Tomorrow is April Fools

Tomorrow is April Fools Day the day for tricks and pranks. (Lucky me DH is a practical joker in the 1st place. So I've got to get ready.)

Here are some all-time best April Fool’s Day pranks:

- Pasta on Trees: In 1957, a well-respected BBC news show, Panorama, declared an abundance in an important Swiss crop: spaghetti noodles from spaghetti trees. After including footage of Swiss farmers pulling the fruit off the trees, many viewers called and asked how they might grow their own spaghetti trees.

- You Can Ring This Bell: The Taco Bell Corporation announced to in 1996 that it would be purchasing the historic Liberty Bell and renaming it—as the Taco Liberty Bell. Outraged citizens were only assuaged when Taco Bell asserted it was a joke. When asked about it in a press meeting, White House Press secretary Mike McCurry dryly responded that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold and would henceforth be called the Lincoln Mercury Memorial.

- Extra Fun(nies): In 1997, comic strip readers opened the funny section and saw that their favorite strips looked different. In a grand move, forty-six comic strip writers had swapped strips for the day. Garfield could be found in Blondie, eating Dagwood’s sandwich, and the Family Circus mother was found, with an oddly Dilbert-like hairdo, telling young Billy that he needed to “work cuter, not harder.”

Sources: museumofhoaxes.com and wikipedia.org

What are some of the funniest pranks you've played or (in my case) had played on you.

Happy Crafting.

M.E.

Monsters v Aliens

Hi!

Well I gave up my little princess dog Dixie on Friday. And was very sad, still am a little. But I know it's for the best. I was balling like a baby the minute we left her with her new family. Thank goodness dh was driving.

For those of you who don't know dh and I don't have human children we have our dogs and it's like giving up your baby.

Any way, I went to see Monsters vs. Aliens on Friday to try and cheer myself up.

It's very cute and funny.

I'm going to make a card to take to Dixie's new mom today along with the rest of Dixie's things.

I mean it's hard enough having to give her up let alone have her things here.

Happy Crafting.

M.E.

**Blog Candy Alert**

Hi!

I was just on the Blog Hop over at Unity and was on Fiberjunky's blog.

Just wanted you to know that she's giving some Blog Candy in honor
of her birthday. Woo hoo.

Also Whoopsie Daisy is having a Fun Day Giveaway.

So check it out.

Happy Crafting.

M.E.

Beauty

Hi!

I just wanted to share this message with you.

This was the poster that was up in my room as a teen.

And it means a lot to me and that's why I'm sharing
this message with you.

Happy Crafting.

M.E.

It breaks my heart ...

Hi!

It breaks my heart to say this but I'm in the process
of trying to find a new home for our little Boston girl
Dixie.



She's super sweet and cute. She's neutered and needs a
lot more love and attention then dh and I are able to give
right now.

I think she needs someone who can be at home with her
on a 24/7 basis. And that's just not something dh and I
can do right now.

Happy Crafting.
M.E.

Did you hear about SU!?!

Hi!

I just heard about this through my CM Consultant group.

SU! says layoffs may occur next month.

Now this only currently directly affects the Home Office Team which
consists of 500 people.

I love SU! stamps they are very unique and beautiful.

You can read more about it here.

Happy Crafting.

M.E.

Man Made Card

Hi!

The gals one of the girls on the meetup group that I belong to posted
this in the message board.

I shared it with dh we both thought it was pretty cute and funny.

Especially since dh knows alot of the terms to but that's because his
mom is the one who introduced me to scrapping since she owns the
local scrapbook store.

Happy Crafting.

M.E.

Check out the NEW Header

Hi!

Check out the new blog banner header I just added it's free from Header Spot.

They have over 500 banners to choose from.

And if you do decide to change your header here's my advice.

If you go to Edit Layout and click on Header Edit.

Then you can choose shrink to fit and Placement Behind Title and Description.

Also you can change the colors of your Title in the Fonts and Colors section.

Maybe I can get my dh to help me figure out how to make a video
and I'll post it later for my more visual readers.

Happy Crafting.
M.E.

Music

Hi!

I love music. I appreciate that my taste may be different from
someone else and that's why I personally don't believe in having
a radio that blares when you come to visit my blog.

If I find a song is needed for something like a post then I just add
the video and feel that you my readers can use your own discretion
as to whether or not you would like to listen to that song.

While I visit others out there in the blogosphere, I am persistently
bombarded with songs. And that's when I attempt to find where the
music is coming from and pause it.

Trust me that's a lot harder then you might think. Especially if it's a
blog where someone has buttons and such on both sides of their blog page.

So here's my advice for anyone that feels that this is necessary and
beneficial to their blog.

Please put your radio button closer to the top so that those of us who
although we would like to visit your blog may actually just enjoy the
peace and quiet. After all not everyone shares my taste in music and
if I did add that button that's what I would do for anyone interested
in visiting so that they can use their own discretion.

Oh and I know it's been a while since I posted a card so I will make
some before the weekend is up and post them here for you.

Happy Crafting.
M.E.

SISTv

Hi!

I just discovered this great new site called Scrap In Style TV or SISTv.

Check them out here.

They have a great selection of videos to watch.

Plus if you are interested in submitting your crafty items
for publication they even have a Forum called The Agency
that's all about that.

And that's just a couple of the great things they've got over there.

Just thought I should share for anyone that's interested.

Happy Crafting.

M.E.

Amuse Bouche

Bonjour!

I love Amuse stamps they're soooo cute. Right now they are having an amuse-bouche.

Well I took a look in my trusty French Dictionary and I couldn't find it what I did find was amuse-gueule - (cocktail) snack, savoury; (fig., pop. )preliminaries.

Then I went to wikipedia

An amuse-bouche^[1] [a.myz.buʃ] also called an amuse-gueule, ([a.myz.gœl]) is a single, bite-sized hors d’œuvre. Amuse-bouche are different from appetizers in that they are not ordered from a menu by patrons, but, when served, are according to the chef's selection alone. These, often accompanied by a complementing wine, are served as an excitement of taste buds to both prepare the guest for the meal and to offer a glimpse into the chef's approach to cooking.

The term is French, literally translated to "mouth amuser" [for bouche = mouth; amuser = to amuse, to please]. The plural form is amuse-bouche or amuse-bouches.^[2] The original French word, more frequently employed, is amuse-gueule (gueule is slang for mouth but in fact means animal's mouth (one word in French)), although amuse-bouche is more often used on menus in fine dining restaurants.^[3]

So for all you fine connaisseurse of stamps you've got to check out the Amuse blog and the Design Teams blogs to for your amuse bouche before the new stamps are available on the website. And let me just say that these stamps are really amusing. If you're fortunate enough to have a store close by that sells these stamps you've got to check these out for great ideas.

I'm fortunate enough that the closest store to me that sells Amuse stamps just happens to be owned by my mil so I get to have them placed on hold for me. And if there's a stamp that I want that's out of stock she'll order that for me too.

Happy Crafting.

M.E.

Blog Candy

Hi!

As I was strolling through the blogosphere I found out that Sarah's
Creations is having a Birthday Candy give-away on her blog.

It looks really good and I thought that you might be interested in
checking it out.

So check out Sarah's Creations.

Happy Crafting.

M.E.

Happy St. Patty's 2009

Top o' the morning to ya.

OK. That's my best impersonation of an Irish person. Hey I'm 1/2 Filipina so what do you expect.

I just got this great poem sent to me from A Fresh Perspective.

An Irish Blessing:

May the road rise to meet you;
May the wind be always at your back;
May the sun shine upon your face and
The rains fall soft upon your fields.
May God grant you many years to live,
For sure He must be knowing
The Earth has angels all too few
And Heaven is overflowing!
And, until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

I just thought that was really neat and appropriate for today. If you
notice I've had the blog decorated for St.Patty's for a while. I'm going
to redecorate tomorrow.

Happy Crafting.

M.E.

I need help

Hi!

Does anyone want to help me clean my house?

Well at least my living room and kitchen.

The missionaries called on Saturday and said that they want to come
over on Thursday night.

Oh well. DH and I have to start cleaning tomorrow. So I don't know if
I'll be able to get any cards made this week.

Sometimes I wish I still lived at home with my mom. She and my sil
used to clean my room for me.

Boy do I miss those days.

Happy Crafting.

M.E.

Just got back

Hi!

Just got back from watching The Watchmen. Pretty cool movie.

Never read the graphic novel but I still really liked the movie.

DH and I are kinda geeky we like movies like X-Men, Tranformers,
the TV series Firefly (although we didn't know about it 'til we saw
Serenity with dh's friends). And some of our weekly faves are Sarah
Connor Chronicles, Battlestar, and we both watch the Star Trek series'.

So this movie was right up our alley.

I would definitely recommend it to any other comic book geeks
like us out there.

I promise to post at least one card this week.

It's kinda tough with my schedule at work because I'm not really a
night owl. The only reason I'm up right now is because we went to
the movies @ 8pm and we just got home. Then the dogs needed to
be fed and let out.

Oh and just like on Heroes (another one of our favorite shows) we
definitely think a trip to the Alamo Drafthouse is the only way to see
a movie. I can't seem to find that video otherwise I'd post that too. If
any of you are geekier than me and could find it for me I'd appreciate it.

Happy Crafting.

M.E.

Prepping for Garage Sale

Hi!

I just wanted to be sure to let any local readers know about For Love
of Paper's 4th Annual Garage Sale.

For more info check out For Love Of Paper.

There will be a lot of great scrappin' items available.

I sold some things last year and signed up to do it again this year.
Infact, every item I brought sold last year.

Happy Crafting.

M.E.

Jesus take the wheel

Hi!

I just went to church for the first time in a while on Sunday. I haven't really told anyone except for my UPS driver and well of course my dh knows. This song basically epitomizes why I felt that I needed to go.

So you don't think I'm a total weird-o the reason why I told my UPS driver is because I work at a UPS Store so he's not a complete stranger. Plus, he's very religious and has even given me some suggestions on scriptures to peruse.

I'm still not at the point where I can pray. But I did notice the influence that attending church has made on my week.

Sorry to get all spiritual but I felt like this was important.

Happy Crafting.

M.E.

Aloha

Aloha!

Aloha in the Hawaiian language means affection, love, peace, compassion and mercy. Since the middle of the 19th century, it also has come to be used as an English greeting to say goodbye and hello.

It is also the state nickname of Hawaii, the "Aloha State".

Researched on wikipedia.

I created this card using the Laura's Sketch 21 on 2S4Y.

The sponsor for this week is Starving Artistamps.

So of course, I had to use my Doodle Factory stamp that I got from Starving Artistamps as part of their One Million Stamps Project. Which is super cool because you get a terrific stamp from Starving Artistamps for a $1. Be aware that it is necked rubber which means that there is no backing for your stamp. And you don't know what you're getting, except that you do get to mention a Theme you would like your stamp to be.

So this is one of the stamps that I received in the mail. And I think he's super cute. DH says it reminds him of Stitch from Lilo & Stitch.

So as soon as I saw the sketch this week and who the sponsor was I totally knew that I needed to create this card.

This card is also using paper from my scrap pile so I don't really know to much about who made the paper. I do remember buying the paper at Archiver's when they used to have 12x12 in the Hot Spot.

The buttons were a gift from my friend Karen who was my Secret Santa. And the stitching used thread from my sewing kit.

Materials Used:

Stamps: Doodlefactory Million stamp project stamp, My Sentiments Exactly Y530 Multi Script

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic YG11 Mignonette, Y02 Canary Yellow, RV13 Tender Pink, E00 Skin White, SU! Classic Chocolate Chip, Stazon Azure

Accessories: Quickutz Nesting Flowers CC-FLOWERS-01, Bazzill Basics Paper In-Stitch'z Template, SU! buttons

Happy Crafting.

M.E.

Create

Hi!

I just thought this was so cool and want to share.

Happy Crafting.

M.E.

International Women's Day

Hi!

Did you know that it's International Women's Day?

International Women's Day (IWD) is marked on March 8 every year. It is a major day of global celebration for the economic, political and social achievements of women.

Started as a political event, the holiday blended in the culture of many countries (primarily Russia and the countries of former Soviet bloc). In some celebrations, the day lost its political flavour, and became simply an occasion for men to express their love to the women around them in a way somewhat similar to Mother's Day and St Valentine's Day mixed together. In others, however, the political and human rights theme as designated by the United Nations runs strong, and political and social awareness of the struggles of women worldwide are brought out and examined in a hopeful manner.

For more info on this day I went to wikipedia.

In honor of this Holiday I will try to make a card tonight to celebrate.

Happy Crafting.

M.E.

Making more room

Hi!

I've been wanting to make more room in my craft space.

Due to the fact that currently it resides in my living room.

And since I heard about this at the Shoebox Swap I attended I've
been considering removing my stamps from my wood blocks. Also
because I feel so bad that I love the designs of my wood blocks but
rarely ever use them because they're so hard to travel with.

Trust me I try my best to take what I'll need for a crop. But since I
usually don't know what that is until I get there I try to ensure that
I bring only what I can carry in/on top of my rolling bag. CM of
course, and it's just the perfect size too. I will have to take a pic of
my bag when it is packed for a crop or just in general because unless
I'm crafting I try to keep everything organized in my travel bag so
I'm ready for the next crop.

This is what it looks like in
the catalog and on my website.

If you are interested in purchasing this feel free to email me.
And I will get if for you at 15% less the cost, plus no shipping
charges. Just email M.E. @ cmcmaryd_at_gmail_dot_com. But this
offer is only good until March 28th, 2009. And only by emailing M.E.
(Offer only good in the Continental USA).

OK. So I just found these great instructions on For Love of Paper for
unmounting your woodblocks.

Happy Crafting.

M.E.

Good Morning

Hi!

OK. I'm feeling better now.

Happy Crafting.

M.E.

Next time ...

Hi!

OK. This is my idea for my next life. I'm gonna take this advice.

At least I know I feel that way tonight. I might change my mind tomorrow.

Happy crafting.

M.E.

Happy Birthday! happy birthday!

Hi!

Created this card for a friend of ours. Her b-day's today.

What is it about cupcakes that makes me think of female birthdays.

Inside of the card.

We're off to Matt's El Rancho. But first to Barnes & Noble for a gift card.

I used the sketch from CPS #105 and used a tag as was the challenge on DRS Challenge #15.

Materials Used:

Stamps: Amuse Clear Stamps Cupcake Set, Inque #50136 - Say it again, CTMH Simple Invites

Paper: CM Cardstock Cranberry, Taffy, SU! Candy Cane Lane Designer Paper

Ink: SU! Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Quickutz Nesting Flowers CC-FLOWERS-01, CM Tag Punch, CM Circle Shapemaker

Happy Crafting.

M.E.

Love from TX

Hi!

As promised I made a Texas card. I know it's a little late but so is what's going along with it.

I'm sending it to DH's brother and sis-in-law. And it was supposed to be a Christmas present.

These are some of our favorite things about living not only in TX but Austin specifically. Breakfast is one of my favorite meals. In fact, I prefer it over any other meal of the day. And Kerbey Lane makes not just the best breakfast but the best pancakes. Their gingerbread pancakes are my favorite. And Stubb's makes the best BBQ. Although, we've never actually been to Stubb's we have had their BBQ sandwiches when we've gone to our favorite theater Alamo Drafthouse.

No stamping was used in the process of making this card.

Just a lot of paper. Not to mention die cuts. And thread.

Materials Used:

Paper: CM Cardstock Cactus, Brown, Archiver's Ivory Cardstock, SU! Juntos Designer Paper

Accessories: Quickutz Texas die, Martha Stewart Floral Lace Edge Punch, Cuttlebug Embossing & Die Set: Love Language, Bazzill Basics Paper In-Stitch'z Template

Happy Crafting.

M.E.

Some of my most favorite CM essentials

Hi!

I wanted to be sure to share with you that there are some amazing specials going on at my CM website.

Such as this collection pictured above. This is actually my most used collection.

Check out the great prices on this and other great Beginner Collections here.

Happy Crafting.

M.E.

Texas Independence Day

Howdy, Ya'll.

I'm gonna try to do this in the official language of the great Republic of Texas.

Did you know that we're still the only state in the nation that's able to leave the nation still. It's written in our state constitution. At least if I remember my Texas history.

We're so proud of our state history that we teach it in Middle School. Well, at least we did when I went to middle school. Do they even call it middle school anymore? or just Junior High? Guess, I'll have to ask my niece and nephew. Since that's the grade they're fixin' to be in.

DH says that were one of the few states that does that. He went to school in Illinois and Utah.

Our state capital building is an exact replica of the capital building in Washington, D.C. DH proposed to me on the state capital grounds.

We aren't as Texan as some of our friends though. Since, he's not really from here. Although, he claims he is. He was born in UT and learned to drive in Ill. And I claim that I am since I only remember growing up here in TX. Been here since before I was 5 and I'm a little past that. (OK, 27 years past that.) But, I'm first generation American/Texan. My folks are from the Philippines.

DH and I love Texas so much that's what we get his folks for presents every year. Something with the state flag on it. We even have a stained glass state flag in our living room.

We don't own a truck but we do have friends that do and that also wear cowboy boots and cowboy hats all the time. We do have cowboy hats though. I think it's a requirement. Plus, we couldn't own a truck. The last time we jumped into dh's friends truck dh nearly pulled my arm off because he forgot that I'm at least 5 or 6 inches shorter than him and that in order for me to get in the truck I need a boost.

Thank goodness we live in Austin, the most un-Texas Texas town. Because in the other towns in Texas the women have to get there hair all gussied up and their face put on just to go to the grocery store. Have you ever seen a Mary Kay lady, not the new fresh faced ones. I'm talking about the ones that are always looking like they're going to be in a beauty contest. Well, guess what that's because Mary Kay is from here, Dallas to be exact.

Well that's all the Texas trivia I'm ready to spout out right now. Oh, except that Texas is bigger than France.

But I feel inspired to make a card using my Texas Quickutz die cut today so maybe I'll do that and have it posted for you tonight.

Happy Crafting, ya'll.

M.E.

Do Not Open ... Christmas Card

Hi!

I created this card after doing a Make-and-Take at Archiver's.

Here's a group shot of all the cards that I created.

Where they showed us how to use round card using the new Sizzix embossing folders. I asked the employee there if the embossing folder was like the ones that Cuttlebug has. And she said she didn't know because she didn't know what that was. The lady next to me who had just used it said that it was. I was just shocked by how little someone that works at a National Scrapbook Store could be.

My mil owns a local scrapbook store and she makes it her business to know what's out there. I'm just surprised that a store like Archiver's doesn't train their employee about something like that if there introducing something that's in direct competition with it.

Plus, I have seen round cards in a lot of places lately.

Materials Used:

Stamps: SU! Perfect Presentation, KI Memories Christmas

Paper: CM Cardstock Cactus, Bazzill Basics Paper Pomegranate Splash

Ink: VersaColor VC-82 Black

Accessories: Quickutz Nesting Flowers CC-FLOWERS-01, CM Custom Cutting System Circle, CM Mini Circle Shapemake, Cuttlebug Allegro Embossing Folder

Happy Crafting.

M.E.

Starving ArtiStamps Blog Giveaway

Hi!

I just heard this exciting news and just knew that I should share it with you guys.

Check it out here:
Starving Artistamps

And they're perfect for all those great Easter cards that I'll be making.

Happy Crafting.

M.E.