Goodbye, Spring

It is supposed to start cracking 100 degree on a regular basis this week, so I'd best get this shared now before the furnace oven kicks in.

The Fine Print: Stamps 'n dies from Stampin' Up.

Mail Bag Monday - May 29

We don't actually have mail coming or going today but the past week has seen some action. I'll start with some birthday cards. This first one took a 24 day tour of the continental US before stopping here and the second one I forgot to photograph because it was sitting on my desk at work. I took it there to keep it safe for a certain Siamese cat who thinks it is her card. 

These swap cards were received this week.

 This one was hand delivered but that still counts as happy mail!

Happier Day

I've shared this card all over the place today I might as well share it here as well, right? I made it for my friend's birthday. I ended up having to write in big fat Sharpie on the inside bottom (HB from Judy--very poetic words) since I didn't leave myself anywhere to write. I included the greeting on the back since I felt that was an important part of the card.

As you may have suspected these twist and pop cards are a bit thick. I put it in a smaller A2 envelope and put that in a bigger envelope. I then put 2 stamps on it. I was going to drop it in the PO drop box on the way to work but circumstances were such that I had the time to take it inside to check on postage. It would be kind of rude to send a birthday card postage due. They said due to its thickness it cost $2.67 to mail (on top of the postage already on the envelope) since it was considered a parcel. Well, now... I'm willing to bet if I had just dropped it on the drop box it would have gotten to its destination just fine on two stamps. 

The Fine Print: Everything except the card base and greeting on the back by Stampin' Up.

Rounding Up

It's like this. once upon a time several of us were talking about the cost of those giant rolls of foam tape that you can buy at Office Max. I made the comment that I love those rolls but that the $40 cost was a bit breathtaking. One other lady took exception to my comment. "They aren't $40, they are like $34.99, plus some tax" she exclaimed.

To me though, if you hand over two twenty-dollar bills to someone and all you get back is a enough to buy... well, functionally nothing, that's spending $40.

So my boss is out of town now, but before she left I reminded people who were doing things that required her approval that she'd be gone for three weeks. Everyone retorts back, "She told me two  weeks."

Let's do that math. we'll even make it easy. She'll be back June 13th, so 12 days in June is almost two weeks all on its own plus the 6 days in May she's been gone. Why, by jove that adds up 18 whole days. I suppose that isn't really 3 weeks but it sure as hell ain't 2 weeks either.

And you know, she isn't going to breeze into the office on the 13th and approve everything in sight. Mostly likely she'll sit at her desk all dazed and jet lagged until the first meeting, which runs into the next meeting and the next and maybe a couple of days later she'll get around to approving all those things that were turned in during her absence even though there was no reason you couldn't have gotten off your lazy ass and turned them in before she even left.

Anyway, it's the weekend, why are we talking about work??

The Fine Print: Card from a workshop long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away.

Trellis Die

The other day I decided to look inside this box that has the old fat Sizzix dies. My thought was I would probably purge them because I haven't used them (except one) since I moved. In fact, I haven't used them for quite awhile before that either. At one point in their lives I used them quite a bit but then thin dies became a thing and...

However, as it goes once I looked at them I thought that maybe I shouldn't purge them, maybe I should try to remember that they exist and use them more often.  I immediately pulled out this old favorite and made this card.

So we'll see how it goes with this box of fat dies. Although, I have one more die than fits in the box so I should come up with at least one of them I can live without. Right?! No, don't say "or buy a new box." That way lies madness.

The Fine Print: All products by Stampin' Up however that trellis die is long retired and the Fresh Fig and Powder Pink things aren't available yet., so don't be rushing out to add to your stash. 

Delicate and Feminine

Recently my coworker (the one who told me to hang out with my hair more often, or something like that) was looking at a photo of a woman.  "Isn't she pretty?" she asked, "Wouldn't you like to look like that?"

I peered over and agreed that the lady was pretty but that no I wouldn't want to look like that. My coworker was confused by that and asked why not.

"Well," I explained, "Because she looks very feminine and delicate--and almost waifish, and I'm just not that kind of person. If I looked like her I'd have to be a whole different person."

Which does beg the question, does what you look like help determine your personality?

The Fine Print: Gosh, imagine if I looked like that delicate woman? I'd have to shriek and stand on a chair when I saw a spider. I'd probably have to drive a Pruis and gush over babies. You know I'd have to iron my clothes and they'd have to match! What a terrible life that would be!  Stamps 'n stuff by Stampin' Up. 

Metallics

It turns out that I am not a big fan of playing around with metallic paper. That's too bad because it looks cool. Once I get a hold of it though, it all goes to heck.

These cards came out okay but their was so much teeth gnashing and name calling to get them to happen. Metallic paper ain't for wimps. I'm wimpy.

The Fine Print: Metallic paper from my stash, large butterfly die by Simon Says Stamps (I think), petal embossing folder by SU, leafy vine die by Memory Box, smaller butter by SU. 

Happy Mail Monday May 22

Since last week had such a glutton of birthday cards to share I saved the swap cards from then to share today. Here they are!

 

And here is this week's swap cards and a RAK from my friend. She sent it to me after I started whining about how now that I'm older people might start expecting me to act like an adult.

 

The birthday cards continue to trickle in, prolonging the celebration.

The Fine Print: Isn't it fun to keep the postal service in business?!

Buzz

What's the buzz, you ask? This is the buzz!

The Fine Print: Stuff by Stampin' Up.

Amazing

As promised here are the other two cards.  You can read yesterday's post if you are wondering what I'm babbling on about.

That's all folks.

Up, Up and Away

I don't know how or why it got to be Friday without my looking. What you'd do with Thursday? Naw, that's okay, you can keep it. I don't need it back.

The other day I mentioned to my friend that I hadn't tackled my pile of old kits lately but I was rather surprised that about one that was still in there. My surprise was I thought I had made all the cards from it. Now this particular company makes kits that come with so many extras that you can make many more cards than prescribed so my assumption was that was what was left in it.

She asked if she could have the leftovers or was my heart set on playing with them? My heart could care less so I pulled it out to give it to her. I did check through it first since I tend to hide things from myself in random places. I didn't want her to come back with, "Thanks for the leftover kit, the embossing folders, the pictures of your friend's wedding, and a random Copic marker."

I didn't find any of those in there but I did find were the pieces of four cards I hadn't finished out of the kit and an entire refill pack to make the prescribed cards all over again along with those leftovers I mentioned already.

So here are two of those 4 cards and the rest of the kit is off to my friend, who will think I never made anything out of it because of the refill pack in there. That's okay. It'll keep her busy and off the streets for a little bit.

The Fine Print: All parts by Club Scrap "Up, Up and Away" Don't panic, you'll see the other two cards tomorrow.  Just hang in there! 

May Happiness Follow

I had this some-assembly-required card from a friend that had all the papers and parts so basically all I had to do was stamp, cut, and assemble the card. I forgot to take a photo of that card but I went to make a card with the same papers and the same design but with different stamps (and different twine). Here's my version.

Doesn't that look like a peaceful scene? Here is the inside of the card.  I'm not even going to tell you how many attempts I had to make before I got that right. Luckily I was smart enough to not glue the front onto the card until the inside was done.

The Fine Print: Papers, dies and stamps by Stampin' Up, white twine from my stash, colorful baker's twine by Doodlebug. 

Happy Mail May 15

Since I had a birthday last week I have a ton of cards to share with you. I'll leave the swap cards out this time and share them next week. I'll start with a couple of cards that need explanations.

The butterflies are on a piece of flexible cording so when you pick  up the card the butterflies twist and flutter about. I totally have to hide this from the cats.

This next card is a four panel card. The middle panels have black and white line drawings on them and are removable so I can color them and reuse them.

This card has a pop up inside that has been cut out of gorgeous gold mirror card and line with sparkly gold tape. It's so fancy pants!

These are the rest of the birthday cards. Enjoy!