Kelly Rae Roberts--Taking Flight

I've just started working my way through this book--and I LOVE it! I am really resonating with a lot of the things she talks about--especially listening to your own whispers. I can wholeheartedly recommend it. It is a worthwhile addition to the crafty bookshelf--or maybe even the self-improvement, self-love bookshelf! Check it out today!

More links: Kelly Rae Roberts herself;
More on her book HERE

Have you tried Pandora.com yet?

gratuitous picture of February in Oregon--blue skies and sculptural tree branches. Taken with camera phone.

I am IN LOVE with internet radio through Pandora.com! It's fantastic! You just type in what artists you like, and it creates a radio station based on what you "told" it you like. Fabulous! Right now, I have three stations: Adele radio (based on my new favorite singer Adele--kind of a funky folk/pop sound), Sugarland radio, (sometimes you need a little country!) and one with church music for Sundays. Go check this out! And don't forget to click on the ads there when you do--that was something I learned from Seth Godin--if you like a website that is paid for with ads, click on the ads! I would be completely disappointed if this website folded like my favorite magazines recently did (Wondertime, Domino and Simple Scrapbooks), so I try to click on three or four each time I am listening. Still--it's worth a Go-See!

Oh what a week!

Last week was one busy, somewhat hellacious week for me. This will will be just as busy, but hopefully without the stress I felt last week. We started out by heading to IKEA after work (so no catch-up morning nap for me) to try to get their half-price dresser for J. That took 5 hours and was capped off by thinking that my 5yo was taken as I checked out and paid for my merchandise. It turned out that he was just on the other side of the check-out area, playing with one of the kid kiosks, but when your register funnels directly out the door, and it's the busiest you've ever seen IKEA (which is usually busy enough as it is!) it's easy to panic.

Then it was just usual family life stuff, feeding the missionaries, driving carpool for the middle school musical, teaching a voice lesson, writing lessons for Newspaper Talk, prepping for my Stampin'Cat classes, but the week was capped off by the Father/Son cake auction at the Blue and Gold Banquet. Joel inadvertently double-booked himself, and also volunteered to go to the Klondike Scout campout to help out as a guest leader. The campout started at 4, and the cake auction/banquet started at 6. Thursday I baked the cake for him, and he stayed up late to decorate it (late being after I go to bed, and since I get up at 4am, it's all relative). That morning, when I saw the cake, I was kind of impressed. It looked pretty good! Then I saw what he colored his frosting with---he used the non-toxic, but non-edible coloring I use for glycerin soap. It tasted terrible! Plus, it was turning a funky gray color. Luckily, it was only on the twix bar cabin and on the top layer of the cake. I was able to scrape and cut it off, and then because Joel was scrambling to get to work and get ready for the snow campout, it was left to me to recreate his vision. Long story short: just enough powdered sugar in the house for one batch of frosting, no green food coloring, rush to the store--no debit card, get that figured out, get home, get C on the bus for kindergarten, finish the cake, head to the event, realize I've forgotten the checkbook, turn around for home, realize the cake is falling over, try to fix it in the car, get it settled (we think)--only to have the entire thing fall apart on the first turn. It ended up being the second-highest cake of the night even still.

We changed the name from "Cabin on the Hill" to "Ambush on the Hill." Notice the dead cowboys...

The Auctioneer had a lot of fun with it...he asked H, "So what was the name of your cake BEFORE your mom drove it here?" and riffed with it. I laughed a lot. Such is life sometimes! You laugh so you won't cry!

I Heart the Internet

So I was reading Pioneer Woman where I was introduced to Secret Agent Josephine, where I found these Valentines which made it easier for me to whip out Valentines for H at the last minute because I didn't give myself enough time to stamp them and he didn't want them to be the same as the ones I already made for a member of his class.

Thank you, Al Gore.

Some projects for Stampin'Cat Studio

I'm teaching a "Spring Fling" Card class in about 2 weeks at Stampin'Cat Studio. The red ribbon is keeping this guy attached to my sample board---the last time I had loose cards on display as part of my sample, they didn't come home with me. I was determined to not lose any this time!

I'm lovin' this patterned paper from the Cut'n'Paste line by K&Company.

The next class is one I plan to describe here in more detail: it's the stand-alone project for the first class in my "No Ordinary Stories" class. It's basically a 3-D "room" that utilizes the quote the class is based on. I have high hopes for this series of classes.

More paper from K&Company--this time from the Blue Awning collection. Stamps are Tim Holtz stamps from Stampers Anonymous.

The entire quote reads:

I will not live an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk my significance; to live so that which comes to me as seed goes to the next as blossom and that which comes to me as blossom goes on as fruit. ---Dawna Markova.

I'll give you a larger write-up later about what "No Ordinary Stories" is and what it means to me. Enjoy this little taste!

Free Valentine's Projects from HP

This link is FULL of some fun free printables! (it may take a minute to load fully, be patient) Share the love...

They are more complex than the most popular Valentine I made last year:

"Curly" stamp from AMuse. The font is a free download (broken 15) and it says, "Just because I gave you a heart doesn't mean I love you." It was a popular valentine for ten year old boys. I think I made about 150 last year~...

Enjoy!

Another One for Mom (and Dad)

Taken this Saturday, at the NAMS Jazz Festival. J. is playing the tenor sax at the beginning at the end of this piece. Enjoy! I know I was so proud I thought I'd burst and it took all of my self-control not to jump up and shout, "That's MY GIRL!"