Sickie McSickerson. . .

The bug that my husband has had for over a week found its way over to me, and now I sound like a frog or a grumpy old man, depending on who you ask. Needless to say, my spare time has been consumed with sleep. Hopefully, I'll be back in action this weekend, but no promises. Back to bed. . .

How Exciting!

Hi there! Just wanted to let you all know that one of my cards was featured in an A Muse round-up HERE on the A Muse blog. Mine is the third one on the second row. Check it out!

Happy V-Day!

Well, the magical day is finally here! I know I had promised to show you pictures of my extra-special Valentines before the big day, but in classic form, I was up so late making them that I forgot to photograph them before I sealed the envelopes. So, I had to wait until one of my friends got hers and could bring it back to me to photograph! (Thank goodness I have understanding friends!)

Anyway, here's how my very limited-edition Valentines turned out:



















I suppose there are two stories behind this Valentine. The first (and most obvious one to me) is that you have to know that this is a specifically Twilight-themed card. Twilight is a four book teen series (and now a movie), and the people in the picture are two characters from the movie, Edward and Bella. Every girl I've talked to that's read it, myself included, is in love with Edward. (It's the way he's written etc. etc.) Which is why this card is hopefully funny, when each of my friends realizes Edward's in love with her.

The second story has to do with how this idea came about. Right after Christmas, I was in Long's with a friend. As we were checking out, she observed with annoyance that the Valentine's Day displays were already up. I wondered aloud if there were going to be Twilight valentines, since it was such a small movie and I was sure that they didn't have a licensing deal or anything. The look of hope and excitement I got from the girl cashier was priceless. At that moment, I realized that I was going to have to make some valentines for my Twilight-y friends, and voila! There you go.

For the record, there is a note on the back that reads, "Hope your Valentine's Day is filled with sparkle!"

Despite my dorky Twilight valentines, I couldn't let the day go by without making a card for my actual valentine. Phil got a custom card that related to his gift:















He's more of a gangster movie kind of guy than a Twilight guy, so I got him a season of the Sopranos and uploaded it onto his iPod.

And so another successful Valentine's Day passes. Onto my birthday!

It Snuck Up on Me, I Swear!

Well, despite my best efforts, Valentine's Day snuck up on me like a ninja in the dark. How does that always seem to happen?

I think I got sidetracked with my blue ATCs (you can go HERE for more information), but I hit a roadblock with them. More on that later.

I'm working hard at trying to get caught up for the big V-Day, and one of my goals was to come up with treats for my volunteers and co-workers.

A stamping friend (Hi Pat!) had e-mailed me a link to this tutorial on Splitcoaststampers, and when I saw it, I knew I had to do it. A meeting I was supposed to be at until 11pm last night got postponed at the last minute, and I suddenly had time to get them made.

Here's a few of them:








I made them all using Bazzill paper for the base and then Stampin' Up chocolate chip designer paper for the wrapper. I love that they package together several different patterns in the same color scheme. It makes coordinating things so much easier! The scalloped circle is cut out of sparkly Paper Company paper that I got at Michael's, and the sentiment was created in Adobe InDesign and printed in color. If you're interested in getting the sentiment as a PDF, make a comment on this post.

Here's how you open it to get your treats!













The directions said 4 Ghirardelli chocolates could fit in the box, but I kept it to three with some wiggle room.

Now, onto my actual Valentines. I figure if I can get them in the mail tomorrow morning, they can make it to where they need to go by V-Day. So, I'll be working on them tonight and hopefully blogging about them tomorrow! Ciao!

Monday, Monday. . .

Hello there, and happy Monday! Did you have a good weekend? I did. The weather out here has been strangely warm, which bodes badly for our water levels but great for outdoor fun.

I went for a walk along the Tiburon waterfront. With views of the San Francisco skyline, this is where all the rich and famous people live. Can you imagine waking up to views like this?









Anyway, after the walk (and some errand running), I finally cleared my head enough to get started on my ATCs.

**Spoiler alert! Stop reading here if you're participating in Kim's Valentine's Day ATC swap and want to be surprised.**

I signed up to participate in not one but two ATC swaps that are coming due this month. I just mailed off the first set, and I thought I'd share how they turned out.














These ones are for Kim's Valentine's Day-themed A Muse ATC swap. Kim's a stamping "neighbor" of mine (she lives across the Bay in a different direction), so of course I had to participate. The patterned paper is by 3 Bugs in a Rug and it's called Sugar Cane I thought it would be fun to do some bright colors but keep the pink and this paper fit the bill. The stamps are both by A Muse. The sheer ribbon is also by A Muse, and the gemstones are by Mrs. Grossman's. I colored in my little monsters with Copics and glittered up their hearts with Christmas Red Stickles.

As I work on my ATCs, I always end up with funny little scraps; this time, it was skinny strips of my patterned paper. I thought I'd try and use them to make a card for Kim.













Since they were out on my desk, I used all of the same "ingredients" for my card, except of course the addition of my thank you sentiment.

Well, off to do that second set of ATCs, this time for Lee Anne's swap. There's still spaces if you want to sign up!