Friday, July 31, 2009

Cookies or Alien Secretions?

Well, if you live where it's over 100 degrees right now...check out THIS post to find out how you can bake cookies in your car!

It was 109 here today. I think I could easily bake those cookies! Instead I opted to buy the ingredients and make myself an Alien Secretion to cool off with. I tend to like drinks that don't taste like alcohol but my experience is pretty limited. So one of the times I went out I asked the bartender for a suggestion of something with a 'punch' yet still sweet and can't taste like alcohol. His suggestion was an Alien Secretion. I've been hooked ever since and they are super easy to make.

Alien Secretion Drink
Mix equal parts of the following three items:
Midori Liquor (a melon liquor - green in color)
Malibu Rum (coconut rum)
Pineapple Juice (I actually use more of this)

Pour over ice and mix. Yummy!

Some recipes call for vodka to be added, some call for orange juice to be added...but this particular recipe is the one that's served at the local bar.

Enjoy!

Jane

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Wanna Laugh?

I saw this video on utube and laughed my butt off. (Well, not really...but figurately.) What I found so humourous is not the guy who 'goes off' but his coworkers response.

This is my first time trying to embed a utube video so if this doesn't work I'll try it again. Ok...well, embedding it didn't work (anyone more savvy care to share with me how to do this?) I'll just put the link so you can go check it out yourself. Sorry!

Office Stress 4

That seems choppy...Geez...this should be easier!

Well, I'll just give a synopsis I guess. Guy is sitting at his laptop. He's smacking at the keyboard hard. He gets frustrated. Picks up keyboard and throws it into the brick wall straight ahead of him. Coworker (who is directly in front of him and has viewed the whole thing) calmly walks over, picks up the broken laptop and tosses it back over the short cube wall onto his coworker's desk. The part that cracked me up is just how calmly he goes and retrieves it and tosses it back...kind of like 'hey, you dropped your laptop'. Too funny.

Jane

Thursday, July 23, 2009

You Rock!

Now...what are the chances that my ONLY 'man' stamp and my only 'guitar' stamp would fit together? They aren't even from the same stamp company (the man is from Stampin Up and the guitar is from a Disney set).

I made this card for my boss. I've been working for him for almost two years now. And during that two years he has always tended to work too much and not find time for anything fun in his life. He has commented on my hobbies and how impressed he is that I find time for them. I've told him I MAKE time for them because they are what bring me enjoyment. So...he signed up for guitar lessons and he told me it was my fault. :-) That (of course) prompted a card in his honor.



Let the sore fingers begin (I briefly took guitar lessons myself when I was a teenager...I STILL remember those sore fingertips!) LOL.

Have a great day...go find something FUN to do!

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Art Inspired!

I found a challenge on SplitcoastStampers that I was inspired by. We were supposed to go to a website called Art.Com and choose a piece of art for inspiration. Then make a card based on that piece of art. So...I chose this piece of art by Jon Bertelli as my starting point.



And this is the card I made using the art as my inspiration...



The stamp is from a company called Biblical Impressions. I have a set of animals from the company...and this is the first time this particular stamp has seen ink. Up until now it's been a virgin! LOL. The saying is from a clear set of stamps from Stampendous. The rest should be pretty self explanatory! Simple card but I REALLY like it.

Enjoy!

Jane

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Finally a CARD!

I finally sat down and made ONE card today. LOL! I will try to do another one or two this afternoon so I have more to share during the week. But for now, this is my one and only card to share. For the most part I've been cleaning all day (the card was MUCH more fun!)

I bought this stamp at the local $1 store. It is made for little kids (has the big plastic handle) but I thought he was cute...and for $1 I couldn't go wrong. I will probably actually end up pulling the rubber off the big handle and mounting it with EZmount instead. Otherwise the handle takes up too much space. Anyways, without further ado...may I introduce you to MR. ROBOTO!



Isn't he a handsome robot?

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Dinner Entertainment and Birthday Happenings

This is a totally personal post. Sorry...no creative mojo is flowing right now. So, instead I will bore you with personal stuff. :-)

This was my dinner "entertainment" last night. They KNOW who the sucker in this family is! LOL. Here are my three furbaby sweeties. The only time they are all three this close for a picture is when they are waiting for me to drop them some of my dinner remnants.



Today we went to a waterpark for my son's birthday. I have to say it was a bit of a let down. It is supposed to have this huge 'wave pool'. When I was a teenager we had a waterpark and it's 'wave pool' was like surfing waves. You would get picked up and pushed. It was probably dangerous as hell...but it was fun! Today's wave pool was literally umm...baby waves. Like the gentle ripple near the shore. It was a total let down. But the boys really enjoyed the water slides.

I had a hard time getting a picture because if you are too far inside the slide the picture is just too dark. And a split second later they are in the water. Out of the photos today these are the better ones I took.





It was a very expensive day. Not something a family could do on a regular basis. Why does everything cost so much these days?

Anyways, I am going to attempt to at least do SOME stamping this weekend. So I'll try to have something stamping related to share soon.

Jane

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Quilting

I finished the next baby quilt top (looks just like the one I did previously). This one will be sent out for someone else to quilt. One time of that experience was enough for me! LOL.

So, today I started cutting the fabrics for my next quilt. I found the pattern for the quilt in a Quick Quilts magazine. It's pretty muchly just squares. There are 12 different patterned fabrics and then a white base. The patterned fabrics are cut into two size squares (larger 7 1/2 inch squares and smaller 4 1/2 inch squares). Then to each smaller square white strips are added. Then these are assembled.

I'm not sure I'm sold on all the fabrics yet. But hoping once I add the white to the mix and spread out some of the ones that I'm questionable about...hopefully they will work ok together. My other concern is that some of the patterns are on a white base and I'm wondering how those will stand out with the white added. I may have to add a border around the patterned fabric before adding the white if I really want those to pop. But I'm nowhere near ready to start putting it together yet. Spent quite a while ironing and cutting the fat quarters today. Will save the cutting of the white for another day. And then I get to actually start SEWING (imagine that!).

Anyways, here are some swatches of the fabrics I've chosen. What do you think? If there is one (or more) that doesn't coordinate...which one(s) and why?



Jane

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Fishies...

Well, not REAL fishies...but close to it! LOL.

My boys started swimming lessons this summer. They've always played in water but haven't ever really learned how to swim. They've had about 8 lessons and are now diving into the water and can swim from one end of the pool to the other lengthwise. I am so impressed with them!



I LOVE this picture. He is truly airborne. Not a part of him is touching ground. And look at that form! This is my youngest and he has ALWAYS loved water.



And this is my older son. Hard to believe he was a one pound nine ounce baby! He is growing into quite the handsome young man.

Jane

Finally a Card!

Sorry for not posting more...but I haven't been doing much creating these days. I did work on my quilt over the weekend (an exact duplicate of my last one) and I did make ONE card. So that's what I have to share with you today.

I bought a new Changito stamp last week at Michael's. They had rubberstamps at 40% off so I had to buy him. He was calling my name! LOL. Of course, the pain-in-the-butt dog (yeah...he looks cute and innocent in the post below) already got ahold of this new stamp and chewed on it. Argh! The good news is that I don't think the rubber is damaged...just the cushion behind the rubber.

Anyways, without further ado...here's a card to share...



I used some paper that my friend Concetta gave me. And there is stickles on the bubble.

On a somewhat related note, my (soon to be) 9 year old blew his first bubble with bubblegum last night. He was so proud of himself. :-) The older one still can't get it.

Jane

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Chewey at One Year

I can't believe we've had this little guy for almost a year! It's easier to get a picture these days...as he actually SITS STILL once in awhile! LOL. We have a chow/shepherd mix and he is laying on the tail of the larger dog here in this picture. Love how they cuddle!



Isn't he a cutie? He's a purebred shih tzu.

Jane

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Long Awaited Wallet Card!

Ok...I couldn't post this previously because it was a gift...but I'm excited to share it now!

My wallet is a combination of this tutorial found HERE and this picture found HERE. In addition I also changed it a little bit and added a third 'card' pocket which wasn't in the tutorial.

Front:


Inside:


Packaged in the Box:


I actually bought some gold stretchy cord and wrapped it around the corners of the box like you would see at the store. The front is actually stitched with the sewing machine. Paper was found at Joann's.

This was a gift for my bosses birthday. He thought it WAS a wallet a first but as soon as he picked it up he could tell from the weight that it wasn't a real wallet. I think he liked it though. Obviously I took MY credit cards and driver's license OUT of the wallet and filled it with gift cards. But...for the picture I didn't have any gift cards yet and wanted you to get the idea.

Ok...gotta run!

Jane