February 21 2010 Update

It's been ages since I've posted. So far this month has been a bummer, health-wise. I managed to pick up an upper respiratory infection. Who could help it? It seems everywhere you go someone is hacking up a lung or sneezing. My problem was that the coughing left me with laryngitis so bad that it was pointless for me to go in to work two days last week. I was so sick that I didn't even climb the stairs to my craft studio. I just was not feeling like myself. I vegged out on the computer or in front of the television. Didn't even pick up a book. Good news is that I'm now on the mend both physically and creatively.

I went to a class at my Local Scrap Shop yesterday and finally met NESF member, Reva Z. We each made three cute cards using stamps and Copic Markers.

That's Reva at the far right.

I got a new cardmaking kit in the mail from Annie's Attic on Friday. This month the technique is quilling. Quilling involves taking very thin strips of paper and curling it around a stylus or toothpick and then shaping the coil into leaves, petals, etc. and gluing onto your project. Time consuming does not even begin to describe it. But, what the hey?, I'll give it a go. For the very first project I had to form 13 itty bitty heart shapes, 3 stem shapes, 3 little coils and some loopy leaves to make what looks like a spray of irises. I got discouraged when they weren't all perfect (yes, I realize this was my first attempt at this craft but I expected immediate excellence). It took me 2 HOURS to make all those tiny shapes while I was watching Women's Curling at the Olympics (did you ever hear of "curling" before this year?). I thought curling was very apropos while I was quilling, since I, too, was "curling". When I tried to fit the pieces into the opening in my card and they didn't fit I got very discouraged and put it aside for a day. Yesterday I had an epiphany...change the opening to fit the flowers!
See how tiny some of the pieces were? I wish I could find my bent tip tweezers. That would have made my life easier.

We had a death in our extended family last week and I wanted to express my condolences with a handmade card for each of the families touched by the loss. When I was at the Clubhouse yesterday I selected some of my favorite Bo Bunny dot paper in a muted grey with white dots and a sparkly black paper for an accent. At the stamp shop next door I picked up a simple stamp and some flower flocking (say that three times fast). I was aiming for simple but elegant. I stamped the image on 2 x 3" white cardstock and colored it in with my Copic Markers. I cut the Bo Bunny paper into 4" x 5.25" rectangles and notched the corners. The black paper was cut on my Cricut using Accent Essentials into a rectangle to mount the stamp on. I wrapped black organdy ribbon around the grey rectangle, glued on the sparkly black rectangle and then adhered the stamp using dimensionals. I added a bow, a sentiment, some flower flocking and a sparkly star.

Rocky did a dumb thing yesterday. He must have been miffed with us for leaving him alone in the morning so he grabbed the new bag of cough drops that I had on my night table. John found the bag in the living room but 28 cough drops (and their paper wrappings) have "disappeared". It's really not like Rocky to eat something like that, but that's the only explanation for the disappearance. He's not coughing and doesn't seem any the worse for his experience.

Saving the best news for last...Deep River Snack Company just made their smartest business decision. They hired my daughter as their office manager and assistant to the president! Hooray! I even like their potato chips! I knew they would be dazzled by Debbie when she temped for them last week.