What do you do with your cards?

Was a question I was asked Friday night as an acquaintance of mine thumbed through my stash of cards I have made. I told her "I stick them in that box you are going through". She looked at me like I had 3 heads and 9 eyes! She told me "GIRL YOU NEED TO BE SELLIN THESE CARDS".

That is not the first time I have been told that and I know many of you have been told that also. But I just keep thinking if I can make the card anyone can so why would anyone buy my cards *okie thinks people who do not paper craft are very deluded about what is good and what is not*.

I can't help but thinking about cards.......all the time it seems. I am sitting here typing this and thinking about the Bo Bunny Popsicle line and what kind card I can make from it. I will figure it out........make at least 6 cards out of some of the paper. And then when I am done what will I do? PUT THEM IN THE STUPID BOX!

At least I think I have sparked the interest of my friend Andrea. She was over last night for a little while and I told her "lets make a card". She kinda had a terrified look in her eye *which okie actually took some glee in....sick person that okie is* but I told her it was okay I already had everything cut out, she would just have to put the pieces together. She actually enjoyed it!! She doesn't feel like she made the card since I had the pieces cut. I told her she did all the inking and shading so she did make the card.....and besides I didn't cut the pieces the Cricut did! *okie smiles one of those big cheesy smiles*. Now maybe she will come play with me more.

WE INTERUPT THIS SHOW

FOR A VERY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT...

I am not sure why the files are not downloading for some. I tried myself and it won't download any files but now it seems to be working. I did have to add my site to my list of approved sites with my virus program.

PLEASE BE PATIENT DURING THIS TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY.

Sunflower card.....

I DID IT I DID IT! I finally was able to make a card, a SUNFLOWER CARD! I used The Expression, Plantin Schoolbook, Stretch Your Imagination and Jasmine for this card. The .cut file is set to cut 6 at a time but you can delete what you want if you don't want to make 6 of them. The flower and center will cut in half for you.

I found this paper at the LSS and fell in love with it and have been dying to try it out. It is from PineCone Press. The flower print and yellow/orange are double sided. The green is just one side.

I used Stampin Up Chocolate Chip for the card base and the photo corners are just from some scraps I had. The stamp "Life Is In Full Bloom" is from one of my My Favorite Things stamp sets. The ladybug brad is part of a package that someone sent me. Not sure how they knew I liked ladybugs!! HA HA HA HA HA

Oh and guess what! I STILL LIKE TO DOODLE! *okie is so glad that doodling is legal in Oklahoma*

Of course I had to use mounting foam to add some dimension. I so love dimension!! And yogurt. I really do love yogurt!














Okay I had to post this since I was so excited about actually making something after such a long hiatus but now I must go to bed! I got a lot to do tomorrow and I am sure I will run out of time before people start showing up at my house!!

Virus Warnings....

I have gotten a several messages about people receiving virus warnings so I closed my blog for a few hours. Kendra, over at SCRAPPIN CRICUT, was nice enough to test quite a few of my files and she said they all came out clean *okie thought she remembered scrubbin down those files with Pine-Sol before linking them to her blog*.

I am lucky enough that amkscrap from the Cricut MB shares her SENDSPACE storage with me. It is a pay service, therefore is free from ads and allows me to put my cut files as direct downloads and is less likely to have virus problems. Now with that said I cannot guarantee it would never happen *okie learned long ago to never make a guarantee without talking to a lawyer first*.

So I guess what I am saying is that as far as I know the files are safe.....but use at your own risk. Remember boys and girls to always use protection *okie falls out her chair laughing*.

I started to make a card...

I got out my paper I wanted to use. I opened Design Studio and played around and then some how I ended up cleaning out the fridge, putting curtains up in the living room, putting my shutters back up in the craft room, cleaning out the pool filter and skimmer and going next door to visit with Naomi.

I don't think I know how to make a card anymore!!

Ikea...it's not just a store...IT'S AN ADVENTURE!

At least it is if you go with my friend Linda, but then again pretty much everything is an adventure with Linda!

So Linda and I spent the day in Frisco, Texas which is about a 3 hour drive or so from where we live, give or take 30 minutes. We had a blast, as usual! We went to the Ikea store down there and also hit Joann's and Hobby Lobby. The best part was getting to meet two Cricut sisters!! We met TammySkinner and HappyHappyJoyJoy *okie starts singing in her head "down in my heart, down in my heart", as she always does when she sees Joy's name*. Tammy hooked up with us at Ikea and Joy grabbed the hitch at Joann's *okie has no idea what grabbing a hitch means but she is very very tired and there is no telling what she might type at this hour*. We had a great time at dinner, supper.......the evening meal.

*okie looks at the clock* Oh dang it is like 2:30 am! I got out of bed to use the bathroom and I couldn't go back to sleep. But I know I need to get my butt *okie looks at the word butt and giggles...okie realizes she really is overly tired at this point* back to bed because I have to put together my shelving unit I got! I will try to get some pictures posted tomorrow of "SHIRLEY AND LINDA'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE!" That's right Bill and Ted ya better move over!! *okie tries to laugh but can't seem to muster the strength to do so*

New blog!

Of course I will keep this one! But I wanted to give ya the new blog address!!

The blog name is Eating To Live Better. I KNOW I KNOW IT IS CORNY AS ALL GET OUT! But I couldn't think of anything else! LOL

BREAKING NEWS!!

OMG!! I AM FRIGGIN FAT!

And don't you dare say "oh okie don't say that...say you are pleasantly plump, or vertically challenged or horizontally blessed"....FAT IS FAT! I am all about being honest and taking personal responsibility. So here I am standing up in all my glory and taking responsibility for my fatness!

I gained weight when I quit smoking. At my last doctor appointment I told her "I need to see the nutritionist". So I did. The nutritionist is very funny and a great lady. Even though she did tell me that all my eating habits were wrong and that basically by only eating once a day I have managed to get my blood sugars totally out of whack and that my body thinks it is starving so it is storing all my fat cells *okie wonders why her body was not looking in the mirror....it would know good and well it is NOT starving*. I told the nutritionist "I am weak and a loser, I have to be held accountable to someone or I will just keep putting off eating how I am suppose to". She told me "okay so you are now accountable to me and I expect to see you back in 2 weeks with your food diary in hand". I told her "Ya know I thought we were gonna be great friends, but the more you talk the less I like you". *with one eyebrow raised okie says* She laughed at me.

So as soon as I get enough time I am going to make a new blog. I will still have this one for my hobbies, but the new one will be about my trials and tribulations of trying to get healthy. I gotta get some encouragment from somewhere as my daughter said "you won't do it" and then asked what I had for supper last night and started cackling and said "I think it is funny! I can have all the steak I want and you can't" *in her mind okie calls her daughter some not so nice names*. I told her I can, but I choose not to and left it at that.

FLOORING IS DONE!

I am so wanting to get everything back in the craft room but I am having problems with deciding how to put things back in here.


This is how the room was arranged before..well okay with a lot more crap in it! I have shelving to put on the wall directly in front of where the chair is sitting. I need more shelving though!

















Sorry this picture is a little dark. I am going to put my stamp binders in the bottom left hand cabinet shelf thing. If ya look under the table under the window you can see a cabinet, it holds fold down boxes and wrapping paper. I call it my gift wrapping cabinet. *okie is so freaking original that she just impresses herself sometimes*










Okay I am showing this one just because I want to show off the flooring! HA HA HA Before I had carpet in the craft room, one kinda lino in the laundry area and another in the kitchen and dining room. It looks so much better with having all one kinda going all the way through! You can see Lucy in her bed. She is tired from helping me move stuff...well more like tired of me asking her opinion!







These pictures are how I have the room right now. The 8 foot table that was against the wall *okie forgets folks don't know which one is the 8 ft table* okay the one that has the fake wood tore off it, is now out at my curb waiting for someone to have mercy on it and take it away.












I am thinking of building paper storage that would fit under the windows. I kinda like this arrangement because there seems to be more room. Well at least until I get everything in here! I need to find pilaster strips and clips in order to build the paper storage I have pictured in my head *pictures in okie's head can be really scary sometimes*.









Here you can see there is a lot more open space than I had before. The recliner still needs to be brought in here also. That is one thing I refuse to give up in here. It is so nice to have it so people have a nice comfortable place to sit while I am crafting....and I have a place to take a nap! *okie totally loves naps*


Okay ya'll let me know what ya think about the arrangements. Oh and doesn't that flooring just rock!!

This is why I can't use my pool!

So everyday when I am working the sky is clear and the weather is sunny and hot. But sometime during the afternoon it gets cloudy...and well.....stuff like this happens!!

This view is from my front porch.


This is a view from my patio during the storm.


Oh, as for my craft room floor, I was informed today that the flooring guy will be here Sunday morning. I think I should get a free months rent for the inconvenience...HA HA HA

I shall never craft again....

The flooring was suppose to be started Tuesday or Wednesday. I waited. They never showed up. So today I get a call and am told that they floor repair folks can't get here until this weekend so the flooring people won't be here until next week!!!

As of this moment right now I should be in Texas! I was suppose to go to the Great American Scrapbook Convention with my friend Linda but I had to cancel because the flooring people were suppose to be here. Then I got the call at 8:55 am that *okie feels blood rushing to her face and her ears burning...her head feeling like it is going to pop off...in a very strained voice* I can't bear to say it, but you know, next week!!!

It's never going to end!!!

So the painting is all done. HURRAY! BUTTTTT........the flooring can't be done until next week. I have had enough of my house being turned upside down! I am going crazy with crap being in the guest room, hallway, living room and dining room. I just want to get the *beep* back in the craftroom and get on with my life!!

I know I will be glad once it is all done but right now........I JUST WANT TO BURN IT ALL!!

Here is a little slide show of the journey so far....

TODAY IS THE DAY!!

The painter is coming today! And I am ecstatic!!! Now that doesn't mean I will be able to put my stuff back tonight, or even this weekend, but at least it is a start! I still have to get my tables and computer out of here. I decided not to tear down the computer until they told me for sure they were coming. I have to have my computer for paperwork so I didn't want to tear it down unnecessarily.

I will take pictures and post them of the process!!

DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD

THE WICKED WITCH IS DEAD! I have no idea why I just busted out into that song *okie shrugs shoulders* I do that randomly though.

Anywho....I am finished at the school until August! WOOT WOOT! Which means I get to sleep in at least 30 minutes longer every morning. I also won't be working as much, which means I won't have as much money *okie thinks to self "like I had any money to begin with"* but I do love my shorter schedules in the summer. If I want to work a full week and then a day I get to take off for four days, or something like that. My scheduling is very odd sometimes, at least to others...I seem to understand it perfectly.

I talked to the landlord briefly yesterday and he is suppose to call his son. Now if he got a hold of his son I do not know since my phone at home went out yesterday and I had to call Southwestern Bell, or ATT, whatever they are calling themselves these days, for them to fix it. Luckily it was fixed rather quickly. I guess I will have to call him again today. But I certainly hope they can start on the painting soon. I am ready for it to be over and done with!

I am NOT back...but I need to be, or maybe not

I think there has been some confusion. I am NOT back. I just posted where I have been. I am not sure when I will be back as I am in the hands of the landlord at this point. Didn't that just sound like a line out of a really bad movie? HA HA HA.......but seriously.....it did! *okie waits to hear the dum duh da dum music....but hears nothing....shrugs shoulders* okay guess it was just me that thought that.

I still haven't finished clearing out the craft room. Not that there is still that much stuff, but rather I am just that lazy. Which is kinda bad since I should have made 2 graduation cards before I packed everything up and now I can't even get to my stuff to make any cards so I will have to get, *okie whispers...you guys get ready to gasp* STORE BOUGHT CARDS!! *okie hears the huge enormous gasp* Told ya to get ready to gasp!

I don't mind giving SB cards at all, because think about it for a moment...it is for graduation. What do graduates do? They open the card smile, skim the message quickly and then look for a check or cash that should have fell out when they opened the card. So do ya think 2 years from now those kids will say "Shirley sure spent a lot of time on that card she made me for graduation". NOOO!!! They will say "that cheapskate Shirley only gave me 20 bucks for graduation!". So you see it doesn't matter what the card looks like anyway! *okie cracks up laughin and noddin with a look of 'ya'll know good and well I just spoke the truth!'*

HHEELLLOOOOO!!! ANYONE OUT THERE????

I apologize for not posting sooner. There is a lot going on around here right now and I promise I haven't made anything new and not posted it.....I just haven't made anything at all. Well to be perfectly honest I have made a huge mess in my craft room, but more about that in a minute. If ya have a few minutes get comfortable and read what has been going on.

First off.....every thing is okay, just very busy.

Where should I start....

APRIL 23RD-26TH
Ummm.......house being repainted, process going on. The landlord's wife came to pick up the rent last month and she caught me during one of my quitting smoking mood swings *okie wonders if the poor lady will ever be the same* and she made the mistake of asking "so how is the house". I went off in a tirade about everything they were suppose to have been replacing or repairing in the last few years and never have and how "I will let the house fall down around my ears BECAUSE I ONLY RENT". Anywho *okie says in a sweet voice and a smile*.......they have painted the living room, bedrooms hallway, dining area and kitchen so far. I also got a new stove top *okie had been needing that for about 3 years* which I am thrilled about, maybe now I won't be simmering something and then it decide to go to a roiling boil!! And have other things they are going to fix around here very soon. I guess if I had stopped smoking sooner I wouldn't have had to wait so long to get things done around here! LOL

APRIL 28TH-29TH
My niece, her husband, her mom *which is okie's cousin, but niece is actually okie's second cousin but has always refered to okie as aunt.....now that should confuse everyone*, and her little sister came to stay right after the painting because she had to go to a hospital here in town to have her baby. We have a boy. He is a III so they are calling him Trip. Of course it is funny to me because their last name is LeForce so when Trip is about 3 and people ask him his name I can just hear him saying, in that little speech impediment way that 3 year olds have, "Triple Force". When I informed my niece of this she was like "OMG! I never thought about that". Her husband in true male fashion smiled nodded his head as if in pride and said "Man that is cool!". As you can see he is a cutie indeed!

MAY 3RD-6TH
I had the 16th Annual Childrens Behavioral Health Conference in Norman Oklahoma to go to for work. I was able to attend some interesting workshops.......and do a little shopping! And I mean little. I got a set of See D's sentiment stamps at Hobby Lobby. They were marked down from 11.99 to 7.19 and then for some odd reason they took 50% off *okie ain't one to look a bargain gift in the mouth* so I was really excited about that. I really liked all the sentiments the set had, it seemed to cover pretty much occasion. I sure hate that Inque Boutique, the makes of See D's sold out...can we have a moment of silence? *okie bows head in respect*

I also got myself a pair of speedo flip flops at Khols. And of course I spent more money on my daughter than I did myself.....darn kids sure get in the way of things don't they! LOL She was thrilled when I came in with a few new summer clothes for her.


May 10th HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY
About 10pm I was sitting at my computer and was finishing up a load of laundry. I hear a BBZZZTTTT from the dryer, and my dryer does not have a buzzer, and then orange flashes from inside the dryer. I was able to act quickly and avoid a fire. *OKIE IS DEFINATELY BLESSED BY GOD*. The dryer and washer now repaired, yes I said washer too! LOL The washer didn't catch on fire, I just figured why not have the repair man fix it too while he was here....if your cam dogs go out, well the darn washer won't agitate like it should.

As you can see by the picture it was the wiring that went bad, likely due to vibrations over the years. It is as good as new now.

May 12th
Landlord came by to pick up rent *yeah it is due on the 1st, I left a check when I had gone to the conference, and the check still hasn't been cashed.......landlord doesn't get in a hurry about anything much I guess* and said his son is ready to come back and finish painting. The craftroom will be getting painted and get a new floor. The bathroom on this side of the house will get a new toilet and sink and also painted. They are going to paint the laundry hallway and laundry area also.

So I don't have a picture of me giving my landlord the check, and not really sure why I would take a picture of that I figured I would at least put this picture of my flooded backyard that was taken that same day. I love the rain because we need it but I am ready for some sunshine for awhile. I don't even know if I will be able to get a garden in this year due to all the rain!!

May.......aw heck this weekend...
I have been trying to get my craft room stuff packed away so it will be ready for paint and flooring. It is a bit of a larger task than I thought. I do have most of my scrap supplies moved already. I have to tear down the computer desk and not even sure where to put it while this part of the house gets redone. I am trying to go through and throw some things away that I don't use anymore or I know I won't use, which is very hard for me. But I will be so glad to get rid of this nasty carpet! *okie totally hates carpet and thinks all carpet should be burned at the stake*

They are going to be redoing the hallway to the kitchen, the laundry area and the bathroom on this side of the house also.

I just hope they have it done before the first weekend in June, I have company coming after that!!

SSOOO........how have ya'll been? *okie cracks up laughin*

Chipboard album and gift bag

Today is Administrative Assistants day and while I did make the card for everyone in the office to sign for our office manager, Jen, I wanted to make her a little something just from me. Jen has a Maltese named Oscar and she is as crazy about little Oscar as I am about my little Lucy. I knew what I wanted to make her and have known for sometime but of course waited to the last minute *okie is such a procrastinator* partly because...well okay...totally because I have just been out of the mood to do any paper crafting. Good thing was that since I had been thinking about this I was able to sit down and get my cuts ready in Design Studio, save the file, and then do the cuts the next evening *okie thinks that DS can be such a life saver sometimes*.

The patterned paper I believe is from Making Memories.

For the gift bag I used Tags, Bags, Boxes and More. I cut the bag as big as I could for a 12x12 piece of paper. I had to "trick" my cricut into thinking it was cutting on a 12x24 mat so I could get to the very edges.

I used 1/4" grosgrain ribbon for the handles on the bag. I did add two dog bone brads to the front of the bag for some little extra embellishment.

The "I love my Dog" on the front is a 3-D sticker that I had in my stash and the colors worked wonderful for the paper.

I inked the edges with Chestnut Roan Cateye Chalk ink. I did use my ATG gun to put the bag together. And yes...the album does fit in the bag.......barely.........BUT IT DOES!!




For the album I used my Bind It All to hold the album together using 1" wires. For the cuts I used Paper Pups, Mini Monograms, Jasmine, George and Basic Shapes and Cuttin Up. This is the front and back of the album. I used Paper Pups for the puppy and Cuttin Up for the name Oscar. I also used a brad that has a fire hydrant on it with a piece of ribbon to kinda jazz up the front. I did also due a double stitch hand doodle around the front. On the back I just stamped it with my okieladybug stamp.


Here are page 1 and 2. I used Mini Monograms for the picture mats. I did make little removable white mats so she can trim her pictures to size more easily. The paw prints on the red paper are done with a paw stamp and a Versamark Watermark ink pad. It is the first time I have really gotten to use it...and I do believe I am gonna love the watermark pad!





Here is page 3 and 4. I used my Purple Cows cutter to cut the mat and chose the deckle blade *which is okie's favorite*. I used Jasmine for the photo corners. I added two little dog bone paper clips just for some extra embellishment since these two pages were a little plain. I wanted her to have a couple of pages that could hold good size photos.

And again the white mats are for picture reference.



Here is page 5 and 6. All the cuts on this one are from Paper Pups. I tried to make it into a scene of sorts. The tree and the birds are adhered directly onto the page but the puppy and dog house are pop dotted to give it a more dimensional look.






So maybe now I am getting back into the swing of things! *okie keeps her fingers crossed*

Knock Knock

Okay this is not a knock knock joke, just checkin to see if anyone is still around!! *okie figures everyone has probably abandoned her by now and wouldn't blame folks if they did*. I actually made two cards tonight, even turned on the Cricut! First time in a month!! I only made one of each of these as I was using Basic Grey 6x6 paper. I used the sketches from this weeks card challenge.

I am having a bit of a headache so not posting all the info on these but at least gonna post pics of the cards.

I was asked to show how I unmounted my stamps

So I took some pictures of how I did it. I posted this on the Cricut MB but some folks couldn't see the pictures and I was asked to post it on my blog as well.

Peel the label off the block. Different brands do differently. I had problems with Hero Art stamps but SU and Studio G's did fine. This particular stamp is a Studio G.


Peel the stamp off the block. You can pop it in the microwave for a few seconds but I was too lazy to stand in the kitchen and use the microwave so I just peeled them off.


Peel the foam off the stamp. Again different brands react different. The SU stamps were usually pretty easy to get off the foam. I did notice if there was residue on the SU stamps it was easily rubbed off with my finger.


Line up your label on the back of the stamp. I quickly learned that the labels are not always the exact size of the stamp. Since I use a Stamp Ma Jig for stamping most of the time I also figured it was not necessary to get it EXACTLY straight, however I do try to line up as best as I can.



Trim the label next to the stamp. Cutterbee scissors get closer to the edge than regular scissors.


And there you have it! Your stamp now has the label so it can be easily identified!! If the sticky is not on the label well I am thinking you can likely run it through your Xyron easily enough and get the label to stick better.



Stay tuned for when I get the Aleene's Tack It Over and Over to apply to the back of my stamps for storage and using with the acrylic blocks.

Getting closer to crafting!!

As I am typing this I am still under the influence or barbiturates so please forgive any mess ups *okie hopes she pays attention to the red underline of spell check at least*. I did get something done tonight craft related!!

I worked on unmounting some of my wood block stamps. A small feat but I am glad I did do something craft related. I was working rather slow and I think my daughter got 4 unmounted to my 1 *okie is not sure if it is due to the muscle relaxers or if her daughter is just a show off*.

Now my dilema is this....I am unmounting my stamps but I do NOT want the foam on my stamps. I prefer to put the foam under the paper I am stamping on and I know by getting rid of foam I can save even more space. Now now now before you die hard stamps say "OH DEAR LAWD OKIE YOU CAN'T DO THAT" well let me tell you.....yes I can...and yes I did *okie giggles to herself, probably not because she thought that was funny but that muscle relaxers make okie giggle*.

Uhh....what was I talking about *okie goes back to read what she typed*. OH YES! I am looking for something like the See-D's Cling. Since Inque Boutique went out of business I am not sure if this can be found *okie observes a moment of silence in the memory of Inque Boutique*.

So here is where you guys come in. If you guys can find any place that sells stuff like this please please plese let me know where I can purchase it!!

Oh and my newly unmounted stamps will be going in my Tim Holtz Unmounted Stamp Binders. I still TOTALLY love this method for stamp storage!!