She Wants to Be Like Liz.

Doesn't everybody want to be like Liz? I think so. This past weekend Emily decided that she wanted to do an Ew to New project. I showed her what Liz has done and she was hooked. I have a tenant that is in marketing. He designs plaques, tshirts and you name its to sell in catalogs. This December he came into my office with a box full of blank plaques and plaques with errors. I thought of Ew to New right away, but I am a procrastinator. It took Emily to get me going. So this is what she did. Please remember this is the same girl from the last post that steals all my scrap supplies to make head bands. Great...now she is on to signs. There goes the rest of my supplies. LOL!

She started with the plaque and a small audience - me and her doll.

With my help she cut a piece of pattern paper (yes Cindy...that is the sheet you just gave me) and adhered it to the plaque. She then found the wooden letters that I was saving to make door signs for each of the kids. Too bad Nick and Jake. You are now out of luck as she used up two for her project. The N will be going to Goodwill unless she decides to Bedazzle it. Next she added a few rub-ons from one of my Studio Calico kits. Not shown in this photo is a full sheet of October Afternoon rubons she used to cover the letters. Yes...a full sheet.

And ta da! She now has artwork for her room. Notice the full sheet of October Afternoon rub ons? They are there...under the two full sheets of Kaiser flower rhinestones. The girls is an embellishment addict. It sounds like I am uptight about all the embellishment usage. I really am not. I think she is just like me. We both get a thrill out of using up full packages of stuff. When I first started scrapping it was never ok to leave one sticker remaining on a sheet. I would find room on the layout. I had amazing style then. Not. She has always had better style than me. This is Em and her artwork. Why the E and the J? The E is self-explanatory. The J is for Julie. They share a bedroom.

She did that this weekend and I finished up this:

Thanks for stopping by! I hope Wednesday is good to you!

Dang Cravings.

Do you ever crave things? Stupid question. I am certain everyone does. Right now I am craving two things. Number one: Oatmeal M&M cookies from Great Harvest. I purposely took an alternate route to work, so I wouldn't stop for some of these. A cookie can't be that bad, right? Well, it is when you eat all six - they are humongous. Every time I get them I want to hide on the floor of my closet in the dark and scarf them all down. I haven't done that yet, but I can feel that moment approaching and it is a tiny bit scary. So for now I avoid the place. I regret that decision now as it is the only thing on my mind. Well, except for craving number two: the Gel-a-Tins You Spin Me Round set. I went to Archiver's with my niece yesterday for their make and take weekend. One of the projects was a journaling card that used this stamp set. Of course, the set is sold out. Makes me want it even more. Great. I hate the word no more than anything else in life. Being out of stock on something I want is like a giant no from the big wigs of the stamping world whoever they may be. They better look out. I know how to tp, pout and stamp my foot.

Before this entry gets any odder. Here are a couple layouts I have completed in the last week:

The above layout was done for the DT Inspired Challenge being held weekly at Studio Calico. This week is Kelly Noel's turn. My layout is based on her This Look layout. I am normally not a layering person, but I love when others do it. Kelly's work is layer upon layer of all good. I hope I did her justice. The design is hers. I just added a little bit of me (or should I say Em?) here and there.

The January 2009 layout was for the January in February challenge that Davinie Fiero was holding. When I posted it at Studio Calico I was emailed a couple of times and asked how I made the calendar. I didn't. I post all my photos of the day at Shuttercal.com. I printed the webpage showing my thumbnails. I like easy and that was as easy as I could get.

Lastly, was another for the DT Inspired Challenge. This time the DT member was Emily Pitts. I have wanted to lift her layouts, since I first saw it. I copied her almost to a t. I'm not embarrassed to admit that. Why put in more work when you have found something perfect already? Only rule is...give credit where credit is due. SO the layout design above is all Emily.

Thanks for hanging in this long with me. I hope your day is filled with calorie free and in stock cravings.

This May Irritate the Heck Out of You.

So what irks you? I have a ton of irritants. The older I get the more I can let go, but then again I start picking up new ones. It's a win-lose situation. Why am I talking irks? Well, the new BASB Challenge #7 is now posted. It's all about irks and irritants and stuff that drives you nuts. Lately, my main one is underwear. Either it is tight or it's creeping up on me. I am going to keep this short, because no one really needs to hear too much about my underwear - even me. So the result of my irritation is the above. I know...I'm strange. It started out as a vision of grittiness in my head and ended up looking pretty. Doesn't really convey irritation. Come to think about it, I am irritated that it doesn't convey irritation. Grrr. Oh well. At least future generations will know about me and my pet peeve. BTW...that isn't a photo of my behind. To that all I can say is....I wish.

IRK

OK...we all have irks - traffic jams, clutter, someone eating the last of your Oreos without permission late at night when the grocery store is closed and you are having a hankering stronger than a double muscled strong man. Yikes. Where did that last one come from? Gulp. Well, let it out! Join in and let your future generations know you weren't giddy and joyous all the time. Let them know the truth that even you had your moments of irritation. They'll thank you for it. Deadline is 11:59 p.m. on February 28.

How'd that get here so fast?

Really? Wasn't it just Christmas? I am still finishing projects from then, so what the heck happened? Last night around midnight I realized I needed to do something about this love holiday. Love...Love...Love. OK...don't get me wrong, but why do we need Valentine's Day? Isn't this something we should be doing everyday? Maybe not the flowers, chocolate and cards, but the professing our love part. Maybe I am being critical. I don't know. Like I said...don't get me wrong...I love letting people you love know they are loved, but I can do that without a holiday. I feel like I just shot cupid with an uzi. Sorry little diaper dude. We don't need another person out of work, so I will play along and be nice.

All that ranting just to say...see the thing above? That is what all my sweeties will be getting tomorrow. Don't be thinking I am a multi-dater. I'm not. These will be for all my little loves. I made (and will be making) a whole variety and will fill them with candy and gift cards.

BOOK

In the non-scrapping realm, I have book club tonight. My book club is hysterical. Three minutes of book talk and four hours of fun and fabulous chit chat. Tonight I am going to push for more than three minutes, because I did not read an 800 page book just to say it was good. I need at least eight minutes. ;o)

BTW...my review. Long book. Half could have been deleted. I have no idea what the title means and that irks me. I hope someone else knows and can tell me within the eight minutes period.

TULIPS

Oh and look what I got this morning. They are not related to valentine's day. I love that.

In case I don't post tomorrow, I want to wish you all a very happy Valentine's Day. May Cupid be nice to you, if he hasn't already.

In Between Doing Other People's Tax Prep....

I scrapped a few layouts. I like numbers, but I have to figure out a more effective way to do other people's tax prep. I am lucky to have sidework, but the whole time I am doing it I keep saying I could be scrapping...I could be with friends...I could be scrubbing my toilet (and actually finding it more fun than crunching numbers). Anyway...enough ranting. This is what I came up with this past weekend:

Above and below you will find the layouts I did for the Studio Calico DT Inspired Challenges. Above is a lift of Tina's Fall Girl. I love Tina's style. I call it eceletic with edge and style. This was a blast to work on. I could scraplift all her layouts for the rest of my life and be happy as a lark. For sure. Below is my lift of Stephanie's Time Is Tricky layout. I always ooooh and aaaah over Steph's work, but my simpleness usually prevents me from going the extra steps needed to make one of her masterpieces. The challenge is what I needed. Bonus points...I always love when I can use up whole packages of stuff. Imagine my joy when I used up almost two packages of rub ons. Giddiness of joy. I still haven't recovered.

That's it for creativity. However, not that you really want to know this, but I like to share. This past weekend I picked up a quirk. Remember I was glued to my laptop messing with numbers. Well, in the background a show was on television. Something about diagnosing medical mysteries. I am quite certain I have every ailment listed. I will not be watching that channel again...ever. From now on I am back to watching my ghost shows. I never worry about having ghosts - just rare ailments that only one doctor in the world can diagnose. I am shuddering just thinking about it. Aren't you? ;o)

Just a few things...

First of all, the BASB Challenge #6 is now up and running. This one is being hosted by Diana. The challenge is to do a Valentine layout or project with a twist. Forget about your regular honey and scrap a layout, or a Shrine, to the one whom you'd be with if you weren't already so in love with your current squeeze. As Diana says...Go all out. Declare your love for Edward Cullen (but don't let Anilu hear that - he's all hers) or Captain Jack Sparrow. Tell the world how much you fantasize about Vin Diesel or how Josh Groban makes your heart melt! Since I have no feelings for any of those listed (or don't want to mess with Anilu), I chose my heart throb, Chris Garver. Just his name send shivers up my spine. :o)

Join in and you can win an awesome prize - Teresa Collins' 9x9 Crush mini album kit. This is sold out all over, so how can you resist trying to win one. That's as forceful as I get. LOL! Deadline to enter is 2/14 at 11:50 p.m. Pacific Time. Here's my "shrine" to Chris:

Next, I finally finished my layout for Dawn's Circle Journal. Her theme was music. I had the hardest time doing this. I wanted it perfect and my first attempt wasn't even close, so into the garbage it went. Not that it made it to the perfect mark, but I am happy with the outcome. Lucky Dawn gets my music forced on her in the form of a burned cd. Hey...it could have been 20 songs by Helen Reddy. That actually wouldn't be that bad, would it?

Lastly, as mentioned in my previous posting, is Jenn's Scrap challenge for Studio Calico. I believe I used 18, 19 or 49 scraps for my layout. I actually lost count, recounted and repeated that four or five times. I refuse a recount. Recounts are far to common in Minnesota lately.

And that is it. I am currently working on two more challenges: 1. g's Studio Calico DT Inspiration challenge. This weeks DT member to lift is Tina. I love Tina's work, so this will be a blast; and, 2. Davinie's January in February challenge. Hopefully I will get to those tomorrow and post them this weekend.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you all have a fun friday!

A Week of Challenges

Personally, I had no challenges. Never do. I am sure that makes me odd, but what's new? Anyway, last week Studio Calico was filled with scrapping challenges posted by Gillian, Waleska and Jenn. What a blast. Here are a couple of layouts I came up with:

First off, we have the use grey challenge, so I did. I never use grey. Don't know why. I think it's because I view it as an emotionally sad color. Whatever. I was wrong. When I saw what others were doing with it I was sold. I used orange, but grey and red is awesome together. Plan on trying that at some point.

This one was for the the lift the person above you challenge. I scraplifted Amy Coose's layout-One More Hour. She always does such beautiful layouts. I had my eye on lifting this from the first moment I saw it, so when the challenge was posted it was the push I needed to actually do it. The best thing about this layout is that it was drawn and I get a prize from Gillian. That is just awesome!

Finally, this is for Waleska's Use Studio Calico Packaging challenge. Studio Calico always has such wonderful packaging, such as bag labels, reminder cards, etc. For this challenge I used the red circle bag labels. They are under the flowers. I had a hard time figuring out how to do this layout. I still think I should have used different background paper, but to let you in on a secret...this was the third sheet of pp I used and abused. It was the closest to happiness I found. Oh and don't faint, but I hand cut out that brown big flower. I only had two Creative Cafe flowers. What's with that? I must stock up immediately.

OK...enough rambling. I am currently working on Jenn's use a ton of scraps challenge and will post that tomorrow. What else am I going to do tomorrow? Watch football? I think not.

I hope you all have a beautiful weekend!