Thank God For You

It's day two of the Sweet n' Sassy Stamps blog hop, and that means it's my turn! Woot! I used one of the sentiments from their new set called A True Friend today. I love this set. I'm such a sentiment junkie! I can never get enough sentiments, and love that these are all unique - not things I've seen elsewhere. Oooo... I just noticed that the set is 20% off right now, so if you're thinkin' about adding to your collection, this would be a great time to do it!

The two different DP's (one on the arrow, one on the background) are from Basic Grey's Scarlet's Letter collection. I've had this paper pack for some time and really wasn't too sure about some of the papers in it, but I am loving them for kind of a grunge look like this. How cool is that?!

I stamped the sentiment twice - once on whisper white, and once on creamy caramel, and then tore the white one in half and adhered it to the caramel for a different twist. I hope you like it! The black dots on the sentiment are actually sticky pearls colored black with my 100-black copic, and I have three screwhead brads at the bottom.

I'm the last blog on the hop today, so be sure to pick it up again tomorrow, starting with Christi, then on to Cindy Sandy Janette and back on the SNSS Blog to wrap it up!

Enjoy the day!

Bath Time!

These pictures of Jack were taken on New Years Eve, but I forgot to post them. I just found them today while I was flipping through my photo folders, and thought I'd share.

I love baby toes. :) And baby toes in water and just as cute as can be!



What's cuter than baby toes? Baby fat! Isn't it sad that fat doesn't remain cute into adulthood? lol.

The only way we can keep Jack happy in the tub is to let him chew on this lid. And yes, it has to be *this* lid.

My blue-eyed boy:

Count Your Blessings

I needed to make a masculine birthday card last week (I know what you're thinking..."so where is it?" lol!), and this is what I came up with. When I got to this point, I started thinking about what else I could add.... I was going to tie a bow and adhere it to the bottom of that ribbon and use some dew drops on the sentiment. Then I sat back and took a good long look at my card and realized it was soooooo not a masculine card. LOL. So, rather than start from scratch, I just stopped. Because in my mind, minimal = masculine, even if vines and flowers are involved. bwahahahaha! Thank goodness this went to a close friend who gets me, and won't be offended! Maybe I'll luck out and he'll read this and email later to say he had no idea it wasn't masculine. Ok, maybe that's a stretch... *grin*

I used one of my all time favorite color combos on the card: Old Olive and Eggplant Envy. The background stamps are from SU!'s Baroque Motifs, and the sentiment is from an older SU! set as well, though I can't think of the name of it at the moment. Oh, and note how there are also flowers stamped inside the card. Yeeeaaaahhhh. They're masculine flowers, so drop it. HA!

Today is also the first day of another Sweet n' Sassy Stamps Blog Hop! I'm in tomorrow's group, but if you want to hop through today's blogs, check out the info in my sidebar!

I also have to play along with a little tag I got recently. My friend Debby B. tagged me in a photo challenge. The rules for this challenge are - Go to where you store your photos on your computer. Go to the SIXTH folder and pick the SIXTH photo. Post that photo on your blog along with a SHORT story about it. Tag SIX people and leave a comment on their blog or email them letting them know you chose them.

Well, here is that photo... Actually, this is the 7th photo, but only because the 6th one was totally obstructed by the nurse, and kinda dumb. Basically the same shot though:

This is my youngest, Jack, just after delivery when he was being all cleaned and measured. AWWWWWWW! :) Hard to believe he's a thunder thigh totin' ten month old now!

Wanna play along? Then consider yourself tagged! If you decide to play, let me know. I'd love to see your random photo!

Wednesday Weigh-In #3

How is everyone doing this week? I'm sorry for my delay in posting. Every time I sat down to do this today, I was distracted by something else. Ugh. I've done pretty well this week, but once again am struggling with choices. I haven't always made the best choices in terms of food, so I'm beating myself up a little over that, but I guess it's all part of it. I lost 2.5 lbs this week, so I'm down 10 lbs total. That feels good, but I know I have a lot ahead of me yet (of the 28 I pledged, and then beyond).

I think I only exercised once this week, and even then it was only some crunches and push ups. Nothing significant. I need to break out my dvd's and get to work!

So, how about you? How did you do?

Luv You

Well, it's challenge time girls!! Here are the deets:

LOVE My Pink Cat Stamps – DT Challenge
hosted by Janna Hull

Challenge Description:
Since Valentine's Day is coming up fast, I have a LOVE themed Challenge for you! But this isn't any old love themed challenge, this is a special one! My challenge for you is to create a card or project with at least four elements (you can have more if you would like), but four of your elements have to spell LOVE. For example, you can use Layers, Ovals, Violet, and Embellishments; see spells love. Or you could use Lily, Owls, Very pretty sequins and Emerald brads. Spells love. The possibilities are endless and yes, V can stand for very! Just remember that four of your elements must spell LOVE. Have Fun, can't wait to see what you come up with!

Date the challenge ends:
Tuesday February 10th, 5 pm EST

Requirements:
A Pink Cat Studio stamp must be used as the main stamp on the card or project. It is okay to use stamps from other companies as well. Your entry can be a card or any type of 3D project.To be eligible for the prize you must upload your card before the deadline to your PaperCraftPlanet gallery and include the tag PCSDTC1. You may enter only 1 project for this challenge. If you have questions about this challenge, please post them in the challenge discussion thread in the Pink Cat Studio group on Paper Craft Planet. Here is a link to the group: http://www.papercraftplanet.com/group/pinkcatstudiolilyandbillylovers

Prize:
On February 11th, a winner will be chosen by a random draw from all of the challenge participants. The winner will receive a grab bag of Pink Cat Studio stamps. The winner will be announced in the PCP challenge discussion thread and on the Pink Cat Studio blog. Some cards from the challenge will be displayed on the PCS blog and all entries will go into the PCP gallery.

SO! That was the challenge that was issued, and that card up there is my LOVE card. I used the "Luv You" stamp, and Old Olive Paper, on a Valentine's card, with a heat Embossed sentiment! Get it? I thought this would be a cute card for my little guys to give to Grandma for Valentine's day. :)

My card also fits in with this week's Belli Challenge, which was to "make a cake" in celebration of one year of Belli's. You can see more details on Chris's blog, but the jist of it was that we had to choose five ingredients that we would like in our cake, and then each ingredient would be assigned to a card element. My elements were brads, DP, ribbon, scalloped punch, and buttons. What? You don't see the button? It's behind the main image. I swear. *wink* In hindsight, I could have tossed a button up in that top corner, but I just didn't think of it at the time. Be sure to click over to the other Belli girl blogs in my sidebar to see what everyone else came up with!

Now, I have to ask you a question... This is muy importante (yes, I took Spanish, and yes, that's about all I remember). How do y'all organize your unmounted stamps? Because I need a system. I have been keeping all of mine in Sterlite drawers, but I am just getting too many now to keep track of all of them, and I find myself having to empty the drawer completely in order to find anything lately. And then there are my Pink Cat stamps that are on EZ Mount, that just sit in a pile on my desk. What do you do with your EZ Mounted stamps (btw - I LOVE EZ MOUNT!)? What do you cling them to? Help!!

Any thoughts or ideas would be most appreciated!

A Million Little Things

Today is another CBC Challenge day, and this week we have a color challenge:


I went with Rose Red instead and Pink Pirouette instead of Real Red and Pink Passion because I need to place a paper order in the worst way and had to make due with what I had on hand! Here's my card:

The image and "BFF" sentiment are both from the new Lily and Billy Sweethearts set by Pink Cat Studio. The Friendship sentiment is by Whipper Snapper. The brown and silver DP can be found over at i {heart} papers, and is called Diamonds and Pearls. The layout is a flipped version of this weeks Mojo Monday sketch challenge.

Be sure to click over to the other CBC Chick's blogs (listed in my sidebar), and if you decide to play along this week link back to Courtney's blog for a chance to win a little something!

Enjoy the day,

I Chews U

Guess who's ba-ack?! BUBS! Here he's paired with another senitment from the set - "I Chews U". I love the sentiment, and thought it would be especially appropriate for an edible valentine. I found this little clear plastic box in my stash and filled it with red tinsel and Reese's Peanut Butter Hearts (all of which are conveniently hidden by the foil). I thought it would make a cute valentine for someone special.... and let me tell you, they have to be dang special to get my Reese's hearts!!! I lovvvvve Reese's peanut butter cups to the moon and back.

Pretty much everything I used is from i {heart} papers, and Kate is having a HUGE sale right now to make room for all of the things she is going to order at CHA. Be sure to click over to the store and take advantage of the sales when you get a chance.

i {heart} papers supplies:
Bubs The Beaver (Our Craft Lounge)
Labels 2 Nestabilities
Flying High DP
Coffee Shimmerz
5/8" Pink Twill Ribbon

A few pictures...

Here are a few pictures Darrin snapped today. I was getting ready to head off to a meeting (helping to plan our 15 year high school reunion), and my Mom had just stopped by to pick up Henry for the afternoon.

Here is Jack with Grandma:

Mama with Jackie:

And a few of me reading with the boys. We've tried to instill a love of books in both of the boys, and it has definitely worked with Henry. He will sit and "read" for hours, and then beg you to read more. Jack is a little more distracted than Henry ever was, but he still seems to enjoy it from time to time. These are two of Henry's favorite books:

Note the bare toes on Jack. We cannot keep socks on this kid to save our lives. No matter what we do, he manages to get them off. He can even de-sock in the saucer, where he can't even reach his toes! It's crazy! I've threatened to buy him tights, but that didn't go over too well with Papa. ;)

A Year of Cupcakes

Taylor is celebrating the one year anniversary of the Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge! Each of the cupcake sketch samplers has designed their own sketch to celebrate. I'm featuring Stephanie Hargis' sketch challenge. You can check out the sketch on her blog and find out about the prize you can win by participating!

Don't forget to check out Taylor's blog, the anniversary celebration headquarters, for all of the sketch challenges as well as an AWESOME grand prize for one random winner who participates in ALL 9 sketch challenges! We hope you'll help us celebrate this yummy occasion!

I was thrilled when Taylor asked me to help with the anniversary celebrations! I hope you'll play along! Cindy Lawrence and Michelle Barnett are also featuring samples with this sketch, so click over to see what they came up with!

Taylor also had this super cute badge made for anyone who is chosen as the Featured Cupcake Sampler on her weekly challenges. I'm honored that I'll be able to display it on my sidebar (this is the card that won me the honors back in August, if you're wondering!).

The cupcake stamp I used on the card is from Inkadinkado's Birthday Cupcake set. The DP is from the Washington Apple collection by Stampin' Up!, on a base of Bashful Blue with Pumpkin Pie ribbon.

Enjoy the day....and a cupcake!

Thank You

Here is a quick card made with the Poppin' Pastels technique. The images are from the new Sweet n' Sassy Stamps release called Floral Flourishes. The DP is from Basic Grey's Eva pad. I think the little metal tag came from Michael's, but I've had it so long I don't even remember.

Speaking of Sweet n' Sassy stamps, I'm excited to tell you that Korin has decided to start a Copic Junkie's Club! Marker clubs are a great way to build (or start) your marker collection. You pay a set monthly fee to get so many markers per month, over a span of say, six months. If you think you might be interested in this, Korin started a yahoo group (HERE) where you can find more information. There is also more information on the SNSS blog.

It's Always Something...

This morning my husband came into the bedroom at 7:30am. Sarah, are you awake?. *sigh* I am now. He climbed into bed and said he thought the hot water heater was broken, because he just took a cold shower. Feel me, he said, as if I didn't believe him and really wanted to be awake enough to move my arm. I slapped a hand over his way, and sure enough, he was cold. Ok, I'll call a plummer this morning... Lemme sleep.

An hour later, he was back. GOOSE! You have to get up! Yes, he calls me Goose. He has for years, and I have no idea how it started. After leaving the room an hour earlier, he just happened to go down to the basement to check on the water heater, and found water gushing into the laundry room from the bathroom. When he came upstairs, he told me there was a leak in the pipe under the sink. So, being the handyman of the house *wink*, I got up and got dressed, and schlepped down to take a look. As it turns out, there was no leak... there was a tidal wave. And it wasn't coming from under the sink, it was coming from under the vanity... and under the wall... and crap, is that water coming in through the cracks in the wall? Yep. Niiiice. Now I'm willing to tackle a lot of home projects. I learned quite a bit by watching my grandpa work on homes over the years, and feel pretty confident with just about any task you throw my way, but I knew I'd been beaten by Noah and the great flood that was about to come crashing through my wall.

I went upstairs to call the plummer, and was told they could be at my house "around noon". Umm, excuse me? It's 8am, and I have a wall of water trying to break into my house. Noon does not work. She made some calls, switched some appts, and said a tech would be at the house within the hour. Ok, fine. 9am comes.... no tech. 9:30.... no tech. I call back only to find he's "minutes away". *sigh* Fine. He comes at 9:40, and I trust Darrin to the business of getting everything squared away while I take care of the kids.

Darrin comes upstairs about an hour later, and tells me the repair is going to cost us $250. Not great news, but certainly not as bad as it could have been. The pipes burst behind the wall, and needed to be replaced. I asked him how big of a hole they had to make, and "the whole wall is gone" was his reply. Are you kidding me? Then he says, "I never liked that old vanity anyhow." WHAT? The vanity, too? OMG. I must have looked like one of those cartoon cats, where you see the $ signs rolling through their eyes like symbols on a slot machine. My husband, however, was unphased.

Let me give you a little history.... When we moved into our 100+ year old house, we learned the the southeast corner of the basement is an old cistern that has been closed off. Since day one, he has been asking me to let him tear that basement wall out so he can see what is in the cistern. Why would you want to do that? I'll tell you what's in there. Nastiness. Bugs. Maybe even a dead body. Who the hell cares?! Let it be! But no, he refused. Every six months or so for the last ten years, we've gone through the same discussion. Him wanting to tear the wall out, and me knowing that if he did he'd never be able to repair it himself, and it would just sit, or be one more thing for me to do, or one more unnecessary repair bill for us. So when he came upstairs to tell me they had to break through the wall to get to the pipes, he was almost giddy. Well, I said, you finally got to break through your wall. Congratulations. What did you find behind it?

*pause*

*sad face*

Another wall.

BWA HA HA HA HA HA!!!! The cistern is still cemented off, and the pipes were between the cement and the paneled basement wall. So I said the only thing I could at that moment...

*shrug*

Sorry, Geraldo.

ROTFLMAO!

Once I got Henry down for his nap this afternoon, and had Jack happy in his saucer, I grabbed my camera and took it down to the basement to capture the carnage. As it turns out, my husband is quite the exaggerator. Not only is the ugly vanity still intact (albeit very dirty), but only a small piece of the wall had to be removed. That piece was destroyed, but it is easily fixable once everything dries out.

Here is a picture of the cement that still keeps my husband from the contents of our cistern, our $250 little black pipe, and my ugly bathroom vanity:



I was pleasantly surprised to see that the paneling had been put up right over the cement. I thought there would be plaster under it that would need repairs too, as the opposite wall of the bathroom is plastered. Phew! I lucked out this time. :)

Those were the days...

Pretty much anyone who has talked to me for as much as a minute in the past six months has heard at least part of my sob story about Jack, and how he has stopped sleeping. We have tried everything to get him to nap and sleep better through the night, but nothing seems to be working. I've read every book, taken all of the advice, and he has laughed his cute little baby laugh in the face of it all.

Our pediatrician recently referred us to the sleep clinic at the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, and we had that appointment last week. After a 90-minute check-up, we were told there were no physical problems with Jack. Although this was a huge relief (we feared Apnea), it was a little disheartening because it meant we still had no answers, and therefore no solutions. The nurse who performed the exam gave us two suggestions. The first was to switch up his bedtime routine so that nursing was not the last thing that happened before sleep. We have tried this for the last week, and if anything it has made the situation worse. We figured it would take time for him to grow accustomed to the new routine, but that doesn't really seem to be working out in the least.

Another suggestion was to give him Melatonin, which is a hormone the body produces when it gets dark to make you drowsy, fall asleep, and stay asleep. Some children do not make enough Melatonin, and need to be supplemented. She suggested giving .5 mg per night, a half hour before bedtime. We've done so for two nights now (had troubles finding it at first), and it hasn't phased him in the least. *sigh*

I've now resorted back to my theory that the thing that keeps him up/wakes him up is intestinal, having to do with his bowel movements (or lack there of). Mylicon doesn't touch it (of course), and the pediatrician tells me there is nothing stronger on the market that is safe for him... well, except for Reglan, but after a little research on that, it doesn't fall into my "safe" category either. Reglan is a motility agent though, so I did a little research on natural motility agents, and the only thing I'm coming up with are prunes. Sooooo, starting today, Jack is on an all prune diet. LOL. Totally kidding. :) But I am going to make it a point to give him at least a serving a day in an effort to get him regular (sometimes he is, sometimes he's not) and see if that helps with the sleep as well.

If you're wondering how I came to this theory, well, I've had it for some time and it was quickly debunked by doctors. But, sometimes you just have to stick with that mama gut feeling and run with it. The two times he woke up last night, I happened to be right by his room, and went in quickly. I could hear him passing gas as he was struggling to stay asleep, but the gas won, and he was up.

The nurse at the clinic did say that he seems to be suffering from "infant insomnia" and that he will grow out of it eventually, which I'm sure is true... it's just this in between time that's difficult.

Lunch

The better part of one's life consists of his friendships.

~Abraham Lincoln

Those who are reading this and know me well, know I've always held my friendships in high regard. Although our paths may separate for months or years, I can think of no friend I've ever had that I wouldn't welcome back into my life for an hour, a day, a month, or years. I know some people think this is odd, but it's just who I am, who I have always been, and I have no intention of changing.SO, when I was recently given the opportunity to reconnect with an old friend from high school, I went for it. We hung in the same circle in high school, and then life kind of got in the way and we went our separate ways around 1996. We touched base again in 2000 for a bit, and that was the last I'd heard from him until about a month ago when we reconnected online.

We've chatted off and on for the past month, mostly about how many similarities there are in our lives, between both us and our spouses. I've joked that we're like a walking Lincoln-Kennedy penny (did you have one of those? My grandma saved one for me. :o)). We've also exchanged recipes, and just enjoyed mundane chit chat about diaper rashes and lunatic deer on the rampage. In short, its been fun.

About a week ago, he found out his neice was being baptised in Oshkosh, and he was planning to come up for the celebration with his dad, so we arranged some time to meet for lunch. In keeping with my Pound For Pound challenge, we hit Subway. It was actually kind of funny, because this woman was milling around and we were both saying how we thought we knew her but couldn't place her. We ended up realizing she was the manager.... the same manager that worked there when we would go in high school... Weird.Being the good blogger that I am (HA!), I remembered my point n' shoot, and she was kind enough to take a snapshot for me:

Aaron and his wife Kara are now living just outside of Darrin's hometown. Darrin and I are hoping to get back to the area this summer to see his family, and will hopefully be able to hang out with our new old friends a little at the same time.

Wednesday Weigh-In #2

Week 2 of the PFP Challenge is over! Woot! How did everyone do? I didn't get a chance to weigh myself this morning, having been woken by my frantic husband telling me the news that water was gushing in from the basement wall. Bah. Anyhow, so I'm going with yesterday's loss, which puts me down another 3.5 lbs for a total of 7.5 lbs so far, or about 26% of my goal. So far, so good. I haven't been as good about doing my exercises this week, but made it through another good week of eating earlier, drinking more water, and not ordering out, so I'm glad for that.

Here is another recipe from my friend, and "big sister" Pat:

Hamburger-Potato casserole

8 ounces ground 90% lean beef or turkey
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cups(16-ounce can) cut green beans,rinsed and drained
1(10 3/4-ounce)can Healthy Request cream of mushroom soup
3/4 cup frozen whole kernel corn, thawed
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cups water
1 1/3 cups (3 ounces)instant potato flakes
1/3 cup nonfat dry milk
1/3 cup(1 1/2 ounces) shredded Kraft reduce-fat cheddar cheese

Oven 350
spray an 8 by 8 backing dish with butter-flavored spray.In large skillet brown meat and onion.Add green beans,mushroom soup,corn,and pepper. Mix well. Pour into baking dish. Bake 20 minutes.Take out while preparing potato flakes. Cook water until boiling. Remove from heat. Stir in potato flakes and dry milk. Mix. Layer potato mixture on top of meat mixture. Lightly spray potatoes with butter-flavored cooking spray. Sprinkle cheddar cheese on top. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes
4 servings

300 calories,8 gm fat,19 gm protein, 38 gm carbohydrate,3 gm fiber
Diabetic: 2 meat,2 starch,1 vegetable
Weight Watchers 6 points

She told me that if everyone is good, she'll share a dessert next week. :) So BE GOOD! hee hee.

Pat (or anyone who knows), is there anything I can substitute for the dry milk? I'd just hate to buy a box for only this, when I know I wouldn't use it for anything else...

So, how is everyone doing this week? I was thinking the other day that if you leave a comment, you can click the link to subscribe to comments via email, and then you can see what everyone else posts as well. Or just check back. Or don't worry about it. LOL. Whatever works!

It sounded like everyone did pretty well last week I hope this was a repeat performance!

Enjoy the day!

Copic Marker Thoughts II

For those who aren't familiar, I have a pretty long post titled Copic Marker Thoughts. If you haven't read it already, you might want to start there. I wrote that back in May 2008 when I was still considering whether or not to buy Copic's, where to get them, and which colors to start with. Ideas about all of those topics can be found in that post. I also started a thread on Splitcoast Stampers around the same time (asking more questions), and that thread can be found HERE.

I decided to do a second Copic marker post because I've gotten some questions in the past few weeks, and I thought this would be the best way to answer everyone. I am by no means a professional, and will never claim to be. I am, however, very opinionated. LOL. So I have thoughts, and I'm not afraid to share them! :)

The first question was about what paper I like to use with my markers. My preference is Papertrey Ink's Stamper's Select white cardstock. The paper is thick though, which I know some people say is a bad thing (because it absorbs a lot of ink). As a stamper though, I hate flimsy paper. I like sturdy paper, and if it soaks up a little more ink than it needs to, well, so be it. I get the blended effect I like, and the sturdiness I like, and therefore I'm a happy girl. I've also used Stampin' Up!'s Whisper White, and Georgia Pacific cardstock (found by the ream at WalMart).

In my opinion, Georgia Pacific has the same blendability as the PTI paper, but it is much thinner. If that's ok with you, it would be a good option for you as it is also much cheaper ($5 for 500 sheets, compared to PTI's $6 for 40 sheets). SU paper is coated so that it doesn't pill when used with the Stampin' Up! markers, and that makes it difficult to blend properly. However, you can get some pretty cool effects by accident (LOL!), like I did on this bucket. It almost looks like a deep watercolor, because I had so much ink on it, that it actually started to pool, and then just got pushed around rather than blended together.... all by accident.

Another question was which colors, and how many to start with. You can see the 50(ish) colors I started with on that post I linked above. I've added to my collection since then, and recently sent a list of my "top 25" markers to a friend. Here is a copy of what I wrote in that email:

BV00 or V01
BV04 or V17
BV08 or V09

RV11
RV14 (a pretty hot pink)
RV69 or R39
R02R29 (a nice red)

YR000 or YR01
YR07 (a nice orange)
YR 24 (like More Mustard, nice for blonde hair)
Y11
Y17
Y38 (like Summer Sun)

YG99 or G99 (pretty Olive color)
G21 or G24
G28 or G29 (coordinate G21+G28(or G24+G29)+E33 for pretty grass)

BG10 (one of my favorites)
BG13 or BG15
BG18

B21
B18 (like Brilliant Blue)
B34 (I use this a lot for denim)
B99 (a nice dark denim color - very dark)

E00
E04 ( a recent addition to my stash, nice earthy pink for lips and animal ears, etc.)
E31
E33
E55
E57

C3 (I have C1, but I think it's a little too light for most things I use it for, other than outlining images)
W5 (my favorite grey)

100 (or 110 - I still don't know the difference, but I have 100)

I typed up my must haves, and then went back and made some of them optional (in green). Where two colors are listed with an "or", they are very similar and you could go with either one. In the case of the BV or V's, I'd go with either all BV or all V to start with. A lot of stuff I read said the colorless blender was a must have, but to be honest, I rarely use it. You can blend darker colors with a lighter shade of the same color, and it ends up looking better than if you were to use the colorless blender. I'm sure there are cool things you can do with the CB, but I haven't learned them yet.

When I color, I use the palette technique, adapted from what you can see in THIS video on Jenn's Kyomi Kraft blog. I use an empty cd case as my palette, and I keep a piece of white paper inside of it so that I can see the colors easily.

I also printed THIS color chart on cardstock, and filled in all of my colors. I pull it out every time I pull out my markers, because the colors are truer by looking at the chart than they are by looking at the marker caps (always darker on paper).

Another question was which kind of marker should a person start with? Well, I use the Sketch markers. I've never tried any others. I know a lot of stampers use the Ciao markers, and they are cheaper, but if I'm not mistaken, they are not refillable. For the cost of the markers, I figured I'd pay a little more and get the refillable ones. Sketch markers seem to have the best resale value, too (yes, I think about resale - you never know!). I Like Markers is an AWESOME blog/resource for all things Copic, and Maryann has a specific post HERE on the differences between the markers, and how to pick what you need.

As for where to get markers, I still stand by my original decision to shop at the Carpe Diem Store, especially if you are going to buy a significant amount of markers at one time. I bought $225 worth of markers in my first batch, and paid $12 in shipping. The downside is that they will charge you $12 in shipping even if you only by one marker, but I don't do that, because that would just be silly. ;o) lol. I have bought individual markers primarily from Hobby Lobby, either during their "30% off all art markers" sale weeks, or using their frequently posted 40% off coupon. You can use one coupon per day every day, and I've been known to take the whole family including Mom and Grandma, and sent every one of them through the check out with one marker and one coupon. Hey, ya gotta do what ya gotta do. Hobby Lobby doesn't carry all of the colors though, so I am almost out of options there. When you consider shipping costs, Oozak is probably the best price for individual markers, but they are often out of stock of many colors and that frustrates me to no end, so I've never bought from them.

There is a thread HERE on SCS that shows which Copic colors match the Stampin' Up! colors. There is even a word document attached to one post in the thread with all of the info in it, which is very handy.

You might also find this Stamping With Copic pamphlet useful for more relevant information.

I think that just about covers it! If you have any questions or comments, let me know. I don't have all of the answers, but I can usually find them somewhere online, and I'll post edits to this post as I get/find questions/answers!

One thing I can tell you is that I doubt you'll ever regret your purchase. And if you do, well, you know where to send them. ;o) hee hee.

RAK's & Regrets

First, the RAK's. I received this lovely card from my toddler mom friend Val (SCS: kittygalval) the other day. Isn't it beautiful? I love how she made the frame with the negative image of the scallop punch, and then added the ribbon to one corner. I'm storing that idea away for future use. ;)

And this one came last week from my friend Lesley (SCS: Hoosierstamper). She was just swingin' by to say that she LOVES the Copic markers I helped talk her into buying. Hee heeeeeee. Look at the shading on the tree! I'd say she's doing great with her new toys!


Speaking of Copic's, I'm going to post another post after this one about them. I've gotten a few questions from people about the ones I like best, and I thought I'd just post my reply here rather than via email in case it might help anyone else who is looking for information. Then I'll also have my Wednesday Weigh-in post tomorrow morning, so it's a busy day on the Scrampin' Mama blog! I am not a big fan of multiple posts per day on a blog, but I'm trying to get the info out, and am giving everything it's own post to try to keep some order and organization under my labels. I know, that probably means nothing to 99.9% of you, but I'm weird that way.

Now for the regrets.... Here's the thing. I have a bazillion blogs in my reader, and I love to leave comments for people when a card, or a technique, or a story strikes my fancy. I also visit the blog of everyone who leaves a comment on my own, and usually end up commenting on one or two things while I'm there (and, most likely, adding it to my reader as well - lol!). I have gotten so far behind on all of this though, that I don't see how I'll ever catch up. I'm over 200 posts behind (all of which I would like to comment on), and I don't see any time in the forseeable future where I can make that up. SO, my regret is that I'm going to have to zip through all of these without leaving comments and start from scratch tomorrow and hope I can stay on top of everything. I love to give comments as much as I enjoy receiving them, so don't give up on me! If I normally visit/comment on your blog, know that I'm still reading and following you, and will get back to my commenting asap! Thanks so much for understanding.

Stay tuned for that copic post...

Friends of Cats

Ok, are you guys sick of Kiki Kitty (Pink Cat Studio) yet? Did I mention I love her? Because I DO! The sentiment is by Stampendous, and it's called Friends of Cats (2002). The DP is actually for new babies, but I thought the words all applied to kitties too, so I went with it. The ribbon is from the clearance bin at Hobby Lobby! I love it! I'll try to take it easy on my Kiki cards for awhile now, but no promises! The sketch I used today is this week's CBC Challenge, and here it is:

Ok, so I took a little creative liberty in enlarging those circles at the bottom, but that's ok, right?! Be sure to click on the links to the other CBC Chicks on my sidebar, and if you decide to play along this week (seriously, who doesn't love a sketch challenge?), link your card back to Courtney's blog for a chance to win a little prize.

Moving on... Somewhere in the last week or two (and don't even ask me where, because I don't know), I found the time to read a book:

Grandma passed Marley & Me on to me after she finished it. I didn't think it was really my kind of book, being a cat person and all, but I loved it. I think it's the first time I've ever cried while reading a book. Crazy! It was so good! I know it's out in theatres now, too, and I'm hoping hubby and I will be able to go next weekend. If you haven't had a chance to read the book, pick up a copy. You won't be disappointed!

Enjoy the day,

Aloha

It has been about 75 degrees below zero here for three days now, so I was compelled to make this lovely tropical card as a means of revolting against mother nature. :) I used the current TECC #51 (woot! I'm caught up!) as my layout. The stamp is from the new Pink Cat Studio set called Kiki Kitty. I am loving that cat to pieces. And I love that I took the easy way out and made her mostly white on this card. Talk about a quick coloring job! I added some stardust stickles over the grass skirt, and voila! A cute little greeting card for some lucky stiff who gets to go to Hawaii without me. hee hee.

Speaking of Taylor and her Cupcake Challenges, wait until you see what she has in store for you next week to mark the one year anniversary of the TECC's! That's all I'm sayin'... ;o)