice on days we don't. I promise I'll be posting more often soon, and I have several belated birthday and thank you cards just waiting to be created!

I used one of the releases from the new LIFE IS A CIRCUS stamp collection from Riley and Company!! Tons of cute images that you'll be seeing in our sneak peeks over the next week. The release is on Thursday, May 26th so get ready for the huge release! I'll describe it more over the next couple of days to come with some more sneak peeks! Be sure to check out my fellow Moose Mates and their sneak peeks!

2011-05-21T03:36:00.000-07:00

Sorry I have been missing in action recently! It's been super busy with the closing of our regular season and tomorrow is our last home game. It's been a very special year for me and this has been my favorite team ever. I wanted to thank them by making a special little card for them and writing a little note....all FORTY FIVE of them!!! So as you can see, I've been very busy coloring baseball Rileys! Here it is mid-process

Let's just say I was exhausted and so was my copic E33. I modified the image a little bit to give it more of a jersey like feel and the appearance of sleeves. Then colored in the bats exactly like the ones my guys use. Picture for reference....

This is W, he's a Cajun. His Aunt gave me the best jambalaya recipe.

The best way to tackle all those cards was to make a sort of an assembly line. I used Sure Cuts a Lot and Inkscape to create the South Alabama logo and their numbers to customize each card. They were matted on grey and navy cardstock with the grey background watermarked with a baseball stamp and versamark ink pad. Some of the moose even got eyeblack to match their respective recipient!

Here's a little closeup of a card and placed in their lockers.

I also made 50 red velvet baseball cupcakes and places them in boxes that used to hold baseballs. They're ingenious for transporting cupcakes!

I'm completely wiped out and have a long day of festivities tomorrow (or should I say today). It will be senior day and I have 10 seniors finishing up their careers. Our coach is also retiring after 28 years as the head coach of South Alabama. He's one of the most decorated college baseball coaches of all time and needless to say, it's going to be a special and moving day tomorrow. Sniff, my kids are growing up...

Well now you know where I've been for the past week!

Tune in tomorrow for a sneak peek of the upcoming Riley Stamp Release!!! I can't believe it's already upon us!!!

2011-05-17T20:04:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the lack of postings! Baseball has been keeping me very busy and on the move! I've been in Florida 4 times, Louisiana, Mississippi, and up to Bowling Green Kentucky in the past 2 1/2 weeks. Ahhhh!!! I plan on getting back in the swing of things over the next week and have tons of fun things to share with you!

2011-04-25T20:56:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter! I had to spend my Easter in Lafayette, Louisiana and at a baseball field! We lost the series that weekend, but the Ragin' Cajun fans were amazing enough to feed us after two of the games! Crawfish, friend catfish and etouffe oh my! So yuums!

Since we were on the road and spent our Easter Sunday at a baseball field and on a bus, I made my guys some Lemon Cake Pops in the shape of baby chickies. They were inspired by the ones Bakerella made which can be found...right here...http://www.bakerella.com/spring-chickens/

I opted out of the wings and my eyeballs were a little skewed (give me a break, it was after a long day of work and at 11pm), but not bad for making over 50 of them!!

Cake balls chilling in the fridge (they're just boxed cake mix blended with frosting!)

Dipped in yellow candy melts

Beaks and feet before sorting them out

All sorted out!

Beaks and feet glued on

Eyeballs marked in

All wrapped up!

2011-04-19T20:04:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've posted!! The baseball season is in full spring and I've been on the road for the past two weeks. I'm actually sitting on a bus for a 3 hour drive to go play Auburn tonight. What a saving grace mobile internet is. So unfortunately, I haven't had much time to craft, and I have a bunch of cards and baked delights just waiting to be made!! Hopefully I'll be able to get some crafting in tomorrow morning before we leave for Louisiana on Thursday!

I have some VERY EXCITING news, I've been selected to be part of the Riley and Company Design team! As you can tell, Riley the moose is my absolute favorite stamp to work with. I'm so very honored to be a part of this design team and I hope to be able to contribute as much as I can! We have a couple days at home next week so I'm hoping to get caught up!

2011-03-27T13:27:00.000-07:00

So my friend saw the card I made for Freddy and he wanted one too. Who knew there was a market for hockey cards hahah. Blair plays for the Tampa Bay Lightning and he's from Canada. Apparantly he loves moose (but more to hunt them then to color them in with Copics). I wanted to make it a little bit more simple than Freddy's card, so I just went ahead and Sure Cuts a Lot the Tampa Bay Logo and and matted it.

I colored Hockey Riley in using their Jersey colors and fussy cut him out. I stickled the ice and added glossy accents to give it an icy feel. I cuttlebugged the black mat with diamond plating and used a charcoal card base.

Here's Blair in action

All the hockey shots I found of Blair made him look really funny. I actually prefer him in his suits. For his sake I'm going to post one of those. Ignore the beers.

2011-03-25T13:14:00.000-07:00

So I'm in Fort Myers for a bit. Just wanted to share a card I made before leaving. One of my baseball players hurt his back during a game and so I've been spending the last couple of weeks in ER's and doctor's offices. Our orthopedic spine specialist has been great so I wanted to show him my appreciation by making some cookies and a card.

So Sick Riley has been getting a lot of play these past couple of days! I colored him in using the South Alabama colors, and I used Sure Cuts a Lot and Cricut to cut out South Alabama's logo. The Sentiment is printed out and the grey cardstock is cuttlebugged using the Argyle folder. Simple as always.

My baseball player got his MRI and the doctor's were surprised that he was walking and standing let alone playing baseball (he sat out for the first time in 4 years because he couldn't run). His herniation was so big that he's the first patient he's had in 20 years that was standing, let alone walking, without surgery. Keep our fingers crossed and Jake in your prayers! He's the toughest kid I've ever worked with.

2011-03-19T10:15:00.000-07:00

So, we're currently on the road again for the weekend...which means that I spend most of my days in a comfortable hotel room or watching a baseball game.

Unfortunately it means that I'm not getting in much crafting in. Before I left, I was able to get a quick and simple card in. (Editor's note: In actuality, I totally forgot it was my sister-in-laws birthday last Saturday, and had to whip up a card quickly and pop it in the mail!) It was a quick card I made using my Gypsy/Cricut and the Create a Critter Cartridge.

My sis-in-law loves birds so I usually make her cards themed around that.

Nice quick card, just cut out the little birdy with the little accessory nest that came with it. Slapped it on some patterned paper I picked up at Hobby Lobby awhile back. I couldn't center it for the life of me. I finally gave up and kept repeating over and over the mantra "If it was supposed to be perfect, I would have just bought a card from Hallmark...if it was supposed to be perfect..."! Happy Birthday was stamped with a Papertrey Ink Stamp off of Birhday Basics. That's about it!

I figured I'd throw in another old creation since I won't be posting in awhile.

For Halloween, Topher and I decided that we wanted to carve an unconventional pumpkin. Now Hedgehogs are kind of one of our favorite animals (up there with moose). So we took the the create a critter hedgehog cute and cut him out at about 5". We glued it on to the pumpkin face, carved the outline, and started cutting away!

Yes indeed we used the Cricut tool set as our carving utensils. Topher got a little messy while carving the feet. We cut out the nose, eyes, smile, and body and with the face and feet, we thinned the walls to let the light shine through.

Here's our finished product lit up! The hatchmark is since we took the picture through the screendoor, hahah sorry!

2011-03-17T17:53:00.000-07:00

Quick card I whipped up for my friend Aaron who is sick. I met Aaron at a Miss Taiwanese America event, and we've been friends ever since. His happiness and joy for life just radiates everywhere. Unfortunately, he's come down with pneumonia, which is especially critical since Aaron has muscular dystrophy. Luckily, he's was discharged yesterday after being in the hospital for a week. I fiddled with the look of this card for a bit, and made it during batting practice during our baseball game haha!

I used the sick Riley stamp and colored him in with E33 and E37 for shadowing.

I cut him out using the mini-monograms cartridge at 4 1/4" and the center cut. I was nervous since it was my first time trying to cut in image out as opposed to stamping on a pre-cut piece! It came out fine. It seemed a little plain with just one Riley so I figured...what could be better than...TWO Rileys!

Sorry I don't have any pictures of coloring in the second Riley (Flowers Riley) and added the mini sentiments from papertrey Ink. I glued these Rileys on blue mats (also cut out from Mini monograms) and added a dollar bin ribbon. I cuttlebugged part of the yellow background with spots and dots and the base is papertrey ink in white ( I LOVE the heft!). The inside was stamped with a wood block stamp I got from a pack at Michaels.

Here's a pic of Aaron and myself! I hope he feels better!

2011-03-15T17:53:00.000-07:00

Chocolate Rum Cake anyone? So while we were in a baseball tournament in Arizona, I had a little slice of rum cake that made me crave the Tortuga chocolate rum cake I had during my Caribbean cruise. I couldn't get it out of my mind when I we got back to Mobile, so I found an easy recipe on Allrecipes.com. It got rave reviews and seemed so simple! Here's the link to the recipe.

I tried making it on Mardis Gras (which is a big deal down here), but all the liquor stores were closed!! I got a chance on Wednesday and whipped up a quick one. I couldn't find a bundt pan so I used an angel food cake tube pan I found at Walmart.

I used golden rum as opposed to white rum just to give it more punch, and I made twice the amount of glaze since the cake didn't seem as moist as I would have liked it to be. For the second batch of glaze I used brown sugar as opposed to white sugar and I loved the deeper molasses flavor it gave it.

I had problems with getting the glaze to soak in evenly (especially in the middle) despite making two batches of glaze. I think next time, I'm going to poke some holes throughout the middle before pouring the glaze to help with the absorption.

Here's a slice of the cake paired with some So' delicious vanilla coconut ice cream (MY FAVORITE).

Sorry I didn't take a picture of the finished cake out of the pan. It was boring looking (but the real reason was because I was too busy cutting into it and devouring half the cake myself to take a picture!)

I felt so guilty eating half the cake myself in a day, I brought it to the baseball field the next day to ease the guilt. They devoured it and loved it. Guess I'll be making it again soon! I'm about to invest in a nice bundt pan!

2011-03-10T20:55:00.000-08:00

Just a little thank you card to thank Topher's Grandparents for sending me their trademark bran muffins and a birthday card for my birthday! I love them so much and are the quintessential grandparents from New York that you see in the movies! I've been trying to be a little creative on my layouts while keeping them simple.

So I used the Farmer Riley and Sophie stamp for this card. Colored them in with Copics, here are the ones I used

For the antlers and hooves, then the ones for their faces

For their clothing, the belt and piewere colored in with E59 and E35 I believe, and the pitchfork and piepanwith my Sakura Jelly Roll Pen

Initially I was planning on a darker and more vibrant green color palette (mainly greens and yellows). But I found the plaid pattern paper (no idea where it came from) and I thought how lovely it would be and it kind of matched Sophies shirt. Thank goodness I don't get too uppity about colors needing to match exactly. I cut out the circle from the pale green paper at 4 1/4" from Mini Monograms and then cuttlebugged it with the Bird and Swirls folder. Matted everything on brown kraft paper and then again on some light blue paper. I cut the little "bran muffin" from the create a critter cartridge. They are so yummy toasted and with some butter. The sentiment is stamped with brown versafine ink and was a wooden stamp set purchased from Michaels one day when I was trying to build up my stamp collection.

The base was flimsy Recollections white cardstock so I had to reincforce wht inside with another layer of brown cardstock to give it some stiffness. I printed out a sentiment on the plaid paper to give it some interest and tie it back in. Not so crazy about it, but it's ok!

2011-03-02T16:46:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I'm a little late in posting this I know....the sad thing is that I'm even later in sending this to Topher! He'll probably end up getting his valentine's day card in April by the rate I'm going. So Topher is now down in Ft. Myers for Spring Training. He's working in the front office with the Boston Red Sox. To celebrate his new job I made him a little Red Sox Card, Riley included!

I chose the Sweetheart Riley and cut out the little note that he holds on the left. I used the Sure Cuts a Lot Software and cut a Boston Red Sox logo and had him holding that instead! Riley is popdotted up along with the Red Sox "B". The white background is cuttlebugged with the argyle folder and then matted on a Boston red mat. I added a strip of baseball paper and then sandwiched it between two strips of blue paper.

I also made Topher a more traditional V-day card using more traditional colors.

The little paper stamps were actually from some patterned paper I got from Michaels several months ago. I cut each one out and matted each on their own little pink mat. Tried to space them out as evenly as possible. I then cut out a label....I have no idea where I picked it out from (I seem to forget more often now that I've gotten a Gypsy). I stamped the background using this dollar bin stamp I have using Tim Holtz Red Brick Distress ink. Then I stamped the I love you sentiment (I think another dollar bin buy). I chose a grey background to masculinize it up a bit more and of course cuttlebugged it with my favorite folder of the moment, the argyle folder. I used plain white cardstock base just because I wanted to keep it from getting too frou frou.

2011-02-18T16:21:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year......Baseball Season!! So I'm sure you've all heard of Bakerella, the awesome lady who brings us her infamous cake pops. Well I've been dying to make some Cake Pops (I have the book and everything), but didn't get the nerve up to do so until now. I decided to make them for the start of our seasoner for our home opener.

It actually came out pretty well! I need to work on shaping my balls into rounder shapes! I used Edible ink pens to make the seams and baseball logo (American Crafts I believe is the brand). I used chocolate cake maked with plain white frosting. Now usually I don't like really swet things, but these were so good I ended up eating ALL my mistakes. With relish! I used Almond Bark for the coating.

So for each of my guys, I made a cake pop with their name and number on the back and the South Alabama logo on the front. I wrapped each in cellophane and a twist tie.

I'm excited to try making more, especially the cupcake pop and maybe an easter treat! Happy opening season everyone!

2011-01-30T18:09:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since I've made something so I wanted to share with you a card I made back in the summertime. It was a birthday card I made for my former roommate, and one of my best friends Tommy. He loves the show Dexter so I wanted to make him a Dexter themed card. I cut the card base using the Cricut cartridge beyond birthdays. The two stamps are Birthday Riley and Sock Monkey Riley. The balloons was cut from another riley stamp and then paper pieced and pop dotted behind the sock monkey Riley.

Now the reason behind the sock monkey is because my friend Tommy is deathly afraid of sock monkeys, he finds their texture, dead eyes, and red lips very creepy. Because of this, he is ensured some sort of sock monkey item each year. I found the Dexter picture online, and just printed it out. Inside, I printed the sentiment "Hope you have a Killer birthday!"

2011-01-12T21:45:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the blurry picture, I really need to get an actual camera instead of always using my iphone!

So this is a set of cards I've been working on for quite awhile. I started them over the summer and was meaning to give them to some of my former VMI (Virginia Military Institute) athletes who are now stationed all over the country and world. I wanted to give it to them for 4th of July, and then Veteren's Day, and then Memorial Day...but I just couldn't get them to look the way I wanted. So FINALLY, I was able to sit down and get everything squared away! I'll admit, I'm very proud of this set of cards, almost as proud as I am of the people they went to.

So this card is for Jakes who is now stationed in Afghanistan. He's in the army and so I paper pieced a little camo background for him. The frame and My Hero cut for all of these comes from the stand and salute cartridge. Military Riley was the stamped I used. SOOO CUTE AND I LOVE IT!! I scored the edges for some interest. Here's a pic of Jakes over there in Afghanistan.

Sorry for the blurry picture. This is for Lynn, my marine who flys helicopters and is stationed in Pensacola for the time being. I used patterned paper from Michaels for the inside, and the white frame was cuttlebugged with the diamond plate folder and rubbed with a silver stamp to bring out the pattern. I used a gold sakura gelly roll pen to color in the anchor.

Here's Lynn

Last but certainly not least, here's the card I made Tommy who is in the airforce and flying jets in Wichita. Same diamond plate paper, I just arranged it different, and also added a scored border on his.

Here's Tommy in his formal wear.

I loved making these cards and the people I made them for. I think these will be a favorite for a long time coming.

2011-01-04T21:06:00.000-08:00

Since it's been awhile since I've posted since I've gotten busy with the holidays and being home in California for a bit without my crafting supplies, here's something I made that I didn't remember to post.

For a housewarming gift for a friend, I purchased a yankee candle and just made a cute seasonal wrapper. It was during the fall so I figured that the Pumpkin Patch Riley would be perfect (especially since the candle smelled like pumpkin pie! I colored in Riley with copics, and the sentiment was printed out (I wish I had printed it out bigger!) I distressed the edges with Tim Holtz antique linen to make the white less harsh. I then added a brown spotted ribbon (dollar bin!)and some pumpkin colored cardstock. Nice and simple!

2010-12-22T09:31:00.000-08:00

Here are some holiday projects that Topher and I have done throughout this month. Every Sunday this month we've had Christmas Sunday! Basically, all we do is stay at home, listen to Christmas music, watch Christmas movies, bake Christmas goodies, and work on a Christmas puzzle or crafts. Here is our little tree that we decorated. We were excited since it was our first Christmas as a little family together. We bought little mini ornaments as well as made out own.

We made ornaments using the floor wax method. All you do is buy that magic stuff (Pledge Floor Care with the Future label) and poor it into clear glass ornaments that we picked up at Michaels. We used Martha Stewart Glittee in Blue, Silver and White...poured just a bit in there and rolled it around! Beautiful results and Topher loved making them!

Next, we made these snowflakes off of this idea I saw in the Martha Stewart Living Magazine. I purchased the Snowflake snowpunch, and punched out a billion of them in grey, blue and white. I glued three together using my zig 2 way pen to give them some stiffness and then covered them with modpodge and covered them with glitter! Added a little ribbon loop and there you go! I then started getting a little crazy and making dual colored snowflakes. I kind of like the way they look!

Here's Topher hanging em up

We also spent one Sunday making scarves. I've been dying for a cute plaid scarf all season, but I can't seem to pony up 30 bucks for a scarf that I'll wear sporadically. So I just went to Joanns fabric, bought some material and cut it up and used fusible webbing to bond it to make it long enough. Some of them didn't come out all too pretty (drat my lack of ability to cut in a straight line!!!) but when it's all wrapped up you can't really tell (or that's what I tell myself). Topher has decided to be a stylish model for us, displaying all our wares.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

2010-12-18T09:25:00.000-08:00

Peppermint bark anyone? So I have 40 college baseball players and so I wanted to make them a little gift for the holidays. I figured guys would rather have sweets instead of a frou frou card, so I decided to make them little goody bags of homemade sweets.

My version of "Peppermint bark"is really simple and easy to make. I just melt down a bag of white chocolate chips in the microwave and add rice crispy cereal until it's the consistency of rice crispy treats. Spread it out nice and flat so it's just a thin layer on a sheet of foil and then sprinkle Andes Peppermint baking bits on top. Pat down to make sure the baking bits are in! Put in the fridge for about 15 minutes and break it up! It keeps forever but it probably won't last very long. Guys especially find it irresistible.

I just used the little reindeer guy from the Create a Critter cartridge and I believe I cut him out at 3/4 inch. Paper was bazzil basics from Michaels and I just cut alternate scarves in green and red. (By the way, the gypsy is a god send in mass production, thank you, thank you, thank you). The tags were just labels I printed out on the computer and slapped on to the little treat bags!

2010-12-12T22:17:00.000-08:00

Here's my second set of Christmas cards (and my main one, that little deer is the theme this Christmas).

All of the cuts came from the Create a Critter Cartridge. The Season's Greeting Sentiment is from the Seasonal stamp set from Papertrey Ink and I used Tim Holtz distressed ink in red brick. One thing I must say I'm grateful for is that I have the stamp-of-a-ma-jig since I am terrible at aligning my stamps! For the first dozen or so cards I made I heat embossed the lightbulbs to give it sparkle, but it was inconsistent as far as thickness and would stain a bit. I went and purchased some glossy accents and it worked BEAUTIFULLY (oh Glossy Accents, why did I not purchase you before?!) I'm sorry I do not have a picture of the new and improved holiday lights!

Here's the inside sentiment and the corresponding envelope I made. I must say, I wouldn't be able to make my envelopes without the envelope guideline from Scor-Pal. That is a lifesaver!

2010-12-09T09:10:00.000-08:00

Here's my first set of Christmas cards. Ahh the craziness of the holidays! So this year, I've decided to make two different card sets. Today, I'm showing the first design. I'll tell you, next year, I'm going to start much much earlier! It's tough to mass produced cards when you work 10 hour days!

So this is my "elegant" and simple card. I used the Christmas and Joys of the Season cartridge for the deer and the tree. My cricut was being temperamental and I was only able to cut out 8 or so trees completely with no snags or tears. I popped the deers on top of the tree, and added adhesive pears (that I colored red with copics) to the tree. The background was cuttlebugged using the swissdots folder.

The inside sentiment came from my Christmas stamp set from papertrey inks, and I made matching envelopes with my Martha Stewart scorboard. The lining was some patterned paper I picked up and I cuttlebugged the top of the envelope with swiss dots as well to tie it all in together.

2010-11-24T09:04:00.000-08:00

My last birthday card for the month! This card is for my older brother. He's an avid White Sox fan so I decided to make him a card based off of that! I found the logo online and converted the .jpg file into an .svg file. I converted it into 3 cuts and cuts them out on Sure Cuts A Lot. The happy birthday was also cut using Sure Cuts A Lot and shadowed as well.

The inside sentiment was printed on a piece of designer paper found at Hobby Lobby. The second sox logo was also a .jpg converted to an .svg file and cut out with sure cuts a lot. I don't know what I'd do without that program!

2010-11-19T11:00:00.000-08:00

A card for my older sister for her birthday! Nice and very simple, just to highlight the sheet music paper I picked up in a scrapbooking store in my travels. The sentiment is printed onto kraft paper, and I just lightly stamped the paper with metallic inks from the Martha Stewart teardrop ink pads. I added brads and that's it!

I made the envelope using my Martha Stewart scorboard and lined the inside with the same paper. Nice elegant card for my older sister.

2010-11-10T08:53:00.000-08:00

Quick card for my brother-in-law for his birthday! I have a lot of birthday's coming up this month so I have to get cracking on the card making! The cake is cut from the Smiley "cartridge". The Smiley cartridge was a special download for the Gypsy, and it has a ton of really really cute cuts. I made him a red velvet cake with white frosting since it's his favorite and the sentiment was printed from the computer. Nice simple card with some stickles on the flame.

The cardstock for the base was using the charcoal cardstock from Papertrey Ink that I just purchased. It's so lovely as a base since it's so heavy, I'm so glad I purchased it (in black and white as well)!

2010-10-29T10:28:00.000-07:00

I don't care what anyone says, when you're in the baseball world, wedding season is not in the summer, it's between late October and January. The reason why is because baseball season is during the summer, and when your husband has a baseball game every single day (literally, one off day per 28-31 days!), there's really no time to have a wedding or honeymoon! So the couple who I made the engagement card for awhile back (Jay, Topher's teammate and his fiancee Jenny) just got married up in Washington, and we made them a congratulations card using their wedding colors. The stamp is a digital stamp from The Greeting Farm collection, the heart and just married sign are from the Sweethearts cartridge.

I used the Martha Stewart scor-board to give a subtle border to the card as well as made a envelope for it. For the envelope I just used regular white cardstock and patterned paper from Hobby Lobby.

I colored the background behind the couple with a pale pale pink copic (I believe it was 000) and popped the flower in her hair. I outlined her wedding dress with stickles to give it some sparkly (when I make a card for a girl I jump at the chance to use stickles!). The couple are very blonde blonde, (her moreso then him) so I decided to color them in to reflect that.

I printed a sentiment on red cardstock using my computer and glued it to the inside. The lentils comment is because their hometown is known for Lentils! Hope you enjoyed this card as much as I enjoyed making it! Here's a picture of the beautiful couple!

The Brossmans

Love the Red Shoes and Cleats!!

2010-10-20T08:21:00.000-07:00

Birthday for my niece who turned 6! She lives in San Diego and had a pirate mermaid party so I decided to make her card with that theme. The stamps are from The Greeting Farm, Pirate Ian and Mermaid Anya. I colored them in with Copics and popped dotted them up on two backgrounds that were digital papers that I don't remember where I got it from. I did a terrible job stamping happy birthday and the ribbon was plain white ribbon that I colored with Copics to match the paper.

Each of the stamps were fussy cut after I colored them. I colored the mermaid's hair to mimic my niece's hair and I stickled some strands of gold and added adhesive gems where the pearls were to give it some interest. I stickled her shells and her tail to add more sparkly since every little girl loves glitter!

Here's he birthday girl with her cake!

2010-09-20T08:12:00.000-07:00

It's been so long but I've been so busy with moving again. I've taken a new job as the athletic trainer for the University of South Alabama's Baseball team. Haven't had much time to be making cards and haven't had a chance to organize my scrapbooking material to easily make cards.

This card was as a thank you for my dentist back home in California. He's been wonderful and so I wanted to thank him for everything he's done. He's an avid surfer so I decided that I would take the Surfing Riley and make him into a surfing dentist moose! The colors I chose were based off of the pattern paper I found at a hobby lobby and the green paper up top was cuttlebugged with the leaf folder. I drew in the toothbrush and cut out a little tooth to put in his hooves, and the sentiment was from papertrey ink. I added some white souffle pen marks on the waves and then just stickled the wave.

2010-09-01T08:06:00.000-07:00

Quick little card I made for Topher's sister's 19th birthday. This card ended up being a lot tinier than I thought! I think I cut the giraffe (off the Create a Critter cartridge) out at 1 1/2 inches, and the card is 2x2 inches. Poor Topher had to really squish his handwriting to fit it all in. I cuttlebugged the pink with the floral folder and borderpunched it with the martha stewart border punch. Ribbon was from the dollar bin and I just stickled the border to give it some sparkle! His sister is very girly and loves pink and black.

2010-08-01T07:57:00.000-07:00

So I made little snack boxes for Josh and the athletic trainer for the Bakersfield Blaze since they were traveling. Hopefully I'll show you pictures some time of what I'm talking about, what I do is I take an empty box for baseball and fill it with little goodies.

Now the usual snack packs aren't very guy friendly, they're so tiny, so I decided to make my own "man-sized" packs of snacks (more fit for 6'5 baseball players). I just purchased big cellophane bags and filled them with goldfish and what thins. I made the toppers with some cuts off of the Create a Critter cartridge, the goldfish and the peanut). Just something to help personalize the box of treats!

2010-07-24T07:57:00.000-07:00

So I've relocated back to my hometown of California for the time being since all my siblings are back here at my parents home for the summer (after our family Caribbean cruise). One of my friends Josh is out here playing for a minor league team out here, the Inland Empire 66ers. As the season draws to an end, I made him a card to give to his host parents who were kind enough to let him and his teammate live in their house all season. It's a cabin up in the mountains and is decorated with a moose theme...so what better way to say thanks then with a Riley stamp? I wish they had a baseball Riley stamp. Instead I went with the Fishing Riley and accidently colored a bit too much on one side of his face.

I used the color scheme of the 66ers, red, blue and white. I used a strip of baseball paper, and I used a versamark ink pad and tiny leaf stamps from the dollar bin to make a watermark background on the grey. Sentiment was from Papertrey Inks and I used brads to emphasize the statement (and I feel like hardware masculinizes cards hahah!) Nice little tiny card.

Here's Josh before one of his starts

2010-07-14T21:39:00.000-07:00

I made these thank you cards for Topher's brother Dan. He just graduated from Lemoyne college and he wanted some cards to thank some of the staff members and teachers for all they've done while he's been in college.

I decided to make these cards completely Lemoyne theme so I used their school logo and colors. I downloaded a jpg of the logo online and converted it into an svg file, breaking it down to two colors. I then cut them out, as well as the Thank You using Sure Cuts A Lotand cutting it out on my Cricut.

Nice and simple matting so as not to distract from the awesome college logo. Here's the original logo.

Not bad I must say so myself! I'm definitely proud of myself for this card!

2010-07-14T20:21:00.000-07:00

My first RILEY THE MOOSE card. I love love love love these stamps, and have been dying to getmy hands on them! I purchased some when I was in Dallas and have been waiting for a chance to use them! I finally felt secure enough with my stamping and copic coloring ability to make this card for one of my best guy friends Justin.

Now Justin loves to work out. He'd probably rather work out than celebrate his birthday, let alone eat cake. So I made this card to celebrate his quirky personality. I used both the aerobic Riley and Birthday Riley for this card. I paperpieced more presents into the card and stamped the sentiment using the papertrey ink stamp from the birthday basics stamp set. Some ribbon trim from the dollar bin and round all the edges and my card is done! I love these stamps because I love moose!!

2010-07-04T20:10:00.000-07:00

Topher and I made a little trip to Saratoga recently and we saw this cute little doggy bakery boutique. I bought some treats for my brother's dog, Brimley, and decided to make him a little card to go with it.

The dog was made to look like him and the all those cuts came from the Create a Critter cartridge. The bue background was cuttlebugged with the spots and dots folder and trimmed with ribbon from the dollar bin. In return, I got this lovely pic of Brimley enjoying his gift!

Cute little doggy huh? Too bad the I fell off in Brimley en route. Oh well, if it was perfect it would have Hallmark on the back!

2010-07-01T20:02:00.000-07:00

A little belated birthday card I made for my Bestie, Sarah! We call each other turtles so I decided it would be an appropriate card to make for her. The turtles are cut from Create a cricut and so is the pond and grass. The oval is a label off of the Heritage cartridge I believe and the sentiment is from papertrey ink, Birthday Basics!

2010-06-21T16:40:00.000-07:00

Just a these little note cards I made for my two favorite teachers in college. Alabama's non official textile pattern is houndstooth (due to the houndstooth cap that Bear Bryant, legendary football coach, used to wear). So I made strips of houndstooth paper using my cuttlebug folder, and then inking the raised parts with a brayer inked in black. I then used my GYPSY to weld the Circles from the Mini Monogram cartridge with letters from the Jasmine cartridge. I made 3 cards each and just tied them up with a ribbon!

2010-06-20T19:15:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day!

This is the card I made Topher's dad for fathers day! I forgot to take a picture of the card I made my own father (DRAT!) but I can at least share this one.

I decided to go unconventional and make a long card with rounded edges (using my trusted corner punch).

I used Sure Cuts A Lot to weld the letter for Dad together and I made a shadow for the Dad in white and used a pen to add details to the word. (I'm excited!!! I have a Gypsy coming in the mail!! They were for sale on Customcrops.com for 99 bucks!) The whales are from Create a Critter. I stickled the water spout. The background is cuttlebugged with the script folder. The sentiment is printed and cut out with the mini monograms Cartridge. I stamped it a bit with Martha Stewart teardrop inkpads to tie it into the card. I'm not sure what the "to a whale of a dad" sentiment was supposed to mean, but it sounded great at the time!!

Since the card was made of metallic paper, making it difficult to write with, I added a piece of plain cardstock and watermarked it with some Papertrey Ink flourish stamps using my versamark inkpad to mimicthe water. Hope you guys enjoyed it!

2010-06-10T19:29:00.000-07:00

So my good college friend Todd, is now a medstudent at UAB. It's been a lifelong dream of his to become a doctor, and he's worked so very hard to achieve it. This card is celebrate his birthday and his acceptance into the UAB med program.

For the little doctor cut, I used Everday Paper Dolls. I stickled the mirror on his forehead to just give it some texture and added buckles to his shoes.

Happy Birthday came from the Beyond Birthdays cartridge and Todd was cut using a font cartridge I don't remember. The colors black, green and yellow are to mimic the school colors of the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

Nice and simple card, but likeall my cards, customized!

2010-05-28T18:41:00.000-07:00

So Topher has official given up his professional baseball playing career. He has now moved on to looking for a job in finance and putting his MBA to good use.

For the time being we are currently in Albany, NY...where Topher is originally from. Recently, he got this mysterious package from Salt Lake City. To our pleasant surprise, a superfan of the AAA team Topher played for (the Salt Lake Bees) has sent him his jersey when he played with them!

To thank her, I made a card for her with the theme of the baseball team, the Salt Lake Bees. The team colors are black and yellow, and so I picked the bumblebee from.....of course...Create a Critter cartridge. The hive was also the accessory that came with the bee, and the flower also came from the Create a critter cartridge. The lustrous white cardstock was cuttlebugged with the Swiss Dots folder. The border was punched with a Martha Stewart border punch, the ribbon from the dollar bin. I stickled the antennae and pop-dotted the bee and flower.

The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and the adhesive gems came from the Scrapbook Barn in Dallas when we were passing through!

Topher as a Salt Lake Bee

2010-05-23T08:38:00.000-07:00

So I've been on a Sure Cuts A Lot kick. Sure Cuts A Lot is a software program that lets you design on your computer (using the fonts you have), hook it up to your cricut, and cut it out! We're currently in Washington, PA and living in a hotel for the past couple of weeks. We sure are sick of it.

We're hoping to get a host family to take us in, and so in preparation of being accepted, I decided to make a card.

Front of the card used the acorns from Create a Critter. The leaves came from Stretch Your Imagination cartridge. The words were created using Sure Cuts a lot and welded together (sooo much more convenient!). I just used my white souffle pen to make the faux stitching to make it more legible. Sure Cuts A Lot is nice because I don't have a gypsy or many Cricut font cartridges, so this is a cheaper alternative for me (as well as less stuff to lug around (space is a premium for how much we move and pack/unpack in our SUV!).

The Inside of the card was also made with the Create a Critter cartridge and sure cuts a lot. the Yellow paper border was made using the martha stewart border punch.

2010-05-18T21:06:00.000-07:00

So one of my bosses at Athletes' Performance loved his card so much that he asked me to make a dozen thank you cards for him. With nothing else to do here in Washington, PA, and no income coming in (due to us moving everywhere) I figured why not.

Now my boss is a guy, but he told me he trusted my decision and, I tried to keep them from being too frou frou. I stuck with a simple blue and chocolate color scheme and decided to make half a dozen owl ones and half a dozen hedgehog ones. Of course the cartridge I grabbed was the Create a Critter cartridge! I actually used the program Sure Cuts A Lot to make the Thank you Sentiment, and used the label from the Create a Critter cartridge. I cuttlebugged the background using the Swiss Dots folder and plaid ribbon from the dollar bin. I added a lighter brown inside with flourished stamped on using a versamark inkpad to give it a watermark affect.

I think these are the first cards that I really like and can't stop staring at! Like a proud mama!

2010-05-12T14:55:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to my Love! Topher's birthday was actually in April, but for some reason I forgot to post this card.

I made this card utilizing the stretch your imagination cartridge, and stamped sentiment by Papertrey ink. I cuttlebugged the green side with the Argyle folder and borderpunched the blue side with the fiskars border punch. I love the gentle sheen the metallic paper gave it. Added interest. I tried to emboss the stamp with a white embossing powder, but it came out a more translucent pearl quality. Oh well, guess I need to invest in a better white soon!

Quick card since I barely had time to make this card before Topher came home! He loved it anyway.

2010-05-09T20:45:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day!!!

I made a card for both my mom and Topher's mom! The first card is for Topher's mom. His momma loves to call her three little kiddos her ducks in her pond, so I decided to use this cute little stamp I purchased in a crafts store in Phoenix (not sure what it's called). It's originally just the Big duck and the 3 little ducklings, but I cut it in 2 pieces in order to stamp the big duck again so it mimics Topher's family.

The green paper is cuttlebugged with the Birds and Swirls folder, and punched with a Martha Stewart border punch. I broke down and purchased Copic markers before we left for Dallas (much to the pricey chagrin of Topher) and have been in love with coloring in my stamps. I added some grass using my Copics as well. The ribbon was another dollar store find.

This card was for my own Momma. I chose the cut off of the Sweethearts cartridge. I colored in the heart with Copics and wrote in mom on the heart. I then embossed it several times to give it a glossy feel. The flower in the girls hair is actually nail art that I bought in a beauty supply store. I cuttlbugged the green background with spots and dots, and the ribbon is another dollar bin find. Celebrate today is part of the mini sentiments stamp set from Papertrey ink!

2010-05-01T20:41:00.000-07:00

Sharing my Easter card that I forgot to do so last month. I was pretty pleased with the results, The stamped sentiment as well as the bunny is from papertrey ink (stamps so pretty!) and the yellow paper is cuttlebugged with the argyle print (what a great buy). The ribbon was a dollar bin purchase, and the white circle and scalloped circle were cut using Minimonograms cartridge. I used a martha stewart border punch and pastel brads to finish it off.

2010-04-23T23:31:00.000-07:00

So we're off to Washington, PA! We made a stop in Little Rock, AR to see the team that Topher would have played for this year with the Angels, their AA affiliate, the Arkansas Travs. All of his friends and former teammates were there (including one of his best friends and essentially our roomie all of last season, Romine). It was a little bittersweet, I know Topher didn't want to leave all his friends behind, especially Andrew, but it was great to spend one night there to catch a game and visit.

Topher wanted to make a thank you card for Romine to say thanks for letting us stay, and so he chose the design of the card (yea, go figure). So he picked up the Create a Critter cartridge and chose the Horse and Peanut cuts and said he wanted the circus peanut to ride the horse. His wish was my command. I stickled the top hat to make it more jaunty and I used my terrible dollar bin stamp to stamp the sentiment (lesson of the day, paying a premium on stamps is alright, the quality is worth it!).

Once again the baseball ribbon and brads made an appearance. Topher loved the card, so I'm assuming that it was a good choice hahah!

Here's a pic of the two roomies at Disneyland. It probably will help to explain why this card is perfect for the two.

2010-04-17T12:04:00.000-07:00

We're on the move again!! Topher was unfortunately released from the Angels so he's now looking for another baseball team to pick him up before the season starts! He's looking at other organizations as well as independent ball teams, and has finally settled with the Wildthings in Washington, PA. He needs to report in about a week. For the time being...we are no longer in Phoenix, AZ, but now in Dallas, TX! We're out here working with his hitting instructor. What do I do? Sit there and craft and blog to pass the time while he's working with Jaime. We've been here for about a week or so and pretty soon we will be headed towards PA. As a thank you for all his help, we made Jaime a little thank you card. For the penguin, I used my brand new cartridge, the CREATE A CRITTER cartridge. Now I KNOW I will be using this cartridge obsessively. Soooo many cute little cuts. The little circle was cut out from Mini-monograms Cartridge. As you can also see, I've also invested in a cuttlebug (yes, my paper crafting tools are becoming extensive) and cuttlebugged the grey background with script. The border was punched with a Fiskars punch and the ribbon was from the dollar bin! Love this card!!

2010-04-14T20:13:00.000-07:00

Did I mention how much I love this cartridge? Another cute cut from the Create a Critter cartridge. A little birthday card I made for Daisuke's translator. His birthday is comign up so I was able to send this his way. Since they are with the Boston Redsox, I decided to go with that color theme as well as with the baseball ribbon (now THAT wasn't a dollar bin buy, I figured I'd find some use for it with my baseball background!). The little gift cut is from Stretch your Imgination cartridge. I added little silver brads for some interest and the sentiment is stamped with a stamp that I believe I got from Papertrey Ink. I embossed the sentiment to give it some texture. The squirrel is so cute and I love this card!

2010-04-09T15:22:00.000-07:00

Not so quick thank you card I made for several of the staff members at Athletes' Performance. I have ample time these days with the changes that have been occuring in mine and Topher's life. The Thanks sentiment was cut from Beyond Birthdays cartridge I believe. The cricket from the Stretch your imagination cartridge. Assorted ribbon and paper. The main green paper was stamped with a papertrey ink stamp using a Versamark inkpad to make it look like a watermark. added little white details to the crickets legs with a white souffle pen, as well as faux stitching with a black souffle pen.

I made about 5 of these and they were quite time consuming! Either way, I loved them for how "creative" I felt I was making them. Not bad for crafting for 2 months!

2010-04-04T20:55:00.000-07:00

So after my best friend's girlfriend saw the cards I posted on facebook, she asked me to make her a card. Ironic how in my previous post I stated how I wanted to make a card just because I wanted to without worrying about what other people think...she gave me a long lists of her likes and dislikes.

Here are some of the stipulations she had

All kinds of pink, especially hot pink or fuschia
Paisley
Girly flourishes (think anthropologie)
Birds
Alice in Wonderland
Toadstools

Now as previously mentions in a previous post, I'm not very girly when it comes to my color choices, especially when it comes to pink. So this was quite the stretch for me! Nonetheless I plodded on.

The bird and the flourishes came from the Heritage cartridge and the paisleys came from (what else?) the Paisley cartridge! I bling blinged it up a bit with the stickles. I also added little toadstool magnets as a little birthday gift. Hopefully she likes it!

Toadstools come from the Paisley Cartridge! (What would I do without it?!)

2010-04-01T07:51:00.000-07:00

So I was getting kind of stressed of making cards on the fly for occasions so I decided maybe I should make some blank cards that I can just add sentiments to when I need them! It was kind of nice not making a card without worrying whether someone would like it or not. To be honest, it's probably my favorite one yet!

The little turtle is from the Stretch your Imagination cartridge. and the pattern paper is from DCWV baby boy stack. The ribbon is from the dollar bin (yes, I did go a little ribbon buying crazy recently!). I stickled the turtles shell to give it some interest and pop dotted him up! Love the card! Hopefully I'll be able to part with it when the time comes!

2010-03-26T19:46:00.000-07:00

Here's a simple birthday card I made for my sister-in-law. Their wedding was a dark grey and yellow theme, and she loves birds. So I tried to carry that theme through this card. The bird I believe is cut from the Heritage cartridge and so is the flourish. Border punch is Martha Stewart and just added a strip of yellow to bring out the pattern. I tried to stamp the happy birthday (from the dollar bin at Michaels), but it didn't come out all that well. I decided to trace over it with a Sakura gelly roll silver pen and I was happier with the result. I also included two little birdie magnets I made but sadly I forgot to take a pic before sending them!

2010-03-24T16:39:00.000-07:00

Topher's teammate, Jay got engaged this offseason and his fiancee flew down to Arizona to spend a couple days out here for spring training. We were able to get together with them for dinner, so I decided to whip up a card for them to to say congratulations. Once again I tried to be creative with my color combinations, but ultimately I wasn't all too crazy with the green, purple, pink one I settled on. Too Barney for me. I definitely need to work on my proportions, alignment and folding skills!!

The silhouette was cut from the Sweetheart cartridge. Totally don't remember where the pattern paper came from. Stamp was a dollar bin stamp and the border punch was martha stewart!

Not my finest card, but hey, I hope Jenny and Jay appreciated it.

2010-03-19T21:34:00.000-07:00

Here's a little quick card I made for Coach Mike Roberts. I was his athletic trainer for his team in the Cape Cod League, and he was nice gentleman who gave me the opportunity to work here at Athletes' Performance. He also helped acquire a position for Topher to work out there for free in return for catching some pens (not a bad deal since it costs 6000 a week to work out there!!!). So this is a little thank you card I made depicting us (Topher in his Angels uniform and me decked out like an athletic trainer!).

I used the Everyday Paperdoll cartridge for the people and the thank you was from Sweethearts I believe!

2010-03-14T19:30:00.000-07:00

I loved making those magnets so much that I decided to make a whole garden's worth of lil' bugs!

Most of these critters are from the Paisley cartridge but the caterpiller and cricut are from the stretch your imagination cartridge! All I did was cut them out, stickle the antennae for some bling, and slap some magnets on the back! Now our black fridge doesn't look so blank now, Topher loves em.

2010-03-09T14:00:00.000-08:00

Here's the birthday card I made for Topher's mother. This has definitely been my most "ambitious" card for my lil ol' inexperienced self. The card has some raw edges here and there, but I'm trying! So here's my attempt at a "window" card. Topher's mom's favorite color is a deep purple so here we go again on trying to expand my color palette.

The purple frame is cut from the Stretch Your Imagination Cartridge.

The inside sentiment is cut from the Jasmine cartridge. cake is from the Stretch your Imagination cartidge. The two little people are cut from the Everyday Paper doll Cartridge. The two people are to depict Topher in his baseball uniform (too bad they didn't have catchers gear! And me as a future housewife (note the barefoot nature of my doll! A girl can dream!!).

As a little gift I sent her little snail magnets depicting the Rosenbaum clan!

Big brown snail is Mr. Rosenbaum, the purple snail is Mrs. R, and yellow snail is Topher,

the blue snail is his lil bro Dan, and the pink snail is his girly lil sister Jacquie!

I loved making these little magnets and probably will make more in the future!

2010-03-04T18:52:00.000-08:00

I made this card for Topher's old teammate at the University of Tampa. Kurt and his wifey Kami just gave birth to a little boy Kannon, so we made them a little card to congratulate them.

The penguins are cut from the Cartridge, Joys of the Season cartridge and a Martha Stewart punch. Paper is from a DCWV stack (kitchen something), and a solid color DCWV stack (sorry I dont' remember the names! I broke down the stacks to arrange them by color and no longer remember which is which!).

The inside sentiment is cut from the Sweethearts cartridge! I loved how the lil baby penguin came out! My favorite card yet!

2010-03-01T16:46:00.000-08:00

Another thank you card for my second oldest sister to show my appreciation for my birthday surprise. She has three children, two little girls and a little boy, and so I decided to go with a little monkey theme.

I was really trying to make a card out of the ribbon that I had found in the dollar bin at Michaels. The paper background is from the DCVW green earth paper stack. The sentiment is cut from Beyond Birthdays cartridge and the monkeys are cut from the Paisley cartridge. Note to self....tiny little cuts like those (i believe 1 1/2" inches or 2") are unbelievably hard and frustrating to do.

I tried gluing down the ribbon with my zig 2 way pen, and it left a stain, so note to self, buy glue dots or a tape runner!

This card isn't my favorite, but it helped use up some of the mounds of patterned paper I decided to impulsively buy and stretch my "creative boundaries".

2010-02-28T13:38:00.000-08:00

Today, while Topher was at the field, I decided to make him a card to thank him for my lovely new gift. Now probably due to the fact that I'm always around boys, I'm not very big on very feminine colors (my palette in life, clothes, decor, electronics, and knicknacks only span the spectrum of blue, green, grey, black, and chocolate brown).

I tried to expand my color choices with a yellow and green card with pink and purple accents. Most of these papers just come from a generic pad from Michaels (recollections??) I am becoming scrapbook crazy and picking up endless arrays of cute patterned papers and border punches. Topher is already regretting purchasing me a Cricut for how much he foresees me spending on this hobby.

All of the cuts come from the Cricut cartridge Sweethearts. The borderpunch used was from Martha Stewart. Simple and sweet. I need to figure out how to properly bunch with the border punch!

My FIRST Card

2010-02-26T20:30:00.000-08:00

So this is my first attempt at creativity. I will tell you, despite having a Cricut to cut out endless amounts of cute little forms, it's still a little hit or miss on shape and fitting it on the paper. Hopefully this gets a little easier with time. Youtube tutorials (especially My Pink Stampers earlier posts, have been extremely handy).

This was a thank you card for my older sister for the birthday present she sent me out here in Arizona (Thanks Kim!).

I just used a basic pre-made blank card purchased from Michaels. The snail is from the cricut cartridge Paisley and the paper is mainly from a paper stack from DCWV. The Sentiment was cut from the cricut cartridge Beyond Birthdays. Ribbon trim was found in the dollar bin at Michaels and the borderpunch at the bottom is Martha Stewart (love em!).

Here's another photo (courtesy of my iphone) on my new baby from Topher, the Cricut Create. Thanks again!

New CRICUT

2010-02-23T13:22:00.000-08:00

So my dear love, Topher, decided to give me a Cricut for my Valentine's day/Birthday!

What a pleasant surprise! Haven't been much of a paper crafter in the past, but I've been creeping on several random blogs out there in cyberspace and watching youtube tutorials.

I take this challenge on with relish and am excited to begin my Cricut/Cardmaking/Scrapbooking career! I will post my results up here!

Thanks and welcome!

pronounced Mob-EEL not Mobile

2009-11-01T19:39:00.000-08:00

It was a nice little 8 hr drive from Tampa, FL to Mobile. We got in a good night’s rest the day before, so we were in good spirits when we left (as well as had a route 44 sized Lemon Berry Slush from Sonic). We made it up in time for the Halloween festivities where we joined Tommy and his girlfriend Monica for some downtown fun. Now initially, I thought it would be a grand idea if Toph dressed up as the Travelocity gnome and we’d take pictures of him along the way at certain landmarks. He laughed...but didn’t take me seriously….little did he know that’s not how I roll! We went to Walmart and bought red posterboard for his cone hat and 3 yards of blue fabric. I quickly just fashioned a oversized t-shirt for him (cutting a hole in the middle of the fabric and some safety pins), stuffed a pillow under his shirt, and tied a belt on. We bought a wig and beard and glued some cotton onto his eyebrows with some eyelash glue. We were pleasantly surprised with the results from only 1 hr of tinkering in a parking garage...Voila! The lifesized roaming gnome!

Everyone wanted to take a picture with him, and Toph was a good sport despite his usual anti-social self. He liked the anonymity of the outfit and the fact that he didn’t have to smile in the pictures. Everyone thought he was David the Gnome, and if you are a born in the early to mid 80s child you will know of this show. It was a cartoon that appeared on Nickelodean during my childhood that taught lessons in virtues. It was such wonderful childhood memory for myself, and apparently for others (especially when inebriated). Toph got a laugh from people who thought he was the Travelocity Gnome, but the emotional response illicited from those thinking he was David the Gnome was incredible. They usually felt compelled to touch him (especially his big pillow belly) and exclaim with such heartfelt sincerity “Daaavid the Gnooomeee, I loooved that show”. Naturally, my anti-"forced interaction" man’s response was a monotonous “I’m not David.” Shattering so many individual’s childhood memories (imagine if Santa Clause told you “F*** Off”). Oh well.

The next morning, we had Panera Bread with Charlie Higgenbotham, one of my favorite football players from Alabama that now plays for South Alabama. It was great catching up with him and seeing him in a better place in his life! We had a great time hanging out with Tommy and his woman and hope to make a trip out to Mobile/Alabama sometime soon!

Toph, Me, Monica, and Tommy

Gnome Kisses

On the road again....

2009-10-31T11:43:00.000-07:00

We’ve hit the road! So we spent the week after our “Southern Trip” packing up the apartment he’s inhabited for the past 5 years. He thought that he could pack everything up in his 2 bedroom (1 bedroom really) apartment in 2 days, I thought he was crazy…and was right. I’m notorious for living in 5 different states in less than 18 months, so believe me; I know a thing or two about packing. We ended up staying an extra 3 or 4 days because of how long it took us to pack up everything. Granted, things took awhile longer than planned since he went about the right way in packing. He saved everything (things like old shower curtain rods that I would have thrown away, or the 3^rd set of bathmats that were outdated and slightly ragged) as well as took the time to label everything, wrap up everything and place them in appropriate boxes. There were some moments of tension while moving, but I guess it comes in hand when two people deal with a stressful situation differently and going off of 4 hours of sleep a night! I think it was a testimony to our relationship on how well we were able to communicate and talk through our disagreements.

Toph had gotten a climate controlled storage space that was 10x10 feet. He had measured his big furniture and estimated that we would only need a 7 ½ x10 feet space, but his mom encouraged us to get a 10x10. Boy, is she a smart lady because is was quite the crowded place when we were through! I guess I will be very grateful for all the hard work we put in to carefully keeping, storing, and labeling everything when we come back in a couple of years broke, but ready to own a home.

I think it was really surreal for Toph to see the apartment he’s called “home” for the past 5 years completely empty. I know he’s determined to find his way back to Tampa within the next year, so I guess it’ll be a race to see who gets the better job by then ;).

Once we had everything packed away we finally began our journey, 3 days behind schedule, and on Halloween. We plan on staying overnight in 4 cities; Mobile, AL, San Antonio, TX, and Carlsbad/White Sands, NM.

Status Update Part Deux!

2009-10-28T19:37:00.000-07:00

So here is the 2^nd installment of the Recap saga. This post will cover our trip to Tuscaloosa, AL for Topher’s first Bama football game! Once again, some of the links are pictures just to keep the blog looking less cluttered! The next recap will cover our cross country trip.
So once we got our little rental car we made the drive down to Tuscaloosa to have lunch with one of my teachers and program director. Usually the drive takes me 45 minutes…but….Topher is a model citizen and drives at the speed limit (even if we’re in a construction zone….with no construction going on). It took us a little bit longer but we made it to my college stomping grounds! I was more nervous introducing Toph to Deidre and Jeri than to my own parents! Part of the reason was because he’s an athlete, and we all know it’s quite the conflict of interest from a professional standpoint for an athletic trainer to date an athlete. I was frantically telling him while we were ordering our food to emphasize the fact that he has an MBA and has plans to pursue a career outside of being a professional baseball player in the near future. Needless to say, there was no need, because they liked him and spent most of the time catching up with me and all my shenanigans (Cape Cod League, Miss Taiwanese American Pageant, Swine Flu, etc….maybe one day I’ll get to those on the blog).

Afterwards we made our way over to the athletic facilities where Toph had a chance to “ooo and ahhh” over the multi-million dollar football facility. It was great to see all the people I worked with when I worked with the team in 2006 (sadly, I was only there for the spring of “two-thousand-Saban”). He marveled at our training room and the storage room (it’s even larger than the Angels!), and the abundance of free Gatorade products strategically placed around the complex just in case anyone got thirsty again for a couple of bottles in the 40 yards between the bins. We made a stop by the equipment room where I got to say hi to Tank and my beloved Bear. Bear was “my” equipment guy when I worked with the linebackers. I swear, that gig is so good at Alabama (full scholarship, tons and tons of Nike shoes and clothing, sideline passes to top 5 football year after year) that a lot of them stay and get their masters AND doctorates! Well, Bear was so excited to see me and show Topher around (to the automated sliding 20 foot shelves) that he hooked us up with warm-ups and Topher with several dri-fit shirts to work out in and wear around. Needless to say, I think that experience helped to make Toph a bonafide football fan. I showed Topher around the practice fields, and up to the Trophy Hall, where he got to marvel over the 12 national championships and then we wandered over to see the basketball facilities.

We grabbed dinner with my freshman roomie Elizabeth at Dreamland BBQ, which is a must for any person visiting Alabama (my parents used to have me bring some back on the plane when I came home for the holidays), and then caught a late night dinner with Tommy (my man of honor and former senior yr. roomie) and his girlfriend and childhood friend Drew. It was great that Topher got to meet them, because now he’s met so many of the important people in my life. We stayed at Todd’s place this whole time, and learned how to sleep in 3 different positions on a L-shaped couch!

Gameday finally arrived the next morning, and Topher got to experience the mayhem of Crimson Tide tailgating! We headed on out about 4 hours before kickoff, and Topher’s first experience was something I like to call “curb parking”. Basically, it gets so crowded on campus that you just have to pop a curb and park somewhere on the grass or dirt! We passed by our famous million dollar tricked out RVs (where they have customized mini-Alabama cars), and Topher couldn’t believe that practically every tailgate had at least one (large flatscreen HD mind you) TV hooked up to satellite so you could watch multiple games throughout the day. It was a great mix of families with little boys running around in jerseys throwing the pigskin, to young sorority girls in cocktail dresses and high heels (the Greeks dress up for games down here!), and old old men tossing the football with random strangers (one of them got Topher by surprise while crossing the crosswalk, Topher gave him the Northerner awkwardness and that game of impromptu toss ended pretty quickly).

We walked around the quad and to the bookstore (where he incredulously exclaimed that we brand everything and ANYTHING with Alabama) and then to the front of the stadium where he got to see the walk of champions (aka, the police escort bus of the team to the front of the stadium, where they walk in through the front). He was impressed by the huge following of fans who come for that and he could see how these guys think they’re Gods….they’re treated like ones down here.

We grabbed a quick bite to eat at Rama Jamas, but I was pretty bummed to see that they didn’t have their milkshakes! It was so packed that we ate on the curb outside of the restaurant, while I shared tales with Topher of how I would sneak back into the stadium after I graduated. Needless to say, Toph was pretty jazzed by kickoff, and he was not let down. He got to see a great game (that came down to a field goal block by Terrence Cody with 14 seconds left to keep Alabama’s lead) and sing along to Roll Tide renditions of Sweet Home Alabama and Dixieland Delight with 96,000 of his closest friends.

We saw Natalie for a little bit, then we had an impromptu trip to the Burke cafeteria (ohhhh hoooooowww muuuucccchh I love that place). We went and hung out in Barnes in Nobles reading (and being old people) til the traffic died down, and then headed home to a raging black light party at Todd’s (aka club rave Hackberry) where everyone was barefoot and plastered drunk. We didn’t get a chance to go to bed/"couch" until 4am, and just took Sunday off catching up on rest and correspondances before heading back to Tampa. I was so proud to show off my school and see what my undergrad experience was like. It was so much fun and a great opportunity for Toph to meet all the important people in my life.

Status Update Part 1!

2009-10-26T17:37:00.000-07:00

Some of the pictures are linked so it doesn't get too cluttered looking on my blog!

So I left for Atlanta a couple days before Topher did, just so I can spend some alone time with my best friend Sarah (aka Bailes). It was great to do some catching up as well as see what she does in Atlanta. It has been since May since I’ve seen her, and on top of that she has two new cute little kitties! The day before Topher was to get into town, I helped Sarah babysit a dozen kids ages 2-4. Only thing I’m going to say about that was that it was the LONGEST 3 hours of my life! After that we went to the highschool where she works and babysat a football team =). One thing it helped me decide was that I will never work at the highschool level! For dinner we met up with her friends and the two girls I went to UVa (and worked at VMI) with who are now located in Atlanta. It was so great to catch up with all of them and find out what has been happening in our lives since we’ve last seen each other a year ago.

Topher flew in early the next morning and we rested up before having lunch with Ray Bear who is the strength coach for the Thrashers, the NHL team in Atlanta. Now Topher is a huge hockey fan, and he was lucky that I had worked with the Thrashers a year and a half ago. Ray Bear was kind enough to get us tickets to the game as well as a pregame tour of Philips Arena, training room and the locker room. Not only that, Ray Bear used his connections to get into the Georgia Aquarium for free! The Georgia Aquarium is the largest in the world, and it was wonderful to stroll around and stare at the huge Whale Sharks lazily swimming above and around us. We saw huge groupers that totally reminded me of Topher, which he adamantly denied until I showed him this candid picture that a Quakes Booster had taken of him during a signing session. Then he had to laughingly admit that I was right, you guys decide for yourself!

We then strolled around Centennial Park (built during the 1996 Olympics), and lazed about on a park bench next to the Olympic Rings fountain. We wandered around this sculpture that was apparently supposed to still have remnants of the bombing, but alas we couldn’t find any. Ray Bear was kind enough to leave us 4 tickets, and since my friends couldn’t make it out, we decided to play Santa and surprise two people with 90 dollar tickets. Our goal was to find a father taking his young son to a game, but even better, we found this hardcore Thrashers dad who was taking his young 6 or 7 year old daughter to the game! He was decked out in Thrashers gear, and she was wearing an oversized jersey, hat and Thrashers stickers on her face. Needless to say, his expression was priceless, and I feel like we made the right choice.

The Flame Spouting Thrashers was a fav of mine!

We had a fabulous time at the game, even if the Thrashers couldn’t pull out a win versus the Capitols, but it was great to learn hockey from Topher from great seats and soak in the Philips Arena atmosphere. After the game, we went and watched Paranormal Activity with Sarah, which was scary enough that that night we all slept in a puppy pile in the living room! Sarah’s kittens were so feisty throughout the night and apparently had clawed Topher’s back so deep that he thought a claw was still stuck in it (couldn’t even find a mark). I woke up to the sounds of one of the kittens standing on Topher’s chest and batting him on the cheek and nose, to ensure the sleeping giant was indeed dead, and proceeded to curl up on his chest to nap. It made me fall in love with Toper all over again =) Aww.

That morning we took a train from Atlanta to Birmingham where we picked up a rental car (since we were flying out of Birmingham). Now I’ve never really travelled on a train in the States before, but I gotta tell you, it was an experience I’d def do again. We got to take a nice nap, and enjoy the scenery as it ambled by. There were also outlets for us to plug in our laptops (or a curling iron!) so we were able to watch episodes of Top Chef and Dexter. Finally we picked up our Rental Car and made our way down to Alabama! I’m going to post my Alabama post in a different installment just to break up the post, so stay tuned!

The only penguin in the aquarium! Blurry.

And the South shall rise again....

2009-10-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

It's been about a week since I've written so I'm doing a quick update for the time being. Pictures will be posted once we get back to Tampa. We're currently in Tuscaloosa, Al recuperating from the festivities of a football game. We've been to a NHL game as well and the aquarium. We head back to Tampa tomorrow morning for Monday Moes (of course, naturally). It's been great seeing so many people and showing Topher my friends and my college experience. I think he had a great time and is secretly (or not so secretly) jealous of my connections and memories from the University of Alabama. I promise the next post will be more indepth of all my travels!

Tampa Shenanigans

2009-10-18T17:59:00.000-07:00

So I've been in Tampa for almost a week and we've been having a lovely time. Friday night we went to Howl-o-scream, which is a Halloween themed "fright night" that Busch Gardens hosts every year. Toph and I went with his lil' sister and her friend, and I must say, it was a lot more fun then Knott's Scary Farm! I had no idea that Busch Gardens was a mix of a "safari zoo" and six flags...they even had Clydesdale horses which are my favorite things at Sea World! They had 7 houses to walk through and I must say, they did a phenomenal job of scaring us...granted, they had 3 girls to choose from! We also went on all the roller coasters, and I forgot how exhilarating they are, I loved the adrenaline rush and realize that it's one more thing I was fearless about (like stage fright!). It was a long night, we didn't get back until 2am, but it was such a fun experience and we can check off another theme park under our belts.

Saturday we slept in and watched a ton of College Football...I wish Florida had gotten upset by Arkansas, but I did have to root for Riley Cooper, my little Cape Cod baseball player. He looks so much more badass in a football uni. Then we headed to Hooters (my former place of work) and watched the Alabama vs South Carolina game. Needless to say, we won and were in control the whole game. We went to a bar/bowling alley called Splitsville (was much more high end then it sounds) where we met up with several of his old teammates from Tampa. It was fun and was really nice to be introduced to his friends.

Today we went to Mass today (Toph is 1/2 Catholic and 1/2 Jewish...how does that happen??) and I must say, I really really really enjoyed it. It may have just been because it was a new experience, but it was completely unlike what I had expected. For some reason, I had expected it to be a very somber, long, and "traditional" ritual, but it was very much like any Christian service I have attended (whether it was Presbyterian, Evangelical, or Southern Baptist). In fact, it was refreshing because the homily was more to the point and concise then Christian sermons. Everything seemed much more light-hearted then I expected. As Tommy understands, there was a lot more Jesus then I had expected!

After Mass we drove an hour south to Bradenton where another of his former teammate now lives. Apparently Topher hasn't seen Kurt and Kami in almost two years, and so he was excited to see them, and I was excited to meet them. They had two adorable Pitbulls and Kami is expecting a mini-Bax in May! She is a graphic designer and it was great to see her creativity translated into the design and color of their house. They used a lot of vibrant colors, and while I am usually not a "loud" color person, I absolutely loved it!! We played Cornhole (ohhhh what a traditional tail-gating game), and then headed off to Bonefish Grill for dinner (gee, I wonder who decided that and was craving Bang Bang shrimp?? ;) ). It has been a relaxing weekend, and we're probably going to do what we usually do at night, which are surveys, watch sports, and Dexter or Top Chef. Man we're such old people.

In a couple days we're headed off to Atlanta and Alabama!   I can't wait to see everyone and show him around and meet my friends!

Land of Citrus and Sand

2009-10-15T05:51:00.000-07:00

So it's 5:30 in the morning Pacific Time, but really 8:30 over here in...Tampa! So much for finally settling down and not moving here and there eh? But never fear everyone, I'm only out on the East Coast for 3 weeks, and I'm only visiting 3 states (as long as you don't count driving across country).

I got out here to Tampa on Tuesday, and I must say it HAS been awhile since I've been out here, more than 2 years. I forgot how disgustingly humid it is.

It's been nice to see his side of life. We've had the opportunity to check out his school and meet the important people in his life like his coaches and his beloved Business Advisor. She's been great in supporting him through a lot of changes and hard times, I understand now why she's such a big part of his life. We also invited his lil' sister over for a homecooked meal...she was amazed he cooks (me too!). He made his famous one pot pasta that he got from his momma, and I was in charge of the dessert. I hoped she had a good time, and tomorrow we're all headed to Hallowscream so that should be exciting.

I loved seeing where Toph went to school, and it makes me very excited to show him where I went to school, and have him meet all the important people in my life. We have plans of going to Atlanta and down to Tuscaloosa. We have so much to fit in...it's so obviously apparant I haven't gotten the traveling bug out yet huh? Sigh..oh well

In front of "my" sign in Ybor

Gameday!

2009-10-10T10:10:00.000-07:00

It's 9 in the morning on Saturday, and we all know what that entails....College Gameday! Today is Alabama vs Ole Miss, and I'm ready for the showdown at the Grove. I miss college football in the South, watching the boys in their blazers and the girls in the cocktail dresses. I miss singing Sweet Home Alabama and Dixieland Delight with 96,000 of my closest friends. Now anybody who has known me for more than 4 years can vouch that I had absolutely no interest in Alabama football (let alone college football), and probably went to 4 games total the first 3 years of college. Then I was assigned to work with them my senior year and was submersed into the world of SEC football. As grueling as the hours and travel was, I was with my best friends and was a part of something that thousands of people would kill to experience. I had the best seat in the house (sideline) in sold out stadiums that hold 100,000 people. I worked with people on a daily basis that were considered Gods by sorority girls and old men alike. I was privy to a culture that I never knew was so fervent and diehard. However, I did have to sacrifice a lot of things for it, I never had a weekend off for a whole semester, I spent Christmas in Shreveport, AL (in the ER with an IV due to a stomach flu). I graduated that following May appreciating what I had experienced, but assuming that I wouldn't care come next fall. Boy was I wrong. I sorely missed Alabama football for all it's worth, and I was stuck up at University of Virginia counting down the days til kickoff. I realized I didn't appreciate what I had til it was gone. However, I am grateful for the memories created, the people I met, and my nickname "Junebug" will forever be a reminder of two-a-days and gatorlites.

My roomie Tommy and his shenanigans on the busride home from Arkansas

Getting off the bus and making the legends walk, one of the most memorable things

Just a regular Sat. game

Straight out of the Movies.......

2009-10-08T22:30:00.000-07:00

I know that I've said numerous times that I feel like sometimes the moments in my life feel like a scene straight out of a movie. It's hilarious to look back on so many moments in my life that make people go "that shouldn't happen in real life". Since having my most recent "movie moment", I figured I'd share some of the moments from the different genres that encompass my epic movie.

HORROR
Setting: {Unlit parking lot of Minor league baseball Stadium in Birmingham, AL; May 2007}
Characters: Me, midget version of Santa Clause wearing a cargo fishing vest w/tin buttons saying "Stop War" and "Fight Racism" (aka MVoSC)

Script:
MVoSC: Have you heard of the charity "Locks of Love?"
Me: Yes...
MVoSC: Well I'm part of a sister charity called "Little Locks of Love", for the kids who...you know...don't make it. And so what we do is make little replica dolls of the kids for the parents and we take the donated hair to make the doll's hair...so...{Takes out a pair of scissors from pocket} all I need is just a couple inches of your beautiful hair.

Me: Uhm, I would love to, but I just got my haircut...but if you have a website I could go to to find participating salons the next time I decide to get my hair cut...

MVoSC: Well here's my number {Scribbles on the back of a 1970's Seattle Pilot baseball card of Donny Murphy}, I'm just going to sit here and watch you from my car until your athletic trainer friend comes out.

COMEDY
Setting: {Women's soccer home opener, soccer field, Lexington, VA; August 2007}
Characters: Me, fellow Graduate Student from Penn State (GSPSU), VMI Athletic Director (AD), VMI wrestling team

Script:
Me: Hey, let's just drive straight across the soccer field in this 14 passenger van loaded down with coolers and ice chests, we only have 30 minutes before pre-game.
GSPSU: Uhm...let's not...I don't even know if it's even a good thing that we're driving along this muddy part...I think you just got us stuck...
Me: Oh...no problem...I will just get some infield gravel to throw under it for traction...why are the sprinklers on?
AD: Hey ladies, how are things going...NEVER drive on this side of the soccer field, it's in the shade so it's always muddy! You must have run over the sprinkler system, I have to cut the main water valve here to stop it! I'm gonna get the wrestling team to help push the van out...
{Enter 10 VMI wrestlers to get behind the van while I get behind the wheel}
AD: Ok, I want you to slowly step on the gas while we push you out of the trench you created
Me: Step on the gas? Ok {Steps on the gas full throttle}
{Sprays half the wrestling team with mud and gravel}
Wrestling team: "Ow!!" "Ahh! I can't see anymore!" "Uggh! It's in my mouth!" "My foot!"
AD: Keep pushing!! Keep pushing!!

ROMANCE
Setting: {Guest bedroom in Diamond Bar, CA; one week ago}
Cast: Me, My Personal Penguin (PP)

Script:
{late morning, lying in bed facing each other}
PP: Sigh..what am I going to do with you?
Me: I dunno, what do you want to do?
PP: It's a long list...
Me: We have an hour before we have to leave for your flight...
{Silence}
Me (sarcastic): Wow...long list...well I can guarantee that we get all of that done
{More Silence, I get up to leave}

PP: I want to hold your hand...I want to make you feel better when you have a bad day, I want to congratulate you when you get a new job or a promotion, I want to wake up next to you in the morning, I want to live with you. {Sigh} I want to have THE awkward conversation with your parents, I want to propose to you...I want to marry you...{Cue tears}...I want to make you a mom...I want to watch our kids grow up and become successful, I want to grow old with you...and at the end of it all, I still want to be holding your hand.

With each of these moments I wanted to look around and to see where the cameras and sound crew were hiding. I loved each of those moments, and I love how varied each of these experiences were. I realize how lucky I am for having all the opportunities I've been given and being blessed for seeing the humor in everything! I love having my friends all be a part of all of this and I promise I'll keep letting them "live vicariously through me".

2009-10-07T22:37:00.000-07:00

So it seems that everybody these days has a blog. I used to keep one through late highschool and most of college, and it was always great to look back upon it and laugh and cry over all the memories and emotions I have felt and forgotten over the years. I stopped sometime after I finished undergrad, and failed to continue with the trend. So much has happened since and it disheartens me that I had stopped. So this is my attempt to document all the crazy things that occur in my life as well as give my "commentary" and feelings. Public diary? To an extent ;)

Since my last post on my xanga blog approx. a year ago, I have been to 19 states and 7 countries, received a Master's degree, had my heart broken and broken hearts as well. Have met people from all walks of life, changed my own path, have made lifelong friends, and have lost some along the way (R.I.P Nick Adenhart). I have cried with a friend, and laughed with an "enemy", lived on both coasts this year...TWICE, but have finally found a home (and it's a person not a place).

The goal of this blog is to chronicle the shenanigans that make up my life, as well as keep all my numerous friends spread out across the country up to date (a little more informational then a 150 word status update and pictures eh?). Does anyone really care? I'm not sure...but apparently my life is better than any season of "The Hills". I'll probably also have "flashbacks" from the 2 missing years of my life just so I don't forget them as well, and hopefully people would enjoy to contribute to it as well (remember when....)
I've lived a life I don't regret at all, and have experience multiple lifetimes of events (how does this stuff happen to you!?). Thanks everyone for reading this....let's start the show...