Whoops! Forgot to Post this Yesterday!!! (Thursday)

So I was out of it yesterday. SORRY! Forgot to post another swap item...

Here is a set of 2 tags (with Peppermint Ribbon - which I love!) for the Fall/Winter Activities - Playing in Snow group. (Yes, this is my washing machine! lol!) The tags are made from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More with the Cricut. (Yes, I still only have the smaller Cricut [Baby Bug] and Yes, I am able to utilize this cartridge so much that it bothers me when people keep saying, "It is not worth it if you only have the Baby Bug.") The cool, distressed paper double-sided and from... (can't remember who and too lazy to go look!)

The snowman stamp is from "Perfectly Clear Stamps" and aptly named "Snow Guy." The snowflake is from a Studio G winter set. Then, of course, I had to use Stickles... (Orange Peel, Christmas Red, and Crystal here). The tags are inked (on the edges) with Cat's Eye Liquid Chalk.
The "... he'll be back again someday..." stamp is a partial of a border stamp from Inky Antics. Stickled with Black Diamond, Christmas Red, & Cinnamon. The leaves were done with a Marvy pen, as the "Holly" Stickles were clogged and completely bothering me...

Blog of the day is... A Little Bit of Heaven. Cathy (a newer SB Bingo member) has some really cute angel cards here. (I would love to know where she got the angels from or how she did them!) They are quite cute.


I have one other swap item to post... Don't know if I'll do it later today or sometime this weekend, as I am officiating all weekend and have lots to do before I leave at 7am. However, it is supposed to be bright and sunny (still around 80'ish!), so it should be for a pleasant weekend. Toodles for now! lisa

It's the Middle of the Week...

Ok, I give... Time either totally drags or goes WAY too fast! This week, it seems to be doing a little of both!

Thanksgiving (like you don't already know...) is next week. I am SO not ready. I used to have it at my house with everyone here, but times have changed. Last year, we had it at my mom's (sans bro, as he is now the designated turkey maker for his in-law fams). This year... I have no clue what I am going to do. I haven't even talked to both sides of the families on this issue... kinda scared!

But for now... here is another "swap" installment...

For the Thanksgiving Swap, this is my contributing for a paper-piecing.

The cornucopia and fruits are from Paper Doll Dress Up. Honestly... all these people that say, "I don't make dolls." and seriously have a problem with this Cricut cart obviously have not explored the possibilities.

Of course, I had to use my chalks and Stickles. Don't you just love them! I also put some of the fruit pieces through the Cuttlebug to add some dimension.

For another "Fall Activity" swap, I did the paper piecing for "Pumpkin Patch". Here is my take on it.

The Pumpkin trio is from Pooh and Friends. I walnut-stained (distressed) the bottom leaf layer, then put the other pieces on top, and added a sepia chalk. I didn't want to go glitz on this one to give it a "timeless" and shabby feel.

Featured blog of the day is... Mousekemom's Mouseworks! April does a lot with all things Disney. She is a little like me though, she goes through spurts of creation and publication. But her stuff is truly great to browse and get ideas...

I'm so looking forward to this weekend. Not only does Twilight come out on Friday (check your local listings), but I actually get to have my "adult" time on both Saturday and Sunday. I will be helping to official a swim meet in Palm Springs. Since the weather here is so odd for this time of year, we are expecting the weekend to hold around 80 degree weather... Next week, the kids are out of school! YES! You saw it right... they get the whole week of Thanksgiving off. Maybe we'll get some scrap time in then...

Another little added item... Stacy (15yo) finally used the Cricut last night for a school project. She is now in love with it. She was amazed at how easy it was and now wants to do it tonight, too. (Hold up, little girl... school work comes first!)

Whelp... that's all for now. Gotta eat something to try to get rid of this migraine... Toodles for now! lisa

Sunday at the Spider Pavilion (Museum of Natural History - LA)

Sunday was hectic. I got up super early (stayed the night at my mom's... much closer to Fullerton than my house!), went to the Clinic, got back to my mom's around lunch time, ate lunch, then off we went... to another adventure.

Our destination? The Museum of Natural History in Los Angeles (Exposition Park). Sometime last year, we had visited to see the Butterfly Pavilion. Now... we were gonna get creepy!

I loved it! I don't think any of the others did... My mom, her husband, Stacy, Rey and Marissa? Well... they didn't stay in there very long. I had a blast. With a point-and-shoot camera, it is really hard to get the focus on the spider, but at least I got some good shots. These guys were super colorful. Apparently, they are native to Florida and the other warmer, Western climates. There were other spiders, too... just this one turned out the best.

That day was "free" day at the museum, probably because lots of exhibits (6 that I counted) were closed. But... we did get to see this one... It's really pretty cool watching them "finish" up the fossils that were found. Lots needs to be cleaned up and debrided prior to the skeleton being completed. (The pics of the actual exhibit didn't turn out, due to glass glare...)

Stacy and Rey decided to do a photo shoot outside the museum.

We took our "traditional" shot to see the kids' growth. (There should be another similar shot in an older post... http://lisaslittlerascals.blogspot.com/2007/09/museum-of-natural-history-day-before.html.)

And in the end, everyone had a good time. I'm glad my girls still all love each other and can get along (at least on this occasion... which is much more than I can say than their behavior today!).

Of course I still have to scrapbook it all... I've got some great ideas for the spiders!!! And, luckily for us... the USC game was the day before, so we didn't get the hike or the traffic! Woohoo!

As for the rest of this week? I'll update you with the Beach Boys concert soon, otherwise it was pretty chaotic (what's new, right?). I've been taking and studying for tests, re-organizing, and having a blast with this stupid computer that picks weird moments to freeze, not scan, not print, and turn off (all by itself!). One day... anyway... Toodles for now! lisa

Friday (October 3rd) Project

Whelp... it was a busy day. I waited for photos, did some shopping regarding the pics and made a display board (forgot what they are called... but there is a name for it) and got it done in roughly 4 hours... start to finish (including time for picking out pictures, having them developed, and shopping for supplies). Thank you Sam's Club and my ATG (without this tape gun... it would have taken me at least an additional 2 hours)!

The display board is about 12 (12x12) scrapbook pages. It is huge! So... in laymen's terms (you other non-scrappy people) it is 4'x3'.

Here's a couple of pics. It is missing the photos in the middle, as I was borrowing them and applying them with temporary tape (which sucks... by the way). I was to get them upon arriving on deck. Two team photos (8x10) were supposed to be in the big black spot with "MVAQ" mounted over them at an angle. (In other words... just imagine it!)

The temporary tape issue... my thought was to join the borrowed pics (for which I will eventually get permanent photos) "temporarily" so as not to destroy them for the owners. So I bought "The Craft Collection ; Removeable Adhesive" by Tombo "Trusted Quality". DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT!!! The applicator broke; it is also a "half" applicator, with the tape not fully enclosed (one side only... the back side of the applicator device is OPEN). The tape does not "stick" as described and only touches down in small bits, not a full ribbon. Therefore, there is a lot of wasted tape! Then it does not hold down the photos very well. Things kept flying off. Bad product... bad product...

Anyway, everyone loved it. It served it's purpose (I was told) on Saturday. We (the swim team - MVAQ) were using it at a PTSA function for recruiting purposes. We needed an attention getter. We got it!

I used my Cricut for the matted "MVAQ" wording and the computer for the rest.

Each "side" photo is grouped into the swim stroke that is being performed (i.e. butterfly, breaststroke, backstroke, and freestyle).

I also showed our great times together... both kids and parents.

Just a little FYI... I was not there (on Saturday). It was not a non-supportive issue. I did what I could... when I could. I was at another swimming function (Fall Official's Clinic) using volunteer time.

and... by the way... Movies! Eagle Eye with Shia LaBeouf was AWESOME and jam-packed with action (saw it Friday night!). It is a must-see, must-own movie... I'll update you more later on my weekend... Toodles for now! lisa

Who Needs Inspiration? Not Me!

I do... and I don't... My problem is... I get so many ideas, that I just get jam-packed and can't even focus on one. That is a problem. However, when I'm set to task, I pretty much get down to business, but now the other problem is time.

We had a virtual crop at Scrapbook BINGO! this month. Did I get anything done? Nope... I had tons of ideas, but too much in brain to even know where to begin. Plus... I didn't have any photos that wanted to go with those ideas (I only had old photos that I currently don't want to scrap!), as I hadn't had them printed, didn't have the time to upload them (or "fix" them for that matter), and didn't have the bucks to do it with. I know old pics would have solved that dilemma, but I didn't even want to go there. I wanted "fresh!"

I know many of us are overwhelmed with money problems, myself included. So I set out to start making a little cash again, and have been super busy. So... before I go to clean a house, I wanted to share with you a card I made. (Vic... if you are here... don't peek!) This is to go with a set of cookbooks from my mom... This is the card - done with (GUESS WHAT!) cardstock I already had (the envelope, too!). All of the materials I used were "stash." Which means... I don't really know where it came from, only that I already had it, and probably had it for a while.

The actual card is embossed with Cuttlebug Swiss Dots. The present and the tag is from Cricut Doodlecharms. I used the ATG to glue everything down (LOVE that new toy of mine...), and punched through it all with my Crop-a-dile Big Bite. The "espressly for you" stamp is from Hero Arts, as well as the bling. The background for the stamp was cut out with "deckle" shears from Stampin' Up!

Here's a "close-up" of the ribbon and the brad (with embossing in the background).

When you "open" the present, the flour sack, bread, bowl and spoon are from Cricut Paper Doll Dress Up. I thought it would be cute to show a little bit of "get cooking" things to go with the gift.

That actually went super duper quick. I once heard, "If a card takes more than 15 minutes, it's time to move on." My thought was that it takes me more than 15 minutes just to put everything together, but that ATG 714 makes everything super simple. I was slinging my gun quickly. Like a pro!

I wish I could get more done. This week, along with a couple of non-scrapping projects, I'll be working on a board for a HooHaa at the Moreno Valley PTSA this coming weekend. I won't be there, as I will be at the Officials' Clinic, but I will at least get the board done. I'll post pics when I get that together... Gotta go! Toodles for now! lisa

Another Busy Weekend...

It was an MVAQ weekend! This weekend was the Redlands swim meet. With everything going on with my sister, it was a tad difficult, and we couldn't really carpool. But that's ok! Everything worked out.

Saturday was beautiful. As an official, it was a little hectic - the computers quit working with eachother for a bit - so the meet ran 50 minutes longer in the morning. We did catch it up in the afternoon though and stayed pretty much on track. I'm psyched! I'm almost done with my volunteering (as an official... never done in other areas). Being on my feet, though... Ugh! But at least it wasn't as bad. This time, I was smart enough to get some insoles. Much better... just a little barking.

Stacy and Rey did pretty well.

It wasn't Sunday, but sometimes Stacy seemed to think it was a "Sunday" Swim (Sunday drive... you know...). She added a couple of seconds to her backstroke, but her other race was pretty good. She scratched her breaststroke, saying she really doesn't do well, but she did great in her IM (individual medley... all of the strokes). It's funny. She thinks she can't do breaststroke well, but that is really her strong stroke. She pulled ahead of the other swimmers and almost caught up with the lead swimmer during this portion of the IM! I wish she could have seen herself.

Rey was more mellow. She decreased her times by a couple of seconds and scratched her breaststroke also (claiming her knees hurt). I think she was more psyched to be not swimming on Sunday. Lol! There was a mistake in the entries, and she didn't get signed up for any events on Sunday. It's ok... she wanted to time anyway...

Sunday was my off day. I was on... then I guess I was "official enough" that I was actually assigned to talk to a couple of kids and explain to them why they were "DQ'd" (disqualified) at the end of their race. Ooohh... how sad. I think the first kid I had to talk to was a 8-year-old little boy. He looked so sad. I felt so bad. But otherwise, the day went fast, staying on track. It was fun! I like the fast pace.

Stacy swam well that day... so she got two ice cream cones (Drumsticks). She had asked if she could scratch something that day... I told her "No WAY!" She didn't complain after that and did well.

When we got home, my sister was here. She was released from the hospital, and she'll be staying with us for a little while. Here, we have: 1) no stairs... the better for a post-surgery patient. and 2) Internet service... the better for her to do schoolwork with.

Things will all work out. We'll all be fine. The family is working together to make everything work (wow! that's a lot of "work" words).

I really like all of the people I've gotten to work with in the official circuit and administration. They are extrememly helpful and insightful. I'm almost there... But... now I've got to get on the ball and take my online tests, then I still have Clinic in October. Hopefully soon... I'll get my "Official" badge. It's a good thing! Toodles for now! lisa