Before & After Pics don't have any

Whew I just finished cleaning my patio, kitchen and living room. What a big job. to clean up after the Witch Fire. Ok maybe I am taking it too far....with all my witch fire smileys.

Ash and cinder everywhere. We had the windows closed up but they don't have a perfect seal and stuff still gets through. Well it is very fine particles anyway so this got through as well. There is black soot everywhere. I wish I could have taken before and after pics (you should see the soot all over the place) but my daughter needed the camera in New York with her this weekend. I am so glad she had a trip and somewhere to go to get out of here because the air quality is still baddo. I also wish I had something pretty to post instead of just my blahblahblah. I am taking breaks in between cleaning and just felt like chatting with bloggoland.

• I first vacuumed,
• then I scrubbed,
• I moved all of the small articles on counters and whatnot to the center of the room on a table,
• then I cleaned everything off top to bottom
• then I vaccuumed again

Ok that's just a part of it but it's done in those three areas. The patio was another matter. That took me all day yesterday to sort out from hosing down everything to pitching and sorting, feeding/watering the birds. I don't have a bird bath but decided to construct some out of some saucers that go under my flower pots. I had some bigger ones that I wasn't using so I cleaned them, set them on top of the flower pots instead of under and filled them with water. Making a makeshift bird bath. I made 2 of them. I thought the little birdies were probably all traumatized and thirsty toooooo. But then the squirrels seemed to use it more.

Things seem to take me longer anyway. My cousin and I were just talking yesterday about how when our babies were little and we kept house. I used to be able to get up in the morning, houseclean the entire house including washing all floors, tubs, showers etc... the hard stuff and take care of the kids, and have the meals on the table. We could accomplish this in a day. Now I don't know whether I am just doing things more thoroughly or what but I am lucky if I get one small area finished in one day. Aging gracefully I suppose. It's all been very stressful as you can imagine.

Thanks for listening!

Creating Keepsakes and Lisa Bearnson ROCK - Heart Warming Story Out of the Ashes

Ok I think that only my blog readers and PRISSy pals are going to get this one but I have a fun story to share amidst all the destruction and chaos of this last week. As I have reported my family and I had to evacuate from our residence quickly on Monday, October 22nd at 3:00 a.m. due to the fires in San Diego. The Witch Fire specifically. I mentioned the few items I was able to "grab on the go" ...I was only able to grab a few of my markers, a few boxes of assorted stamps, my newest die cuts and the Creating Keepsakes September KOTM (brand new in the box). We headed east on Interstate Hwy 8 over the mountains to El Centro. We really had no plans we just knew we wanted out of San Diego and ended up 100 or so miles east out of town. We left in a pack of 4 adults with a caravan of 4 vehicles. The Santa Ana winds were so fierce still with gust up to 95 mph on the mountain that the interestate pass on the mountain was closed to high riding vehicles. This required us to drop off a couple of our vehicles because one of them is a Sprinter which rides pretty high (think Mr. Brown truck ). In the process of dropping a vehicle off and transferring some things from one vehicle to the next the winds picked up my Creating Keepsakes September KOTM from the clothes basket I had it in. Right out of the back of the car that's how strong the winds were. Lets just say my kit TRAVELED.

(click on the link scroll down and to the right to see the September one...here is a link to JPebbles gallery of a completed Sept KOTM in fact she was my major enabler and why I bought it in the first place) and off it blew across this huge empty parking lot. My DH says, "what was that" and comments "well that's lost for good." Because it was blowing away with the wind. Well, when I realized it was my Creating Keepsakes September KOTM, I looked at him and replied: "oh no it isn't...I am going to get it. Off I ran after it. Here I am running for my life from fires and I have to have my scrap kit. Picture when a piece of paper get picks up by the wind and you try and catch it? Not so much.... Anyway ME running after ANYTHING is a sight to behold in and of itself. But I wasn't going to let my new Creating Keepsakes September KOTM get away. After running some distance, I did catch up to it. I am dusting it off to put back into the car. However, it was battered, bent and mangled and the lid was missing. After I returned to my home which was still standing (Whew) I decided to contact CK somehow to see if I could get a replacement for the kit that I lost in the winds and yes CK and kindred spirit prissy pal Lisa Bearnson were happy to oblige. I am sooooo excited. I know that losing a mere scrapbooking kit is NOTHING compared to all of the destruction and those that lost their homes. Frankly, I don't think I could live through losing everything it was stressful enough just evacuating let alone coming back to the nightmare of losing EVERYTHING. But it is a tiny gratitude and a tiny happiest moment amidst all of this chaos and I just wanted to share how sweet I thought that everyone over at CK was for helping me out. I am going to make something very special with my travel journal. hhhhmmmm maybe the escapade of running for my life from the witch fire....travel journal.....get it? I don't know maybe I'll just hoard it with all the other stuff I never have time to use. But that's fun tooooo. At least I still have a place to hoard it to. =D

We're Back Safe and Sound

Just a quick post because I am exhausted.... evacuation is soooooooo stressful and I can't even imagine the stress involved with losing everything. OMG I was never so happy and grateful to be back in my home. Yes, it's full of ashes, dust, odor (think campfire times 10) but I still have my home. Air quality isn't the greatest (ya think?), my lungs hurt, we have purchased masks but they are hot and don't know how effective they really are. I was nearest the "witch"

fire. How appropriate is THAT!!! I mean it was like HELL I tell you so witches and goblins etc very appropriate to name a fire that (oh I know its satan that is in hell and not witches that's halloween but you know what I mean???). I think they name it after it's point of origin so I think this one started near witch creek or something like that.

I thought about all of my bloggin' friends and my craft while I was gone. I had to leave everything behind and didn't pack much. Guess what did get stashed in a basket in the minutes I had? All of my A Muse stamps, my new copic markers and the nestabilities. That was it. Nothing else. I just kept seeing all of that melted rubber and I just shudder to think. I am taking work off tomorrow for one day regroup but hopefully will get back to my office on Friday. Just in time for meetings I am ill- prepared for. =(

FIRE

OMG yes I have been affected by the fires in southern CA. The mandatory evacuation area was anything north of Hwy 56 and E of the 5. I live one mile N of the 56 and just a couple of miles S of the most severely hit Rancho Bernardo area. This picture is within miles of where I live and could be me for all I know!!! I do not know if when I get back my home will still be there. Yes this is very near my home. We fled the area at 3 a.m going East on 8 to El Centro. We are staying at a Comfort Inn Suites and are safe. We grabbed our doggie, photos, important papers, passports, the backup CDs to my computer [remember the ones I had to do because of computer craziness just a couple of days ago] and a few clothing items and left. Literally the clothes on our backs is all we have that would fit in our vehicles. Let me tell you when you have to grab and go it is really interesting what you are leaving behind and what you take. It really makes you think about priorities. My company was closed today and I still have not had word when we will open to go back to work. I am borrowing a computer to post this message. The air quality is so poor that my lungs still hurt from the night before when we slept in the smoky air. This fire had started way south yesterday around 9 a.m. so we knew they were in the area plus Malibu was involved but that is in LA so we weren't worried. I did not get a chance to take any of my craft room stuff. So it was ALL left behind which if I lose my stamps and art supplies I don.t know what I will do. I am typing on an Italian Mac right now and I can.t find apostrophe.s. Oh I just noticed that part of the time I did find them and now I can't. OMG too funny. I guess when I don't look I find them when I look I can't. Whatever. I hope everyone else is ok. I will keep you posted. EDITED TO ADD: THIS literally was my backyard in June

DREADED BLUE SCREEN UPDATE!

OK so I don't know what was wrong with my computer??? But it appears to be resolved FOR NOW. I do however have everything backed up that I needed to back up safely on CDs. Mainly my pics. Everything I have (in the last 6 years at least) is digital so that would be a huge chunk of scrapbook fodder =D to lose. I've yet to scrapbook much AT ALL and have 20 years of photos to scrap as it is. I just got into this whole scrap and stamp cult/realm 2.5 years ago?? It wasn't even on my radar screen before this. Don't ask me why... it seems such a natural crafty thing for ME to be in. I mean I've done crosstitch, stained glass, etc... and never saw papercrafts??? Weird. Plus I don't know why I didn't do it when my kids were little and I was a SAHM. That would have been such a great activity during those years. =(. I even was a scout leader and remember looking for some project ideas for the troop. But I do love it and have lots of supplies now, so if I ever do find time to scrap I CAN. I have organized my photos (the historical ones aka the last 25 years) somewhat, so they are ready to go. I pitched and sorted. I think I sorted by year and maybe theme? I chose a few "favorites" so they are ready for pages when I get ready to create. I don't know if any of you have done that but that is a BIG JOB. I think I will begin with the few kits I've collected. Did anyone ever see that Lisa Bearnson CK set on QVC a while back? It was the auto-ship 4 scrap album set...."All about me", All about you" All about the year" etc... (I forget what it was titled) Well I have that set and it is just waiting to be used. I love it. Maybe I will take some pics to share sometime. I have assembled the first one which was "All about me". That one was difficult for me to do because I am such a Maxine and I find it hard to conjure up things about "Me" but that was an eye opener in itself. Like hey you! where did you go? Anway, completing the "All about me" album was a struggle on a multitude of levels but I did manage to complete(well close to complete if I remember correctly I may a couple of items that need finishing in the album).. Anyway blah blah blah.... my computer is back for now ( I think it was user-error aka my family when I am at work and they are left to their own devices). Sometimes I don't know how people manage to screw things up with a computer as bad as they do. Seriously, sometimes I will get trouble calls both at work and in my personal life and I always say to the person.... how did you even manage this? I don't think I could re-create it if I tried. My mom and my sister Patty (and her entire family (4 kids nuff said?) for that matter...they have had more new computers than ANYONE EVER). There I mentioned my sister Patty hahahahahaha before Kay in a post. She's gonna love that. My mom does some weird stuff on a computer that even a reboot won't take care of ;D. Have a great HAPPY SATURDAY everyone. I am hoping to get to ground-zero in the housework so I can do some fun stuff like stamp/scrap. I took the dog for a walk this a.m. and got my schtuff to the dry cleaners already so I am off to a running start. ~later

Oh p.s. stay tuned on the ultra sound for the twins... drat...

Is Mercury in retrograde???????

My computer is VERY unstable. I came home to the dreaded blue screen. It's been acting up off/on for a while now? I started backing up in Apr. Got a few things done. Stop/start. Actually backed up all my daughters pics first so hers are at least preserved. I mean she had Thailand, Italy, Europe, Ireland and a ton of other pics so I am glad I did hers first. Was then going to get to mine. Well when I came home this eve and was barely able to recover (I rebooted dozens of times with no avail) Well finally I got a restored screen. I was really sweating buckets. So I am in major backup mode right now. Mainly I am starting with my digi pics to CDs. I think I am pretty good on My docs so those will be next after the pics finish copying. I just have never backed up pics. Once I download them from the camera... that's it... I do nothing more with them. So I am scurrying to get the pics all to CDs. Yikes pretty scary. Anyway, I see a new computer in my very near future. I have been at training all day and am away from my computer and email until Monday. So you might not see much blog posting for a few days. Plus I might not have a computer period for a few days longer than that. I hate computer crashes but at the same time always LOVE new hardware. ;D I think I am going to get a laptop this time but not sure. My husband and I are much more mobile and wifi so we'll see... What a job. What are your systems for storing digi pics everyone? Love to hear some processes that work for you.

Whew that's over

I finished my mammogram today. Ok so I need a pat on the back, I told you I was a baby. Good news bad news. The good news is the initial look came back with an "almost" certain it's a cyst. Bad news because even though they are "almost " certain (almost being the operative word no pun intended)... they are requesting I follow up with an additional procedure of a ultra sound. GREAAAAAAAAAAAAT. I mean "you can go" would have been a great day. A "let's just make sure" with a follow up ultra-sound not my idea of a GREAT day. So there you have it and more anxiety to come. Stay tuned. Thanks for all the well wishes. EDITED TO ADD: I should add I have a history of cysts. So many so that I haven't had them all checked out at times (too many same ole same ole) This time because of the "time" of year being breast cancer awareness month I thought I would be a woman good citizen and follow-up for a change and for myself too. Plus I will be 50 this year and wanted to start the decade out with a clean bill of health and promise myself to get regular health screenings going forward. Being good to me so to speak. I never intended to use my blog to discuss such "things" but hey I thought I would contribute the steps I have taken for this awareness month. If I discuss my struggle to even get myself to a check check maybe I will spur someone else on to making their appointment too. Go a head encourage yourself go go do it do it. Early detection is the KEY.

Wish me luck

I'm going to get the twins squished today so well wishes, prayers and good thoughts are welcomed!!

It's breast cancer awareness month so I scheduled my mammogram and today is the day. I'm scared because I don't want them to find anything. But I'm going to brave it out and MAKE MYSELF GO.

I know it's for the best because it is a diagnostic tool that's just doing it's job. The whole intention is to find it and find it EARLY so even though it is with great fear and trepidation.... I am scurrying over there.

I am not going to chicken out, promise.

Knowing is better than not knowing the consequences of not going could be worse than going. So off I go, yep I'm going .......

Grateful for You

I just love this time of year....after all....after Halloween then comes Thanksgiving and it such a great time of year to remember to be "Grateful" in all things. This is another card I did at card class. It such a great sketch and the colors I thought I'd share it with all my PRISSy blogging friends.

Thoreau

When I made this card at my upline Debby's "stamper's choice" card class I just new I had to have this set. Henry David Thoreau is one of my all time favorite poets. How appropriate that the thougth of the day is also Thoreau. I used to read his "shtuff" all the time when I was in college. Anyway, it was a hostess set, and by the time I decided to get it... it was gone... so I ended up purchasing it on evilbay oh I meant ebay (did I say that out loud?) Oh come on you know you feel the same way. It's only evil because I buy so much shtuff from there. Yet another love-hate relationship I have. Don't ya just love this card? Design rights go-to my upline Debby! Now go on out and try and affect the quality of your day. Monday is on it's way. boohoo. I'm ready for it. Then, GOOD Tuesday, mammogram day. (my attempt at trying to be positive). Sorry this picture is so dark. I'm such an amateur.

IRL Sissys

HAHAHA I have to laugh. If you go down to my earlier post about IRL sisters. You will notice there is only one comment from an "anonymous" poster. What is hilarious about this is it is from one of my "other" IRL sisters

who did not get a mention on the blog lately. So she just had to leave me a comment about that fact. Sibling rivalry exists still and we are pushing 40 something.

Anyway, I KNOW for a fact that it is my one and only IRL sister Patti. How... you ask... do I know this? Well,

A. she's the lo-tech one,

hence the "anonymous" nature of her comment. She wouldn't know how to create a logon name to save her life. ROFL
B. she is the only one that would scream aaaaaaggggghhhhh out of the frustration of NOT getting a mention on my blog before the other IRL sister Kay.
C. I just know my sisters.

Unfortunately, I do not have a lot of pictures of my sisters. We all live so far apart in different parts of the country, it is rare we get a photo together or even individual ones. We have to do something about this. So I will use a photo we took at a family reunion at my sister Kay's farm in Missouri (there I go again mentioning Kay first, oops) The picture below is the last sister picture we took. It was July 4th 2006 (or tribal council

and one of us is getting voted off) last year. From left to right, oldest to youngest, it's Mary, Kay, Liz (Me) and Patti. Patti (aka anon).... or should I say from right to left, youngest to oldest, Patti the QUEEN, Liz (Me), that 2nd one and the first one. Yeah that would probably make Patti the QUEEN happy. I just love having 3 sisters IRL don't they look fun? (Except that one on the far end to the right). Oh I should mention, Mary's a nurse, Kay's doing transcription right now at the hospital, I'm the tech writer and Patti well she's trouble. NO she's a fantabulous SAHM to 4 wonderful children and a grand baby. They are all pretty crafty. Mary scrapbooks, Kay is an amazing crocheter and also likes paper crafts and Patti is also a hoarder of scrap booking schtuff. Notice I said hoarder and not doer of. Yep she hoards lots of schtuff. I might post some more family pics later.

For now...

Each Day Provides it's own Gifts

I see a pattern forming..... another thank you card. One of my favorite topics...gratitude... and another 100% CASE from the SU IBC '06, if you remember, front cover. I added the tag punch that corresponded with this set Artfully Asian.

A Tree for all Seasons

I kind of went off on a Christmas holiday theme this weekend but now I am back to Fall. Why rush fall when it is my favorite of all time season (besides winter, spring and summer of course)! I do believe I have a problem with trees. Well it's not really a problem. The problem is I love them. All things PRISSy SU.

Recipe:

Paper: Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla
Ribbon: SU Twill Tape
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Bravo Burgundy, Always Artichoke, Night of Navy
Stamps: A Tree for all Seasons
Scraps: SU eyelets in the same colors as the inks

Design: SU IBC '05 (?) I just know I CASEd it.

Trees trees and more trees....HEY it's fall ya know!

Have another card from my card class stash. I've been going through some cards that I never posted but have had around for a while. Design credit goes to my upline Debby. I wanted to post my cards that had a fall feel to them. I just love any stamp set that has a tree. All supplies SU unless otherwise noted. This was one of the first cards I ever did and of course I had to purchase the set because of it.

I had a dog and his name was King...oh I mean Prince

My puppy is very spoiled. I was just going into my room to make my bed the other morning and lookie what I find? He was almost sound asleep, I thought he was so cute so I snapped a picture of him. Yes that is the width of a queen-sized mattress and he spans it. He is a husky/collie mix and 110 lbs (only he looks bigger). Guardian angels on earth. Love that dog. Obviously he knows that.

Sisters are Great! Both IRL and Cyber PRISSy Sisters

Hear ye' hear ye' good mail day in the house. Lookie what I got in the mail recently from my in real life (IRL) sister Kay? My sister sent me this exceptionally cute Autumn card. I am pretty sure that the stamps are from "Close to my Heart" as this is the co. that she is involved with. It's so cute I just wanted to share it and send a big thank you back to my sister for making it for me.

AND I wanted to take this opportunity to share this card and to shout out another quick HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my new cyber-sis Vickie over at "This Art that makes me Happy". (No Vicki I am not stalking you ;D). I really am just wishing you a HAPPY BIRTHDAY girlfriend. ROFL. Unless you think I am your number one S_tamp TALKER which then of course in stampspeak I am your S_Talker. Cause I like to Talk Stamps. Hey I'm just kidding ok? I like to talk stamps that's it. HAPPY BIRTHDAY I hope you had a great day!

Funny story about my IRL sister: She introduced me to stamping a couple of years ago before I "got it" ;D. I remember I was visiting her house near Springfield, MO and she showing me her little craft room and this box of stamps, inks, papers. I remember saying OMGosh what do you do with all of those stamps?? I couldn't get into that!!!! I'd get way too confused. I wouldn't know where to start. I just shook my head and hung it down in disbelief. Feeling a tad sorry for my sister thinking she must be obsessed. Well I must be a hands on person because fast forward a couple of years I was invited to a SU 10/10 card class from a co-worker. I thought. Why not sounds like fun. 10 cards for $10. That's pretty reasonable and I could always stock up on some cards for later. I instantly "got it" as I made cards (hands on) at my first card class and the rest.... as they say is history. Now my sister views my blog and crafty space pics that I've posted on my blog and she just shakes her head and hangs in disbelief right back at me. I just can't wait if she ever visits so I can show off my stuff and play together with her. Now that I "get it" ROFL.

Faux Stitching JJ Challenge...yet another one

Faux stitching. All PRISSy stuff SU. Paper, ribbon, ink, stamps and scraps. Sorry for the short post just trying to submit before the deadline. EDITED TO ADD: In case (haha pun intended) anyone didn't notice, this was CASEd 100% from the SU Idea Book and Catalog 2006 (I think that is the year). I often CASE cards straight up from the IBCs or mini catty's because I figure.... hey why re-invent the wheel. Plus I'm a beginner of sorts. :D

JJ WCMD Monochromatic

Ok so I think I need to take a photography class. I decided to turn off the flash to my camera because I thought it was too bright and now it may be too dark. I just don't have time tonight to retake everything. Here is another submission for JJ WCMD challenges. The theme for this challenge is monochromatic and the challenge can be found over at StampinMathilda's place. Go check it our 'cause she is an artist for REAL. This is fun. I am last minute Lizzie but I really wanted to get some posts in...in order to maybe win the grand prize of $250 in JJ Stamps. Whoa that would be awesome. ~enjoy my prissy pals. For this card I used SU stamps. I don't have the name right in front of me. I also used SU handsome hunter ink, WW cardstock. Good luck everyone! EDITED TO ADD: In my haste to finish and post last night I didn't get to mention, I can't take credit for the design on this card... I CASEd this design from my up-line Debby. I'll add the link later to her web later I don't have it with me right now.

Julie's Challenge for JJ and WCMD "Use Paint"

Here's another quick card I am using for a JJ WCMD submission for Julie's challenge to use "paint". Ok I know it's lame but I painted the tree with the "paint" brush tip of my SU mellow moss marker. Hehe. I know Julie won't mind because she's really cool and really easy going. Tada! You all still have time to join in on some of the fun WCMD challenges. Midnight tonight PST. Pacific Standard Time. My timezone, West Coast time zone. You can win $250 JustJohanna stamps. I know my wish list is at least that long...
It's a random drawing and all you have to do is link your card in the comments section of any of the JJ designer's blogs. EDITED TO ADD: In my haste to finish and post last night I didn't get to mention, I can't take credit for the design on this card... another card I CASEd from my up-line Debby. Thanks

Julie's "Use 3 Stamps" Challenge for JJ & WCMD

Ok Julie....here you go. Here is another of my submissions to one of the JJ WCMD challenges...I used 3 stamps from the SU set Frosty. I used the snowflake image, snowman and the sentiment "Happy Holidays". I used the tag punch to create an image window and my white pen to doodle around the opening. I used SU markers to fill in Frosty and made his black hat frosty with dazzling diamond glitter. All SU. EDITED TO ADD: In my haste to finish and post last night I didn't get to mention, I can't take credit for the design on this card... another card I CASEd from my up-line Debby. I'm a real CASE lately.

Friend

It's so hard and so easy to CASE the FS at SCS Anna Wight....WHY you say? Well it's sooo hard to pick which card to CASE because they are all sooo nice and it's easy because well....they are all sooo nice. Here's another CASE. Obviously if you look at the source card you can see who is the genius and who is the amateur ;D. I love the natural beauty set. I changed the background stamp and the sentiment using just the word "friend". I also did not color in the bird image as in the original card. but hey I think I did a great job CASEing the doodling. Yepper.

Double Fun

Today is Anna Wights Birthday and she is the featured stamper over at SCS. So I decided to CASE this card of Anna's. We were supposed to use a layout she did changing at least two items. As my usual EVERYTHING is almost exactly the same EXCEPT the items changed on this card are the size, mine is 4.25x4.25 and the added ribbon. I also added extra doodle wirly gigs on the roofs to the houses eaves can you see them? Those were a happy accident because I smeared some ink.

Now for the double fun part... I also am linking this as my single layer submission for the Justjohanna contest that is going on for WCMD. Yay! HI JULIE I FINALLY GOT BUSY MAKING SOME CARDS OK? hehehe

Happy Halloween!

I just had to share a mini-album a friend of mine made for me. It is sooooo cute. It is an album made out of paper bags folded. The first pic depicts the front and back cover. There is a huge mix of supplies used in this project from SU to A Muse, Martha Stewart, Michaels, Target dollar bin Crafty Secrets just a little mish-mash of it all. The paper is Martha in this first picture.

Front cover...


This next picture is the first and second pages. The buttons are from Target I think memory makers.

More interior pages

Last two interior pages. The bats are the glitter "create you own sticker pages" from Martha Stewart/Michaels. The eek tag is of course SU and look at the cute cuttlebug background. This special project was so adorable and had so much fine detail. I just love it... it has a special place on my desk so I can enjoy it everyday. Also, two of the openings had little surprises in them, some sample paper, eyelets and pumpkin punch shapes. Thanks again Allison you are becoming quite the talented stamper. I think some of your stuff is definitely publish worthy. Thanks again and Happy Fall ALL!

Fall Arrangement

Happy Sunday Y'all. And a cyber happy birthday to Anna Wight a kindred spirit and stamping cyber friend. I hope she is having a wonderful birthday today. Here are some fall cyber flowers to help her celebrate her day. I wanted to share the fall flowers I have on my kitchen table. I love fall colors and even though this pic doesn't do the colors justice. They are so pretty with the sunflowers and other dry flowers I paired it with. They look like bittersweet and the other one I don't know what it is. Cards? Who does stamping? Who me? Not yet. Happy Birthday Anna stamper extraordinaire!!