I Need Stronger Drugs

This little guy from Doodle Factory has a cute coffee saying that goes with him, but I need something stronger than coffee to get through this week. I have company coming from South Africa next week, and we had planned a vacation already, so my friend will be vacationing to Virginia with us. I hope she likes 10 hours in the car with badly behaving children.

The morning routine is the same here, I need a quick shower, a Diet Rite and a protein bar while I make my card for the day. After that, I am theirs for whatever amusement they can suck from my old bones. They follow me around and tell me what they plan for the day or how I can spend more money on them, they turn on TV's and leave the room and come back to ask me to play with them. You'd think at 12 and 9 they could find amusement on their own, but no such luck. I know, people say I should feel blessed that they still like to spend time with me. I am okay with that. But every waking moment? Not so much.

We had an enjoyable time at Holiday World over the weekend even if the heat index was 101 degrees yesterday. And now I am back to the reality of having a husband who is trying to get to the bottom of his medical problems. He has been ill for about 2 months with a constant cough, then he also got swelling in his extremities and a rash. His doctor lost him in the shuffle and finally he got a CT scan and X rays last week. Next up? A PeT scan and a lung biopsy. Seriously.

My card was made for the challenge of making a background that looks like denim. I used Brocade Blue card stock, smeared it with Brocade Blue ink, Ballet Blue ink and then a layer of Whisper White ink. You smudge it on horizontally and then do it again vertically. Whew. Thankfully I used a whole sheet of card stock so I have plenty left over to use again. I love how it turned out, and I guess I need to learn more cool tricks like this since I have no local scrapbook or stamping stores.

Last week at Vacation Bible School Noah's class had to offer up their talents. You know, God gives us all different talents. Noah said his talents were making rubber band music and hand farts. Thank God he has something going for him. I am sure when he gets older the other prisoners on his cell block will be very amused.

A Day with the Creatures

I made this for the color challenge at SCS today, I forget the exact shades, but it was a yellow, orange and light blue challenge. I tried to make the card and then had to run off to see the eye doctor before I could get it posted. I thought later today (after I could see again minus the dilation drops) that it looked a little dark so I changed the circle in the middle and sponged it with lighter colors as well as adding the little word "happy". I do like this second version much better. The creatures in both my creations today are from the Doodle Factory line by Starving Artistamps.

This is an updated version of the street scene I posted last week. Really it is just framed, but it's a nice finishing touch and really helps the piece feel complete.

Can I tell you how hard it is to recover from dilation drops? It was a bright sunshiny day and it just made me want to find the darkest eye shades possible. I had on sunglasses, but I still found myself squinting when I was outside. Yikes. I really just don't like the drops and their effects on my eyes. I suppose no one thinks it is fun.

The kids want to go swimming and I am declaring tonight leftover night because there is so much in the fridge we can eat that there is no need for me to cook. Plus, I couldn't see to cook for much of the day so I just didn't get it done today. I doubt anyone in my house cares anyway.

Living on the Edge

First up is this little cutie from Papertrey Ink, the Quilter's Sampler set. I rotated the sketch to make it work for me. I don't know where the quote came from, it's a random stamp I picked up somewhere a long time ago. I purposefully did not add a ribbon to this card. I tend to think all cards need a touch of texture, which is easily found in ribbon, but I decided not to add ribbon today. Living on the edge, I am! The paper is from PTI (Dark Chocolate) and an SU Variety pack.

And who can resist these little Doodle Factory monsters from Starving Artistamps? I love these creatures. I ordered the whole set for myself for Mother's Day. At less than 25 bucks I get about 8 or 10 creatures in both the large and small sizes. Score! I used paper from Basic Grey.

Not much is going on. After a couple of beautiful days we now have another dark and gloomy day. I am headed to my friend Jenny's house to pick up items to sell in our neighborhood garage sale this weekend. I have very little to sell, so I am glad I get Jenny's loot, too. She is moving, so she should have a lot to donate to my cause. Now I need to find friends and neighbors with tables I can borrow so I have somewhere to place all the loot.

Craptastic

This is for the sketch challenge of the day at SCS. I used an image from Doodle Factory and a quote from Inkadinkado. the paper is largely scraps and bazzill remnants.

I thought I would have a nice quiet day but Noah called at 7:30 today and said Dad had packed Seth's notebook in his folder, and he needed some books that got left at home. That adds two errands to my day that I didn't want to run. I am waiting for the day that I say to the kids "Too bad." If you don't care to pack your own stuff up, don't complain when your parents get it wrong.

I have to be at the elementary school at the end of the day to talk to the Girl Scouts about wearable art for a badge they are going toe arn, and help them all make beaded jewelry. I did the cheap thing and bought Stretch Mag cord for the bracelets, now I just have to get beads and come up with something that sounds intelligient to say.

My Children

Today I chose stamps from the Starving Artistamps, Doodle Factory Creatures. I love these little guys. The sketch is for the sketch challenge on SCS and I used a Basic Grey paper pack, Archaic. I placed the little creatures to look like they are my children, always talking at each other, no one listening. There are several little creatures in this series and I love them all. Love them, I tell you. They have some that are particularly cute in their Halloween line and if I owned them I would use them year round. Do you think it is too soon to email Scott my Mother's Day gift wish list? Starving Artistamps is having a Blog candy give away, if you are interested, click

here: Starving Artistamps

My layers and creatures are all placed with pop dots, so they really, well, POP off the page! Best of all, Starving Artistamps is having a blog candy give away and you could win free stamps. they are giving away a new set if you want to go and check it out.

Today should be a quiet day, I have burritos planned for dinner and my car is back from the shop so I can even leave the house if I should chose to do so. It could get wild.