St. Joseph

About a year and a half ago, we decided we wanted to sell the house. I wanted it to be a quick sale, so besides the fact that I am a non-practicing Catholic, I went to the church supply store and bought a statue of St. Joseph to bury in the yard. After many discussions with John, he was buried in the jasmine planter in the back yard. John was not happy to be burying him (he thought it was stupid and he is way more Catholic than me) but he buried him. He buried him in the planter because the dirt was the softest there. Well, in a year, we hadn't sold the house so we took the house off the market. This story really does have a point and I am getting there..... So tonight I'm watching the news. I always watch the 11pm news on channel 8 so I don't have to change the channel when Letterman comes on. Besides, Stan is a honey.... So they have a story on this town in Texas that a whole bunch of the people there are buying St. Joseph statues because home sales are very slow and I suddenly remembered something.... I never dug up St. Joseph from our yard! Was I supposed to? Is there a prayer or a zulu dance I need to do to negate the effects of St. Joseph? I'm pretty sure John did not recite the suggested prayer upon burying him, so I'm guessing that's why the house didn't sell - St. Joseph wasn't activated! If you decide to do the St. Joseph thing, don't forget to energize, activate and otherwise inject the juju into the dude so your house can sell. And if you know what I'm supposed to do before I dig him up, let me know. Thanks.

I've got it!

I've got my apron swap partner! I'm so excited to start making her apron. The them is "Spring" and I already have an idea of what kind of apron I'm going to make. By the way, I'm about to start listing my handmade aprons on Etsy. Check out the pictures on the right side of my blog. You can click there and it will take you to my Etsy shop. Thanks for looking. Don't you need a new apron? I do custom orders.

Rest in Peace, Cheeto

No sign of the great orange one. I'm beginning to resign myself to life without Cheeto. That makes me so sad, I'm crying. He is my love bug. I miss him on my lap. I miss him on the bed. I just miss him. Gizmo and Frankie seem to be sticking very close to me now. As I type this, they are lying next to each other next to me on the couch. Frankie was always Cheeto's snuggle buddy, and now she is trying to snuggle Gizmo. He's not having much to do with that, but he is being tolerant. How do animals know? How do they know things are final? How do they know to just move on, that it's ok? Do they suffer loss of their housemates? I just hope no matter what has happened to Cheeto, that he did not suffer or have pain. Unlike my broken, painful heart right now. Rest in peace, Cheeto. I will always love you.

Look ma, it's an apron!

I think aprons are so cool. I've never been much of an apron-wearer, but I've always loved them. I do like the full aprons, but my favorites are half-aprons. The whole "making aprons" thing started about 3 months ago..... Kristie is a gal I work with. She brought in some full aprons that she made out of vintage tablecloths. She made them for a fundraiser. A bunch of us in the office went ga-ga over them and so the frenzy started. We immediately hit the antique stores in search of the antique tablecloths. We cleaned out the antique mall in San Marcos, but that gave us lots of fabric to make aprons, and since I had collected quite a few Mexican vintage tablecloths in the past, I was well on my way to apron-dom. The ones I've posted here are not made with any vintage fabric. I didn't post any of those because they are the full aprons and they don't look very nice hanging on a hanger. These don't look so hot on the hangers either, but at least they are easier to photograph. I got this cool pattern at the Quilter's Coop in Temecula in December and I've fallen in love with it. I love making aprons like this. Yes, they take a bunch more time to make, but I don't care. The top apron, the western one, and the pink and green one are made from that pattern I bought. Isn't it adorable? All you need is 1-1/2 yards of fabric in the colors you choose. I bought enough fabric of the pink and green to make opposite aprons. I only made one of the western ones. The last apron is made from a panel fabric. I'm not in love with it, but it was something I had to try. All in all, I've made over a dozen aprons so far. And so you must be asking, "what the heck is she going to do with all those aprons?" and so I will tell you. Etsy. I've had an Etsy shop for quite a while, but someone bought out all my items, so now I will fill the shop again. So why haven't I posted any for sale in my Etsy shop yet? I'm waiting for the mannequin. I bought one on eBay today and I should have it in a few days and then all the aprons will be photographed on the mannequin. And you should know that I am not the only seamstress selling aprons in my Etsy shop. My friend, Kristie, will be putting her fabulous aprons there, too. She makes lovely full aprons. I am having a ball using my sewing machine again. It kind of took a backseat to the rubber stamps for a while, but now that I'm keeping so busy with both crafts, I'm in heaven! So, stop by my Etsy shop sometime. You never know what kind of handicrafts you'll find there. Maybe you will want one of our fantastic aprons!

Stuff I bought at the Expo

This last weekend was the Heirloom rubber stamp expo in Riverside. It was also the first annivesary of the meeting of Julie, me, Heather and Tami. So here is my giant stash (not) of goodies from the show. I think it was more fun walking around with the girls than it was buying stuff. This is what I bought at Sunday International. I bought 10 sheets of EZmount and got one free. Bought 2 packs of stamp storage sheets - got one free. Bought three packs of stamps - got one free. Also, Dee Gruenig was there stamping away and chatting with the customers. She is so cute and fun. Oh, I didn't get the pen at SI, I got it from Stamps by Judith. It is N45, the one she uses for shading around her images. Looked cool, so I bought one. So did Heather. The three stamps on the left were purchased from I Brake for Stamps. They had a bargain bin. Tami showed me the goodies in there and I couldn't resist these. Hey, they were $2 each! I also got a piece of rubber that says, "Accept it - some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue." haha! The stamp on the right is Paula Best. I just love her stuff. Tami and I drooled over her stamps for quite awhile. If you ever go to a show and Paula Best stamps are there, you gotta check it out. Her card samples are awesome! Of course, I am partial to colored pencil coloring, but I'm not kidding, her cards are great! And here we have the latest find by Tami - YanKiwi stamps, purveyors of fine rubber art stamps and goreous wee objects. It is run by two ladies, Tracy Silveria, the Yank(ee) and Susan Stubbs, the Kiwi. I love Susan's creations. She showed us how to make the fabulous bamboo bracelets and pendants. As you can see, I bought enough to make a couple of bracelets and some pendants. I also bought some of their GWO's, Gorgeous Wee Objects. They have packages of vintage watch parts, buttons (made from ostrich shells!) and all kinds of very cool stuff. They have many kinds of rubber stamps - all hand-drawn, and so I bought one package, for now. Then I went to Sparkle and Sprinkle. Their stuff is so neat. Is everyone named Ramiro here? (Inside joke.) I loved these books cut into shapes. I got the heart and star, but they had other shapes: shoes, houses, dragonflies, purses, etc. Tons. They cut them themselves with a band saw. Or was it a scroll saw? I don't remember. I'm thinking I'm going to jump in and make a fun journal from them.

They were not expensive, $5 each, so I feel like I can experiment with them. So that's that on the Expo. The show isn't too big, but it is fun. Oh, and Heather never did find the Stamp-a-ma-jig she was looking for, not even at Auntie Amy's store. UPDATE ON CHEETO: Still not home. This isn't the first time he's been away from home. I think he has another family he visits. At least that's what I like to think. Either that or he got trapped in someone's garage or something. I think those things because I don't want to think about the coyotes....

MISSING

Missing: One big fat orange cat. Name is Cheeto. Very friendly. Loves chin rubs and ear skritches. Last seen after breakfast on Thursday. I need him home. My lap is lonely. See post below entitled "Mom's Little Helper" to see his picture. Maybe he just went on vacation, but he forgot to tell us this time, and I do not have a good feeling about his return. I'll keep you posted.

Apologies

Apologies to all my feed buddies. If you are receiving updates on all my posts it's because I've added tags to the posts and it's updating everything. Sorry for the mess today.

Mom's Little Helper

Ok, so not really a helper. I was trying to blog, type emails and catch up on things when Cheeto decided to plop his big butt on the desk and on the keyboard. He kept rubbing his whiskers on the keys - the F keys. My computer was opening windows, refreshing the screen, and just acting all chaotic. All while Cheeto purrs and looks at me like, "aren't I just the cutest cat ever? Don't you just want to pet me?" I had to agree, he did look cute there but then I saw all the cat hairs in my keyboard and I tried to make him get off the table. Oh honey, you just can't gently push a 20 lb kitty off the desk. You have to lift him with a crane. He gave me a meow and started feverishly licking his nether regions. I tossed him on the floor and he left in a huff.

I love my big tub o' goo! xoxo

Because Life Can't Get Much Funnier

So I had to go home for lunch today to pick up a few things I needed. I also needed to let the cats out. So I park in my usual place in the driveway. I was jammin' to some oldies on the way home with the windows and sunroof open, so that's the way I left the car in the driveway. I go inside, gather up my stuff on my list, let the cats out, and chill. Oh, I ate a cucumber. Oh man it was so good! So I'm getting ready to leave and I gather up my pile of papers and head towards the garage. Oops, I forgot to close the front door. I head over there and decide, "why not just go out the front door?" so I do. I turn the lock in the doorknob, step out the door and close the door. Right on top of my skirt. Great. Here I am standing at the front door, holding the screen door open with my butt, my hands full of papers and I'm stuck. I put down the papers and begin to search my purse for my front door keys. Now, you must know I never go in the front door because why should I if I can just go through the garage, right? Um, dammit, no keys in my purse. Oooooh yeahhhhh, I remember taking them out the other day and putting them on the dresser. Ok, no keys. I think, "maybe I can just pull the skirt out". Ha! No way. There is too much skirt under the door to pull it out. I considered tearing it, but then I'd have no skirt, so that's a bad idea. I stand there for a few minutes trying to come up with a plan. Oh, I got it! I can go in the garage door and go around to open the door, but I have to take my skirt off first. If I run real fast, no one in the neighborhood will see me. Yeah right. That's always the time they see you. Ok, me in my high heels, knee high pantyhose, panties and blouse is just not sexy. So, I try to come up with yet another alternate plan. Just as I'm about to give up and remove the skirt, I hear, "Hello! How are you?" It's the mailman! Yippee! He is the nicest mailman ever, so I ask him if he can help me out. He looks at the situation and says, "how about if I push the door and you pull the skirt?" Well, he pushed and pushed and it was a no go. I say, "I have a plan" and he says "NO! Do not take your skirt off!" I laugh and say, "No, can you open the garage door with the opener in my car, go in and open the door from the inside?" He said that was a much better idea than me running around in my panties. Of course, that plan worked just fine. Can't you just hear the mail carriers swapping stories of crazy shit that has happened on their route? Just think if I had removed my skirt and done the run around, I would've run into the mailman. Now THAT would be funny.

It's all about ART

First let me say, yes, I have been rubber stamping. On one of my much-needed breaks, I went to Etsy and shopped. I was looking for some cute art pieces for the Craft Lounge when I spied these pieces. Aren't they just too cute? These are made by tangerinestudio. You can find her art on Etsy and on eBay. There is just something I love about her style. It's so fun. These piece were painted with acrylics on canvas boards and square stretched canvas. They are 6x8 and the last one is 6x6. On another note, I got the cobwebs off my sewing machine and I've been working on some really fun stuff. Aprons. Aprons?! Yes! I am totally into making them. My friend, Kristie, turned us (the engineering office gals) on to this cool vintage pattern using vintage tablecloths. That's all I'll say for now because I don't want to spoil a future post. hehe Thank for visiting today. I appreciate you coming back.

Peeps on my cat

Today is Gizmo's turn. I took Sarah's advice and put Peeps on my cat. I love Peeps. This is just a small sampling of Peeps items I own. Gizmo thinks he is special because he is a purebred Bengal, but he is just as goofy as the rest of my cats. Maybe goofier. Gizmo weights about 18 pounds and he is softer than silk. He tolerates so much from me - and the Peeps prove it. If you know anything about Bengals, you know that they are true clowns and most of them love water. Gizmo is a lot of fun to have around. He and Cheeto are not best friends, but they tolerate each other. Sometimes.

Tomorrow, I will introduce you to Frankie, the little princess. I don't know if she will tolerate stuff on her, but I will try.

Cupcake Kitty

This is Cheeto. He thinks he can sit wherever he darn well pleases, and well, I guess he can. Who can argue with a 10-year-old, purring 20-pound orange ball of fur? Certainly not me. Cheeto is the sweetest cat ever. He still thinks he is small and can fit on your lap and on the desk, but he's not, but he's so adorable it's hard to tell him no. As I was working on my justjohanna projects tonight, he jumped rght up on the table and laid down. Thanks, Cheeto. There is this website I visit every day. It's called, "Stuff On My Cat". People pile on all kinds of crap on their cats and take pictures of them, so I figured why not join he crowd? I received these cupcakes from Julie for my birthday. They were made by an artist on Etsy. They are not real, but made from plaster of paris or something. They look and smell real to me and they are covered with glitter. I swear I smell buttercream! Thanks, Julie! So, Cheeto tolerated a few setups of the cupcakes on his enormous belly and then he took off and tossed the cupcakes on the floor. Now I can get back to my justjohanna projects. See you all tomorrow.

Look at this cool thing!

No, I did not make this.

It is the cutest thing ever. Ok, well maybe not THE cutest - newborn kittens are pretty darn cute, right?

Zip on over to the Cupboard and see what Cat made. This is the cutest board book I've seen in a long time. This project uses that cool grunge board, crackle paint and this gorgeous Basic Grey paper. Cat's done some great detailed instructions, too.

While you're there, stop by the store and check out the specials and new items. She's got a great discount for the month of January, too. It'll save you money!!

New Years Day cards

A few cards to start off the new year. I LOVE the cupcake stamps by justjohanna. This one is called cupcake row. It's so fun to color. I've never seen cupcakes these colors, but I would like to. They look yummy to me. The sentiment is by justjohanna, too. I drew in the lines and then added some priceless jewels. haha! I think the paper is some kind of Christmas paper, but it matched my cupcakes, so what the heck? Again, I used a layout from the December "Cards" magazine. I've been using that all day. It gets my creativity going. This card is 5x5. This card looks better in real life. Here it looks so yellowy-green, but it's not. Say that real fast - it's not. Sounds like it's snot, but it's not. Kind of like when you say fish sticks a bunch of times in a row.... But I digress.... I used my Revolution to cut out the tag and the file folder page. I stamped the I Love Cake background sentiment by justjohanna. The cupcake stamp is one from the $1 bin at Michael's. I colored the cupcake with my Prismas. This card is 5x5. Another layout from "Cards". I used the martini glass and sentiment from justjohanna. Can you tell I love those stamps? It's not only because I'm on the design team, either. I would use them even if I wasn't on her team. They are just so fun to use. Have you checked out the catalog recently? She's always adding new images. And, because you are all my friends, here's something special from me to you - do you want to save 10% on your order? Enter DT4FF10 as the checkout code when you use the online shopping cart. How cool is that? You're welcome. This code is good until 5/31/08. Happy shopping! Oh, and I haven't gotten the sewing machine out yet. I'm so busy and happy making cards, I can't bear to clean up the paper mess and get out the fabric. That's ok. There's always tomorrow. :)