Was I born wth a lost animal beacon...

that activated when we bought our home??? I counted up 12 animals since we bought our house four years ago. And that's only the ones I could catch. I'm sure that number would double had I got my hands on those little buggers! Friday night on my way home I picked up a beautiful husky. She had tags (I hollered as I hung up on my husband while he hollered no!!!) and oddly enough when I stopped in the median to get the number off her tag, a lady pulled up next to me that had seen a sign posted by her owner's that had been there for three months. Apparently the dog gets out all the time which irritated me to no end but I offered my chicken wire suggestion...what else can you do? Sunday, I noticed my husband had Chorniy outside with him. Next thing I know, he's inside and I don't know where she is....I see a doggie behind through the window in our neighbor's drive. Turns out it wasn't Chorniy....it was this sweet thing:



She is the sweetest thing! Duncan walked her around the hood and of course no one claimed or recognized her. I took her to a local vet Wednesday to see if she had a chip...no luck there either. I took some photos over the holiday and made some signs to post. I secretly hope she has no home but with two large dogs already I know better. I can't begin to explain what a doll she is...she's taken to sleeping in our bed (which we have NEVER let any of our dogs do so that tells you a lot there) and she groans....for a long time....many times during the night. I'm not talking the normal stretch I gotta make some noise groan. It's a long drawn out, from the gut, I could not be any more comfortable groan. In the mornings, the alarm scares here LOL...so she snuggles up to me and I love on her...she cries, whimpers, moans and groans like she's never even had any attention paid to her at all. The thought breaks my heart....and Chorniy...she acts as though the puppy was her Christmas present. She dotes on her and plays with her non stop. What ever are we to do?

Oh yeah...one more thing

Another card....Lisa S was kind enough to scan my card to her so I could post it:





Both our scanners don't want to display the true colors for some reason...this was more of a frosty Christmas blue - not aqua!

I cranked out a project!

I can honestly say it is the first time I've just gone on with my bad self and completed something on a whim. I decided to make a gift for a few people - family & friends so I made my prototype last night. I think it turned out pretty cute and when the recipients add their photos I bet it will look even cuter! I tried to leave plenty of room for the photos on either side which was hard - I wanted to fill the whole thing up! Made from the front half of a file folder that I found through a link on a blog feed over the river & through the woods. I hope to find it in my trash so I can post the link in case you might want to give it a go.

Front/Outside:



Back/Inside:



I had to flatten it in order to scan it but it folds like zig zag when it stands up. I used bookmarks for my tags since they were the perfect size.

Two posts in one day...I know

It's crazy - blame it on the weather but Lisa S just sent me the neatest blog link - you'll find it over there in my link list "A Sheet Load!" They give you ideas on how to cut up just a few sheets of paper and get a whole stack of cards from it. Who can't use that kind of help???

Sad sad scans....

of my Christmas Cards....I'm not sure what's up with the coloring of the scans nor do I know how to fix it but you get the idea. My cameras are both on the blink so I didn't get pics of all the different designs - namely my favorites. I used the same basic design and all my scraps from past recipe swaps, layouts and what not. As my list has grown my cards seem to have gotten less and less detailed (read complicated, time consuming, frustrating) but I was pleased with how these came out despite my minimal effort. I mean it should be a joyful time to make Christmas cards for your loved ones and friends; those you may not have spoken to in a while. Anyhow, here are a few:

Paying It Forward...

As promised, I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on this post requesting to join this Pay it Forward Exchange. Not sure what you'll be getting as my brain is flooded with ideas and you may not receive it next week, but you will receive it within the New Year :)

The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. So basically, if you comment, you’re on. I’ll send you something crafty that I’ll make for you. Once you sign up, copy and paste the above paragraph on your blog, and three other lucky people will be recipients of your handmade work. I got mine from a great new blog I just found. This is a positive way to start off the New Year. Awesome of you ladies to have started this act of kindness.

Wow - a whole month!!!

It's been a while since I posted....not sure if anyone reads it but I'll humor myself into thinking so.... I've been working like crazy to get caught up on my swaps and here comes Christmas just around the bend. I have lots of projects and my deadlines are strange this year. Here's praying I get it all done. Some stuff I can't post just yet on the off chance a recipient might be reading but once they've gotten the gift I'll let ya see it!

Here are a few swap cards:

The first is a fall card and my inspiration came from some Mother's Day transparency shaker pockets. The person who made them had sewn transparencies into pockets with cute little flowers inside but I never made it to the sewing part. I did my best with the envelope LOL. I glued the tree up top so you could get the true fall effect.



The second is a shabby chic card where I supposed to use TAC stamps but I forgot and used SU....this set matched so well I guess I got sidetracked. I inked a CTMH chipboard buckle in the ruby red to match the stamped image. I used the melon ribbon b/c it matched some of the text on the friendship paper.



On the last card I FINALLY used my QK balloon die. I wish I had positioned them differently and maybe got 3 instead of 2 but I'd already stamped my happy birthday....love these stamps by the way! I bought the CTMH set that has nothing but Happy Birthday sentiments and this one is long and skinny so you can form it any way you like.




All this paper Lisa G gave me from her slab who knows how long ago. I've really been on a mission to use what I have and stop buying so much. It really put it in perspective for me just how much stuff I've got when I put it all in my scrap rack... That's all for now but I will have more soon :)

Musical Scrapping anyone?

A friend of ours made the best game suggestion for the retreat - Musical Scrapping. Everyone puts together a kit with photos and each participant gets 5 SHORT minutes with your layout. I chose some skiing pics from over 5 years ago that I never could get motivated to scrap. I felt bad that I threw in very few embellishments but look how nice it turned out:



I noticed someone else's brads were used b/c I forgot to even include any with my snowflakes!! Thanks Yvette! I think they were hers anyhow...

Blast from the past!

I was moving some photos around just now - a little computer housekeeping if you will and I found a this old pic:




I made this for a swap I was in with people from other countries...there was some criteria you had to meet and one was a handmade embellishment. I took a page protector and cut out the bottle shape, placed the sticker inside and sealed it. I cut the "stopper" from some cork I had and made the label from paper and a monogram sticker. Not too shabby for only 2 years into scrapping if I do say so myself!!!

A few things to share.....

I'm absolutely the worst about posting pics of my creations...even when I'm proud of them...so I thought I'd post a few of my recent cards and favorite layouts from the last few crops I attended.

I've been expanding my stamping knowledge on Lisa's Stampin Angels site by joining her monthly card swap - each month a different requirement and/or technique. Here are my August (wax paper resist using paper I bought at Michael's; TAC stamps & SU Ink) & September (kissing using CBX paper, SU inks & stamps and CTMH Solo and alpha stamps) swap cards:



These pictures were so hard to work on. I at least started scrapping my photos of Mason before we had to put her down but that really didn't make it any easier. Dixon on the other hand got sick and was gone in a flash...right after we bought our house and I was distraught for a long time. I suppose I'm finally done grieving over the both of them and now I just love looking at their sweet faces remembering their wild personalities.

Cute photos of both Mason & Dixon:




Random pictures of Dixon:



These are pictures shortly after I got them...maybe 9 or 10 weeks old. You can barely see Dixon on the right - she's hiding in the plants.



I have a bunch more but it's a lot of work uploading these LO's so you can see more here.

Blog Tag

I've never played before but I saw this one on a blog to which I subscribe and thought I'd play. Granted I don't know many that blog so I may not end up with 5!!

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) - Jodi Toyota

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Rocky Geneva

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) -D-Wal

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) - Periwinkle Hippo - oh come on!!

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) - Nicole Dallas...it should really be Skye Dallas - if my mom had her way!!

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) - Walda

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink put “The”) The Brown Banana....so not right!!

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)- Jack Jack....that's lovely

9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne, favorite candy) Shi Chocolate...what is that???

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) Diane Keith

Okay well that was enlightening...I'm tagging Lisa G & Lisa S....I'm waiting!!!

So I had a bummer moment this morning....

I had to meet a subcontractor this morning so I took a different route to the bank. I stopped to get a drink on the way and as I pulled out of the drive through there were some donation containers and just to the side someone had left a couch. I noticed it b/c it really bothers me that people put furniture outside in the rain to ruin. I know - maybe it wasn't all that to begin with but for someone who has no couch it's something. A sheet and some throw pillows from the $1 store is better than nothing. Bust out the staple gun, nails - whatever. So if you didn't get it already...drives me bonkers that furniture in decent shape gets left out in the elements to become even more damaged. Getting to the point..there was a man sleeping on the couch. I assume he was sleeping. I felt like I was in a movie. My heart ached to drive on past and even more so that I didn't know what I should do. I know what I could have done...there are tons of things I could have done. His left shoe was off and his foot was bandaged. Not assuming anything about that person I still have my safety to consider. I don't want to put myself in harms way however - when do you make the decision to put aside your own safety on the off chance you could help someone as small as that help might be? I didn't have any cash, I suppose I should have gone through the drive through and bought a meal but what if I startled him. I was in such a daze...I literally felt like I was in a movie scene - you know the kind of scene that is shot as if you are in the car with the actors and you "feel" the movement of the terrain, music was playing in the background. So I'm irritated at myself...for not knowing what to do. I've always felt that the Lord leads you in all situations and there are times when I feel led to help, others I don't....I'm okay with that. The times when I'm unsure are what bother me most. It's raining now and I think about the man and the couch...

The other two...

shelves ended up being used for more supplies after all....I took down the two tension rods in the closet that held all my spools of ribbon and sorted them by color into the extra baskets I bought. Now I just need to label all of them b/c I have no idea where anything is....



I did manage to get a few frames up there, my little wooden man, some candles - like they'll ever get lit up there. It still looks such a mess! Granted I had just finished creating 16 of these so it's not my fault....really. The scary thing - I'm not completely sure I'm done with them yet...




Let's see what else do I have to share...oh I put my rolodex together and started tying ribbons but that got old real fast so I stopped after the front and back were complete. I need some different types of ribbon too - the repeats were getting too frequent:



I used CTMH cardstock & a circle punch to create the dividers; assorted rub-on letters for the alphas front and back; scraps to alter the rolodex cards. At some point I need to re-size the template I made to handwrite everyone's information in case of emergency - you know, cell phone dies, power outtage LOL but I haven't gotten that far yet.


And finally here's Chorniy - wondering why I was taking photos instead of playing with her :)

Finally - My new crafting space!

I know - it's been weeks but you know how once you start moving things into a new space you don't want to just throw it together - you want to do it right. So it took me longer than I thought - going through this, putting that in it's proper place....and I just realized I forgot to take pics of below the desk...oh well -this is all I have to offer for now. I wasn't even sure the camera would work since I haven't charged the battery in forever.

This is the table runner turned window covering. Duncan is going to build me a cornice to finish it off but I haven't been able to stop by Home Depot to pick out the moulding.

Here is the new workspace with my nifty IKEA shelves - all but two of them anyhow...I decided I needed two more for decorative items & photos. These pictures really don't do it justice...I need to take some from better angles & zone in on specific areas. Will do that and update this post but this is the jist.

And finally - here is the nook where I moved (really shoved) the couch into and put my photo collage above...obviously I need two more nails and I am actually thinking I might do another row of frames up top near the ceiling but really I'm doing good to have all this done - I know my frames are crooked but ever time I hammer something moves so I need to get that teacher supply poster goo to hold them in place. :) Thanks to mom for being a good sport and smiling for the camera despite the fact that she objected to the photo.

Here's hoping my creativity gets a boost when I can actually sit down in my new space!!

It's official - the shelves are hung and the product has been moved...I have a new craft space!!! I bought the few remaining baskets last night at Wal-mart if you can believe it - they had cute ones for $3 to $7 that fit my needs perfectly...I actually bought 4 too many but I can always return them. Hubby installed a new fan with better lighting though two of the bulbs that came with the fan were already burnt out so I'm not working with much light - hence, no pics. I managed to get the majority of what I need moved into the new space however all my kits, scraps, magazines and such will have to stay in the closet. The next desk I get will hopefully be more accommodating with respect to those things. There is still much for sure want to more shelves to balance the wall, bit of re-arranging to do, finishing touches, curtain to hang, cornice board to make, pics to print before it is complete but lucky me - Mom is coming to stay with me for a few weeks before heading back to Mockba. I'll take all the advice she has to offer.

Since I have no pics to show I leave you with our Olympic Brick in the Salt Lake City Gateway Plaza- in honour of my new guilty pleasure - Big Love...I hate to admit that I like to watch that show but since I lived there and saw it first hand I can't help it!!

Here I am...

I've gotten away from posting on my yahoo group or any other group for that matter so I thought I'd try a blog instead.

This week I've been busy moving out of my crafting closet:

and into what used to be our tv room upstairs. Here's hoping hubby will hang my IKEA Lack shelves tonight so I can make it official. It's been quite an undertaking but very worthwhile - not just for the obvious benefit of having a space for all my projects but it has forced me to clean out and condense files since the file cabinet is no more - my mom will be happy. She always said I should hide it in a closet but I barely did my filing as it was - shoving it in a closet would only delay the process. Now I have cute baskets that hold them and I scored them at Michael's for 50% off thanks to Karen C. So in short my move has many benefits - I won't go into them all but let's just say I'm a happy girl!!

With any luck (a term I use for lack of a better word) I will be posting pictures of my new space tomorrow.