it's a we'll see kind of day.

I'm sad that Bobbys Burger Palace is only on the east coast. It would be so fun to take Greg there....he would absolutely love it. Maybe Bobby is reading this and will open one in LA :) We'll see.

My hair is out of control. Seriously. It's down to the middle of my back and the best way to describe it is....wild. Some days I feel like I am all hair. I have a style in mind and I'm planing on getting it cut and maybe colored, but it's so dang expensive! I usually get it trimmed at the cheap little $15 places, but for an actual cut, I want to go to someone I know can do it. Especially with color. I have had and seen more bad color jobs so you do not want to mess around with that. Just costs an arm & a leg. I'm unsure about the color because you have to keep going back for touch-ups and I neither want or have the $$ for that. So we'll see.

The going into the card selling business idea I've been talking about is either going to happen sooner than expected or not at all. They are talking about taking our holiday pay away and 1 or 2 furlough days a month at work. Ugh. Because of this, I was thinking I could try and sell a few cards. However, EVERYONE is trying to sell a few cards. When I got the idea, there were other people on Etsy selling cards, but it wasn't overwhelming. Now it is. I visit card/stamping blogs and it seems everyone is in the business. A little disheartening. Course, I do have an idea that a lot of other people do not seem to be doing, so we'll see about that, too.

for your viewing entertainment

If you have been watching the Real Housewives of New Jersey, you will think the 2nd one is hilarious. If not, you might find it funny anyway.

Jewelry Color Inspiration Challenge 42

Here's my card for Stacey's Jewelry Color Inspiration Challenge.

I love my "Owl Together Now" stamp set and thought these were great colors for it.

Card Recipe:

Cut turquoise & brown papers with Coluzzle & glue together
Cut tangerine and white papers with Coluzzle & glue together
Stamped owl and party hat
Added tangerine & turquoise stars around owl for interest
Stamped sentiment around outer edge of card
Used dimensionals to adhere tangerine card down
Added brown and tangerine ribbons
Added 3 buttons with glue dots



I'm not sure what set the stars and dots stamp came from. I took it out of it's case to use it and then forgot where it came from :-| I think the card could be used many occasions and left the space at the bottom blank for it to be signed. Hope you like it!

Cheers!

Watermelon Crush

8 cups seeded, cubed watermelon (about 4 pounds)
1 1/3 cups light rum
1½ cups freshly squeezed orange juice, or more to taste
½ cup orange liqueur
¼ cup powdered sugar, or more to taste
2 ounces freshly squeezed lime juice

Directions:
Put the watermelon cubes in a plastic freezer bag; freeze for at least 8 hours Puree the watermelon and the remaining ingredients in batches in a blender or food processor until smooth, scraping down the sides occasionally. Combine the processed mixture well. Serves 6.

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge

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

My crafty mojo seems to be out of whack. I tore this poor card apart 3 times until I got it decent looking. I can't recall who the background paper is from, but it was spot on for this challenge. From there I cut the vase and flowers using my Cricut. Things starting getting out of whack right around there. The sentiment on the vase was a pain because the brown ink just wasn't popping so I cut another vase and stamped with darker ink and embossed it. I added the buttons but no ribbon. It looked ok but just left it at that. This morning I added the ribbon. Is it too much? *shrugs*

So this is it :) Hope you like it!

This has to be quick because I really should be working and not posting since I have a crap load of stuff to do.

Anyone watching any of the Little People shows on TLC? One is about a couple and the other is about a family. I have to say....it's pretty interesting. Check out the shows if you get the chance. Makes you appreciate things in a different way.

Also, is anyone watching The Next Food Network Star? Greg and I are watching it and I find myself looking forward to each episode. The person we call "The Muppet" got kicked off Sunday night.....thank goodness. That guy drove me nuts.

And Jon & Kate are divorcing. I'm sad to see it but I am not surprised. Maybe with time the two of them can be friends but I don't think we will get to see it. This was just released:

Jon and Kate Gosselin aren't the only ones taking a break.

Production on their claim to fame, TLC's reality hit Jon & Kate Plus 8, is going on hiatus.

Last night's sixth episode of the 40-ep season featured the couple announcing their separation and plans to live in different cities—a bombshell that attracted a TLC-record 10.6 million viewers.

But despite the huge ratings, the network and the family are "taking some time off to regroup," according to a TLC statement.

I would be better if they just cancelled the show and let them all try to live in peace....if there is any to be had.

Anyway, like I said....quick post.

Color Inspiration Challenge #55

Here's this weeks card for Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration Challenge.




This card took me 2 days to make! I could not get my design idea down. I had one idea and abandon that and then came up with this one. Something just wasn't right though. I got up and left it a bunch of times thinking it would look better when I came back. Have you ever done that? It finally came together :)

Here's the recipe:

Cut ivory paper for base card
Cut rust patterned paper and rust solid paper and glue down
Cut bird in mustard paper using my Cricut
Add stitching on card and bird
Glue down buttons
Add ribbon

Hope you like it!

Visit this site and put your name in and see what you get. It retuned over 2000 options for me.

http://wordsmith.org/anagram

This is the first one it gave me: A Encomia Minx

So some kind of economics minx?

There are some others it gave me.

Ace Max Minion
Exam Man Ionic
A Cinema Mix On
A Ax Commie Inn
Ocean Man I Mix
Canon Aim Me Xi

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge 9

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

The background paper for this card was perfect for this challenge. It's from the American Crafts paper pack I got over the weekend. See the end of this post to read about that. I added a mini scalloped edge in cream and cut the sentiment tag with my Cricut. The "thanks so much" stamp is from my "Owl Together Now" Stampin' Up! set. I added the black ribbon and the ivory button. Hope you like it!

Color Inspiration Challenge #54

Here's this weeks card for Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration Challenge.

I went crazy and made 3 cards!

The first one is a Father's Day card. I think this is my favorite but I'm not sure. I just adore this little owl from the "Owl Together Now" Stampin' Up set. The owl is stamped with teal ink on light blue paper. The sentiment is stamped with the same teal ink and may be easier to see the color. Inside it says "we do!". I colored the owl in with a lighter teal pencil for contrast and also colored his feet and beak orange. The branch is stamped with green chalk ink on all 3 cards. I shaded the edges of the blue paper with a teal chalk for contrast. The background paper is from a halloween paper set I got from Martha Stewart's line a few years ago. I also added a darker orange chalk around the edges for contrast.



The second one is very similar to the first one but I used a lighter teal ink from Encore called celadon. I had no idea what celadon is or means so I looked it up. Webster's says it's a "grayish-yellow green". Do you think that looks grayish-yellow green? I think it looks like a light teal and I see no gray or yellow. *shrugs*. It's a little hard to see in the photo because it's such a soft color. I used an orange ribbon here rather than the green. I changed the sentiment on this one, too. Overall I like it, but the teal might too light on this paper....however, it's my husband's favorite of the 3.



For the last one everything on the blue paper is pretty much the same as the first card except the sentiment is different. I used the teal/green/white floral paper from American Crafts as the background this time because it fit the challenge so well. The ribbon is sooo yummy. Another one of my estate sale finds. It's the most satiny luscious stuff and I got the spool for less than a dollar. So many bargains to be found in sewing stuff at estate sales.

Speaking of bargains, I got the American Crafts paper for the last card from Big Lots. If you don't have Big Lots in your area, it's just one of those closeout retailers who sells everything for crazy low prices. They had a 60 sheet paper pack from American Crafts for $8 bucks...that's around .14 cents per sheet. I also got a 100 piece American Crafts page elements package that has 6 different pattered papers, 2 spools of ribbon, 2 kinds of brads and buttons for $3 bucks. Crazy! I can't wait to use the paper from this set....it's so pretty. As we were checking out, the woman in front of us had the same paper I had, but she also had a bunch of packages of buttons and Thickers! I missed those somehow!? She noticed me looking at all her things and then saw my basket and said "You're not getting Thickers?". I told her I didn't see them and she suggested I get out of line and go back because they had tons of them and they were only $2. I tell you what.....it was hard not to go back...I'm kinda wishing I had. If you have a store like this in your area, go check them out. Stuff changes on a regular basis and the deals are great!

Anyway, hope you like my cards :)

million dollar mattress

I'm curious....how do you forget something like a million dollars in your
mattress?

Some of these T-shirts are pretty funny.

Me, if I were a ghost

Me, if I were a ghost
Originally uploaded by photo kitten.

Goofing off at work with Photo Booth

fun old folk with a good spirit

About them...possibly more information that you really wanted to know tho....he's a gabber




The woman who shot the video and her Mom

new stamps

You know how you get excited when you get new stuff? Whatever stuff makes you happy? Well I got some new stuff and I'm pretty excited about it. Stampin' Up is makes stamps and they come in sets. This is one of the sets I ordered....



Oh goodness.....those little owls are just too cute!! I can't wait to make a card with them :) I know this is a bad photo, but it's the best I could do at work....used Photo Booth.

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This has nothing to do with new stamps.

The guy in the cube behind me is a geek. Seriously, a big nerd. I work with mostly nerds, but he might be the most nerdy of all of them. I get along with him really well, but he has an issue I can't get past. His keyboard tray squeaks. A lot. I know everyone else in the isle can hear it, too, but no one says anything because he is kinda funny about things. It's hard to explain. I'm pretty sure if we asked him about it, he'd say it's not a big deal to him....therefore, not gonna do anything about it. I don't think he considers other people very much....lives in his world and that's all that matters. It also could be that he does not hear it squeaking because, and I am not kidding, he wears a pair of vintage headphones from the 70's. Something like these....



He does not plug them in, the cord just dangles.....so no music, just wants to keep the sound out. Looks ridiculous. But anyway, maybe he can't hear it. So last week I brought a can of WD40 to work and sprayed all the joints on his keyboard tray. He comes in about an hour after I do so by then the faint smell of it was gone. I was sure to not to over spray and clean off any residue from the surface of the joints so the smell would not be an issue. Pretty happy with myself. Then he came in and.....squeak, squeak. I was like.....what the heck!? So I thought maybe it was his chair. Next day, sprayed the chair. He comes in.....squeak, squeak. I tell you, I was ready to pull my hair out. The 3rd day I wiggled everything in his cube to find the source of the noise and nothing squeaked. As I sit here typing this....squeak, squeak is behind me. I'm going to have to ask him about it but I know he won't want to spray the WD40 in there and I can't very well tell him I know it won't smell very much because I did it 3 days in a row last week! Ugh.

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge 8

Hi All,

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

So far I think I like these colors best. Though I did like week 4's colors a lot, too.

Here's the card recipe:

Cut kraft and raspberry papers and rounded edges
Stamped flourish pattern (Autumn Leaves) in VeraColor "bark" ink
I used my Cricut to cut all the flowers out in different sizes
Arranged flowers then cut foam bits and adhered them in place
Used hole punchs to punch dots for center of flowers & glued them on
Stamped "hello" (A Muse) in VeraColor "bark" ink
Added raspberry organza ribbon
Stamped dots (Stampin' Up) across the bottom in VeraColor "bark" ink
Glued all the layers down

I know the flowers might sound like a lot of work, but they really weren't. The only part that took some time was peeling the paper backing off the sticky foam bits. If I make another card like this, I'll have to think of another way to do that. If you have a suggestion, let me know. But otherwise, it didn't take a lot of time. Having the Cricut to cut all my flowers was the best thing. It's better than using a punch because you would have to have 4 different punches to get the size range I have on the card. With the Cricut, I just cut 2 sets of flowers in each size and it was really fast. If any of you are thinking about getting a Cricut, I highly recommend it. I have the original one and it's great. Since the larger Expression version has come out, I think you can get the smaller ones for about half the original price. I use it for some aspect of nearly every card I make. I was thinking of getting some vinyl to cut a cute design for my walls in the kitchen. They say you can etch glass and cut chipboard, but I have not tried that yet. Anyway, hope you like the card!

*Update: I think I can use a glue dot that has been rolled into a ball for dimension under the flowers rather than the foam bits....it seems like that would be much easier. Speaking of glue dots, I use Fiskars brand and those suckers and hard to get off the roll! Is there a better brand that comes off easier?

Well, the results are in for the fair photos. I didn't get in again.

I can't tell you how depressing it is. Someone told me that I've had a lot of success with my photos, and it's true. However, none of that makes this any easier. Like anyone else, I want to succeed at every attempt and not doing so is hard.

I'll get over it, but for now it really sucks.

Updates

Remember my stamp luck post? If not, see it here.

My stamp luck turned into stamp bad luck. I waited and waited and never got the stamp. I emailed the woman to inquire about it and she said she mailed it. She checked her log book since she mailed it from work and said it was logged and I should have got it. I waited another week and still no stamp. So it seems to be lost in the mail. Or she sent it to the wrong address and someone else has stamp luck. Anyway, she told me they finally have it back in stock and I can order one. So I did. Let's hope I get this one!

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I also posted last Thursday that I would hear about my photos and the fair last Sunday. No email. I looked and looked for information about this and nothing I found online said they were going to email us on 5/30...but I know I saw that posted when I dropped them off. *shrugs* However, last night I got email from them that accepted entries will be announced tomorrow. Then on 6/12 they will announce the winners picked from all the accepted entries. I tell you, all this waiting is torture. But like I said before, I am not even looking to win anything....I just hope one or both get accepted. *crosses fingers*

Not Your Mom's Mac and Cheese

And if it is your Mom's Mac and Cheese, you're lucky. I have no recollection of my Mom making Mac and Cheese....except if it was out of a box. This is made with all white cheeses so it also does not look like regular Mac and Cheese. When I read the recipe and saw it called for onion and garlic, I was leery. I almost left them out, but at the last minute I decided to add them in. As it turns out, they do add a nice underlying flavor but nothing that screams garlic and onions so I would not leave it out. This would be great to take to a pot luck or serve to a crowd.

Mac and Cheese

1/2 pound penne pasta
2 cups milk
(I use fat free milk)
2 cups blended asiago, mozzarella, parmesan, gruyere grated
(I use Trader Joe's Quattro Formaggio Shredded blend)
1 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
2 large eggs
3 slices bread, roughly diced
(I used a rustic sourdough wheat bread)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Small, medium or large pinch of red pepper flakes (to your liking)
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
salt
Ham steak, diced

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain and return to pot and toss with 1/4 cup milk.

Beat 1/4 cup milk with the eggs in a bowl. Stir in 1 cup parmesan cheese and fold in the bread.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over high heat. Add the onion and garlic; cook, stirring, until just brown, 2 minutes. Sprinkle in the flour, red pepper flakes, nutmeg and 1 teaspoon salt; cook, stirring, about 2 minutes. Slowly add 3/4 cup water and 1 1/2 cups milk; bring to a boil, stirring until thickened. Remove from the heat and whisk to cool slightly. Whisk in the remaining cheeses. Add to the pasta and toss. Add diced ham steak.

Transfer to a buttered dutch oven or large baking dish. Top with the bread mixture. Bake until golden and bubbly, about 20-30 minutes. Let rest a few minutes before serving.

Well, I thought today was National Doughnut Day because that's what someone told me last week. Turns out it's this Friday, not today. So that's kind of a bummer since I had this whole post planned about doughnuts. But you know what? I'm doing it today anyway. Happy National Doughnut Day in advance.

I'm telling you right now, this link is dangerous. Red lights and sirens going off. I saw this and it made me crave doughnuts for a week. You have been warned.

Wanna go into the doughnut making business?

Ever been to the Doughnut Plant? I must go if I am ever in NY.

Maybe you want a slightly inappropriate doughnut t-shirt or some underwear? If so, click on "shop now" after the jump. Plus, if you want to get hitched, you can look at their wedding packages.

Now a doughnut joke. And, of course, a cop is involved.

A policeman pulls a man over for speeding and asks him to get out of the car. After looking the man over he says, "Sir, I couldn't help but notice your eyes are bloodshot. Have you been drinking?" The man gets offended at the accusation and says, "Officer, I couldn't help but notice your eyes are glazed. Have you been eating doughnuts?"

Be sure to have a doughnut on Friday :)