Cars, Scrapbooks, Angel Hats, and Giveaways!!!

It's such fun to just stumble upon someone's blog giveaway contest! Like I did this morning at Deb's over at Say It With Letters. She has some very exciting "girlie" prizes, and I sure hope I win! Her sweet assortment of prizes would be exactly what I need right now! You see just last week my daughter, Erica (21), asked me to make her a scrapbook of her grade school years!!! She wants to design her older years, and her baby book is already completed. I just finished my son's two Creative Memory albums last night. Whew! It's about time - he just graduated from college! Those things are heavy now. I hope that's OK! I was looking through them last night, and just about started crying. Oh, how his precious childhood flew by!

Tomorrow I'll be getting my Art Doll Hat swap partner for Amy's swap (Crafting by Candlelight). I sure hope I can come up with something pretty for my partner! If anyone has any ideas, suggestions, or has made one - I'd love to hear from you! This will be a fun challenge for me!

And soon I'll start my own Paper Bag Album for my swap partner! I enjoyed watching my daughter make hers, and can't wait to do mine! Picking the papers for each page will be so enjoyable! And it's sure "live-and-learn" at our house! Erica came out of her room the other night with this burnt piece of paper that had a song printed on it. She asked me, "How does Aunt Heidi burn the edges without torching it???" !!!!!!!! She'd been actually burning the edges with matches to antique her paper!!! Oh Dear!!! Well, that called for a quick trip to Michael's for some aging paint. My pride kept me from calling Heidi to ask what was the best paint for this. Yes, I thought it was paint! I looked high and low at Michael's, and even asked a salesperson for help. She couldn't find any either. I even broke down and asked another customer if she knew anything about aging paper, and she just shook her head no. Right before we left, I stumbled across some ink pads called Distress Ink by Jim Holtz in the stamping section. Oh brother, it was right smack in front of where that lady was looking! Anyway, now we can begin distressing paper. We all have to start our way on the art highway somewhere.

Lastly, we are in one of those major- minor crises at our house. The engine in our Nissan Altima died on busy Highway 17 last Friday night. The mechanic said the timing chain is tangle up in the valves, and the engine is shot. He worked all weekend installing a junk yard engine into it, and when he started it, it leaked oil all over. So we're car shopping! And that means for now I'm without a car, since Bruce needs to use my truck. The car pictures are of my 1967 Camaro, the last car I, alone, got to pick out and drive! Oh, the good ol' days! That was the last of my "cool rides"! Alas, off we go used car shopping

Paper Bag Scrapbooks

Well, we sure have had a couple days of Scrapbooking around here! Heidi sent me a couple brown paper bag scrapbooks, and challenged me to make one! Well, my daughter saw the bags, and she immediately wanted to make one as a surprise for her boyfriend. What fun we've had together, shopping at Michael's for supplies and working on scrapbooks. I worked on some other scrapbooks, but helped cut some of the paper for Erica. She had some pictures of her and her boyfriend made up in sepia. I think they looked great with the colors she chose for her scrapbook! Check out Heidi's Flickr site soon, for some more paperback albums.

More Interviews About Michael's

I thought I'd add a few more comments regarding Michael's again. After all, it's such a fun store and I bring them lots of money every time I go! So I really delved deeper into what my kids thought of it. I openly told Nathan his comments yesterday were pretty funny, and asked him what else he had to say about Michael's. He had about 4 more statements. "It's a lot of old stuff. It's like stuff from the '90s. It's all dusty. It's like looking through a junk drawer!" And that's about all he had to say about that!

So, I asked my daughter Erica what she thinks of Michael's, knowing full well she values it. Here's her comments: "It's just little stuff, little knick-knacks. And some of the stuff is expensive for what it is. Go once a week with the coupon, and be a smart shopper. And they could get more stuff for kids." (She's a teacher.)

So, between today and yesterday, that sums up what we think of our closest craft store!

I (mostly) Love Michael's!

This spring a brand new Michael's craft store opened up pretty close to where we live! Yay! Joy! I go there pretty frequently, depending on what's going on. I mostly love that store! It's chock full of wonderful crafting supplies, it's a place to get new ideas, and the best part is: Usually there's a 40% off coupon in the Sunday paper! And who doesn't love a bargain? Also, they accept other craft store coupons!!! They even ring me in 2 transactions if I want to use 2 coupons! This new store is directly under the landing flight path of our airport, so it frequently rocks and roars!

My very few complaints have to do with that music there. This is the truth, I swear. I usually hear the same song, every time I'm there! And that's so annoying, it's funny! Sometimes they don't play music. Last time I was there, was a no-music day. But I kept hearing these beats, or tones. I thought some employees somewhere had a radio on? I went back to look at the wonderful Clearance section, and the sounds got louder. I finally had to investigate, and went up and down a few aisles before I found it. Halloween stuff! Yup, you guessed it. July's a great time to display an entire Halloween village for sale, complete with a 3-toned spooky creepy sound which I could not get out of my head! Long (high) short- short (lower). I can still sing it. Oh, and frequently there's the loud sound of glass breaking somewhere.

Now for the funny stuff. My husband is often very funny, and speaks his share of wisecracks. I've begun to call them "Bruce-isms". He has some mighty strong feelings about Michael's. The past 2 times we've gone there, or should I say I go there and he waits somewhere for me, I've written down what he says, word-for-word. Actually, today I didn't need to write it down. I just needed several glues, and he was planning just to sit in the heat of the car and wait . I politely, "Are you sure you wouldn't like to come in where it's cool?" He quickly responded, "I would die." Later, after dinner I wanted more, so I questioned him further about how he feels about Michael's. Here's a big Bruceism mouthful: (and I do apologize for openly offending anyone) "Michael's is an irritating store, with No value. It's a woman's store, young, old, or middle aged women. Have you ever seen a male in there? It's very dangerous. No guy should ever be permitted in there, ever. It's no place for a man. I don't want to be spotted by another male there. They would turn me in." OK, you guys. You'd better be laughing!!! He's not artistic and has a big opinion about everything. I think it's funny!

In fact, last week while we were on the way to the shopping center, where I was going into Michael's and he into Trader Joe's he got to talking about Michael's. I quickly grabbed my paper and without him noticing, I began to take notes. I was laughing and laughing at what he was saying, all the way there. By the time we arrived my stomach just ached from all that laughter. He wasn't laughing, he was dead serious. Here's his opinion of Michael's. "It's a Pirara store." (I corrected him; he was trying to say piranha.) "It's a flesh-eating store. There's far too many little knick-knacks in there; things I don't like. I don't like looking at that stuff. It's a place where you lose your mind. It's a prison. That's true, right?" (he's absolutely dead serious while saying this, and I'm just cracking up royal! I can hardly type right now, thinking of him saying all this so openly!) He went on, "Do you ever see a male of the species in that store? NO - only if they're a 1st grade teacher..." and on! See what I have to live with?

Actually, I guess he must've gone with me a few times and I took too long? Or he got lost in there? I don't remember, but sounds like he's definately been in there!

After dinner tonight, I was wondering if this opinion is a father-son type thing, so I decided to ask my son what he thought of Michael's! Now, Nathan is rather artistic, and has taken several art courses at college. Here's his response, "Michael's? It has a lot of cheap stuff. Like 5 cent buttons or something, thread. Things there have very small packaging. They must have a lot of stolen stuff since they're so small. They probably mark up the stuff because of that." I think he'd go again! Good!

Well, just thought I'd share a corner of my life. My DH is great, and quite a talker. Sometimes his opinions are funny, sometimes maddening! Actually, one of my brothers once said he was the funniest person he knew!

And the WINNER is.....!!!!!

Happy Friday to you all!! Today I got to draw a winner for my paper flowers prize! My winner is: MARY ANN !!! Thank you all for visiting my blog and playing along. I have a couple wonderful new Blogs to go visit! You've got to check out Mary Ann's blog, and also her wonderful vintage and hand made items! Wow, how fun! Mary Ann, please contact me so I can get your address and mail your prize right away! (sjb2358@Hotmail.com)

Happy Fourth of July 2007!!!

Happy Fourth of July everyone! Hope you're all having a fun and safe holiday with family and friends. We got to display a brand new United States flag this morning, with brightly colored stars and stripes. Some stores were selling more of a maroon colored red, but we bought one "Made In America" that was a true red.

This is my little terrier mix, Ruffy! It's my day to show him off! He looks so cute in the patriotic hat! My favorite picture of all time of him, is the last one with his tennis ball. He was just looking at me so intently when I called his name and took his picture. I have that one on my computer desktop. After looking at it, I must say I see love in his eyes. We've owned him for three years but I've never said to the dog, "I love you." But I did this week, after really seeing in his eyes how he feels about me. (Tongue in cheek or not, it's still a cute picture!)

My prayers go up with millions others that God will protect our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and keep them out of harms way. They are so very brave and are doing all they can to bring peace. I'll keep praying for them all, and for America.

Collage for Erica

Here's the new collage I've been working on for my daughter. I posted several close-ups, too. Now she's the lucky owner of two of my collages - remember I made a "practice" collage for her before Jenny's "bits & pieces" collage swap? So, I'll shortly be hanging them both in her room. She loves Rachel Ashwell decorating touches, and I was really trying for a Shabby Chic look with this pink one. Not sure what it is, other than a collage! But, Erica loves it!


Once the holiday is over, there'll still be some excitement here in Blog Land! I'm waiting until Friday to draw my lucky winner for my give-away!
Happy 4th of July to everyone! Today we bought a new flag to replace our outdoor one, so it will fly proud and brightly colored tomorrow. We're really looking forward to a picnic, then watching fireworks at Central Park. Don't forget to secure all your pets! My little terrier mix, Ruffy, is just terrified of fireworks and runs under the bed or couch for the evening at the first whistle. We want to keep all our cats and dogs safe!