More Copic Colored Cheekies (I ToldYou I Was Addicted)

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!

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

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

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

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 :).

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! :)

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! :)