First day of Christmas Shopping

I just finished my first day of Christmas shopping- very unsuccessful. ToysRus had a sale on Wii games, buy 2 get 1 free. They all had to be purchased on the same receipt. Do you know how hard it was to get all 3 games at the same store? I drove 63 miles, and visited 3 stores. I have 2 of the 3 games I set out to buy. I wanted to get Legos Star Wars, Simpsons, and Brain Academy. Instead I have Harry Potter, Simpsons, and Brain Academy.

Next time I'll try to read the ads on Sunday. But I was working this Sunday! I didn't finish reading the Sunday paper until Monday night. And this is Tuesday morning, and I can't find all the games. Though the store people were nice and very polite, they all said I should have been here on Sunday for the best selection. And I agree. Next time I'll read the ads first. I learned my lesson.

Black Friday - While I was at the first store, I say a stocker with an ad. I think it was for Friday. I asked and he avoided my questions, while remaining polite. Do I dare stand in line this Friday? ToysRus has one of the longest lines...I'd have to be up pretty early. I've been thinking about starting my Black Friday shopping at the Camarillo Outlet Center; some stores open at midnight with really good deals. And then just staying up for the rest of the night standing in line for another store.

It's really hard to decide where to go on Black Friday. In the past I've gone to Michaels, JoAnns, Circuit City, Best Buy. I can't wait to see the ads this year, and plan my all day, sleep deprived, shopping spree.

Side note: Met a cute guy while at the last Toys R Us. He's polite, and funny - always good if you're trying to return an item. It worked on the Customer Service people. They called two managers, but he finally was able to exchange his item. He had a badge in his wallet, so he's a firefighter or a policeman. We talked for a bit, but I don't have a name. What was the deal breaker? He's exchanging a PSP3 game. I'm buying Wii games. We have incompatible gaming platforms. Sigh!

I have married friend who has a theory that you should marry young. Then you and your husband will grow together and form ideas and standards . If she had waited until now, she would have all these standards to judge people by. She thinks it would be harder to meet someone who fit all the criteria. I think she's right. I mean I just rejected someone based on their game system. And I knew what I was doing, yet I still did it. Crazy.

Challeng card for Expressively Me

This is my card for Jen's challenge on her blog expressivelyme.blogspot.com. (I really need to learn how to hyperlink websites) I really like her website. She has really great tutorials and lots of card designs.

I made the card with acrylic paint and foam stamps from Michaels. I wrote the sentiment with a brush pen used for writing kanji.

The card was another contender for my co-worker's babies 1st birthday. I was going for the three basic colors, but the blue was too light. And the white behind the lamb didn't show up well. If I repeat this card I'll use a darker blue behind the seal and red behind the lamb.

I ended up liking this card the best, so it's the one she got.

Birthday Cards

My co-worker's twins will be one year old tomorrow. Here are some cards I made for them. All cards were made with acrylic paint. The animal stamps are $1 foam stamps from Michaels. The circus tent is from a stencil set also from Michaels. The Oh Happy Day is from a Fiskars set.

The ribbon is a $1 roll from Michaels. It's a little retro, and I really need to find more uses for it.

Listening to Christmas music, maybe

So one of my fave radio stations has already started playing Christmas music. KOST 103.5 fm or www.kost1035.com has a live music. If only my Quicktime would work! I don't know what the problem is. I have the latest free version. When I click on the ListenLive button, a Quicktime symbol with a question mark comes up. So I will be denied Christmas music while I'm at the computer. My boombox (does anyone still call it this?) doesn't get super good reception. My other options are to: 1) go to bed because my clock radio is programmed to the station, 2) forgo Christmas music until the next time I'm in the car, 3) put in my Christmas CD's

I guess I'll forgo for now. I'm not going to be before 8 pm. I'm not putting in a CD because I'll forget to change it out, and I'll end up listening to the same 12 songs all night long.

Plus, I think it's a little ridiculous to start Christmas songs before Thanksgiving.

A Trio of Butterflies for Caardvarks Challenge

Here is a trio of butterfly cards for the sewing challenge.

The butterflies are made of velveteen ribbon (found in the floral and craft section). They were tied with coordinating ribbon on sale at Michaels this week 5 spools for $1. What a deal! The butterfly trails were stitched using 2-ply DMC embroidery thread. I tried a few different trails, and I don't know which one I like best. Maybe tomorrow I'll try a double trail with 2 butterflies.

There Thanks was hand written using a black brush pen. The For You sentiment is a $1 stamp from Michaels. And the last card has no sentiment yet. This will go in my any occasion file.

Basket full of flowers

This is for the caardvarks challenge to use stitching. I can't take any credit for this card - I case'd it from a Martha Stewart card idea booklet. Worse yet, I didn't even buy the book. How bad is that? At least I gave her credit.

If I do this again, I will use a darker color green, and a heavier weight thread (or even yarn). Though it's not shown, Thank You is stamped on the inside.

The basket was stitched freehand using light weight crochet thread. The flowers are EK Success paper punches.

Inking the edges

I love to ink the edges of paper. I think it adds more definition and dimension to the paper. It also hides the white backing or core of the paper/cardstock. (There's nothing wrong with the white outline. Some people like it; I only like it in certain applications.) It's easy to use the ink pad to get the edges of square or round paper, but how do you get into the crevices or curves? Especially if you're talking about a diecut piece or a finely cut out stamp.

In cases like that, I use a marker. Make sure the back side is facing you, and edge around the paper with the marker. It won't matter if you accidently write on the paper, because its the back and won't show. I've done it on almost all of the cards posted.

That's my tip for the week. I hope someone finds it useful.