Really? 9 years old?

So, I was thinking about card kits to make up for Karen's beginner's class, and my mind went to stickers. I started looking at my stickers and realized that I have a bunch from 2005.

I challenged myself to use some of them on cards, and here is the first one. Yes, it is 6 layers deep under the tags. Layers are good, right?

Happy Caturday, you're pawfect.

I sat around the whole weekend and avoided housework again by stamping, coloring, cutting and pasting. Since you didn't ask, I'll tell you: I have 4 whole cards to show for my weekend! And a ginormous mess on my craft table. And the floor next to the desk, and the shelves immediately to the right and left of the desk, and every other horizontal surface in there. I probably should put up the ironing board so I don't use it for another surface.

I got a new set of stamps with cat images, called Sittin' Pretty by The Alley Way Stamps. These cats are a little bigger than most Lawn Fawn critters, so they look more "important" on the card front.

My coloring isn't that great, in spite of the fact that I keep buying more markers. So I decided to paper piece the cats instead of coloring them. But in the end I liked the colored ones better than the pieced ones. Now I have quite a few stamped and cut out cats and it bugs me to toss them, but at some point I can't use all the images I make as experiments. What's a crafty type to do?

By the way I spent WAY too much time with the backgrounds here. I have really got to start using sketches and stick to them.

I think the way I colored the cat's tail here could be safely called a fail. I'm using it anyway.

Oh darn, I forgot to put the shiny stuff on their noses before I took the pictures. Oh well. Happy Caturday!

Move over Christmas, it's time for Valentines!

So I finally stopped with the Christmas stuff and made a Valentine. It really doesn't matter that I don't send or give them, I just want to make them!

Paper crafting is an adventure, and one that almost always sends me scurrying off to Michael's or Amazon or someplace for the one thing I don't have that I need.

I enjoyed coloring in those cute little elephants from Lawn Fawn, but I'm no darn good at it, and I don't really have enough gray markers. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Look at these guys:

This was my first effort with the warm gray Copic markers. Not so great, but I am still a beginner. Anyway, I did order a whole lot of gray Spectrum Noir markers in both warm and cool. I went back over these with my Bic markers (cool gray and darker) and it really improved them.

My status update on Facebook yesterday was that I should start a support group for creative people who have no artistic vision or talent, but who love to buy the tools and play with them. I had 3 people ready to sign up by the end of the day.

Now that I have completed a Valentine, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, it is TIME to take down the Christmas tree. Really.

It's generations of things!

I love it. My daughter would prefer to sew on my mom's old Featherweight rather than my New Home (which I got in '95 or '96).

So in this picture, there is my mom's sewing machine, my sewing machine, and behind all that is my grandmother's china. Perfect! [Edited to say, the china is older than I thought. It was in the family before my great grandmother. No one I've talked to can remember who bought it to start with. A mystery!]

Craving corndogs?

Well, I just won't go there again so soon after reading the label on the box. Scary.

So I found some organic, non-preserved hot dogs and cut them up into corn muffins. It's not quite the same but it will do in a pinch. I didn't photograph the mustard here because I picked up the wrong color plate. Oops.

Here is the leftover pan of muffins before baking. Next time I'll put the hot dogs in first then do the batter. That way I can get a higher proportion of hot dog to corn batter ratio. Yum.

I'm grateful for so many things.

While I am NOT thrilled about my cable going out last week, it did make me re-evaluate my AV setup. When I discovered my DVD/DVR wasn't hooked up to the cable box I was pissed at the Comcast guy who installed it and assured me it was hooked up correctly. Yeah, for playback only, not recording. Anyway that puppy wouldn't even power on, so I ordered another one from the big box store's website. Now I think I know exactly how to hook it up so I can record stuff when I'm not at home. Just like I could in the 1980s.  I also visited the big box store and brought home a Blu-ray player for my immediate use (until the cable is fixed).

Side note: I didn't know until Sharknado this summer that I loved bad Sci Fi movies. When I found this 5-pack disc in the $5 bin I got the giggles. Of course I got it. I haven't watched it yet. Yesterday, they put a temporary splice in my broken cable line outside, with assurances that the permanent fix could be done any time without my presence. I'm cool with that.

Here we go again!

Yes, that's my TV, and the stupid cable went out this week. Funny, it happened on the same day as the cones went up on my torn-up sidewalk out front.

Then I discovered why my DVR never worked with the cable box. It was never hooked up to it, that's why.  Now the darn thing is broken anyway. The good news is my VCR works! I really wasn't interested in watching American Idol from 2010 again, but I may be desperate enough before the weekend is out.

I think I'm off to Walmart to get a DVD player. I'll splurge and get one of the $5 DVDs from the dump bin in the center aisle, too.