My Favorite Cowgirl

I made a card. I know... *jaw drop*

The May Sketch by Kathi over at Bombshell Stamps was so cute I had to take a crack at it.

The main stamp is called Retro Cowgirls and it's my very favorite stamp set. I always tell people that if they have to choose just one, choose this one - you get two pin-up girls!

I also made the baker's twine on this card using the technique shown in this video:

The only snag I ran into was getting the ink to seep all the way through the baker's twine to the back. My black batch was very one-sided. The juiciness of the marker seems to be a deciding factor in the success of the batch.

This is also my entry into the Gingersnap Creations GC101: Chestnut Theme Challenge 

 Cowboys and Cowgirls

Scrappin' Again Because I'm Living Again

Nothing makes scrapbooking less fun than lying on the couch for months at a time in terrible pain. We really didn't do much last year. Yes, the kids played a lot and they had tons of fun building stuff and climbing things. But I was just too sick to even get to them to take the pictures. Sad!

Anyhoo ~

For a bunch of reasons I am doing significantly better. That's a whole separate post though; so back to the scrapbooking... we're finally doing things again worth taking pictures of. And pictures mean LOs!

Alison, the fabulous Ms July at Bombshell Stamps, issued this challenge:

 Time to have fun with photos! There are three ways to play along with this challenge!

For the Scrapbookers: Make a layout featuring a photo(s) that have a pin-up feel to it. Maybe it's a picture of you and your car. Or your daughter wearing some vintage clothes. Or your niece in a pin-up style pose. Of course, you'll want to use some of your fabulous Bombshell Stamps on the page!

For the Card Makers: Make a photo card! Using a photo with a vintage feel, make a card that includes your Bombshell Stamps! Some examples include: a super cool Anniversary card for your other half featuring a haute pin-up style pic of you. Maybe a sweet shot of a hot rod for that car lover in your life. 

For the Altered Artist: Make a fabulous creation using photos, altered art and your Bombshell Stamps! You can make a shadowbox with car memorablia and a Bombshell or two. You could decorate a frame covered with Bombshells that's housing a vintage photo. 

Here's July's Prize Package:

Get the "picture?" Now run with it! I wanna see your photos! 

Here's my kiddos bull riding up at Snowbird. They loved that mechanical bull and had to stop and give it a try between all our other activities. It was great seeing them enjoying a challenge so much.

This page uses a super old (like five years?) Self-Addressed kit, ancient Cosmo Cricket paper, my beloved Retro Cowgirl from Bombshell Stamps and Date and Journalling spot by Elle's Studio.

Sneak Peek and a Tutorial

I'm blogging at Gauche Alchemy today. Wanna peek?



Now go on over and check out MY TUTORIAL :-)

Remember This?

It's been published by Altered Arts Magazine. Woo-hoo!

Halloween Picture Post

I thought it might be fun to start the week with a Halloween picture post featuring both old and new projects and my You Tube Chocolate Haunted House tutorial. Maybe these simple projects and pictures will spark some ideas:

Gift bags are simply the best, easiest most fun way to use your extra paper and images:


Fun Pic I took at a Graveyard:


What I Did With It:


Easy- Peasie Embossing Project:



Here is a video Avery and I made for Hershey Bar Haunted Houses:



Here are some of the houses the boys have made over the years:

Sketch-fest Day Three

Here's today's Cardvaarks sketch:


And here is my card featuring a Retro Cowgirl:


Anyone notice the lack of product on my cards the last few days? I'm laid up right now so I've been coloring away with my Copics but haven't asked the kiddos to fetch me much more than my bag of scraps. Then I just need to move around for sewing and picture taking. Not having access to all my stash has really helped me keep things simple and has been a fun experiment.

Healthy (Ha!), Wealthy and Wise

Thought it was about time to do another update. So... I'd love to cry in my beer but I signed a contract with the pain folks that excludes beer for the foreseeable future. I'd cry into a bowl of pudding but I'm vegan. I guess I need to put on my happy face and keep going.

Had my pain clinic appointment and was terrified as I was under the impression that I'd be getting my spinal injection. Nope I got two hours of talking instead. And a whole new treatment plan.

Turns out my back is trashed - to put in mildly. MRIs are wonderful things. If I ever need to take a friendly witness into court I'm bringing an MRI machine. No kidding. Tell someone you have pain and they give you that, 20 pounds overweight housewife... bored? Needs attention? look. Show them a seriously icky MRI and you're as legit as Snoop Dogg's claim of being OG.

According to my doc I must have had a very full childhood replete with sledding accidents, falls from horses, bike wrecks, car wrecks, tubing mishaps. To that I said, " Heck, Ya!" And he replied, " And now you're paying for it." I guess it doesn't take a CSI expert to piece together a misspent youth :-)

The skinny - L5S1: desiccated disc (hard and flat, not wet and puffy), retrolisthesis (posterior facing herniated disc), broad based posterior disc bulge, left paracentral annular tear, degenerative disc disease, compression on the left S1 root

All that explains the type of pain and numbness I'm feeling so we are postponing any fiddling with the tailbone and SI joint for the next six months and are focusing on the new list of issues. Apparently my degenerative bone disease is the least of my problems. Ditto for the broken, unattached, goofy tailbone.

I am getting a root nerve block on Wednesday and am officially being prescribed buckets of narcotics. I've been taking - for the most part - Advil and the occasional Vicodan and the doc says that is why my world is getting pretty small. He thinks taking an appropriate mix of pain meds and being able to hike, volunteer, attend church etc. is a lot better than stoically not being able to leave the house but being "drug-free" I have mixed feelings about this.

I'm also in a registry and have agreed to all sorts of crazy things which are part of a "pain program" for example, they can call me at anytime and I have 24 hours to come to the clinic and have my pills counted. If it's 15 days since refill I better have half left. Also, (and I thought this was only in the Stepford Wives movie) to "better help their patients" all the toilets in the clinic are rigged with a drug testing apparatus so whenever you pee you are providing a sample. Weird. I don't know how people abuse prescriptions - this process has been very intense. Did you know whenever I get a refill it takes 24 hours because they run a police search on all state pharmacies to make sure I haven't filled any other prescriptions? Crazy!

So that's healthy in a nutshell. I'm a little freaked out, but I'm managing. I have a lot of years left (36 isn't very old) and my back needs to carry me through them. I hate to ponder how it's going to be when I'm 70.

Wealthy: We're about 50 days into our budget and it's going smashingly. I ran a little over in groceries so I borrowed from hair care and clothes - all "legal" moves in our plan. We've become a magnet for money. I wonder if we always were and just never knew it. There is a pretty constant flow of rebates, overcharges, sales, refunds etc. and they are adding up big time. We hope to have our car paid off by mid-October and then we'll get to work on the Visa bill. We are still living on 38% of our income which is super-awesome. Next month we'll have to pay our mortgage again which should bring down our debt payment a bit. Still, our drafted budget for next month shows us paying 40% to debts and living on the other 60% which is still impressive (to me at least) and is a far cry from the 110% we were living on three months ago.

Wise: Nope. Not wise at all. Although, with my new position at Gauche Alchemy I have been writing a lot more consistently and I love to be using my skills again. So it's not a total wash.

I bet all my crafting readers are bored stiff right now. Sorry, but you guys are the target for most of my post and this one is for my near and dear. Just so it's not a total waste *grin* Here are some Halloween tags I've been working on featuring my beloved Retro Cowgirls set from Bombshell Stamps:



And this is a LO I did for SassyGirlScraps last week:



And last but not least, Welcome Willows, thanks for popping by :-)

Cowgirl Pin-Up Cards

This is my second set of swap cards. This time I used Retro Cowgirls, I think this is my favorite stamp set in the world and it's always the one I suggest when people ask me which Bombshell Stamps set to buy first. Whenever I'm not feeling creative, the cowgirls are who I reach for.

After last weeks Caardvarks/Core'dination blog hop I was really, really excited about using some of the cool two-sided cardstock. I highly recommend it, it has a great feel and grip to it.

Here is the card with Bazzil:


And here are my swap cards using the Core'dination paper. The embossing takes a much bolder role:


Hope you're having a great weekend and hello to all the Willows :-)

Pin-Up Punk Pin Tutorial

Feel like making something cute?

I initially made these with glasses from the thrift store - which had a very slim selection and cost a buck a pair. Then it occurred to me that the dollar store sells reading glasses for the same price and I have a huge selection of lenses to chose from. While I'm not up-cycling, it did make sense practically speaking.

Here's the tutorial:




Close-up of Page OneClose Up of Page Two
Close Up of Page Three

Please let me know if any part of this tutorial is confusing. I'm happy to help... but I promise it's easy as pie :-)