Random and Irreverent Thoughts of Mine

I kinda back! Any body miss me?

2010-01-09T17:04:00.002-06:00

Wow things have been crazy around here with the new schedule (now 5 months ago, so maybe the semi-new schedule?) and the holidays. I have had a rather rough time adjusting my habits and sadly have been wasting far too many hours on pointless games via facebook.

I'm so ashamed!!!!!

Anyway, I'm getting my crafty mojo back in gear and hopefully I'll be able to post a little bit more frequently. 1st project - knit fingerless gloves. Stay tuned for more!

Book reviews - Photoshop Elements

2009-08-18T09:52:00.002-05:00

I wrote these reviews over a month ago, but somehow I never managed to get them over here. Enjoy.

How to Cheat in Photoshop Elements

How to Cheat in Photoshop Elements 7: Creating stunning photomontages on a budget
by David Asch Edition: Paperback
Price: $26.37

A great reference I will come back to again and again, July 9, 2009

I just finished reading through "How to Cheat in Photoshop Elements", and this book will now never leave my desk. I learned a ton of stuff in the first 3 chapters alone. Each technique is shown with step by step screenshots on such things as extracting a subject from the background, explaining all the tricks (keystokes) to really make the Marquee tool really work for you, making fire from nothing, etc etc. Most of the techniques are work arounds for stuff the "real" Photoshop does with a click of the button (or just easier, I haven't dealt with the Real PS for several years). It really isn't for a total Newbie, but it is great for someone familiar with the basics and ready to expand their skills. I believe that this book will be an invaluable tool for my digi scrapbooking.

___________________________________________________________________

Photoshop Elements 7 Digital Classroom
by Aquent Creative Team Edition: Paperback
Price: $29.69

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

Classroom in a Book is fabulous!, July 16, 2009

I love the Classroom in a Book series, and this particular installment lived up to the standards set by the previous versions.

The basis of the Classroom in Book is simply step by step instructions on different aspects of Elements, using images provided to you on the accompanying CD-ROM. Following the instructions is easy and really helps you to become quite proficient in Elements. I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to learn the ins and outs without having to wade through hours of interest tutorials.

Today's the Day!

2009-08-17T10:17:00.002-05:00

I'm starting the freezer job today. I'm nervous as can be. :( Just popping in so people know I'm alive.

Tomorrow I should have a couple of reviews on books pertaining to Photoshop Elements, but right now, I'm already running behind for the morning. I truly need to get up when my alarm goes off, and not just shut it off! It was set for 8 am, I got up at 9:45

Book Review - Girl in the Arena

2009-08-15T18:28:00.000-05:00

I'm back!!!! Did you miss me?!

Sorry, I've been neglecting the blog in an effort to prepare myself for the shift change. I could go on and on about everything that I now have to schedule out, but I won't. Instead, here is a book review

Girl in the Arena
by Lise Haines Edition: Hardcover
Price: $11.55

Availability: Available for Pre-order

Social commentary on our obsession with violence, August 15, 2009

Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)

Girl in the Arena follows Lyn, the daughter of 7 Modern Gladiators. The "Glad" society can be compared to the NFL for example, a national sport with it's die hard fans and "groupies". The difference is, a whole culture has sprung up around the Neo-Gladiators, along with rules of conduct for their wives and children. There is even a university where young women can attend and learn to become the perfect "glad wife". When Lyn's 7th father is killed in the arena, his opponent picks up Lyn's dowry bracelet, which he was wearing for luck. By the rules of the association, Lyn is now required to marry Uber, the victor. Lyn's mother, having just lost her 7th gladiator husband, is no longer allowed to marry. Lyn rebels against the rules and regulations, in an attempt to be her own woman and care for her mother and brother. That's the plot in a nutshell.

This novel reminded me of a classic that you would be required to read in Lit class. I know I say that in my reviews occasionally, but this is just how I see them. This book is really just a commentary on our culture's obsession with violence by taking a ultra-violent sport and turning it into a cultural event. The social commentary is so oblivious, it really just makes for poor reading. Glads are contracted for "X" amount of battles, their wives are only allowed to marry 7 times, and their children are hounded by the paparazzi. Rabid fans will press their bodies against glads fresh from the arena to get bloodsplatter on their clothing for a memento. I can just see a college prof. asking his class to write an essay of significance of "caging a glad", and how it can be compared to fandom in today's society.

The narrative, which is 1st person, seems distant and lacking in feeling. Lyn, the narrator, has a couple of tragedies befall her, but her emotions seem non-existent. Her love for her family is a main point in the novel, but the detachment makes her seem like a shallow, selfish girl. The writing style and flatness actually reminded me of The Handmaiden's Tale.

My Gluebook cover.... and news of a change in my life

2009-08-04T21:56:00.002-05:00

Well, I finally got a gluebook started. I simply purchased a super cheap sketch books from Wal-mart, and went wild on the cover. The finished result was this:

I love it! I used some scrapbook paper that I love, a TON of rub ons, some stickers left over from another project, an ATC I made, some grungeboard I had decorated up previously, and viola! Not too shabby. Of course, this really isn't for anyone other than me, so I don't really care what other people think. :) When I put this together, I was in a horrible, near tears, "Why did I ever decide to have children?!", "poor me, I'm so unappreciated" mood. We all have those days, so don't look at me like that! ;) By the end of 20 minutes of glueing, inking, and rubbing on the rub ons... I felt so much calmer and relaxed. Everybody has to have some outlet. :)

Now for the change in my life....

I bid on another job a my place of work. I took the plunge and gave up my cozy, "I know what I'm doing, and I'm damn good at it" office job, and decided to go to the -40 t0 -20 degree freezer, hauling freight on a fork life. Lots of people think I am crazy for doing this, and I honestly am wondering myself, but for 5 1/2 years, my husband and I have been on opposite shifts. He works Mon - Thurs, and I work Fri -Sun. Now that the kids are a little older, and I have a 15 yo son dying to make money to save for a car, I wanted to get on the same days as my husband, not the same shift though! He gets up at 2:30 am, and has to be there by 4 am. I may be crazy, but I'm not that crazy!!! Mornings are sooooo not my thing! So in 2 short weeks, I'll be working 2:30 pm to 12:30 am (which is really my most energized time), Mon - Thurs. JB and I are so excited about have days off together again! Wish me luck (I'm gonna need it... it is cold in there!)

Book Review - Demon Chick

2009-07-29T10:11:00.002-05:00

I don't know what the deal is here lately with the Hell-themed novels, it is just a weird phase I guess. Out of the Advanced Reader Copies Amazon offers me, these are the ones that jump out at me.

Demon Chick
by Marilyn Kaye

A quick, light read, July 28, 2009

Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)

I really enjoyed this book.

Demon Chick is a fairly light YA novel about Jessica, whose mother is running for President, and whose deceased father was the poster boy for segregation. On her 16th birthday, Jessica is "kidnapped" by a demon named Brad, who in reality is only collecting a her as a debt. Before she was even born, Jessica's mother sold her to the devil in exchange for power. Now, banished to Hell with Brad, which actually is much like the suburbs, Jessica finds out her mother's plans for the world, and must figure out how to stop her.

All in all, this novel was a cute little story. I stupidly picked it up to read for a "few minutes before bed", and 3 hours later, I had completely finished it. The storyline kept me interested and entertained, even if some of the supporting characters were rather flat and cheesy. The plot does get wrapped up rather quickly, so that the novel seems more like a short story. The flat characters and quick wrap-up are why I deducted one star.

Parents be warned: Sex does happen in this book, but it isn't graphic. It is mainly alluded to as in "what we did last night" etc. Really nothing too bad, but some parents would like to avoid this.

I will be recommending this book to friends.

Book Review - Sandman Slim

2009-07-29T10:09:00.001-05:00

Sandman Slim: A Novel
by Richard Kadrey

Action packed, July 28, 2009

Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)

Sandman Slim is an action packed novel which grabs you by the hair and drags you along for the ride.

Stark (aka Sandman Slim) was banished to Hell, alive, but his magician friends. After 11 years in Hell, fighting in the Hellion's Arena, he has become hard to kill, and mad as Hell (pardon the pun). When his girlfriend is murdered, he escapes from Hell, and goes in search of the people who killed her, and who put him in Hell. Through the novel, he reunites with old friends, meets new friends (some which are more monstrous than he is), and manages to do good a little good for all mankind in general.

The story line reminds me of the Crow, except Stark is not dead. The characters are well developed and each has his or her own unique personality,with the exception of the main antagonist. He seems to just be the boogie man throughout the novel, and when he finally appears, he is very one-dimensional. My only problem with the story was the anti-climatic meetings a couple of the former circle. The ladies are mentioned, but you never really get to see Stark hash out his grudge with them. Also... the "Sandman Slim" just comes from out of the blue, with no explanation of its origin. Rather odd.

Even with those couple of oddities in the storyline, I did enjoy this book, and I would recommend it to anyone looking to for a unique stand alone urban fantasy novel.

Book Review - The Magicians

2009-07-27T09:44:00.002-05:00

I haven't posted a book review here for a while, even though I have been writing them for Amazon, so I thought I would copy and paste a couple today.

Here is the first:

The Magicians
by Lev Grossman

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

Combination of Harry Potter and Narnia - final result = rushed and dull, July 16, 2009

Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)

In The Magicians, the author attempts to create an adult version of Harry Potter and then meld it with an adult version of the Chronicles of Narnia. The end result is too much story for one book, which cause the novel to become extremely dull. The main characters themselves are completely unlikable. Quenton, the protagonist, is a boy/man who is still fascinated by the fantasy novels of his youth. In his mind, real life is pointless, there must be something more magical out there. The problem is, whenever he finds something more magical, be it Brakebills (the magician school), of Fillory (Narnia knock off), he is still unhappy and unsatisfied. This is the main point of the whole novel.

Part I - Brakebills - learning magic, easily the best portion of the novel

Part II - After graduation - ennui, boredom, sex and drinking, worst part of the novel

Part III - Fillory - journey to the magic land, angst galore, some action, but still rather dull

Part IV - recuperation phase in Fillory, guilt, some resolution, dull, dull, dull

Part V - back to the real world in NY, more dullness with final ending.
By this point, I hated all the characters so much, I just couldn't care

This novel took me 2 weeks to finish, simply because reading it was a chore. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

My First ATC

2009-07-22T08:14:00.009-05:00

Recently, I decided that I would like to try making some ATCs. I love to play with my paper, stamps, and images, but really, sometimes, scrapping and cardmaking just don't cut it. I really don't send out many cards (gasp!!! I haven't sent out Christmas cards in over 12 years!), and I have lots of paper and images, both digi and "real", that I just love, but they just don't seem to fit anything I'm scrapping, hence the desire for a way to use them. So, in order to avoid the "Maybe, Somedays", I signed up for 4 spots in an ATC swap. One each in the following catagories: Love, Seasons, Baby, and Misc.

What I found it that ATCs are harder than you think. They are soooooo tiny! I like to stamp and then cut things out, but most of my images are just too big for the little 2.5 in x 3.5 in space required. So once again, I turned to my trusty computer (yes, I am a computer geek) and my collection of cheap or free digi scrapping elements, and I came up with this:

"Love Is..."

I swear it took me hours to determine what to do on this tiny tiny piece of paper! I'm not even sure where I got most of the images, but 90% of them are from karenheckyeah's great digi kits from divinedigital.com. The swap required 2 layers of cardstock and 1 embellishment, so I placed my image on Cameo Coral, and stuck a tiny heart brad on it. I didn't really know what to do for the embellie, because I liked it the way it was, but I'm a rule-follower!

The only thing I regret, I wish I had started in Photoshop with a larger image and then resized it down. I truly love my finished result, but I would have liked to have a large one to frame and display. I could make it all over again... maybe... someday.... :) Now only 3 more ATC to figure out! I hope they go faster.

A little side note:

Lately I have been seeing several people making swatch pads from their Stampin' Up! paper, and I love it. My paper is poorly organized, and when I am looking for a color match, and I will pull everything out and make a huge mess! So I took about 30 minutes one day and die cut small tags out of every color and labeled them. This made matching the background of my ATC to the images a breeze! I just grabbed my trusty swatches and held up tags until I found a good match. LOVING IT!!!

Go Fly a Kite!

2009-07-21T10:04:00.003-05:00

I said I'd have something to show today!

This layout was made with yet another freebie from the Digiscrapaddicts So You Think You Can Design contest. The Kit is from Week 1, entitled Believe in Dreams by Meredith Cardall. Be sure and check out her blog for other great kits.

I may have gotten this layout a little cluttered, but I love all the trees and clouds and such, and I just couldn't bear to leave any of them out.

I have gotten a couple of comments on my letters on Splitcoast, so soon I will put together a tutorial for how I make my letters. It seems that no matter how many digi alphabets I get, none of them are every quite what I want. :)

As always, thanks for looking!

Monday, Monday....

2009-07-20T09:30:00.005-05:00

Ahh, Monday, aka "Work Hangover Day"

I never in my life thought that Monday would be the day I looked forward to all weekend. Odd right? Then I started working the weekend shift, Fri - Sun, 11 hour shift, and now Monday is pure heaven. Today is the day I give myself permission to sit in a stupor all day if I feel like it. I can watch mindless television, read pointless books, or play with my papers until my heart's content. No housecleaning on my part, but the kids will be working, because they always let the house go all to hell while I'm not here. It is clean on Thursday night, trashed on Sunday night.

Tuesday, not so fun. The guilt kicks in from being useless on Monday, so go into hyper mom mode and try to accomplish useful things. But... that is tomorrow, so I refuse to think of it today.

Plans for today:
1. Read a little of Sandman Slim, a book from Amazon prime that is showing promise of being good.

2. Make something for gomakesomething.com and post it there. Lisa is feeling like people aren't interested in her challenges, and nothing could be farther from the truth! I have been bad, and not posted anything there, and I plan on changing that today.

3. Edit photos from the guys' band gig this weekend. The bar had a stripper pole in front of the stage, and I have an excellent photo of Jim, the lead singer working the pole. Ha!

4. Make another batch of granola... It has only been 5 days, and we are out. It went over big! I even took a small bit to work, and had to hand the recipe out to several people. I do believe I hit a winner!

Oh, and to those to don't understand why I would marry Alton Brown instead of Bobby Flay, I give you this... Bobby Flay is way cuter, but he uses that nasty cilantro in everything. Ick! It tastes like dish soap to me.

Tomorrow after my creative extravaganza today, I'll have a pic of something to post. See ya then!

Today's Grand Experiment - Homemade Granola

2009-07-15T15:31:00.006-05:00

Today, I attempted to make my own granola.

We LOVE granola for breakfast, but if you buy the boxed cereal, it can get ridiculously expensive. Especially if you go through 4 boxes a week like my family does. So I did google search on granola recipes and found one by Alton Brow n (who I would marry just so I could have him cook for me), and used it as a jumping off point. Here is what I came up with:

It is wonderful!!!! Way way WAY better than store bought.

I doubled the Alton Brown recipe and altered it like so:

6 cups of rolled oats
1 cup cashews
2/3 c sunflower seeds
2/3 c pumpkin seeds
2/3 c wheat germ
2/3 c flaked coconut
1/2 slivered almonds
1 cup chopped macadamia nuts (these had been in my cupboard since Xmas)
2/3 c brown sugar
1/2 c maple syrup
1/2 c honey
1/2 c vegetable oil
1 pkg mixed dried blueberries, cranberries, cherries, golden raisins

Mix everything but the dried fruit together. Spread on 2 baking sheets, and bake @ 250 degrees, for 1 hour 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Let cool and stir in dried fruit.
Makes a ton :), assuming you can quit munching on it while it cools, which I can't

Serendipity Squares

2009-07-14T13:41:00.008-05:00

Another cool idea from gomakesomething.com/

Serendipity Squares: tutorial is here

This is a great use of all those scraps you have laying around. Most of my scraps seem to be long, thin strips of paper. I am always cutting down 8.5x11 sheets of cardstock to make something, and I hate to throw away scraps, so I have a huge folder filled with long, thin strips.

So I tried my hand at Serendipity Squares. I just randomly glued and stamped. Then when I was done, I ran the finish product through my Big Shot using a scalloped tag die, to make a bookmark.

What I ended up with was this:
Kinda funky, eh?

It isn't a fabulous work of art, I realize, but I like it. I always have 2 - 4 books I'm reading at any given time, so I am usually in need of bookmarks. I loan my books out a lot, and when I think of it (which isn't often), I like to tuck a bookmark into the book before I lend it. Maybe if I had a few already make and sitting around, I would remember to do this more often.

I did notice that I had a very hard time punching the serendipity square. With the layers of paper, it just got too thick, so I'll be sticking to my Sizzix original and bigz dies for these projects.

Gluebooks

2009-07-13T13:30:00.004-05:00

Gluebooks.... I never heard of them before today, when I was checking out gomakesomething.com
for her weekly Make It Monday challenge. Today's challenge is awesome, and I encourage you to check it out.

Anyway, gluebooks were mentioned and with my natural curiosity and my aptitude for avoiding housework by surfing the internet for hours, I did a google search and found out what they were.

Gluebooks: From Altered Silver
In short, a gluebook is whatever you want it to be. Helpful, eh? ;) Generally the term refers to a series of collages that is built up over time (normally on a regular, ongoing basis) and typically involves modern ephemera. Gluebooks are often of mixed media and difficult to generalize because each artist's style is different, but they almost always involve some kind of gluing, hence the name

Check out the Altered Silver link above. It is informative and has inspired me to start "gluebooking" for lack of a better term. I have tons of stamps and paper that do not seem to fit any real project I'm working on at the time, but love them and don't want to part with them, so here is a good use for them.

Also, I have decided to incorporate this into my homeschooling. Each kids will have their own gluebooks that we will work on. I think this will be a great creativity exercise for the kids and a confidence builder in their artistic skills. Rather like journalling but with images. With 3 kids, ages 6, 11, and 15, we are sure to see a variety of pages.

Here are a link I've found about gluebooks and it has several other links to get you started and gives examples:
www.squidoo.com/gluebooks

I Love A Parade!

2009-07-09T09:32:00.005-05:00

Finally I completed something!!! Today's offering is "I Love A Parade" which chronicles our tiny small town parade, which is so very very sad. The biggest it gets is on election years, then 3/4's of the parade is politicians running along side a truck, handing out cards and shaking hands. All that handshaking seriously interrupts my beer drinking (see journaling below). lol

Jounaling:

The Atlanta Homecoming is held every year
in June. The highlight of the Homecoming
for the kids is the parade, which goes by right
in front of our house. It has
become a tradition grab a beer and either
sit on the porch or set up lawn chairs and
watch the parade go by.

The funny thing about Atlanta is that
everyone who has a tractor, bike, truck
or car that is just a little bit different,
always drives it in the parade. JB and I
will often look at each other and ask,
“What was the point of that?”

The kids always grab large bowls and
collect all the candy that is thrown out.
Since our house is at the very beginning
of the parade route, the paraders really
get into flinging the candy.

This year, Isabella and Jeremiah were both
in the parade, so we had Josh collect
candy for them

All elements are from the Snap Happy kit, which was a freebie over at digiscrapaddicts.com, during there So You Think You Can Design challenge. Sadly, all the kits from the challenge are no longer available for download (that I can find anyway, maybe they are still floating out there somewhere), but if you sign up for the forum, there are tons of freebies to be had.

One of the things I LOVE LOVE LOVE about digi scrapping is the affordability. I have over 16
GB of digi elements (which is an absolute TON!) for less than $50. Many of them are freebies, and some were super cheap. The main place you run into cost is the printing, but it still doesn't add up like all my real stamps, ink, paper, and embellies. If my hubby only realized how much $$$ I have sunk into a hobby, He would kill me!

Just checking in...

2009-07-07T09:58:00.002-05:00

I really don't have anything to share today, but I thought I'd better check in.

Last night was the THE LAST GAME of summer baseball, and I'm ashamed to admit that I'm glad it is over. This is the first year I've had two kids playing ball, and even with 1/3 of the games getting rained out, it seemed like we were always on the run. My son's ball team went undefeated all summer, with some insane scores like 20-0, 18-0, etc, etc. I honestly think that there was only 2 or 3 runs scored against them the whole season. Another thing I'm ashamed to admit, is that I would like to see them lose. I know that sounds horrible, but the boys and the parents have gotten so cocky it is embarrassing to be in the same stands with them. A lesson in humility is definitely needed. The way some of those mother scream and yell, you would think it was a pro game. Sheesh! It is summer ball people lighten up! Even at my daughter's t-ball games, there were mothers that needed to just sit down and shut up.

So now that ball is over, I can catch up on some stuff. Currently I have 5 books that I'm need to get read. Four are for the Amazon Vine program, and the 5th is a series that I love.

I've also have 4 swaps to complete. One is an ATC swap. I've never made one before, but I thought I would give it a try.

To top it all off, I pledged 10 scrap pages for the July Goal Challenge over at Splitcoaststampers.com. I totally failed to meet my goal in June (see above for the reason), so I'm going to try to bust this out early.

So, as the days progess, I should have lots of pics to share.

Oh, and lastly, the new school year for homeschool has started. My oldest boy is a "freshman", which brings a whole new set of panic attacks because we need to document his activities a little more thoroughly for college applications. We are probably going to be doing unit studies this year, and when I asked him what he wanted to study, one of the things he came up with "Vietnamese Weapons". What the hell?! I talked him in to the Vietnam War, which I'm not really an expert on, but my father is a Vietnam vet, and we know others, plus the plethora of movies and documentaries out them, we should get through it ok.

See ya soon!

Happy 4th of July!!!

2009-07-04T22:25:00.003-05:00

I hope everyone has had a great 4th.

Right now it is 10:30 and I need to sleep, because of work tomorrow. I don't see sleep happening though because everyone in town is just really getting started on the fireworks. So I have stupidly been browsing the swaps @ SCS and signing up for more. Die cut swaps, male card swaps, A-Z recipe swaps (26 +1??!!! What the hell was I thinking?!! At least they are 4 x 6's)... must stop committing myself to swaps, before the family has to commit me for my own good.

That goodness we live in a country where we can have "useless" hobbies, and not spend all our energy fighting to just to survive, hiding our religious preference (even if the preference is no religion at all), or living in fear of being drug from our homes in the middle of the night, simply because we were seen on camera in the background of a political protest (looking at you, Iran!).

Go to sleep tonight safe in your homes and reveling in your freedom to read asinine blog blathering, and to sign up for far too many swaps. :)

USA USA USA!

Budget Recipe swaps

2009-07-02T21:04:00.005-05:00

I finally got my recipe swaps put together. The really cool thing about this swap is that the hostess didn't require that all the entries be the exact same so we could use up scraps. I had several stickers left over from a couple of Scrappin' Kits, so I just used them all up while staying within the same color scheme. Pretty cool, if I do say so myself. The one problem I have is that I think it is hard to do anything different with a 6x6 space where most of it is taken up by a recipe, so both have approx. the same layout. The vintage pics are from karenheckyeah's digi kit Vintage Apron Strings and www.divinedigital.com.

Thank again for looking....

AND...
Here is my vow... as soon as I get 1000 hits, I'm giving away a BIG box of blog candy. I have tons and tons of stuff gathering dust in my office/disaster area, and I would much rather bless someone else with it than it just sit here. I'm talking paper, stamp sets, punches, die cuts, sizzix dies, etc etc. C'mon... you know you want it!

Teen card swap @ SCS

2009-06-24T14:29:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I finally sat myself down and forced myself to design my card for the Teen Card Swap over at Splitcoaststampers.com. I had procrastinated on these for far too long, and since they are due on July 1st, I had to get it going. I had signed up for a boy card and a girl card and here is what I came up with:

The girl card was my first foray into digital stamps with the "Bratty Girl" stamp from www.squigglefly.com. Coloring this thing was a royal pain, because it seemed that even after I tried to heat set it, it would still smear. I asked Lori over at The Th'inkin' Spot, how she heat set her, and she advised on using an iron set to hot hot hot, ironing both sides, but being careful not to burn the cardstock. Well, I was too lazy to try and find my iron (I know I have one somewhere), so I went with another method: spraying the holy hell out of the printed image with a clear acrylic sealer, then coloring it with mineral spirits and colored pencils. I'm really happy with the final result, but I may just still be high from all the fumes :) The paper is the last of my Stampin' Up! Bella Rose designer paper. sob!

Now for the boy card:
I'm totally loving this one! The sentiment is from a free digi scrapping kit called Rock On from digiscrap addicts' So You Think You Can Design contest. I don't know if it can still be downloaded or not, but they always have lots of free stuff you can get all the time. The paper is from Die Cuts with a View's Rockstar pack, and the little dude is a clear stamp from H&M Stamps. I don't see this set anymore on their website, but it is a cool little set with a guy crowd surfing, speakers, guitars, motorcycle, etc etc. I don't have good luck with clear stamps, so I colored him in with a black marker. You can't tell from the pic, but I have him popped up on dimensionals.

Now to clean up the disaster area known as my office/craft room. It looks like a papermill exploded in here. I like to call it "Creative Clutter".

Thanks for looking!
Christie

A couple of cheap and easy recipes for you

2009-06-23T10:05:00.002-05:00

After weeks of procrastination, today I need to start on my Recession Busters Recipe swaps. The point was to share a cheap easy recipe with 5 ingredients or less. Well, silly me, who never never reads a post all the way through, didn't see the 5 or less requirement, so I've had to put *optional* next to some of the ingredients. I thought I would share these recipes with you all in their entirety right here. I don't have pics, because with a dear hubby, a teenage boy, and a preteen, the food gets attacked before I can take one.

First we have "Mitzi's Casserole", named for the co-worker who gave me the recipe. It is really a fake-out lasagna, and we like it better.

1 pound egg noodles
1 pound hamburger or italian sausage
1 jar spaghetti sauce
8 oz cream cheese, softened
8 oz sour cream
1 chopped onion
1 chopped green pepper
Mozzarella cheese, shredded

1. Boil Noodles, drain
2. Brown meat, drain, add spaghetti sauce
3. Microwave green pepper and onion until soft.
4. Mix together green peppers, onions, cream cheese, and sour cream
5. Spray Pam in a casserole dish (9x12? or whatever the standard size is) and layer ingredients as follows : Noodles, then cream cheese mixture, then meat mixture.
6. Top with cheese, and bake @ 350 degrees until cheese is bubbly.

Mexican Casserole

1 pound hamburger
1 packet taco seasoning
1 box Jiffy cornbread mix
1 cup cooked rice
1 can chili beans
1 green pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
Cheddar cheese

1. Bake cornbread according directions to in a 9x13 casserole. There should just be a thing layer of cornbread, so it won't take very long to bake at all.
2. Brown hamburger with onions and green pepper, drain
3. Add taco seasoning according to directions on packet
4. Mix in chili beans and rice
5. Pour meat mixture on cornbread adn top with cheese
6. Bake at 350 degrees until cheese is melted and bubbly
7. Server with sour cream and salsa

There you go! I hope you guys give them a try and enjoy! I';d love to hear if you like them or not.

Book Review - The Demon's Lexicon

2009-06-22T11:48:00.002-05:00

Another book review already! This was a good book that read fast. It is also a Young Adult novel, but it was a good one. Not dumbed down at all. It is rather funny that the last two books I've read have "Demon" in them. Jeez! Maybe my friends are right: I am evil. ;)

Anyway, here is a copy of my amazon review:

Very good stand alone novel., June 22, 2009

By	Lady Atana "lady_atana" (Atlanta, MO USA) - See all my reviews

Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)

When I first began reading this novel, I believed it was a rip-off of the Cal Leandros Series by Rob Thurman. The premise is the same: two brothers, hunted and constantly on the move to protect themselves. The semblance ends there.

This book was a quick read, with solid characters and a really good storyline. The brothers are Alan, the older, compassionate, studious, crippled geek, and Nick, the younger cold-blooded fighter with no empathy or any feeling toward anyone, except his brother . They are constantly on the move to protect their mother, an insane magician who has stolen a powerful artifact from a very powerful Circle of magicians. Alan does what he can to care for their mother, but Nick couldn't care less. His mother abhors him, and the feeling is mutual. When a schoolmate of Nick's comes to the brothers for help in removing a demon mark, Alan is all for helping him, mainly because he has a crush on his strong-willed older sister. From here, the action takes off, and the reader is introduced to the world of magicians, where demon summoning is the norm and the possessed are institutionalized in a special hospice.

What really makes this book stand out is the ending. There are plot twists that totally catch you by surprise, and make you rethink everything you've read.

Book Review - Demon Princess - Reign or Shine

2009-06-18T14:41:00.003-05:00

Demon Princess: Reign or Shine
by Michelle Rowen

Good premise, bland characters, predictable ending, June 18, 2009

By	Lady Atana "lady_atana" (Atlanta, MO USA) - See all my reviews

I can't say I hated this book. I did enjoy the idea of a 16 year old girl, on the cusp of popularity, who suddenly finds that she is the daughter of a demon king. From that description, you expect all sorts of entertaining mayhem to ensue, but sadly, the story is rather flat. The characters themselves are one dimensional and completely predictable. The "surprise" enemy is painfully obvious from the first moment they step into the story. Maybe I am spoiled by other urban fantasy novel written in the first person, because I kept expecting some witty thoughts and comments from our heroine, but none ever came, only tears and a mild anger at being told what to do.

I think this series could turn out to be a good one, but a serious overhaul of the characters is needed to make them interesting.

Side note: I've been reading a lot of young adult fiction here lately, mainly because I've grown weary of all the graphic sex in my other series. I'm not a prude but any stretch of the imagination, but most of the time, sex scenes in books are ridiculous and completely pointless.

My main complaint with the majority of young adult fiction, is that the plots, characters, and action are flattened out and dumbed down, as if a young adult can't comprehend a good story line and complex characterizations. Think of all the wildly popular YA series out there that haven't patronized their audiences: Harry Potter and Twilight being the two biggies. These books are great stories that appeal to a wide audience, and no one feels "stupid" for having read them. This is the caliber of writing the YA world needs. Demon Princess was about as dumbed down as you can get, therefore the poor the review.

I got a delivery today!!!

2009-06-11T10:54:00.003-05:00

Yay!!! My new catty pre-order/retired list order showed up today. And along with it.... the new Catalog!!!

Yippee!

It is wrong that I ripped open the box, threw everything aside, and immediately dove into the new catty? Oh Wow! There are tons and tons of new stamps that I love, so now begins the harrowing process of writing down everything I like, adding up the cost, then gradually weeding out the "probably won't use it much"-es and the "I can wait until later"-s

Hopefully, I will have something new and exciting to share soon, but today I have a "playdate" for the kids with another homeschooling family. The kids are all laid back about it, but I am horribly nervous. Believe it or not, dear friends, I am actually shy. Really!

Wish me luck!

Orange Inspiration

2009-06-10T17:09:00.004-05:00

Here we have what was supposed to be my entry into the SCS Scrapbook Inspiration Challenge this week. I have a bad habit of just glancing at posts, and totally missed the part about how we were supposed to scrap a celebration. So let's just call this a "Celebration of Spring" shall we?

I have been wanting to do an orange and white layout for a while, but I just finally got to it. I was inspired by my favorite t-shirt, which I got at Old Navy. I love grunged up, battered clothing, and I was looking for a way to translate the faded butterfly to paper. At first I tried just Whisper White craft ink, but that didn't do it (too faint), so I went back and tried white embossing powder. I just brushed some of the powder off before I heat embossed it to give it the faded look. It doesn't really show up on the photo, but there are spots missing in the butterfly. Next time, I'll take more ep off, but I was a little bit chicken to do too much.

After I got the paper done, I then went looking for photos to put on it. Kinda backward, I know, but I have tons and tons of photos, so it wasn't too hard to find some.

Thanks for looking!

Busy weekend!

2009-06-08T14:15:00.007-05:00

This weekend was the Randolph County Relay for Life. My darling hubby's band played there and totally rocked the place out! It was a really cool gig for a good cause. Here are a few pics: