I'm MOVING!

...it's moving day today! *LOL* I know this is pretty much coming out of nowhere, but I will be making the move to WordPress in the next couple of days!

I have had an awesome time using Blogger as my blog host, but sometimes you need to change things up a little bit and I think WordPress has a few more features that I was interested in...

I really hope this doesn't inconvenience you too much! To help make it easier, all those who are currently subscribed to my blog, I will be transferring your subscription to the new E-Mail subscription service, so there is no work for you to do except acknowledge the change when you receive the E-Mail notification. Otherwise, if you've been kind enough to include me in your Blog Roll lists, you can update your links with my new blog link.

Thank you so much and I hope you travel with me to my new adventures with blogging and crafting!

>> CONFESSIONS OF A SCRAPAHOLIC <<
http://confessionsofascrapaholic.wordpress.com

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

Blogaversary Winner!

...Thanks to everyone who was able to take time out of their weekend to stop by yesterday to celebrate with me and my one-year-old blog! I have had a wonderful year and I hope that this year holds more fun, more ranting, more shopping and more creating for me! Enough about that...on to the WINNER!

The winner of my blogaversary giveaway is:

...and that would be Jamie, who said:

happy one year on your blog, love your pics too sweet! and not to mention i got a laugh at your about me~ jamie

Congratulations, Jamie and thank you for celebrating with me and playing along! Please E-MAIL me your contact information so I can get your prize out to you ASAP!

Thanks again to everyone else for stopping by!

CURRENT MOOD: HAPPY CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: THE PHONES RINGING IN THE OFFICE

A year of -isms...Happy Anniversary!

"Hmmm...so by reading that, it SHOULD lead me to the conclusion that a shopping ban would be the prohibition of shopping. I see how the concept can relate to each other, just not how it pertains to me."

...Oh, YAY! Today is here! *LOL* I can't believe how excited I am, it almost feels like a birthday! I wonder if I can convince The Mister to get me a present to celebrate! HAHAHAHA...

When I first started blogging, I pretty much just ran and jumped in head first into everything with me fake-it-'til-you-make-it kind of attitude. I didn't know where to start, so I figured I'd just start from the right then and there and just kept on going! I figure now might be a good time to take a step back and maybe start with an introduction. *LOL*

I think I had originally intended for this blog to be mostly an anonymous rambling of a crazy crafter/shopper. I wanted to be all witty and funny and clever and mysterious and people reading would be all intrigued and be enticed to keep coming back again and again. Yeah, well that didn't happen and with something as personal as crafting, you can't really be apart from it all, can you? So, I'd like to introduce myself...my name is Catherine (I so want to put the "I'm a scrapaholic" part, but I'm pretty sure I already said that before, and let's face it, that was soooo last year!) I often come on here talking about the ways I can trick The Mister into buying things for me, so I thought I ought to introduce him as well. The Mister aka my best friend aka my husband aka the love of my life aka Bart.

Awwww...

...or more realistically...

BWAHAHAHA...okay, we don't look like that all the time...but we sure did on Halloween!

I have no idea how this blogaversary post began to revolve around The Mister - er...Bart, I mean...*LOL* my fingers are just so used to typing The Mister whenever I'm on here! Anywho, like I said, I don't know how this began to be about Bart, but now that I'm on this path, I can see that I'm liking where it's going.

To be completely honest, I am a very big spoiled brat when it comes to Bart. I have been spoiled and have gotten used to it and there's no turning back now. Bart has been the most supportive of me in pretty much everything I do. Not to say that no one else has been, but he's pretty much been my number one fan from the start. I especially notice this AND appreciate this when I hear other ladies talk about how close their husbands are to threatening to take away all their goodies and stuff and all those other husbands who just don't get it. Granted, Bart doesn't reeeally get it (especially when I have another MS edge punch in my hand or when I want to take just one more stop at a different Michael's to see if they have anything different from the OTHER Michael's we were just at), but his whole attitude is that if I think it's worth my time, then he thinks I'll be absolutely awesome at it! He's the one pushing me to go for things, submit things, branch out into things, etc. It's just so humbling and slightly embarrassing to just have someone around who thinks that paper was invented solely for me to create with it.

So I would really like to take this time to shout out a big THANK YOU to Bart for his endless support, encouragement, patience and feigned ignorance at my shopping. For trying to understand how much I enjoy this little hobby of mine and for giving me the space (both figuratively and very literally - I stole the guestroom that also doubles as his closet because I took up all the room from our master bedroom, too) that I need. I'd like to THANK him for not looking at me like I was crazy when I was sitting around in my pyjamas laughing my head off in a room all by myself while reading a post...for taking it in stride when all of a sudden I was telling him all about my friend Marti...for not stumbling in that stride when I told him I was up and going off to California with this friend Marti he'd never heard of or met before...for not giving me dirty looks when I shake him awake late at night to show him the newest thing that I just made...for always having something nice to say about every single thing that I made...etc., etc! Raising my proverbial glass to toast my very fabulous husband whom I am feeling VERY lucky to have!

........so really, I guess all that support and encouragement is to blame for my endless need to shop for my scraproom...I can see now that I don't REALLY have a problem! HAHAHAHA...

I can also see now that this post may pretty much be a long one...I swear I'm not trying to punish you or make you work extra hard for the giveaway by making you read all of this! I really wasn't intending on going that way, but I love that that's where my finger and my tired, wandering mind took me!

Let me see, let me see...what do people normally put in blogaversary posts? I haven't really been to too many, let alone hosted one! I've heard that some bloggers have had a lot of success with their blogs and I can definitely see that a lot of hard work and effort went into that! Although I did disappear off the face of the earth for a few months here and there, I have to say that I am very proud of what I've gotten accomplished so far - especially since I'm usually the type to never see anything through at all! Here's a couple random stats courtesy of Google Analytics:

• As of yesterday when I last checked, there has been a total of 7366 visitors to my blog since March 4, 2008 (Thank You!)
• I have a total of 30 individuals who are subscribed to my blog - one of them being my very own Mom (Thank You!)
• The average time that an individual spends on my blog is 2 minutes and 5 seconds (Thank You!) I know time is precious to everyone!
• 77% of my blog traffic is from referring sites, so THANK YOU to everyone who's added me as a link in their own blog. Please drop me a line to let me know if you have done this so that I can return the favour and add you to my blog list as well!

Can I just say how much I *LOVE* Google Analytics. Yes, my next confession in the new year of my blog is that I stalk all the people who come and visit me using statistics! *LOL* I am also a stat-addict...I just get all high and giddy when the line graph goes up to show my number of visitors...don't pretend that you don't feel the same way...

Over the years I have also learned a number of things...

• No matter how many series Studio G puts out, I'm going to need them all
• Nestabilities are TOTALLY worth it in the end, so you should just stop procrastinating and get them ASAP or else you'll have to wait just that much longer when you finally decide to get them...
• Your crafting soul sister could totally be living in Virginia and she will always understand that your house isn't really messy, it's just that you're busy and a lot of the times, she's really thinking the same thoughts you're thinking (Marti aka my alcohol ink yoda, my PIC, SuperMommy, sister from another mister, etc., etc., thanks so much for an AWESOME and hilarious year! You have been the best DT a girl could ever ask for and I am really excited to see what this year has in store for us!)

...and so much more I can't even get into it now or you'll hate me and wish I never have another blogaversary again!

And with that...and the fact that Bart is already snoring and the room just spun in front of my eyes, I will sign off...

I have had such an amazing time here on this blog and in the whole crafting community and wherever else I may lurk. As much fun as it is to learn and to create, it can only be so much fun because of all the people that I meet and learn from. I am so thankful that you take the time out of your day to drop by and see what I'm up to and to share kind words with me. I am also very thankful that you all understand and get what it is to have this wonderful hobby and that you share all your ideas and creations with the rest of the world - including me! I hope that you continue to do so and I hope you continue to drop in and check up on me once in a while as well! In this next year to come, I can only hope for bigger and better things to come, more wonderful friends to meet and share with...and more things to be released from CHA so I can shooooop! *LOL*

With that, I'll leave you with one more -ism from the past year.

"Seeing how I don’t like anyone enough to have them stay overnight, I moved our spare bed in the guestroom to make more room for me and my stuff. So if we ever have anyone sleep over, I’m sure they’ll find the floor very comfortable. I would say I was joking, but for those who know me, they probably already know that I’m not."

CONTEST DETAILS: To be eligible for the blogaversary giveaway, please enter your comments on THIS post any time before 11:59 PM EST on March 1, 2009. To avoid any confusion or misunderstandings, please include your first and last name or your first name and a screen name so that I may differentiate from same-named individuals. I will choose a winner via a random integer generator on March 2, 2009 and will announce the winner on a post that same day. Please limit your entry to one per person. Thank you so much!

CURRENT MOOD: HAPPY CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: BART SNORING

A year of -isms IV

"I couldn’t find any underwear, so I wore bathing suit bottoms instead. This might be an all-time low."

...so that counter is totally throwing me off. It's still saying my blogaversary is in two days, except that my blogaversary is TOMORROW! *happy dance* Maybe it's factoring in a leap year that I don't know about. Anywho, forget that counter, I definitely know when March 1st is and I'm so happy that you're here! I hope you stop by tomorrow for a little bit of anniversary posting fun!

First off, don't forget about my giveaway to celebrate! Here's my giveaway roundup if you've missed my previous posts:

Coordinating K&Co. paper pack and 3D stickers

Alcohol inked glitter

Angel Hello Kitty organizer pouch and two COPIC markers
R05 and G05

K&Co. sticker packs and rub-on glitter set

...aaaaand...waaait for it...waaaait for it...

A $10 GIFT CERTIFICATE TO PEZ-A-DOODLE DESIGNS
Courtesy of Marti

To be eligible for those goodies up there, you'll want to comment on >>THIS<< post.

No card or project for me today! I am currently blogging live from my parent's place surrounded by kids running around, crying babies, loud-talking relatives and a dog going crazy with all the chaotic-ness all around him!

Hope you all have a wonderful Saturday evening and we'll see you back here tomorrow!

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

Look Ma, No Coloring OR Stamping!

...HAHAHAHA! You've got to cut me some slack...if this were 'Fixing Dinner' on the Food Network, Thursdays are mine and The Mister's "Fright Night."

I was pretty much all over the place yesterday with work and appointments and a mad rush home to get the house clean-looking (notice how I didn't say CLEAN...*LOL*...just clean-looking!) in time for choir practice. Everytime I think that okay, after this one thing, things will die down...something else happens to replace whatever it is that's just finishing! I'm trying not to think of how full my plate already is and how much MORE things are being added to it to avoid going crazy and just dropping off the face of the earth again (I'm NOT going to, Marti!*LOL*)

Even though things were hectic, I snuck away from Chewy and The Mister during after-practice cleanup to go play in my scraproom - which has reached DANGEROUSLY high levels of mess...so high, it has never been recorded...ever. I have to put things on my lap while I'm working on them to avoid losing them in the craptastic pile of stuff in front of me!

Apparently I was suffering a mojo meltdown because I couldn't really find anything that was turning out the way that I wanted to. Ran out of really nice cardstock, so I tried printing on a lesser quality one and found that my COPICs were bleeding all over the place and the image was already so small that I couldn't even make adjustments to compensate for the bleeding. I tried colouring with Prismas, but I couldn't find my blending stumps in all the mounds of stuff and my watercolor pencils were in the other room and far be it for me to get up to go get them now that I was already sitting and comfy! Okay, so I figured there'd be no coloring and I'd pretty much used all the stamps that would look good with the no-coloring techniques that I had been playing around with this week. So last resort, there'd be no stamping either!

I poked around my scrap stash and underneath layers of...I wanna say crap...I saw cute little faces staring up at me. I stared at them and they stared back...so I stared some more and an idea started forming while we were having our staring competition. I took out the little cuties and my chalks (whom I've been getting along with very well lately!) and got down to business. It always takes a million times longer for an idea to come together, but it only took a few minutes to actually get this card together...

C'mon say it with me, "Awwww!" (I didn't hear you say it, Marti...HAHAHAHA...). Thank you for those who joined me in my "awww-ing". I don't care how bad it sounds, but I am LOVING how this card turned out. As soon as I saw those cute little babies staring up at me (from their holographic backgrounds - ew! I got rid of those as soon as they were out of the packaging!) I knew that I wanted to go for a baby-themed card. With what feels like EVERYONE in my family being pregnant and about to explode, there is definitely going to be a need for some baby-looking cards! Because there were four specific animals I wanted to use on my card, I chose to have it be non-gender specific and I resorted to the four basic baby colours. Baby pink, baby blue, baby yellow and baby green. If I had one more animal, there'd be a baby purple too, but the alligator in the sticker set was a lot longer than the rest, so he would have thrown off my symmetry. Sorry to say he was booted...your time will come, my little alligator friend...your time will come...

Picked out four sponges (in this case, I used makeup sponges. A pack of bajillion for a dollar at the dollar store, you can't go wrong there!) and loaded each up with my chalk colour choices and started circling away on my cardstock. I randomly circled each colour and then went back and filled out the blank spots with the other colours until I had a nice soft tye-dyed effect. Pop-dotted my little buddies on their own chalk-edged mats and voila!

I ran out of sheer white ribbon and the only thing I had that was close was a white ribbon with some silver threading and the white was just SO white it was contrasting hideously with the background, so I did my next favourite thing to with ink pads besides applying them to stamps. I laid out my ribbon and started swiping with coordinating Studio G ink pads!

The Studio G ink pads were PERFECT for this project as the ink on them is a bit chalk-y-like, so the colours definitely worked well on the ribbon. So up there, you can see the white WHITE of the ribbon as it originally was, and with those four little pads, turned it into that rainbow looking swirl of ribbon. I applied the ribbon to the card using the "cheater" method (I also had to finish the inside of the card to cover up all the ribbon taping I did to the inside of the card) and I was done! I considered adding more to it, but I figured since I was doing the no colouring, no stamping technique today, I should also apply the no overdoing of the embellishing technique as well! I did take my Glossy Accents and Stickles and highlighted a few things on my little cuties, otherwise, I reined myself back in to keep the card oh-so-soft and so simple!

Thanks for stopping by today! I know you're probably ready for the weekend about as much as I am (and believe me, I've been ready since last Monday!) Even more fun things to look forward to on this particular weekend as I will be celebrating my first blogaversary this Sunday, March 1st! I hope you'll be able to stop by and celebrate with me! Stay tuned tomorrow for the giveaway roundup of pictures!

MATERIALS
All hyperlinked products and materials are from Pez-a-Doodle Designs

Stamp: Zip, zilch, zero, NADA!
Ink: Studio G
Paper: Plain ol' white cardstock
Embellishments: 3D stickers, ribbon, Glossy Accents
Tools: Chalk, sponge applicators, pop dots

CURRENT MOOD: TIRED CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: AFRICA

Look Ma, No Coloring - Part II

...look at me go! COPIC markers still snuggled nice and comfy in their little Angel Hello Kitty case feeling a little bit left out. Sorry COPICs, that's the way the ball crumbles and the cookie bounces!

I am having so much fun trying different ways to stamp - some of the experiments I tried didn't work, almost kind of worked or turned out okay, but it's getting me to pull eeeeverything out and trying new things! Never distress embossed before? Never used acrylic paint daubers on a project before? Never distress inked anything before? Who cares! Bust them out and fake it 'til you make it! That's the fun part about distressing - even if it's kind of messy or imperfect, nobody else needs to know that, just tell everyone it's "distressed!" What? It's not ripped, it's distressed! What? It's not splotchy, it's distressed! Have fun, get inky, get meeessy! *gasp* I know...You know when your craft table is messy? When you set something aside so that it doesn't get inked on and five minutes later, you can't find the thing you set aside. So you make another one because after searching frantically, you still can't find it and then when you go and set something else aside, you find the other thing that you couldn't find before. HAHAHAHA...I don't know who that happens to................

Aaanyways, after a few misplacements, I finally was able to get it together but I did have a bit of trouble today. Work sucked the rest of the mojo out of me and left me with not much else to work with today! Here is my completed project:

Hey, do you know that movie that came out a while back called Inkheart? This post has nothing to do with it, except for the word ink. *LOL* What DIDN'T I ink in this project?!

Starting off with a piece of glossy cardstock and my oh-so-useful, oh-so-trusted foam ink applicator, I used a couple colours of Distress Ink (Tea Dye, Vintage Photo) and inked up the entire surface going around in circles with my foam ink applicator. Next, I turned to my rich and creamy Versamark Dew Drop in Jumbo Java and inked up my Butterflies a-Flutter stamp and hit up each corner with a nice thick coat. When the ink dried (with the help of my heat gun) I rubbed my finger around over it to give it a more "distressed" look (or did I just not stamp it right? Who knows, that's the beauty of distressed! *LOL*) Okay, I lost track of what I was talking about...HAHAHAHA!

Oh right, using my ONLY Nestability set, I cut out my verse. I was going to go a different way, but since today is the first day of Lent, I thought I would go the biblical path. I also cut out a larger oval to mat my verse. For the verse, I misted it over with Perfect Pearl mist (left over from yesterday, no sense in that yummy, shimmery mist to go to waste, right?!), dried and then inked over with the Versamark ink. The ribbon was a sheer PURPLE when I pulled it out of my ribbon drawer, but with a couple swipes of my little Dew Drop, voila! Now it matches everything else! Took a little bit of Cinnamon Stickles because I haven't bonded with them in a while and Stickled certain areas!

That's it for me for now, please come back later on for a little bit more SillySkittle-isms! I've got my last installment of pictures for the giveaways - it's THIS WEEKEND! Please come by on Sunday and visit for a chance to win my blogaversary THANK YOU prize! Thank you for stopping by!

MATERIALS
All hyperlinked products and materials are from Pez-a-Doodle Designs

Stamp: Butterflies a-Swirl by Pez-a-Doodle Designs
Ink: Versamark Drew Drop in Jumbo Java, Distress Inks in Tea Dye, Tattered Rose and Vintage Photo
Paper: Glossy Cardstock (NOT the same as photo paper!)
Embellishments: Stickles, Ribbon
Tools: Oval Nestabilities, Foam Ink Applicator

CURRENT MOOD: LAZY CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: SUNGLASSES

Sending Flowers...

...will never go out of style and now, what makes it even better is that you can send flowers that won't die and leave a mess to clean up afterwards!

My project for today is a little bit of a double-trouble, two birds with one stone, etc., etc., and so forth...

I wanted to showcase another way to use Flower Soft other than just the normal glue-dab-and-sprinkle technique, so I got out my Flower Soft accessories (ie. wire and vase) and went to work on Mojo Monday's sketch for the week! Let me just say, although I'm usually a more is more kind of person, I have always had a hard time with layers on my card. I have been improving with practice over time, but I layers have always intimidated me. Maybe because it also involves a knack in coordinating colours and papers and I haven't really done much of that either. In any case, the Flower Soft project and Mojo Monday has definitely gotten me to step up to a couple of my own personal challenges! I didn't use as many layers as the sketch suggested. Instead of adding the last layer on top of my base, I got out my mini mister, Perfect Pearls (in heirloom gold) and water and mixed me up some Perfect Pearl mist to give a nice golden, shimmery sheen to the base of the card (my cardstock). Completely matching/coordinating paper without another added layer (I was afraid my card would topple forward when I tried to take a picture of it! *LOL*)

Here's the sketch for this week:

...and here's what I came up with:

I was having a really hard time with the flash and the super shimmery paper that I used, so that's the images there with no flash, and here it is with the flash, just to give you an idea of the shimmery goodness...

Whew! Lots of pictures for one little card, huh?! HAHAHA...that gorgeous paper is my never-fail DCWV Luxury Stack and it's oh-so-lux-uuuuur-ious! I feel like I can just rip any of the luxury stack papers and smack them down with glue and it would still come out lookin' nice and fancy. That's what LUXURY STACK means...*LOL*

Anywho, I actually had a lot of fun with this sketch! Once I finished the actual Flower Soft part (which also didn't take that long either!) everything came together pretty fast!

I won't get too into the nitty gritty of everything as Marti will have a complete tutorial of how to get the wire and Flower Soft to co-mingle on her blog >>HERE<<, so I'll just jump right in. I got my Flower Soft onto the wire and left them to dry while I was working on putting together the rest of the card. Cutting my paper and arranging them into my Mojo layout nice and easily - how did I not get into sketches before, they are SUCH a help - plus the sketch was awesome! I opted out of the optional embellishment as I didn't want to take anything away from my Flower Soft goodness and the only other embellishment I used was my SugarPops skittle beads! Pretty much the only other little details that give the project that extra oomph is the flourish stamp that I stamped onto the vase and the edging that I got from using my new EK Success edge punch. If you haven't already noticed, I finished off the inside of the card as well using the extra larger bits of scraps I had left over after all my cutting and trimming. I stamped my sentiment using a Versamagic Dew Drop (creamy and rich and stamped onto my smooth, shimmery paper so nicely). To avoid any oopsies, I heat set the ink.

That's it for me today! Blogaversary is just around the corner, I'll be getting my super blogaversary giveaway together into one whole picture just so everyone can get the scope on what's up for grabs as my big THANK YOU for a faaabulous year! This wouldn't be any fun if you weren't around to read it, right? Tune in tomorrow for some more Look Ma, No Coloring! projects and don't forget to check out my DT leader and DT sister's blogs for their takes on stamping without colouring! Thanks for dropping by!

MATERIALS
All hyperlinked products and materials are available from Pez-a-Doodle Designs

Stamp(s): Butterflies a-Flutter by Pez-a-Doodle Designs, Studio G
Ink: Distress Ink, Versamagic Dew Drop
Paper: DCWV Luxury Stack
Embellishments: Flower Soft kit (Flower Soft, wire, vase), SugarPops by Sugar & Scraps, Perfect Pearls
Tools: Heat Gun, Mini Mister

CURRENT MOOD: CONTENT CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: THE HEATER GOING

Look Ma, No Coloring...

...our own fearless DT leader Marti has definitely set us up with a challenge with our DT assignments this week (or TORTURE considering that I *just* got my COPIC markers...*LOL* however you choose to look at it) our mission: stamp but nooooo colouring! *gasp* I KNOW! How could she DO this to me? Hahahaha...

Actually, my poor neglected COPICs aside (which isn't that big a deal since I don't even know to really use them yet!), the challenge was AWESOME! I love how it got me to pull out all the other materials I've been hoarding but haven't really used to their full potential!

So today I am looking at Distress Embossing Powders!

These are the colours that I used for this project:

Dusty Concord	Peeled Paint	Dried Marigold

The difference between these embossing powders and the other powders that are normally used is that when heat is applied, these don't melt down into the shiny, raised look that most people associate with heat embossing and powder. These distress powders end up with a rough, gritty feeling and the weather-worn look when heat is applied - just like the packaging says! They also differ from other embossing powders in that they have to be shaken very well first get the "distress" crystals distributed before use. These crystals is what gives the embossing powder their name! Once sprinkled onto a project and heated, when the powder has cooled, you can rub your finger over the area you have just embossed and these crystals will give the project it's distressed look! I don't really emboss much or distress enough to really be able to say that the project gets an authentic distressed look, but I *LOVE* using these embossing powders as it definitely lends any projects a totally different look and feel that other regular ol' embossing powders just don't do!

Anywho, I used these on my no-colouring project and this is how it turned out:

Can I just say that I *heart* how this turned out!?! So to break it down, I first made sure that I had shaken all my jars of embossing powder that I would be using and had them open, lined up and waiting to be used. Then I stamped my image on the INSIDE of the card with Versamark. While Versamark was still wet, I took a pinch of one colour of powder and sprinkled it over certain areas of the wet stamp and did the same step for the other two colours. Once I had a nice sprinkling in different areas of the colours that I wanted, I held up the card and tapped my fingers underneath the card to make the powder "dance" around. This ensures that all the areas are covered in powder. Then I just dumped the excess powder in the trash...with the colours all mixed up, I knew I wasn't going to be using it again. But feel free to save it if you think you'd like to use some funky, mixed-up colours to emboss one day. So once I had everything powdered, I applied heat, let it cool and then rubbing the living daylights out of it to distress certain areas. To finish up the card, I pulled out my brand new Oval Nestabilities and punched out an oval at the front for my stamped image to show through.

I also used another no-colour technique for the front of the card...I wonder if that gets me any bonus points with the DT leader! LOL...but for the front of the card, I embellished my oval window with a flourish stamp that I inked using three matching Studio G ink pads. So basically, I attached my clear stamp to the block and went at it with the three different coloured ink pads starting from the lightest to the darkest. When I stamped, all three colours showed through making it nice and multicoloured without me having to bust out any colouring materials! Less the effort but maximum effect! I sure like that equation! I also did the same technique with the Studio G sentiment and finished it all off with coordinating FLOWER SOFT and paper piercing! *swoon*

That's it for me today, I'm supposed to be lookin' busy stuffing tax receipts! *giggles*

Thanks for dropping by and visiting!

MATERIALS
All hyperlinked products and materials are from Marti from Pez-a-Doodle Designs

Stamp(s): Butterflies a-Swirl by Pez-a-Doodle Designs, Studio G clear stamps
Ink: Versamark, Studio G ink pads
Embellishments: Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Powder, Flower Soft, rhinestones
Tools: Paper piercer, Oval Nestabilities, Heat gun

CURRENT MOOD: OVERLY CAFFEINATED CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: STUDENT COMPLAINTS

A year of -isms III

"Just now, I asked The Mister if there was any holidays or special occasions coming up where people have to buy me stuff. He said our anniversary and I "Psssssh-ed" it because that's in September. He said the only thing coming up is Mother's Day and is it kind of bad that I half-wished I was pregnant so I could demand him to buy me a cart? I would choose New Arrivals of course..."

Hel-looo! Only one more week until my blogaversary! I'm very excited about it...too excited probably by the looks of how the giveaway is growing. I've been gathering here and there - some more K&Co. stuff which I am loving and also a couple hand-made kind of things from yours truly! Like this:

GLITTER!

I'm all googly-eyed! Okay, so I didn't actually MAKE the glitter - I have no idea how that magic happens, but I did make them into all these prettiful colours! I took my jar of plain ol' white glitter and dyed them a bunch of colours and put them in jars just like that! So in with my giveaways, this set of sugary glitter just for my blogaversary winner!

I hope everyone had a good weekend - we got a lot more snow *makes face* and I'm all bitter now at the cruelness of Mother Nature and how she teases us with nice, warm, spring-like weather only to snatch it back give us more snow instead! BAH! But I did have a little bit of playtime in my scraproom and I got to play with more Flower Soft and to colour my very first Lockhart stamp!

Another plain and simple card so as not to take away from the main focal point of my image! Even though I've been all COPIC-crazed right now, I coloured in my image with my watercolor pencils and trimmed the stamped image out (*waves* Thanks fairy craftmother!). I used my oh-so-pretty Flower Soft for the hydrangea's and a generous sprinkling of fine glitter - yes, I am ALL ABOUT the glitter lately! I used my little bottle of Glossy Accents and randomly dabbed at the berries before sprinkling with the glitter!

Next I used my BRAND SPANKIN' NEW Oval Nestabilities (*waves* Thanks, Terri!) and used that as my focal image mat. For the rest of the card I just used my Scor-Pal to add detail and some yummily lumpy SugarPops!

Thanks for stopping by! I'll still be adding a little bit more to my blogaversary giveaway so don't forget to stop by on March 1st to play!

MATERIALS
All hyperlinked products and materials are from Pez-a-Doodle Designs

Stamp: Karen Lockhart
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: Bo Bunny and plain white cardstock
Tools: Glossy Accents, Watercolor Pencils, Aquapen, Scor-Pal, Oval Nestabilities
Embellishments: Flower Soft, SugarPops, Ribbon

"Sorry the pictures are so far away and blurry, I couldn’t bring myself to care enough to get closer. BWAHAHAHAHAHA…" (Paris Hilton at CHA)

CURRENT MOOD: CALM CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: WEIRD RATTLING IN THE OFFICE

Make a wish...

...and your fairy craftmother will grant it! Well...if your fairy craftmother is Marti from Pez-a-Doodle Designs! *LOL*

It was a GOOD mail day yesterday! I had not one, not two, but three packages waiting in my mail box when I got home from a hideous day - no, make that WEEK - of work! Nothing like pretty postage-wrapped presents (that I paid for *LOL* minus my DT goodies from my fair craftmother) for ME!

My first set of Nestabilities from Terri came today! I got the Ovals set and WOW are they awesome! I LOVE them all. After all the waiting and anticipation and wondering if they were worth it...YES, they totally are! *waves* THANK YOU, Terri! Look for my payment for my next set ASAP!

My last order from Oozak.com for my COPIC markers came as well! I'm not sure if it'll be my last but March 1st is just looming around the corner, so if you're still wondering whether COPICs are for you, I'd stop wondering and get a-clickin' before you miss out! I can't WAIT for my COPIC certification class next month, I'm definitely excited and nervous about that - probably because my coloring is absolutely horrendous!

And last, but certainly not least, my wonderful package of DT goodies from my fairy craftmother, Marti! It's making me *LOL* everytime I say that because I'm wondering what Marti's thinking of me referring to her as that...HAHAHAHA!

Anywho, the package was jam-packed with wonderful things, I would throw them up and roll around in them if the jars of Flower Soft wouldn't conk me in the head on the way down - plus, the jars would make for some uncomfortable rolly-ness, I would think...so YES! My first set of Flower Soft came (I talk like I have more coming, but I will definitely be ordering more of the other sets as well!) and there were pretty pictures and vases and wire and glue and ribbon...lions and tigers and bears, OH MY! There was some FABULOUS stamped images for me to PLAY with because my fairy craftmother knows how much I wanna get my COPIC groove on! And a bunch of other stuff that little ol' me just NEEDS.

So what do you do when so many things come in the mail...?

USE.THEM.AAAAAALL!

*swoons* Don't you just LOVE ME - er...I mean, her??? Marti sent me some stamped images of pretty mermaid Anya and I knew that it was my call...no, my DUTY to shimmer and bling.her.up! Oh you can't see it now, but you do not understand how Anya is working the shimmer. I shimmered pretty much every inch of her using my Sakura Glitter Gel pens after I coloured her in with my COPICs. Next I added my ever-so-handy Diamond Glaze and gussied up her sea-shelled ladies and the beads in her hair. After she was all nice and dry I trimmed her out and microbeaded her tail in green and blue microbeads! I am LOVING the effect of the beads as scales on her tail, but those little things were a pain in my left AND right cheeks! Which I probably have microbeads on...and in my bra...and in my hair...probably even in my ears, they got EVERYWHERE! Note to self and to all of you...maybe get a dryer sheet and wipe all over your hands with as well as the paper. Those little suckers static cling to EVERYTHING!

Moooving on - stop picturing microbeads in my special places!

For my under the sea scene, I took a piece of carstock and watercolored the living daylights out of it using a light and dark blue watercolor pencil and my aqua pen. Once I was satisfied with the blue-y-ness of it all, I took my mini mister, Stonewashed dye re-inker and my blue Perfect Pearls and shook me up some shimmerlicious mist and misted THAT over the whole underwater piece of cardstock. Swirled the shimmeryness with my aquapen and misted some more...you can NEVER mist enough, I would say! Once it was dry - it didn't take too long actually...probably because I assaulted it with my heatgun!

I used my Ranger Distress embossing powder to make my sand - oh THANK YOU, fairy craftmother for the awesome idea on that - and I used Flower Soft to make some algae/seaweed looking things. Then badda-boom, badda-bing, slap everything together and you've got my underwater "make a wish" scene!

Here's Miss Thang up close:

Soooo pretty! (*coughs* I mean, if I do say so myself...) I wish you could see the actual shimmeryness of her - her hair, her bathingsuit/tail...the water...EVERYTHING! Ah well, to actually see it, you'll just have to play with some shimmery-goodness, won't you? Go on and get your shimmer on!

I've got so much I want to share and show, but I'm trying to keep myself in check and pace myself...it looks like the days leading up to my blogaversary is going to be filled with lots of fun things - hang out with me, won't you?

Thanks for stopping by!

MATERIALS
All hyperlinked products and materials are from Pez-a-Doodle Designs

Stamp: Mermaid Anya from The Greeting Farm
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stonewashed re-inker
Other Mediums: COPIC markers, watercolor pencils, shimmer mist
Tools: Mini mister, Perfect Pearls, Glossy Accents, aquapen, Sakura Glitter Gel pen, dimensional foam
Embellishments: Distress embossing powder, Flower Soft, sea shells

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

A year of -isms II...

"The stupid sign fooled me and I thought it was 2 for $1 and by the time I was checking out and the girl said it wasn't, I had already formed a bond with the paper."

Well, to be honest, I already had this entry all written out and I'm pretty sure it posted at the time I told it to post, but something wonky happened and I ended up losing the whole entry! Eek!

Anywho, last night The Mister and I went out for bubble tea (mmm...bubble tea...) and the girl who runs the place has decided to branch out a little and carry small gift items and other knick-knacks - which is really fun, but really bad for me because I love small gift items and knick-knacks - even if I don't know what I would do with them! I was looking through everything - The Mister hates it when I do this because I will start from the beginning or top or from one side and sloooooowly go through and make sure I look at EVERY single thing before I move on to the next section. Just don't want to miss anything, you know! A lot of the things were Sanrio things (HELLO KITTY!) which everyone who's anyone knows that I used to REALLY like! I have a Hello Kitty alarm clock, a Hello Kitty phone, Hello Kitty T-Shirts, Hello Kitty pens, paper...blah blah blah...but I digress...so there were bags and paper and pens and a bunch of other really cool things and then...there it was...

*SQUEALS* It's an Angel Hello Kitty organizer...thingy...

I love Angel Hello Kitty...I had her really cute paper and matching pen which I never used because it was just too pretty to write on! Well, I just had to have this set because I already knew what I was going to use it for!

Ta-da!!! Woohoo! My COPIC markers now have a home! Thank goodness I didn't get anymore from Oozak.com (sale still going on until MARCH 1st!) or else I wouldn't have been able to fit them all in here! But as of right now with 85 markers, everyone is all nice and snug in their new home! Can you just SEE me walking into my COPIC Certification class with my little Angel Hello Kitty COPIC marker bag? *squeals* I know, I am just too excited, aren't I? Taking it down a notch...

Speaking of the bag though, I did come up with a solution for my little giveaway problem that I had confessed about the other day. I am now going to employ the one-for-me, one-for-you technique! So up there you see mine...and another one will go to the blogaversary blog candy winner!!! w00t!

DISCLAIMER: Winner of the Angel Hello Kitty organizer bag will win the bag and pouch, minus any CONTENTS pictured above. Meaning, the prize will not include the COPIC markers pictured.

*giggles* Sorry, just had to put it out there before I went further and got more excitable and carried away! HAHAHA, but to be fair, since I DID show the bag with markers, I will be including two COPIC markers in the giveaway as well: R05 and G05.

I think that's it for me today! I'll be escaping off to Michael's this afternoon on my lunch hour to have a peek to see if they have any of the new DCWV stacks in yet (I won't be holding my breath though, my M's still thinks that the Cricut only has a George cartridge available with it, with the way they stock...) and maybe I'll find more fun things to include in my blogaversary giveaway! Make sure to come back and visit on the 1st to enter! With all my crazy shenanigans and TMI confessions and when you still came to visit even when I dropped off the face of the earth, I would definitely say that you DESERVE it!

Thanks for stopping by!

P.S. For those of you who can't wait to win stuff, buying things ON SALE is just as good, isn't it? Dont' forget that Marti's got all her products and items on SALE at Pez-a-Doodle Designs from 15% - 25% OFF to make room for the fun new things coming - and can I just totally drop a little hinty-hint, Marti DEFINITELY has some fun, new things in store for you. You do NOT want to miss it - I'm having an episode just trying not to blurt it all out! *LOL*

The battle is won and I have conquered and vanquished the beast I call Design Studio. This isn’t the end I know…the battle may be over but the war is just beginning. I’m gonna figure the crap out of DS if it’s the last thing I do. *insert maniacal laughter here* But first, I’m going to bed.

CURRENT MOOD: HAPPY IT'S FRIIIIDAY! CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: POKER FACE IS STUCK IN MY HEAD

A year of -isms...

"The boss chooses to meander out of his office and down the hall in time to hear my desperate whale cries of freedom."

...I went out yesterday to see what things I could offer for my blogaversary blog candy...here's a little peek at some of the things for the winner...I haven't really decided how it's all going to work, probably all the comments on my March 1 post...so don't forget to come back and visit me on the 1st!

I loves me some K&Co. and I hope you do too!

So there's a K&Co. design paper pack with two packs of coordinating 3D stickers.

I have something on my mind right now and I'm wondering if I'm the only one this happens to...I certainly hope not, though!

CONFESSION #13
Whenever I'm hosting a giveaway or blog candy or anything of the sort, I always get carried away by the excitement and fun of showing pictures and describing things that's up for grabs that I end up wanting to keep what I'm giving away and forgetting all about the giveaway.

*giggles* Not to worry though! The winners of the Ultimate Tim Holtz giveaway that I hosted will be receiving their prizes directly from Marti and I won't have the chance to think about keeping it...*LOL* Although I still half wish that I could win it! I am such an alcohol ink addict!

Anyway! There's a little bit of my blog candy for my upcoming anniversary! I will be posting some more pictures once I get them all together, so hoping you come back and visit for a little bit of fun!

"I can’t wait to be an auntie!
P.S. I hope I get something in the mail today!"

CURRENT MOOD: I HAVE NO IDEA CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: OFFICE SOUNDS

Taking a walk...

...down blog-memory lane. It occured to me from catching a glimpse of someone's blogaversary sign, that my own blogaversary is coming up! And after I installed mine, I realized how soon it was coming up!

Wow, I can't believe that I've had my blog for almost a year! I know that I didn't write as much or post as much in terms of ACTUAL projects (as opposed to the stuff I buy *LOL*) but that was my year and I can't take it back or change it (actually, I guess I could by way of back-posts, but that would just be cheating myself, wouldn't it...) All I'll have to do is just try harder to be a much better blogger!

I think now's a good time to put in another of these posts since I haven't done much of those either!

CONFESSION #12

Although I don't update my blog as much as I should, when I get to like peoples' blogs, I read them all from the very beginning. Not just a few posts back...I like to go to a blog's archive and start from the veeery beginning and work my way forward. It's fun to really get to know someone and their beginnings...I guess it's also one of those things where you treat yourself how you'd like to be treated, and I guess I would hope that some people would find me interesting enough to read from the very beginning. It must just be the nosy-ness in me. I just like to know everything there is to know...plus it's fun to see how people's work have evolved...speaking of which...

Want to know something? I went and started reading mine from the beginning. It's really fun...I make myself laugh with the weird, crazy things that I say and think and it's so FUNNY to see how crazed I could get over buying things and waiting for things in the mail. Want to know something else? I was in the middle of reading one of my earlier posts and The Mister walks by and goes, "Ew, that one's UGLY!" *rolls eyes* Can you just imagine the backtracking he had to do to try to dig himself out of the hole he just dug and threw himself into when I told him it was MY card? *sniffs* Hmph!

Anywho...I came across a couple things that I had written that made me laugh out loud (either in actual entertainment or embarrassment) and I thought that I would post a few of them from now until my actual blogaversary.

Plus, word on the street is that some people give away blog candy on their blogaversary, so I wouldn't want to be the odd one out! Looks like I've got to get some fun things together, then! We shall see...

On to some SillySkittle-isms throughout the year...

"The first step is admitting you have a problem.
My name is Catherine, and I am a shop-a-holic.
The problem is, I need more stuff."

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

All that SPARKLES...

...is glitter, Glitter and more GLITTER!

And me thinks that this silly girl went completely OVERBOARD with it! It's hard for me to deal with crafter's block. I get so frustrated and irritated with myself when I sit down to make something and I come up with ABSOLUTELY nothing! Then I get more frustrated and then of course it doesn't help me come up with anything...

Anyway, today was one of those days...I sat down and looked around and...nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Blah.

So I reached for a big, huge jar of not-so-fine glitter that I've had for over a year and I decided to play!

I started with this...

And with a little tweak, a couple light bulbs going off and my good ol' friends ALCOHOL INKS, came up with this:

Red Pepper

Stonewashed

Lettuce

Wasn't really sure what to do with them separately, so I took a little bit of each and ended up with this:

...and from there, I ended up with THIS:

So is there such a thing as glitter overboard? What on this card did I not glitter? *LOL* Another question would be, is there anything that Alcohol Ink can not re-colour? I love, Love, LOVE this stuff! From being so scared to try it out to colouring everything I can get my hands on using it! *LOL*

The card is also a very loose interpretation of Mojo Monday's sketch:

There was already a lot going on with all the glitter, so I decided that I would omit a few of the extra embelly-like things and just stuck to the basics of the sketch. Hope it hasn't deviated too far from the original sketch to not actually COUNT as a Mojo Monday sketch...LOL...when I get started in the scraproom, it's hard for me to go back to the other room to look at the other details I'm missing. I usually only remember a few distinct details of the sketch and go from there anyway...but thanks for looking!

MATERIALS
All hyperlinked products and materials are from Pez-a-Doodle Designs

Stamp: Fairybella (okay, I just made that one up, I can't actually remember the ACTUAL name right now, but I know for sure it's by) Stamping Bella
Ink: Adirondack Dye Ink
Medium: Copic Markers and Sakura Glitter Gel Pens, Alcohol Ink
Paper: Plain white cardstock (100 lb)
Embellishments: GLITTER

CURRENT MOOD: COMPLACENT CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: BENJAMIN BUTTON BLATHERING ON AND ON...