Brooke ROCKS!

Brooke sent me NEW RUBBAH'!!!!!! Anyone that sends me new rubbah, ROCKS... there's just no two ways about that!

And here's the GORGEOUS card she sent along with the new rubbah:


I simply HAD to make her thank you card, using my new rubbah! I did a Cami Trifold Card:




Peace & Blessings!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!

On this day in history:

1504 - Michelangelo's David is unveiled in Florence.
1755 - French and Indian War: Battle of Lake George.
1930 - 3M begins marketing Scotch transparent tape.
1966 - "The Man Trap", the first episode of the science fiction television series Star Trek airs.
1974 - Evel Knievel's attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon at Twin Falls, Idaho, fails after a parachute prematurely deploys on his "sky cycle."
1986 - The first Oprah Winfrey Show airs.
People that share my birthday:

1830 - Frédéric Mistral, French poet, Nobel Prize laureate
1841 - Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer
1918 - Derek Harold Richard Barton, British chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
1925 - Peter Sellers, English actor
1932 - Patsy Cline, American singer
1979 - Pink, American singer

September 8th is also International Literacy Day




Have some cake - think of me! We'll celebrate together! What am I having? Chocolate lava muffins with Ben & Jerry's strawberry cheesecake ice cream... mmmmmmmmmm!

Toadally In Love

It's my parent's 33rd Wedding Anniversary today! They are on their way out to visit for the weekend. I put this card on the guest bed, and I didn't have mints, so I put 2 dove chocolates. They'll get a laugh out of that - I know I did!


Peace & Blessings!

Part 2: To enable my unquenchable stamping habit:

Sheila, rockin' awesome friend and now co-worker, hooked me up yesterday with birthday goodies, as she's not in today to play birthday fun with me (see my post below).

Sheila also has a blog, check out her post on my birthday saga here.

*pause* for you to read her blog post

did you read it

no, seriously, you need to read it, otherwise what I'm about to say won't make sense

ready?

ok.

On Wednesday when I opened splitcoaststampers weekly tutorial, I thought "what a cool card"; but I had a problem with 1 aspect of assembly. They put sticky tape on the bottom flaps of the card to hold it together, and I was concerned that the card would get stuck to that, and you wouldn't be able to pull it out.

So, Sheila comes into work, and I say "Did you see today's tutorial yet?"
"No"
"Come over here, look..."

Sheila sees the tutorial, and thankfully she was sitting down, because I saw horror, shock & frustration come over her face.

Bizarre reaction to a tutorial.

"You ok?"

She said something along the lines of "but... aahhhh... oy...MAN!"

"You ok?"

Then she sort of mumbled that she couldn't tell me because it has something to do with my birthday gift.

My thoughts: How on earth does today's SCS tutorial have ANYTHING to do with my birthday?

Then the issue was dropped, and frankly, I didn't think about it again.

Fast forward to yesterday when she gave me the card she made (seriously, her blog photos are much better than mine) and it hit me why she reacted to the tutorial the way she did.

As she said in her blog post: I searched and searched to find something different & distinctive since she has been stamping for soooo long and I wanted to do something nice (to showcase my budding card making skills).

I need to give her major kudos - instead of sticky tape, she used eyelets! What a BRILLIANT idea! LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! Also, she combined 2 techniques, criss cross card, with a spinner card - very nice indeed! AND... the inside wasn't just a single sheet of card stock that slides in, oh no, the inside card opened as well.... Well done Sheila!

So all is well in craft mania land....

Sheila, you ROCK!!!!

*I'm Gratitude Dancin' just for you!

Peace & Blessings!

To enable my unquenchable stamping habit:

My good friend Sheila HOOKED ME UP!!!! I love the gift certificate she created! Blogger doesn't want to upload a PDF, so here's what it says:


Gift Certificate for Alison Mewer Cowan
In honor of her birthday and in order to enable her unquenchable stamping habit...
She is awarded $... to spend on SU supplies

Expires when/if she becomes disinterested in creating beautiful things or one year from date of issue, whichever comes first

This offer is void where prohibited (NOT!)


TOO FUNNY! Thanks Sheila, you ROCK!

Here's the birthday card she made me:



Oh and 1 last thing: Did you watch the Gratitude Dance I posted below? Sheila did - and after I opened everything up, we did the Gratitude Dance. I must say - the video is funny, but when you do the dance with a friend.... well.... we laughed soooooooooooooooooo hard!!!!!

Peace & Blessings!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY APOLLO & MERLIN!

My *boys* turned 6 years old today! Do I have a photo for you - cats in birthday hats? Nope - we nicknamed Apollo "Paws of Fury" for a reason.... use your imagination.



Peace & Blessings! >^..^<

The Gratitude Dance

Calla Lilly

This is a card I made for a friend going through some tough times. I'm amazed at how the photo came out with the vellum over the image.


Peace & Blessings!

What I've been thinking about.....

"If people don't know what you stand FOR, they'll only know you for what you stand AGAINST."

That statement has had me thinking for a few days. Do people know me by what I'm for or what I'm against? I really don't know. I'm a person, at least in my head, that if I had to choose: I would go to a pro-chocolate rally vs an anti-vanilla rally.

I've been tending to myself lately, and in doing so, have honestly become less and less concerned with what others think, and not just what they think about me. I've been following my own conscience, trusting my intuition, rather than looking to others for validation. That's a very freeing feeling.

Seriously (Grey's Anatomy begins soon.....) since I've been focused on myself, improving my life, improving my mind, improving my life experience; there's no room for other *stuff* to work it's way into my head.

I love the movie: What Women Want. When Mel Gibson's character can hear the thoughts of women, and how LOUD it becomes for him..... I found that to be so right on.

So, what are you thinking about? Are you thinking about what's wrong with your life, or what's right with your life? Are you thinking about what could happen, or enjoying your current life experience? Are you would a, could a, should a - or are you appreciating your life, for it has brought you to where you are now?

Peace & Blessings!


PS - This mornings rampage of appreciation:

*Adam woke me up gently, and on time (I have a way of smacking the alarm clock and falling instantly back to sleep)
*Apollo greeted me with very loud, enthusiastic kitty speak
*I got a new book yesterday that I LOVE LOVE LOVE!
*The *new gal* at work - ROCKS!
*I followed my grocery shopping list to the letter yesterday, while hungry. (1 of my items on my list was "snacks" - so there was just no possible way I could deviate from my original list!)
*My boss's daughter's first day of all day kindergarten is today - yesterday I got to share in her excitement
*My parents are coming this weekend. Friday is their wedding anniversary, and Saturday is my birthday
*Saturday is my birthday
*I scored a free loom - I'm picking it up today after work (more on this later)
*Did I mention: Saturday is my birthday?

Fridge Shopping List Tutorial

I was reading Tosca Reno's website because she has a new book coming out; and somewhere along the line she suggested you keep a shopping list on your fridge. INSPIRATION STRUCK!
What if I could stamp a list, instead of buying a pad that I'd have to throw away - what if I could make something, where you replace the pad, not the decoration???

I played around in my stamping cave and came up with this:


Too cute!

Then I decided: I shall do a tutorial so all stampers can have a fun shopping list. Here you go:


Fridge Shopping List Tutorial:

Gather your supplies:



Cut your notepad in half. I used half a pad for my first time. An exacto knife, or box cutter works wonders:




Decorate your paper. Use your corner rounder on your paper because the square coasters naturally have their corner's rounded. I cut the red paper 4" X 4" and the cream paper with the leaves at 3.75" X 3.75":


Mount your paper and set aside:

Mark your coaster, about 3/4" in from edges to use as a guide for your punch:

Punch your hole (I pushed the punch all the way in for my depth guide):


Adhere your decorated paper to the side of the coaster with the lines:


Punch the paper:

Punch a hole with your crop o dile. This is what will secure your pen:




Tie your ribbon to the pen cap - I used a square knot. Wrap the ribbon around the pen cap:

Pull the ribbon through the hole you punched:

Pull the ribbon tight, so the pen cap is square, and exactly where you want it. Once secure, tape the ribbon to the back of the coaster:

Get your business card magnet (I get mine from Staples):


Peel the label, and apply magnet OVER the ribbon:

Take your notepad, and separate the cardboard from the paper:

Slide cardboard through your hole:

You'll really need to pull the notepad DOWN. The cardboard will slide down the coaster, so the top of your hole is touching the tip top of the pad - this is what allows the pad to lay flat:

Decorate your pen:
And you're done!
Other notes:

Because of the thickness of the coaster, punched that first, adhered the decorated paper, and punched again. I didn't think that punch would be able to handle everything at once.

Obviously, you can take this farther by covering the tip of the notepad with paper. The sky's the limit.

HAPPY CREATING!

Peace & Blessings!

Free Birthday Stuff

I love free stuff - especially close to my birthday. I found this great site: FreeBirthdayStuff.com and registered. It's fun, the woman that runs it is fast in responding - so go check it out!!!!!

My Husband's Puzzle

Adam just posted a puzzle that he designed and made on E bay. Good luck honey!