Sites of the week

Greetings from Saginaw, TX! I know that a lot of people have been “rubbing it in” that they are in Chicago. So, if you were one of the ones that is still at home hungry for CHA updates, rest assured that you are not the only one. It’s probably a good thing that I am at home because I am STILL not feeling all that well {ugh!!!}. I went to the doc on Thursday and he loaded me up with a little of this and a little of that. So far I’m feeling better, but my cough is persistent and is persistently wearing me out! Not enough to keep me away from the zoo on Friday though! Ellie and I took a little morning trip to the Fort Worth Zoo and, boy, was that an experience!! I guess I assumed that all the carnivores ate before the doors opened. Well, you know what they say about assuming! We got really close view of one of the tigers with his breakfast…a white {and red} rabbit!! Ewww! We watched for a minute while he tossed it around {already dead, btw}, but I wasn’t quite in the mood to watch him rip it to shreds…especially with Ellie saying, “bunny, bunny bunny.” I’m pretty sure that would be a first class ticket to therapy for her later in life. I’m sure I’ll have plenty more chances for that!

Anywhooo…enough about seeing the food chain come to life. Let’s talk stampin’! Better yet, today’s SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY!!

Here’s the sketch…

My sample using MFT stamps and Amy Butler paper from K&Co. …

Guest Designer, Jessie Knight’s sample…

This sketch “challenge” is open to everyone to try, and I hope that you will play along. Be sure to link your projects to this post and if you upload to SCS, please use the keyword SFYTT.

Be sure to check out samples from my buds… Amy R., Amy S., Carole {??not sure if she is playing bc she is at CHA}, Susan and Shannan.

I’m going to go ahead and tell you now…this is going to be a long post. A fun one, but a long one.

Let’s start things off with TCP Tuesday…

I am your {Guest} Hipster Hostess With The Mostess this week. Carole’s off living the dirty girl life, and asked if I would take over for the inspiration challenge this week. Not only is it just plain fun, but she’s a good bud, so there was no way that I would say “no.” Your inspiration for this challenge is a swatch of Michael Miller fabric…

I chose this piece of inspiration because there is so much to play off of…colors, the geometry, the florals, the repetition {I could go on}. The main focus that I used for my sample was geometry and color. Normally I print an inspiration piece out, but this time I didn’t. I felt a lot better about not constantly referring to it and just letting my creativity do the walking, ahem…stamping, cutting, embossing, etc…

Here’s my sample…

Detail shot…

Stamps: Sunburst Curtain, Big Thanks {The Cat’s Pajamas}
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Purely Pomegranate, Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze {Stampin’ Up!}
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze {Stampin’ Up!}
Other: Sewing Machine, Ribbon, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Nestabilities Scallop Square Die, Flower Punch, Ticket Corner Punch

Stuff you should know about TCP Tuesday…

1. Each a week one of the The Cat’s Pajamas DT Members will host a challenge.
2. The challenges will vary {stamp, color, theme/inspiration, sketch, etc.}
3. You will have until {this} Saturday night to complete the challenge.
4. Link your project on this week’s hostess’ challenge announcement {ME, this week}. This week you will link your project HERE.
5. TCP stamps are not required, but of course, highly encouraged. {Unless it is a challenge calling for a specific stamp}
6. There will be one winner each month. They will be deemed that month’s Swankiest Stamper and get $25 in Cat’s Cash {money to spend on the TCP site!}.
7. When uploading to SCS, please use the keyword TCPTUES16 for this challenge.
8. Alma will post the entries from the week the following Monday on her blog.
9. The newly crowned Swanky Stamper will be announced on the First of the Month and have his/her winning entry posted on The Cat’s Pajamas website where he/she will reign for the entire month.

**************

Onto fun family stuff…
Ellie’s birthday party was a blast. She has such a good time and it was so fun to see her get excited for the party. Thank goodness it’s over…if I hear “pink cupcakes” anytime soon, I might just have to be sick! Boy, was she THRILLED about those!! Here’s a picture of one of the cupcakes that my friend created for the party…

And what they look like when a 2 year old gets a hold of one…

PRESENTS!!!… {boy, did she get SPOILED!!}

Now for a little story that I just have to share…
Yesterday, Ellie came with me to the post office. Like 90% of the times that we go to the post office, it was packed. This time it was so busy that I had to park across the street. When we came out, it was just as crazy and instead of attempting to turn around right there I drove up the street to do a U-Turn…which ended up being more of a 3-point turn. In the middle of me turning around, a “little” voice from the back says, “Try Again!” LOL!!!

***I will be taking off Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from blogging. I have been under the weather and need to catch up on some stampin’ stuff as well as some much needed rest. Of course, I wouldn’t miss a Saturday and a SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY. See ya then!!

Jen says I need to reintroduce myself.

I don’t know why, she doesn’t reintroduce herself every time she blogs. If you people just need to know something about the person who contributes to Jen’s blog every month, then I’m sure you can find your way over to the archives and look for yourself. If a couple of clicks are more effort than you’re willing to exert, then you must be perfectly happy with the level of knowledge you have about your guest author.

Or, I could just do it like Jen asked, and give you a brief snippet. Heaven forbid I do it without venting about it first though! Well, that makes for a nice segue into the intro. I am Jen’s husband, and she made me, err, I am delighted to contribute to her blog every month. I have carte blanche to ramble on about whatever might be on my mind, and some months are more interesting than others.

I have given up working (for a time) and gone back to school for my MBA. Since I am in the middle of my summer vacation, captivating ideas (not to mention motivation to seek them out) are fleeting.

But today I have some interesting news. One of my oldest friends reappeared in my life just moments ago. As I type this Jen is trying to fall asleep, so I don’t want to mention it or she will not get the rest she needs (we had a wonderful party for Ellie’s 2nd birthday today, but i know it took its toll on Jen and she was already fighting the crud).

This guy was the only friend I needed from first grade through eighth. My family moved before I started high school, and that’s when our connection started to fade. We stayed in contact mainly through our sports, but those were obviously much less frequent than school.

Quick note - he teamed with his mom and I with my dad in a junior/adult bowling league. My team’s name was “Problemas” and people who went up against us usually had them.

Anyhow, as the internet tends to allow, you can track just about anyone down who is online. I googled his name every so often for the last few years, but always came up empty. I did it again randomly yesterday for the first time (I think) in 2008, and found him in a snap.

I was 99% sure I found the right guy, but until his email arrived I wasn’t holding my breath. So now if you’ll excuse me, I have to reintroduce myself to him, and I don’t think he’s reading this post…

Td

YAY! It’s Saturday! Today is Ellie’s birthday party and I am finishing up the last minute details. I would love to tell you that I have cute handcrafted favors, but I don’t. I just can’t bring myself to put together something that I know will be literally torn into pieces in a matter of seconds. Maybe next year!

Of course, here on Saturdays, I have a SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY. I actually should call it Sketch For US To Try this week, because I fell in love with the split circle idea that I saw on page 53 of the July ‘08 Cards Magazine. I normally use a sketch that I have created myself, although I do not claim that no one else has ever laid paper out that way. However, this week, I wanted to give this a shot and I put it out there for the team as well. Speaking of the team…we have grown. Nope, I’m not expecting! Amy Rohl {SCS: rohla} is joining us! YAY! I have “known” her through SCS for a couple years and she decided to pull a rohla…you’ll have to ask her about that one. Please give a very warm welcome to her and her tremendous talent.

Now, back to the sketch that I was speaking of…

Here is my sample using stamps from CHF and the Paisley background from SU!…

This is a sample from Jessie, the Guest Designer for July…

Don’t forget to check out my buds… Amy R, Amy S, Carole, Shannan and Susan. Tony will be here tomorrow. Maybe he will throw in some Ellie birthday pics. If not, I will be sharing a couple {or more} next week. Have a great weekend!

Yep, today is cleaning day. I have to get the house nice and tidy for little kids to come destroy it tomorrow at Ellie’s party. So, with that theme in mind, I wanted to share a little trick I have up my sleeve for cleaning my acrylic blocks. I know that many people wash theirs with soap and water, but I have to say I am much more of an instant gratification person and I don’t want to have to do even more “dishes” than I already have to. One day I used instant hand sanitizer on my hands and it took away some of the ink I had on them from playing earlier. **LIGHTBULB ON** Hmmm…I wonder if this would work on my blocks. Quick note…DO NOT use this stuff on your clear stamps. It will ruin them! So I got out a couple of my ink stained blocks, the hand sanitizer and a few cotton balls. Viola…it worked!

What I find really cool about this little “trick” is that it will take away any double sided tape residue as well. I don’t mount my Bellas; I just use double sided tape on my blocks. If I am up late stamping, I sometimes forget to take the tape off the block and in the morning it’s on there pretty good.

Here’s the sanitizer in action…

Eeeewwww yucky…

The goods…

A little drop of sanitizer make the ink go away, the ink go away… (Mary Poppins anyone?)…

It literally took me about a minute to clean both of these…

Again, Eeewwwww yucky…

See you tomorrow with a great Sketch For You To Try and an introduction to a new teammate. Sunday is Tony’s day to blog here, so be sure to give him a little love. Adios amigos…