Creative bug.

Have y'all heard of this website?

Pinterest.

I requested an invite, so if I get accepted, someday I can have my own 'inspiration' page. It makes the Type-A organizer in me craaaaaaaaazy! Look at all those gorgeous spaces!

Gorg-eous.

I was going to post a pic of my favorite one, but honestly I can't decide. Too many favorites.

I just want to run around and organize and paint and beautify so many things... yet I look around and can't. Oh my how I love my tiny rental house...... ;) All my craft/stamping stuff is still in storage because I have no where to put any of it. Drives me nuts when I'm in the mood to do/make something and can't.

Someday. . . someday. For now I will just be living vicariously through the rest of these people who get to wake up each morning and create in such beautiful spaces.

You've got mail.

Today I went out to the mailbox to get the mail. You know how it goes... you're flipping through and all you see is a bill..bill..flyer..ad..bill..bill..... but today there was special different in there. A card for me! Not for a special occasion or because it was my birthday, but just because a good friend of mine wanted to encourage me.
I don't know about you, but I am a card-lover. I love to give and receive cards... especially if they are mailed! How much better is it to receive a card in the mail than an email, even if they say the same exact thing.

So from now on I am going to try my hardest to mail a card to someone each week. Not just for special occasions, but just for fun. So there's my challenge for myself today. A random 'act' of kindness each week.

It's been a while!

There's only 2 boxes that are still unpacked in our house.  Those 2 boxes contain all my stamping & scrapbooking stuff.  I haven't decided for sure where my craft area is going to be, so I don't want to unpack all that stuff only to move it again.  (Lame excuse, right?!)

Anyway, here's a few cards I made last Friday at a card party.  It was fun - not only being around other creative fun people, but actually getting out of the house was an accomplishment for me.  :)

Enjoy!!!

Happy Birthday Dear Mason...

Jodi called me a couple days ago and asked if I'd be willing to make 15 birthday invitations for Mason's 4th birthday coming up at the end of the month, (::gulp:: he's 4 already?!) so of course I jumped at the chance to stamp! :) She said that he likes firetrucks, ambulances, cars, etc (what 4 year old doesn't, right?) so I searched all over town to find a firetruck/ambulance stamp, and couldn't find one anywhere.  So I tried to think of sets that I already have that I could use, and decided I would try and make a firetruck out of the truck used in the "Loads of Love" set.  I stamped the truck, then drew the back, the ladder, and siren and to my surprise it actually some-what resembles a firetruck!

Anyways, hope you enjoy them!  Happy very eary birthday, Mas :)

   

My sad attempt at a criss-cross card.

So today I had some lovely down time and decided to spend a few hours stamping this afternoon.  I couldn't figure out what to work on, so I decided to try something new.  I remembered that Stephanie had made this super cute criss-cross card a few weeks ago, (see her version of the card here) so I decided I would try and duplicate it.  Let me just say, it took me forever.  I originally tried to duplicate what she made, but I don't have a ton of materials so trying to find a stamp to go on the front took me forever.  I finally decided to scrap it and start over, and ended up making the second version of the criss-cross card.  I used this tutorial (Stamping with Roxy) and you can see she didn't spend any time going over how to make the second version of it, so it took a lot of improv.  Needless to say I'm finally finished and sorta-kinda happy with the result.  Now that I have the hang of it, I'm going to duplicate it and make a few, so hopefully it should be easier.  Anyways, enough babble... here's some pics.  (Click on the thumbnail for larger pic) 

  

Let me know what you think!  Have a great rest of the day!

Blog candy.

Haha, blog candy.  I'm so funny!! :P

Here's a few cards that I made Friday night at another card party.  This time I invited Christine to come with me and I'm so glad she did!  We had a blast together.  Kaela and her sisters were also there, and of course we had fun hanging out with them also... they are always making me laugh! :)  Christine also gave me my SU! order that I had placed with her, so that was exciting as always!  I can't wait until I actually have time to relax and stamp for an evening. 

Remember to click on the thumbnail and you can see the big picture. 

Let me know what you think - and enjoy!! :)

      

  

My wanna-be craft room.

Well, as promised, I return tonight with pictures of my craft area.  Remember in my previous post when I said it wasn't going to be anything fancy?  Well, it's not.  But it works for now.  It's going to be so nice to be able to stamp and not have to completely load everything back into my tote everytime I stamp.  Here's a few pictures...
     

 I'm so happy that everything now has a home.  :)

I wasn't able to stamp tonight because I spent the evening with Lindsay Seldon - she is working on favors for her upcoming wedding in June, and called me in a panic while she was at Archivers because she had no idea what she needed to buy.  I told her I'd be right there, and we went to Hobby Lobby and found lots of stuff.  She is making bookmarks and since she has never stamped and doesn't really scrapbook, she was overwhelmed with trying to come up with a design.  We went back to her apartment and came up with about 7-8 "mock" bookmarks for her and Andy to choose from, and then we'll duplicate them.  I had a blast with her... we don't get together nearly as often as we should since we only live minutes apart, but when we do get together, it's always fun.  So even though I'm sad that I didn't get to stamp tonight, I'm happy that I was able to spend some time with a friend.  :)

In honor of my little-tiny-not-so-great craft area, here's a few inspirational craft rooms that I want to have someday.  All courtesy of www.ratemyspace.hgtv.com

      

Hey, a girl can dream, right?  :)

Card parties = fun.

Here's a few cards that I made last night at a SU card party.  It was a blast - I had a great time.  Jenn (the demonstrator) makes sample cards and then you get to choose from the sample cards and make 5 different cards, 2 of each.  So you walk home with 10 cards, for $15.  I think that's a pretty good deal.  :)  I chose these 5 and made them last night at the party.  Remember to click on the thumbnail picture, and it will take you to the full picture. 

         

  

 I learned some pretty cool new techniques.  The first two cards aren't my favorite, but that's alright.  On the 3rd card (labeled "flowers") we did watercolor.  I was nervous to do it since I had never done it before, but it was so easy and fun.  We used these water pens and took a crayon color and rubbed it against the crayon, and then basically just painted it onto the paper.  It was so cool.  (I added the crayons and watercolor pens to the top of my "want" list..hehe). 
On the 4th card (labeled "gratitude") we took post-it notes and tore them, then stuck it to the bottom to cover up the bottom of the paper.  Then we took a roller and light blue ink and rolled it across the paper.  Then moved the post-it note up, and used the next shade of blue.  Then again for the 3rd darkest blue color.  I love how they turned out.  :)  My only regret on this one is that I wish I would have used the darkest blue color for my "With Gratitude" stamp so you could see it better, but oh well. 
On the 5th card (labeled "wonderful") we used a scoring technique on the background.  I'm not sure if you can see it in the pictures or not, so I tried to take a closer picture of the background.  I LOVE that technique and also added the scorer to my want list also.  I thought it added so much to the card.
Anyways, those are the cards I made last night.  I hope you like them!  :)

My husband and I went to WalMart today because I mentioned a few weeks ago that 'someday' I want a craft area (thinking farther down the road, like when we get a house this Spring) but today he said we could go "look" and see what they had and start on making me a craft area.  I was thrilled!!  We didn't get much, but I had to buy a table and chair, and then also got just a few different totes and plastic holders to hold my stuff.  I'm going to go set it up now, and depending on how far I get maybe I'll take some pictures of it later this afternoon after I'm done.  Tyler and Chad are going out tonight so I'm going to have some time alone to stamp tonight, so I'm excited. 

I hope you're having a great weekend!  I'll be back later today to write more.

Dogs, cards, and flowers... oh my!

Here's a random post.  Ready?....Go.

One of my many favorite things to do is to read.  I love relaxing on a Saturday, sitting on the couch with a soft blanket and a good book.  Oh yeah, and don't forget the two little dogs sitting on my lap.  Heaven forbid you be able to sit down and not have 2 dogs in your lap.  I had my camera nearby, so I was able to snap this (not-so-great) picture of them.  They love to snuggle.  Cute, huh?



I have a good friend, and her name is Stephanie.  She lives in the most beautiful state in the world (Colorado), so I don't get to see her as often as I'd like, but none-the-less, she's a beautiful, wonderful person.  She remembered my birthday this year and sent me this amazing card that I'm keeping around *hoping* I can some-what duplicate once I get that good.  Steph has a natural, amazing talent for stamping, which I totally envy, but that's not the point.  :)  Isn't this card cute?!  Thanks Steph... for the card, and for being my friend, even though I totally don't deserve it.  You can view her blog here: http://www.stephsstampinstuff.blogspot.com/



 Friday was my last day at MurLen.  (The branch of the bank that I've been working at for the past 1.5 yrs).  It was a sad day, because I've gotten to know the girls that work there, and get along with them really well.  Starting tomorrow, I'll be at my new branch.  We open next Monday, so this entire week I'll be setting up, organizing, and hopefully hiring 4 people since as of today, I don't have any staff.  Anyways - for my last day, they all brought in yummy food, gave me a card and gift certificate, and these beautiful flowers.  We also went out for dinner Friday night and had a great time!!
Does anyone know what kind of flowers these are?  I love them... they are different, and the colors are amazing.




Well ladies (and gents?)... that's all for now.  Have a great week!

I love being creative

Here's a few samples of some cards that I made recently that I love.  You can click on the thumbnail, and see the full picture.  Enjoy!  :)

        

A bunch of mumbo jumbo.

Today is going to be a productive day.  Not only am I going to get grocery shopping and some cleaning done, but I am going to majorly update my blog.  The past few weeks have been a whirlwind, and so many times I have wanted to sit and write to myself, but haven't really had an opportunity to do so until now.  So, here goes nothing.

 I got the job as a Teller Supervisor of the new branch opening the first week of March.  Holy crap, a supervisor.  That means I actually have to hire people.  I have to do reviews, coach my employees if they aren't doing their job correctly, do disciplinary action, and also am able to fire people.  Holy crap.  As excited as I am to not be a banker anymore, suddenly I have realized what kind of responsibility I have taken on, and it has completely stressed me out.    You're telling me that I'm going to be second in command of the entire bank?  Who in their right mind hired me to do that.  Holy holy crap.  :::panic mode setting in::: 

Yesterday we had a scrap day at Christines, and as always, I loved it.  (I'm going to post pictures today of a few recent cards I've made)  It is so relaxing and fun to stamp and make cards with Christine... she is such an amazing human being.  It's so funny how our relationship went from her being a mentor to me, to now she's a close friend.  I can literally tell her about anything, as embarassing or funny as it is, and she is just a friend.  She offers advice, but doesn't put on the "mentor face" and tell me what I did right, or wrong, but just listens.  One of the most soothing things to my ears is "I understand.", or "Me too."  What?!  You can relate to me?!  Wow.  Not only that, but she shares with me things she struggles with.  What an amazing person to share life with.  There were also a few girls there from a small group that Tyler and I used to go to.  Lori, Sara, and Nichole.  They are amazing girls and fun to spend time with.  I got home from stamping and felt a little depressed and mad/upset that we don't go to their small group anymore.  The girls are wonderful and I connect with them very well, but my husband doesn't "click" with the guys in the group, except for Rodney.  If you know Tyler, you know that he isn't the type to go up and introduce himself and make conversation with a complete stranger.  On the other hand, if that complete stranger did that to him though, Tyler would sit and talk with him all day and night.  So, it makes me sad because I think highly of the girls and would love to attend their small group and get close to them, but it's hard to when my husband doesn't like it.  But, I can understand... if our roles were reversed, I would be the same way.  So Tyler and I talked last night and decided to start looking for a small group out of ICCC, our own church.  We've been invited to start attending a couple different groups, but one is for couples with babies (not us), and the other group hasn't officially started yet but is in the works, so once it does we will try it out.  I'm excited... we need fellowship desperately.  Not only do I need girlfriends, but Tyler needs guy friends also.  It's so hard to find young couples that we can relate to... but not only do we want friends, but we NEED friends.  

It's so hard for me trying to figure out what an "adult" life looks like.  Not only just the adult life, but the adult friendships.  I know after you're married there is no such thing as sleepovers anymore, and I know you don't see or talk to your friends everyday either.  But does that mean you talk once a month, once every few months, or once a week?  What is the "correct" amount of time that I should want to spend time with a friend?  For the life of me, I cannot find a happy medium.  Sometimes when I get depressed that I have no one to go to the movies with, or out for a coffee with, I always start thinking about other "older" married ladies.  Do they go out on weekends with friends or with another couple group?  No, not that I know of anyways. Sometimes I hate being grown-up.  To make matters worse, because my sister is one of my only friends and she is young and in college, I am constantly comparing myself to her life and wishing I had half as many friends as her, and wishing I was constantly having to decide who to spend my time with.  (I know, I need to stop.)  Instead, I'm at home, trying to think of someone to call.... with no luck.  I literally feel like I'm stuck inside a 30-something year old's life, but I'm only in my early 20's.  I have a stable job, a husband, a house, 2 dogs... so, this is the life?  This is what people do after they get married?  Let me set the record straight by saying I love being married.  Married life truly is awesome, and I am by NO means saying your life is over after you get married.  I love sharing my life with someone.  I just wish WE (as a couple) had friends to hang out with, and relate to.  No, I'm not talking every night, or even every weekend... I'm talking about once in a while, just having someone to go out for dinner with or someone to just spend some time with.  So with that being said... Tyler and I are currently taking applications for friends.  (hehe, just kidding of course!) 

Well, that is all that I can talk about at this very moment.  I am going to upload some journal entries that I've made over the past couple weeks, just so you know some things that I've been dealing with, and how you can pray for me.  Don't worry, not every post will be depressing like this one was.  :)