Shaker card

Here's a shaker card I made using foamies. I've made shakers using CD holders, but they're too big for my envelopes. I tried making my own window envelope, but the paper would cling and the confetti wouldn't shake nicely. So I decided to use foamies to keep the paper separated. This is my first try, and I think it looks pretty good! Though next time I'll make the circles bigger.

The picture doesn't really show the shaker part. I'll try taking a close up later.

Fall Cards

I've always been into making cards. Recently, my interest has really revved up! It might be related to a scrapbook I'm making for my dad's 70th birthday. I've been using my stamps, paper, and die-cuts almost every night!

Here are a few of the fall-themed cards I've made. The instructions for making the 3-D pumpkins are found on the Paper Source website, under how-to. I didn't have any circle stickers, so I just cut out circles and used adhesive. The instructions are here:


http://www.paper-source.com/cgi-bin/paper/howto/ideas/3d_pumpkins.html

Spring Cleaning!

I've been neglecting my blog because I've been spring cleaning. I shouldn't really call it "cleaning". What I'm really doing is de-cluttering my life. I tend to collect stuff, lots of stuff. Do you have a junk drawer at home? Well, I have a junk room. Originally, it was going to be a home office with my computer, books, and craft supplies.

When I moved in, I didn't have alot of money. I had very little furniture, all of it hand-me-downs. So I didn't have bookshelves and storage cabinets for this room. Everything was piled on the floor in anticipation. It was only going to be temporary until I had saved money. But then five years went by. I finally have a bigger car, so I can hit the garage sales, tag sales, and thrift stores. Unfortunately, the room is out of control. I have to clear it before I can even think of putting in furniture.

I've spent the last 6 weeks slowly clearing the junk room, with occasional forays into other areas. I've thrown out old papers and cleaned up the filing system. I really need a new filing system though. That's my next project.

These are the things I've given away to friends or Freecycle, or donated:
1. about 50 yards of fabric to a person who makes quilts for animal shelters.
2. a bag of miscellaneous greeting cards, all unused. These were the odds and ends left over from various stationary sets.
3. about 100 VHS tapes. I still have more to sort through.
4. over 100 cassette tapes of music. I should have more in the unsorted boxes.
5. 4 board games.
6. dozens books were donated to the friends of the library. I'm still paring down my library.
7. a toaster. This was in my kitchen, but I think it still counts. I took a break and rearranged some of the pots and pans cabinet. I still need to do more work in the kitchen.
8. a 4 cup coffee maker. I used it for awhile, but the capacity was too small. I gave it to my parents when their maker was being repaired. I think they're giving it back next week.
8. lots of small knick-knacks

Things I've found (and didn't know were lost):
1. A check for $200. It was expired. Luckily, it came from a family member, so they just wrote a new one, which I deposited right away.
2. about $75 in state quarters. They were duplicates of the ones in my quarter book.
3. about $100 in spare change, does not include the quarters. I have a glass jar about 5 inches in diameter. There is almost 4" of coins in it. I also found bills while cleaning.
4. Unused postage stamps. Including the brand new booklet I found this morning, I have found over $30 in stamps. All I need are a bunch of penny stamps.
5. My favorite movie: Bedknobs and Broomsticks. I almost bought it from eBay last week. Good thing I didn't.

Things to get rid of:
1. More cards. I have a big family, and all my friends have children. Every year they have fundraisers and sell stationary. I send most of my greetings by email now. I'm going to wait until I find them all before I give them away this time.
2. wrapping paper. I love buying wrapping paper in January when it's on sale. Besides the Christmas-y ones, I also buy the metallic ones (without Christmas or winter designs) and use it for other occasions. However, I'm ususally very lazy and just put presents in bags. So I've got yards and yards of paper. I'll post it on Craigslist in November.
3. 2 coffee pots. One is the 4 cupper my parents are returning. The other is a 10 cupper I found in the garage. It was in storage for a few years, and I guess I thought I had already given it away. So I bought a new one.
4. Books. Will I really re-read them? I love reading, so this is the toughest part.
5. clothes.
6. shoes.
7. a DVD player. Maybe... I bought an all region player and use that most of the time. But this one has a better picture.
8. cookware. Why do I need so many skillets?

Even though the junk room looks tons better, I still won't let other people see it (like my closet). Well back to sorting!

The Price is Right!

This Monday I tried to get into the Price is Right. I got up at 3:30 am and met my friends, and we carpooled down to the CBS lot out side of the Farmer's Market. It wasn't too cold, I was surprised that I only needed a light sweater. We had tickets, but needed passes onto the lot. Well, we didn't get the passes. No passes, no show. I talked to the CBS rep. She said you had to be one of the first 100 people in line to expect to get in. Successful people showed up between midnight and 3 am. So even when I woke up, I was too late. Lesson learned. Next time we'll be earlier. As Bob is retiring, I don't know when or if we'll get tickets again. As it was, we applied for these tickets in December.

If you get to go, know that Monday and Thursday are their most busiest. 1) because they tape 2 shows on M and TH;
2) because people take vacation to go to the show.

An evening with George Lucas

A few weeks ago, I went to the Museum of Television and Radio evening with George Lucas. It was great!! I was only a few rows from the stage. He talked about Young Indiana Jones coming to DVD with special documentaries about the historical people in the episode. He will have at least 2 new TV shows. He's finishing up 100 Clone War animated episodes and will be shopping that around the networks soon. Then he's working on a live-action Star Wars show. The cool thing is, he's making all the episodes first, and then will try to sell the series. This means less interference from the network.

So this means I need cable. So far, I've existed without cable or satellite. I can find most of the shows on the internet, or whatever is picked up by the antenna. Can my budget handle the added expense? I've been budgeting down to the last dollar. As the shows haven't been sold yet, I have some time to think. Do I try to make more money, or can I cut something out? What to do??

I'm a Sunflower!

I am a Sunflower What Flower Are You?

"When your friends think smile, they think of you. There is not a day that goes by that you can't find something good about the world and your fellow human."



This is pretty accurate. For the most part I am annoyingly optimistic. I try to find the best in everything. There is a bit of reality in world, just a bit though. A good motto would be "Expect the best, and plan for the worst".

I planted strawberries in a hanging bag last weekend. I've always wanted one of these, though I've read horrible reviews. People call it "death in a bag". Apparently, the water accumulates in the bottom. The bottom plants drown and the top plants wither from lack of water. Bad reviews aside, I am a compulsive gardener with a very small patio. I need to start thinking vertically, if I want to satisfy my gardening addiction. Plus, I found a kit a great price at the big box store. It came with the hanging bag and 10 bare-root plants, all for about $5. Too good to pass up, even if it fails.

Gardening and Money are my big interests.

Here's a link to a picture of Parks Seed to see a similar kit. I hope it works.


http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10101&catalogId=10101&langId=-1&mainPage=prod2working&ItemId=42009&PrevMainPage=textsearchresults&scChannel=Text%20Search&SearchText=hanging%20strawberry&OfferCode=T1H

Poor Kroshka...

Earlier this week my cat started winking at me. A day later there was a little discharge. By that evening his eye was red and closed. So off to the nice doctor. Since Kroshka had a small scratch on his nose, the doctor wanted to see if the infection was due to cornea damage. He put a dye in Kroshka's eye, turned off the office lights, and used a UV lamp. The idea was if there was a scratch on the cornea, the dye would fall into the scratch and show under the UV. Cornea damage would be the worst case scenario. Luckily, no damage!

So we left w/eye drops that need to be administered twice a day. I thought this would be the hard part. Boy, was I wrong. That one trip to the doctor has disrupted my happy trio of cats. No one is talking to each other. Lots of hissing. Lots of hiding under the bed. The only one who is even somewhat happy is Kroshka. It's been 3 days and his eye is much better.
I'll add pictures when I figure out how.

Just a note: so far no one is aware of my blog. I haven't told anyone yet...I've tried blogging before and always given up. This time I'll see if I can at least post once a week. Wish me luck.