About Me

My photo
I would classify myself as an artist. It took me a while to finally accept that monicker, but that's what I am; AN ARTIST!!! I have a wonderful hubs that supports my "talents" in most all avenues, except maybe when the credit card bill comes in the mail...LOL And I have 4 great kids and 5 beautiful grandchildren that I love to pieces. Come on by and sit a spell and "STAMP 'TIL YA CRAMP!!! & "CROP 'TIL YA DROP!!!"

Monday, January 31, 2011

Making car decals

 I would like to interrupt your regularly scheduled programming for a short {very short} tutorial.

 I had a slight dilemma while trying to video yesterday.  A few minutes into taping my low battery symbol starting flashing like the bat signal when someone is in distress .....so I jumped into the nearest phone booth {actually I went upstairs} to get my charger.  I plugged it into the wall and then reached for the end to plug into the camera when...{zzooonnnks}...there was nothing there but raw wire exposed.......arggghhhhh!!!!!  I freaked out a little and then I started looking at the only possible culprits.......{the barking duo},Booboo and Looloo.  Now Booboo had an alibi, he has been on good behavior for 14 yrs and has not so much as even attempted to gnaw on anything.....well except a milk bone or two.  So, I turned to Looloo and she's a newbie and doesn't quite know the ropes yet.  I matched up the teeth marks and sure enough, I had found the criminal. I was afraid she swallowed it.....{I've seen her eat, I don't think she even tastes her food except whats on her lips afterwards}.  Cape flying; I was heading back down to the studio when something was shining on the rug in the hubs office.....yep there it was,the missing piece.  I was elated. First...she hadn't swallowed it. Second, the wire left on the plug was just long enough to splice to the other piece.  Yippeee!!!! I began to unleash my special powers and magically re-connect the wires. I then plugged in my camera and charged it up and finished the video. Whewwww......Catastrophe overted!!!
 
Soon I will try to do another video of the decals.  This time more indepth and more clear.  I want to put a girl cricut on my car as well.

No need for popcorn, the video will be over before you can get it in and out of the microwave.....
ENJOY!!!

Wanted to share some of my inspiration for the car decals.
(Booboo on the blanket and Looloo being Jeff's lap warmer)

That's a 100 lbs. of lap love.  (Looloo loves her daddy)

(Harlee and her daddy.....you couldn't slip a piece of paper between those two.....bwahahahahahaha)
Until later, car-nivorous crafters.....Gotta split......TFL!!!
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Thursday, January 27, 2011

Welcome to the Smudgy Saloon......

I think someone needs to get the heck out of Dodge.....!!!!
Bwahahahahahahahahaha!!!!
Smudgy Sam has caught himself a varmint tryin' to mark the playin' cards!!!!!
Next time the varmint would do a might near better at cheatin' iffn he washed his hands a bit more.  His finger smudge is way too obvious. 

There are no 'varmints' at Haunted Design House....nothing but bunch of talented folks with a pert near grand sense of humor. 
 Smudgy Sam says come on over and grab ya a stool and sit down and enjoy the scenery.
Don't go wipin' off the screen, its smudgetastic this week.....bwahahahahahahahaha!!!!

Let me tell you a bit about Smudgy Sam ....
I started with Kraft cardstock and stamped the cards with black staz-on.  You're right, partner....that be my finger smudge on that ace.  The red DSP was ran over thru the texture boutique with the wood folder.  Smudgy got smudgy with color pencils and a stump, this image of him was found while lurking online behind the barkeep.  The sentiment was created with this new fandangled machine called a computer.....then added some twill ribbon and dad burnit I think we'z done.

It don't take a genius to spot a goat in a flock of sheep.


                                       Until later, Wranglers........Gotta ride split.........TFL!!!!!!
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Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Teenage dream.....

My daughter is such a rocker that a cutesy valentine would never work for her.  Though, she has a few fleeting moments of frilly-ness.  Cricut Cardz Challenge today is to make a Valentine card for a child.  So thats how this card came to being.  The heart is from Rock Princess and the wings are from Picturesque.  The Pink and blue polka dotted ribbon is some from my stash.  Loving the pearls and I used a black sharpie to doodle around the edge.  I think this one is still cute, but with an edge......!!!!

Fly on over to the challenge to see what everyone else on the DT has dreamed up.  But don't fly away too quickly.....give it a go and see what will fly into your head.

Until later, Angels.........Gotta fly split..........TFL!!!!
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Tuesday, January 25, 2011

MIA......but was on a mission!!!

Check out the pics below.....most of the ladies in my family are now into the extreme couponing.... I have always used coupons, but they have converted me as well. Its like a game now.  We are emailing each other sales, deals, etc......

The pic below was a shopping excursion I went on Sunday to buy.....
I spent $218.51
minus coupons, store promos, clearances........
I was out of pocket $108.27
You do the math....  I was tickled!!! 
Fave buy was the M&M's .....they were in the christmas clearance for 70% off ....which made them 1.20
after my coupon for 1.50 off two bags that made them 25 cents a bag.

Another great deal was the Hunts tomatoes ....on sale for .49 at Kroger
used coupon and ended up paying .19 cents a can.


 This shopping trip was yesterday...... I spent 124.48 after coupons, sales, etc......
I paid out of pocket 56.58
Fave buy here were the light bulbs which were FREE. One bottle of Eucerin was free also. Scott tissue was 3.77 after coupons...and the cereal I ended up paying approx. .50 cents per box.

Its really worth scanning the papers, the sales papers, internet, anywhere you can find deals.  
The trick is wait for the items to go on sale then use a coupon.  Most people don't know that you can use a store coupon out of their sales paper and a mfg coupon together. But you can with most stores.  Most Publix stores will take Target coupons. So many ways to beat the system so to speak.......Bwahahahahahahahahaha!!!
Check on the internet, look up coupon sites and they can give you the low down on how to do it.
And it is so FUN watching that total go down.....

Until later, Bargain Bettys........Gotta split.......TFL!!!!!!
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Saturday, January 22, 2011

Here he comes to save the day......

today, tomorrow and the next day too!!!!!
I guess even super hero(s) have to keep a calendar, right???

Its a an old CD case that I re-purposed for the challenge at Dude Time Doodles Challenge 
Put on your best cape and fly over there and slide into super hero mode and enter too!!!!
Check out the calendar pages...those were a freebie at Lettering Delights...



Not all super hero(s) can be perfect ya know. Mine is a little squishy around the middle now and he sports an inverted mohawk...but he's still wonderful to me. This particular super hero got a little glitter on his teeth.  Now, we all know when we wear glitter anything it ends up in places we prefer not to mention...he is no different....bwahahahahahahahahahaha!!! I used crystal effects and the glitter from his cape and decided to go check in and not leave.

What super hero doesn't sport an awesome belt buckle containing all his gadgets.  When he cuts this baby loose I don't want to see what flies out......bwahahahahahahahahaha!!!

Around our house when a birthday is mentioned my hubs jokingly always asks "Is it red on the calendar?"  "I only celebrate the red ones."  Bwahahahahahahaha,  now you see why we get along so well.  Well this year mine IS red on this calendar.  I'm going to be sure to set it on his desk so he won't forget this year.  Last year he forgot.  Yeah, it wasn't pleasant around here that day.  But he made up for it.  My b'day is March 10th and our daughter's (Harlee) is May 10th.  Now how can anyone forget that, the only two months that start with "M's" and they're both are on the 10th....... aarrggg, MEN ....uhhh I mean Super Heroes.

Until later, fellow cape wearers.......Gotta split.....TFL!!!!!!!
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Friday, January 21, 2011

Hell hath no fury.........

I'll let you complete that sentence....bwahahahahahaha!!!
Around here,  my hubs has a saying..... "Happy wife, happy life !!!"
No truer statement could be said.


Don't you love the look on her face.....yep, that would totally be me. I found this image online and altered it a bit.  She was actually holding a badge...but I covered it with a pair of panties. No, not real panties silly.  I drew them on top of the badge and then colored with my col,or pencils and covered them with glitter.  I have an ex that thought he could get away with this himself.  He found out differently, bwahahahahahaha!!!  And I can't imagine what glittered panties would feel like in real life......ouchie.
 Those panties are definitely for starin' not for wearin'
The sentiment pretty much sums it up!!!!!!!!!


I made this one for Haunted Design House....one of my fave blogs to visit.  I try to participate each week, its sooooo  much fun. 
There's a new challenge starting each monday with a cool theme...this week is, of course, Hell hath no fury...

Scurry on over and give it a go, you won't regret it......unlike the fellow this gun is pointing at....
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Until later, gun-totin' mamas.......Gotta split......TFL!!!!!!!Photobucket

Thursday, January 20, 2011

I {heart} Giraffes!!!

Giraffes are my fave animal evah!!!!! Not sure what it is, but I love to watch them. Anytime we go to a zoo I have to find them first. This past summer we went to the San Francisco zoo.  It was fab-u-lous!!!!  We went thru the gate and what was the first animal we saw.....yep you guessed it.  G-I-R-A-F-F-E-S....  I think the whole zoo staff heard me squeal with delight.  We got there as they were just opening and they were starting to feed the animals... the San Fran zoo have these observation decks on some of the exhibits.  We were just leaving the deck and I saw a zoo caretaker with a lot of branches heading our way.   Yep, she was going to feed the giraffes a treat right off the deck.   OMG...they came right up and took the treats.....  I was giddy with excitement. 
Ok, enough about my silliness....... Bwahahahahahahahaha!!!!

Today's challenge is bitter sweet....  Glitterbabe is going to cancel the challenge blog. I think she'll be having one more and then its Adios amigo!!! It's getting to be too much work and she's not able to have any fun herself.  But she's not going anywhere...she will still be blogging and having way for fun to boot.

The challenge is pretty simple. It was to use a Pink Gem image and of course some ~*~bling~*~....
I used bic markers to color the g-raff (a little secret ~ I had to use my markers, as I accidently left slick photo paper in my printer and color pencils wouldn't work to color the image...shhhhhh) and added some glitter to the heart spots. The heart bling is actually from the Glitterbabe herself....sweet, huh????

When I saw this giraffe I knew immediately it was for me.  Around our house we call them G-raffs, {emphasis on the G} not sure why I started calling them that, but now everyone does.....bwahahahahahaha.

So, get on over there and bling it up before its too late!!!!

Until later, G-raffians........Gotta split.......TFL!!!!!
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Wednesday, January 19, 2011

No 'bloomin' idiot here.......

This is what became of the flowers that I showed you how to make yesterday.


I  couldn't find a styrofoam ball in my stash (used them all I guess), so I created one using some old packing material. Also, I didn't want to go out into the rain to my tool shed to find a dowel so I created one with skewers. Hot glued the skewers into the hole on the bottom of the pot and inserted the 'ball' on top. Stuffed the extra styrofoam into the pot for filler.

After gluing all the flower onto the ball, I added some leaves cut out of paper ribbon....yes, I still have tons of that stuff in my stash......bwahahahahahahaha.  Found some river rocks that was in an old pot. Tulle was tied on and I thought it needed something else, so I added a butterfly with a little extra tulle under it.

You know I HAD to create a card to complete the package.  I saved one flower and added more paper ribbon that I cut-out with the top note die. Sponged lightly around the edge.  Ohhhh, I almost forgot.  I added halp pearls to the center of all the flower too.  
 


Close up of the butterfly.... It's from some MS wedding stuff.

Wow, who knew old manilla folders could be soooooo beautiful. 
As an artist I tend to look at things very differently. I hope you do to as you may never know what will fall out of your head.....bwahahahahahahaha!!!
Hope you enjoyed this journey.  I really enjoyed creating this and I hope it will make a great gift for whomever I decide to give it to.   

Until later, blossoms..........Gotta split.......TFL!!!!!
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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

I got an award!!!!!!

                                               See......here it is!!!!


A fellow blogger that I recently found has a great blog with loads of cool stuff you need to give her a look-see.  Click HERE 
 See gave me an award....Yippeee!!!!

So, I have to do something special to accept this gracious award.  I have to tell you 8 things that you may not know about me.....bwhahahahahahaha!!!   That may be kinda hard since I write pretty much everything I'm thinking or doing on here, but here goes:
1. I'm a snack-a-holic.....anything crunchy and /or salty.
2. I DON'T like chocolate.... yeah, you are shaking your head, no really.  I really can't eat chocolate bars of any kind.  I think its the consistency...because I really love a good brownie once in a while
3. I love, love, love a good horror flick. I love to get startled or scared suddenly, then I laugh really hard afterwards. {Bwahahahahahahaha}
4. I got married really young (yes, BIG mistake - divorced), but I'm now married to a wonderful guy that I truly adore.
5. I'm a bit of a neat freak, and an organizer - everything has to be in a certain place. 
6. I'm a substitute teacher, though I work very little. 
7. I'm an avid reader.  I love a good detective novel, true crime, etc.....  No romance novels for me.
8. I can handle most any tool.  Hubs and I both have seperate tool sheds and he doesn't touch mine and I don't touch his....LOL  I have a band saw, drill press, router, sander, miter saw, table saw and loads of hand tools.  Last year we had our laundry room remodeled and to save money we did the trim work and painting ourselves and I had to teach hubs how to make the miter cuts.  I also laid tile in the bathrooms, hubs was supervising.... well, thats what I told him......{wink}
Next thing is I have to do is nominate 8 blogs for this award as well:
Though I don't really comment as much as I should - I visit all of these daily!!!!
You can click on the names to see their blogs. They are not listed in any particular order....I love them ALL!!!!

Thats it for me tonight.......
Thanks Karen for visiting and giving me such a great award!!!!! 
Hugs!!!!!!

Until later, award winners and others.......Gotta split........TFL!!!!!
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Don't deep-six that manilla folder.....

....make flowers with it !!!
Yep, I made all these using old manilla folders.  Watch the video below to see how I did it. 
 You'll never look at the folder the same way again....bwahahahahahahahaha !!!




Looks like a real flower, huh????

There are many ways that you can cut or punch the flower out to create the same look. You can use punches or your cricut.  Just have at least 3 graduating sizes.  You don't have a crimper you say????  You can always just crumpled it up over and over & you can also run the cardstock over the edge of a table to help break the fibers.  Any way that you choose and you will still get the same results.
Hope you try this.  I punched a bunch and sat in front of the boob tube watching American Pickers and Pawn Stars and before I knew it - I had them all done.

Tomorrow you'll want to come back and see what I made with all the flowers.....you won't want to miss it!!!!

Until later, Rosettes..........Gotta split...........TFL!!!!

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Monday, January 17, 2011

What a TREAT!!!

Harlee is in the 6th grade now so Valentines Day is different than when she was in elementary school.  She has different kids in all her classes.  So I suggested that she and I make something she could give her teachers and closest friends only.  This is what we came up with. A treat box, and inside are conversation hearts. She can pass them out to whomever she wants to.  Very easy to put together since the boxes were pre-made.  Well,  they were flat all we had to do was crease the fold lines and insert tabs in the correct spots. I cut some strips of DSP and wrapped it around and then we punched hearts out and glued to the top. Didn't want to get too fancy.....I know they are just gonna get ripped to shreds.....bwahahahahahahahaha!!!!

Until later, my treats..........Gotta split.........TFL!!!!
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Sunday, January 16, 2011

Getting punchy.......

I CASE-d this one another blog HERE
For all the newbies: CASE = Copy And Share with Everyone.
You really have to try this.....super easy with a lot of WOW factor. 

I just had to make these, this will be the card that I give to the hubs.
I love the result as it has a little bit of comical flair.  You all know how much I love to bwhahahahahahahahahahahahaha !!!!!

Side note:  I use many different products when I create 'sch-tuff'If you have any questions on something I post on my blog; please feel free to shoot me a question. 
I'm a frugal shopper and I find craft supplies anywhere and everywhere. 

Until later, crafty peeps...........Gotta split.......TFL!!!!!
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Saturday, January 15, 2011

Free Crystal(s)

Not not me silly.....you guys get me free most everyday....Bwahahahahahaha

These crystals...


Click this link to learn how!!!!!

Until later, sparkles.....Gotta split.....TFL!!!!!
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Spotlight on spotlighting.......

I saw this card on another blog here.  Isn't it the most beautiful card???

Very simple to make.....  The stamp set I used is a MS one.  I used black Staz-on to stamp all the white layers then I punched a 1" square from the top of the smallest stamped rectangle.  Colored just that 1" square to match the pink layer.  So to spotlight part of the flower.  Added some ribbon, added a dimensional on the 1" piece.
I will be making more of these in different colors and stamps.

Until later, Rosies.......Gotta split.......TFL!!!!
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Friday, January 14, 2011

Cheezburger, Cheezburger, Cheezburger......

didn't you love the 'ol Saturday Night Live....with Dan A. and John B.
Classics......just like this classic pictured below.  I have never met any red-blooded American that doesn't love a good hamburger.

This image is from Dude Time Doodles challenge blog.....and its a freebie.
They are looking for a guest designer for the month of February.
{waving hands frantically in the air...."pick me, pick me"}

I had this 'diner' DSP and thought it was the perfect background for this image. The border was created to look like the aprons that you always see in those old classic diners of yester year. 

I added some glitz to the cheez.....!!! You'll see why in a sec.......

Cheesy sentiment, huh???   Bwahahahahahahahahaha!!!

Put on your best duds and twist on over and aaaaaaaaaaaaaa {my best Fonzie voice}!!!

Until later, guys and gals......Gotta split.......TFL!!!!!!!

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Thursday, January 13, 2011

Meet Audrey II.......


I was actually bwahahahahahahahaha (giggling) when I was creating this card.  I have been pondering all week on a card to make for Haunted Design House challenge for this week.....Bizarre Birthdays.
I was perusing the net and found this image and you know who it resembled, {wink} huh???
I really don't have to tell you the movie it's from, do I?
I didn't think so......bwahahahahahahahaha. I colored it with color pencils and blended using a stump and OMS. Oh, how I LOVE to color.  The corrugated paper is actually some old packaging from light bulbs.
 

Check out the sentiment on the inside......Here's where the Bwahahahahahaha comes in at!!!!



Check out this cool image....... I added an Action Wobble.  I printed the image twice and cut out just the head on the second one and used the Action Wobble to give Audrey II a little sumpin' sumpin'.

Check Action Wobbles out here.
Until later, plant lovers........Gotta split.......TFL!!!!!!!!

Please don't 'leaf' without saying goodbye......and don't forget to feed your plants!!!!!  Bwahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!
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Get your motor running......

Who doesn't know or have a grease monkey in your family????

Don't you love this image????  He's too cute!!!
This is one of Bonibleaux's little creation.  Dude Time Doodles Challenge blog has a sketch challenge this week.
Motor on over there and join in the fun.  The embossing folder reminds me of gears.... I can't remember the name of it....but its one of Tim Holtz's.  The gears in the top corner were created by the boho blossom punch from SU!  I punched out circles first and then punched around the circles....the same way you do to create a frame.

See ya there...... the race is on!!!!

Until later, fast creators........Gotta split......TFL!!!!
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