How Do You Spell Doofus????

You spell doofus: C - O - N - N - I - E

Yep, how do you go to a once in a lifetime event (the graduation) and not have your digital camera charged up to full power? Well, if you are me, the doofus then you go to the graduation with only two bars on battery life and have to censure your picture taking so that you get that one "money shot" of the graduate.


Here is a picture outside of the auditorium right before the graduation ceremony.
My brother Bob, Brian the college graduate, Colleen, my sister-in-law, Nickie, Brian's significant other and my sister Cindy. The front row is Hannah and Zaine, Brian's two children.


The money shot!
Here is the college graduate, Brian.
He earned the degree, Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.
Brian graduated with honors.



I thought these pots were sooooo cute and they were ON SALE!!!!


This is the first year that I have seen these Martha Washington geranium's.


Daisies are so cute!


I just love carnations!



The dwarf irises have bloomed and I am amazed at the way they multiply each year. This group stared out as five plants.



Fuchsia Calla lilies (spelling?)



The new irises have bloomed and the rose bush is filling in quite well.



The hollyhock have begun to show some life.



I am not sure of the name of these small flowers but I love the bright blue color.



The dwarf canna has it's first bloom.

Arrival Day

Well, my sister Cindy arrives tonight!
Yeah!
I just have to scrub up the bathroom. Figure I'll do that tonight after work and before her flight arrives.
My room is as decluttered as I could possibly make it without just causing havoc in another part of the house.
I hope that now that most of the crafting supplies are down in the craft cellar and the warmer months are coming that I will enjoy being down in the basement creating. The supplies are down there, it will be cooler and hopefully I will be able to use up some of the massive amounts of stuff that I have accumulated.

Nothing New, AGAIN!!!

Has anyone seen the hat that Sarah Jessica Parker wore to the London premiere of her movie?
Am I the only one that thought it was a bit too large for a movie premiere?
Did she take it off in the theater so that those behind her could see?
Do they really watch the movie at the premiere or is it just a party?
Hmmmmm, points to ponder today.
Your thoughts and observations are welcome.

Mindless Clutter

I don't have any new cards to post so I'll just share a quirk of mine. One that my co-workers make fun of whenever they see it.

I like to eat M&M's.
M&M's with peanuts are my fav.
When I eat a bag of M&M's (usually bought from the roach coach, um, I mean catering vehicle)the first thing that I do is empty the bag's contents onto a napkin or paper towel. I then separate them into color and eat either the color with the largest amount of units or I start with the smallest.

Is this an OC disorder?

Finally!!!!

Finally I worked on getting these cards done. I have a nephew and a second cousin who are graduating this year. One from college (nephew) one from high school (cousin).


Girl graduate.



Boy graduate.
Both cards are made with SU Basic Black cardstock. Sandylion graduation caps patterned paper. The Paper Company 8x8" graduation cardstock pad. The grad boy & girl stamps are from Stamps by Judith.


This is how I stamped the envelopes since I won't be mailing either of the cards.
The image is from the retired SU Tassel Time.

Working Like a Whirlwind

My sister Cindy is coming in from CA next week (5/15) for her son's college graduation. For those of you who do not know Cindy, she is much like my sister Caryn. These two are "clutter-free" personalities, whereas my sister Jenny and I are more alike, "organized clutter & chaos".

Since Cindy recently had extensive back surgery and because I only have a two bedroom house (our brother Rick lives in my other bedroom) Cindy will be using my room while she stays with me.

My frantic concern:
My bedroom was my sole source of craft storage for all of my crafting venues. It has been less than a year that I carved out a crafty place for myself down in the basement. I have been s-l-o-w-l-y working on getting things in the basement purged and into new homes and organizing the stuff that is down there. I have been making "homes" for all of my crafting supplies and will not take something down to the craft cellar until I have a place for it. I am making progress and some order has been produced (example: rolling plastic 4 drawer cart to hold all paper punches).

So it is my goal to get my room in order so that my sister does not have a breakdown when she comes to stay with me. I have one week and the minutes are ticking. This is the challenge and by George (that's an odd saying, I wonder what it means and how it was started? Something to Google later on) I will get the room in order. If nothing else I need to get the vacuum up there and tame the herds of dust bunnies that are currently running amok. (I wonder if that is spelled correctly?)

Getting Dirty

I have been busy playing in the dirt as that along with crafting are my means of relaxation. I have two cards in the works but they are not finished. Maybe tonight. So instead of paper crafty fun I leave you with the fruits of my labor so far in the yard.


Here are some of the double petal petunias. I am working around to getting some of my smaller containers planted. Yikes, look at that giant weed. I hate when they have those spikes on the leaves. I will have to get that nasty boy out of there before is gets any bigger.



This bed is mainly filled with wildflower daisies. Recently they have spread their seeds everywhere but back inside the bed. I fortified with two new daisy plants and hope to cultivate some of the plants that have begun to sprout outside of the bed back inside.



Used an old hanging basket from last year and added some of the double petal petunias.



I picked up two varigated petunia hanging baskets on Sunday while at Home Depot. The remaining hanging baskets I will plant myself and will not look as spectacular as these for a few months.



The rose bush is beginning to sprout some leaves and the lavender is beginning to look alive.



Two pink tulips came back from last year, yeah!!!



This area is where the construction will take place. The peonies will be saved and the space will be a bit narrower but eventually the remaining area will become my veggie garden.






Here are two views of the east side raised bed. The forefront is where the lilies are beginning to sprout. Mixed in are a couple of irises. There is a foxglove and a bleeding heart.

Here are the containers that surround my patio. I have two types of canna, snapdragons, martha washington geraniums and double petal petunias, carnations and some daisies.










Three new containers to put my cherry tomato, regular tomato and green pepper plants. I don't think that the area near the shed by the peonies will be ready for awhile and I would like to have a harvest this summer so I am trying my hand at container gardening.



The shady area on the north side of the house (back of my house) has even had it's perennials sprouting.

The lilac bush in the front of my house is blooming. I just LOVE that scent.

Not Really New

Had a very nice weekend. Friday night I spent at my cousin's house for dinner and a movie.

On Saturday I spent the afternoon with Simone and Carol at Carol's new shoppe. We worked on getting things ready for the opening of the store and had a very nice lunch. It was great to catch up with Simone as I haven't seen her since right after the new year. Crazy since we live in the same city!!!!

Sunday I played in the dirt in my yard and got some things planted and the dirt turned in the east flower bed. I will take pictures tonight and post tomorrow.

Trying to use up the last of the patterned paper with the dresses on it. SU cardstock colors: Basic Black and Sage Shadow. The stamped image is from the retired SU set Haute Couture.








This is the same layout as previously posted but with different patterned paper from the same stack as the dress paper above. Cardstock: Basic Black and Pretty in Pink. Stamped image from the $1 bin at Michaels, brads from my stash and ribbon from Michael's.

Recent RAK

I participated in Jen's RAK for the month of April and received these beautiful cards from Mary. Mary has her own blog so go visit her and check our her other creations.


Folded double sided paper.



Stitching on the card in a metallic thread, wow!



Very cute balloon attachment.

Thanks very much Mary for sending me this wonderful RAK.

Something New

SU Black & Sage Shadow. Patterned paper is from a stack that I had in my stash and I don't know who the manufacturer is or where I bought it. The black ribbon is from Michael's and the brads are from my stash. The stamped "happy birthday" is from the $1 bin at Michael's. The perfume bottles on the envelope are from the retired SU set "Bubble Queen".

I would like to apologize to anyone who may have seen one of their layouts repeated here on my blog. I visit a few blogs, have participated in swaps and get a tremendous amout of inspiration from all of you wonderful ladies and gents. If I have copied your layout and have not given you the credit please feel free to let me know in the comments section and I will post that you were the inspiration and give a link to your blog. I often forget where I saw it or if it's mine when I sit down and start cutting and piecing on a card front.

Lovin' this layout

I am almost done with the glittered cupcake embellishments. I think that I have three more out of the package left to use.


SU Close to Cocoa Cardstock and SU 6x6 patterned paper (small pink inserts). The brown polka dotted paper is The Paper Studio "Coco & Pink Small Polka Dot". SU scalloped punch, SU 1-3/8" circle punch and glittered cupcake embellishment from Archiver's. The brads are from my stash.

Crunch Time

I hope to have a card to post later today. I have the components cut they just need to be assembled.

I have post to create with a wonderful RAK that I received, these cards are awesome. I need to get my thank you out for that too.

I also have a great Pay It Forward to post and then I must make up my PIF packages and get that post onto the blog for anyone who wants to play.

It's crunch time, my final exam covering Partnerships and Governmental accounting is tomorrow night at 6pm. It will contain 17 multiple choice questions (computational) and 4 problems (one from each chapter). I need a total of 69 points on this test to get a C in the class and be done with this professor. I have taken the day off to spend in the library getting as much practice and knowledge into my head so that I can get a passing grade. One thing I do know, this has been my only exposure to government accounting in all the classes that I have taken toward my accounting degree and this subject should be a class in and of itself. Governmental accounting is VERY different from corporate accounting and it is very hard to "buck the system" that you have been taught in so many of the classes. So many different general ledger accounts to know and I just hope that I don't freak out when it comes to the government questions.

More Double Side & We've Got Blooms

There are some blooms in the West side flower bed along with the four mini carnation plants that I bought at Jewel when I was grocery shopping yesterday and went and planted after I put the groceries away. That is my new goal, I cannot buy any plants unless I can get them planted within a 48 hour period. So far I am on track. I took some before pics of the East side raised bed and did a bit of cleaning yesterday after I planted but it was too cold to stay outside for an extended period with out my coat. I hope to get that bed cleaned out later this week or on the weekend when the temps get a bit warmer.











SU Whisper White and Certainly Celery cardstock and Berry Bliss double sided designer paper. This is the last of the stamped and colored rose images that I had a stamped and colored eons ago. The pink brads are from my stash. The image on the envelope is from the SU retired set Wreath of Roses and it is stamped in Pretty in Pink ink.



SU Whisper White cardstock, SU double sided designer paper from a 5 color 6x6 stack.
Series of tulip stamped images from the retired SU set Hello Spring stamped in black ink and colored with Crayola colored pencils. The envelope is stamped with the same image in Bashful Blue.


SU Whisper White cardstock, Berry Bliss doubled sided designer paper. Series of tulip stamped images from the retired SU set Hello Spring stamped in black ink and colored with Crayola colored pencils. The envelope is stamped with the same image in Pretty in Pink. Pink plastic corner adornments from my stash.



SU Old Olive and Very Vanilla cardstock. SU Old Olive double sided designer series paper. Series of tulip stamped images from the retired SU set Hello Spring stamped in black ink and colored with Crayola colored pencils. The envelope is stamped with the same image in So Saffron.



SU Close to Cocoa and Chocolate Chip cardstock, Berry Bliss double sided designer paper, brads from my stash, 1-3/8" SU circle punch, SU scalloped punch, glittered cupcake embellishment from Archiver's. Envelope stamped with Pretty in Pink and the image is from the level 2 hostess set Cause for Celebration.



SU Whisper White cardstock, Berry Bliss double sided designer paper, brads from my stash, 1-3/8" SU circle punch, SU scalloped punch, glittered cupcake embellishment from Archiver's. Edges of the scallop highlighted with SU Pretty in Pink ink. Envelope stamped with Pretty in Pink and the image is from the level 2 hostess set Cause for Celebration.