stuff

I find out Saturday what will happen with my photos I submitted for the fair. Kinda excited but kinda apprehensive, too. I just hope at last one of them gets in. I'm not even thinking about winning anything, I just want one of them to at least be displayed. I'm trying not to think about it very much....trying.

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Anyone watch Jon & Kate + 8?

I watch and when last season ended I wondered if there would be a new season because Jon expressed that he was ready to end the show because it was taking over their lives. Kate, on the other hand, was really starting to enjoy it. No big surprise that they didn't see eye to eye on it....they never seem to see eye to eye on things.

I honestly think the reason people watch the show, including me, is because of the Jon & Kate dynamic. I watch the show and think to myself that it really is a crazy life. On top of it, they have this dysfunctional relationship. It's well known to those who watch that Kate is a control freak, has a temper, and isn't very kind to Jon. He let's her verbally abuse him. If it were him saying the things she says, people would be outraged and call it verbal spousal abuse and tell her to get out of there. But for some reason when it is a woman doing it to a man, there is less outrage. Weird.

So he was caught with another woman. He says they are just friends, but I don't buy that.

Jon & Kate got married when he was 22 and he had no idea who he was or what he wanted in life. They had all these kids and in the midst of all that, he was growing up, too. When you are 22, you really should not get married in my opinion. She was 25, also young, but not 22. He is 32 now and has a much better idea of who he is individually. This is obvious since he didn't want to continue the show. He wanted to start living life in a way that would let him be more of himself and not just "Jon & Kate + 8".

Kate says he has changed and he isn't the same person anymore. Uh....duh! Of course he has changed. So has she! I recall videos of them before they were married and when you see her, it's like it isn't Kate. She seemed much different. So it's fair to say they have both changed. She also said that he's made his decisions....regarding the affair. It's very true, he did make the decision to do it. However, if I were him, I can't say I would not have been tempted away from her, too. The woman is not very nice. It has to be incredibly hard to live day after day with someone who scolds you publicly and talks down to you daily. I'm not condoning his actions, I'm just saying I can see how it would happen. He married her and took vows with her for better or worse, but it was a bad idea from the beginning.

They do have really adorable kids....mostly. One of them I just can't stand, but the other 7 are pretty cute. So that is one good thing that did come out of their union. I would hope they could work things out, but I do not see it happening. I think he finally has drawn the line with her. As for Kate, I think if she is able to shoulder some of responsibility for what has happened, that might help. But I can't see her doing that. It was obvious from the season premier that they can't even look at each other. Time will tell I suppose.

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Etsy

I have been thinking about opening an Etsy card store. I was thinking November, but now I am thinking October 1st. I got some Halloween stuff over the weekend. Cute stuff. Would make cute cards. But I am still on the fence about it. I don't know why I can't just jump in and go for it....that's just not something I'm good at. I have to think about things....a lot. I guess I will know in September. That's why you see all these card challenges.....I have to build up my stock and I am horrible about just sitting down and making a card for no real reason. These challenges get me going and I make about 4 cards a month from them, so that will help with having stuff to sell if/when the time comes to open my "store". Otherwise, I have a pretty good stockpile of cards to give out for a while :)

Color Inspiration Challenge #53

Here's this weeks card for Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration Challenge. The card was made with one of my Magenta stamps. Isn't it a cute stamp? I don't see this brand in the stores much. It's a Canadian company so maybe they just are not very well known here. I used my LePlume ink pens to color in each element. Trust me, this was a pain in the caboose. I had to do it 5 times!! Something was wrong each time....something didn't stamp well, a smudge, color bleeding...ugh. Anyway, it was good creative time spent. Did you see the inside? That little cat makes me smile! Oh, and I used a blender pen to soften the lines a bit. Hope you like it ;)

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you ~ Maya Angelou

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you ~ Maya Angelou
Originally uploaded by photo kitten.

I am, without a doubt, old school.

Technology is impressive, but it does not woo me. Don't get me wrong, I love eating my microwave popcorn while sitting in my living room with a computer in my lap and watching stuff recorded on my DVR. These things are great and life would indeed suck without them, but I just don't get all hot and bothered like some people (Greg) when new things come out. To be honest with you, I don't even know what is out there! I just don't care. I guess maybe I figure I will hear about it all in good time.

The prime example of this is my TV. I can't remember how long it's been, but we have this gigantic TV in our living room. I call it "my TV" because Greg has one in "his room". His TV is all fancy and slick. It's a Vizio and I'm pretty sure the reason he got that brand is because LaDainian Tomlinson is a spokes person for them. But back to my TV. It isn't one of those that sits on the floor and is taller than me. It's got, uh...you know...junk in the trunk. It's as big front to back as it is across the front of the screen. And I think it might be 500 pounds. Seriously. I've had to move it several times so I know. Don't ask me how big the screen is...I have no frickin' idea. It's big. HOWEVER, if you were to ask the hubs if it's big, he'd tell you it's small. The man is all about screen size. The one we had before the 500 pounder was good. I was happy with it. Probably your standard 32" or something. Worked fine. My sister has it now. Still works fine as far as I know. We gave it to her because we got the gigantic 500 pounder. But Greg would be so happy if I told him I wanted a new one....so happy. We'd be at the electronic store so fast I'd get dizzy. But chances are I won't be saying that until the 500 pounder bites the dust. And TV's can last a long time....so who knows when that will be. Course, now that I said that, I will go out to turn it on and I'll hear a pop and smoke will rise from the back of it....Murphy's Law and all. When and if that happens, I want one that will hang on the wall. like a picture. That is one thing about the 500 pounder, being gigantic and all, it takes up a lot of room. So a TV on the wall would be good. I'm just not in any rush. Oh, and when we get that, I don't think it will be "my TV" anymore. He'll be out there watching Ohio State and all his geek TV shows on it. The only normal TV shows he watches is Food Network. Oh, and the History channel....World War II stuff. Submarine shows, Russian Army, all that military stuff. He says it's interesting. And it is, but I watch one of those shows and I'm good. He can watch 10 of them. iCaramba....he's been hanging around my Dad too much. He really should be a geek computer guy for the military. That is just so him. And I bet they have a softball team. (*chuckles*)

Anyway, the TV thing is just and example of how I'm old school. And don't even get me started on the telephone.

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge 7

Here is my card for Dawn McVey's Raspberry Suite Color Challenge.

I've had this Laura Ashley stamp for years and I go back to it again and again. It can be used for so may occasions and the color combos are limitless. I like this one, but my favorite for this stamp is dark green and purple ~ really pretty. I also don't usually put a ribbon or embellishments on it, but for the challenge I decided I better glam it up :) I used a square of vellum to stamp the sentiment on so the raspberry color of the ink would not distort and look muddy stamped on green paper. I used raspberry embroidery floss wrapped around the top and bottom. Hope you like it!

Be a rainbow in someone's clouds

Tuesday night I crossed something else off my 101 things to do before I die list.

I saw Maya Angelou speak.

She was greeted by a standing ovation. She started out singing “When it looked like the sun wasn’t going to shine anymore, God put a rainbow in the clouds”. Rainbows in the clouds was the focus of her talk. It was moving. I'm so glad I went. It was so worth the drive. And thanks to Laura for letting me know she was touring.

If you find out she is in your area, go see her. She is wise. She is funny. She is a gift to listen to.

“It’s given to us to live but once. The noblest cause in the world is the liberation of the human mind. Know that you all have the privilege of becoming a rainbow in the clouds" ~ Maya Angelou

Color Inspiration Challenge #52

Here's my card for Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration Challenge. I cut the fish/bowl using my Cricut ~ the cartridge is "Life's a Beach". The fish is cut from light yellow and mustard color papers, but the mustard color is showing very orange in the photo. It isn't really that orange. I cut coral in the same mustard color and added some white coral because it needed a lighter color. There is a piece of vellum on the back on the fish bowl to give the bowl of water effect. I like the way it turned out :) Hope you like it, too!

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge 6

Here is my card for Dawn McVey's Raspberry Suite Color Challenge.

It's funny how I start out with a specific idea and it changes 3 times before I'm done and what I end up with isn't at all what I had started off doing. But in the end this is how it turned out :) Hope you like it!

Stamps used:
"All In A Row" (background) by Stampin' Up
"Make A WIsh & Cupcake" by Studio G

This is funny. And gross.

Bella Stamps

There is a line of rubber stamps called "Stamping Bella" that are *very* popular. Bella, a woman, is featured on the stamps. It seems like all the stamping blogs I read have cards that feature these Bella stamps. I've looked at their site and the stamps are cute and all, but there is one thing I can't get past ~ she has no hands. Well, she does, but they are just sticks. the rest of her is normal ~ she has normal legs and head and all that, but then she has these stick arms and some kind of little oval for hands. See them here. In some cases it isn't really something you'd focus on, but in other cases it's all I notice. Maybe it's just me? See if it's something you think you'd notice if I had not pointed it out. The only 2 I'm interested in are "bikababeabella" and "cruisabella" on page 1.

Questions answered by kids

HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHO TO MARRY?

(1) You got to find somebody who likes the same stuff. Like, if you like sports, she should like it that you like sports, and she should keep the chips and dip coming.
- Alan, age 10

(2) No person really decides before they grow up who they're going to marry. God decides it all way before, and you get to find out later who you're stuck with.
- Kristen, age 10


WHAT IS THE RIGHT AGE TO GET MARRIED?

(1) Twenty-three is the best age because you know the person FOREVER by then.
- Camille, age 10

(2) No age is good to get married at. You got to be a fool to get married.
- Freddie, age 6


HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF TWO PEOPLE ARE MARRIED?

(1) You might have to guess, based on whether they seem to be yelling at the same kids.
- Derrick, age 8


WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR MOM AND DAD HAVE IN COMMON?

(1) Both don't want any more kids.
- Lori, age 8


WHAT DO MOST PEOPLE DO ON A DATE?

(1) Dates are for having fun, and people should use them to get to know each other. Even boys have something to say if you listen long enough.
- Lynnette, age 8

(2) On the first date, they just tell each other lies and that usually gets them interested enough to go for a second date.
- Martin, age 10


WHAT WOULD YOU DO ON A FIRST DATE THAT WAS NOT GOING WELL?

(1) I'd run home and play dead. The next day I would call all the newspapers and make sure they wrote about me in all the dead columns.
-Craig, age 9


WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?

(1) When they're rich.
- Pam, age 7

(2) The law says you have to be eighteen, so I wouldn't want to mess with that.
- Curt, age 7

(3 ) The rule goes like this: If you kiss someone, you should marry them and have kids with them. It's the right thing to do.
- Howard, age 8


IS IT BETTER TO BE SINGLE OR MARRIED?

It's better for girls to be single but not for boys. Boys need someone to clean up after them.
- Anita, age 9


HOW WOULD THE WORLD BE DIFFERENT IF PEOPLE DIDN'T GET MARRIED?

(1 ) There sure would be a lot of kids to explain, wouldn't there?
- Kelvin, age 8


HOW WOULD YOU MAKE A MARRIAGE WORK?

(1 ) Tell your wife that she looks pretty - even if she looks like a truck.
- Ricky, age 10

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge 5

I'm entering Dawn McVey's Raspberry Suite Color Challenge.

It's a simple birthday card. Not a lot of frills on this one ~ I kept it very simple. I thought about doing some coloring on the elephant and the mouse, but since I am limited to the four colors, it seemed like it would be a lot of pink. I did add some pink chalk, tho the camera didn't photograph it very well. You might be able to see it on the close up. The ribbon is more bias tape I had in my stash. It turned out to be the perfect color to match the gray paper!

Color Inspiration Challenge #51

Here is my card for Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration Challenge.

The colors of the bear are not showing up very well. Even in the close up it's hard to see that I used a colored pencil to "shade" him in. It turned out pretty good considering I was a little hesitant about those colors. I think he's cute :)

The ribbon is actually bias tape....I have no idea how old it is. When I go to estate sales I always buy the sewing stuff if I think it will work for my projects. The packaging for this mustard colored bias tape is very old, it's made in USA (everything these days seems to be made in China) and 5 yards of it was only .25 cents.
I paid much less than .25 cents for what was left in the package. For $1 I got a big zip lock bag full of all different colors of bias tape as well as some lace and some satin ribbon. So keep your eye out for the sewing stuff at sales! You can score some really cool stuff.

Hope you like the card :)

Chocolate pancakes for breakfast?

*crinkles nose*

I don't think I could eat chocolate pancakes for breakfast....maybe dessert.

Stamp Luck

I've had my eye on a rubber stamp for quite a while now and a few months ago I decided to finally order it. Just my luck, they were sold out! I checked back frequently to see if it was back in stock, but it never was. I emailed the company, who says they respond to every email they get within 24 hours, but never got a response. So typical these days. Then one day I was surfing around the web and I found a woman's blog who said she is a designer for that company! I emailed her and told her about everything and she wrote back to me and copied the woman who in charge! I emailed back and forth with the woman in charge and she said it would be a few weeks before the stamp was back in stock and she'd get back to me. That was in early April. Yesterday I wrote to her to see if she had an update since I'd not heard from her. She said there is a delay with the manufacture and didn't elaborate. I took that to mean new stock is either never coming or it will be a long time. What further makes me believe this to be true is.....she offered me her stamp! She said it's been used twice by her, but if I want it, she'd give it to me -- FREE. She is even paying the postage to send it to me. I think this is really nice of her and I was more than happy to take her offer. I'm fairly sure she would not give me her stamp if she expected new stock to come in. So I happened to run into some good rubber stamp luck on that one. Of course, I'll have to wait and see if she really sends it to me.

Speaking of stamps, I have been stockpiling handmade cards with the idea I will open an Etsy.com store in November. Most of what I have is non holiday stuff. I picked November as a month to shoot for because I figure people might be looking for holiday cards to send out around that time. But, I need some opinions. I want to do sets of holiday cards rather than individual cards but I'm not sure how many to put in a set and how much to sell them for? Should it be 5, 10, 15 in a set? I could easily do 5 in a set, but if I had to do more than that, I bet I would get overwhelmed with the sheer quantity I'd have to produce.....that's a lot of cards! I will have to learn to pick simple designs and not fuss too much....eek. As far as cost....no idea. I am the worst at looking at my work and determining value. The cards on Etsy are currently selling for around $3.00-$4.50 each. I found a set of 6 cards for $10.00....not too many sets that I could find. It would be interesting to put together a birthday card package but have it be gender specific. So 5 guy cards or 5 girl cards. Or perhaps using my photos to create cards. I also thought of making cards you don't see a lot of, like Happy Retirement, Bosses Day, Admin Assist Day...stuff like that. I welcome your honest opinions on all these points and also welcome ideas I may not have thought of :)

Oprah's 2008 Stanford Commencement Address

There have been comments about her address being too much about herself. But I think the people who see it that way did not get her message. She is using herself as an example. She is an icon that many people aspire to be like and I think she gives a clear picture of starting out just like many of them will, but she aspired to be better and do something more....and did it....and so can they.

I know it's nearly 30 minutes long, but it's worth listening to. You don't have to watch it, just put it on in the background while you are paying bills or whatever because I think it's worth it.

I had to look at my 101 things list again just to stay on top of things and see if I inadvertently done something and forgot to cross it off. I crossed off number 11 because all it says is "a photo worth some money" and I did get paid....so I say it counts....

1. See The Boss in concert
2. Go to the Oprah show
3. Go back to Denmark
4. Live by the sea
5. Go to New York at Christmastime
6. Sell something on Etsy
7. Retire early (please, please, please)
8. Or at least work less than 40 hours a week...
9. Plus, work more than one day a week from home...
10. Then, when I retire, volunteer at an animal shelter
11. Take a money shot (a photo worth some money)
12. Publish something (written)
13. Go see Maya Angelou speak (I better get on this one)
14. Take the Coast Starlight from LA to Seattle
15. Wear a bikini....in public....and feel ok about it
16. Take Greg to a Bobby Flay restaurant
17. Go to Prince Edward Island
18. Have a fancy Christmas party at my house
19. Go on a shopping spree with someone else's money
20. Have a realllllly beautiful craft room/office
21. Snorkel and see lots of pretty (small) fish
22. Go to Ireland
23. Age well
24. Wear a ball style gown to a fancy event
25. Enjoy reading again
26. Eat a croissant in France
27. Understand what all the buttons on my camera do
28. Renew our vows
29. Take the White House tour
30. See the Vietnam War Memorial
31. Have my backyard be spectacularly beautiful
32. Take a road trip across America
33. Stay at a nice ski lodge while it snows outside
34. Cook like Ina Garten
35. Have a chef quality kitchen
36. Feel peace
37. Love my hair!
38. Go to some kind of craft convention
39. Sell my baked goods
40. Be healthy
41. Live green(er)
42. Take an Alaskan cruise
43. Eat 70% organic
44. Have a photo of mine in a magazine or calendar
45. Camp at the Wild Animal Park
46. Win a costume contest
47. Decorate my *entire* house
48. Sponsor a needy child
49. Clean out my craft room closet (ugh)
50. Well....keep my craft room clean in general
51. Be on the Martha Stewart show (dream big, right?)
52. Have less regret
53. Make outstanding coleslaw
54. Go on a spa retreat
55. Stop passing up opportunity
56. Speak German well (ha!)
57. Learn to line dance well (ha!)
58. Discover California culinarily
59. Vacation in the Hamptons
60. Worry less about what others think
61. Love hard...forgive harder
62. See the cherry blossoms in DC in spring
63. Watch all my Buffy DVD's again
64. Take another photography class
65. Be an extra
66. Write an autobiography...could be interesting
67. Grow a vegetable garden
68. Learn to sew
69. Meet my neighbors...hopefully new ones
70. Run thru the sprinklers every summer
71. Feel financially secure
72. Give 100 Barbie dolls away at Christmas!
73. See the 17 mile drive in a convertible
74. Bake more. A lot more.
75. Send Oprah a birthday card
76. Have a lemon tree in the back yard
77. Make homemade lemonade more than once a year
78. Wear jewelry again
79. See more movies
80. See more sunsets
81. See more sunrises
82. Live my life the way I want to
83. Get a more professional massages
84. Buy a custom pair of jeans
85. Eat at Spago's in Beverly Hills for my birthday one year
86. Leave work at lunch more...I usually sit at my desk
87. Use those darn exercise videos I bought!
88. Take an art class of some kind
89. Go to Atlantis
90. Start scrapbooking my photos
91. Turn my bedroom into an relaxing resort style retreat
92. Learn more history
93. Ride a horse on the beach
94. Make persimmon cookies or bread
95. Go to one of my high school reunions (yes, Laura...you, too)
96. Get a Sleep Number or TempurPedic bed
97. Take more pictures of Henry...our oldest girl
98. Have picnic style dinners at the beach with Greg a few times a year
99. Make sculpey ornaments for the Christmas tree (example)
100. Leave work....at work
101. Make a difference

The weekend was fun but went too fast. Saturday was busy. I had a bunch of things to get out of the way, one of which was mounting photos to foam core board to enter in the fair. I had a photo to do a test mount with and that went....so so. Had to get Greg to help me and when we got it all done, there were air bubbles under the photo and some kind of sticky residue on the photo that would not come off. Greg announced that we would just have to take them to have them professionally mounted since he had no faith in our amateur abilities. After calling around we found a place to have it done and took them over. They might be ready tonight and I'm pretty excited to see how they turn out.

Sunday BBF Laura came over and we went to Greg's softball game and then to dinner. Laura surprised me with a copy of a book that features one of my photographs on the cover. The story goes, a few months ago she told me of an opportunity to take a photo for the cover of a book. I will admit that initially I wasn't very into the idea.....it took a little bit of convincing. What they needed was a mouthwatering smore photo. I did agree to see what we could come up with. We got in the kitchen and she pretty much made all the smores (many smores) and I just took pictures of the mouthwatering ones....ate a few, too. One did get selected for the cover ~ see it here. For someone who isn't trying very hard to get published, I'm not doing too shabby! Much of the thanks go to Laura for seeing the opportunity and suggesting it, making them, and supporting me during the process. There should be a line of credit for her as well....but since there isn't, I am giving it here ;) *Hugs to Laura*

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge 4

I'm entering Dawn McVey's Raspberry Suite Color Challenge.

I thought this card would be great for so many different things! Mostly any occasion you have for a man ~ birthday, I love you, I miss you, sorry, get well, father's day....anything really. The "woof" covers it all!

I used my Cricut with the Paper Pups cartridge. *Love* this cartridge! Everything on it is sooo cute! I also used a paw print for added interest to the background with versa mark ink. Greg picked the ribbon so if you ask him, that is what makes the card :) Hope you like it!

Color Inspiration Challenge #50

I'm entering Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration Challenge.

I made most of this card with help from my Cricut. The cartridge I used is called "Life's a Beach". I thought this "cocktail" would be perfect to use for the colors in the challenge. Everything was a bit flat so I added glitter from Martha Stewart's 24 pack of glitters. There is every color glitter in there. See the brown glitter I used? It's beautiful stuff. I also used a sheet of this yellow fibery "paper" that I frayed at the edges. Since it's pretty sheer, I put a yellow piece of card stock behind it because the red took too much away from the yellow color of it. I popped that up with foam dots. I cut a tiny slit in the fold of the card so the turquoise ribbon could wrap through the inside of the card. That's pretty much it. The close-ups show the glitters and texture of the brown card stock I used. Hope you like it!