Thank you, Bellows!

Today my favorite little bugger saved me from having what could have been a very, very sad day.  I LOVE that kid, she actually had me laughing, my mind completely off other subjects.  My niece is a wonder-child!  She can grab her toys now, hold her head up really well, and she laughs ALL the time!  It's music to my ears, she "talks" -- babbles really, once she is comfortable in her setting, and will totally carry on a conversation with me!  I love talking to my little angel, it's been my saving grace today, that's for sure.  Her little legs are chubbier, her arms... I just can't get over her, how special she is, how beautiful and perfect.  Oh, one more thing (I get to gloat on Bellz, it's my blog!) she is already trying to stand/walk.  I swear.  If I place her on her feetsies, she locks her knees and will stand with very little support... it's amazing. 

Now, I'll explain why I call her Bellows.  My cellphone is a touch-screen, and extremely sensitive to my little fingers.  It has this word recognition setting, which I need to learn how to turn off, that tries to figure out what I'm saying.  One time, I sent my sister a text calling her Beets and my kiddo Bellows!  I laughed my ass off, and the names just stuck.  It's funny, her other grandmother ("Grand-mom") commented this weekend that she bellows, I guess my sister was probably laughing inside. :)

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I will take a deep breath and get through all of this -- I've never been thrown a curveball I couldn't knock the hell out of my way.  It's true, these things take time, but we will get through all this.  I believe things are as good as you make them, can be great, even... but not without much effort and determination.  I see mountains moved at work everyday, we need to gather some of that strength, acceptance and hope for some of that serenity... someday, right?  Someday........ until then, I live for moments like the ones my Bella gives me.

Angel... hello??

Birthdays, Birthdays!

Hello blog.  This weekend was spent playing with my Cricut, just as I expected.  I got zero cleaning done (which I do EVERY freakin' weekend, otherwise I'm annoyed by it), I got zero laundry done (wearing the weird undies and t-shirts I haven't seen in forever), and pretty much just blew everything off and cut, cut, cut. :)  Yesterday I did go to Jesse and Gracie's 4th birthday party, and it was also Sam's birthday.  We didn't do anything really, it has been a very low-key weekend.  I just wanted to post a pic of one of the sets I made with the critter cartridge; I've been working my way through the whole booklet, and I'm KILLED by cuteness pretty much every time I finish a piece.  I love the little sayings, the accessories and critters themselves.  Very me.  I'd have a BALL designing a cartridge with the characters I used to cartoon all through high-school... hmm, I wonder how that's done, anyway?

I'm going to post more pix of the stuff I've cut and put together later, or tomorrow.  I'm actually thinking of reopening my eBay store and selling completed packets of each critter, four pieces each.  I used to buy them ALL the time, and I'm sure they'll sell, it's just a matter of the tediousness of eBay selling that I'm considering now.  I'd love to get my Paypal account fattened up again, and maybe get the Marc Jacobs skirt I've had on my Watched Items list for a whole year.  It's always sweeter when you get a good deal on eBay rather than buying it and feeling like a heel for spending so much.

Ah, but I'm rambling now. 

I'm editing a paper for a co-worker (and close friend) who is out of the office (2 months!!) for back surgery.  I'll finish up and then get to the laundry and MAYbe some cleaning.  At 9pm, the new True Blood season begins, and I'm dying to see what's cookin'. :)  Yay! 

That's all for now! 
xo

My Cricut

Yay!  My Cricut Expression bundle came yesterday, in the mail while I was at work.  I rushed home (yeah, 2 hours of traffic, if you can call that rushing) and set it up next to my work space/desk.  I watched the DVD, unwrapped all the cartridges and went to work.  It's SO cool!!  I alraedy made a few things:

I went bonkers over the "Create-A-Critter" cartridge, and spent most of the evening playing with that one.  Each critter has a "buddy" (like, the owl had the apple), a phrase, and sometimes another item, like a tree branch that they sit on.  It's SO FCKN cute!!!  I've been after these guys for aWHILE.  I also got two of the basic ones, shapes and fonts, and then the paper dolls one, a farm one and a rocker one.  I may sell the latter two on eBay and get two more that I REALLY want.  I have a list already of some really cute ones.  It's cool though, the machine... really easy to use, and I know I'll keep learning tricks that'll make it more fun.  I am going to be playing ALL weekend, I'm not sure any chores are going to get done! 

I have to get moving, things here at the office are changing and I'm busier than ever.  For me, it's a good thing.  I am OVERjoyed that it's Friday... I can't stress this fact enough.  I'm at the end of the end of my rope, and I must climb back up a little bit to make it through another day.  Many hours of quiet crafting always recharges me.  Thank GOD. 

Okay, Sun, come the F@

A.

My Angel...

I have been spending time with my Bella lately, she's growing so fast, I feel I'll miss something if too many days pass that I don't see her.  My mom called me on Saturday morning to say she bought me something, and would I come up and get it.  That's not out of the ordinary, she's always getting me things here and there, she's so sweet. :)  I was just laying on my bed watching telly like a zombie, anyway, so I went up and guess who was standing by the door?  My mom holding Bella!  She surprised me, and my mood picked up immediately.  We all piled in the car and went downtown and then to Ross to do some shopping, and I held, hugged, tickled and talked to Bella the whole time.  She's SO smart, I would say one syllable sounds to her, simple things and she would try to say them.  I'd make an "O" with my mouth, and she'd do the same.  I watch her while I'm talking to her, she's watching my mouth, seeing what I'm actually doing, it's really amazing watching somebody learn EVERYTHING!  She can hold her head up really well on her tummy, and loves her binky still very much.  She also loves to be naked, we found out.  Well, her Mommy told me, but I saw it for myself when she was out of diapers, and Uncle Chris went to the store to get some more.  I had her naked, and she was in hog heaven.  I guess we have a nudist in the fam. :)

I know I must talk about her all the time, but she really is the light of my life... I feel I'll do anything to see her smile, to make her happy... (I'm going to cry, I better stop!)

I love my niece, I'm grateful as hell that she's finally here, that's she's so amazing and I wonder at the amount of love she's brought to our family.  I can't WAIT for her to start talking!!!

Beautiful Bella

I had the chance to spend a few hours with Anabella yesterday.  We all went to lunch at Phillippe's downtown, and she woke up to watch us eat. :)  She's awake much longer now, smiles a ton and is super vocal.  My sister said the other day her and Matt thought they heard her say, "Halleluja", hahaha!  She's a bit quiet when I first see her, always, but after I'm up in her face for an hour talking to her and kissing her cheeks, she starts to cooing.  I LOVE it!  She's getting chubbier (look at those hands, can you STAND it?) and is different each time I see her.  She can hold her head up some, and she is beginning to develop motor skills, realizing she can use her hand to grab her rattle.  It's so cool to watch her grow and learn... she is the sweetest baby EVER, she's so happy and loves her mama so much.  I can't wait for my sister to have another baby...

This weekend will be special, I get to clean the house (doubly, since last weekend I didn't do it :/), do laundry (there's a mountain in the bathroom), homework (6-page paper on "Measuring children's perceptions of their mother's depression) and REST since I had a 6-day work week this time.  I need to make appointments, pay bills, and get a good Father's Day together.  I'm also totally decided in getting a Cricut.  I saw an AMAZING deal on HSN.com that I cannot pass up... it's been three years now that I've wanted the damn thing, and I'm going to go ahead and get it for myself.  I hope they have next day delivery. :)

That's it... tgif.

I'm #1, get used to it.

I made this little nugget while watching "The Bachelorette" last night... I know, why do I watch such crap?  It's sad, it's degrading, it's pathetic, it's great... what can I say?  I knew Bentley was going to show his creepy face again, that we hadn't seen the last of his ass yet, I was RIGHT!  Anyway.  I was making one of those rosette thingies, and had this little strip of cardstock left from the "daddy" flag card I made the other day, so I just sort of went with it, it looked like the perfect size and all... what am I even talking about?  AHHH!

I love making those things with a strip of paper and my score buddy, they are so easy, and the turnout is really cute.  I think I could make some more of those, attach a pin and have them say things like, "#1 Dad" or "Good Job" or things like that, and sell 'em.  I had the idea of making them for sober birthdays for folks here at work, also.  We'll see.  I have NO ideas lately, NO motivation, NO energy... I'm waking up in god-awful moods, I just can't get enough sleep.  What's up!?  I need the sun to come out, I need summer to get here already so I can start it up.  I need a day at the beach, on the sand with a book.  I'm going to the gym after work to get my bikini bod back.  The holidays and fall have me looking like the Stay Puff'd Marshmellow man.  LA Fitness, here I come dammit.

That's it for today... F-you June gloom!

More FD cards...

Hello.  I made the card you see above this weekend; I think it was on Saturday since that was my only day off this week... it had to be.  Anyway, I began the flags while watching "The Blair Witch" since it was a task I could do from bed (how sad, haha) and only paying attention halfway. I think they turned out okay, better than when I had the scallops going across the bottoms.  I found that old lettering in my box of stickers, and I think they go well.  The dimension squares that I found at the 99 Cent store are awesome because I don't have to use ten of those little circles... they raise the flags up a bit and make them seem like they are actually hanging from somewhere... I like this one, it's probably going to my own Daddy. :)

This card should have said something about "from your little monster" or something... I got this paper from a Halloween section in a pad, but think it works for this Father's Day card.  I needed some masculine colors, and non-wimpy, pink ass embellishments.  I have SO much of that stuff, it's quite difficult to make a manly card... there was a challenge on one of the blogs recently, and I really tried to submit something masculine, but I just got so stuck.  I like this card okay, I think I could have gotten a better sentiment together, but oh well.

So, this card was one that I liked (it's simplicity!) so I decided to duplicate it and made about five more with different patterned paper and cardstock; they all have the brown glittered mustache, though.  I saw the mustache idea in Scrapbooks Etc. this month, but theirs was cut out from a furry sort of material, which I thought was sort of creepy, so I did my own in glitter.  I wanted to make sure the idea translated, and I think it does.  I will see if they sell...
Oh, by the way, the lettering on this card comes from this stamp set I found at Michael's (I may have mentioned it in an earlier post) in the dollar bin.  It's a whole set of the alphabet that comes in this little box, and it's SUUUUPER cute... and only a dollar, what are you gonna do.  I got a few different fonts, but I'm wishing I would have splurged and gotten every one they had, they are coming SO in handy with stuff.  I have begun to think about writing sentiments on the inside now that I have more freedom with lettering. 

This weekend I worked a charity event (Art for CLARE) which was held at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica; I saw a paper store (which was closed on Sunday) that I am really dying to go into some day this week and check out.  They had MANY sheets of different types of Japanese style paper that I simply must have. 

That's all.

Father's Day already???

Well, it's here, folks... Father's Day.  Summer already?  They say time flies when you're having fun, but I beg to differ; I think time flies when you get older, period.  It seems like the holidays assault me these days, landing atop my head like a freakin' anvil most times now, not like before when I couldn't wait for them.  I love summer, but we've got some June Gloom, so it's harder to get into the mood... let's go with it, already!  This summer I have a few resolutions left over from January to make good on, and I went and added a gym membership just for good measure.  Among other things, I'll have my body fat percentage down to 0, so that's a plus. ;)  What a crock, these gym people get you to think that "perfection" can be attained within their walls on a stairmaster: please!  I do think it'll be good to NOT look like a whale at the beach this summer, so there's my motivation. 

I'm working on Sunday for overtime this week at CLARE's art fundraiser at Bergamont Station in Santa Monica, should be interesting.  I'm actually looking forward to seeing who shows up.

That's all I have today... oh yeah, the card... well, I have to get moving on making more for selling here next week. 

XO

A Few Things.....

Those are two cards I made for my aunt, she picked them up this morning... I'm actually very pleased with the way they turned out.  I have a few orders for Father's Day cards... sheesh, it's already that time of year, huh?  Well, that's good, I can get busy and worry about that stuff instead of all the other stuff that I can't control.

I also wanted to post a pic from the Usher show, not that you can see him in it:

What a show!  He's an A1 performer, an amazing dancer and singer... I couldn't have been more impressed with his show.  Akon opened for him, and as cheesy as he is, it was worth sitting through.  I love love love going to big shows, I'm going to try and keep it going this summer... who's next??!!

xo

Summer Birthday Card

This is the card I made for Aunt Deb's boyfriend Rich.  It's his birthday soon, I think the 10th.  I haven't given it to him yet, it's still sitting on my desk at home. :)  I have to say, I have had so much fun with the Celebration paper pad, I can't seem to put it away.  The good thing about that is that birthday cards ALWAYS sell quick, so I should just have away at the damn thing.  I plan on getting back to business this week, both with the cards and the gym.  I have been a member all of a month and have only gone... once. :(  Seriously, I have great intentions, but things have been so hectic lately, and at the end of the day I'm absolutely DEAD.  Today I have the excuse that I didn't have time to pack my stretchy clothes since I was running late.  Ohhhhh well.

I plan on entering a card or two to Cards Magazine's open call this month.  One of my favorite bloggers (Denise from stampwithsass.blogspot.com) had two of her cards published, and that gave me a little kick in the rump to get my own stuff going.  But, I have to get things up to par.... practice!

Monday -- always a good day to execute a new plan, make a change. :)

xo