It's been a while....

.....since I have last blogged.  Not sure where the time went! 

I am still working on orders, seems that I do that a lot.   A good thing though, right?  Yes!

Summer is filled with all kinds of busy stuff!  Of course, the very very very best part of summer is TLC Camp!  It is the best week of the year!

Amanda and Thalia.  They have been friends since they met at TLC Camp in 2008!  Friends forever!

Also during the summer are Farmer's Markets.  I do two of them and totally enjoy the day out!  I am in Aurora on Wednesdays...  sadly, it is not as great this year as it was last year, but I am doing well enough!  Thursdays, I am in Bolingbrook at the Promenade.  I share a tent with Soap Creek Design and we always have such a fun time!  Look for the tent of laughing crazies!

We have also started fostering kittens.  My daughter, Amanda, works at a shelter and is the emergency foster.  So we get tiny kittens.  Our first kitten was Juliette.  But she had a name change at our home.  She became Merida.  She was afraid of everything and after working with her for 2 days, she got her Brave on and became Merida.

                                    

Merida was with us for just a few days and then she was paired up with another tiny kitten and went to another foster home.  

After Merida, we got Liam and Lexi.  They were 3 weeks when we got them and we still have Lexi!  Liam reached his goal weight of 2.2 lbs after 7 weeks with us and was adopted in just 10 days!  I miss him!  Lexi is a tiny girl.  She is now 12.5 weeks and still under 2 lbs.  That is okay with us, we are not sure if we are giving Lexi back!  Shhhhhh, don't tell Keith.

                                     

Lexi at 11 weeks.  Sleeping in my Copic marker tote.

Riley and Liam at about 4 or 5 weeks.

Liam, right before he went back to the ACL for his surgery and NEW HOME!

The day Liam went in, we brought home Pong.  She was 6 weeks old when we got her and went back to the ACL today for her surgery.  She will be up for adoption tomorrow!  And will go right away, I believe...  she is the purrrrfect kitten!  Sweet and sassy!  

Buddha belly, Pong

Helping me kraft!  They all love to kraft with MeeMaw!!

On to the business of kard making....  I could go on about kittens forever!

I thought that I would show you the tutorial for the Side Step Kard this blog!  It is a cool little kard and one I really enjoy doing!

Here is the tutorial!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCvVJD4kg9U



Go...  give it a try!  It really isn't too difficult to do!

Here are some that I have done.

Now it is your turn.  Go.  Make kards.  Have fun!!

Pop Up Kard

It has been a crazy time around here.  I have been working on orders, which is great, some of them on the fly!

I have done 50th Anniversary invites for my Uncle and Aunt, many baby kards, birthday kards, and a bunch of Disney kards.  Book korners are going like hot cakes!  As fast as I make them, they are gone! I have been donating a lot of them also, to different charities that are using them for goodie bags!  Harley helping hands and the MS Walk are the most recent.

Speaking of MS walk, I am walking this year.  I have to dear friends who have this horrible disease and just feel like I need to do something.  I am trying to raise as much money as I can.  Here is the link, if you feel the need to help!  Any amount, small or large, is so very appreciated and needed!!  MS Sucks!

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Walk/ILDWalkEvents?px=11914160&pg=personal&fr_id=20258

I discovered, with a little help from my CM friends, a new Pop Up kard that I just love.  I have made a few of these, mostly for birthdays, but I have done a couple for other occasions too.  Here is the link for you to watch and try.  It really is easier than it looks.  Takes some time to decorate, but cutting the kard out is not difficult.  Like most of them, the folding in several directions at the same time seem to be the toughest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhFCTsfzcHU


Here are a couple that I have done!!

Now it is your turn!  Watch, try, have fun!!

Happy Day!

And the light bulb went off.... errrr, on?

As I have said, on numerous occasions, I want to blog.  I really do.  I just don't know what to blog about.  I mean really,  how many times do you want to look at the kards I make?  Or the ideas that I borrow and revise?  Or the stuff I come up with on my own?  My husband, bless his heart, keeps saying I am the perfect person for blogging.  Really?  He thinks that because when I get something in my head and become obsessed with it...   well, that makes me the perfect candidate for blogging.   Not sure, but I think he just called me a little miss know it all!  Humph!

Well, it got me to thinking.  Dang it...  now I will have to give him credit!!  I love to make kards.  I think you all know that.  I love love love to make kards!  I also love to share my kards.  Whether you buy them or I just give them away, I love to share!  I want to share.  More.

I have decided to pick a kard a blog and post a "how to"...   now keep in mind that it won't be me doing the how to.  I am going to post the same how to that I learn from.  Then I will post several kards that I make in that style.  I would love for you to make your own kards.  Or to try to make your own kards.  But if you just don't want to, and you fall in love with the kard I show you....  I can make it for you!  The bulk of these kards will be my $3.00 specialty kards.

Let's get this ball rolling...

This is the link I used to make a Center Step Kard.  You will find hat I use Splitcoast Stampers tutorials a lot.  They are really easy to follow.  They are easy to understand and to make on my own.  You will also notice that I never duplicate the embellishments.  I do my own thing.

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/centerstepcard/

I tend to print up the directions, staple them together and then refer to them often!!

Now here are a few Center Step Kards that I have done.

Well, I hope that this is a blog that you can use.  That you enjoy.  That encourages you to pull out a sheet of paper and make a kard.

Let me know what you think!

Happy, Scrappy Day!

Happy 2013

Happy New Year!

I hope that 2013 brings you all that you deserve.

I "rang in the New Year" with a new little guy that I was sitting for,  Chip!  Chip is an 8 lb. yorkie, that has become the newest client of The Critter Sitter.  He is a cutie.  I was able to hang with Chip from 12-27 until I came home late this afternoon.
I enjoy Critter sitting.  I figure that everyone's fuzzy babies should be home, safe and sound, while Mom and Dad are away.  I am blessed with an awesome kennel that my Riley loves to be at, but not everyone is happy taking their fuzzy ones to a kennel.  So I go to their homes and move in while they are away.  Everyone is happy!  Mom, Dad and, most of all, fuzzy one!!
Right now, I have three fuzzy babies that I hang with, but I am booked for two more dogs and a bunch of cats!  How much fun is my life???

Presley

Hines

 Chip

I am entering the krafting world in 2013 with a bang!  I have 1 order to get done right away and then I am making the invitations for my Aunt and Uncle's 50th Anniversary!  I am so excited about this!  I did a 25th Anniversary last year and now this!  Super excited!  I can't wait to look at papers and embellishments!

I have been making more and more book corners.  They are addicting little buggers!  I have made Noms (googlie eyes and teeth), Clops (one googlie eye and teeth), Potts (Harry Potter paper, eye glasses and scar), Sirs (mustaches and monocles), Hello Kitty, Darth Vadar, Angry Birds, Mickey, Minnie, Winnie the Pooh, College Teams, Japanese paper collectibles, Santa Claus.........  and the possibilities are endless!!

2013 will, hopefully, bring Percy Jackson, Military and more character book corners!  Like I said, they are addicting!   To make and to own!!

Happy, Healthy, Scrappy 2013!

It's 2:00 am.... This is why I am up!

My daughter, Amanda, starts a new job tomorrow.  She will be working for the Forest Preserve..  Deer Management.  Yup, just what it sounds like.  Population control.  She starts graveyard shifts, 6:30 pm - 6:30 am and is changing her body clock.  I am keeping her company for a bit longer and then I am heading to bed.

Her job is seasonal, so in a couple of months, she begins the task of finding a new job.  Hopefully a permanent job in an aquarium not too awful far from home.  Even a zoo would be nice, but her love is fish....   ugly fish are her favorite.  The flounder.  :-)

But back to her seasonal job...   and this is not for the faint of heart, so be warned.  Deer Management is, basically, population control of deer.  There is a certain number of deer that need to be "managed" so that they don't take over.  There are not too many natural predators of deer, so short of introducing bears, cougars and coyotes into your environment to control the deer population..  it is done by people.  The coolest part comes after the deer is "managed."  The deer is dissected and many of the organs are removed and tested.  Tested for genetic problems and diseases that we don't want in our environment.  A couple of teeth are removed to check the age of the deer.  Basically, slice open the teeth and count the rings type of thing.  The heart goes to a wildlife preservation for the birds to treat on and then the food pantry comes in, takes the deer and feeds tons of people.  How cool is that?!?!

My delicate flower is hoping to dissect and research!  Somedays it is tough to listen to her stories! :-)



I have been keeping busy filling orders and doing shows.  I had a show Saturday and have one more this next weekend at my house.  Feel free to drop by if you are in the area.  I am debating about doing a show on the 18th and my last show of the season is on the 8th of December.  Seems like it never ends and that is good!  I love the opportunities to show my kards and to make new kards!  I have 2 full pages of orders that I will be working on this week, along with getting my house set up for the show.  It will keep me busy and centered.  I am going to miss my girlie.  She will work during the nights when we sleep and then sleep when I want to chat about her day!  Not going to lie...  this is going to be tough!

Enjoy your day...  hug your kiddos!!
~Happy Krafting ~

And yet again.....

I am not meeting my blogging requirements!  Of course these requirements are all in my head and, theoretically, I should just blog when I have time.  But that never seems to happen because I never seem to have time....    so I feel bad!

Not a lot bad...  but a tinge of badness swirls about.

I have entered into a new venture the last month or so and it has been keeping me quite busy.  I have, for the last few years, been available to sit for the critters of my friends.  Whether it is just stopping by a few times a day, or actually moving into their home while they are away.  I love it!  I am an animal lover and if I could, would have a house full of dogs and probably cats too!  So I have decided to take this to a bit bigger scale and pass my name around to all of my friends with critters and let them know that The Critter Sitter is open for business.  I have been gone quite a bit in the last 2 months.  I pack up my stuff and off I go!  It has really been fun!   Most of my jobs are close enough to home that I can be there for dinner each night and I can fulfill my duties at the Dance Centre too!  My kards come with me and I am able to set up shop from anywhere!!

This weekend, I am Krafting it up at a craft show in Hoffman Estates.  I am looking forward to spending the day meeting and greeting and hanging out with my daughter, who is going with me.  She has been sick this past week and is looking forward to getting out of the house.

I have a few end of the year Krafties lined up, including one at my house.  That one is my baby because the main focus for this one is Pampered Chef and my friend Kathy Gilmore donating 25% of sales to TLC Camp!  TLC Camp is my heart!  So go to my Pampered Chef website at the bottom of this paragraph and purchase something...  knowing in your heart that you are helping to send a child with cancer to day camp for a week!  It is our (Amanda and I) favorite week of the year!!

http://www.pamperedchef.biz/gilmore?page=2ways-order-products
(Let me know if this doesn't work for you and I will get it resolved!)!


Much krafting has been going on here.  I have discovered the absolute fun of book corners!  Right now I have made two kinds, Nom, Noms and Sirs.

These are examples of Nom, Noms.....

And these are Sirs.  Sirs are actually my daughter's idea...  then I get to "make it happen"

Sirs and Nom, Noms can come in any color or pattern imaginable!  They are crazy fun!  Watch for this fun little book corners to show up as Dance, complete with tutu, and as a Bride and Groom.  Ideas are also endless!

Keep your eyes pealed to the KBK page at facebook for the latest book corners!!

Well, enjoy your day...  I am back to filling orders!  

Have a krafty day!

The title isn't everything.

I am struggling to come up with a title for this post today, but realized that what is inside is more important than the title.

I, of course, have been neglectful to blogging.  However, I have been thinking about blogging.  Busy just got the better of me.

I am over flowing with orders and loving it!  But it does mean that a lot of stuff takes a back seat to kard making.  My house, for example, could use a major cleaning!  I have managed to get the laundry done fairly regularly!  Go me!!  Dance started again last week, so I am back at work outside of the house.  Tomorrow is my last farmer's market of the season...   endings and beginnings...  circle of life.

I was lucky to get to the Scrapbook Expo a couple of weeks ago.  My bestie and I usually go, but she was on a cruise to Alaska so my Amanda said she would go!  What a trooper!!  Together we found these AWESOME stamps from RubberNecker Stamps.  Oy!!  I call them Pretty Ladies and they are to die for!!   Here are the Pretty Ladies all colored and put on kards!

I have done complete sets in red, orange, blue, green (gone already...  didn't even get them on kards), aqua and purple.  I can't wait to make more in other colors!  I used colored pencils on them, since my Copic markers are a bit too much for these delicate ladies.

Tonight I am working on 42 birthday invites.  I just finished invites for a third birthday and a 25th anniversary.  I have outstanding orders for Christmas kards, Sympathy kards, Wedding kards and Birthday kards!  They start next week!!  My only complaint is that I don't have time to finish my daughter's Graduation Announcements!!  

Happy Krafting!!