More Skeletons!

I saw these cute boxes on SCS and decided to try my hand at them. I like how mine turned out...but I did notice two things that I did wrong. One...I didn't realize which would be the top vs the bottom of the finished box...so most of my skeletons are upside down (but luckily some of them stand on their heads so those ones are upright! LOL). And secondly...I should have punched my holes closer to the edge for the ribbon closure. It was ok on the lid...but then you pull the lid down over the front of the box and mark the location for the holes there and the holes there end up being further in...and my hole punch wouldn't reach. In the future (or if I were trying to do these up nice) I think I'd pre-figure all of this out and maybe place large eyelets in the front of the box too. Regardless, I can't always be perfect (just most the time, ha!) So here's my finished box!

Front View:



Side View:



Ok...enough halloween...let's move on to some general stuff.

1) I have another interview scheduled for next week. This is actually a place where I'd submitted an application well over a month ago. Not sure why it took this long but I'm happy for the interview. It's a Business Analyst position. Downside is that it'd be an hour drive each way.

2) Submitted a bunch of resumes today for city positions that'd be close to home. It'd be nice if one of those came through.

3) I'm going to a scrapbooking and rubberstamping expo tomorrow and I'm SO PSYCHED! I'm so ready to get out of the house for a day with a friend. It's about an hour and a half from here. So we'll plan on leaving at 8:00 and getting there by 9:30. My goal is to spend 2-3 hours there and be headed back early in the day. It's SO hot that I prefer not to spend too much time out and about in it. I'm not sure how many vendors will be there. From the list on the website it doesn't look as big as the one that was in Tucson. That surprises me because Phoenix is a bigger area...but it's also the hottest time of year. Maybe vendors don't want to come here when it's 112 degrees! Maybe their rubber would melt! Actually, for the record...the heat here is enough to make your rubber stamps start sliding off their blocks because the heat melts the adhesive that holds them. I have a budget to stick to so it's probably a good thing there aren't as many vendors. Usually I tend to buy unmounted stamps and pick stamps that can be used with stamps I already own (so I have a couple coffee sets for example...if I see coffee sayings then I might pick those up). I also usually buy my EZMount at the conventions (it's what I use to mount my unmounteds). It's cheaper there and I don't have to pay shipping. There is nowhere locally to get it. I also know that a new scrapbook store opened that's on the way. So I might stop there just to check it out. Regardless, I'll be checking back in tomorrow evening to share the "spoils" of my day.

Jane

Beginning of Teacher Gifts

First, on a non-stamping related comment...I did hear back from one of the places I interviewed. They have chosen someone else. Sigh. Oh well...next number. ;-)

Today I started working on the beginning of year teacher gifts. I'd bought a couple journals at the $1 store and planned on covering them and making a matching pen, a matching chocolate bar, and maybe a post-it note holder and pen.

So first I started with the journals. Here they are mostly completed...I am thinking of tying ribbons to the binding just to make them prettier but I haven't decided yet. Me and ribbon don't always get along. I think my use of ribbon usually looks dorky. I like how these turned out so far though! The paper is from a pack I bought at Michael's. The only stamp used is the flower and it's from Personal Impressions by Inkadinkado. I'll show the set in a minute. The NOTES are made with Sizzix alphabet dies. The flowers may look like paper flowers...but they are actually just fake flowers from the $1 store with the ends clipped off and then a mini brad through the center.

Here are the two journals with their matching pens.



Here is the stamp set I used and a set of notecards that came from the same company. I didn't know it, but the envelopes for the cards are also preprinted to match the cards. They are very cool! (And I won them as blog candy from someone else's blog...so they were FREE which made them even cooler!)



After making the journals I decided I'd use the cards shown in the package above to make notecards to go with the journals. So I used the outer circle stamp and stamped it on each card and then used my alphabet stamps from CTMH and stamped four "N"s and four "L"s. I had bought some clear boxes at cdstamps.com so I'll be using those to package them up. These were SUPER SIMPLE. I may think of these again at the holidays!



I also made some candy bar covers but will have to wait until I have the actual candy bar to wrap so it looks better. Right now it's just a piece of paper cut to size and decorated.

Still MAY do the post-it note holders. Haven't decided yet. School starts on Monday so I'm running out of time!

Have a great evening! I have another halloween item to share tomorrow so come back and visit!

Jane

Happy Halloween (a little early!)

I'm not generally into Halloween much...but when I saw this cute skeleton rollograph wheel I HAD to buy it. How cute is that?



Stamps: CrossHatch (SU), Happy Halloween (CTMH), Rollograph wheel
Paper: CTMH orange/black/white
Other items used: paper piercer and piercing mat (SU), black organdy ribbon (bought at Joann's)

Now I guess I'll need to find some more uses for this happy skeleton guy! Maybe happy birthday cards for those people who are over the hill? Hmmm...

Jane

Fed Up

Just a vent this morning re: my old workplace. I received my "final" paycheck. They didn't pay me for my last day AND they didn't pay me for my sick/vacation time I'd accrued. And it's been 3 weeks since I've been termed (and technically I believe by law they are supposed to get you your final check within 48-72 hours). I called our department secretary who told me to call a person in payroll. I sent them an email with my questions and she called back but I missed the call. All it said was that she was returning my call to discuss what my final paperwork said. My guess is that my jerk of a boss didn't count my last day for payroll. Dammit, I worked that last day till they terminated me at 3:00 in the afternoon. My normal end of day was 4:00 and I didn't leave the building till after 4:00. I should be paid for it. That's $100 that will buy groceries for a week. And I asked about vacation/sick/personal time at my termination and was told that I'd be paid the vacation and sick by the Director of our department. The Union person was there to hear that and document it. I'll fight for it if necessary. In the meantime I returned the payroll person's call but missed HER this time (guess we are playing phone tag). Will wait to hear what she has to say before I get any more riled up.

Update: Talked to the payroll person later in the day. Apparently my boss put the date they termed me on the form instead of the following day like he was supposed to. So that's how I missed my final day of pay. They said he'll have to resubmit it with a changed date in order for me to get paid. I asked it they could contact him but they said I had to. Just what I DON'T want to do...to ask the jerk for anything. AND he's on vacation. So I called and left him a voicemail asking him to change the form so I could get paid for my last day. And because the paperwork was turned in late...they haven't processed my vacation pay - I won't get that till the NEXT pay period/check on the 17th. Sigh. So much for the laws of Arizona and have 3 business days to pay someone once you terminate them. I guess the good side is that it's stretching out the incoming funds which makes it feel like it's lasting longer.

Jane

Snow Seeds

Here is the Seed Packet Card I've been working on for the last few days. You can find the template at Katy Did Creations (see the link to the right for her blog). My only complaint is I'd like the card to be full size instead of seed packet size. :-)



Stamps: Biblical Impressions (snowman), Stampin' Up (Cold Play's snowflake on insert)
Cardstock: CTMH
Ink: CTMH
Misc: ribbon, cuttlebug embossing plate, stickles glitter glue, paper piercer (on insert)

Yesterday I received my first two stamp sets from Clear Dollar Stamps that I helped design. I'll be making samples with those and posting over the next few days. Maybe I'll wait till Monday and then have a "We can see CLEARLY now" week. (Since their stamps are clear...hmmm).

Have a great day!

Soldier Thanks

This card was created for a couple challenges on SCS.

Limited Supply Challenge #127 stated that we were to make a card using NO background stamps, no cuttlebugged backgrounds, and no patterned paper. Instead we were to use saying stamps to create our own background. All of the "thanks", "thank you", and "with thanks" are greetings from a CTMH set.

Sketch Challenge #135 is the actual layout of this card.



I love how this card turned out. Now I'll have to go over to anysoldier.com and find someone to send it to! If you've never been there it's a great place. You can search (say by last name, location, an item you have that you want to give away, etc) and then once you choose a person they will send you the address.

The little soldier is actually for a strip of stickers I got at the $1 store. I got them specifically for this purpose. I loved the images and figured they'd make quick cards. I also send out cards for the Sons and Daughters Organization for the WWII Army Rangers...so I'm always looking for simple quick ideas.

Hope everyone has a great day! I'm working on a seed packet card so will have that to share soon!

Thanks!

Jane

I can see clearly now...

Thought I'd share some "pebbles" that I made today. Normally you'd put magnets on the back of these. I'm going to go to Home Depot and see if I can find some tacks that have a large flat head and try gluing that onto a pebble to make these into decorative tacks.

Anyways, I found the bag of pebbles at the $1 store. Then I stamped some images and colored them in. On the back of each pebble I used CTMH's liquid glass and on some I added a few drops of stickles (so they are glittery). Then I pressed the pebble on top of the stamped images. Then let them dry.



Next I used scissors and trimmed all around the pebbles as close as I could. To finish them off I will either add magnets or tacks (if I can find some that will work and hold the weight).



Aren't they cute?

I worked on another project today but I can't share because it's a gift for a friend. Will post pictures later.

Can I just vent for two seconds and ask what it is about males that they ALWAYS seem to find farts, naked body parts, and pain funny no matter what their age? What's the deal with the JackAss shows and movies? I don't get it. They repulse me. I think they just did way too many drugs at some point and have no brain left (that's my excuse for the "actors"). But I still don't understand why OTHER people find it funny.



Jane