A Sick Day!

Happy Monday everyone!  Hope you had a beautiful weekend and enjoyed some summertime fun!  We worked in the yard mostly and did those outside chores that never seem to end.  Funny thing about my neighborhood….you hardly ever see any women out doing yardwork…seriously they are few & far between here…which I find hilarious.  Most people have landscape services and we did have lawn-mowers ourselves but James wasn’t “happy” with them cuz’ he’s pretty particular.  So he now mows it, I do the trimming and we work on the shrubs and flowerbeds together.  I trim the roses (no job for sissies LOL..take a gander at my hands & legs currently) and other bushes, plant the veggie garden and do most of the weeding and watering.  He’s my “big labor” man and digs all the holes and hauls stuff for me   I don’t mind working in the yard…I find it a bit meditative like coloring…and yeah its hot out but I always like a job well done myself KWIM plus it’s a chance to soak up the yummy, warm sun.  Then we always finish off our day with a glass of wine, something sweet while sitting out on the patio.  We’ve put in our TV out in the cabana so we can watch TV or movies out there this season as well…I was kinda against it but now that its out there we spend more time out there with the teens.  And fresh air is always GREAT air!

(us tucked in under cabana watching "Chopped" LOL)

This week is a busy week but laid back…its my kids first week off from school…I both say that with happiness and DREAD..dum dum dum LOL.  I love ‘em but they can tend to drive me nuts after a bit…wanting things, wanting to go places, making noise in my quiet house and making messes.  So yes when August rolls around I am ready for them to GOOOOOO back to school.  Riley starts weight-lifting for football next week 4x a week so that will keep him busy.  And Alexa is working for me at least 10-15 hours a week putting my craftroom in order…she did all my paper & cardstock, my flowers and my ribbon so far.  But her biggest job is going thru all my stamps, creating a database of them and then organizing them by company and theme in pretty boxes I bought.  I have over 4000 stamps or more so it’s a HUGE job, one that I don’t have time for and she loves to organize and she’s getting paid for it…so hopefully by end of summer my craftroom will be so organized that I can find anything I need in 1.2 seconds instead of 30 mins LOL!

If you have some cool storage ideas tell me what they are.  And share them and get ideas yourself over at “Talkin’ With Tina”…a chat forum at CMC with my crazy pal Tina!  I’ve also started some other fun groups including a “Food/Recipe Group” and “Tutorials/Techniques Group” that will be a library of fun tutorials by your peers.  Everyone is welcome to join in as always!

NewsBitz:

-I’m teaching before CHA in Chicago this July…so if you’d like to have some FUN with me and spend the day coloring and learning techniques..hop on over to www.cmcroad.com to find more details!  Cuz’ I’d love to see you!

-Summer Sale is still ongoing thru August 24th at the CMC Classroom….all the classes are on sale…so if you have been wanting to take some, now is the time to stock up LOL!

-7 Kids College Fund has the CUTEST new stamps up for grabs from Stampavie (Penny Johnson & Ann Cresci) AND the NEW Tim Holtz “Summer Distress Inks”.

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Havin’ A Sick Day??

So today I have used a new digi stamp image from “Milk and Coffee”…they have the cutest images and you must check them out.  I found them on Etsy when I was stumbling around there buying things I didn’t need LOL!  I loved them and was happy to ask them to sponsor CMC for our Challenge Group in August.  This one is called “Charlotte is a Nurse” and she’s perfect for a get-well card.  I made this one for my friend who is going thru some difficult, medical stuff over the next few weeks.  So I’m making her something each week along with a small gift to cheer her up a bit along the way!

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Corrosive Challenges (punches & dies) 

Crafty Ann's Challenge (for a girl) 

Inspire Me Friday's (anything goes) 

Pixie Dust Studio Challenge (patterned papers) 

Sassy Studio Designs (use something wet)

 Isn’t she the cutest lil’ nurse ever?  My papers are from My Minds Eye from their Valentine Collection…but hey these patterns and colors work anytime of the year in my mind (hehehehehe get it…”my mind” bwahahaha..I know I’m a big dork).  The middle border was made with one of my MS border punches.  The doily shapes are from a Spellbinders die set..  I distressed all the papers with my fave Zutter Distress machine.  The sentiment is from a newer set from PTI.

She got colored with Copics:  C5,C3,C1,C00 / E35,E31,E50 / R24,R22,R20 / E11,E00.  Then I added a nice coat of stardust Stickles to her nurse uniform and hat, Diamond Glaze on her boots and medicine bottles.  And as I’m typing this I see one of my red pearls got moved over a bit…gonna have to fix that LOL..I hate it when that happens don’t you?

Hope that this brought a smile to your day/evening & hope it brings a smile to my friend’s face as well   Have a great one!

PS...I typed this while watching "The Lake House" movie with Alexa....never seen it before but it was really good & I love Sandra Bullock!