Archive for the ‘’ Category

I'm having a nice-couch potato weekend watching football with my man and cruising the net – still recovering from a crazy work week. Why did I become a nurse again? I mean, seriously, I was 40 when I got my RN. You'd think I would have had more sense. (Really, I love it, I just like to whine every now and then – makes me feel important.) 

So . . . here's some cool stuff I've stumbled upon today . . . for your cruising enjoyment.

Taylor Usry just wrote a fabulous article over at Craft Critique comparing cardstocks and how they respond to different effects such as printing digital images, sponging, stamping, and punches. She looked at Prism's Prismatics textured cardstock, Stampin' Up's line of cardstock, Bazzill textured cardstock, Georgia Pacific White cardstock, Neenah Solar White, and Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select. There's good information in the comments, too. Just click on the icon below and scroll down to the January 14, 2010, post.

One of my fellow nurse co-workers sent me this video (hey, Anita!). I love it. I think I may just watch it anytime I need a little pick-me-up (well, like today). Besides being a lot of fun, it's also for a wonderful cause. Turn up you speakers and get ready to rock out with the Pink Glove Dance!

 

 

Rock On!

I'm finally resurfacing from this gnarly cold enough to put two thoughts together. Much like my cold, 2009 hit my family with some challenges that kind of knocked us over a bit. Since the 2010 ball dropped I've been trying to figure out how I want to approach the new year, and if one word will suffice to describe it. In the end, I decided the best word for me for 2010 was "vigor."

Dictionary.com says vigor means healthy physical or mental energy or power; vitality; a force of healthy growth in any living matter or organism. That sounds cool, right? What sounds even more cool are some of the synonyms for vigor (according to Thesaurus.com): ability, bang, capability, juice, kick, moxie, punch, vim, zing, and zip. Aren't those great words for a new decade? I even found a great quote.

To resist the frigidity of old age [boy I need that!], one must combine the body, the mind, and the heart. And to keep these in parallel vigor one must exercise, study, and love.
                              ~ Alan Bleasdale

2009 wasn't without some great moments: my Caitlin's graduation from UNT, a wonderful trip to Wyoming, visits with brothers and sisters in Oklahoma and Indiana, fun adventures with Pillow Pup, and precious encouragement and inspiration from co-workers and dear crafting friends. Here's a review of some 2009 projects. If you click on any of the pictures, it will take you to the original post for all the deets.

January – Rusty Rooster (a fun technique)

February – Sweet Stems and Lovely Letters Stationery Box

March – You Crack Me Up.

April – A Quilt of Scraps

May – Mom's Paper Garden

June – Scene From a Garden

July – Bountiful Butterflies

August – Lots of Bots

September – Bucket Booty

October – Round 'em Up Texana Designs

November – Mo Snow

December – Let It Snow

Thank you precious readers for all your support this past year . . . and here's looking forward to a vigorous 2010.

My crazy Indianapolis cousin Elaine sent this to me. I think it's hilarious. I can always count on 'lainie for some good laughs.

I'm still here, still crawlin' along. Even though I love what I do, my work has kept me on the road a lot more than I'd like lately. I'm working on some things to share with you later this week, so . . .

Go on with without me, I'll catch up soon.

In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.
Benjamin Franklin

It’s hard to argue with Benjamin Franklin, well, especially since he’s not really here to plead his case. But, this weekend there’s an exception to Benjamin’s wise old proverb.

The state of Texas is having a sales tax holiday from August 21 to 23. Because school supply items are included in this sales tax holiday, the below Stampin’ Up! products will be tax free. To beat the tax, you must place your order with Stampin’ Up! during the tax holiday period.

• Uni-ball Signo gel pen, 105021, $3.95
• Basic Black Stampin’ Write journaler, 105394, $3.25
• Stampin’ Write markers, various, $3.25
• Watercolor Pencils, 101879, $19.95
• Watercolor Wonder Crayons Bold Brights, 106695, $19.95
• Watercolor Wonder Crayons Earth Elements, 106696, $19.95
• Watercolor Wonder Crayons Rich Regals, 106698, $19.95
• Watercolor Wonder Crayons Soft Subtles, 106697, $19.95
• Watercolor Wonder Crayons Neutrals, 106746, $9.95
• Stampin’ Pastels, 105542, $24.95
• Craft & Rubber scissors, 103179, $19.95
• Paper snips, 103579, $9.95
• Craft & Paper scissors, 108360, $29.95
• Pencil sharpener, 100745, $4.95
• Blender pens, 102845, $9.95
• 2-Way Glue Pen, 100425, $3.50
• SNAIL adhesive, 104332, $6.95
• SNAIL refill, 104331, $4.50
• Mini Glue Dots, 103683, $4.95
• Pop-Up Glue Dots, 104183, $3.95
• Stampin’ Dimensionals, 104430, $3.95
• Anywhere Glue Stick, 104045, $3.95
• Dotto, 103305, $12.95
• Dotto refill, 100902, $6.50
• Sticky Strip, 104294, $6.95
• Tombow Adhesive, 110755, $3.95

As always, you can shop in your jammies, 24/7 here.

The person who gets the farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore.
–Dale Carnegie

Whether or not this day would ever come was never at question. We always expected that Caitlin would graduate. But, what makes me so very proud of her every day is the way she accomplished her goal – with daring tenacity.

Caitlin faced every obstacle with integrity and made amazing adventures along the way toward her degree. She usually worked at least two jobs, changed schools and majors along the way, and still graduated on time. During this ridiculous economy, she found an internship and permanent position within her field. Watch out Dallas – Caitlin’s ready to take you on next.

We had a wonderful little celebration for Caitlin with a few of our closest family friends. So, this morning I scrambled to make a video presentation for the party celebrating my lovely girl’s adventures.

Congratulations, Caitlin! We are so very proud of you.

I have to be the very luckiest paper crafter on the planet. I didn’t get to go the national Stampin’ Up! convention last week. As you know, I was gallivanting around Wyoming with very spotty Internet. Believe me, had there been Internet, I’d have been glued to Twitter, Facebook, the message boards . . . anywhere for Convention chatter. It was torture not knowing what exciting things were coming out of Utah. I know, that doesn’t sound very lucky, but wait . . .

My dear Catty Cruise friends took good care of me, and made sure I was there in spirit.

That’s Connie Collins, Becky Roberts, Brooke Stockman, and Angie Tieman. And, if you look really closely, that’s ME “hanging” out with Becky (check out her badge holder). Are those the best friends in the world or what!?

Oh, and I’m so very proud of the Catty Cruise girls. They sweeped the awards at the convention. More than anything, I would have loved to have been there to cheer them on – complete with cowbells, poppers and streamers. Well, maybe it’s a good thing I wasn’t there to embarrass them. But, hey, there’s always the Leadership Convention in January. I can’t wait to turn these virtual hugs into real squeezes in Phoenix.

Congratulations and much love to my Catty Cruise friends – you rock!

I have to be the most fickle blog designer in the webosphere. I’ve changed my web design I think nearly daily.  Just stick with me, I think there’s final design out there, I really do, that will make me feel warm and fuzzy.

Meanwhile, I’ve loved watching blogging and scrapbooking take the big screen. I got to see Julie and Julia this week – what a glorious movie.  I love Julie Powell’s brave commitment to blog through Julia Child’s 500+ recipe cookbook and her love for BUTTER. I mean, really, could there be a better concept for a movie than to combine food and blogging. Loved it!

And, last week we watched New in Town on video. Scrapbooking plays a delightful supporting role in the movie (oh yeah, and it’s not a bad movie, either). Any misunderstood scrapbookers who have ever been made fun of will feel vindicated!

I’m no Ansel Adams, but wouldn’t it be fun to be? I have a love/hate relationship with my camera. I love taking pictures but I hate that I’m not a better photographer. The scenery in Yellowstone and the Grand Teton National Parks is just too beautiful not to at least try to do the landscape justice. So, you get to be the victims of my humble photographic efforts.

Leaving Cody, Wyoming, heading to Yellowstone . . .

The upper falls in Yellowstone . . .

Looking over Lake Yellowstone as we head to the Grand Tetons . . .

Entering the Tetons and Oxbow Bend . . .

Onward to Jenny Lake . . .

Love, from Wyoming,

Wow, what an amazing week we’ve had in Wyoming. Okay, backup. About a week ago my Tom said he had to get outta Dodge (Austin) and now. His stress was so high he needed to detox, and, honestly, I wasn’t far from him.  So, we took advantage of an invitation to visit Wyoming and leave the Texas heat for some mountain air.

Tom’s cousins, our hosts, Jan and Eddie Sapp, own Arrowhead Alpaca Farms, one of the largest alpaca farms in the country. So, when we arrived on their farm on Saturday, we got to be introduced to all their 70+ alpacas by name, and I got to help skirt their fleece. Skirting fleece, I learned, simply means picking out the debris (grass, burrs, etc.) left in the fleece after it’s sheered. I know, sounds like work. But I love seeing the alpaca fiber in its original state. It’s fun to follow the whole process from sheering, skirting, spinning and weaving.  And, alpaca fleece is really special to handle. It’s much finer than sheep’s wool, right up there with cashmere – so luxurious.

Talk about luxury. Sunday morning, I got a special pedicure from this little angel.

She’s Tom’s cousin’s almost 4-year old granddaughter (try to keep up). Yep, deep purple polish all over my toe-sies.

Now, I’ve already had more fun than a month of Sundays at home, but later that morning we got to witness the birth of a new baby alpaca. Mama, “Prima,” was amazing to watch – she just walked around the corral as if nothing were happening. Of course, the baby (cria) came out all full of muck, and laid on the ground looking pretty helpless. Honestly, I was thinking, goodness gracious, somebody help this little thing.

But apparently (Jan patiently explained to me), a cria cleans itself by just rolling in the dirt.

Sure enough. It’s hard to believe these pictures are just about 30 minutes apart.

Being an ex-post-partum nurse don’t you know I was in heaven watching this miracle transpire. I took a lot more pictures of the actual birth, but they’re a little too National Geographic to share. Anyway, I’ve learned so much about these amazing alapacas and their oh-so-soft fleece. I’ll never take my socks for granted again!

Oh my, I’m so excited about this new home for Catered Crop. If you’ve come here from our previous home at Typepad, Yea, you survived the move. After packing our 300+ posts and moving them along with all the other behind-the-scenes stuff, you, my precious readers, are by far the most precious of my things to move.

So, for those of you interested, I thought I’d share what all was involved in making this move.

First, there were a lot of decisions to be made. I was using Typepad as my blogging software, but I wanted more control. I decided to move to Wordpress.org because it’s one of the most commonly used blogging software. We don’t see that as much with Stampin’ Up! demonstrators, but it’s more true outside our community. Because Wordpress is so popular, there are many more resources.

When you go with Wordpress.org, you have to do many of the things other blogging services do that you usually don’t even have to know about: finding a host web server, loading your files up to a server with a file transfer protocol (FTP) system, performing backups, providing security and spam protection, registering and mapping a domaine . . . It was daunting, but, honestly, I really enjoyed learning all that stuff. Okay, I can barely remember who I am most of the time, but I do love learning new technology.

Thank God for the Wordpress for Dummies book, and a really big thanks to Amy Celona. She spent no less than an hour on the phone giving me her sage advice and encouragement. Although I couldn’t use her services this go-round (I was already committed to a web host), I strongly recommend her.

After I (sort-of) figured out all that technical stuff, I got to begin the fun, creative stuff. I found a digital scrapbooking kit I love, Little Sous Chef, by Courtney Wilson of Skittles and Scraps. I had fun building the little click-here buttons and banner and found a great program to create my own WordPress theme (Artisteer). Veronica McCullum gave me some timely advice to tweak the design, and I’m working with her to make even more improvements.

So, Yea, I’m glad you’re all here. We have a lot of fun things coming up, like the Catty Cruise next weekend and, with hopefully most of the work behind me in creating and moving this site, I can get back to my first love . . . Stamping! New projects are on the way!