Saturday, May 9, 2009

Pali Lookout Circle Journal Layout (BG Lime Rickey)

I finally finished this layout for a circle journal. I took two stuffed animals sent to me from other members of this cj group and took pics at the Pali Lookout. The assignment is to do an 8 x 8 layout.

I used the new Lime Rickey line by BasicGrey - - SO FUN!!! I used various pp and cut them up to suit my needs for this layout. Here are the two pages.


LEFT SIDE



The one thing on the layout that is not by BasicGrey is the Admit One ticket stamp by Maya Road. I stamped the image on BG Lime Rickey (Rob Roy) and cut it out.

RIGHT SIDE





SIDE BY SIDE

The background pp is the same shade of green -- just looks different in the pic because of the lighting.





Since I didn't use ribbon, brads or buttons on this layout (GASP!!!!), I added tons of Stickles! Unfortunately, the Stickles don't photograph too well, but here is a close-up shot that might give a better picture of the finished product.



Here's a closeup of the rainbow all nicely Stickled!



I absolutely love dimension on my projects. Pop dots are my friend, so I took a few flowers, stickled them to death and added pop dots to raise them. Here's a close-up of one of the flowers just to show how I have it raised.



So glad to be ready to mail this one out next week. The gal that I am mailing this to is putting together an album for her daughter's first birthday party this month and wants to include this layout! Hope she likes it! :)

Off to work on more projects!

Happy Mail


I meant to post last week that I finally got my Sugar Nellie stamps in! WOOT!!! Someone made a card for me using the image above, and I immediately fell in love with Sugar Nellie stamps! I don't know what it is about it. Maybe it's the fact that I love a pair of comfy jeans -- especially wide-legged ones and the Sugar Nellie girls are wearing just that style! It's not just that though, of course. The images are very girly but not overly so. They are adorable! I ordered three and plan to use two of them for a swap. I don't want to post those until I actually have my cards completed for a swap I'm in. Here's the third stamp, though.

Cousins


So, I'm really close to one of my guy cousins. It's not unusual for us to talk a few times a week, whether it be on MySpace, via text or talking on the phone. Unfortunately, this means he is subjected to my occasional rants (i.e. "bitching").

Our conversation the other day :

Him: Wassup Cuz!?!
Me: BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH
Him: UH HUH
Me: and THEN ... BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH
Him: Oh, okay
Me: Yeah! Then...BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH
Him: Uh-HUH
Me: BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH
Him: Whaaa???? CRAZY!
Me: I KNOW! BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH

Repeat cycle 3x.

Him: Well, I'm at work now!
Me: Oh, okay..wait..BITCH BITCH BITCH..and BITCH
Him: Okay, bye! I'll ttyl!
Me: BYE !!!!!

Total # of words I got in during the convo: 3,474
Total # of words he got in during the convo: 30

It's great to have a cousin you can talk to! LOL!!!

Exhausted !!!

BLAHHHH !!! Another week has gone by and I am simply EXHAUSTED !!!! I was at the office super late a few nights this week, so I wasn't really able to get some scrapbooking done. All together now : "AWWWWWWWW............" I know -- poor me! LOL!!! Well, I did at least finish a 2-pg 8 x 8 layout using the Lime Rickey papers by BasicGrey. SO HAPPY to be done with it. I'll post pics this weekend! I had really wanted to work on a bunch of stuff but just did not have the time! Hopefully, I can catch up this weekend.

Just had to share a pic I took with my iPhone of this cute lil doggy soaking in the fountain on a hot afternoon earlier this week. I love the way he's sitting there as if he BELONGS there ... like, "What? You got a problem with me sitting here?" or, "Maybe if I sit REAL still, no one will notice me here IN the fountain!" LMAO!!!



Okay, so I didn't do as much scrapbooking, but I did bake a key lime pie. Mikayla requested that I make one for her. She absolutely loves it. I followed the recipe on the bottle of key lime juice that I got in the Betty Swap.



One 9" graham cracker pie shell
one 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup Nelie & Joe's Key West Lime Juice

Combine milk, egg yolks and lime juice. Blend until smooth. Pour filling into pie shell and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. I actually baked it much longer than that because my oven is kinda messed up and it usually have to bake things for longer than the recipe calls for. I just kinda eye it. (I know -- I gots skilllzzz...heh heh...). Allow to stand ten minutes before refrigerating. Just before serving, top with freshly whipped cream and garnish with lime slices. I was lazy and bought some some Reddi-Whip in the can rather than making my own whipped cream.

It's a super easy recipe that yields fantastic results -- if you like key lime pie, that is. I made a pie for an Easter gathering, and everyone just loved it and asked for more. I don't think you can find the juice locally, but you can order online from www.keylimejuice.com.

Here's a pic of the finished product. Not sure why the consistency turned out the way it did this time, but it still tasted just fine!!!


Sunday, May 3, 2009

Happy National Scrapbooking Day !!!

Okay, so I'm a little late -- SORRY. I meant to post earlier today but got busy doing the usual weekend stuff. May 2nd was National Scrapbooking Day! Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to indulge in much scrapbooking goodness today.

I slept in -- pretty late, I might add. Last week was a crazy week, and I desperately needed some sleep!!!

Today, Mikayla and I went to the scrapbook store because she wanted to pick up some Prima flowers that she had been eyeing. They were on sale, so she got those along with some glittery ribbon. The only thing I got was a few sheets of BasicGrey pp. I'm trying to watch what I spend because I have a few things I want to get in the next few weeks. While there, we entered a drawing for a gift basket of sb supplies. *crosses fingers* We also got a free kit with supplies to make a card and a Post-It note holder! How nice!

As we were leaving, we ran into the Twilight car yet again! Actually, this was the SECOND time I ran into it this week. I saw it at the post office the other day. I joked with Mikayla that maybe the owner is a scrapbooker and she's always at the post office to mail off swaps! ~LOL~ Gosh, I hope she doesn't think we're stalking her! ~LOL~ Anywho, I took a picture with my iPhone that day to show Mikayla.



This evening, my boss called to tell me that Danny Gans died! He is the Las Vegas headliner known as "The Man of a 1,000 Voices". Cause of death is unknown. I was so sad when I heard the news. I've always wanted to see him perform, but his shows were either sold out or he wasn't perfoming the last few times I was in LV. Now, I will never ever be able to see him perform. So sad... R.I.P. Danny Gans

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Monday Ramblings

Today was just another one of those Mondays. I started the day off by checking on the forum I help to moderate. It's my friend's fitness forum and, no -- this doesn't mean I'm an expert when it comes to fitness. There was a thread flagged, so I checked in on it and found that we have a new troublemaker. *sigh* The forum never stays quiet for too long.

I did my moderating duties and then talked to my cousin. It's his birthday, so we chatted for a little bit. Actually, we talk anywhere from 2 to 4 times a week on average.

Then, it was off to work. I went through the Starbuck's drive-thru to pick up my usual: a tall Americano. I've been trying to kick the coffee habit for some time, but I always go back! I love my Starbuck's! Well, unfortunately, the guy didn't snap the lid on good and it popped open and made a big mess all over my console! GRRRR !!!! Luckily, I always keep a good supply of napkins in my car -- just in case!

Work was okay. I wasn't really focused today for some reason. I think it was the usual Monday blahs! Later, I was really craving some greens, so I treated myself to a chopped salad. It was more than I wanted to spend, and it really is not the healthiest salad with all that cheese and meat in it, but I NEEDED to eat a salad, and this was the best I could get today. I REALLY need to start prepping a huge salad on Sundays to take to work during the week!



I did get some happy mail today. I received a package of stamps that I had bought off a lady on a scrapbooking site. These are the Studio G stamps that are so popular. I know Ben Franklin sells this line of stamps, but the ones I usually see are the holiday ones. I have not seen the cupcake line there.

Now, aside from strawberries, I have a thing for cupcakes, and I really wanted these -- not like I don't already own enough cupcake stamps, but I got all 3 for $5.50 total, so it wasn't a huge investment. There is one more in the set that I wanted, but the gal selling these did not have that one. I could always get that one off Ebay one day. Anyway, I think they will go great on smaller-sized cards or tags. Sorry for the bad lighting. It's another one of those pics I'm taking at 3 in the morning! You can always click on the picture to see a larger version if you want to see the stamps up close! Aren't they just too cute ???



Speaking of EBay, I purchased an item from a seller on Friday and, after already paying for my purchase, I decided I wanted two more items from her store. I emailed her and asked if she could hold off processing my order until I decided and she agreed.

Well, she sent me a revised invoice today for the other two items, but hellooo.....!!! I wasn't too happy about the shipping charges. In her emails, she quotes a $1 additional charge for each additional item you purchase from her at the time of your first purchase. So, this meant that she was only supposed to charge me an additional $2 for the 2nd and 3rd items I bought from her. She charged me $3.65 for s & h.

I know...I know ... I know ... I'm being so CHANG, but HEY !!! Being overcharged is being overcharged! So, I wrote her back and she apologized and revised the invoice reflecting additional s & h charges of only $2 additional instead of $3.65. So, you see, my Chang self caught the error and saved $1.65. That's a $1.65 that can go towards my $2.09 Americano tomorrow morning! Yee-yahhhhh, boyeeeee !!! :)

Monday, April 27, 2009

Betty Swap 4 Goodies


I love to bake and cook, so when Marla on 2peas created her Secret Betty swap last year, I had to join in! Since then, there have been a few more Betty Swaps with Betty Swap 4 recently being wrapped up.

I didn't participate in 2 and 3, so I was anxious to participate in Betty Swap 4. The theme of this Betty swap was home state recipes. We had to send a cookbook from our home state, 3 kitchen items, a spring item and the special ingredients needed to make a local recipe. I chose Chocolate Haupia Pie for my state recipe. We were also required to send an item that represents our state.

Above is a picture from Rachel's gallery, which I stole (THANKS, Rachel!!!) because I didn't have time to take a good picture before I mailed it off. Actually, I think I was too anxious to send it!!! ~LOL~

I sent Rachel a can of coconut milk and chocolate for the pie. Since the package was sent right before Easter, I sent a bunny cookie cutter, an Easter egg themed cookie cutter/press set and a bunny cake pan.

Her kitchen is decorated with the colors maroon and olive green; and, she also loves Hello Kitty. So, for the spring item requirement, I sent her the perfect thing: a Hello Kitty wind chime set that was painted maroon! Unfortunately, you can't see it in the picture because it's still in the box!

For my state item, I chose to send some guava jam to my pal along with a chipboard album of the word "ohana". If you're familiar with the movie "Lilo and Stitch", you'll know that ohana means FAMILY. I thought about decorating it for her but then decided to leave it up to her so she could do it in her own fabulous style! Rachel is married with three handsome boys, and I figured she could definitely make use of this album for family pics! I hope she always remembers her swap pal in Hawaii whenever she looks at it.

In the package, I also included a few Hello Kitty items inlcluding a card I made for her. I fell in love with a few of the Hello Kitty Sizzlits dies that just came out recently and was excited to have the opportunity to use one of them to make a card for Rachel. I'll post pics of other cards using the dies in the future!

Now, on to the goodies that Rachel sent me! WOW, where do I even begin? She knows I love things with strawberries on them. Ever since I was a little girl, I have always loved anything that has a picture of a strawberry on it.



The recipe Rachel selected was Key Lime Pie. I was so happy to see a bottle of authentic key lime juice in my Betty Swap package! I know enough about key lime pies to know that no other lime will do. It's called "Key Lime Pie" for a reason! ~LOL~ She also managed to pack a pie crust in there so well that it arrived uncracked! Also included was a can of sweetened condensed milk.

Other goodies include: two cookbooks, a lime juicer, lime/lemon keeper, measuring cups, an adorable vintage pie plate with a strawberry recipe on it, strawberry pin, vintage towel embroidered with strawberries, fun, bright green cleaning gloves, strawberry scented lip gloss, magnets and a grocery shopping list. My absolute favorite items were the strawberry wooden plaque, strawberry salt and pepper shakers and the strawberry potholder! HOW CUTE are they ?!?!?! She also made me a cute card with strawberry patterned paper. I kept pulling goodie after goodie out of the box. Rachel was a great and fun pal! (THANKS AGAIN, RACHEL !!!)

BTW, I did get a chance to make the pie on Easter and it got RAVE reviews. Even finicky Miss Mikayla fell in love with it and has been bugging me to make more! I'm so glad Rachel sent me a large bottle of the key lime juice! I did take pictures of the pie but, unfortunately, I deleted them by accident! I will be making more pies in the near future and will post the recipe and pics when I do!