Monthly Archives: August 2007

Newest Family Member?

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A few days ago, I found a stray cat on our front porch. I thought it was the neighbor’s across the street, so I caught it and brought it over. It, however was not their cat. I checked with other neighbors, and they had seen the cat around, but did not know if it had an owner. So I took a picture and put up signs, and brought the kitten inside. It’s been a few days, and no one’s called about the cat.

When I first brought the cat in, my husband’s first words were “maybe we should keep it.” And my youngest promptly started calling the kitten Joshua. So meet our newest family member:
Now my sister wants to give us another stray kitten she found in her backyard.

Fall Class Samples

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I’ve been working on putting together samples for the classes I’ll be offering this fall at the local JoAnn’s etc. I’m trying to put out some interesting things using stamps, and for kids as well. I haven’t had much interest this summer, but hopefully this fall will pick up.

For kids I’m going over basic scrapbooking with a single page that they can use as a gift, or use to start telling their story through scrapbooking. I’ve also put together a simple gift set for beginning rubber stampers, that will include a card, a stamped mat for a picture, and wrapping paper using a recycled paper bag, or craft paper.

The purpose of the basic adult rubber stamping class is to make as many different cards using the same basic stamp sets. The intermediate class will focus on embossing and inking techniques to make personalized patterned paper for use in scrapbooking and card making.

On to the details: This is the kids’ rubber stamped gift set. They’ll be practicing basic stamping and masking to make the paper, a card, and to decorate the mat. My photo is horribly dark, but the actual pieces are bright and happy.

The kids basic scrapbooking class will focus on choosing papers, coming up with a layout, and adding journaling. I had my son pick out the photo, and the embellishments, but did the design myself. (He’s only five, and would rather be playing Age of Empires than helping me put together samples for work.)

The basic rubber stamping class will focus on making as many cards as possible. I will be going over basic techniques and try to help any students create their own cards. I’ve made a few samples as a jumping off point, and we’ll go from there.

The class I’m most excited about is my stamping in scrapbooks class. I’ve used stamps and various ink techniques to make my own paper designs. I love, love, how they came out. They’ve got depth and interest, and these techniques can be used for all sorts of things. I hope I get people for this class most of all.

So let me know what you think. If there are any items you want to make yourself, let me know, and I’ll type up instructions. Hope you like these!

The cat was away! The mice played!

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I must be in an odd mood. I’m rearranging things all over the house. It may be I’ve still got the misplaced hope that if I’m organized enough everything will be magically clean.

My kitchen has been driving me crazy for months now. The floor was impossible to keep clean. Getting down on my hands and knees to scrub it was only good for a couple of days, and I’m not the kind of person to do that for such little reward. More and more tiles were breaking up and cracking and coming free from the floor altogether. And in the door way of the little half bath, it was positively scary. One day the tile in the doorway came loose, and I picked it up. The wood underneath was sawdust. My thought process went something like, “Oh shit! Termites? Carpenter ants? Rotting floor boards from leaky pipes? What could it be? And is it just here, or does it affect more of my kitchen? Aghhhhh!”

My husband, however, never seemed willing to discuss doing anything about it, other than an occasional meander through the vinyl tile section at Home Depot.

My opportunity for action came this past weekend, when a friend of my husband’s offered to meet him at Las Vegas. Mentally rubbing my hands together gleefully, I formulated a plan, with help from my wonderful co-conspirator, Mom. We decided to do the floor, and paint the cabinets and walls while we were at it. I had decided on a color for the walls much earlier, but had not painted because the rest of the kitchen was in such bad shape.

Here’s a before picture, so you get an idea of the ugly blandness of my kitchen. While it’s not completely hideous, it comes pretty close.

So the first two days my husband was gone, I worked on scrubbing my kitchen and emptying out all the stuff. We have a lot of stuff. I only had the mornings to work, because I had to work in the evenings. I also finished getting as many supplies as I thought we’d need. Sunday was spent pulling up the old vinyl tile and scrubbing the floor as much as we could, as well as taking down the wall paper border. Monday we put the first coat of paint on, repaired the insect damaged floor, and lay down tile in the middle of the floor, leaving one corner, and the edges. Tuesday we put the second coat of paint on, and shuffled appliances so we could finish the last corner. We started putting things away after dinner, and were still not completely done when my husband got home at 11:30. We had enough done so that it looked finished, however.

And his reaction? A very tired “Wow.”

I was hoping for at least an exclamation point.