Time Goes By... Mother's Day (Paper Hoarders DT)

Wow! I had a whole lot of stuff I was going to write/complain about, but um... got here (to Blogger) and saw there are a whole heck of a lot of changes, and that just ADDS to my crappy week. Ick!

So... let's just go with the DT challenge. We had our choice of Mother's Day or Spring. I had this BRILLIANT idea. Katy Perry was just ringing through my mind with her "Firework" song... as Marissa had a talent show (see her video at end...)today and one of the kids was singing that, so yes... it got stuck in my head... like for THREE weeks (all through the practices...) and so, I thought I'd do "Mommy, You're a Firework!" But...

My Gypsy broke. It won't connect to the computer (for an update) or to the Cricut. Neither device recognizes the Gypsy as being recognized. So sad. [Short Story: HSN is supposed to call me back with info on where to ship it. Have they called? NO!, but hopefully, they will soon...]

And so... after years of working on my Gypsy, I had to re-train myself on the Cricut machine, itself. I'm sure I could have used Cricut Craftroom, or Design Studio... but there are no computers in my craft room or near it, and the Cricut isn't on Wifi, so... ('cause gee... I wouldn't need a computer if my Gypsy was working...) Whew! It's tough. To have to make cuts on the .25 inch marks. To not be able to mix, match, weld, etc. Wow, to not be able to flip things and manipulate them to WHERE I WANT THEM ON THE FRIGGIN' MAT... um yeah... you get the picture. It was really REALLY REALLY difficult for me. You can't teach an old dog to go BACK to their old ways, once they've already advanced... but I plunged on.

So anyway, back to this brilliant idea. My intention was to have the words cut out and welded on the front of the card, with cut fireworks in the background. Did not happen. The blade was tearing the paper at the smaller size, and didn't cut through at the too big size; I couldn't cut it at the just-right size, as well... you know... (see above short story)...

So I gave up. (on that part).

I ended up finding some awesome firework paper in my scraps, cut it to fit the front of the card, wrote it out myself (yes, that's my printing, folks!) in embossing ink, sprinkled cutesy puffy purple embossing powder, and heated the sucker up. Blooop! Up it puffed. But... it wasn't enough... so...

I did firework-y lines all over in the fireworks areas and then used rainbow sprinkles (who knew they weren't just for cupcakes anymore!) embossing powder on THAT and heated it up. Now I was all sparkly and fresh on the front, but dull and not even related to Mother's Day on the inside.

I was able to cut (success!!!) a phrase from Graphically Speaking that wasn't too small, wasn't too big, wasn't just right, but, was about as good as it was going to get... So I took it. And... if you remember my post from LAST month (yes... it's been that long, folks...) you'll remember I am completely fascinated with my new Martha Stewart fraying scissors. (They'll be new to me for a long time, so just get used to it!) So, I cut out a bunch of colors, and they didn't quite fit the way I thought they would. I couldn't get them to flip and flop the way I wanted, so I just used them in the background, slapped a black oval (to symbolize the night sky... ready for fireworks), and put in my "HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY". Whew.

Now if that ain't a heart-attack and a half!

There's a lot more to my last couple of weeks, including LOTS of bad-hair days, but we won't get into that just now. Suffice it to say, that... Well... I'm still here. You're still here, and life is just a little busy and complicated at the moment. I'm hoping it smooths out in a couple of weeks (when summer gets here!). Cheerio! (and if you'd like to see the rest of the ladies' challenges and JOIN IN, feel free, and visit Ms. Tanya's blogaroo... don't forget to leave some love for us. happy comments and praises [even just a smidge] are what makes our worlds go 'round!)

and here's Marissa's brilliant Magician act... kids are so cute! (btw... please don't mind the background noise [i was having horrible mommy-moments] or the idiotic recording... still learning the new phone... helpful hints and how-to's are welcome! thx!)