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:

Bead-azzled!

...do you ever have those times when you KNOW you have so much to do, but you end up doing something else anyway?

I had some orders to process and get out (they're done now and just shipped out today) and instead of working on them ASAP, I got kind of bored of them and tried something else instead. Kind of like a litle break to just refresh the interest in them again. Well, I didn't exactly stray too far as I kept working with beads, just a whole lot tinier!

I was wandering around Michaels and was trying to look for more things I could work with besides the regular, ol' generic kind of scrapping things and I impulsively grabbed a pack of clear seed beads. I looked around to see if there was any more colours I liked before I almost smacked myself in the forehead and though, I don't need to buy any more colours, that's what alcohol inks are for!

So homeward-bound I went and got out my alcohol inks (note to self: order more from Marti) and proceeded to PLAY! While the seed beads are much harder to work with (OMG, arthritis here I come!), it was a lot of fun because it's different and does not involve me staring so close at a "Skittle" bead that I'm almost cross-eyed.

So here's what I came out with after playtime!

I know it sounds a little over-the-top, considering I made them, but I LOVE THEM! LOL...can't help it, they are so CUTE and SWEET looking! It's the whole clear glass beads with just a TOUCH of colour on them. I wanted an easier way to work with them on a layout or card, so I strung them on some floral wire (pretty much exactly the width of the opening of the bead) and just shaped it into what I wanted it to look like. Takes some trial and error I guess because the first few times, I didn't leave enough give and when I started bending the wire, some of the beads broke off. After I had enough shapes that I wanted, I used some Glossy Accents (à la Ranger - Marti, does your store carry this stuff?) and just pressed them down onto my card. Once the Glossy Accents dried, those babies were stuck for GOOD!

So that's a little less "Skittle"-talk for those of you who were getting tired of me going on and on about them...

The "Skittle" stars I got from Marti, I poured into a huge jar and they're just sitting there...haven't gotten much of an epiphany about how I'm going to use them...so there they sit...alone...jealously pouting at the "Skittle" beads and seed beads, wondering what they have that it doesn't....

I'm sorry "Skittle" stars, but your time will come...be patient...

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

Balancing act...

...okay, so it's a GOOD thing I got all my orders completed BEFORE I got the E-Mail letting me know that I can pick up my Wii Fit earlier today, or else I wouldn't have gotten ANYTHING done!

Oh wow, this game is SO AWESOME!

Yes, it did everything but tell me I'm an obese cow (though not in so many words) but it's great! I've been hearing great things about it and I can definitely see why. If you find that you can get your hands on one of these, GO FOR IT!

I got a little bit of play time in the "Skittles Lab" and I'm wondering how people are liking the Bic markers and colouring the beads in? I'm not having the BEST time with them except for the BLACK marker. Everything else seems to be...I don't really know how to call it...but you can see all my lines of colour, especially if I go over the same area more than once...I thought I had a handle on these beads, but I guess I don't have the Bic touch!

Anywho, I'm getting up early tomorrow morning to get some Wii Fit in before work! HAPPY JUNE!!!

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: