mini album: our crazy kitty cat

I have collected enough photos of Tiger doing some crazy things over the past 3 years. So now it is time to put them in a mini album. The size is 6 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches. I used 2 pieces of chipboard for the cover and covered them with kraft cardstock. Each page is 2 pieces of kraft cardstock that I adhered together using my Xyron. It is all bound together with my Bind-It-All. I also was able to add a lot of embellishments form my stash to this mini and that always is a good thing.

The paw prints on the cover and through out the mini were stamped with Versamark ink. I like the subtle look of using the Versamark.

This is the first page of the mini. The photo was taken by Amanda's friend on her cell phone. She sent this photo to Amanda to see if we wanted to adopt a kitten. It's a little blurry but I don't care.

Here is Tiger shortly after we brought her home. She would like to hide in Emily's dollhouse when the dogs would come to close. The dogs were all about smelling her in the first few weeks.

Here she is on top of our Christmas tree, very naughty.

This is the last page in the mini. I like this photo of her in the bag. When I would come home from the LSS, I would give her the bag after I emptied it. Then she would sit inside it for a bit.

Supplies: paper, We R' Memory Keepers and Bo Bunny. stamps, We R' Memory Keepers and Inkadinkadoo. chipboard, Bella Blvd.  stickers, We R' Memory Keepers 7 gypsies, Making Memories and Chatterbox. flowers, American Crafts. die cut, Sizzix. border punch, Fiskars. ribbon and buttons.

And speaking of pets, I also wanted to let everyone know that All About Pets will be starting on Tuesday, March 20.  Join Jeri and me for this fun class that is all about our fur babies. If you sign up for All About Pets or any of the fabulous classes at My Creative Classroom, you will be eligible to take advantage of our National Craft Month Special. This offer will end on March 31.

what's on your workdesk #145

It's Wednesday and that means it is time to show you what is on my desk this week. If you are wondering why I feel the need to share my desk, all you need to do is pop over to Julia's blog for the answer. Once there you will find over 100 crafters sharing what is on their desk this week. It is a lot of fun to see how other people work and what they are creating. And with that, here is my desk.

Yesterday, I was hard at work trying to finish a mini album about my cat, Tiger. I started it a couple months ago and then I put it aside. Now it is finished and I'm going to share more of it tomorrow.

Anyway, I created a huge mess while making it. I had my red, yellow/orange and green embellishment drawers out along with the scrap bins in those colors. Piles of paper everywhere too. And then I was so happy to be finished, I started to clean up before I took this picture. It seems like the older I am getting the more the clutter and mess bothers me. Or maybe it is just the large messes because I still have a crazy pile of stuff on there.

Even thought the large messes bug me, small piles of paper do not. My scrap secret....I hate putting paper away. So all of my pet themed paper and embellishments are in a pile on the desk. Underneath that is the beginning of an Easter layout. That was what I started to work on before I told myself that the cat mini had to be finished.

So now that I have rambled on and on about my desk, I have to get ready for work. Today is a split day of 2nd grade and preK. Bonus, it is going to be gorgeous out, so that means outside time! Thanks for visiting, I'll stop by after school. Happy WOYWW!

cps #256

This week's card for CPS #256 is made entirely from my scrap bins. The red piece of cardstock is stamped with white ink. And for some reason, I saved that tiny piece of yellow border. I'm not sure why I saved it but it worked well for this sketch.

Supplies: paper, Echo Park and Scenic Route. stamps, Hampton Art (floral) and Rubber Stampede (sentiment). punches, Fiskars and Marvy Uchida. glitter chipboard flower, Melissa Francis. white and black ink, corner rounder and red gems.

2012 reading progress

My reading goal for this year is to read 50 books. So far, I have read 5 books.

• Red Mist by Patricia Cornwell. This is the newest installment of the Scarpetta series. I haven't been too thrilled with the direction the characters have taken over the last 4 or so books. I feel like they are not the same people that they were when the series started. With this book it had gotten a little bit better but I still don't know if I am going to carry on and read the next book in the series. Well, I said that after the last 4 books and yet I am still reading. It's either habit or I am hopeful.  
• Overbite by Meg Cabot. This is the 2nd book in a series and it is her take on the vampire romance. It wasn't too bad but I didn't think it was as good as the 1st book, Insatiable. I think if Cabot had added another 50 or so pages to the first book everything could have been resolved without needing this book.
• Worst Case by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge. This is the 3rd book in the Micheal Bennett series. Think Alex Cross in NYC. I enjoyed this one, it was a fast read. But then again I enjoy reading Patterson's books.
• Tick Tock by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge. This is the 4th book in the Micheal Bennett series. I'm playing catch up with this series as the 5th book will be coming out soon.
• Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris. I finally read this one after being on my list for a while. I haven't watched True Blood, try not to judge to harshly. ;) I enjoyed the book but probably won't continue on with the series. For some reason it felt slow to me, I'm not sure how to explain it but that is what I felt while reading it. 

So now I'm trying to decide what to read next. I have a stack of books that I got from the Book Thing that I should start and I also got 2 books for my Kindle last week when they were 25¢. I figured for 25¢ you can't go wrong so why not get them. Those books are Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and Fight Club. They aren't 25¢ anymore but I keep checking the Kindle best sellers list for other books at that price. Right now, I have only been able to find We Need to Talk About Kevin at that price. And because I am always looking for more books to add to my list I would love to hear what are you reading this week.

what on your workdesk wednesday #144

I know I'm running behind but it is still Wednesday in my corner of the internet. So that means it is time to share a peek of what is on my desk this week. There is a good mix of crafting stuff on there today. To the left is the piles of paper I went through to make the birthday card I posted on Monday.  There is also a new stamp I bought last week. I haven't put it away yet because I want to use it. I just haven't found to right project for it.

I pulled out my cross stitch supplies to get ready to start another Pokemon hoop. Pikachu is out so I could find the right size hoop. On my paper trimmer are the patterns of other Pokemon that I want to make. I'm going to start Bulbasaur next, that is the pattern that you can see on the trimmer.  And I have some exciting news, Cross me not has just put up a Squirtle pattern. I am all kinds of excited over that.

Thanks for stopping by my blog this week! If you would like a peek at more creative and crafty spaces then I recommend a visit to Julia's blog.

t-shirt quilt planning

Yesterday, I went through all of Andrew's t-shirts I had been saving to see if I had enough of them to put together a quilt. Looking through these t-shirts was a trip down memory lane. Lots of dinosaurs and other animals. Some of these are sizes 4T and 5T. That seems so crazy now as I look at him wearing a size 8 shirt.

It looks like there are enough to make a lap size quilt but I am going to move the bottom row to the right side to make it a little bit wider. It's a good thing that I have extra shirts to complete that. The next step is cutting them which I'm a little nervous about doing. Maybe I'll start on a shirt that he didn't like as much just in case I mess up. And that way it won't matter as much to him if that shirt doesn't make it in to the quilt.

cps #255

I made a birthday card for CPS #255 this week. When I first saw the sketch I was thinking that I wanted to use some stars. Then I was thinking about using the color yellow but I couldn't find a sentiment that would go with yellow. I know I could have used stamps but I was feeling lazy yesterday. I was so happy when I found this sticker. I was able to keep the stars and got rid of the yellow.

Supplies: paper, KI Memories. sticker, Echo Park. dies cuts, Mistletoe design card, Slice (stars) and Silhouette (ticket by Lori Whitlock).  embossing folders, Cuttlebug. grey pen, Zig Writer. foam adhesive.

I want to point out that the white strip of paper is embossed but it is hard to see in the photo. I started using my Slice for the stars, which are cut at 1 1/2 and 2 inches. The smaller stars are embossed and then adhered to the larger stars with foam adhesive. I went to cut out the ticket but then my Slice started cutting wonky, a very technical term. :) So I then used my Silhouette to cut out the ticket, which is a Project Life journaling card that I resized to 2 x 3 1/2 inches.

I am really hoping that I can figure out what is wrong with my Slice. It would start to cut my shape and when it was about 2/3 of the way done the unit decided to cut across the shape. I have had it for a little over 3 years with very few problems and those problems have always been easily fixed. So I am hoping this one will be an easy fix too. I just need to find some time to play around with it and do a Google search because for some reason I remember reading about others having a similar problem. 

Have a great Monday!