It Pays to Read the Label and a Card

Card a Day (CAD) #3:


I think I'm officially a stamper. These product only cards just don't hold the same thrill for me as a stamped one. Good to know :-) On this card I tried a glitter pen for the first time. They are very fun although the card has to be in the light the right angle for it to sparkle.

In our house, staining is a job the kids do on their own. Dad showed them how and we point them at our square foot garden supports - no problems so far. One curiosity was that the two garden beds were stained the same color yet look completely different. We chalked it up to "oh well, must have been a mistake" and forgot about it.

So yesterday I decided to stain the picnic table. I grabbed our trusty can of stain, got directions from my ten year old and went to work. Half way through the table top the stain went from a dark, almost sheer walnut color to a thick, paint like light brown. Turns out that the last few painters forgot to mix the stain and also forgot to make sure I mixed it. So I hustled to mix the brown into the black sections and hope to blend it enough that it doesn't look completely ridiculous. Then I ran out of stain... which should make the rest of the table fun to paint as matching this unmixed monstrosity might be tricky.

When I tried to wash myself and the brush off the boy exclaimed, " I forgot to tell you it's not water based and you need gloves." Scrub. Scrub. Scrub.

So, my advice to you is to only trust your kiddos instructions to a point. Or you'll be scrubbing your skin and puzzling over your furniture for longer than necessary.

When DH came home I told him the whole story and he said he always mixes it before giving it to the boys so they've never seen him do it. But, the stain I used was some decade old mongrel he'd found in a box. It was on his work bench as a reminder to dispose of it properly. The stain we normally used was on a shelf nearby.

DH thinks we should strip the table and redo - I'm not sure you can strip stain and I hate doing things twice.

I did it!

On Friday I publicly pledged to finish one of the three projects I had scattered about and half done. The one I managed to complete was my Calaca piggy bank. She's very sparkly and divine:


And I made this card based on the sketch Angie provided for Day 2 of Card a Day. I've been shy about stamping and coloring as I'm still so shaky. I decided I'd rather do something a little simpler and be less of a perfectionist than not make anything at all.



Stamps: My very favorite Bombshell of all ~ Retro Cowgirls and the Saddle Up is by Unity Stamp Company but I think it has been discontinued.

P.S. Amy at the Gauche Alchemy blog had some very sweet things to say about my card. Thanks, Amy!

One Sketch Two Ways

This month's diva at TSR is having a card a day challenge and she posted the cutest sketch from Page Maps. I always need a ton of cards in the fall - Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas - so I thought I'd use that challenge to get ready for those holidays.

While card making I had an epiphany: Sequins are like buttons, just flatter.

When mailing a lot of cards the last thing you want is to pay an extra dime per envelope in "lumpy charges" but flat cards look too... flat for me. What's a girl to do?

USE SEQUINS!

Since I have a ton in my color kits I decided to try it and I like the results:


This card was made with paper I just hated. And guess what, I love it now. We just needed to get to know each other better:



Hello Willow Traders Blog Hoppers, thanks for stopping by.

For Sale: Cricut Bundle

For Sale:

One Cricut Machine
One George Cartridge
One Cricut Tool Kit

Less than a year old.

$130 *shipping included to the USA*

If this sells before Monday I'll include Doodletype Cartridge as a bonus (worth $49.99)

George:

Bonus: Doodletype

Crafting 101

Altering composition books is crafting 101. It's one of the basic projects that requires minimal tools or skills and yet it's one I come back to again and again. Why?
* Composition books are about 10-20 cents a piece during school supply season Cha-Ching!
* They're tough enough to withstand a lot of abuse.
* Way better than having dozens of post-it notes hanging around
* They make great gifts.
* You know that paper that's too pretty to cut into? - This gives it a nice, long, happy life.

My DH switched to using composition books for work to keep track of notes, to do lists etc. He's a hard core techie, iPhone loving gadget guy but his composition book never leaves his side. They really are awesome tools.

But they look so boring.

All I do is ink the spine side edges of decorative paper and then attach it to the cover (ATG is my fave but any adhesive all the way down to glue stick works fine.) Then burnish the paper down thoroughly. Use a brayer, use a spoon - just do it. Trim excess paper with an exacto knife and then file the edges smooth. If you are so inclined, ink the three outside edges and you're done. The binding on composition books is typically very uneven. When it's too much to ignore, I cover the seam with a piece of ribbon. In the case of Chris's new purple skull notebook I had to do this.

Tip: Did you know that the back of printed grosgrain ribbon is solid colored and just as textured? Obvious right? Not to me. I was bemoaning the fact that the only black ribbon in the house was a very girlie polka dot and then it hit me to check the back.

Chris's Notebook (with ribbon seam correction):


This is what is left from a sheet of 12x12 paper:


This paper was so cute I was saving it for something special. I thought my budget/financial planning notebook was a deserving spot:


But I only had one piece of paper and didn't want to put something different on the back. I cut the top strip off and layered them to form the back cover in two pieces. This only works with some patterns, but it's worth a try. Here's mine:


Budget News: In 48 Hours I've trimmed $300 from our expenses - YAHOO - and set two of our variable bills to equal pay. Equal pay is the coolest thing ever. Especially when you live in a crazy climate and your power bill can swing as much as $300 from one month to the next. We are also refinancing our house tonight from a variable rate mortgage to a fixed one with a lower interest rate. How awesome is that?

I have so little control over my health and the things that are happening, it's wonderful to be gaining control in this area of our life.

Tuesdays are Our Monday

Most homeschoolers take Friday off for field trips or just hanging out. We skip Monday. Usually Mondays are filled with laundry, house work, baking, crafts, phone calls etc. The kids are all bedraggled after the rigors of the weekend and trying to get them to do anything more strenuous than reading is just too big a chore. We may be backwards in this but it really suits the ebb and flow of our family life.

So, Tuesdays are my Monday. The day the fun stops. The kiddos are particularly antsy this morning. My back is a wreck so taking them out to explore is not an option. I think they'll just have to suck it up and deal with it. Life is such that sometimes you have to work when you'd rather play - something we adults know all too well.

Two years ago we tried to get our environmental house in order and we did good. Part of the reason for our success was that I posted almost daily about the changes we made on my Live Journal. It really helped keep me focused. Now, with a horde of medical expenses on the viewable horizon we are going to need to get our financial house in order. It's time really. So expect this space to be cluttered with budgetary highs and lows. Among other things, I'm paring down my scrappy toys. First off I'm selling:

DoodleType Cricut Cartridge
Never Used, but opened and petted *wink*
Thirty Dollars *shipping included*
USA residents only as it keeps shipping sane. If you are outside the US please email me and we can work it out.




Remember Healthy, Wealthy and Wise? Haven't posted mine in awhile so here goes~
Healthy: Took a three day med break. Very painful, but good as I was extra-vigilant about ice, water, gentle movement etc. Plus it's good to check in when you're taking the strong stuff that you're not getting too friendly with it.
Wealthy: Working on a budget. Canceled a lot of non-essentials recently, among them Showtime, Starz, Audible, Big Fish, Netflix and The Scrap-room (*sniff*)
Wise: I'm still reading several crappy books for every book of value. But I read Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover and was pleasantly surprised.

Please leave a comment telling me your Healthy, wealthy and Wise list. I'd love to hear them.

More Color Kits

I couldn't help it. Gauche Alchemy Color Kits are just too sassy and delicious to pass on so I picked up a few more colors.
Behold:





Isn't that pink card just divine????

I also snatched up this print by Stephanie Corfee:


And it is a "good" thing I got these lovelies when I did as we are about to make some financial changes that I'm sure I'll ramble on about excessively here on my blog *grin*

Talk to you later~