Saturday, July 29, 2006

Stampin' Up

I took a break from my picture scanning projects on Thursday night and went to a Stampin' Up party at church. I don't normally get into stamping as a craft, but 20% of the sales were going back to our church and I figured there would have to be other craft tools I might want. I was totally right, and actually liked the stamps too.

Here's what I made while there:

This thank you card is very cute, but I'm a little disappointed by the placement of the flowers over the "Thanks" stamps. Doing this on my own? I would move the flowers more to the right so there wasn't so much blank space. But that's just me.








This little card is so adorable. We had our choice of doing a pink one or a blue one. I'll end up giving this card to a coworker because I know she is having a little girl in just a few weeks. I love the stamp on the velum, very elegant without being over the top (so to speak).




I'll definitely be looking into these products more for future projects.

Friday, July 28, 2006

I'm scanning, I'm scanning, I'm scanning

Haven't been doing much crafting lately. I know I always seem to have an excuse for that, but this time I have been busy working on a craft type project. It's a project I've been putting off for over a year (partly because of emotional avoidance, and partly because I wanted a new scanner for the job).

I've been spending most nights scanning pictures we saved from the fire that destroyed my parents home (my dad died in the fire - which is the cause of the emotional avoidance). My master plan is to scan all of my mom's pictures into my PC, fix (to the best of my abilities) the damaged ones, and burn them all to CDs or DVDs for my mom and brothers. I'm totally crazy and hoping to have this project done by Christmas. . . of THIS year!

So far I've scanned just over 600 pictures and so far my little scanner (it's a Cannon LIDE 500F) is holding up great. I haven't started on the trying to fix damaged photos yet, but I'm totally excited about taking my new laptop (which I should have within the next few days - two weeks max), the scanner (it's totally portable), and the external hard drive (120G - we need a lot of space for those pictures) to visit my mom. Hopefully, she'll be able to help me identify the dates on some of the pictures and decide whether she really wants me to try to save some of the damaged ones.

Let's just say, that I'll be very busy working on this for the next few months. But in the end I think it will be worth it. My brothers and I will all have copies of treasured family photos and if something ever happens (like a fire) to them we'll be able to replace them easily.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

I love you because...

. . . you are open to God's guidance, and humbly acknowledge His blessings.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

I love you because...

. . . all week you have been very loving and considerate. You have allowed me to be grumpy and crabby because of my "pain in the rear" and not made me feel guilty about it. Thanks for making me feel better even when I wasn't physically feeling better.

Monday, July 17, 2006

I love you because...

. . . you like having me go with you to run errands, but you understand when I am just too worn out to join you and don't get all guilt-trippy about it. (Like how I just made up that word?)

Friday, July 14, 2006

I love you because...


. . . most of the time, when I'm being a crab, you know when to leave me alone and just let me be a crab. I really appreciated the other night when I was crabby that you didn't force the issue or try to "fix" things. You just let me be for awhile until I was ready to talk to you about what was bothering me. Thanks Sweetie!

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Project Runway

I watched the first episode of the new Project Runway season last night and it looks like it will be another good season. I don’t have any favorites yet, but I do have some definite opinions about some of the contestants (but I’ll save those for another time).


This entry is about why I actually like this “reality” TV show and the Top Chef show (also on Bravo). I’ve watched episodes of other shows and while I found them interesting for a few episodes, I’ve never really cared whether or not I missed an episode (or a whole season for that matter) before. I’ve thought about it for a couple of days now and it boils down to these factors:

1. Creativity – Each week the “contestants” are challenged to use their skills to create something that will win the challenge for them. Last night the designers could only use items found in their apartments (that they share with each other) to create a piece of clothing that represented who they are to the judges. Everything in the apartments was fair game: bedding, furniture coverings, light fixtures, wall art, etc. While I found some of the outfits completely odd, I was very impressed with the different materials were used and I absolutely LOVE that I get to see someone else going through their own creative processes.

2. Talent – Most of the contestants on these shows are individuals who have been working in their field (fashion/cooking) for many years in some way or another. They didn’t get lucky (okay so maybe luck played a small part in it), but instead have been honing their talent for quite some time. They are in difficult, highly competitive fields and, I feel, are taking a chance on these shows to display their talents.

3. Passion – The contestants show an obvious passion for what they are doing. It’s something they love and is as much a part of them as breathing. Most realize that being on the show could help their careers (or hurt them), but really would still be doing what they are doing even if the show never existed just because they love doing it. This passion often expresses itself in their work.

4. General Lack of “Evilness” – What do I mean by this? Well, for the most part the challenges given on these shows are totally based on talent. There isn’t so much of the backstabbing, evil plotting, two-facedness that is VERY common on other reality TV. shows. Don’t get me wrong there is still pettiness and such but not to the same degree. The contestants seem to like each other and will often help each other out or give advice or instructions to those less knowledgeable. I do see the egos getting out off hand on many occasions, but again these are highly competitive fields and ego (to a point) is often beneficial.

5. The critiques of the work – The judges on these shows actually know how to give a critique without being complete jerks (again, for the most part). They give each contestant an honest appraisal of their work’s strong and weak points. They seem like they genuinely want to encourage and challenge each contestant to do the best work they can do and succeed in their field. How often does that happen on other reality shows or even in “real” life?

I admit there are exceptions to all of these points, but for the most part I find these shows to be of much higher value than others. I probably won’t post every week about what happened on the episodes, but you may find an occasional post about them. We’ll see what happens, I might have more opinions about fashion than I ever thought possible.

I love you because...

. . . you're flexible about our "menu cycle" that you so caringly put together. When I'm really not in the mood for something (for whatever reason) you're okay with me making last minute changes.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

I love you because...

. . . sometimes you ask silly questions, like "Can I give you more dirty laundry?"

Of course you CAN give me more, the better question is do I WANT more. ;)

Monday, July 10, 2006

I love you because

. . . you help me make sure that my car is taken care of: like make sure she gets new shoes!

Thanks Sweetie!

Thursday, July 06, 2006

I love you because...

. . . you worry about whether or not your video games are too loud for me, when you're playing.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

I love you because

. . . you are an amazing writer. You are able to clearly explain your opinions in a way that does not talk down to people. Not only that but you take on very technical topics and explain them so anyone can understand.

Monday, July 03, 2006

I love you because...


. . . you let me have the last mint ice cream sandwich last night,

and the last of the good potato chips for lunch today.
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