A better day today....

So, after my personal pity party yesterday, and some encouraging emails and other messages from my real life friends and my bloggie friends (And by that I just mean that we haven't physically met. Because some of my bloggie friends are really becoming very close to my heart as well), I realized I can do something for myself. I didn't have to sit around and wait for good fortune to fall into my lap. There may not be much I can do, but I can do what is within my power to do for myself. I did some soul searching and some praying of my own, and then I put some of my beloved scrapbooking tools up for sale. Not the ones I use every day or every week, let's not go crazy lol. Then I really would be depressed. But the ones that are nice to have, but not necessary.
I put my Cricut Expression machine, all 21 of my Cricut cartridges, my beautiful zebra tote (sniff), my Cinch machine, some BoBunny scrapbook collections, a BoBunny tote, and a K&Company tote on KSL for sale. For people who don't live here, KSL is a local Utah news website where you can place free classified ads.
And guess what--I already sold the Cricut machine, nine cartridges, and possibly the BoBunny scrapbook collections. Yay! I almost have enough to license my car and to register my son for school. I sold some of the Cricut stuff for less than I wanted to, but there are a lot of them on KSL and some of them were lower priced than mine. So I gave the lady a good deal because she took the machine and nine cartridges.
I'm feeling a bit better and more positive now. And I want to thank all of you for the encouragement and support I received either here or through facebook or a phone call.
I'm going to keep pushing forward and doing what I can to help myself. The rest I will have to learn to put into God's hands no matter how hard it is to do that.
Thanks again--and love to y'all!

Depressed......

I'm sorry if you don't want to read depressing things, if not you better leave now lol. I'm just having a poor-pitty-me day and since it's my blog, I'm going to post it. This is a big part of my life right now.
I have been unemployed for a little over 10 months. I apply for at least 4-6 jobs a week (sometimes more), and I get called for interviews on a fairly regular basis. I usually interview once or twice a week. How can it take this long to find a job then? I must have something that makes them want to interview me. And most of the interviews seem to go very well and I leave feeling very positive. I follow up with an email or phone call thanking them for their time (and reminding them who I am and that I am very interested in the position). But then nothing happens.
We are falling very behind on our bills, and our resources are just running out. I honestly don't know what to do. I'm so upset and nervous all the time that I can't sleep. I can barely muster the will to get out of bed every day. I hear the voice in my head telling me things will work out and that I just need to trust in God's plan for me. But, I also realize that God helps those who help themselves. So I keep pressing on. Hoping, praying, and believing someone will see what I see in myself sometime.
People keep telling me that I should go back to school with that government program for displaced homemakers. And I think I could possibly qualify. But then I lose my unemployment benefits and we can't afford to live on Shane's income alone. Which is just sad because he makes pretty good money. We've just made some bad financial choices that we have to live with now. I can't afford anymore school loans either.
It's all I think about all the time now. We're going to lose everything we've worked so hard for all because of me. Even when I'm trying to have fun and do something else, it's always there in the back of my mind.
And what about Christmas? And registering G for school? And the registration on my car is up this month--all things that don't happen consistently and aren't built into our budget.
I'm just so worried.

Second try at this week's CAS sketch FTL150

Here is my second go for the Clean & Simple Stamping sketch FTL150 this week. I really like this one, but I wish you could see the patterned paper a bit more. I really like this paper, and for the life of me I can't remember the name of the manufacturer. I know they were in Utah, and it was a fairly small start-up company when I was working for Roberts. They're probably gone now. Sad but true. I even did a search on the internet to try to find it. But, no luck.
Anyway, here is the sketch again.

And here is my take:

 Inside of Card

{I adore you!}

Stamps: Digital sentiment from Ginger's House, Baroque Motifs from SU for small yellow flower

Ink: Summer Sun from SU, Cool Caribbean, Chocolate Chip, and Old Olive from SU for sponging edges.

Cardstock: Brown from Bazzill, white is generic from LSS

Patterned Paper: Uknown for the flowered background and the polka dot strip, Paper Studio stack for the teal green strip.

Flowers: All from Petaloo except smaller tan one is punched from SU Crumb Cakec cardstock scrap

Accessories: Marvy flower punch, BoBunny brad, small blue gem from Queen & Co., green gem from ZVA Creative, Zots glue dots, Glue Glider Pro adhesive

Holiday Weekend

We had so much fun this weekend! It was a holiday weekend for us here in Utah (Pioneer Day July 24th), so most people got Monday off work because Sunday was the actual holiday date.
On Saturday night we went to the most AMAZING fireworks show I have ever been too. Seriously. I've been to the Stadium of Fire at BYU (which is sort of famous I guess.-- At least here.), and it doesn't compare to this one. If anyone knows me at all, they know I just love fireworks. The 4th of July is my favorite holiday, and July all together is my favorite month because it is legal to do fireworks all month here.
This year was even better because they finally made aerial fireworks legal in Utah, and all my neighbors seemed to have the money to buy them lol.
This show was in Mapleton City, and, from what I understand, it is totally paid for by a few orthodontists that live there. They had these cool 3-D glasses on sale for $1 to benefit a theater in Springville, and they made the fireworks even cooler. Although, they did give me a headache after a while, and I like fireworks the old fashioned way anyway.
Here are a couple of cool pictures I got. This was using my old camera too. Just a cute little pink Sony Cyber-shot.

My favorite!

Then on Sunday we went down to Burraston Ponds in Mona for a fun day of fishing and swimming. Fishing for Shane and John, swimming for Pam and I and the boys, and chasing tennis balls in the water for the dogs. This spot is quickly becoming a favorite for us because it is free (really good reason right now lol), it's close, and it has something that we all enjoy.

Shane Fishing

 Colin and Garrett

 John and Shane even got in the water with the boys for a little bit this time.

 Shane's cousin, Steve (in blue shirt), and his friend came down to fish for a little bit.

 Our dog, Angel. Isn't she sweet?

 My son, Garrett. Must be cold lol.

 Pam and John's dogs--Cocoa and Bella

 Garrett and his best friend, Dustin

Monday was pretty chill for us. We didn't do a whole lot. Shane and Garrett got some yard work done. We were going to go down and watch the Spanish Fork fireworks (yep, more of those), but we were too tired. We went out in the yard wondering if we could see them that far away, but it was windy and raining, so I think they were cancelled.
Well, that was our fun-filled holiday weekend. Gotta love this simple life.

Heart Song Inspirations Monday with a Technique Spotlight

Supplies

{Stamps: Heart Song Designs Kite, SU Warm Words set (happiness), Ink: SU Cool Caribbean, Paper: Crumb Cake cardstock from SU, Patterned Paper from Cosmo Cricket, Ribbon: Offray, Black pen: Marvy LePen, Adhesives:Terrifically Tacky Tape Provo Craft to hold ribbon in place, Xyron sticker maker for kite string, Dimensional adhesive (unknown) to pop kite up, Trimmer: Fiskars}

This week for our DT projects at the Heart Song Inspirations blog , we will each be sharing some of our favorite cardmaking techniques. Some of my personal faves include distressing, paper piecing, paper piercing, brayer sky, and faux stitching. But, the technique I'm going to show you today is one that I think eludes a lot of people, even though it is totally easy. I'm going to show you how to create a fluffy clouded and a whispy clouded sky background. I used the fluffy cloud background and Heart Song Kite image on the above card. I also used the fluffy cloud technique on this Easter card posted back in March.
For the fluffy clouded background, I use the following items:

Blue Ink
Three 2-5/8" Scallop Circle punched cardstock pieces (stapled together)
A small piece of sponge (I use 1/8 of a full-size Stampin Up sponge)
White Cardstock
Something to protect my work surface (in this case an old desk calendar from 1999)

It's a bit difficult for me to explain, so I'll just let my pictures do the talking. But basically what I do is use the stapled pieces of scallop cardstock as a mask to ink around on my cardstock. I turn it wherever I think a cloud needs to be and pounce my inked sponge on the edges.
I got this technique from a tutorial I found on YouTube, but for the life of me I can't find the one I used. I did find another couple here  and here that are very similar.

For the whispy clouds, it is a lot simpler lol. I basically just take my sponge, dab it in the ink, and pounce it on the paper in random places keeping the parts that are supposed to be clouds white.

I hope you enjoyed my picture tutorial today, and I do recognize that I am not really all that gifted at these things. So, please visit the links within my post above to see the videos of the more in depth tutorials out there.

I also have some rather sad news. I've elected not to move forward with the new term on the Heart Song Design Team. I'm going to miss it sorely. Leah is a great artist and friend. I just feel like I need to take a time out and work on things that I want to work on. When I am on a DT for a specific line, I feel an obligation to use that product as much as possible in my work, and that limits me a little. However, I do adore Leah, and I've loved being on her DT. So I just may return after a couple of terms :)

Full Deck

I found this fun cards digi stamp from The Sherlocks Home today on my computer and decided to make a quick masculine card. I really like how this turned out.

Stamps: The Sherlocks Home deck of cards, I used her sentiment as well but printed it on my computer in a different font.

Ink: Versacraft black for sponging

Cardstock: Red from LSS, black just scraps from my stash

Patterned Paper: My Minds Eye (Lush Collection)

Accessories: My Minds Eye Lush Gems

FTL150 Happy Birthday

Can you tell I am on a card crusade lately? I don't have the money to get my hair done because I'm STILL unemployed. I have a friend that is a hairdresser, and she told me that she would trade me cards to get my hair done. She knows I am desperate. I think she feels sorry for me lol. She's awesome.
The card I'm sharing with you this morning is based on the FTL150 sketch over at the Clean & Simple Stamping blog today.

I didn't think I liked this one, but it's growing on me. And, I haven't used these stamp sets in ages. The Big Pieces set popped right into my head as soon as I saw the sketch, so it came together sort of quick. It was hard for me to pick colors, but I found a piece of BoBunny paper in my stash that 'spoke' to me lol. I didn't have a big enough piece to use much on the front, so I decided to put it inside.

{Happy Bithday FTL150}

Stamps: Stampin Up Happy Everything, Big Pieces, Seeing Spots, and Baroque Motifs

Ink: Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Caribbean Cool, Markers--Summer Sun, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Tempting Turquoise

Cardstock: Brown, Blue, and Green are all American Crafts, Yellow dot is BoBunny

Patterned Paper: BoBunny

Accessories: Marvy Flower Punch, Queen & Co. Gems

Today........

I had a job interview today. I guess it went ok, but I'm not expecting an offer. I felt uncomfortable the whole time and I think some of my answers came off a little awkward. It was in a really nice fancy office building down by Jamestown Square in Provo, and she asked me questions like, "Where do you see yourself in 5 years."  I don't know lady--I just need a job desperately. I didn't say that of course. I said I'd like to learn as much as possible and move my way up in whatever position I get. I like to learn new things. Blah blah blah. Please hire me lol.
I also have a couple more cards to share. The first I did late last night, and the picture inside was terrible. So I took a new one today. And the second one I just finished a little bit ago.

BoBunny for double dot cardstock and pink button, DMC floss, white cardstock is from LSS, the paper in the flower is unknown--too old and came from my stash, Stamp is from Warm Words Stampin Up set, and I used Stampin Up 2-3/8" and 1-3/4" scallop circle punches on the flower. I also used a tutorial found on LeeAnn Greff's blog here.
I really like the way this one turned out. I have a thing for patterned paper, and this layout let's it shine.

Green and patterned are both from one sheet of double-sided Crate Paper cardstock-Brook collection (old), White is from LSS, Sentiment is a digi stamp from Digital Doodling, Ink-Old Olive from Stampin Up for distressing of edges, flowers are an old Marvy punch (Which kept on sticking so it's getting trashed--so done with that!), gems from Queen & Co. Small Teal strip from an old We R cardstock scrap, Fiskars border punch.

Thanks for visiting me today! You know I love the comments, so keep 'em coming (ahem, or at least get them coming lol). If you like what you see, please become a follower. There are 2 or 3 ways to do this in my sidebar. Thanks!

Today's Work.....

Well, I cleaned most of the house yesterday. And Katy seemed to be pretty stable, so I didn't go see her at the hospital. She's getting lots of visitors and probably needs to rest.
Soooo, I got to play all day in my craft room, ahem, I mean office lol.
Here are some of the cards I got done. I only copied one of them this time lol.  That's pretty good. Usually I just like something someone else did and copy that lol. Although, on the yellow and black one I did take color inspiration from Lisa's card here (again--I just love these colors & polka dots together).
For this card I used Clean & Simple sketch FTL148.

 Inside of Card

Polka Dot paper is from My Minds Eye, Yellow is uknown (so old), White and black cardstock are both from LSS, Ribbon is Bo-Bunny, Gems from Queen & CO., and stamp is from Stampin Up True Friend using Yoyo Yellow ink. Flower punch on inside is from Marvy.

This next one is the one I totally copied. You can see the card I copied from Kari here. This is also using Clean & Simple sketch FTL90.

 Inside of Card

Brown cardstock is from American Crafts, Yellow and Teal are Bazzill embossed dots cardstock, White is generic from LSS, Ribbon and Button are from BoBunny, Flower punch is Boho Blossoms from Stampin Up, Gems are from Queen & Co., Embroidery Floss is DMC, and Embossing Folder is from Stampin Up/Sizzix--Vintage Wallpaper.

For this one, I wanted to do something fun and teenager-ish (Is that a word? It is now lol.). I used Clean & Simple sketch FTL147 on this one.

 Inside of Card

Black and White polka dot paper is My Minds Eye (again), Hot pink cardstock is American Crafts, Card base is Paper Accents trimmed to 4-1/4" X 4-1/4", White cardstock for circles is unknown from my stash, flower punch is Marvy, 3/4" circle punch is Stampin Up, Stamps are from Stampin Up Seeing Spots, Gems are Queen & Co. The HB and sentiment are both computer generated.

Thanks for visiting my blog today! Please leave a comment and let me know what you think. And, if you really like what you see, become a follower!

FTL149 Happy Birthday!

I really wanted to participate in the Clean and Simple sketch challenge this week, since I had so much fun the last time. This week I was having a bit of trouble coming up with something on my own, and then I saw this card by Lisa, and I just couldn't get it out of my head lol. I love black and white polka dots, and lately I've really been into yellow and black for some reason. So, I ended up casing Lisa's card. I just couldn't help myself. It was fabulous, even if she didn't think so.

Thanks for the wonderful inspiration Lisa! Hope you don't mind my blatant plagerism :)

{Happy Birthday}
Stamps: Stampin Up True Friend, Stampabilities Happy Birthday
Ink: Yoyo Yellow and Basic Black from Stampin Up
Paper: Yellow dot-BoBunny, Black/White Dot-My Minds Eye, plain white and black cardstock-unknown (pulled from scraps)
Half-Back Adhesive Pearls and Yellow Gemstone: Queen & Co.
Tools: Fiskars border punch, Marvy flower punch, Stampin Up scallop circle punch

Get Well Soon

This is a card I made today for my (sort of) stepsister, Katy, who is in the hospital after a serious ATV accident on Sunday.

Update on Katy's condition: She was taken off of life support and oxygen today and is breathing on her own. She still can't eat, and is being fed and hydrated with an IV. She does recognize everyone who has visited so far and REALLY wants to get out of her wrist braces and pull her IV out lol. She's a fighter that one. She even kicked four visitors out today (including me). She said "Go Away." simply like that. She's got a lot of healing ahead of her, and they expect she will be in the hospital for about 3 weeks, but she should be okay. Her injuries, that I know of, are three skull fractures, a number of broken facial bones (all I was told is many), and an ear injury that they are  unsure as to the extent of damage, and a little bit of road rash on her backside. Amazingly, no road rash on her face. Odd because her head is where most of the damage is. Her face and head are very swollen, and her right ear seems to be in the "wrong" place. But, time will tell if she will need surgery or not. They are hoping that once the swelling goes down her ear will right itself. And, if the bones don't move, she won't need surgery on those either. Still keeping her in my prayers.

{Get Well Soon}
Stamps: Rosa with Bird digital stamp from Heart Song Designs, Sincere Salutations from Stampin Up
Paper: Blue cardstock from American Crafts, White cardstock unknown, Patterned papers from Stampin Up Fall Flowers designer paper pack.
Ink/: Cool Caribbean from Stampin Up, Black Versamark
Pens/Markers: Tempting Turquoise, Always Artichoke, and Close to Cocoa markers from Stampin Up, Black Uniball gel pen
Gems: ZVA Creative
Tools: Cuttlebug and Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Four dies, Fiskars border punch, Boho Blossom punch from Stampin Up, Marvy flower punch

Love is Like a Butterfly

This week's challenge at the Heart Song Inspirations blog is to color on kraft cardstock and/or use lace on your project. I chose to do both because I've never colored on kraft, so it seemed like a challenge, and once the card idea came to mind, the lace was a no-brainer. I was a bit intimidated with the coloring on kraft, but I think it turned out really well. And I really like the effect of making the butterflies 3-D. I printed and colored 6 butterflies, cut them out, glued 3 down, and then glued the centers of the other 3 to the originals and pinched the wings with my fingers to make them stand out.

Inside Card

{Love is Like a Butterfly}

Stamps: Butterfly Duet digital stamp from Heart Song Designs, Butterfly Prints (sentiment) from Stampin' Up!, Background friendship words--unknown

Cardstock: Crumb Cake--Stampin' Up!, White--Unknown

Patterned Paper: Affinity paper stack from The Paper Studio

Punches: Boho Blossoms (inside of card), Decorative Label Punch--Stampin' Up!

Die: Beautiful Wings Embosslits--Stampin' Up!/Sizzix (small butterfly inside card)

Ink: Crumb Cake for Sponging--Stampin' Up!, Tempting Turquoise Marker & Blender Pen--Stampin' Up!

Adhesive Pearls: ZVA Creative

Glitter: Stickles

Lace: Ribbon Boutique

Adhesive: Foam dots from American Crafts, Tombow permanent tape roller

This Weekend .........

Kaitlyn was in a pretty bad ATV accident this weekend. For those of you who aren't familiar, she is my dad's girlfriend's daughter. My dad has been with Diane for years, so I pretty much think of her like a sister.
She had to be life flighted to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. I guess she was on Dad's 4-wheeler and hit the gas to hard or something. Not really sure what happened. But she had her two nieces on with her, and none of them had helmets on. The wheeler started to go out of control, so she pushed Brooke and Bailey off.

Dad didn't want to let her go with them. But they all kept begging and pleading, and it was only 3 blocks down the road. So he gave in and told her to just be careful.

She is in ICU and has three skull fractures. They also think that somehow the handle bar hit one of her ears and she may be permanently deaf in that ear now. We'll all be praying for her. She is a strong girl, and the doctors are very positive.

This is my second post about an ATV accident this year. Wear your helmets people!

Seems out of place now, but since I'm writing about the weekend--Shane, Garrett, and I also went to see the last Harry Potter movie today. It was SO good. I highly recommend it. I'm a bit sad that it's over now. All I have to look forward to is the last two Twilight movies now. *sniff*

Sunset Birthday

I'm having so much trying out this brayered sky technique! I love the way this one turned out. I still need to work on getting some of my colors on the cardstock a bit lighter, and the sentiment is a tad crooked. But I really really like this one. I like the small bit of pink in the sky with the pink designer paper. And I think the silhouette of the flowers in black is a beautiful contrast. 
I made this card for a friend whose birthday is coming up very soon. I won't say who. Wouldn't want to ruin the surprise. Hopefully she won't see this post before she gets it because she'd probably guess lol.
In Other News:
I have a job interview tomorrow. I hope this one goes well, but I'm still holding out for the Merchant Services position with Property Solutions. I've done two interviews there that both went well, so I'm crossing my fingers. 
The interview on Friday is for an office assistant with an insurance company in Spanish Fork. It doesn't pay all that well, but I could walk or ride my bike to work. 
I also have a friend whose job is hiring and will submit my name for an interview. They work really long hours and it's all standing though. So, not sure I want that one. But I will go just because I NEED a job. Wish me luck on the job front!
{Sunset Birthday}
Stamps: Upsy Daisy and Sincere Salutations from SU
Ink: Stazon Black, Versamark Black (for sentiment and shading), Yoyo Yellow, Regal Rose, Only Orange
Cardstock: Green card base from DCWB Fall Stack, black and white are generic
Paper: from Ginger Blossom SU designer paper
Accessories: MS butterfly punch, brayer, SU corner punches

Thinking of You

Told you you'd be seeing this sponged sky technique again lol. 

I was looking through the gallery at Splitcoast and finally decided it was time I try a night sky. I took so much inspiration from Michelle Zindorf and others who were inspired by her. I know I have a long ways to go, but I had fun and I'm really happy with the way this card turned out. I really want to try using a brayer to do this, because it is so much smoother. But I'm just not very good at it right now lol. I need a little more practice. 

For this card I punched a 1" circle out of scrap cardstock and used removable adhesive tape to stick it to my main panel to mask off the moon. I used a sponge swiped on my Blue Bayou Ink pad and covered my entire panel. I used more ink at the top and graduated to less at the bottom. Then I used the same technique to sponge Mellow Moss ink onto the bottom part of my panel for the earth. 

The pine trees are a free digital stamp I got from Beccy's Place and just sized and printed onto my sponged panel. Easy Peasy.

{Thinking of You}

Stamps: Trees--Beccy's Place digi, Sentiment--Sincere Salutations from Stampin' Up!

Cardstock: Blue Bayou from Stampin' Up!, Black and White are generic from LSS

Ink: Blue Bayou and Mellow Moss from Stampin' Up!

White Pen: American Crafts Galaxy Marker

Punches: Large Oval and Scallop Oval from Stampin' Up!

Get Well Soon

I made this card today for my sister, Kim, who recently had knee surgery. It was funny because she actually called and asked me to make her one lol. She wanted it for her scrapbook. I was going to make her one anyway. But I thought that was kind of cute. Her favorite colors are blue and green. Love ya sis!

This is the first time I've tried the sponged background sky, and I REALLY liked it. I have a couple of birthday cards to make, so you may see this again :)

{Get Well Soon}

Stamps: Upsy Daisy and Sincere Salutations both from Stampin' Up!

Cardstock: Light blue from American Crafts, Black and White were scraps, so I'm not sure on those. They felt like generic cheap store brand though :) The white card base is premade from Paper Accents.

Ink: Bliss Blue and Gable Green--Stampin' Up!, Black Stazon

Ribbon & Brad: BoBunny

Punches: Oval and Scallop Oval from Stampin' Up!

Embossing Folder: Framed Tulips from Stampin' Up!

Second Interview

I had a second interview today with Property Solutions. It seemed to have gone really well, so I'm hoping I get it. They said they still have 12 first-time interviews to get through and they had 3 second-round interviews after mine today. I think that is weird. Why would you do second interviews if  you aren't even finished with the first ones? But I guess it's good that I made enough of an impression to get a call back to begin with right?
I'm almost out of my first federal unemployment extension. There is still one left I can get, but I'd really just prefer to have a job by then. So, I'll be praying. Wish me luck.

Bee Happy

Time for a new Heart Song Inspirations blog challenge. I love that these start on Mondays. It just makes Mondays not suck so much lol.
This week we were to make a card that reminded us of summertime. The and/or challenge was no patterned paper. Umm....ya, that is too hard for me lol.  Plus, I'm trying to use up my stash, which is largely comprised of patterned paper.
My first thought was to use the hot air balloon again, but, since I used it last week I decided I better pick another one. Then I thought it would be good to use one of the digis that I haven't ever used before. Hmmm.......didn't want to do flowers because it's so hot outside lately that mine are dying. How depressing.
Then one day I was sitting out on the porch being pestered by bees, and it hit me. Yay! There is a bee in my HSD vault!. And I just love black and yellow together. Sweet--I had an epiphany lol.

If you like what you see, leave a comment. If not--buzz off lol.  Oh, and let me know what you think of my new blog background. Not sure if I like this one, but I do love the colors together.

{Bee Happy}

Digital Image: Bee and Bloom Trimmers One (for the flower) ~ Heart Song Designs
For Coloring: Tombow Markers and Blender Pen, Black Sharpie, Versa Craft Real Black Pad for inking of edges Cardstock: Yellow from DCWV Fall Stack, Black from American Crafts 

Patterned Paper: Black/White circles--no idea but it's old, Yellow Dot and Black on Black Dot are BoBunny

Sentiment: Printed from computer--Girls are Weird Font free from DaFont.com

Punches: Square punches from Stampin' Up--1-1/4" & 1-3/8", Circle Punch from SU as well--3/4"

Crystals: ZVA Creative