Acronyms or TLAs

So I was searching SCS (split coast stampers) for some ideas since there are A LOT of them there for scrappers, cardmakers, stampers, and just paper crafts in general and I fell into this thread about acronyms (or more accurately TLAs - three letter abbreviations since an acronym is something like RADAR, an abbreviation made into a word, and a TLA is like TFS, a string of words turned into a quick abbreviation). There were some TSF (Too Stinking Funny) ones like :

I have PMS constantly!! (Purchase More Stamps)

I almost PIMPed! (Peed In My Pants)

DMC - not embroidery thread (Drive Me Crazy)

CRS and CRA - (Can't Remember Stuff & Can't Remember ANYTHING!)

For reference if you don't already know TFS is Thanks For Sharing :D. My favorites were the top two because I'm inflicted with PMS all the time, lol. And PIMP was just too hilarious. For a couple serious ones for the moms out there with teens/tweens that chat, MOMS = mom over my shoulder, POS = parent over shoulder, and DIR or MIR = dad in room and mom in room. Just a couple I picked up. There were actually quite a few extraordinarily long lists, it was literally like another language :S. I really feel OOTL now! (Out Of The Loop)

Wrapping paper = Card

Colors : Baby Pink, Bubblegum, Watermelon, Orange, White Daisy
Papers : Baby Pink CS, Watermelon CS, Orange CS, White CS
Stamps : Confetti and Favors, Solo T (for the circle)
Inks : Bubblegum, Watermelon, Orange


Inspired by the wrapping paper and if I had a bit more time I probably would have taken my white gel pen and doodled the cute circles around some of the pink circles that the paper had. Baby pink, watermelon, and orange cardstock; bubblegum, watermelon and orange ink; and 'confetti and favors' and the circle from the solo T stamps were used. And for as quick as I had to do it along with having a toddler squirming on my lap, I think this turned out pretty darn cute!

My Poor Baby...

Caitlyn is playing away having a great time jumping up and down and singing "I like to move it!!" just a little bit before bedtime when WHAM! She scrapes her hand on the AC intake vent in the hallway and scratches off some skin. It hardly bled but I know those scratches can sting terribly, not to mention that it was on a very painful spot, against the side of her hand right under her pointer finger. She cried and cried and cried and cried. And all she would let me do was hold her, she wouldn't even let me look at it good. After about ten minutes of this we decided that we HAD to get a bandaide on and some neosporin before it could get infected and poor Caitie freaked out. We had quite the time trying to get the bandaide on her and for another five minutes after she just held me and cried while telling me it hurt. What could I do? I practically felt like crying myself because there wasn't anything I could do to take the pain away. After that she just whimpered and we gave her a popsicle to try and help comfort her and I read her a bunch more books than usual. A little motrin to help curb the pain and lots of snuggles for the next half an hour until it was twenty minutes past bed time. I feel so bad. She was so happy and then suddenly this happened. My poor baby. I finally had to just leave her alone to go to sleep while she was still whimpering a little because Audrey was getting mad about feeling left out. I know Caitie's had worse, far worse than this little scrape but she was so fixated on it, staring at the bandaide the entire time I was holding her and while I was reading to her. She's actually never taken an 'owie' this badly and I feel so helpless in that I can't make it better for her. Right now though, she's sleeping soundly and I can only hope that tomorrow it will feel much better.

Dum, dum, DUMMM!!!

I usually have such a difficult time coming up with card designs that I really like. Typically, I'm much more of a scrapper than a card maker so trying to design cards or card templates is a real challenge for me. In my attempt to create a 20 cards from 2 sheets of paper template, these Christmas cards were born. And I have to say that I think they came out alright even though they are.... contraband!! (Dum, dum, DUMM!!)


Colors : well, they would be Holiday Red, Citrus Green, Clover Meadow, White Daisy
Papers : Pebbles Inc Holiday set - small stripe and dot, white card bases
Stamps : No Peeking, Joy, Christmas Scripts, Confetti and Favors
Inks : Holiday Red, Clover Meadow
Accents : Ribbon (Pebbles), White brads

Now, I say contraband because normally the only products I use are CTMH (first because I like them better and second because I'm a consultant). But this time I just wanted a couple sheets to play with for examples. That and it's nice every once in a while to see what the other companies have out there. And even seeing all the other stuff, I still like our stuff better :D. Anyway, those are the cards I came up with and the nice thing is it helped me devise a template to make 20 cards from just two sheets of patterned paper plus card bases. Some of these cards are part of that template and some of the others just helped me get there by using their samples. You make four cards each of five designs and I'm pretty proud of it since it's very economic ^_^. I'll be making regular CTMH ones later after I finish tweaking the template.

These other cards are the ones I'm designing for our Fabulous Friday enrichment activity in our church. I'm in charge of the free make and take cards. Now I wanted to make them really nice and fun, but inexpensive as well since I'm on a budget. These are what I came up with. I might end up getting different pattern paper for each card for the actual event, this was just used to help me come up with some designs.

Colors : would be about - Heavenly Blue, Key Lime, Crystal Blue, White Daisy

Paper : Baby Boy Stripe by Pebbles Inc., Baby Blue CS, Honeydew CS both from pebbles

Stamps : Delight in Everything, Christmas Scripts, Music of Winter, Little Angel

Inks : Crystal Blue

Accents : Heavenly Blue Organdy, Silver brads, White embossing powder and acetate, chalks

This really fun flower card is called a crisscross card and it's the first one I've even made. I think it turned out very well for my first one. The colors in the picture are a bit subdued probably because of the lighting. In real like it's brighter and very cheery. The colors are actually classic baby boy colors, even the stripe is from the baby boy section, but I think blues and greens are great for any occasion!!

A closer look at the flower which is white embossed on acetate. I love this look and haven't done it until now just because I was lazy and didn't want to get out my embossing stuff :P. But the results are well worth the few minutes it takes to make the flower. It's what really makes the card 'pop!'

This card was the first thing that came to mind when I saw this paper. It was a little simpler in my head but by the time I finished it, I really loved it. I'm so sad that my camera just doesn't do these cards justice. It's light and wintery, the edges of the card distressed in the same blue as the happy holidays and snow flake.

Here's a close up of the snow flake. I put the brad in then used a pop dot to raise it and mounted it over the ribbon on a 2" circle punch out of the green. I love the effect!

And this is obviously a baby boy card. Simple and elegant. The added plus was that this was the simpliest card to make. You can't see it but the edges are distressed with chalk that gives it this soft feeling. All in all, I'm really happy with the way these turned out.

Helping Mom

So I heard the girls clanking around in the kitchen this morning with silverware which usually means they are getting all my clean dishes dirty. As I'm telling them to get out of the kitchen I round the corner to see the dishwasher open and both of them.... putting the silverware away in the drawer. Audrey is getting them out of the basket and handing them to Caitlyn, who is putting them in their little slots in the drawer. Why there was all the clanking, I have no idea because once I'm in the kitchen their small silverware procession is a silent one. I had to smile and say I was sorry but they didn't pay me any mind and just continued with their work. They also pulled out the bowls and plates and set them on the counter since the cupboard where those go is up above the counter. It was so sweet and it was only afterward that I realized I should have gotten some pictures. Then again, the moment I brought out the camera they probably would have stopped like they usually do and would have been more interested in the camera than in putting away dishes.

Starting Fall Out With A BOO!!

I finally decided to try and scrap some of the Halloween/not Halloween pictures from last year (I'm that far behind, farther actually : Feb 2006 :S). Now the story behind our Halloween last year was this. Early in the month we found costumes for the girls and were so excited for them to wear them near Halloween that we were devastated when that week both the girls and I caught a really nasty stomach bug. Needless to say we didn't get to go out at all during the week surrounding Halloween. So to make up for it after we were all better I had the girls get dressed up in their costumes and did a photo shoot. They also got chocolates afterward when we were sure their tummies could hold down the goodies :D. Here are two of the pages I scrapped of Audrey in her little witch costume.

Colors : Autumn Terracota, Smokey Plum, Garden Green, Pansy Purple, Black, Col.White
Papers : Enchanted PP ('07), Black CS, Autumn Terracota CS, Smokey Plum CS, Pansy Purple CS, Garden Green CS, Col White CS, Grey Wool CS
Stamps : Contempo Caps, Believe Caps and Lowercase, Sans small lowercase, Playful Flourishes, Simple Stitches
Inks : Garden Green, Sunflower, Autumn Terracota, Black, Smokey Plum
Accents : Black spiral, Autumn Terracota buttons

The cauldron I drew and cut out on black cardstock then sanded and colored to make the shadow with the black marker. It probably took longer to do that cauldron than both the pages put together, lol. The handle is grey wool cardstock distressed with gray wool ink. I used my oval coluzzle for a guide. A circle punch was used for where the handle connects to the cauldron and sanded autumn terracota cardstock was for the wooden piece on the handle. The legs and steam are from the flourish stamp. The page design is my own. I also did some fun doodling on the words trouble and bubble.