Thursday, December 18, 2008

Happy Holidays

12:49 AM 1 Comments
Snoopy - Happy Holidays


I just wanted to wish everyone Happy Holidays from my family to all of yours. I'm going to be in Michigan for the next two weeks, visiting my family and spending some much needed time with my boys. I will have sporadic connections at best, so if you need to reach me right away, your best bet is my phone. See everyone when I get back!

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Monday, December 15, 2008

Meme - Holiday Stress

11:55 PM 0 Comments



Being Alone Is What Stresses You Out About the Holidays



Whether it's by choice or not, you end up feeling quite lonely during the holidays.

It's hard to not have a lot of family or friends near by... or at all.



While being lonely stinks, it's not to late to have a happy holiday.

Find other lonely people, and organize a dinner. If that fails, volunteer, adopt a pet, or go to the movies on Christmas.


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Glitter Ball Ornaments Instructions

2:06 PM 0 Comments

Since Corinna asked...I'm gonna tell!

SUPPLIES:

  • Clear Glass Ornament
  • Dye Re-inker (Stampin' Up! ink used for these - I do not know how other types of ink will work with this as I've only used SU Classic re-inkers)
  • Paper Towel
  • Fine Glitter (I use SU! Dazzling Diamonds Glitter for these or Martha Stewart super fine glitter -- the Dazzling Diamonds works better bc it's super sparkly but I couldn't find mine.)
  • Small Powder Pal OR scrap paper shaped into a funnel
  • Small container (I used dixie cups, but if I'd had any I would have used an empty plastic film container)


Glass Ball Ornaments

STEP 1:

Remove the top and hanger of the ornament (be careful as you're doing it as sometimes the glass is very thin and the hanger pops open as it's pulled out)

STEP 2:

Drip 18-20 drops of your ink into the ornament.


Slightly Better Of Dye Puddle


STEP 3:

Gently swirl the ink around until the ornament is fully covered. Once you get towards the top of the ornament, make sure that you cover the hole with paper towel, otherwise you'll have ink everywhere!

**DON'T shake the ornament w/ the ink - this creates a lot of bubbles and makes it look splotchy.**

Step 4:

Place ornament upside down over the small container to drain any excess ink.


Upclose of draining ball


Step 5:

Place the ornament onto paper towel and rotate it a bit to drain more of the ink (it tends to pool slightly at the opening and on the lip and if you don't drain the excess ink it will run and create streaks when you add the glitter).

Step 6:

Pour about 1 1/2 teaspoons of glitter into the ornament.

Step 7:

Place paper towel over opening and SHAKE the ornament until the glitter has fully covered the inside.

**If you can no longer hear any glitter hitting the inside and you don't think that it's covered enough, add more glitter and keep shaking.**

Step 8:

Turn your ornament over onto your Powder Pal (or scrap paper) and *gently* tap it to remove the excess glitter. When using darker ink colors the glitter will get dyed using it this way - you can save it to use w/ more ornaments of the same color - or you can store it in an empty film container/ziplock bag etc to use in other projects.

Note: these ornament use a LOT of glitter - I used an entire (small)container of Martha Stewart Crystal Fine glitter and had to break into a container of Martha Stewart Carrara marble glitter just to do 6 ornaments. So make sure you have plenty on hand for the amount of ornaments you're doing!


Glass Ornaments


Step 9:

Gently put the topper and hanger back on to the ornament (I found the hanger sometimes scraped a little of the glitter off the inside but it's not noticeable). That's all there is to it. :)

Note: If you want to dye the ornaments without adding the glitter, just stop at Step 5. I will warn you though that without the glitter, these do take 2-3 days to dry fully.



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Major Catch Up Post

11:43 AM 1 Comments
Oh my gosh, I'm so behind on posting things here! I'll warn y'all now, this post is gonna be loooong and graphic intensive. Ok, now that you've been warned and probably some of you ran away in terror, let's get to the goodness.

Ok..so in order of...well...order that I find the pics, here we go!

Socks..now most of the time, I'm totally barefoot, but when I do wear socks, I want to wear fun socks! K-mart had Christmas socks on sale for $1/pr so you know I couldn't resist. In no particular order...fun socks!
Stripey Socks CloserHappy Socks

That 2nd shot was taken at school, so to celebrate the end of the semester (yay!), I present..school pictures:
BiopsychStudy TableMy schoolbag

Okie, so if anyone reads Abby's blog (and honestly, you all should..it's fantastic!), you'll know that she challenged us all to go out and paint our nails. And to prove that I did it, I present..my nails!
I did it!  I painted my nails.


And speaking of Abby, I have to show you what she sent me! I was so excited when this package arrived. I had no idea what to expect..buttons, ribbons, crafty stuffs, the scale she swore she'd send me for my birthday...but she surprised me! Look at the totally fantabulous goodies that she sent me! Did I mention that she totally made both of those? She is just beyond..well..let's just say I consider her one of my bestest friends ever.
Abby Package!K - Made by Abby!

Now, on to the crafting and I've done a bunch! I won't bore you with all of my "in progress" photos, but you can go check them out on my flickr account.

Ball OrnamentsCompleted Paper Ball OrnamentsChristmas StockingsChristmas StockingsGlass OrnamentsCloseup of Glass Glitter Ornaments

There you go! As always, if you want to see a larger version, just click on the picture..If you want instructions for any of these projects, just let me know and I'll do my best to post them before I go out of town on Friday.

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Super Sunday Challenge

11:32 AM 0 Comments
Ok, I confess that I totally bombed on my own challenges this past week! Granted, I did make a small dent in my kitchen, but the rest fell by the wayside as I handled finals and crafting like a mad woman to get stuff made for Christmas. I'm still not done with that, but I'm a heck of a lot closer.

So, for this week...catch up on any challenges that you might not have gotten to. If you're all caught up....

Charity Challenge : Help your kids (and yourself) go through old things and then either freecycle them out to a needy family or find a charity to donate them to. Make room for the new and bless someone else with the old.

Christmas challenge: Finish wrapping up those gifts. Get them under the tree so you can sit back and relax for the holidays.

I have to warn all of you that I'll be going out of town on Friday and may/may not have any access while I'm gone. If I don't, Happy Holidays to all of you and I will see you right after the New Year.


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Friday, December 12, 2008

12 Days of Christmas Giveaways - Check It Out

12:00 PM 1 Comments


One of my favorite blogs is doing a 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway! You have to go over and see! She's posted the first two giveaways and they are so fantastic, you won't believe it! For the Wii lovers out there, one of her giveaways is the new Build-A-Bear Workshop® A Friend Fur All Seasons Nintendo Wii game! Go..hurry...check it out now!

Update: She's added 2 more days of giveaways and you have to go see! She's giving away a custom pillow (it can have any picture on it you want!)and Puff Dogs and gift cards! She's a giveaway fool right now..go go go see!

Update 2: She's done it again! She's up to 5 days of fantastic giveaways. Have you gone and looked yet? She's added the cutest darned shoes you will ever see (Abby, you ought to go try to win a pair for Anna!) made by Polliwalks. She's also giving away this really great after the shower wrap made by Suzi Homemaker! Seriously, have you looked yet?

Update 3: Holy cow! Have you been over there yet? She's added giveaways for Il Divo cds, a $50 gift certificate to a place that does some nice cards and such, gift certificates to Herbal Life, Between You and Me journal, Baby Capes, Bratz Kidz Slumber Party game for Wii, Avon Naturals, Simple Salutations $20 GC, Magnetic Weekly Calender, Kustom Memories Personalized Book, Peace Earthling Tee, Black Crystal Beads Necklace Set and Besitos Yummy Hoody Blanket!

This contest ends tonight at 11:59pm so don't delay!


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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Giveaway Update

12:37 PM 1 Comments
I'm so sorry to have to say that the giveaway that I had planned won't be happening. The store owner has decided to back out and actually do the giveaway on their own blog. I can't begin to tell you all how disappointed I am. She had assured me that it was all set and that she was mailing the item out to me and then this morning, she apparantly changed her mind. In good conscious, I'm not going to share with you the etsy id of this shop, but stay tuned..maybe I'll come up with something else.

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Sunday, December 7, 2008

Super Sunday Challenge - Week 3

1:49 PM 3 Comments
My cards went out in today's mail! How did all of you do? Did you get those cards or holiday letters done? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Now, on to this week's challenge...and I'm gonna make it a double challenge week!

Part 1 - Kitchen Clean Up! I can almost hear the groans already. Sorry folks! This is a challenge that I need and if I need it, chances are someone else does too!

I live in a 300 square foot (yes, I know how small that is!) apartment and my kitchen becomes the catch all room because it's the first room you step into. This makes it darned near impossible to cook or anything else. So, the challenge is to get it totally cleaned up and "organized." That means wiping down those countertops, hauling out any extra trash and wiping down any other surfaces there may be.

Part 2 - Ok, this one is a bit more "fun", I promise. Now that your Christmas cards are all out in the mail, we're going to move on to presents. How many of you are done shopping already? I am. I did all of mine on Black Friday and I only have the homemade gifts still to go. So, what's the challenge? Start wrapping! Start with the stacks you've already bought and once those are done, wrap them as soon as you bring them in. I want for all of you to be able to relax once we get closer to Christmas.

There you go guys! Have a great week. I have one more final exam on Wednesday night and then I'm done with school so be prepared for more posts!

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Friday, December 5, 2008

I was challenged!

2:11 PM 1 Comments

I know how shocking this must be to everyone! *grins* Abby..yes, the one whose blog is right over there ---> in the list and one of my favorite people in the whole wide world challenged me to use the above picture in my blog. How could I resist such a "tough" challenge? Abby's daughter (another Katie) built our shared name with megablocks..how much fun is that? Well, Miss Abby, I think I succeeded in your challenge. What do you say?

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Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Blog Clean Out

8:30 PM 3 Comments
So, I'm home sick! Ugh! I had an exam tonight, but on my drive home for a break from classes, I started having icky stomach cramps. Needless to say things went downhill from there. So, I'm here on my couch just sipping water for now. Luckily for me, the instructor drops the lowest score so no harm done.

Lately I've noticed how long my blogroll has gotten so I decided to do some tidying up. Over the next couple of weeks, you may notice some additions and some deletions. Or, you might not notice any changes at all. It depends how viscious I decide to be. I did delete a few of my graphic based ones this evening and still have some more to look through.

From there, I'm going to go category by category and move some around, delete some and most likely even add a few. If I can't get this apartment organized, at least I can get this blog organized!

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Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Thanksgiving Weekend Run-Down

5:50 PM 2 Comments
I told Abby that I would post some pics and a run down of my weekend, so here goes:

I picked Jim up at the airport and we were both hungry so we decided to stop and get some lunch. Pengu was riding along in my bag (which reminds me, I still need to get pics of it!) so he joined us.
Pengu loves Anderson's!


From there, we stopped and got the oil changed on the van and then we went thrifting!

Pengu reads the kindleJim with hair...Pengu makes a friend!Pengu gets fruits and veggies

On Thursday, we had to go out for our "annual newspaper stealing" and we stopped at K-mart to do a bit of shopping before heading back for Thanksgiving dinner.

Stealing the paper...Our Thanksgiving Dinner

We were supposed to go out Black Friday shopping at the crack of dawn, but that just didn't happen. We did end up going out around 10am though and though the day wasn't great, we did get some great deals.
Black Friday Ads


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Today's To Do List

3:49 PM 1 Comments
My list:
1. Print out extra credit.
2. Put together and mail out Abby's package.
3. Buy book of stamps.
4. Finish dishes
5. Put out recycling.
6. Finish reading 1st chapter for close relationships
7. Study for Biopsych test.
8. Blog post from flickr pics.
9. Put batteries in charger.
10. Sign Christmas cards.


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Monday, December 1, 2008

Super Sunday Challenge (a tad tardy)

4:27 PM 2 Comments
Okie, first things first! An update on last week's challenge. I got an email last night from Julia who let me know that the mystery object is actually a sugar holder! Who would have guessed?!? Certainly not me. I did a google image search and look what I found over on the Crafty Passions blog! It's the very same one, except it has the little shovel with it! Amazing! Thank you, Julia for letting me know about the treasure that I found!

Now, on to this week's challenge:
Being that it is December 1st, I'm sure that most of us are preparing for Christmas. This week's challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to get your Christmas/Holiday cards ready to go out in the mail. This means:

Make your list
Buy/Make/Steal..erm...ok, just buy or make your cards
Get them all written
Get those envelopes addressed
Put stamps on them

If you make your cards, I would totally love to see them! Post them on your blog and then post a link back here so we can all appreciate them. Either way, be sure to leave me a note letting me know that you've participated! You never know when I might decide to randomly RAK a participant!

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