Ok I finally finished that layout that has been sitting here giving me the stare down since the holiday weekend. What a work of art huh? By far NOT my best work. But I needed to get it done. I set it aside to create an altered clock for Ethan’s teacher as a thank you gift. I figured if I took a break things would get better. Well, it didn’t work out that way, but, well, uhhh, they can’t all be masterpieces right?

The chipboard letters that I used to spell silly are from Rusty Pickle. I’m not even sure if they sell them in a kit or what. Last year at CHA in Chicago (it will be a year in July) one of the gals at Rusty Pickle (Hi Jen!) gave me a Sales Rep Package. In the pack was a pretty large stash of chipboard letters. Those are from that bag. I’ve been working out of that same bag ever since Jen gave them to me. The supply is running a little low and I’m going to have to see if I can get my hands on some more. (Note to self – Email her and see where I can find some more. ) Cute aren’t they? Anyway, I painted these ones with a Ranger Paint Dabber, outlined them a bit with a glitter pen, and then applied a coat of diamond glaze. Who doesn’t love Diamond Glaze???

Another little tip from me… You all know how I feel about the entire line of Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L products. Well, the EZ Dots are the perfect, yes I said perfect, adhesive to apply the neww Queen & Company Felt Ribbon!! I cut the black flower the adorns the corner of the top photo on my layout out of the felt ribbon and used the EZ Dots to adhere. AWESOME. No liquid mess and the bond is great. If you haven’t picked any up yet, give it a try. They have packed 49 feet of adhesive in that handy little dispenser – seriously – so you get a good bang for your buck also! Plus the dispenser is green, and I just like green.

I’m supposed to be cleaning right now. I told myself that was going to be my job for today. Housework kinda stuff… cleaning, dinner prep, laundry etc. It’s 11:30ish here… so I’m close to lunch, and I haven’t gotten a lot done. I did some minor picking up here and there, and I scanned and stitched the layout I posted today. That really about covers it. I need to get some stuff done! I’m not sure what my problem is. I think I’m just focused on Ethan’s party this weekend, and waiting for that to happen. It is a big deal for him, he gets all excited, and the planning that goes into it is fairly extensive. All of which is totally ruined if it rains, so I’ll be freaking out about that until the last possible minute. This is the second year for it, and last year I had game/activity stations that we rotated through. This year, for the sake of my sanity, we rented an inflatable slide/moonwalk combo which I figure will do 90% of the entertaining and the cotton candy machine will do the other 10%. I called to confirm the rental Monday and the guy is throwing in a carnival game on top of the other rental stuff so that will handle any overflow entertainment need that might arise. All in all I think I have it all covered for now. That is unless it rains – yikes.

I’ve been going over in my head lately what I am going to create for my DT application at thescrapbookstand.com. I already created my altered item, but I need to do some cards and layout type projects too. I have ideas swirling around up there, so hopefully I’m able to execute one of them before the deadline. I’ve been hanging out here and there on their forum and they started up a blog challenge. They are on challenge three as of today and I’m a bit behind due to all the school stuff I’ve been helping out with, and the class I had last night. I signed on to participate though, so here it goes… time to play catch up.

Blog My Biggest Fear: Off the top of my head I’m not sure what my biggest fear is. Honestly! I’m not afraid of an awful lot of things really. I’m good with spiders, and confrontation as needed. That covers a broad range of things doesn’t it? Hmm, so as I sit here racking my brain trying to think of something, uhh, I’m coming up empty. I’m not a big fan of IV’s… does that count? That was disappointing wasn’t it?

A Quote with Meaning: One of the other challenges was to publish a quote that means something to you and why it is meaningful to you. Well my quote, which I posted in my banner a week or two ago when I did my most recent “blog revamp” is one uttered by the infamous Katherine Hepburn…

If you obey all the rules,
you miss all the fun.
- Katherine Hepburn

That is so true for the most part. I’m not telling you to go rob a bank, lol, but I think most of us need a little reminder to let our hair down and have some fun. I can be a pretty serious person, and unless you know me pretty well, you don’t get a lot of my silly side, and my dry sense of humor can be lost on some people. I have several pieces of art in my kitchen and dining area that are kinda silly and out there. I’ve had people that don’t know me really well in a social scene and they see those and comment how it really gives them an insight into who I really am. (Apparently you find out a lot about people by the art they choose to hang in their house. I imagine ones underwear drawer could be pretty revealing too. )

I think that gets me caught up. See, that wasn’t so bad.

Ok now I really must get moving here!!

~j