From the Bottom of My Pencilcase

2011-12-23T12:28:00.000-08:00

Only two more sleeps until christmas and its been super fun thus far at our house. I'm really excited to have rediscovered my love of sewing. I designed, drafted, and sewed an apron for my mother in law (she doesn't read blogs so this won't be a spoiler). I love it so much I'm going to make one for myself too. Bonnie (my MIL) is much taller than my model and since she's not 16 like my model, a bit wider too. I'm hoping that means the bib will fit her without the little gap at the neck. I think this design is both flattering and practical (nice big pockets and plenty of coverage) so I'll probably use it again.
   Katie didn't actually wear the apron while baking (just posed for me) but she did make most of the gingerbread for our annual houses. That means enough fronts, backs, sides, roofs and accessories for seven houses! That's a lot of cookies. It took three days. The results were really fun though. We used the Wilton Gingerbread House Mold to make them (easier than making templates and rolling and rolling...but you can only bake 1/3 of a house at a time).
   Everyone in the family got to make a house (except Miles, who wanted to share with Katie and since her friend Vittoria was over she got to make one too). Coconut "snow" and gummy trees, santas, wreaths and snowmen complimented our mini m&m "lights."
   All that sugar (I ate some of the candy-not the cookies, I haven't tried to make gluten free gingerbread yet) made me crave a green smootie. So for breakfast this morning I did a christmas one with Kale, bananas and oranges layered with strawberries, bananas and oranges. So yummy and pretty too. Happy Holidays!

Owl Hat

2011-12-04T15:47:00.001-08:00

I"m still doing fun crafty stuff (and really enjoying it). Yesterday I finished this owl hat that also seems to double as a koala. Its pretty cute either way. In the background of the hat picture you can probably also see some house shaped ornaments. Those are a direct result of my latest obsession: Pinterest. My friend Liz pinned the inspiration from http://retro-mama.blogspot.com/2011/10/home-for-holidays.html and I had to make them. Next time I will go to the quilting store to get fabrics that I love because my intention was to make 12 of them and I'm bored after three since they don't quite have the look I envisioned. No worries though, there are plenty more inspirational ideas where that one came from! Seriously. Hours and hours worth of just finding ideas. I had to set a time limit for myself. For every hour I spend on there I have to actually make one project. Its a win win that way. :)

PS. I made up the hat pattern as I went along but there are some great video tutorials on You Tube that could get you started if you wanted to do something simillar.

Its Beginning to look...well you know

2011-11-28T11:14:00.001-08:00

My first christmas craft of this year is altered house blocks. I used scrap lumber which I marked with a t-square then trimmed using a chop saw (fast but not safe for the angles, a jig saw would have been better). I then sanded the pieces with a belt sander because I wanted square (not rounded) corners. I used PVA glue to attach patterned paper to all sides and trimmed the paper with an emery board (this also seals the edges). As I did this I smoothed the paper with a bone folder to get out any bubbles and bumps. Once I had the paper on I decorated the blocks with vintage family photos (my granmother-in-law and her sisters) and letters that I cut out with my cricut (second time I've used it in three years :P ). Buttons, ribbons, and mica flakes finished them off. I hope to post a few more things that I've been working on soon but for now thanks for stopping by, if you were inspired to try a project like this I hope that you will link it up in the comments.

Trying New Things

2011-11-14T12:53:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things about belonging to Team Blaze Spokane is that there are so many opportunities to mentor and be mentored. Our club is full of knowledgeable and inspirational people who are excited to help others succeed. One such person is Angie Fesser. Several times this year she has invited me to try cyclocross (correctly guessing that I would love it). When I told her I had no mountain or cyclocross bike she lent me her own bike. When I admitted that I was really unsure about my ability to stay tire-side-down on a course with no pavement she arranged a midweek ride out at seven mile to help me get comfortable with some basic off road skills. On a side note: All the things that I read about in Bicycling Magazine turned out to work in real life. Shifting your weight to gain traction, shifting gears ahead of time on a hill, and most of all if you stare at the giant rock in your path (instead of a line around it) you will ride right into it(sorry Phil).

So with that much encouragement I had to show up Sunday morning and try it out. David and I drove up to Walter's Fruit Ranch in Greenbluff. After signing up and buying my one day licence (which I was supposed to return afterwards but forgot) I geared up in my Team Blaze jersey (lent to me by Angie since I only have a tri top and that was not going to work weather wise). I met up with Angie, Janelle and Phil who passed along encouragement and tips before we got out there and rode most of one loop to see the course. Thank you Phil for suggesting we come early enough to do that, it really made a difference.

I was shivering at the start but couldn't tell if it was the biting wind or nerves. Probably some combination of the two. Once the officials blew the whistle for our wave I was fine but somewhat disappointed to find myself in very last place (definitely need to work on the start). Since I knew we would be out there for half an hour I tried not to worry about it and just rode. It was so fun! Scary but fun. I did have a couple of mishaps on corners where my back tire slid out, but for the most part I did okay bike-handling wise. I could have been a little more aggressive about passing people (going around on the narrow track worried me so I stayed behind even though I could have gone faster, especially uphill). The last lap was hard because the high level of effort maintained for that long made my brain not as able to coordinated the more technical stuff with my body. I did pass all of my teammates but not the other woman who was doing her first ever solo race (she was an avid mountain biker and had done the 24hr race). It was really great to hear a bunch of our friends out there cheering too. Rob and Lisa and Jenny and Jessica all came just to watch and cheer, how great is that?

I loved it! I finished up coated with dirt but wearing a giant smile (which meant I had dirt in my teeth). I may have a new obsession (its probably good that the season winds down with one more race in CDA this weekend-I don't really have time for another hobby at the moment). Combined with the Fall Folk Festival (at which I learned some basics of belly dancing) it was a really great weekend!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T21:30:00.001-07:00

So first the cards: Yes it is passed halloween and they aren't relevant anymore but I like them so I'm posting them. stamps are from the greeting Farm and everything else is years old since I'm using up my stash and not buying anything until it can fit.

I made costumes as always and mostly enjoyed it. I frankensteined a bunch of patterns together and even drafted some parts from scratch and managed to get a reasonable facsimilie of a Beaux Batons student (from Harry Potter 4) and a pretty good fairy. Miles got to be a ninja which he loved and still plans to have a his future career. Not sure how I feel about my child wanting to be a secret assasin but we're hopeful that a position will open up with the city of Spokane ;). Max's zombie clown scared the pants off several people and Luke was his usual quirky self when he said "Mom I want to make things easy for you; I'll just be super me."

It was a pretty fun weekend, Lucy's "blue girl" :P won the best costume at one party and on Halloween night they all got more candy than they could possibly consume in any reasonable amout of time.

we are into November now (happy anniversary to my Mom and stepdad today-28 years I think). The holidays are fast approaching and 2012 is right around the corner. I looking towards the races that I want to complete and goals realated to them but enjoying a little time off of the heavy stuff.

Troika Half Ironman Race Report

2011-08-13T16:31:00.000-07:00

When I finished Boise 70.3 in 2010 at 6:02:25 I made a goal for 2011 to do a half Ironman in under 6 hours. My other 2011 goal was to go under 4 hours for a marathon but I broke my tailbone 6 weeks before my planned race (Windermere) and was just glad to still be able to finish it. So my goal for Troika was pretty important to me.

My last Troika swim in 2009 was around 42 minutes. My Boise swim was also 42 minutes. My swim at this year's troika was 53:34. Not only was the course long but the turn buoy came unmoored and floated out as I was approaching it!!!??? It was very weird and frustrating to look up at the bright orange globe that I’d been sighting off for a couple hundred yards and have it suddenly disappear as I reached it. It was being towed back in by a kayak!

T1 went quite smoothly and it was reassuring to see several Team Blazers get out of the water at the same time as me. I did drop my chain as I was mounting my bike however and I may have said a naughty word in front of some spectators, not a very good reflection on my team colors.

The bike was great. I had prepared a bottle of concentrated Heed and marked out levels so that I knew how much I needed to take in per hour on the bike. With water in my aero bottle that I refilled at the aid stations and one gel that I took about 30 minutes in, it was just about perfect for the 56 miles of a half Ironman distance race. Except that the bike turned out to be 60 miles. I still liked it. My average at Boise was 18.54mph and this year it was 20.33mph so definitely some improvement.

The run was hard but steady. I put ice in my hat and jersey from the first aid station because I knew how hot it was going to get. Each little cup of coldness seemed to give me a tiny burst of energy. It was encouraging to see everyone out there cheering and to have coach Scott come up and give me a mental push. Kind words make a huge difference at that point. I tried to pick it up as I ran into the park but I kept looking down at my watch and seeing that even though it felt faster my pace was still holding about the same. One girl in my age group had passed me at the beginning of the run and I could see her walking up ahead at the place where the trail splits before CI Shenanigans. I passed her and kept thinking she was going to run me down again but mostly I could see I was so close to my time goal...if I could just go a little bit faster...I turned onto the bridge and could hear the cheering and the announcer saying my name and then I saw the clock said 6:05:17 In my head I'm thinking “minus3minutes for the women's start =6:02.” :( David was there at the finish line and the caught me. The first thing I said was "I didn't make it" and started crying. He and Tristin and everyone from Team Blaze were so nice and kept saying lovely things and reminding me about the longer course. I felt better quickly, I really appreciated feeling part of the team and everyone being so supportive. Thanks Team Blaze! When I felt like I could go over and check my times (I still had to know if I had made my secondary goal of beating David's bike time ;) ). I saw that I was second in my age group. That definitely boosted my spirits!

I have two more Triathlons this season: Priest Lake at the end of August and Titanium Man one week later. Both are Olympic distance so a harder effort over a shorter time. I can’t wait! J

Thank you Suzanne Smail and Donna Melville for the photos.

Swing, Swing, Swing, Swing...

2011-03-19T21:23:00.000-07:00

While searching for motivation to make and finish my dress for a 1944 Armistice themed swing dance I came across this blog: http://blog.caseybrowndesigns.com/ . She was near the end of leading a Sew-a-long for a 1940's swing dress. Unfortunately I had already cut the main front pieces of my dress or I would have switched to the pattern that they were using-it was super-cute (a phrase I don't use lightly :)-but I wouldn't have had enough fabric and I had bought all that they had. I did use some of the tips and especially loved Casey's tutorial on belt making. I wanted a cover belt buckle but was too short on time to order one online and they were not sold locally, so off to the thrift store I went and found a hideous (forgot to take a picture) belt with a heart shaped metal buckle. A coat of red paint made it sort of "brush-strokey" and easily chipped, but a coat of red nail polish over that made it just right (done after the picture).

I used simplicity 2917 for the dress(mostly because it was $1.99, it had a 40'sh-ish sweetheart neckline, and I'm familiar enough with princess seams that it fit my rushed time frame and meager budget). I added (pre-made *gasp*) piping and the before-mentioned belt and I lined the entire dress as my fabric was quite see-through. As far as being true to the time period, I would have liked to do more with the shoulders and to have used a non-polyester fabric but I wanted the drape and cheapness so yay for technology! I love how it turned out and wish that I had better pictures (I'm trying to teach my 15 1/2 year old to use my camera but we are still at the take-72-photos-without-looking-at-them -or-checking-the-settings stage :). I took the one of the belt :). Even though I'm a little late I'm going to share this on the Sew A Long.

I have to say that I really loved dressing for the 40's. Shapely (read large, muscular) calves were considered an asset and the dresses were really flattering to my broad shouldered, curvy body-type. Plus I loved the red lipstick and feminine hair styles.

The Swing Dance was really fun. The live band, The Stolen Sweets http://www.stolensweets.com/index.php, was amazing and it was great to see so many of the dancers that we dance with at the Spokane Swing dance Club in their 40's garb (and to watch them dance-lots of talent!). To add to the already great atmosphere of the Glover Mansion (where it was held) there were guys in WWII era American and German uniforms wandering around (not dancers but a few of them tried and did pretty well). It was a great night and I hope they do it again.

2010 Ironman World Championships and TRX

2010-12-17T09:14:00.000-08:00

This is the 2010 Hawaii Ironman Commemorative edition of Lava Magazine (December/January 2010). Significant because tomorrow is the official broadcast on NBC. Its the triathlete's superbowl, our world championship. I'm very excited to see it even though I know how it ends (no spoilers for those who weren't glued to a computer in October when it actually happened :).

This issue is actually even more significant to me because it also has an article on Function Strength (p.106) that is mostly about TRX. A little over a year ago I became a group fitness instructor at the Y and a certified TRX instructor. I taught and worked out on the TRX throughout my Ironman training last year and was delighted to see my run, bike and swim times drop as my core strength and muscle fitness increased. Even better than that was watching people who came regularly to my classes but weren't doing the long ironman workouts that I was, have great results, especially in core strength, from just the TRX. Being able to help people function better in their day to day lives, to not get as tired, to have better posture and less pain, to drop extra mass and gain extra energy is the BEST part of my job and TRX has been a big part of being able to do my job effectively. If you want to check it out please follow this link http://www.fitnessanywhere.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&AFFIL=3t96Pt2U . If you want to try it out you can come to one of my classes, Tues at 10:50 at the central Y or Fri (that's TODAY)at 4:00 and at 5:15 at the north Y-the times of these change slightly in January. If you can't make it to one of these, try one of the other great Y instructors http://www.ymcaspokane.org/4/schedules/ .

More crafty type stuff coming soon (cards, jewellery, baby presents... :)

Inspiration

2010-12-15T09:35:00.001-08:00

I love facebook. I admit it and embrace it. In fact most of the people reading this are reading it on facebook. If you are you should check out my actual blog (http://www.fromthebottomofmypencilcase.blogspot.com/) because I just put up a new banner (which I will probably edit again soon...where was I?)...Oh yeah, I love facebook! On facebook friends such as Craftster send me ideas like this one: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=323205.0 right to my home feed. Seemed like a perfect way to use up more of my stash of supplies. So Lucy has a new pair of slippers. A couple of things if you want to make a pair yourself: I used faux suede on the bottoms for slip resistance and durability and next time I will round out the toe portion more, rather than tracing the exact shape of her foot. But they were really quick and easy including making the pattern.

The star wreath is inspired by my new favorite blog ever. http://www.littlebirdiesecrets.com/ I used the same colors as her example (but with more papers from my stash-I may actually get through it) but made my wreath smaller (I cut my own form and the biggest piece of matte board that I had was 12" wide). I also skipped the background stars (smaller wreath). I cut my stars with the crcuit that has gathered dust since I got it (basic shapes cartridge size 5.5 and 5).

Now here is the problem with all this wonderful inspiration: one blog leads to another and another and another until I have so many great ideas overwhelming me that I just need to go for a run and forget about being creative for a while. Maybe that's not a problem. I will need to redo my blog links list though ;)

Happy December Birthdays

2010-12-11T22:38:00.001-08:00

I have my next race all picked out http://www.runsurfcity.com/Half-Marathon-s/23.htm It's the Surf City Half Marathon in Huntington Beach. Its the day after my birthday so I'll get the start off being thirty-mumble....with 13.1 miles in sunny California. Hopefully registering and paying for it (done) will get me running again. I've been a little lazy about it lately and I need to get back in a routine.

For all the December babies who have had their birthday gifts wrapped in christmas paper or worse a "combined" gift :)....this post's for you. Not a christmas theme in sight. I can't stop myself from apologizing for the not-great photography on these but I have given them all away and can't redo it. It may have been late at night (as with everything I do there was definitely some procrastination involved), not sure why exactly I did such a poor job but I really do know how to adjust focus and exposure. :)

The javabella cards are for Katie's orchestra fundraiser, they are going into a themed basket for auction. The Stamp is Stampin Bella, papers are SEI Poppy. The "Grow Up" card papers are from Sassafrass Lass, "Happy Birthday" is Cosmo Cricket, "Happy Birthday to you" uses one of the stamps that I illustrated for Judikins and Cosmo Cricket paper, The Blue Shiney one is also SEI Poppy, and the pink one has a drawing that I did because I couldn't find the cupcake stamp I wanted to use. But I like my version better :) I drew it on watercolor paper and colored with copics. Thanks for looking.

More Copic Colored Cheekies (I ToldYou I Was Addicted)

2010-12-02T14:12:00.000-08:00

The title is slightly misleading in that the Hey There Cookie card was done with luminArte shimmery watercolors. Papers are from Cosmo Cricket, MME, Bo Bunny and Basic Grey. I used the Cheeky Glamour stamp again and the new one is Cheeky Rockabilly both from the Greeting Farm. There is a Close to My Heart snuck in there as well. For those who live in Spokane drive safe and avoid the side streets, its crazy out there!

~Nicole

Three Days in a Row!

2010-11-30T14:48:00.001-08:00

One more card and a hat. I have not done a lot of crocheting before but since I don't knit at all, when Katie asked if I could make a sock monkey hat it seemed like the way to go. I was really happy with how it turned out (especially since I made it up as I went along with no pattern). She loves it and the rest of the kids want one too.

For the card: Cheeky Glamour stamp from the Greeting Farm, Naughty and Nice words from Inque Boutique and inside it says "If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun"-Katherine Hepburn from Stamping Bella. Papoers are old ones from Bo Bunny and Scenic Route. TFL

Products of Christmas Past

2010-11-29T09:09:00.000-08:00

After a year of not doing much by way of paper crafts I've had to put a few stipulations on my present renewed interest in all things crafty. I need to use up a lot of my stash that has sat lonely and ignored for 12 months or so. In an effort to do this I've been making lots and lots of cards. I even broke out the copics-they are quite addicting and I can see myself getting completely obsessed with them. Here are a few of the cards, hope you enjoy.

Catching Up

2010-11-28T14:28:00.000-08:00

I have had this strange idea in my head that I can't post any new stuff to my blog unless I update my friends and family on the past (blogless) year. Specifically a post about Ironman. so here goes.

Most of you know that I spent most of Nov-June training for Ironman Couer D'Alene. In fact the reason IM stands out as the one blog worthy thing of the past year is that is about all I had time to do. :) At the peak of my training I was up to 22hrs a week. I also got a job teaching group fitness classes at the YMCA (which I love!).

Well all of those 4+hour bike rides paid off and by the end of June I was feeling fit and confident (mostly confident-I am really grateful for the encouragement of my Team Blaze team mates and my husband David). Race day dawned (and I do mean dawn-up at 4:30) clear with minimal wind-Perfect! The water was chilly but bearable thanks to my wetsuit and neoprene cap. I had tried out neoprene booties at Onionman and found that they filled with water and slowed me down considerably so no booties for CDA.

The swim itself went smoothly. No more black eyes like I recieved at Boise 70.3. I was near people the whole time and got bumped plenty but I took coach Tristin's advice and swam inside the bouys just going around the corners. I only went off course once when I turned the first corner and suddenly the sun was in my eyes and I realized that my goggle were slightly fogged. That combo made it impossible to see but I fixed the goggles when I got out to cross the mat for the first lap and the second time was fine. I came out of the water in 1:26:30 well ahead of 1:40 goal.

On the bike conditions were great, just a very slight headwind heading back into town. I had recieved multiple warnings to go easy on the hills in the first lap so didn't push very hard at the begining. I was glad for that by half way through the second 56 mile lap. 112miles is a loooong way on a bike. My shoulders and back and ...well you know, were really sore but I knew I could finish it. Coming back into town was one of my best moments of the day. My bike split was 6:24:05, respectable but not blazing fast which was my race plan.

I started out on the run and I felt great. I used the run 4 min, walk 1 minute that I had trained with and it seemed to be working. As I came back into town at the end of the first loop I knew that I could not only make my 14 hour time goal but that I would probably beat David's time from the previous year. He thought that that was what was making my grin as I ran through the park but really it was all the people, my friends and family that had come out to cheer for my as well as the perfect strangers who were calling my name and wishing me luck. Only 13.1 miles to go! That last lap was definitely very physically hard but knowing that I would finish in a little more than 2 hours made the time fly by. The only parts I remember were passing people I knew that I didn't expect to pass. My run time was, again, not super fast but it was under 5 hours at 4:54:39-ahead of my 5 hour goal.

I wanted to savor my finish shoot run through but as the clock came into view I could see that not only would I break my 14hr goal but that I could break 13. So I high fived a couple of people then ran in as strong as I could to finish in 12:55:37. I AM AN IRONMAN!

Overall it was an amazing day. Much better even than I expected. I had no mechanical difficulties (though I did drop my chain going up a hill on the second bike lap but that was due to user error and easily fixed). I am so gratefull to my family and friends for their support and I'm still amazed that I could do this! Thank you to all who helped especially Katie for her babysitting and David for....well everything!

I am still out there

2010-05-18T13:32:00.000-07:00

Last night I looked through some of our older scrapbooks and realized how much I missed creating and doing my artsy stuff. Only 40 days until Ironman then I can add some of that back in to my life. I have been keeping busy though. So far this year I've done the Goofy Challenge in Florida (The walt Disney World Marathon and Half Marathon done on back to back days), the Snake River 1/2 Marathon (new PR of 1:50:17), the St. Paddy's Five Miler(another Personal Record for me at 40:50), The Spokane River Run 25k trail run (2:28:03-considerably better than last year's 2:48:56), The Lilac Century (my first 100 mile bike ride), and the Windermere Marathon (another PR at 4:14:17 -adjusted to the full distance ...there was a glitch but I did the whole 26.2 and much faster than my old 4:40:01 time. Plus we ran/walked this one-thank you Jeff Galloway!). another huge thanks to David (Eric) for his support and encouragement and for training with me through much of this. Next up: Onion Man Olympic distance tri in Walla Walla. And maybe I'll get going on an art journal or something that interests my crafty friends :).

2009-09-27T20:54:00.000-07:00

Look, I actually have something to share! My studio is organized and I took some time to make some fun stuff (and make a brand new mess :) The tag is make with this really amazing stamp from Lost Coast Designs http://www.lost-coast-designs.com/index.html You can also see Linda's Blog at http://www.lost-coasters-review.blogspot.com/ .

The jack-o-lantern cutie was inspired by the very talented Linda Albrecht (http://lindaalbrecht.typepad.com/simple_things/2009/09/little-pumpkin-head.html) she has a great tutorial on her blog and this guy is my interpretation of it.

In Stores Now! :)

2009-09-17T17:00:00.000-07:00

I was browsing the stamp section of Spokane Art Supply yesterday and this cute sock monkey stamp caught my eye as I was thinking about how perfectly he fit my style I realized that that was because I drew him! The stamps that I illustrated for Judikins are out! I love how they turned out and I can't wait to use them. You can see them and all of Judikins other cool stuff on their website

I've been eating as healthy as I can lately and I was thrilled with how this raw vegan chocolate cake turned out. Yum! It from Ani's Raw Food Desserts and it was easy and relatively quick to make.

I'm still training (I signed up for Ironman Coeur D'Alene 2010), I still make crafty stuff whenever I can, but mostly I've been trying to concentrate on my family (hence the lack of posting). Hopefully I've got myself together now and I can spare some more time for fun stuff like cards and stamping! :)

Penguin Pants Challenge

2009-03-19T09:36:00.000-07:00

Penguin Pants is sponsoring a challenge right now on their website. The Challenge is black and White plus one. All you have to do is use a Penguin Pants stamp on a card, ATC, or scrapbook page useing black, white and one additional color and email a photo of your creation to contact@penguinpantsrubberstamps.com. The winner receives a Penguin Pants stamp set of their choice.

Thanks for looking!

2009-03-15T19:00:00.000-07:00

A couple more cards. Both stamps are from Picture Show. Enjoy. :)

Finally!

2009-03-09T21:02:00.000-07:00

I finally started to craft again and now I'm having computer troubles. Oh well. The first one is a goofy mother's day card using Penguin Pants stamps and Cosmo Cricket paper. The Chicka dee on the other is also from Penguin Pants and the sentiment is Inque Boutique. Papers on that one are Basic Grey. Thanks for looking!

Busy, busy, busy!

2009-02-05T17:39:00.000-08:00

Not the most flattering picture but since it was taken at mile 26 of my first marathon I'm plenty happy with it! I started the 16 week training program until my next one this week. I'm also really excited to have recieved a Vitamixer for my birthday today! I'm eating 100% raw again and feel amazing. (and I turned 35 today).

I actually do have some crafty stuff in the works again too, look for some fun cards using penguin pants and I'm working on a garden journal that will hopefully turn into a class. Hopefully posted by this weekend.

2008-12-16T09:56:00.000-08:00

I've been tagged on facebook by my friend Matthew; "Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 16 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 16 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you."

Since my blog is linked to my notes I'll compose here.

1. I love to iron. I feel guilty when I do it because I know that there are so many other things with much bigger impacts that I "should" be doing.

2. I make something crafty almost every day (not that you'd know it from my lack of blogging).

3. I love to read but not to write. Though I compose things in my head constantly I can never seem to get them down properly. I blame my ADD.

4. I want to eat only raw food. Its much harder for me in the winter (mostly because of availability-I miss my farmers market CSA share). Veggies, Fruits, nuts, seeds. Yummy and digestible. Wish I wasn't so easily tempted to eat other things at this time of year.

5. I have a negative sense of direction. I get lost a lot. When I get somewhere without getting lost I'm really proud of myself.

6. I'm a spin class junkie. If I could get myself out of bed at 4:30am I'd go everyday (I have to alternate the 5 am class with the 10 am class on days I can figure out babysitting). I like to ride outside even more but its hard to remember that its even possible when its 11 degrees F (that's -11 C for my Canadian friends). I love hills!

7. I'm neither a "morning" nor a "night" person. I just need my eight hours of sleep. I get kind of grouchy otherwise.

8. My husband and I take dance classes with a group of mostly retired people at the community college. We've learned East and West coast swing (though no flips etc considering our classmates are mostly in their 60's and 70's), tango (love it), cha-cha (my favorite), polka (hilarious), waltz and foxtrot. Its fun and he is a fabulous dancer (better than me as I have no rhythm). I can follow pretty much any lead though.

9. Everyone in my family is musical except for me. My sisters tease me about my horrible singing (its not that bad they're just mean :-). My kids can all play instruments, my husband plays guitar, banjo, violin, and piano...and well I paint, sew, draw and make stuff. But I love too sing and do so regardless.

10. I ran my first two marathons this year with six weeks of each other. My favorite distance is a 10k. I'm not too fond of the pounding that 26.2 gives you. I do love that sense of accomplishment and my running abs.

11. I've swam (swum?) in the Arctic Ocean.

12. I have a huge problem with procrastination. I find it really hard to focus on jobs even when I like them if I feel like I "have" to do them. For example I should be wrapping gifts right now since my children are at school but instead I'm doing this. (I'm embarrassed to say that its true for paying jobs even more...I have my dream job as an illustrator and a 3/4 finished project sitting on my desk and I'm having trouble finishing it and all I have to do is ink it. there are some deep seated psychological problems with that!)

13. I make cards for a living but never actually give people cards on birthdays etc. I never send Christmas cards. If you know me and you haven't gotten a card from ever, its not because I don't love you, see # 12.

14. My favorite thing in my studio is my Royal Deluxe typewriter. I use it all the time to add text to things that can't go through the printer. Plus it looks really cool.

15. I had three of my five children at home. I'm adding it in here because its kind of "weird" and random. They were water births and I loved it and recommend it to anyone with a low risk pregnancy.

16. I met my husband in October of 1993, got engaged in Nov 1993, and married in January 1994. We are complete opposites and that seems to work for us pretty well most of the time.

I don't seem to be particularly deep after reading these but I'll add a bonus one; I have developed an aversion to self-analysis of late. LOL

I'm tagging:

Nancy, Nyla, Sarah, Jessica, Emily, Susan, Sara, Lora, Alli, Solana, Cami, Rebbekah, Kara, Andrew, and Matthew (my brother and the Matthew that tagged me).

Mini Cupcake pan Advent Calendar

2008-11-13T22:12:00.000-08:00

Instructions for these have been floating around for a bit, my sister made a cute one last year http://nancydavies.blogspot.com/2007/12/on-sixth-day-of-christmas.html . I have a few tips born from frustration: Don't use the thin printable magnets you find in Office supply places, go to a sign shop that makes magnetic signs for cars and either buy it by the foot or ask if they have any scraps. If all you can find for a pan (I got mine for $4.50 at *blush* Walmart ) is a teflon coated one be sure to use a wire brush on the end of a drill or other heavy duty tool to strip it before you paint (or leave it grey) PAINT WILL NOT STICK TO TEFLON...at all. Not even a little. You can wash it right off with a cloth even after it has dried overnight. Sanding is not enough.
Besides that it was fun and easy to make. The stamps that I used for the numbers are Melissa Francis and the papers are Basic Grey, My Mind's Eye and Cosmo Cricket. Ribbon is May Arts.

thanks for looking,
Nicole

Penguin Pants

2008-10-30T16:18:00.000-07:00

I am so in love with these stamps!Penguin Pants have fabulous stuff!

I love fall

2008-10-02T12:55:00.000-07:00

Even though its crazy busy with kid-sports, mom and dad-marathons, crafty deadlines and halloween costume crafting (my kids have high expectations now-go figure), this is such a great time of year. I could do with less candy temptations but thank goodness for fresh local apples, YUM! Oh, and I hope to be teaching again at A Stamp 4 All soon (tenatively Nov 6). The card above is a done using Inque Boutique stamps.

I'm also very excited to be designing for Penguin Pants ! Theresa, Jan and Anali are wonderful, and Anali's artwork is fantastic! I'm actually a little intimidated because, besides being great business women, they are amazing card designers in their own right. I'm hoping to explore more fun and unusual techniques and I can't wait to get started. With that said I'm off to craft!

Catching Up (again)

2008-09-24T10:58:00.000-07:00

Wow its been a long time! This summer kind of kicked my butt time-wise. I decided to take a scrapbooking break and focus on the kids and house and exercise. It worked out pretty well. Now I'm back with a fresh perspective, happy kids, a (somewhat) organized house, and three triathlons and two age group wins in road races under my belt. Oh and my husband is an Ironman!

The card is made with Ek Sucess and Melissa Francis papers, MF sticker and a stamp by Lost Coast stamps. I stamped it on Matte Coat paper by Judikins and they detail is amazing!

I promise to be a better blogger from now on! (until the kids get out of school next year ;-) ).

Ten Minutes, Yay me!

2008-07-14T12:32:00.000-07:00

I didn't make my goal of 1hour 30 min but I did take ten minutes off of last year's time so I feel pretty good about it. Its a tough race with really competitive people (most belong to triathlon clubs). I'm looking forward to the one I'm doing with my friend Sarah in August and very possibly doing my first Olly (olympic distance) at the Titainium Man in Tri cities this year. I'm working on uppping my mileage running wise as well since I'm doing a marathon in October.

but you might want to see crafty stuff, so here is a three page layout I did for my good friend Donna. I gave it away so its not here to double check but I do want to point out that in real life, the lines are all stright and the papers are not stuck down crookedly. (I'm not sure what happened photographcally here). I do love these and the Daidy D's paper and diecuts made them pretty quick and easy.

I can hardly ever think of good titles!

2008-06-30T17:16:00.000-07:00

This is a super busy week but I thoughth I'd share a sneak peek of my Inque Boutique design team project and my card that didn't get me through to the first round of PC gallery Idol. Oh well, I love it!

I'm Taking the Plunge {Cosmo Cricket}

2008-06-20T20:08:00.000-07:00

Yup that's me one year ago right before my disastrous swim in the Kal Rats Triathlon. I say disastrous but I really mean slow. Last place in my age group slow. Pulling a size extra large man-shaped bucket slow. I will not be wearing my husband's wetsuit this year. And I'm twenty pounds smaller. I have high hopes for not coming in last.

While I'm looking forward to redeeming myself in two weeks, that's not actually what this post is about. When I say I'm taking the plunge what I'm really referring to is that I'm applying for the Design Team. The competition for this is tough, but I love their products so much that I have to try. So I am interupting your regularly scheduled program to bring some of my favorite projects featuring Cosmo Cricket. Sorry I had to take the slide show out for a bit as one of my cards was picked up for publication (yipee!)Do you recognize that square mini album with the belt closure? Yup its the same one that spent a few months as the icon for "Gallery Projects" on the Two Peas In A Bucket home page. There are two more that I want to point out but that I can't post here. One is my entry for Paper Crafts Gallery idol, which you can see Here . The second is a card I had picked up for publication so we can't see until October. I'm mentioning it because its one of my favorites and a Cosmo pub can only help me here, right? My brand spanking new scrapbook resume can be found here . and just to sum up, Please, please, please, please pick me!

Ugly Card

2008-06-20T09:15:00.000-07:00

I had fun making these guys, I need to clean off my desk but got distracted and made this instead. :D

As Promised

2008-06-18T19:59:00.000-07:00

Here are a bunch of the things that I haven't had a chance to share for the last month or so, while I was swamped with non-scrappy-busy-kid-family-life-stuff. (I can't believe my daughter is in junior high now-eek!) Hope you like it, I actually have some more that I'll try to put up tommorow. If you are really anxious you can see more of it in the gallery at Inque Boutique :D

More Birthday Stuff

2008-06-16T16:16:00.001-07:00

I just made this for the {Caardvarks} Birthday Dude micro challenge.

I have a bunch more stuff to share with you and I'll post it a bit later.

tfl,
Nicole

Baking with Power Tools

2008-06-03T00:04:00.000-07:00

Today (well really yesterday since its taking my images so long to load)was Miles' 3rd birthday. I have this weird thing where I can't seem to see around the corner from month to month. What that means is that the kids who have a birthday at the very begining of the month kind of don't get a "planned" birthday celebration. I don't keep track of days very well and things at the begining of the month sort of sneak up. But I balance that with quick thinking and MacGyver-like ingenuity. Case in point: I made Miles' cupcakes this morning and was feeling great about remembering to have powdered sugar and butter etc on hand for the frosting. However when I went to mix the frosting I found that my eight year old Kitchen Aid stand mixer was not working right. I couldn't get it to turn. The motor worked, the beater just wouldn't go around. So (its not under warrenty anymore) I took it apart. I found the problem (with some wonderful help from my husband) but the parts store is closed on Mondays and I needed frosting ASAP. (Not that yucky store bought kind, either. I have my standards. Even though I don't even eat sugar anymore).

Since I am so rescourceful :p I solved my problem. With a power drill, a paddle mixer, and some sanitary covering (a double layer of freezer baggies). The cupcakes turned out great (I may have had a small taste).

Miles had a great time. He fell asleep at lunch time and when the kids got home from school I conned *ahem* encouraged them into making it "birthday world" in the house for when he woke up. I think it was pretty cute for such limited planning. I did borrow an idea from the always inspiring Linda Albrecht. I loved her idea for the flags on the strings of mini lights. I was a bit short of time for my version but Miles really loved it anyway.

We had a really fun day, hope that you did too,
Nicole

2008-05-20T13:37:00.000-07:00

Did everyone see this? Looks like fun, I'm going to try it.

My Baby is Potty Trained (mostly)

2008-05-15T08:40:00.000-07:00

So there is a funny (ironic) story attached to this. On the second day of no more diapers Miles was sitting on the potty and I had given him a couple of M&Ms as a reward and left for a second to close and start the dishwasher (what I was doing when got that look on his face). I heard a bloodcurdling screech from the bathroom and ran back in to see what was wrong. He was crying and holding his finger and hugging it to his belly. He doesn't speak very clearly yet. I was pretty sure he was saying "eat me!" but that didn't seem quite right. I wondered if he had bitten his own finger in his quest to shove the usually forbidden chocolate in too quickly. Nope, no teeth marks. Just swelling (huh swelling? My mom alarms are really sounding now). The boy is hysterically trying to communicate that something ate him at this point (and pointing to his privates-odd?). So I take him off the toilet (brilliant right?) and notice a big welt on his tummy where he had been cradling the sore finger. My first thought was a spider since I'm paranoid about black widows and brown recluses but my little guy was now pointing into the toilet (not at his privates after all) and yelling "eat me!". I look and there is a twitching wasp drowning in a bowl of pee. Seems like a just end to a creature who would attack a vulnerable little kid with his pants down. I let Miles have the honor of flushing the striped villian away. It was a whole day before he would use the big toilet again and only the downstairs one at that. But I am happy to report that despite this traumatic set-back potty training is going great and the stings (on finger and belly) are just a distant memory.

Here is a page I did (actually not related to potty training, but more based on how I'm a little sad not to have a "baby"anymore) with some of the gorgeous new "Isn't It Rommantic" papers from Inque Boutique and of course Inque Boutique stamps.

I really do make stuff!

2008-04-17T09:06:00.000-07:00

A Little butterfly album that I created for my Mom and A card that I love. I made from the new Inque Boutique Isn't It Rommantic line (Which will be in stores mid-May). Luke is doing much better today too. Thanks for visiting me today!
Nicole

Road Rash

2008-04-14T09:28:00.000-07:00

I just want to point out before I explain what happened that we are a helmet family. We've put helmets on the kids since they were riding in the bike trailer. Mom and dad always wear helmets when appropriate as a good example, and my children have even been known to police their friends about skating/scooting/riding without a helmet.

Today was gorgeous the first really-warm-throw-open-the-doors kind of day we've had this year. Luke really wanted to play video games today but he had used up his allotted 1/2 hour (I'm pretty stingy with screen time and they only get 1/2 hour on non-school days and none on school days). So I told him he could either play outside just for the fun of it or do outside chores to earn a little more time (see I'm kind of nice). He chose play. He was however not happy with the choices and was sulking and not in the mood to go put proper shoes or a helmet on when he grabbed his scooter and started down the hill. I did not see this. Apparently you can not stop a scooter properly without shoes on. so I heard screaming and my hubby saying from the bottom of the stairs "Luke's hurt get off the phone please" (yup I was on the phone, to my sister in Canada... ) I hung up (literally, poor Nancy) and raced down to see my six year old with half his face covered in blood. I can handle this...mostly. I got clothes and we put him in the tub to see what it looked like under the gore and decided a trip to urgent care was probably in order. I was worried that he had broken his cheek bone because he had blood dripping from his eye and he was complaining about his cheek. My very darling neighbor who works for an eye surgeon asked if she could come with me. Since my husband had elected to stay with the other kids I was very happy to accept her offer. They took us right into a room when we got there (I think because the sight of a little kid with blood on his face was disturbing to the other patients, and I had called ahead). I made the mistake of mentioning that the room they had us o into was the one where Lucybelle had gotten her stitches a couple of years ago (duh!). Luke insisted he .did. not. want. stitches. Poor guy. He was really hurting but did really well (though he kept insisting that if I had just let him stay inside and play video games none of this would have happened-so much for healthy fresh air). The doctors and nurses cleaned and prodded and x-rayed and then gave him the good news: nothing could be stitched. Also that he hadn't broken anything. And he could go to school the next day (not likely, He deserves at least one day off after that kind trauma).

Its Monday morning now and he actually looks worse. His eye is completely swollen shut and stuff is draining from his wounds. Plus I've been slathering them with ointment (as directed by the doctor) and the shiny goo makes it look even more frightening.

This our third big injury (unless I'm forgetting one and its not including the minor two stitches mentioned earlier). The first two happened to Max within a couple of months of each other when he was three (eight years ago). So our safety track record isn't terrible (maybe it is, do these things happen to everyone?). But I feel terrible, he's suffering and I can't make it go away. My heart hurts for him.

I've been tagged!

2008-04-04T10:13:00.000-07:00

I've been tagged, the first time ever (not sure what that means LOL)

Here are the Rules about the TAG:
1. Post the name and URL of the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules
3. Write seven things about yourself
4. Put the links in to your 7 favourite blogs
5. Name 7 people you are going to tag
6. Post a comment on their blog to say they've been tagged.

Seven things to love/hate about me...

1. I can't type. I hunt-peck my way through countless hours of computer time. (Scramble, blog posts, message board posts...) and I look at the keys not the screen so remember that if you see typos. :D

2. I ran a half marathon last year and plan to do a longer race this year. (I won't say what it is because I'm afraid I lose motivation if I start telling people about it :D I'm weird that way.)

3. I swam in the Artic Ocean. In 1997 my hubby and I drove up to Inuvik NWT and then hopped a little plane to Tuktoyaktuk and jumped in. It was June but there was still ice in the harbor.

4. I've walked on hot coals. My sister in law Chariti arranged a fire walk for us (with a professional) a few years ago and it was amazing! No, I don't know how it works, no, I didn't burn my feet, yes it was really hot. (We built the bon fire and watched it burn down. then raked out the red-hot coals and took turns walking across them).

5. I have five kids. The last three were born at home and I loved it so much that if I ever change careers I will be a midwife or doula.

6. I truely wish to live a simple lifestyle with minimal "stuff". This wars constantly with deeply ingrained pack rat tendancies that I inherited from my mom and are inherent in every crafter. :D I'll keep working on it.

7. I graduated from WSU in 2000 (summa cum laude, BA Interior Design) but haven't worked outside my home since. I do freelance graphic design and scrapbook related stuff and occaisionally I do some sewing/upholstry projects.

Seven places that I love to visit instead of doing _________(insert housework, yardwork, laundry, cooking, etc. :D )

1. http://sarahbowen.typepad.com/ Sara Bowen
2. http://lilybeanpaperie.typepad.com/lilybeans_paperie/ Melissa Phillips
3. http://lindaalbrecht.typepad.com/simple_things/ Linda Albrecht
4. http://www.melissafrances.typepad.com/ Melissa Francis Blog
5. http://nancydavies.blogspot.com/ Nancy Davies
6. http://ashleygailey.typepad.com/is_this_thing_on/ Ashley Gailey
7. http://renegadehealth.com/blog/ The Renegade Health bog (raw recipes)

I'm tagging:
Nancy, Nyla, Jenn, Dawn, Vittoria, Sunni, and Kim

2008-03-24T16:26:00.000-07:00

It has been way too long since I blogged. I keep thinking that I'll have time to do a "perfect post" and so I put it off. Well now I'm just going to post. Here are some pictures of the bathroom that we just redid. Its very exciting to be able to take a bath downstairs. One fun thing I will point out is that the floor tiles (20" porcelain, made in Italy) only cost $36. Total. We found them at the Habitat for Humanity Builders Surplus Store. Its a great way to save money and keep excess building materials out of landfills and raise money for a great cause. It works sort of like a thrift store for building stuff: Builders and contracters (and regular people) donate items and people buy them at a discount. The money goes towards building Habitat houses in the community. Good deal, no?

Another exciting thing is that I've been trying out a raw vegan way of eating lately. I feel soooo good when I eat this way. Plus i can eat as much as I want and my thyroid has completely shrunk down to a normal size. and bonus: I've lost some weight (not telling how much yet ;) ). My favorite part is how energized that I feel! With the hypothyroidism I haven't felt energized in years, this is so cool I not even (very) tempted to cheat. The food is really good too! I'll post recipes soon.

A Perfect Day!

2008-03-08T15:35:00.000-08:00

This was my Question of The Day at Go Scrapping What would your perfect scrapbooking day be? Mine would be this: In the morning, while I'm fresh and creative I get to work on a project that turns out beautifully and that I've wanted to do for a while and that I can teach as a class. I talk to my sisters and find out Nancy is coming out to visit ! In the afternoon the mail comes and in it is the complimentary issues of Paper Crafts that come when you have something published with them (and the card they pubbed returned). I check my email before I head out to do fun scrapbook related errands and in my in box would be an email from Scrapbook Trends saying that they want the two page LO that I submitted for their vacation idea book. (Yipee) I stop by my LSS and drop off my class samples where they are ooohed and aahed over and people sign up before I leave the store. After that I head over to a different LSS and get to take a class from a famous and talented scrapbooker such as oh, let's say Donna Downey . I come home and post on my favorite message board about my fabulous day and Life is great!

That Actually Happened!!!!! I'll post pictures to prove it.

See! That's me with Donna who is hilarious and incredibly talented I cannot wait for her new book "scrapbooking with Fabric" (due out april 1st). (and "Designing Layouts" due at the same time but fabric is my first love :D ) In honor of that I'll post my favorite fabric scrapbook that I made.

:D Nicole

Two Year Olds

2008-03-04T18:53:00.000-08:00

I have five kids so you'd think I'd have the "Mom thing" down. Right? well having a two year old while the rest are in school is like having only one child again (which I think is ten times harder than having two or three :D ). Its turning out to be a challenge, that is leaving me with a messy house and my scrapbooking undone. On the plus side I always having a willing model for photos and he's plenty cute and entertaining. Here are some more of this month's design team projects:

Cardvaarks Micro Challenge

2008-03-02T22:38:00.000-08:00

I decided to do a card for a micro challenge on Cardvaarks . Of course I've only got a few minutes to load and link before it ends (nothing like last minute to get those creative juices flowing!) So here it is! The flower petals are Inque Boutique and the boots and sentiment are Penguin Pants stamps. the challenge was to just say "NO" to patterned paper. Hard one for me, but I like the graphic simple look of this one. ;)

cheers,
Nicole

Its March!

2008-03-01T16:17:00.000-08:00

Yipee! I feel like spring is in sight.

Karen from Go Scrapping has asked me to be the guest design Team member for this month. I'm honored and was delighted with the fun goodies she sent me to work with.

This is Luke and Lucy hand washing the dishes (which we rarely do since we have a dishwasher). I thought it was so funny how they kept giving each other instructions. Its kind of amazing how life changes from one generation to the next. I washed dishes everyday growing up and for my kids its a fun treat of an activity. :D

Happy Leap Day!

2008-02-28T23:15:00.001-08:00

Happy Leap Day! Our weather has been beautiful lately but I thought I'd show you what it looked like a few weeks ago. we had LOTS of snow (as I know a lot of people did). It was quite fun for the kids but the novelty has worn off and we are embracing the spring-like sunshine we've had the past couple of days.

Tommorow I should be able to post some fun Layouts I did for my guest design team spot at Go scrapping.

2008-02-21T12:42:00.000-08:00

ETA: I deleted the other LO because...IT WAS PICKED UP FOR PUBLICATION!!! yes I'm yelling but with delight not anger...WoooHooo!

Here are a couple more pages. I love both of these ones (still :D ) Also a couple of pics of the lunar eclipse from last night. I broke my favorite lens yesterday :( So now I only have a fully manual one. I guess its time to actually learn how to use my DSLR huh? Maybe I should practice with some still lifes in Lucy's room. Her entire carpet is covered with Pet Shop City. I swear the giant-eyed-plastic-bobble-headed-critters are actually reproducing!

2008-02-20T08:50:00.000-08:00

I am able to post my January Inque Boutique design team stuff today! Now that it has been a few weeks, I'm looking back and not loving the Toy Box LO anymore. I think it is too plain. does that ever happen to you? You make something and really like it but then look back and think I wish I'd done it differently? I really love the others so maybe its a style thing. I like the clean graphic look on other people's pages but not my own? (Or maybe I'm just not good at it :D ) . In anycase it is now a part of our family chronicles so its staying as is. :D

I've got a few more but I think I'll save them until tommorow. ;)

2008-02-19T10:27:00.000-08:00

These photos make it look kind of orangey but Katie now has a layer of permanently pink hair. She has been asking for a while to do this and I decided that it may be a good time to let her experiment with different looks. After all she's a straight A student, in the choir and strings, and she's on the safety patrol (a crossing gaurd). I can't really complain or even give her a good reason why not to do it (as far as I know dyeing your hair pink has no major moral ramifications :D ). She really loves it and I secretly wish I could get away with dying my hair pink ;) .

My Word

2008-02-13T08:51:00.000-08:00

I wasn't going to have an official "word" for the year (though I am a huge Ali Edwards fan http://www.aliedwards.typepad.com/ ) because I tend to get all ambitious then be completely turned off after a while and I didn't want to ruin any words for myself. weird, huh? Well I changed my mind. I'm doing "order" and approaching it with a slow-and-steady-wins-the-race attitude. My home, my finnances, my time...I really need this. On the creative side of things though I just did a layout that was fun and free and not ordered (having a way to rebel might help me apply order where I need it ;) ). It's for this my guest design team spot over at Go Scrapping http://www.goscrapping.ca so I can't show you just yet. Have a wonderful wednesday and hopefully I can implement some order to the frequency of my blogging. :D

I've been up to something...

2008-02-06T16:56:00.000-08:00

Really I have, I havn't been just sitting around here ignoring blogdom. I moved my studio (kicked poor dh out of his office) and I've been busy painting and organizing. I still need to find a good (attractive) lamp and a narrow two drawer fileing cabinet and to put together some inspiring stuff for my walls but I'm almost done. Here's a small sneak peek.

2008-01-25T13:20:00.000-08:00

I picked up this cute Memory Box penguin stamp at A Stamp 4 All yesterday. It reminded me of my daughter LucyBelle because she is so obsessed with penguins and she is a budding artist. She loved it, and when her older sister Katie saw she suggested he would look so great in front of the Eiffel tower. Here is the fun card we came up with.

mini album

2008-01-21T21:25:00.001-08:00

I'm back!

2008-01-18T13:33:00.000-08:00

I've been busy crafting away, I havn't posted because I'm still learning the rules for my Design team and I didn't want to post anything that I was supposed to hold back. This album is for a class at A stamp 4 All. The stamps are Inque Boutique, papers are cosmo Cricket, SEI, and Bazzill.

Now I'm going to go knock down a wall in my own bathroom. I'll let you know how it turns out. :D

I made a slideshow of the whole album on Photobucket but the html code seems to be written incorrectly so here is the direct link-hopefully that works. http://s146.photobucket.com/albums/r261/Nickilund/?action=view&current=7617e92b.pbw

Love This!

2008-01-07T14:46:00.000-08:00

I just visited my sister's blog again and marveled at how talented she is. Anyone looking for inspiration and eye candy should definitely visit http://nancydavies.blogspot.com/ . Hopefully I will have some of my Inque Boutique design team stuff up by the end of today so that I will have fun crafty stuff to look at too. :D

2008-01-02T15:54:00.000-08:00

I'm home! Christmas and New Years were so fun! I am blessed to have married into a wonderful family and I love spending time with them.

I seem to have this weird fetish. Everytime I visit my inlaws I feel compelled to redo their bathrooms. In 96 I rewallpapered the guest bath in green stripes, and tried my hand at cutting matts and picture framing (a disaster, but I've gotten better) and picked out acsessories and a border. In 98 I stencilled the downstairs bath and appliqued towels (This one has been subsequently redone, exquisitly, by my uber talented brother in law). In 99 I helped find wallpaper for the master (they went with something else that time but it looks great) :D. This year we are back to the guest bath again. They replaced the tub toilet, flooring and tile and I picked paint, vanity, mirror, faucet, lighting and some acessories. Richard (BIL) had already laid the tile, Mom and I painted and Eric installed the faucet, vanity and lighting. I loved doing it but I didn't have any time for crafting. So tonight I get to spend working on DT projects and class samples. (I actually can't wait, after a week away, I really miss my scissors and glue).

The first pic is my FIL "hiding" in the newly papered bath in his christmas pageant costume (in 1996). The second is what we did last week.

One more project down...

2007-12-23T14:56:00.000-08:00

...Only a dozen more to go. I've got a day though, right? :D

I wish I could give you a pattern number or something easy but I never make things easy...(its some kind of dysfunction in my brain, if its easy its not worth doing :D ) . I made up the pattern because I couldn't find anything I liked. It took two yards of fabric and two pkges of seam binding if that helps. :D

Merry Christmas!

Jammies are done!

2007-12-22T23:00:00.000-08:00

I made five pairs of PJ bottoms (bought shirts) because we traditionally open (homemade by Mom) them on Christmas Eve. I was having a hard time getting motivated until I decided to make them out of fleece instead of flannel this year. It was great! No finishing edges, the entire five pairs only took about three hours. (A big contrast to the year I made them all men's style pj's with contrasting piping and buttons-those about four or five hours a pair, and I'm a fast sewer). The word "sewer" always makes me giggle when I see it written because I always think of the place plumbing waste goes to. Right now I'm making an apron for my wonderful Mother in law. She collects them and uses them (which I love because she wears her nice clothes to cook in and always seems polished and put together while still being so down to earth and...just wonderful). I love how its turning out. I designed it so I have to stop now because I didn't gauge how much bias tape I needed very well and I ran out. Oh well DH is playing his violin in church tommorow and so I need to go to bed anyway so I can get everyone ready and out the door on time.

I'm a cover girl! (sort of)

2007-12-21T09:36:00.000-08:00

I love the new changes at two Peas in A Bucket and geuss what? They chose my mini album as the icon for their new top ten feature! You can see the home page here: http://twopeasinabucket.kaboose.com/ and the whole album here: http://twopeasinabucket.kaboose.com/pg.asp?cmd=display&layout_id=1268881 or here: http://fromthebottomofmypencilcase.blogspot.com/2007/12/i-love-this-project-i-made-it-for.html In other news I've also been asked to be the March guest designer on another of my favorite sites but I'm not sure if she wants to announce it yet. So I'll keep the name a secret for a bit longer. I'm pretty excited, now I just need to submit to some magazines and I really can call myself a proffessional scrapbooker. :D

Catching Up

2007-12-20T22:10:00.000-08:00

I think I'm a bit behind so here are a couple. The snowman soup in mugs is what we gave to the kids' teachers this year. I drew the card in Adobe Illustrator to match the mugs. The other ones in bags are for the kids' friends. The card is another from the batch of Basic Grey ones I made a week ago. I'm so not prepared for Christmas to be coming this quickly. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to post pictures of five finished PJ pants. Not likely but I can hope. :D

Day 6 Another Snowman

2007-12-18T19:44:00.000-08:00

I'm completely addicted to these little guys now. A friend of mine collects snowmen and has a January birthday (and doesn't read blogs) so this guy will probably be for her.A little tip: when painting and altering boxes, if your lid sticks and is hard to get on and off, rub some microglaze (Judikins) on the inside edge of the lid. Its a kind of wax and it works great.

Snowman Bell Ornament

2007-12-17T16:23:00.000-08:00

I love how this little guy turned out! I used Sculptamold over a styrofoam ball for his head. (Be sure to coat the ball with glue before you try to stick the moldeling stuff to it :D ). The bottom is a big jingle bell that I've had in my stash for a few years. His hat is a page from an old copy of Les Miserables (I reienforced with cardstock). His ruffle is one layer of wrights red metallic rick rack and one layer of drapery silk cut in a strip, pinked on the edge and gathered. He has micca flakes over his head and glitter over his hat. I'd love to know what you think.

More Cards

2007-12-15T19:55:00.000-08:00

Well I've got to cheat a little, these were already made but I didn't want to skip today. It was busy but I'm close to having all my shopping done. I did just find out that I missed a very good friend of mine's birthday :( . She wanted everyone to forget it but I'm going to have to do something late.

Day 3: the Magic of Christmas

2007-12-14T09:30:00.000-08:00

I spent several hours trying to come up with a craft for my sons 5th grade party. It needs to be easy and cheap enough that I could teach it to 25 10 yr olds. Hmmm...Plus it has to appeal to boys and girls. These notebooks were my first idea but were vetoed by ds as being too girlie. So we are going to do pop-up cards instead. To make them I just used the schools die cut machine to cut white paper, two chipboard covers and four pieces of patterned paper, glued the patterned paper to the chipboard, distressed the edges, punched them all with a 1/4 inch hole punch, layered and then bound them with binder rings.

Now about that magic. My kids are getting older and they are challenging Santa's existence. They are also asking for more expensive toys. I've been thinking about when I learned the "truth". Its actually kind of funny in a perverse laugh-at-the-humaness-of-your-parents kind of way. My Mom has her quirks and phases and one of them that began when I was five or six was that christmas should only be religous (I believe the words "Satan Claus" were used). We also had no tree. It was weird, I'm embarrassed ...Sooo whenever I'd go to my Dad's house at Christmas time he would work really hard to convince me that there was indeed a Santa. (They must have been really frustrated with each other). It worked, I was little and I wanted to believe. I also knew that he wasn't actually "real" but that is the fun of being a creative person. I could wholeheartedly believe in something I knew was not "real"

In anycase with my own kids I've wanted to prolong the magic, without losing the true meaning of Christmas, without forcing my kids to believe, without taking away a special and fun part of the season...Basically to find a balance. So when they say "Is Santa really real?" I say "I believe in him". And they let me pretend while they find their own version "believing" in Santa.

Day 2

2007-12-12T10:57:00.000-08:00

Okay I know I said cards, but I'm thinking projects now because there is just too much fun stuff to do at this time of year. so these ornaments are from a project I found in the 2007 Better Homes and Gardens Creative Collection Holiday Crafts Issue I did a ton of stuff for the first time with these guys: sculpting with instant papier mache, using mica flakes, copying a project almost exactly...:D I wish I could have found more "vintage" looking tinsel pipe cleaners because mine look lame and I need to find some glass glitter (or make it). I do like how they turned out and can't wait to apply the techniques I learned to my own designs.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-11T19:48:00.000-08:00

I'm very inspired by all the "12 days of" things I've been seeing on my favorite blogs. So I'm going to try a 12 cards of christmas myself. This cute guy is my first. He's super easy, made from Basic Grey undressed chipboard and sticker, with a wool felt scarf. Inside the card says "peace". The stamps are actually one unmounted clear stamp from Rubber Soul that I cut apart the words on. :D

2007-12-05T14:06:00.000-08:00

I love this project! I made it for a friend of mine, her son is in Iraq and this is going to be a little reminder of home. I'm happy to give it up for that but I'm going to have to make another one because I really love it!

Happy News for Me!

2007-12-03T13:12:00.000-08:00

Look here http://www.inqueboutique.typepad.com/ ! I'm so excited and I can hardly believe it! The other DT members are so talented and accomplished... I kept expecting Kathleen to call me back and tell it was a mistake. But no mistake, I'm on the Inque Boutique Design Team!

Two More Holiday Cards

2007-11-28T16:57:00.000-08:00

I love kid art. So when my six year old son handed me a picture on which he had fashioned a tree out of triangles made entirely of layers of lined notebook paper ooutlined in green and yellow highlighter I was thrilled. Even more than usual because I knew I was going to scraplift his design. So here it is and he gets a design credit (thanks Luke). The other card is made by ironing wool felt over some of my Inque Boutique stamps to emboss it. Some tips here: don't use the acrylic felt-it doesn't work. Don't use polymer (clear) stamps-its not as heat resistant as rubber. Wider, chunkier designs work better. (The buttons are also stamped with IB stamps then just embossed with white embossing powder. The papers are Love Elsie, World Win, BG Figgy Pudding, Reminisce, and Scenic Route).

Hmmmm...I wonder if polyester felt would work?

Finally a free Moment!

2007-11-26T15:37:00.000-08:00

I've had so much fun with guests and food and preparing for Christmas that I was so glad to take a minute today to do this page. all the stamps from Inque Boutique and the paper is from Fancy Pants and Basic Grey.

Online Card Class

2007-11-16T17:43:00.000-08:00

To celebrate my new blog I've decided to post a free online class. The chipboard christmas cards class that I taught at A Stamp 4 All was well recieved but the timing wasn't great so I'd like to share it with you. If you already paid and took the class at the store, you can email me and I'll do something extra for you ;) . The card is A2 size so you'll need size the patterns accordingly. Hope you like it, please let me know what you think.

Star Card Instructions

1. Cut blue bazzil to 5 ½” x 8 ½” and fold in half to form A2 size card base.
2. Use mat pattern to cut background mat from Bo Bunny Wild Berry (red dotted paper). Ink the edges using a sponge and brown ink.
3. Using spray adhesive, Xyron Cheetah adhesive, Gel Medium or Modge Podge adhere the (small, uncut) patterned papers to the chipboard. Burnish with a bone folder to remove wrinkles and bubbles.
4. Cut out numbered pieces of star pattern. TIP: The numbers will help you reassemble the star once the pieces are cut and covered so I generally use Hermafix or another removable adhesive and leave the patterns stuck until I’m done.
5. Using removable adhesive such as Hermafix, position the star patterns on the chipboard/patterned paper, using the template as a guide the make sure that the paper designs are right side up.
6. Cut out using heavy duty scissors or a (guillotine style) paper trimmer.
7. Using a sanding block or emery board sand the edges of each piece to “seal” the paper to the chipboard and smooth out any bumps. TIP: Its easy to separate the layers of the chipboard in this step so watch the angle of your sanding tool and try to keep it about 45°.
8. Ink the edges of each piece with a sponge and brown ink.
9. Cut a rectangle 1 ¾” x ½” from the remaining green piece.
10. Stamp the small star and word “Peace” from the Rubber Soul clear Holiday Stylized stamp set with black ink on the rectangle.
11. Using the template as a guide reassemble the star pieces on the card and adhere using double stick tape. Place and adhere the rectangle in the lower right corner of the mat.

You’re done! Design and patterns by Nicole Lund ©2007

I'll love you till my fountain pen runs dry...

2007-11-13T19:14:00.000-08:00

Okay a different one.

2007-11-13T10:40:00.001-08:00

I've decided that I need a blog that has just my stuff to keep as my very own scrap resume/personal journal. I'll still be managing the A Stamp 4 All blog and my sisters and I wiil continue to have our Fly The Coop Blog. But this one's just for me. So to start off with a "Blast" here's a card I made the other day using Inque Boutique's Space Cadet Set. (I love this stamp company!)