Canada Post vs. Me

...one is fine...two...WHAT DO I DO?!?!?!

So apparently, it seems like I'm having some problems with some packages I shipped out. I have already re-shipped two packages and they are STILL MIA! I'm going out of my mind!

For all those who are still waiting for things for me or who have been having problems with their orders, I am SO sorry! I have no idea what's going on and I'm trying VERY hard to fix everything! I will make sure to try and figure out what's happening and please try to believe that I don't official suck at this! *cries*

For those who have been waiting (and you KNOW me, I HATE waiting!!!), I'll be refunding your payment and re-shipping - AGAIN!

*sighs* Canada Post must have some grudge against me...

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

Friday Funny

...so this has nothing to do with scrapbooking, but the co-workers and I were watching this yesterday and I thought it was fabulous! You may have seen him on Oprah...

CURRENT MOOD: CONTENT CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: I KISSED A GIRL - KATIE PERRY

TOTBF #3 and days go by...

...days go by and still I think of you
days when I couldn't live my life without you...

- Dirty Vegas

...well, I'm not pining away over anyone (both true and not so true...more on that later), but the days are SURE going by.

Just believe me when I say I have no idea which way is up or down any more these days!

Before I get into all the details, here's my submission for Pez-a-Doodle's Thinking Outside the Block Friday:

I know it may sound a little excessive of me, but...DON'T YOU LOVE IT?! So that's my candle holder-type dealyo. I know you can buy things sort of like this, but nothing beats making one all by yourself! So let's see, I used to square blocks perpendicular to each other. I squished on some Brilliance Dew Drop using a felt tool and then heat set. I then stamped with an Autumn Leaves (I believe...) acrylic stamp using black archival ink. For the tealight, I went all-out and used a PartyLite candle! All materials (except for the candle) can be found at Pezadoodle.com!

So, earlier last week, I joined Marti's Design Team and we dreamed up a little pet project together and things are totally hopping - of course, throw in other things such as weddings, trips to Jamaica (for SOME people - like I said, more on that later), work and friends and family and breakups...weeeell, that just requires more than twenty-four hours in a day!

So for everyone who is expecting something of and from me - don't give up on me just yet, I'm raring to make a come-back as soon as weddings are behind me. My cousin's wedding is coming and I'm practically the matron of honour - though I'm not, the wedding planner - though I'm not, and the florist/decorator - which I half am! Long story short, the REAL matron of honour sucks at her duties, I really would like to be a wedding planner (plus my cousin is working multiple jobs to get this wedding paid without too much debt underway) and my mom and I have an event decorating/planning business we're trying to get off the ground. So the wedding is a week from this Saturday so don't send out the search parties on me before then...I'll be MIA for sure as I think my cousin is trying to run me into the ground!

I also said I wasn't really pining away for anyone, but I WILL be for one WHOLE week! Like I said, we've been bombarded by weddings this year and The Mister and I had to split forces to be able to attend both weddings that we are a part of. The only crummy thing is, his wedding is in Jamaica and my wedding is...here. Ew.

So I'm trying really hard not to begrudge him the trip, but c'mon, this is JAMAICA! I've never been there...plus, I'm also kind of begrudging the wedding couple as he had to go into their package plan (so they could get whatever deal for having however many guests come) and it SO was not cheap. Then to top all that off, his wedding clothes (to wear on a BEACH) was in the excess of over $200, which is sadly more than my bridesmaid dress and shoes combined. Tsk, tsk, tsk...then we were invited to the couple's reception when they return home...I know it sounds really bad, but you bet there won't be any envelopes or nicely wrapped gifts with the words From: Mr. & Mrs. SillySkittles. In all seriousness, their present is The Mister's PRESENCE.

HAHAHAHA, do I not sound like the WORST wedding guest ever?! Hey, don't get me wrong, I just did the wedding thing, I understand what being part of a wedding means and my bank account and efforts and time can attest to that (*coughs* did like a bajillion of those TBBM favor boxes only to have those greedy bums rip them open to get at the delicious jelly beans inside [note to self: fill favor boxes with disgusting things...] without even ONCE commenting on the beautiful PACKAGING of the delicious jelly beans!

Okay, I'm sounding like a very whiiiny person today...so I'm going to have to bring this to a close. I've been working like a little house-elf (oh, HP, I MISS YOU!) trying to get some projects done ahead of time so I'll have some fun things from Marti's tutorials to show you this coming week! Stay tuned!

CURRENT MOOD: TIRED CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: DAYS GO BY - DIRTY VEGAS

Lemons into lemonade...

...is that what they say?

When life hands you lemons, made lemonade! What if life hands you a completely rude, idiotic, most rage-inducing person in front of you? What then?

Other people I was complaining to earlier this morning would say, 'What are you complaining about? You just finished saying your day was SO BORING!' After this person, boring it was NOT.

He came up to my window and slammed a twoonie down onto my ledge and said 'I need change'. First off, we're not allowed to give change. I'm not going to go too much into what I do, but while I *could* give change, we're not supposed to. So of course I said, "No, I'm sorry, we don't give out change." And after a "are you effing (I'm substituting for the sensitive readers, those less sensitive, please feel free to think the words I'm really subbing for) kidding me? it's $2 just give me the change." And I go on to say firmly, "The (insert department here) does not hand out change." And he goes on and points beside him that there's a payphone right there and why the hell won't I just give him the damn change. And I proceeded to point out the window and say that there's a convenience store down there where he can get change from. And off he goes again and I say this is not a bank, we can't give out change.

So on this goes and finally he asks for my manager and as soon as she walks up he proceeds to tell her what a completey rude and snarky bitch "THAT GIRL" is and how "THAT GIRL" treats him like he's a complete effing retard when all he wants is change for the payphone. He proceeds to demand that my supervisor apologize to him on MY behalf as he has been treated like a retard because I had the nerve to tell him that our department is not a bank. He proceeds to say that of COURSE he's not retarded, he KNOWS this isn't a bank, why the eff do I feel the need to have to tell him that.

And I stand there and stare and my supervisor stands there and stares and he proceeds to tell me that just because I sit behind my effing desk I shouldn't think that I'm so much better than everyone or like I have some kind of power and sh*t.

My supervisor takes the $2 he once again slams onto the ledge and she proceeds to give him the change. He takes his change and turns around and leaves and then turns around and comes back and yells that I should put a sign up on our windows that says THIS IS NOT A BANK to inform all the retarded students out there that this isn't a bank.

I am still standing there staring, and I smile and tell him to enjoy his change and have a nice day and (okay, SLIGHT baiting on my part) and he tells me to 'shut up, you snarky bitch.'

So, AFTER he leaves...my supervisor says, "Well he was completely over the line and that was totally uncalled for," I just stare at her and turn away. WHERE THE HECK WAS SHE FIVE MINUTES AGO WHEN HE WAS TOTALLY TELLING ME OFF? If he was SO uncalled for, where the heck was the supervisor in her and she could have told him that was ENOUGH. To top it all off, she gave him the CHANGE!

You know what? I wasn't even upset about him going on and on because frankly, I don't care about that little dink and he only PROVED himself to be a COMPLETE moron and an absolute IDIOT by his tirade when if he wasn't SO STUPID, why would he ask for change when he's not retarded and KNOWS this isn't a bank. So if he knew it wasn't a bank, why'd he still demand change? I don't care, I can hold my own with people like that, but what REALLY bothered me is FIRST OF ALL, she gave him the change (when our WHOLE department knows that as the acredited business that we run, it is not in our DUTIES to hand out change, we are not cashiers though we do have to deal with money. SECOND of all she tells ME that HE is over the line and uncalled for AFTER he leaves! Why couldn't she have said that to HIM!? If she was going to give him the change anyway, why couldn't she AT LEAST stand up FOR me, if she wasn't going to stand by me and my decision.

MEH....I don't even know why I'm still going on about this...I guess it's harder for me to shake off than the other idiotic people that I have had to deal with.

I almost forgot what I was writing about.

Anywho, needless to say, I was feeling not so perky when I got home, but I forced myself to sit in my scraproom and eventually, my hands got busy and my mind stopped feeling sorry for itself and I got these two cards made:

So even in my yucky state of mind, I tried to take what I was feeling and turn it into the opposite for my cards. It kind of worked out as good therapy...it would make it BETTER therapy if I could take the cards and shove it in the person's face...but we can't have everything in life, I guess...LOL...

CURRENT MOOD: CRUMMY CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: NOTHING

Thinking Outside the Block Fridays #2

...I think I was suffering from a little crafters "block" (*giggles* get it?) last night and it took me quite a while to come up with something for today's TOTBF!

But nevertheless, I came, I created though I doubt I conquered.

My desk is still littered with all the blocks I was trying to use and put together in certain ways, but nothing was really jumping out at me, except for this little business card holder that transformed itself from one of my trials.

I know I kept it pretty plain all around, but I had taking it to work and using it in mind so I didn't want to make it too over the top. I want to use it, but I also don't want a million people grabbing a card up so they can call me with their questions. HAHAHAHA....I'm not even going to bother saying I'm just kidding...

How did your thoughts outside the blocks go?

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

Damsel in distress...

...I'm here, I'm here! I know I'm only just squeezing by, but better late than never as I always say. I'm still getting used to this whole DT member deal, so you'll have to be patient with me!

Today's tutorial on Marti's blog is aaaall about using distress embossing powders (Tim Holtz), and here is my take:

Most of the products I used (unless otherwise indicated) can be found at http://www.pezadoodle.com:

Products:
1. Tim Holtz distress embossing powder in Black Soot
2. Black pigment ink
3. Butterflies a-flutter Scrollybug stamp
4. Studio G stamp
5. Black archival ink
6. White velvet paper (LSS)
7. Black cardstock (LSS)
8. White gel pen (LSS)

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

Rollin'...

...do, do, do, do...rollin' on the river! I've got that song in my head this morning...and now maybe you do too! HAHAHAHA....

So I KNOW I promised that I would be updating more frequently, and then I go and disappear again, but for good reason!

There have been some EXCITING things in the works and I can't wait to share them with you! But for now I have to keep it under wraps until things are more cemented...*giggles* I LOVE being in the know!

Anywho, there is one exciting tid-bit of news that I AM allowed to share! I am OFFICIALLY a Design Team member for Pez-a-Doodle.com! It's exciting for maaany reasons, one of which is this is the first time I'm a Design Team member for ANYTHING. I've always been a bit intimidated, because...well, Design Team...that means you have to come up with some FANTABULOUS things to showcase! But Marti said I should and who am I to argue with Marti?! LOL...another great thing about it is...well, I get to try out some AWESOME things! Since starting my dabbling in Ranger and Tim Holtz products, I can't even BELIEVE I was scared of these things! They are awesome and every day I'm just learning more and MORE about how to use them and the different things I can do and make with them! It's definitely a fun learning process and I'm learning right along with everyone else!

So with that said, here is my FIRST project as a Pez-a-Doodle DT member (needless to say, all products used can be found at http://www.pezadoodle.com/):

Marti's tutorial for the week is focusing on the diversity of clear embossing. Now for all you pros out there, don't yawn just yet and la-di-da it! Even I'm picking up some great tips - starting with learning of the existence of an EMBOSSING BUDDY! I tried one out for the first time last night and I was all open-mouthed and googly-eyed! For such a SIMPLE thing, it makes a BIG difference in my embossing.

So back to my project, I learned about background embossing using inks and the simple art of flicking. For more info on the tutorials, please check out Marti's blog at: http://pezadoodle.blogspot.com/

...please excuse me for loving all over my own creation! LOL..but I had such a fun time making it - granted it's a bit messy, but that could be due to the fact that I'M not the neatest person ever...

So for the background, I decided to use a chipboard coaster. I loaded it up as much as I could with Perfect Medium (I didn't have Versamark - which will be rectified soon) and I sprinkled my embossing powder over the whole thing. Shook off the excess and then turned it around and gave it a couple good flicks of my finger to get some more powder off...kind of to create a distressed, messy look. I heat embossed and I used my felt tool and rubbed and smooshed some Brilliance Dew Drop ink all over it so that some of the ink went in the areas that weren't embossed with powder.

For the rest of the card, I used Cake-Cake with Pezzy as my focal point and to make her and all her yummy cuteness pop out even more, I tried out the 3D technique that I saw on Katie's blog, but stamping her three times, cutting her out and layering her one over the other with pop dots. It was my first attempt at that, so go easy on me!

So there's my little bit of news for today...thanks for sharing in my giggly, wiggly excitement! More fun things to come, and stay tuned for my next installment of my take on Marti's Think Outside the Block Friday! Have you got your blocks yet?

CURRENT MOOD: EXCITED CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: MERCY - DUFFY

Thinking Outside the Block Fridays #1

...put your thinking caps on, peoples!

I'm so excited for Marti's new challenges on Fridays. You know those Studio G acrylic blocks that come with your stamp sets? Do you have a million of them just sitting around? Well, Marti is challenging you to come up with a WHOLE new way to use them - and it doesn't even have to be for stamping! Check out her blog for some tutorials and how-to tips and come on and join the fun!

Here is my entry for this Friday, can't wait to see all of yours!

Let me see, let me see...I used the longer acrylic piece for the base of my picture frame, and the 3x3 (is it 3x3???) square block for my display.

So what I did was I used Glossy Accents to glue every thing together. It's a little bit tedious when the gloss is still wet, but when it dries, those suckers are pretty much stuck together!

I chose my picture and adhered it to the back of the block and I stamped a Studio G fluourish using my permanent black ink, and then stamped over that using Brilliance Drew Drop. Zapped it with my heat gun for a bit to set it and just used a teeny, tiny Prima and of course a "skittle" JewelPop for the centre.

I also used a little bit of Stickles on the back of the picture frame to show through, and inked the edges with my Dew Drop.

CURRENT MOOD: RUSHED CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

All that glitters...

...is ME!

So, minor technical difficulties with a jar of Martha Stewart glitter. I thought I had closed the lid all the way and when I picked it up and manhandled it...*POOF* I became a fluffy cloud of glittery GLITTER.

Oh. My. Gosh. So it was all over the floor, all over my feet - trying not to move so I wouldn't STEP in it, all over my clothes, my arms, my HAIR, my FACE! LOL...good thing the colour was so pretty or I'd be even more irritated!

Anywho, the cards that brought about the glittery mass that is me! I was on Marti's blog and had to try out the sketch she used from http://www.iheart2stamp.com!

And of course, this is ME you're reading, so it's going to be a mass photo posting...LOL, grab a drink...

Let's see...what did I use:

The flowers are from my LSS
I used liquid glass/dimensional glaze to draw swirls on the flower and then I glittered all over it with Martha Stewart glitter. The cardstock was Cuttlebug SMOOSHED (à la Marti - http://www.pezadoodle.com/) following her tutorial and using her Brilliance Dew Drop ink pad. The swirly flourish is brought to you by yours truly, an original made with custom coloured seed beads (of COURSE using Marti's alcohol ink...LOL...I'm starting to see a pattern here!) and pliable wire.

SIDE NOTE: Marti, those flourishes were actually packaged up to be on it's way to you tomorrow, but I used them instead. LOL...I'll send you more! *HUGS*

CURRENT MOOD: GLITTERY CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: TAKE A BOW - RIHANNA

"Skittle" Bugs...

...I know I shouldn't be posting this because it's supposed to be a RAK and I think both the people I'll be RAKing actually come visit me once in a while...but oh well, I'm just SO not good at keeping secrets or WAITING! I wanna share NOW!

Okie dokie, so I can't take all the credit, a member had posted these cute little ladybugs that she did with her "Skittle" beads and I thought, 'Self...well hey! I haven't done anything like THAT yet!' So I took it a couple steps further and used my alcohol inks and perfect pearls! Have a peek - these'll probably release as an official part of my line sometime mid-this-month or early next month, we'll see how ambitious I get! I've got a few more critter/animal ones coming too...*giggles* Okay, PICTURES PUH-LEASE!

I know I TOTALLY went overboard with the pictures...but it's my blog, so ask me if I really feel all that bad. LOL...I just LOVE those little critters...I've got one address and I'm just waiting for ONE more and I can send those babies off with their card. I'm so EXCITED! More in store...I can't believe how fun these little beads are! And to think, I just grabbed them because they were beside the cash register with a big clearance sign on them and I didn't even KNOW what I was going to be doing with them yet!

Wouldn't that make a GREAT interview story in some crafting magazine??? LOL...meh, one can only hope right? In the meantime, I'll keep playing around in the "Skittles" lab...

CURRENT MOOD: AWAKE...WIDE AWAKE...! CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: TAKE A BOW - RIHANNA

Caution: Overhaul...

...UNDER CONSTRUCTION...

My scraproom that is! So with The Mister having more time to spend around the house, comes many benefits! First, sometimes I go home for lunch and he makes me delicious grilled cheese sandwhiches with crunchy dill pickles on the side (I know, right? What a keeper!), second, he's got WAY more time to get to the things that I've been bugging him about for the longest time.

The most important thing - my scraproom. It used to be our guest bedroom until I decided I didn't like anyone enough to let them sleep over anyway (I'm only JOKING! Kind of...well...those who know me...not really...LOL) so I had The Mister clear off the bed and stand it up against the wall. That was fine...for the moment. Next was because I pretty much took up all the room in our master bedroom closet, The Mister's clothes were in a cabinet in the scraproom....the was fine...for the moment. After this weekend, the matress is completely outta there as well as the cabinet, leaving the room MINE, ALL MINE!

So today, I pretty much dragged The Mister to Costco to get me another working table!

And getting one pretty much sprouted the major overhaul my scraproom is about to undergo!

So here goes...Day 1 of the overhaul:

View from the door - ew, I know right?

There's my new worktable! *waves*

So that's the start of it so far...it is a COMPLETE mess in there right now. I took those pictures before I started moving things around so right now, I'm at the moment where I've taken things off shelves, moved things around, and now it looks worse than when I first started. But it will get better! I can't wait to have it all set up! (Chances are, I'll want to move things around again in a couple weeks, but whatevs!)

The Mister is also painting a cabinet for me in the garage which he will eventually mount to the wall...kind of like the Making Memories Embellishment Centre, but bigger and it was free - so we'll make do with what we've got!

Anywho, I've got to get myself to BED! Waking up early tomorrow to get my Wii Fit on!

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: