Teapot Tuesday 40

Bringing out the bling this week. Cindy posted this lovely little bejeweled teapot. There are more views on her glob, so make sure you take a look and also see her beautiful butterfly card. You're going to love it!

When I looked at this this morning I was so glad that I had an SU order being delivered today because I was sure that I had ordered the Big Shot Butterfly die, but guess what - I didn't. So I did some scrambling. This butterfly is made from the pull off lids of a yogurt container and a jello cup. I will post step-by-step pictures on Thursday for my Thursday's Throw Aways post. I can tell you now that they are quite simple to make if you have the lids, a crimper, some wire, a needle tool, beads and sharpies.

Anyway, I was lucky to have some of these butterflies stashed away so I picked out the bluest one and then got thinking about what I would use for the flowers. I knew I wanted to make it sparkly but I didn't want to do any embossing (because I didn't want any more clean-up tonight), so by chance when I was actually searching for my box of embossing powders, I came across my box of Twinkling H20's and thought they would do.

I used my cuttlebug to emboss the flower background on Whisper White paper and then got to painting. This, as it turns out, took a wee bit longer than I had anticipated, but to be honest, it was very relaxing. I hope that you can see the shine in the picture. The last touch was to add the blue jewels to the flowers.

Well, I'm glad I made it to the tea party on time this week because it was all fancy schmancy and I didn't want to miss all the fun on the red carpet!

Now I think I'll go have a piece of birthday cake and ice cream!

54 Things About Me – In No Particular Order

1. My favorite ice cream flavor is coffee.
2. I love bluebirds.
3. I lost the sixth grade spelling bee because I couldn’t spell anecdote.
4. My first bicycle was purchased with my communion money - $49.95 – a blue Schwin.
5. I was the captain of the drill team in high school.
6. I had perfect attendance in sixth grade.
7. My mother named me after a carpet store.
8. I am allergic to roses.
9. I love to shop at $ stores.
10. It rained the day I got married.
11. I hate my teeth.
12. I have always lived in New Jersey.
13. My husband and I took ballroom dancing lessons before we got married.
14. I am the oldest of 5 siblings.
15. My eyes are blue.
16. My husband and I have been married 31 years.
17. I was a Tupperware demonstrator.
18. I survived a car accident 10 years ago.
19. I can’t play chess but I’m a whiz at Sudoku and Cryptograms.
20. I love to visit tea rooms.
21. I have a love/hate relationship with my job.
22. One of my pupils is larger than the other.
23. My nails are very strong.
24. I believe in ghosts although I’ve never seen one.
25. I can drive a car with a stick shift but not the lawn tractor.
26. I was blessed with two wonderful children – a son and a daughter.
27. We’re halfway to 54.
28. I had a small role in our high school play.
29. I was a girl scout, a girl scout leader, and a den mother.
30. I collect bowling balls and repurpose them.
31. I have always lived within a half a mile of a railroad track.
32. My favorite color is blue, or sometimes pink.
33. I would like to publish a children’s book someday.
34. A friend of mine calls me Princess Origami.
35. I was a statistician for the high school basketball team.
36. I hand raised a clutch of cockatiels.
37. I am a Yankee fan.
38. I once had hair down to my waist.
39. I’m finding it hard to complete this list.
40. When my children were younger I once had 4 part time jobs at one time.
41. I can recite the names of all 50 states in less than 1 minute.
42. I would bet that most people have not gotten this far reading my list.
43. I love my Birkenstocks and don’t like getting dressed up.
44. My all time favorite TV show is The West Wing.
45. I love all kinds of berries.
46. Fall is my favorite time of year.
47. I thought this would be a lot easier than it has become.
48. My husband calls me a KOOK – Keeper Of Odd Knowledge.
49. I am a Stampin’ Up Hobby Demo.
50. I am a fan of rummage and white elephant sales.
51. I have a sizeable collection of tea pots.
52. I am totally pissed with my car dealership.
53. I am blessed to have had such great support during my recent surgery and recovery.
54. I am 54 years old today.

300 Posts, 15,000 Hits, and a White Elephant - But No New Car

This is my 300th post.

This is a pig and boots.

My blog has had over 15,000 hits.

This is one teapot, two napkins, and three tea cups.

This is my new teapot up close.

I did not get my new car today.

This was going to be a good day, and it started out that way. Early this morning around 9:00 a.m. (that's definitely early for me on a Saturday) HWNSNBP, my box man, and I moseyed on over to the the Rescue Squad White Elephant Sale. The line to get in was long, but the wait was not and as soon as we got through the door I headed for the tables while he located a box. There was bumping, jostling, grabbing, clinking, and the electricity of organized chaos. I managed to grab my self all of these treasures above for a whopping $5, including the tablecloth in the second picture. Pretty good, eh!

Then we were supposed to go and pick up our new car. That was slightly delayed by the dealership calling to say that it wasn't quite ready. So, we came home and got some housecleaning done (HWNSNBP took the bathrooms by default) and then headed over to the dealership.

We test drove the car and noticed that the front windshield was a little blurry, but we were assured by the salesman that it was probably just some wax or grease from the prep and he would take care of it before we left. Then we went inside and signed over our van to them and signed all the paperwork for the new car, got the run through of the manuals, and proceeded outside to get the last word on all the internal bells and whistles.

Just as we were about to drive away we remembered the windshield. So HWNSNBP went back in and got the salesman to come out with his bottle of window cleaner and a soft cloth. It was then becoming apparent to us that it was not just wax or grease on the window but rather something else. What - we were not sure. So the salesman took the car over to the prep garage to have it checked out.

While we were standing there, outside in 50º weather (me WITHOUT A COAT - who knew this was going to happen) another salesman was showing another couple another car when he inadvertently ran over the woman's foot. (Something they had never had happen before!) I am not making this up.

I decided, after another 10 mins. to go back inside and wait. This did not bode well. Should I tell you now that last week when we were test driving another car a hose popped off the radiator as we parked in front of the dealership. (Something that they had never had happen before.) I had said to HWNSNBP that that was a sign - but what do I know!

The salesman drove back up with our new car and proceeded to tell us that there was a defect in the windshield. Wait for it...............SOMETHING THAT THEY HAD NEVER HAD HAPPEN BEFORE!

It would be easy enough to fix - just pop out the defective one and pop in a new one. Only problem .... today is Saturday and they wouldn't be able to do it until Monday. But as it turns out, that was not the only problem. Remember, we had signed over our van to them and no longer had transportation home. The rental place across the street was closed and they said that they couldn't give us a dealer car because that's not done anymore.

I must say that I was not a happy-camper during this. I told HWNSNBP that I had managed over the last three months to control myself through my cancer diagnosis, surgery and recovery, but this was going to put me over the edge. I could feel the tears welling up. It was a silly thing, I know, but a let down and a definite inconvenience. We had now been at the dealership for more than 2 hours for something that should have taken 30 mins.

Finally it was decided that we would be provided with a dealer car and that they would deliver my new car to me at work on Monday. How embarassing. To show up at work on Monday with, not my new car which I had bragged about, but a dealer car and then to have them come and deliver it there. That wasn't going to happen. We'll go back to the dealership after work on Monday .................if they have it ready. And they better have it ready or they'll be seeing and hearing something else they've never seen before.

The salesman said not to worry, that they'd be making it up to us. I told him that Tuesday is my birthday and they'd better come up with something good!

Friday CPR 3/27 - Be Kind to Your Custodian

To view my Friday CPR post for 3/27 - Be Kind to Your Custodian click here.

Thursday's Throw Aways - Week 3

I recently had some surgery and because of this, I was the recipient of many get well cards. Of course I saved the envelopes so today we're going to start with an empty colored envelope.

Fold the envelope in half so that the side you would address is on the back and slit the flap as in the picture below.


Use your favorite adhesive to adhere the sides together. You should now have a pocket in the front and one in the back.


Decorate as desired. I used a piece of DSP on the flap for this particular card. I stamped an image in VersaMark for the background of the front and back.

Cut a small piece of magnet (I use those giveaway credit card type magnets cut up.) Put one piece on the main part of the card and the other on the flap. This will hold the flap closed so it won't .... flap..... around.

You will need to cut a piece of cardstock to fit the inside of the pocket, leaving enough room at the top for a tab.

Decorate the back as desired.

The back can hold another message card or in this instance, something like a packet of seeds or perhaps if the envelope is smaller, a gift card, or if larger a packet of hot chocolate.

Note: You'll want to make sure the tab is on the side of the insert that is not covered by the envelope when you slide it in - not like I've done in the picture above.

Teapot Tuesday 39

It's Time for Tea again. Have you been sitting on pins and needles wondering where the teapot is this week? It's on the pincushion! And what a cute pincushion, don't you think? Cindy got this sweet little thing from another stamper Peggy (marilynpreston) as an addition to her teapot collection. You can read all about it and see Cindy's awesome card on Cindy's glob.

I'm late this week because on Tuesday night I was attending a dinner honoring a teacher friend of mine as one of this year's Teacher's Who Make Magic. She and I, and the teacher that nominated her for the award, worked together in the classroom the last year that I worked in the classroom before taking my office job. We had such a blast together that year! We all got to dress up a little and had a lovely meal, some entertainment, and did lot's of clapping for the award recipients. Way to go AB!!!

So you might think that I had a little extra time to think about my project. Well, not really. I really was stumped until last night when I remembered that I just got this new set from SU - Quilt Quips that had a house on it. And I vaguely remembered having a teacup stamp somewhere, and was thankful that my 6'4" mouse stopped by last night and was able to reach the boxes where I have all my non-SU stamps. (Thank goodness for tall sons who come to raid their mother's cabinets now and again!)

The sentiment in the set says "may your bobbin always be full" and I changed it to say what you see "may your teacup always be full". It's a..... let me think...... it's a rebus now. (Funny word isn't it!) I took a picture close-up so you could see how I colored everything.

The patterned paper backgrounds came from some Bella Rose DSP and a prints pack that I had, which unfortunately I do not remember which catalog it came from. (It's pretty though, don't you think? I should use more of it. Come to think of it, I'll put that on my list of things..... oh wait a minute, that was on my list - to use my stash. Okay, I'm doing better than I thought!)

There are four quilt blocks in the set, but I chose to use only two of them. They were stamped using the Stamp-a-ma-jig and colored with ink and a blender pen. And I just had to get those polka dots in there for Cindy!

I'm pretty pleased with this card - what do you think?

Happy Birthday to the Boss

Okay, before you say, what an ugly card, let me say that the colors are much better IRL than what you are seeing on your screen. (**Edited on 3/25 - color should be a little better)

Today is the bosses b'day and he's not here - oh, well, it'll just have to wait until tomorrow!

I work in a school office and strange things tend to happen around here when there's a full moon, so I thought it would be cool to have this owl floating across the full moon with his birthday balloon. You can think of those splats in the background as the clean up in the cafeteria or the TP wads on the ceilings in the girls room. I did say strange things happen!

I put the two owls on the inside of the card to represent myself and my office mate.

The owls were colored with my blender pen and Pacific Point and Kiwi Kiss ink pads, with Summer Sun accents in marker. The balloon is paper-pieced. I used the Good Morning Sunshine DSP on this project.

Friday CPR 3/20 - Where are the Roman's From?

If you would like to view my Friday CPR post for 3/20 - Where are the Roman's From? click here.

Thursday's Throw Aways

I found this 4-pack of green mesh bags at (where else?) the Dollar Tree. I was just going to add them to my St. Patrick's Day bags as is, then I started twisting them and well, I think it looks like a shamrock. What say you?

So after I emptied bags out of the pouch this was what was left. The pouch is nice weight vinyl and the cardboard is really sturdy, though not particularly pretty. It does help maintain the shape of the pouch however.

And, as luck would have it, when I gently opened up the seam on the cardboard, it just happened to be a shade smaller than 12". That meant that I could use a nice piece of scrapbook paper to cover it. In this case I used a piece of SU's Afternoon Tea paper. I centered the cardboard between the edges of the paper because I wanted a little "wiggle room" when gluing down the paper because of all the folds. I used a glue stick to adhere the paper to the cardboard and the cardboard to the paper - meaning, I put glue on both pieces to make the bond a good one. And then I trimmed away the excess and sealed the seam with a piece of sticky tape.

As I was working on this I was contemplating what to use it for and then I remembered that I had a box on the kitchen counter with all of the "stuff" that I recently cleaned out of the console on the van that we're getting ready to trade in. I think it would be much more "organized" to have some of these things in a nice container in the car. Of course you could use it for any number of things. Some small notecards and envies would fit nicely. What would you put in it? I'd really like to know because I have three more of them!

And here we have the finished product full to the gills. Much too nice for the garbage I think!

Teapot Tuesday 38

That sneaky Cindy is testing us this week. She posted this picture so we couldn't see the sides and find the handle and spout. That's because they're not there. She's sneaking in a cookie jar of all things. A giant strawberry one. And, we're not allowed to bring any cream to the tea party this week because of the mess that was made last week.

(You have to be following the comments on the teapot gallery to actually know what I'm talking about. Just let me say that Cindy likes to tell stories, not only on her glob but in the comments that she leaves us on our posts, and we all have taken to adding to it as it goes along. It's become another fun part of participating in Teapot Tuesday.)

I'm not making excuses, well yes I am really, but I've been very tired this week returning to work full time and to top it off, we got some bad news on Tuesday that was very upsetting. A teacher friend of mine who had retired a couple of years ago has had a recurrence of her cancer and is in hospice.

This woman is one of the nicest people that I know. She was diagnosed with breast cancer over 10 years ago and when she had to leave work, she insisted that I was hired as the substitute for her class for the remainder of the year. Her confidence in me helped to pave the way for more long-term assignments which helped considerably. She always showed an appreciation for the crafting that I did and concern for my family. We shared a mutual love of the NY Yankees and would often talk about them. Then when I took the position in the school office, as luck would have it, she was transferred to our school until she retired. I was sad when she retired and moved out of state, but we realize now that she needed to be near her family and share in the joy of her grandchildren while she could. I hope you will take a minute and say a prayer for her.

This card is not for her, I have another one that is full of flowers that I am going to send. This one will be for a cousin of mine who had some surgery today. Her family has a pick-your-own strawberry field so I think she will appreciate this card as she recuperates.

Let me say that I am looking forward to the changing of the seasons and spring coming. I am hoping that the nicer weather will bring more cheer and happiness. This winter has been very difficult in many ways and as they say Spring always brings a promise. You know what I'd like that promise to be - what about you? What are you looking forward to this spring?

Wow - What a Card!!

Look what came in the mail for me. HWNSNBP brought the mail up and HE was grinning ear to ear. "You got something from someone in Colorado" he said. I told him that it was probably a birthday RAK because it's March. And he told me he didn't think so, then handed me this huge envelope. Well, not that huge. It was a manilla envelope that was flat but lumpy at the same time.

I saw the return address and smiled - it was from my Teapot Tuesday friend Cindy. She sent me the card that she made the week she featured the teapot that I sent her. Inside the envelope that card was carefully wrapped in some advertising posters from "The Egg & I" restaurant (which I think she might work at and if I ever get to Colorado will be sure to visit).

She wrote this in her note: "Bet you never got a cardboard card before! Snort"

Well Cindy, no I haven't ever gotten a cardboard card before and I'm thrilled that you treated me to my first! It's absolutely beautiful in person. The cardinal and the berries as well as the edges of the holly are all clear embossed. And the textures are simply out of this world. She must have used a ton of dimensionals to raise all those horizontal bars, let alone cut them out and color and wrap with twine.

I am so touched to receive such a work of (he)art. Thank you Cindy!!!!

St. Patrick's Day Pop Up

I saw a card by Butternutsage on Splitcoast that I knew I had to give a try. Inside the card is a pop-up of a shamrock. She had her card open on the side, I decided to do it a little differently and have the card hinged at the top. Below you will see step by step how I created this card.

The pictures and directions were rather hastily done this evening, but I wanted to get it posted by St. Patrick's Day. Hope you can understand. Thanks Butternutsage for the inspiration!

The outside of the card

The inside showing the pop-up.STEP 1

STEP 2

STEP 3

STEP 4

STEP 5

STEP 6

STEP 7

You should be able to click on the pictures to read the notes.

Friday CPR 3/13 - What's In a Name?

If you'd like to read my Friday CPR post for 3/13 - What's In a Name? click here.

Thursday's Throw Aways

Those of you who have been following my blog may remember that I made some craft-related resolutions in January. (If you don't remember, you can find them here.) In my 5th resolution I resolved to use more everyday, recyclable items in my crafts. I even hinted at making it a series here. Well, after a little side-tracking these last couple of months with my health, I finally am going to get it off the ground.

It will be called - as you see in the title of this post - Thursday's Throw Aways. Each week I will try to show you how you can go green in your crafting by using common and easily accessible items that might otherwise be thrown away in my projects.

This week I'm introducing Vera to Martha. Vera sends me a catalog several times a year with some lovely items in it. A couple of those items I even have. Who doesn't love looking at things with pretty patterns?

Now Martha has some great tools. That would be crafting tools. Specifically punches. She has a few different butterfly punches and several botanical punches among many others. Again, some of these things I have.

Vera's catalog is printed on glossy paper of a very nice weight - as Goldilocks might say, not too thin, not too heavy, just right!

I got to wondering if I introduced Martha's tools to Vera's catalog what might come of it. Would they develop a lifelong relationship? Would this be a once in a lifetime meeting? And what would they think of a crafting partnership?

So I got out my Martha butterfly and leaf punches and paged through the Vera catalog punching away and this is some of what came of it -

I chose to use SU's Pacific Point cardstock as my background to make some simple cards. And they are simple. The other tool that I did use was my Xyron with permanent adhesive to make all the punched items into stickers so that I could adhere them to the cardstock easier than trying to glue each individual piece but if you don't have one you can get sticker sheets at the craft store or be very diligent with your choice of glue.

Here is the set of three cards that I came up with this evening. I love the colors - blues and greens. I'd love to hear what you think of this project and would be glad to hear any suggestions for upcoming projects.

Teapot Tuesday 37

We are hoppin' holidays with teapots. Last week we had cardinals and holly leaves, this week we have bunnies and carrots. Just in time for Easter. You've got to go to Cindy's glob this week and read her story about this teapot and how she was bitten by it!!! Then you'll also understand why it looks like I have a band-aid on this card (it was a requirement to get into the front door this week).

See, my rabbit is hopping over the band-aid and trying to get away from a bunch of crazy tea-sippin', carrot-cake eating, stamp-lovin' ladies. He knows what kind of mayhem can result when we all get together on Tuesdays. Don't you love his tail? He's got his eye on the carrots, but he would be surprised to know that IRL they are trees. Yes, that's right, trees. SU's new set Trendy Trees reminded me of the carrots and their greenery. (Remember the duck debacle a few weeks back when no one here recognized my duck - well, they knew these were carrots, so I guess I can forgive them now!)


If you look very closely you will see that I've stamped Easter Wishes on the blue tabs on either side of the bunny. I took the dots from Cindy's teapot and enlarged them and partially hid them under the band-aid, so you can pretend they're either eggs or jelly beans.

Now that I'm thinking of it though, who would I send a bunny butt to for Easter?

Happy Birthday HWNSNBP

A Couple of Cases

This baby card uses SU's retired Bundle of Joy. I never got enough use out of this set up until now. The card itself is a trifold having a pocket on the inside to hold a gift card or check. The baby blankets are punches as are the baby's face.

I don't have the information to tell you whose idea this originally was. I've had the punched motif in a file for a long time.

The Thank You card is a case of cmsuto . I put this one in my favorite file this past week. I have had the Beautiful Border set and I think this card is perfect with it.

For a simple card there is a lot of detail in the paper piercing and the embossing. The sentiment in this case makes it a Thank You card, but it can be anything according to what sentiment you choose.

Flower Show Shoes and Gown

Flower Show - Philadelphia 2009

My son's girlfriend gave us tickets to the Philadelphia Flower Show as a Christmas gift. She had done this last year and we liked it so much that I was secretly hoping that she would do it again - and she did.

It's not a bad drive for us and we kind of play it by ear anyway, waiting to commit to a certain day by looking at the projected weather forecast about a week ahead. I had nothing to worry about this year as this was my last week at home on medical leave. In fact, it was good to get out and walk around, although it was tiring, to see how much I could push myself. I have to admit that it is a lot of walking, but there are areas to sit down and I did take advantage of them.

If you get there in the morning when it first opens (10 a.m.) there is a crowd and it is not easy to get to close to all of the exhibits right away. Everyone wants to take pictures and you either have to wait or snap quickly. I try to take at least two pictures of everything I want a picture of because usually someone either walks in front of you, bumps into you, or as it happened this time, sticks there camera right in front of yours. (Oh yes it did happen!)

This year the theme was Bella Italia - and featured exhibits relevant to all the regions of Italy. I don't know that we really paid attention to that but we did visit every one.

I'm going to post some pictures each day for the next week so you can enjoy it little by little (and also because I took so darn many of them).

Today I will focus on five of the larger arrangements that we came across. They truly are breathtaking and I hope you enjoy them. When you look at the one with the wall behind it, look up and see if you can find the opera singer. There was an operatic performance going on between a man and a woman and a piano on top of that particular exhibit.