Catch-up Day

You know the saying ... the best-laid plans of mice and men...or in my case, the best-laid plans for my DAY OFF! Can you say 'poof'? In reality, I have no one to blame but myself.

I had today off so I could be home to keep an eye on the cat as the handyman went in and out of various doors of my condo; I had to make sure she did not get any ideas about a little adventure. Lucky for me it was so stinkin' HOT (welcome to DC in August!) she did not even attempt to escape.

So my plan was to wake up on time (which happens even when I do not want it to happen), shower, and get some stuff done before the guy showed up at 9:30. I was somewhat successful. I cleared the rest of my Open House samples off my display walls, broke down the display walls and stashed them in the car, threw a load of wash from the washer into the dryer, took out the trash and recycling, emptied the dishwasher and filled it up again, and then the handyman showed up. Not a bad start to my morning!

Then it got interesting. You see, in theory I was raised to BE a handy person, just like I was raised to know what cut of beef comes from what part of the cow. As I age, I find I have less patience with the 'handy' part of that upbringing - I much prefer to hire someone and have it magically completed for me. As for Part 2 - I still cannot get the beef thing. Fortunately for me I do not eat too much of it, so I can ignore the details. Sorry, Dad, I know you tried.

So as the handguy worked, I had lessons. He was trying to figure out why my backyard light and outlet had no juice, when all of a sudden the bathroom safety outlet was thrown. Turns out there was a connection, and I had a mini-electrical lesson! I also had a few other mini-lessons along the way with the grouting and other tasks on my To Do list.

This was all a good thing, but it did interfere with my plans to get ready for Sunday's workshops! I just called it more Creative Avoidance and got over it. In the 3 hours he was here, I managed to make 2 cards. TWO, just TWO! Sigh.


This first one is a modified version of one I made for my Open House, which was a 5 1/4" square card. I had to modify it to have enough of the ribbon to go around for everyone. There are only two yards of each ribbon in the Ribbon Originals packs, so I need to be frugal.

In all fairness, this one did not take all that long since it was already designed, but I did take the opportunity to make some extras for sale at my Farmers Markets.

Recipe (All products by Stampin' Up!): Stamps - Three Thoughts (Simply Sent Kit), Monogram 't' lower; Cardstock - Blue Bayou, Whisper Whote, Whisper White textured, Blue Bayou DS paper; Accessories - White taffeta ribbon, Sherbet Ribbon Originals.


Now this next one took a lot of time. I dunno - it just took me a while to put it together. I actually stamped the flower and made the panels last night, then I sat and looked at it, then went to bed. I got the colors from the Color Wheel, largely because my brain was tired and I could not think straight. I am always up for help when it is handy!

This one started when I read Captain Crafter's Challenge #22 - to use watercoloring. So, I tried various ways to use this image with watercolors, and I failed miserably. So I opted for regular ink and moved on.

I got the panel idea from some samples on SCS, and this is one of the few large images I have that lends itself to being split up into panels, layered, and still viewable by the naked eye.

Today I decided it needed a square card base, and a fru-fru thingy behind the sentiment. After much playing I ended up with several of SU's Scallop punches to make it a bit frillier than a plain rectangle of card stock would have been. Now that I look at it, I am not so sure this will be the final version, but since it took me ALL DAY to get to this point, I decided to show what I'd done anyway.

Recipe (All products by Stampin' Up!): Stamps - Fabulous Flowers; Cardstock - More Mustard, Not Quite Navy, Old Olive, WHisper White; Ink - More Mustard, Not QUite Navy; Accessories - Mustard gg ribbon, staple, Scallop punch.

After all this laboring, I took advantage of the handyguy being done early afternoon, and I headed to IKEA so as to avoid the weekend crowds. What was I thinking?!?!? Instead of Weekend Warriors (those of us who slave at the office all week and power-run our errands on weekends) I got Daytime Drivers (oh, let's exit right from the left lane, dear), and Idea Shoppers (oh, let's kill some time today and look around IKEA). Grrrrr! I got stuck in Beltway traffic I was hoping to avoid at 2 in the afternoon, then behind several shoppers who had nothing better to do than chat on their cell phones mid-aisle, and the section I wanted was at the BACK of the store. Then, to add insult to injury, they did not have what I wanted. Well, they did, but not in the size I need. So I left.

I was so despondent at the wasted time and gas in this HEAT, that I forgot to stop at the Post Office to mail a retired stamp set someone bought, and at Sears to get a replacement filter for my fridge. And now that it is after 5 pm, my day off is about over. Waaaaahhhh!

I think this evening I will just PICK four more cards out of my Open House pile and call it Sunday's workshop. Some day I will learn.

Tomorrow I have an adventure of my own! I have a Shopping Date with a fellow stamper at at local stamp store, then we are going out for RIBS! Cannot wait! It should make up for today. ;-)