EBTKS - November Sketch challenge

The girls over at EBTKS added a new challenge - a sketch challenge based off of something in the home. This one is based off of one of the girl's fireplace mantle.
Here's the sketch (and link): And here's my card (with the kitchen sink in the background - ha ha....I just don't have the greatest lighting in my house and the kitchen counter seems to be the best place so far when I need to take pictures on rainy days like today):

The paper that I used was some glitter paper that I had from a 4.5 x 6.5 "Mat Stack."
The "Thanks! Thanks! Thanks!" stamp is from American Crafts' "Thanks" stamp set, stamped with some versa mark ink and then embossed with some silver embossing powder (I can't remember who makes it though). It is stamped on some black card stock and applied with some foam adhesive.

I had so much fun with this challenge that I actually made another card! This one is my favorite of the two (yes, again with the kitchen sink :o) )

This one I made with a stamp set that I just HAD to have! It's called "Coffee Cafe" by TPC Studio. The little stamp on the inside of the card in the circle is stamped in Chestnut Roan by Color Box and the "I like you a latte" (lol - I had to have the set for that one stamp really) is stamped with Versa Mark ink and embossed with clear embossing powder on some brown card stock. The paper is called "simple stripe" by Three Bugs in a Rug from their Simple Pleasures collection. It is a two sided piece and the blue/brown/white patter was the other side of that same piece. Oh and some white thread and foam adhesive!

Could you hold please?

The other night at work I got a phone call from one of our regular customers. You know the type - the ones who are needy and require a 20 minute conversation about absolutely nothing and when you hang up after those 20 minutes, you have only spoken for maybe 3 of those minutes other than the occasional "yes", "uh huh", "I understand", "really?", "whys that?"....

The customer asked me to find out how much a particular medication would cost on their insurance. So I politely ask the customer, "Do you mind holding for a minute so that I can run that through your insurance and get a price for you?"

The response that I got about knocked me on the floor! I can honestly say that it is a first for me in the 10+ years that I have been working in a pharmacy....

"Sure, I'm just sitting here resting on the commode."

I cannot look at this customer in the same way anymore! I'm just thankful that I did not hear any strange noises while I was on the phone!

A 2nd EBTKS Card

So I decided I would make another card using TP for the Everything but the Kitchen Sink challenge. For my first card, the tp was disguised and it could have been pretty much anything. However, for this 2nd card I wanted to make something that you could tell that TP was used (not used TP - that would be gross)!It's pretty simplistic, but I thought it would be a cute card to stick in with my hubby's lunch one night when he leaves for work! I used staples to secure the two "points" and then used glue dots to keep the rest of it attached to the card to get the shape - surprisingly this was a lot harder than it might look!

On another note, here is a better picture of the first card that I made for this challenge! I decided that since it was such a nice day out I would take advantage of it and take a better picture with fantastic natural light!

Everything But The Kitchen Sink Challenge - November '09

Wow! Thank you girls for a TRUE CHALLENGE! I had no idea where to begin with this one. This month the challenge was to use toilet paper! Oh my goodness, I had no idea where to begin! I just went to the bathroom and grabbed a bunch of it and brought it into my office/craft area and started twisting it, crunching it up, trying to use it as a "dabber" for paint to create a background effect....which turned into my crazy card! (click on this logo above to be taken to the page to see other entries)


For my card, I ended up taking the TP and applied it to some kraft colored card stock (a little smaller than the face of my card) using some Platinum colored metallic craft paint I had in my closet. It ended up creating a textured background that, surprisingly, I really like!

So here's my card! It looks a little better in person, but you get the idea! I hate that the greens of the wreath and the "Season's Greetings" sticker don't match (and I may end up switching out sentiments if I can find a good one that matches), but for now it will do!

I hope that everyone has a fantastic rest of the week! I get to work two 12 hour shifts on Wednesday and Thursday - but at least I only have 3 flu shots left to give for the season (unless of course we end up getting the H1N1 vaccine - which I not so secretly hope we DON'T)! I gave 47 flu shots over the course of my 3 day weekend PLUS did all the other normal stuff I have to do at work - it just about did me in!

Supplies: TP :o) , platinum colored metallic craft paint, green felt cut into a circle/wreath shape, red Christmas ribbon from my stash of stuff, the "Season's Greetings" sticker is from the Paper Studio, kraft colored card stock, chocolate brown card stock, the wreath and sentiment are applied using foam dimensional adhesive.

It's Been Awhile

I know, I know.....it has been a few weeks since I have posted anything! I have just been out of my crafting mood and I haven't had much else to talk about.

I am not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow because I know that over the course of the next 3 days I will give the 50 flu shots that we got in yesterday at the pharmacy and I know that I will have at least 50 more people wanting them after the last one is gone. I don't mind giving the shots, but when it also has to be done along with all of the other normal duties, it gets to be very overwhelming! It also becomes an issue when I don't have any one else there with me - like on Saturday afternoon my tech will leave around 3 or 4 and then it will be just me there by myself for the last 2 hours - hopefully everyone else will be consumed with Halloween and trick-or-treating to be worried about coming into Rite Aid to get a flu shot?!

On another note, we did get a new kitten, Gracie! She is not very cooperative with the camera, but this was the best shot I could get for now!

Also, I did make my niece a birthday card for her 2nd birthday:

I can't believe that she is already two! My sister is now swimming in princess/pink stuff. I didn't get any pictures from the party because I was kind of stuck in a corner and I couldn't really get out to take pictures :(

That's it for now - I am going to go put together a stand for our DVDs that just arrived from UPS so maybe I will post pictures of it soon!

The giraffes on this card are from a stamp set that I super cheap at Target on clearance for a whole $2.62! I didn't have any stamps for kids so I thought this one would be a great start! It's called Mindy's zoo by Autumn Leaves - so cute!

Most of the other stuff is from my stash - the chipboard letters are from Hobby Lobby and the buttons are from Basic Grey's OBSCURE buttons.

A Few Random Things

I decided instead of posting lots of different posts, that I would post just once about lots of different stuff at once:

1. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

During my time in pharmacy school, I belonged to a pharmaceutical fraternity, Kappa Epsilon, and our national platform is BCAM!

2. I had a small accident yesterday :o( I went to spend a fun-filled day celebrating a friend of mines' birthday party at Rock Island State Park. Several years ago, I had to have surgery on my ankle due to a small birth defect having to do with the way my bones formed in my ankle. Anyway, one of the downsides of the surgery is that I am not very stable on uneven surfaces any longer because I have limited movement in my ankle.

Just after I twisted my ankle on an uneven rock stair, my friend Sam comes around the corner behind me and says, "Brandy, do you think your ankle will be able to handle this with it being so wet?" ---- Funny you should ask since I just twisted my ankle and felt something pop! I went back up to the picnic tables and sat and worked a Sudoku puzzle while the rest of the group went down and did some hiking. As soon as I twisted it, I was in an extreme amount of pain and I immediately felt a "burning" sensation so I knew the swelling was setting in immediately.

Anyway, here is my ankle last night when I got home! It is very sore and I am really not looking forward to going to work Wednesday and Thursday since all I do is stand on my feet for 12 hours a day! Let's pray that another day of rest tomorrow will do it some good and it will be better by then!??! It's not looking good at this moment - I am still in a lot of pain, but can walk on it and move it, so I know it's not broken - just sprained or strained, but it's still not comfortable!

3. We have discovered a fun movie to watch over and over again recently - Fired Up! It's about 2 high school football players who decide to go to cheer camp instead of football camp so that they can chase after girls - It's a pretty funny movie and we have watched it twice already!

4. I am in love with Netflix! Juan and I love to watch movies and what better way to rent movies than to have them sent right to your mailbox? I was sceptical at first, but I love it!

5. There are only 10 months left on my contract at Rite Aid and then we will be moving to PA to be closer to my husband's children. After spending a week up there a few months ago, we realized that we really need to be a part of their lives. I will miss my friends and family here in TN, but I know that those kids need their dad (and their mom) so we are making the move north!

I guess that's it for now.....Have a good rest of the week!

everything but the Kitchen Sink challenge

I had SOOOO much fun making this card for the new "everything but the Kitchen Sink challenge"!!!!! This is a new challenge started by a few friends of mine, so I knew I was going to participate from the moment that I read their news! I was just waiting on the recipient to get her card first before posting it - because I know that she reads my blog and I didn't want to spoil the surprise! Click on the picture below and it will take you to Courtney's blog and the other entries for this challenge:For this month the challenge was to take something from your mail and incorporate it into a card or scrapbook page. Here is some of the mail that I used:

The card I made was for my sister, Carol, who uses coupons like a mad woman and can get stuff for next to nothing most of the time! I had some coupons that I wanted to send her for diapers, but I also had some coupons for other stuff that I knew I would not be using, so I sent those along as well.

The first thing I saw after I read about the challenge on Courtney's blog was a coupon book from Kroger and I immediately thought about a coupon themed card but I wasn't sure how it was going to work out completely.

Then I got the cellophane pocket idea from another one of the challenge creators, Winter. I decided that I would find small images of of some of the products I was sending in coupon form and tuck them into the little pocket. I took those images, glued them to some card stock and cut them out again and stuck them in their cellophane pocket home.

I cut the "exclusive coupons" wording from the front of the Kroger coupon booklet and put it all on top of some striped paper from Cherry Hill's October Afternoon collection. I then found a scrap of blue paper and punched a scalloped border for the edge of the card. This card was really tiny - it was only about 4X3 inches.

It seemed like it was missing something so....The last thing that I did was I stamped a "To you from me" sentiment from American Craft's. I cut that out, punched a hole in it, and tied some ribbon in it and stuck it in the little cellophane pocket as well.

Here is the finished product with the coupons inserted and ready to go!

My sister called me today to let me know that she got the card and that she thought it was really cute! I must admit that it reminded me of doing a project like you would do in elementary school, but I absolutely LOVED it - it was almost therapeutic after a long 12 hour day of work! I sat down JUST to come up with the idea and I ended up staying up until almost 1AM working on the darn thing AND I had to get up for work the next morning (thank goodness the next day was a Saturday and I didn't have to be there until 9 instead of our normal 8)!

Even though it does remind me of something I would have made in elementary school, it is still probably one of my favorite cards that I have made so far! I hated parting with it, but I am glad it brought a smile to someone else's face today!