A Catch-Up Day

I took today off so I had a day to catch up on life after my crazy weekend. I have already asked for several days off all the way into September, and boy, am I glad I did. Man, don't get old.

Sunday's market went very well, though it was really, really hot! I'd bought a pint of Ice Cream from the guys across from me, and they were holding it in their cooler until the end of the market. They yelled over to me as we were packing up that they had not forgotten...then they left! They LEFT! WITH MY ICE CREAM! Grrrr. Now it will be some time next month before I get my paws on it. They only come every other week, and I only do the market two weekends a month. It was Lavender and something else, and the taste I had was sooo very yummy. Boo-hoo!

But my sales went well, and I came home and immediately broke one of my own rules. That rule is: You will not have the perfect card for everyone, so if someone asks you for something and you don't have it, oh well. Do NOT go home and make it, since you will probably carry it around with you forever.

So yesterday someone wanted a purple b'day card for an 80th birthday, as the intended female recipient loved purple. They ended up buying something close, but I immediately found myself thinking about all the PTI purple stash I have in a box, still un-opened, and started to ponder maybe, possibly using it. Then I actually got home, showered off the hot, and used my PTI purples. I made the same card I'd made in the past using some Basic Grey papers, only all, you know: purple:

The ribbon is not PTI, but from my stash. The oval punches are SU. I sure hope there are more purple lovers out there! ;-)

On another note, someone asked to see the books I made. Here are shots of the one I did in class last Thursday:

This is the cover, and yes, we all oooh'd and aaaaah'd over this paper. I think she said it is by Magenta. And no, I did not buy any! Shocking, I know! Trust me, I have plenty of parent sheets of my own I could use.

This is the spine of the book. You can see the results of my sewing it together with waxed linen. I have a bunch of that stuff in the stash, I just never knew what it was supposed to be used for!

The book is actually held together by that ribbon. It is stuck to the inside of the covers.











Here we have the pages of the book. It looks pretty real, doesn't it? I cannot believe I made this...

Finally we have the face page. This is what covers all the inside stuff so it looks nice and neat. Like I said: hard to believe I made this ... but then someone else did do all the cutting ...

Friday I decided to try it all on my own to see if I could do it unattended. I selected one of the parent sheets I have had for a year or so, carefully cut it for the front and back covers of the book, and decided on the top and bottom of the covers (read: direction of the pattern). Unfortunately, in the last step of assembly, I managed to put them on upside-down anyway. Sigh.

Here's the cover...

... and the spine ...




... and the face page. Not so bad, but I do not plan to make a lot of these. Too much work, and no STAMPING.

So I started off today, my precious day off, by waking up at 4:30 am. That is one whole hour earlier than I get up for work! I tried to go back to sleep, but it wasn't happening, so I got up. What a way to start the day, huh?

I had many errands to run, but not much was open at 5:00 am, so I spent the time scanning and printing some embarrassing and incriminating photos of my Brother in his early years so I can get to work on his almost-belated b'day gift.

Finally I got out of the house and ran some errands, which included getting myself to the PO to mail off the goods to the winners of my Milestone Challenge. Ladies - you should get those some time this week! They consist largely of stuff from my stash, and I thank you for the opportunity to unload it share it with you.

I came home dripping - darn Hazy, Hot & Humid! - and set to work on my Brother's gift. One of the things I want to include is something about his tractor, of which he is quite proud. There's also all the attachments for the tractor and the barn to hold those attachments, but right now I was focusing on the tractor.

A few years ago I saw a T-Shirt with a guy on a riding mower and the saying with it was "Lawn Ranger". I thought that would make a funny card, too, so I focused on that. I figured if I could get the card to work, I'll do a page in my Brother's book next.

Here's what I came up with:

The tractor and grass are by A Muse. I masked the grass on the left swatch so it looked cut, and made a "mower" from a piece of black scrap. I drew the lines to the tractor to make it look like it was attached. I stamped the tractor over the top of the green piece by mistake and it landed on the sky part (a photo I took) so I stamped another tractor on a scrap, cut out the top of it and stuck it on. I am not sure I like it, but it's okay for a first try. The sentiment was printed on my computer and punched out with the Word Window Punch. The sun is stamped in Yo-Yo Yellow (a much-ignored color in my house) using a part of my much-unused Perfect Petals set. The birds are hand-drawn, largely because I could, but also I thought the sky looked nekked.

Well, I'm off to do some more laundry and work on the Birthday Boy's book some more. I've got some really embarrassing shots to try and include. And I am really glad neither of my Brothers does this craft, or I'd be in big trouble.