So I took some time to sit at my craft table and design some cards for my new business thing. Still haven’t gotten my scanner to work, though.

The internet is still boring today. But that can be good in some ways…sometimes you get sick of all the various online dramas. There hasn’t even been much in the way of spam e-mails for me to poke fun of. Today has been the first day in ages that I didn’t win the U.K. lottery.

The light bulb in my desk lamp burned out. Luckily, I keep a good stash of bulbs around, different wattages and all, so I didn’t have to e-mail Mike to ask him to pick some up on the way home.

Thrilling, huh?

Looking for some great home lighting options? You should check out farreys.com…they have all manner of lamps, ceiling fans, and other lighting fixtures, from some of the top name manufacturers out there.

If you do crafts, you might want to check out the “Comfy Eyes” lamps from George Kovacs Lighting. Not only do these lamps help reduce eyestrain when doing close work, but they also show the colors true. I have a lamp like this on my craft desk, and the difference between one of these and regular lamps is amazing!

For home decor, I love the contemporary fixtures from Sea Gull Lighting. I love the simple designs of the Painted Shade Corded Pendant Collection. I’m not really into fancy, intrciate chandeliers…for me, the simpler, the better!

No matter what you tastes and needs are, Farrey’s will likely have something for you!

The big project for this morning was putting together this thing. I bought this at A.C. Moore many moons ago, with a 40% off coupon, and only today did it finally come out of the box.

That thing was a bit of a pain to put together. It had a million plastic S-clips that I had to snap on to attach the shelves. They were kind of difficult to nape on, and now my fingers hurt. But at least it’s finally done.

My next task after this is to sort all of my paper and organize it in this thing. That is going to be a big job, but it has to be done. I need to know exactly what I have, before I buy anythng more!

I did, however, place another order with my Stampin’ Up demonstrator…but I have to, because I’m in this monthly club thing where everyone has to spend at least $15.00 per month. Each month, a different member of the club gets to be the *hostess* and as such, gets free stuph, depending on how much is ordered from the club that month. Apparently, June is my turn, so once she gets the orders all tallied, she will tell me how much free stuph I can pick out.

Me loves free stuph!

But I am making a lot of inroads on this re-organization project, and I’m excited about it. I really need to get back into crafting. It will be so much better with more space and better organization!

…as I have decided that if I DON’T at least make some inroads into re-organizing my craft area, it will NEVER get done. Ever. I happen to feel motivated enough today to do it, so it’s getting done.

I really am pathetic. I have so much damned crafty stuph, all over the place, it isn’t funny. I have tons of stuph that I have never even USED, but bought it because I just had to have it. I do intend to use this stuph, it would just be easier if I were better organized, and I could well…FIND IT! I have bags and bags full of this stuph.

I also have a ton of organizational items, all still in the boxes, some that I bought MONTHS ago. Rubber stamp drawers, a big tool chest thingy, a scrapbook paper organizer, a couple of desktop organizers for markers and other items…all coming out today to be used already!

I’m just sick of the mess!

…about getting my craft area re-organized. I never got around to it on Tuesday, and yesterday, I wasn’t feeling very well.

But I do need to get it done. And something I have been thinking about, for times when I’m seriously busy with mass-producing cards to sell…are folding tables, for extra work surface. Maybe just a couple of those small TV tables, that I can easily stash away when not in use.

I have so little space to use here, so I need to think of good ways to make the most of that I do have.

…through tax prep and checkbook balancing. I did what I said I was gonna do, and got the hell out of Dodge!

I was pleased to go to A.C. Moore and see that they had all of their Sizzix stuph marked WAY down. I bought another storage tower for my dies…should have bought two, as I have do many dies, it’ll fill up fast. I would not be surprised if my overflow from the three storage towers I already have fills up this new one. Yep, I shoulda bought two. But they did have a lot of them at the store, I can always go back to get more if I need them. While supplies last, of course, as this storage item has been discontinued by Sizzix.

As for the Sizzix dies that were marked down, I saw only one that I liked that I didn’t already have…this one. It’s cute, isn’t it? I just LOVE this stuph!

Having survived driving through the hell that is Wellington Circle, and making it to A.C. Moore, I then went through it again, to go to Michaels. There, they also had marked down Sizzix dies, but not much that I liked or didn’t already have. I did get one of a wagon, though…it’s discontinued, so I can’t give a link to it. But I can see The Infamous Sizzix Kitty (he shows up almost everywhere in my work!) taking a ride in that Radio Flyer wagon!

At Michaels (which Mike thinks should have been named for him, since I’ve spent enough of his money in the place… !), I also found Coluzzle templates on clearance. I snagged the *Hawaiian Hut* alphabet in uppercase and lowercase, for half off. I also got this nested circle template, also half off.

So, I was able to go out, shop, find some cool bargains. And when I got home, Mike wasn’t cranky any more. We only owe about $300 to the IRS, and we’re getting a $150 refund from Massachusetts, so it wasn’t as bad as we’d thought.

All is well with the world!

…as I REALLY needed to catch up on Club Posh swap projects and such. I got a lot done today, and I’ll be mailing things out tomorrow, when we go to the Good Post Office.

I know that I could have just gone across the street and mailed stuph from the mailbox there, but that one is controlled by the Evil Post Office, and I don’t trust it. Ever feel that way about a particular mailbox, that you don’t trust it? You know, where you wonder if ANYONE ever comes to collect the mail out of it.

So now I’m here, need to make a little hay and all. I got my first paid blogging task for FenwayFaithful.com, through Blogsvertise, and it’s actually relevant to the site! And it actually pays more than what they’ve been giving me for this site.
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The weather’s been really nice today, and it’s supposed to be even better tomorrow. So, hopefully, Mike and I will have a nice day doing stuff, and he won’t start feeling all mean and cranky and all.

Well, back to work!

Clicky to see my rule-age!

I KNEW that this would be the most kick-assed pic in the history of the Great Wall Of Posties…and now, here’s the proof!

I kick ass!

I’m looking to upgrade my image-editing software. Right now, I am using Paint Shop Pro…Version 7! Yep, it’s old, and I want something newer.

The two choices for me are either to go for PSP Photo XI, or try Adobe Photoshop Elements. All of the scrapbook magazines recommend the latter, and in articles about how to do cool stuph to photos, they give instructions for Elements.

You can download trial versions at both sites. I just downloaded Elements…that took FOREVER to download, even with DSL. I’d hate to think how long this would have taken on dial-up! Anyhoo, I’m gonna play with that for a while, see how I like it, and then snag the trial version of PSP XI, and see how I like THAT one.

Anyone here use one of the other? Which do you think is better?

…as I REALLY need to get some projects for Club Posh swaps done, and put in the mail either today before the Good Post Office closes, or first thing tomorrow.

The big project is a set of Artist Trading Cards. It’s an alphabet swap, where each person is assigned a letter, and we have to make ATCs with some sort of them relating to that letter. In addition to ABC’s, we’re also doing numbers 0-9, which means I have to make 36 of these in all. I got the letter “J”.

Since I’m known for putting cats on just about everything I make, I had to come up with some way I culd tie in cats with this letter. K actually enjoyed the challenge…I even told the person running the swap that giving me “C”, (for cat and Christine) “F” (for feline) “K” (for kitty), or “M” (for meow) would be too easy.

As I was looking through my vast colletion of cat stamps, this little guy *popped* up at me. “J” is for “Jack-In-The Box”!

This is the approximate size of the actual stamp. It’s a purrfect size for an ATC (which MUST be the standard trading card size of 2.5″ x 3.5″…same as with baseball cards and such).

I have a design in mind…I can do that, you know, make designs in my head and then bring them to paper when I get the chance. Since we’re supposed to use at least one Posh Impressions stamp, and the jack-in-the-box kitty is not one of their designs, I chose this alphabet background stamp to use for…well…a background. I will stamp this on the cream-colored blank ATC’s…in what color depends on what color patterned scrapbook paper I want to use. I have some cat-patterned papers, I just need to pick one that I have enough of to do 36 cards. Anyway, I’d be cutting pieces of that, making one torn edge, and placing this over the ATC, just partially covering the background.

Next step is the stamp the kitty on more of the cream cardstock, color with colored pencils, cut out, and mount onto the ATC’s. Final embellishments will be die-cutting J’s in several fonts…as you know, I have many different die-cut ABC fonts…using both the patterned paper and the cream cardstock.

Try to imagine what this will look like. Then be sure to come back later this evening, and see if it is what you imagined it to be. People often read a description of something, and will imagine it differently from the next person.

Well, I’d better get a move on and get cranking on these things!