Thursday, February 5, 2009

Busy, busy, busy!


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.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

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).

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Mini Cupcake pan Advent Calendar

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



Thursday, October 30, 2008

Penguin Pants




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

Thursday, October 2, 2008

I love fall



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!

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Catching Up (again)




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 ;-) ).

Monday, July 14, 2008

Ten Minutes, Yay me!



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.