The Blizzard of 2009

Well, my friends, I got smart, bailed from the road trip and came home. When I pulled my car OUT of my parking spot at 9 am this morning, it was clean where the car was parked, and when I returned 5 hours later, the snow was 10" deep, at least. I got smart AGAIN and only shoveled enough to back the car into it. Then I shoveled my way down my front steps and am now curled up on the sofa, under a blanket, with kitty laying on my feet. I do not think she will leave my side for a few days. ;-)

They are calling this a blizzard, so I guess that explains why the white stuff is still falling from the sky. I have read it will keep falling until some time tomorrow morning. The Metro is only running the under-ground stations, and no buses. Yeah, I'd say we are pretty shut down.

In other news, since I am home I can write my holiday cards! Have I confessed here yet that I bought (BOUGHT) holiday cards for the first time in 6 years? Uh-huh, I did! Ya know why? I was in a book store at lunch yesterday, and my co-worker said I could justify the purchase since I make cards ALL YEAR LONG, and by buying them, it was like giving myself a break. That worked for me! They are pretty - the Capitol in winter. I'll post one once I get them out of the box.

So that is all for now. A failed road trip, a reclaimed weekend, and a kitty curled up on my feet. Not bad ... not bad at all.

Thanks for stopping by!

DEC09 MD -85

Yep, you read that right. I am back home. I went 45 miles, turned around, and came back. I shoveled these steps 5 hrs ago. Mmm...hmmm. I need to go shovel out my parking spot. More deets later.
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DEC09 MD 29

45 miles in 1.75 hrs. Blech. It's going to be a long day.
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DEC09 MD -85

My little winter wonderland. The snow is fluffy though, so shovelling wasn't too bad.
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Setting The Stage

I have had a ca-razy busy week, and have done NO stampin', so I have absolutely nothing to share with you. BUT, I am about to embark on a mini Road Trip, and I thought I'd post cryptic random thoughts and pics along the way.

Then I thought up a little naming convention, so I've decided to divulge the secret code now. That way, when they hit you from my Crackberry, or wherever, you will be able to de-code them.

Here is my plan for the post names:

DEC09 = December 2009 (DUH)
PA (or OH, or MI) = the state of the Union (not my mental state)
### = a mile marker if I am on the turnpike or other numbered interstate

Yeah, that ought to do it. So let's have a short pop quiz, shall we? If I send the following from my Crackberry, what does it mean?

DEC09 OH 239

Guesses? Anyone? You can cheat (like I'd know). Okay, it means I am in OH, and near mile marker 239 (which also means I have 239 more miles to go before I leave Ohio). I do NOT plan to bore you with simple progress reports. Oh, nonononono, each post that I send will be accompanied by a photo, probably of questionable quality, for your entertainment pleasure.

Okay, can you handle this little wacky idea of mine? Well, CAN you? GOOD! It will undoubtedly begin tomorrow morning when I wake up to see if we got any of the predicted 20" of snowfall. Yes, I plan to still go, though I might be delayed by the amount of time it will take me to dig out my car.

So thanks for hanging in there for me, and I'll see if I can find some interesting stuff to share along the way.

Thanks for stopping by!

PS: Do not make plans to rob me or steal my kitty while I am gone (and you know who you are!). My cat sitter can take any one of you with one arm tied behind her back! I'm just sayin' ...

Mixing It Up at Stamp Camp

Nobody likes me, everybody hates me; I'm gonna go eat worms.

That's what popped into my head when I looked at this sad, forlorn creature, presumably warming herself under the light over the table. NOT! She spent most of the Stamp Camp time roaming from station to station, carefully stepping over open ink pads and generally getting in the way. Monday night she decided to nestle in the coats, instead. She is so neglected.

SO, my Stamp Camps went swimmingly, and everyone seemed to have a good time. My favorite part of these sessions, aside from people saying they LOVE one of the projects and cannot believe THEY made them themselves, or introducing new people to the craft (had two of them this month!), I love to see how people take my serving suggestion projects and mix 'em up!

I mean, come on, most of these are CASEd from other people to start with, and my customers are only putting their own spin on my versions of the projects. I tell them they can do anything they want with the materials provided, and I also leave out the rest of the sets that belong to the stamps we use. That not only shows them what else comes in the set (in case they like it), but it gives them options. I love how the creativity just flows.

So tonight I thought I'd show you a few examples of change-ups that were done. First, we have my version of this card:

And here are a few variations:

Different sentiment in a different color. She also did her random dots in more of a pattern of three, based on what I'd noted AFTER I'd done mine the messy way. She even added some dots around the green sentiment. Very nice!

Next we have a very minimalist version with only one of the flowers stamped. And no added knot. And no dots.

And the last example is one with only three images and yet another sentiment. I love them all!

Next we have my version of the cardinal:


Let's see what other people did:

Here we have an example of what happens when someone reaches into a stamp set from another station and goes to town. The design was turned 90 degrees, and she added a snowflake as an ornament hanging from her branch. Very clever!

This one is included because one of the new people is crazy-good at tying the perfect bow. Just LOOK AT THAT! Also check out how she cut her branch. Soooo creative. I'm gonna have to keep an eye on this one. ;-)

Oh, and this guy was included because of his flat-top! I think The Ladies secretly had fun cutting the hair for this guy. :-)

Back to our perfect bow-maker - look at this:

I'm telling you, she's got it! I was humbled.

That's all I have from the Stamp Camp notes. I had today off to recover from being on my feet for 2 days, and I did, well, not much at all. Had the furnace and heat pump serviced this morning, did some laundry, made a batch of buckeyes, spent an hour figuring out how to pay my VA Sales & Use taxes online, and then mostly rested. It's back to the Day Job bright and early tomorrow morning.

I hope to find time to STAMP this week so I have something new to show you.

Thanks for stopping by!

CASE Complete!

I did it! I found a card to CASE that I can actually DO first time out of the gate!


This uses one of my first must-have sets from the last catalog, and one of my least-used colors: Handsome Hunter. With or without the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig, this is an easy card to make! And it has RIBBON! Nuf said.

THIS, however, is my new lot in life. If I want to sit and surf with the laptop, it is apparently an open invitation for Koshka to get into my lap and vegetate. As soon as she ... oh, here she comes again ...


Instead of sleeping in her sun beam, she prefers my lap. She is getting much squishier in her advancing years, and I have learned to type without moving my arms too much so I don't disturb her. If I wiggle too much, or reach for something, she gets annoyed and gets down. Yeah, I know, who owns who?

So my card was CASEd from this one.


Except for my choice of sentiment, it is pretty much exact. I like her dots better, though. I'll need to remember to recommend that to The Ladies tomorrow.

After I took that photo, I decided it looked not quite finished, so I quickly added the knot on the left side of the strip of ribbon to balance out the sentiment:


I like this one a lot better!

Now I need to shower, cut card stock and collate into kits, set up the tables and stations, and CLEAN! I should resurface some time on Tuesday.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hack Job, Part 2 of 2 (the stampy part)

I think I have pretty much established that part of my reason for being is to be an example to others. Or maybe that should be "warning to others". Yeah, just let me try something and I'll be sure to show you how NOT to do it. Or maybe how to save yourself from yourself. Sorry, tonight there was not a lot of saving going on, and not for lack of trying.

Let's go back to last night, where I'd posted my attempt at Brenda's awesome box. Don't get me wrong - the box IS awesome, and I encourage you to try it! Just don't be like me and have NO CLUE how to finish the top and have it be do-able by 15 Ladies of varying levels of skill and patience.

To pick up where we left off, I needed help. I want to thank you for all your comments and suggestions. AND, Brenda herself emailed me with a bazillion different "Oh, and what if you tried ...". Brenda, I love you, but I am beyond help. Really.

Let me show you some of my handiwork. Here we have a pathetic attempt at using the white gel pen to do some faux stitching along the holes left by the Top Note die.

What a mess. Next, I tried sponging some white craft ink along the other edge, just to see if it would provide enough of a contrast to cut all that green:

Nope. Then I added a sentiment between the two floofy stamped images:

Nope. So I started over. This time I stamped the snowflake in Versamark, but did not add clear EP or heat it.

Yawn. B-O-R-I-N-G. Here they are, side-by-each:

(Please ignore my flannel-clad knee.) Oh, and I do feel obligated to tell you this was my 4th attempt at starting over. Seriously. I cut and discarded two other green Top Note die-cut pieces before it got even THIS good. I still hate intensely dislike it.

So I sponged the edges - what did I have to lose?

Blech. THIS WAS NOT WORKING! So I went to Plan 72, and mounted my Scenic Season set, with the intent of eventually stamping a simple tree scene on Naturals White. But did I do what a normal person would do and just mount the two stamps on the provided wooden blocks? Oh, no no no no no. Welcome to Hack 2 of 2:

I cut (yes, cut) the sentiment off the die-cut piece of red rubbah and mounted it separately. In hind sight, this might not have been a very good idea.


I did not even apply the sentiment sticker straight. I am truly hopeless. I WANTED to make my customers love this SU chunky glitter so much they'd need to buy it all, just like I did.

So I stamped the trees, then the sentiment (crooked, of course), then applied some 2-way glue and schmooshed on some of the chunky glitter. FAIL! I hated intensely disliked it, or at least my own execution of it. And I won't tell you that THIS was the 4th or 5th attempt at getting a presentable version. Oh, I guess I just did tell you, didn't I?

The problem with the sentiment being separate? It is a little wobbly to stamp this way. It is a bit too tall to fit on the side of the wooden block, so I mounted it as you saw above. It is a little unwieldy to hold that big block and expect to line up the sentiment. My bad.

On to plan 73: Let's forget all that silliness and instead we'll make a checkerboard quilt-y top! Yeah, let's try THAT! I could use some of the abundance of packs of Christmas paper I bought. Yeah, that's the ticket! So I started out by cutting many pieces of 12x12 paper into 1" strips, then sticking them to a piece of printer paper:

Then I cut those into strips:

... and stuck them down to a piece of white card stock ...

... and cut a Top Note shape out of it:

Then I tied a ribbon on it (GOTS to have ribbon) and set it on top of the box:

Beautiful! But wait! The box is still green. Should I make another box out of a better color of card stock? Wait. How many of these would I need to cut to have enough for everyone? WAIT! Will they shoot me and scream things at me if I make them glue all this stuff down and cut it and then die-cut it AND make the box? WHAT WAS I THINKING?! So I scrapped the whole thing. Not gonna do it.

So what have I learned tonight? I have learned that:
1. I am easily distracted.
2. We knew that already.
3. I need to have these projects made a lot earlier in the month.
4. I tend to overestimate the patience of my customers.
5. Oh, look, cat hair in the laptop keyboard.
6. I still need a 4th project for Sunday.
7. I am hungry.
8. Stamping is not a neat hobby.
9. I am so glad I have The Captain's Quarters and do not need to deal with THIS tomorrow:

So now I must go surf and find another project to CASE for Sunday. I have kits to make and stations to set up! Time's a-wastin'!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hack Job, Part 1 of 2 (the non-stampy part)

Tonight has been one big hack job, so I'm splitting this post into two parts. First I bring you the non-stampy part, because right now, the stampy part is not going so well. But I digress.

For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you know I am crookedstamper. My avatar started out being my cat sleeping on my shoulder until one of my Tweeple sent me some pics of Captain Jack Sparrow to use instead. Why? Why, indeed. Caution: stream of consciousness follows.

crookedstamper --> crook --> pirate --> Captain Jack Sparrow. Uh-huh.

So here I am, all dressed up for the holidays.



Oh, and may I just add that when I tried to change to this:


which is exactly how I was feeling at the time, I was almost booed off of Twitter until the Captain returned. Yeppers, I could not make that up. I love Roz, though. She makes such a statement just BEING there, ya know?

So now that I am forever The Captain (remember The Captain's Quarters, ergo The Captain's Table?), people think I like Johnny Depp. Well, okay, I like his characters, but personally, he does not do much for me.

THEN, this issue of People magazine hit the news stands:


My Tweeple said I was the hottest thing alive! I AM NOT JOHNNY DEPP, Tweeps! So I changed my avatar, out of protest to JD being named the sexiest man alive, to Sean Connery, who, may I say, has aged quite well, if you know what I mean. Mmm-hmmm.

So I bought the magazine, and much to my wondering eyes should appear, look at this:


THIS, my friends, is the inside cover of the Sexiest Man issue. Oh, yeah! Is this not the BEST Photo Shopping ever?!?!? I want to FRAME it! THIS made the whole magazine purchase worth the money spent.

As for the rest of those people between the covers of the mag - I have never heard of about 95% of them, which is why I've pretty much stopped buying this magazine.

Oh, and on the page opposite that pic of Al were the words: Smart can be sexy, too. It's an ad for a GMC vehicle. I think whoever thought up this ad should be given an award. Not the Clio, because I think that's for commercials, but whatever the Print Ad award is, yeah, that one, they should totally get it. At the very least, the person deserves a BIG RAISE. (It is just so stinkin' clever ...)

Okay, did you catch the hack reference? Photo Shopping ... hacking .... okay, moving on...

I am still playing with the top of that box I posted yesterday. Still not happy with what I am creating as alternate tops. Once I get a little bit closer to a design that will not make my customers leave as soon as they arrive for this weekend's Stamp Camps, I'll post it as Part 2 of the Hack Job, because , well, just because. You'll see what that's all about when I post it.

That is all. Thanks for stopping by!

Not Quite CASE #4

I called this post Not Quite CASE #4 because I am not quite happy with this CASEd project yet, so it is officially Not Done. It all started when I saw this post at Brenda's blog, and I just knew I'd found my Project #4 for this weekend.

It's just, well, I do not like the top of my box. I do not. The box itself was crazy-easy to make with Brenda's template and instructions, but the top, well, I get stuck when I do not 100% CASE. I need to make the top MINE, mostly because I do not have the stamp set she used, but also cuz I like to sleep at night, and I do not 100% CASE much.

I cut a Vanilla Top Note like Brenda did, but I was just never happy with what I did with it, including dry embossing. Just not happy. So I started to play with the green piece. What you see here is version # 4 or 5. I stamped the largest snowflake from Serene Snowflakes in Versamark and clear-embossed it, then went back and added some do-dads with the white gel pen. The fleur thingies on the right are from the center of one of the Hostess set punchy-size stamps; I just colored it with markers.

Eh - not loving it. IT NEEDED RIBBON! But the way the top attaches to the box, I could not wrap it in ribbon. What to do ... what to do...

Here is the box between the two Top Note die-cut pieces. See? No way to wrap that top piece with ribbon. Darn.

Here is the hinge opening. Very cool, but it prevents wrapping the whole box in ribbon. I know - I tried.

But you know me: I.must.have.ribbon. Pretty, huh? I think it adds just enough floof to make it look finished, from the side, anyway.

I had to cut the ribbon off at the back to allow the box to open. This actually works out quite well, since I use less ribbon this way, meaning I might even have enough to go around for all The Ladies. Always a good plan.

So if you have any suggestions to make that top look better, I have 48 hours to get a clue. Thank you in advance. And thanks for stopping by!