It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

My little owl friend found a home among all my Christmas decorations at work.

And the secret Santas at work used his mailbox as a delivery system so he got lots of visitors, tee hee!

Owl be home for Christmas

AKA, I couldn't resist this cutie from Target. How much could I not resist? I even paid full price (only $5)! He'll be going to the office with me on Monday.

And yes, I am doing a bit of crafting. It feels good to play with paper again.

September gas prices

9/6/15       $2.95
9/12/15     $2.85
9/19/15     $2.65

Love that the prices went down.

Day 53/100

At last count (so long ago!) I was ahead, but now I've fallen way behind. Here's what has left the house since the last update.

Sold the following through a FB selling group:
4 baggies of eyelets
3 embossing folders
1 adhesive pack
1 washi tape
3 packs of embellishments
1 8x8 paper pad

5 6x6 paper pads (yay!)
1 tote bag
1 stamp

Gave away:
1 skirt (so happy with this one, my coworker LOVED it)
3 magazines
2 bags of candy (donated to the office candy bowl)

So that's 21 more items gone for a total of 34. Got some catching up to do, sigh.

Day 10/100

Just one more thing gone. I went through the backyard and picked up all the old, broken plant markers and plastic pots I've been saving just in case I decide to start seedlings (ha!) and tossed them.

So the count is 13 things gone in 10 days. I need to step up my game, otherwise, I see myself getting behind soon.

But the bad thing is, I went to two estate sales today. I figured it was the second (or third) day of the sale so there shouldn't be anything left, right? Nope, I still managed to spend $8 and bring home 4 books (one will be gifted), a few new scarves (which will also be gifted), and several knickknacks. I think I need to bring back the one-in-one out policy....

Day 5/100

I'm starting out strong on my destashing.

1 skort. I loaned it to a friend and she liked it so much, I gave it to her.

1 meat tenderizer. I think I used it twice, but had trouble giving it away because it costs so much. It was easier giving it to a friend.

5 magazines. These went to the donation box at work. The magazines are taken to a local hospital. The magazines had been sitting around for a few months and I needed this challenge to finally get them out of the house.

5 baggies of fiber/ribbon. These are part of my craft destash sale. There were probably over 100 pieces of yarn and ribbon in those baggies, but I think counting them individually would be cheating.

12 things gone in 5 days. Woo hoo! I'm ahead of the count!

Let's try again, 100 things

Since the beginning of the year, I've attempted to destash my crafting supplies. I've been semi-active on a few Facebook buy/sell groups and have gotten rid of quite a bit even if it doesn't look like it. But with all the travel I've been doing (going home almost every month), it seems like I'm never going to make progress. I come back from a trip, barely unpack, barely clean, and then start all over again. It doesn't help that we've been down an employee at work since January. Travel is slowing down (I don't have anything planned for a few months) so I'll be around to get some work done.

So it is time to step up the game. Once again, I'm going to try to get rid of 100 things in 100 days. I'm starting this challenge tomorrow so in case you want to join me, I'm giving you a tiny bit of advanced notice.

100 days from tomorrow is Saturday, November 7th. I didn't plan it that way, but I'm happy that my challenge ends on a weekend, just in case I need that last day to make a trip to Goodwill.

Another sympathy card

This is a follow-on to last week's posting. I made another sympathy card because I wanted to send sympathy cards to both my aunt and cousin. Unfortunately, it feels like you've finally grown up when you send or receive sympathy cards.

Supplies: My Mind's Eye patterned paper, Bazzill cardstock, Martha Steward punch, Memory Box die, Unity stamp, Hero Arts pearls.

Shopping when hungry

These jumped into my cart. As if I needed any encouragement to eat more chips (I'm a salty snacker, not a sweet snacker).

Let's see how long it takes me to finish over a pound and a half of chips.

Sympathy card

I got to play with watercolors at a recent craft retreat and came up with this card. It isn't any fun to make sympathy cards, but this stamp made the process a little easier. Just something simple with the right words.

I'm posting this at Unity Stamps for this week's Friends with Flair. The sentiment came from the Beautiful Life, Blessed Memories kit. The sentiment looks silvery in the photo, but it was actually stamped in Tim Holtz Soot Distress Ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. It looks more grey in real life.

Thanks for visiting!

Cleaning out the fridge

And came up with this dinner:

Had leftover Swiss chard, mushroom ragu, and pasta in the fridge. Melted some cream cheese, added the leftovers, topped it with bits of leftover cheese, and baked at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. A delicious new meal for dinner that didn't taste like leftovers.

It's been hard

It has been hard these past few months, pretending everything is normal. Thinking about how trite my condolences may have sounded in the past, despite my well meaning sentiments. But when you lose a parent, even if you aren't close to them, the deep sense of loss can't be denied. And if you haven't experienced it yourself, it can be difficult to describe.

It isn't like I haven't experienced the death of a loved one. I've been going to funerals since I was a child. I attended the funerals of all four of my grandparents, various aunts, uncles, cousins, family friends, my favorite aunt, my favorite uncle, in-laws. I've written eulogies and delivered them (I'm pretty good at it, if you ever have the need). But I'm still trying to figure out how to say good-bye to Dad.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

We just received this yummy treat from our neighbor. Xin nian kuai le!

Maybe I'll hit gold someday

A couple years ago, I finally broke down and registered a Starbucks gift card I had purchased. Since I was averaging three Starbucks purchases a year, usually when I was with my scrapbook friends, I had no reason to buy a gift card and leave my money languishing on it. I finally bought a gift card because I liked the design on it (I guess that means their marketing magic worked).

Over the years, I slowly added a few dollars to it, usually when there was some sort of deal from Living Social or Groupon. I figured I would never reach the coveted Gold status, which required 30 stars in one year. Usually, it is one star per purchase so at three purchases a year, I wasn't making Starbucks rich. I guess Starbucks finally figured out that I don't make too many purchases (I don't even get my birthday freebie some years) and sent me an incentive: reload my card with $25 and get a $10 bonus. Now that I could get on board with.

Then this weekend, I hit the star jackpot. Mr. Fix-it and I went out for coffee before running errands and we had the barista ring up each of our purchases separately (yes, we're troublemakers that way, but there was only one person in line behind us and three cashiers). So for three items, I got three stars. But there was a bonus star for every purchase through March 5 (I don't know if it applies to everyone or only to those who received the email) so I received three more stars for six total. But wait, there's more! There was also a three star bonus for purchasing a flat white, which we both had, so six more stars. Woo hoo, 12 stars! Then I got an email asking me to rate that location, which garnered me another star. So, 13 stars, almost halfway to Gold, and the visit was practically free if you count my previous $10 bonus.

The lessson is, sign up for the email alerts and pay attention to the bonuses. I think I'm starting to figure out the system, lol.

CHA 2015 - continued

Bella Blvd's booth was as beautiful as ever, plus they had a generous make-n-take that showcased their new Invisibles. The Invisibles have a thin plastic placemat weight. You could cut them with a trimmer, but you wouldn't be able to die cut them. They all have a decorative edge and I asked Stephanie why the deco edge instead of a straight edge. She said she designed them to be as versatile as possible; with their weight and decorative edge, they could be used standalone or on top of 12x12 paper. The Clear Cuts come in the fun dot pattern, plus there are a couple in every collection.

I liked the ColorWays embellishments. I think they are versatile enough for traditional and pocket scrapbooking, plus some fun cardmaking.

 More stamping and die goodness...

Darling make-and-take from Echo Park. See, I told you everyone was making their own dies.

Some new super strong adhesive. You can never have too much adhesive. :)

 I loved these metal boards and magnets by Roeda. Love, love, love!

It wasn't all scrapbook and paper crafts. There was yummy felt and yarn (now that I'm branching into knitting, I have a new addiction), plus lots of crystals and beads.

Hope you enjoyed the show too!

CHA 2015

I walked the Craft and Hobby show floor yesterday to see the latest and greatest in crafting. I saw lots of goodies from my favorite companies. A lot of scrapbook companies are branching out into home decor or other crafts.

I didn't see too much shabby chic, grunge, or vintage. Lots of travel. Metallics are in, especially DIY with Heidi Swapp's Minc and Therm-o-web's iCraft Deco Foil. I loved Therm-o-web's product. They had make-n-takes showing foil on fabric, using their foam adhesive, and on paper with liquid adhesive and heat transfer. The heat transfer reminds me of the foil sheets I had years ago that I ran through a laser printer. I have just one sample, which was created with their liquid adhesive...just rub the transfer foil on, so easy!

Robin's Nest

Simple Stories

There aren't any (or very few) pics from the biggies like American Crafts and We R Memory Keepers because I didn't spend a lot of time at companies my LSS, Perfect Day Scrapbooking, won't be carrying.

More to come...

CHA - The stars were out

Stephanie Bernard and Kelly Alverez

Ranger had multiple demo stations with all their stars (I spotted Dina Wakley, Dyan Reaveley, Wendy Vecchi, ). Of course, Tim's station was the most crowded. If you have time to watch the demos, you can learn a lot. You don't attend CHA just for star gazing, lol. All of the designers generously share their tips and tricks, explain why the product works a certain way, answer questions. Of course, all of this helps to sell the products, but I think the designers genuinely love their products and want to share their knowledge.

I also saw Heidi Swapp and Amy Tan, but didn't get a chance to snap any pics. And lots of press (whose names I recognized, but couldn't put a face to) and designers (whose faces I recognized, but couldn't put a name to).

Latte

No, I don't have an expresso machine at home. But a little leftover whipped cream sure made my morning coffee feel fancy.

My CHA predictions

Based on the sneaks I see at The Scrap Review and Scrapbook Update, I predict seafoam and peachy pink to be dominant colors, along with lots of metallic gold highlights. Everyone will be releasing stamps and dies under their own name (let's hope they are all good quality). And pocket scrapbooking will bring some strong competition to traditional scrapbooking. Let's see how correct am I when I walk the floor tomorrow.

The last of the summer harvest

I didn't post too much about my gardening exploits last year, but did have a few successes.

The electric fence around the tomato plants finally stopped the mice/rats/rodents and I was able to harvest tomatoes the last half of the summer. Now Mr. Fix-it is looking into adding the fence to another bed since you're supposed to rotate crops (although my mom never does).

We harvested our first avocado. It was beautiful! Unfortunately, it never ripened. As we are new to avocado growing, I don't know if we picked it too soon or if it was just a bum avocado. The tree had lots of new growth, so we're optimistic for next year.

I started a new raised bed with all new soil and wow, was that bed prolific. I enjoyed cucumbers all summer and through late fall. I didn't have as much luck with my Chinese long beans. It seems that the rodents moved from the tomatoes to the string beans. And I had a helpful trellis so they could climb up for the tastiest beans. Still, I was able to harvest enough to enjoy and share.

I usually have zero luck with squash plants. Everyone in the world can grow zucchini except me. The last time I had success with squash was around eight years ago. How do I know that? I was giving squash to my coworker so she could make baby food for her daughter. That was the last time I had enough to share. This year, I planted three seeds and two took root. They went through several rounds of production and I had enough to share again. I finally took out the plants yesterday since the plants looked like they were on their last legs. Even so, I still harvested these:

I told Mr. Fix-it that we were going to enjoy some fancy baby squash for dinner. I roasted them with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper. Delish!