Category Archives: Just Sayin’

Hi everyone!  🙂  

Cards for kids…hmmmm.  Although I like making “kid” themed cards, I don’t always want to put too much work into them.  Honestly, the kids don’t (usually) care and the card will most likely end up in the trash right after it’s opened. 

I made a shaker card once for a friend’s five year old daughter.  I thought the child might enjoy seeing things moving inside the card when shaken.  Fun for a kid, right?  Yes, until it’s handed over to the younger sibling only to have it ripped to shreds with tiny beads flying everywhere.  The mom told me all about it.  (Really?  Did I need to know that my hard work was handled so carelessly and destroyed so swiftly?)  And to top it off, the mom was upset with me for giving her child something that caused a mess in her home.  (REALLY??) 

That situation totally changed my thought process when making a card for a child.  Keep it simple.  In some cases REALLY SIMPLE.

Happy Birthday

This card is kind of simple, no fancy doo-dads or moving parts, but I did put enough effort into it to carefully consider the recipient.  Noone wants to hear about the destruction (or discarding) of their creative work, no matter how much effort was put into it.   Just sayin…

I’ll be back tomorrow with our October JiFFy challenge!  We’re a bit behind, but better late than never, right?  (In this case, anyway.)  🙂

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

Stamps: Stamping Bella “Monstah Bash” and Cornish Heritage Farms “Tag! You’re It!” (Kim Hughes Collection)   Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black   Cardstock: Prism Black, Super Smooth White   Patterned Paper:  Cosmo Cricket The Boyfriend Mini Deck   Accessories: Copic markers (R14, R17, YR23, YR61, YR68, BG05, BG09, YG91, YG93, W00, W1, W3, B0000), black Sakura 3-d glaze pen, brads.  Finished size 4 ¼” x 5 ½”.

Like many other people, I’ve been thinking about New Year’s resolutions.  I know a lot of intentions end up down the drain after a while, but we do try.  I’ve thought of a couple things I’d like to work on. 

The first is to try to stay out of Starbucks every day or, at a minimum, reduce the size of my order.  

Chill Out

Secondly, I’d like to worry and stress less.  I know there’s no point in “borrowing trouble” or worrying about things you cannot change but I tend to do a lot of that anyway.  So that’s my biggest goal …to worry less…to “Chill Out.” 

An even bigger challenge will be getting my children to chill out.   My daughter (six) is a drama queen in every way.  Last night she was in the bathroom when all of a sudden I heard screaming.  “MOMMY, I’M BLEEDING!  I’M BLEEDING!”  I rush into the bathroom and she has this tiny little scratch of blood on her leg.  I rolled my eyes (another thing I should try to stop doing) and she says “Well, aren’t you going to DO something about it?!”   Then there’s my son who should be a lawyer or a judge, maybe even president, when he grows up.   He likes to be in charge, he blows things WAY out of proportion and likes to argue.  He will pick words apart until you’re ready to explode.  (Remember the “He said I was stupid”/”No, I said she was SO stupid.  There’s a difference” argument?)  I just hope I live long enough to see his “talents” put to good use.

 I paired Snowbunnybella with Basic Grey’s Figgy paper pad.  I popped up the hood, cuff and boot fluffs as well as the little pom-poms on the hood.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a great stress/worry-free day! (Just sayin…)

Stamps:  Stamping Bella “Snowbunnybella” and “Chill Out”; Cornish Heritage Farms “Tag, You’re It!” (Kim Hughes Collection)   Ink:  Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black   Cardstock:  Prism Birchtone Dark, Spring Willow Medium, Blush Red Dark   Patterned Paper:  Basic Grey Figgy 6×6 paper pad   Accessories:  Brads, piercing template/needle, Copic markers, Inkssentials white opaque pen, glue dots, pop dots.

Hi everyone!  I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving!  I sure did.  I dearly missed the absent family members, but it was still nice.

My card today was inspired by cinnamon sugar.  Let me explain (because I’m certain you’re thinking “Huh???”). 

I am always rushing in the mornings, trying to get my kids out the door on time.   Breakfast is usually cereal with strawberries and a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar.   A couple mornings ago I needed to make some more of the sugar.  I grabbed the two ingredients, mixed and sprinkled a bit over two bowls of Frosted Mini Wheats.  Just as I was carrying the bowls to the table, I noticed the spice on the counter.  It was not cinnamon.  It was cumin.  YUCK!  I made cumin sugar!  AND I almost fed it to my children.  I’ll be honest and say that for a second I hesitated…should I still give it to them just to see what they’d say?     Sooo tempting… but nah, I didn’t do it.  (Am I evil for thinking about it?    Maybe.)  I decided it wasn’t worth the risk, dumped the cereal down the drain, threw away the cumin sugar, took a deep breath and started again.

Slow Down

I paper-pieced i-wish-i-looked-so-good-on-a-bike-abella’s outfit, basket and hair bow/flower, and I added a brad in the center of each bicycle wheel. 

After stamping the sentiment, I thought it didn’t stand out well enough so I quickly dumped some clear embossing powder over and heat set it.  (That always helps.)

To get the bigger scalloped border, I pieced together four smaller sections of Nestabilities.  I only have the squares and none are that big.  But if you overlap pieces by one or two scallops, it’s pretty much unnoticeable, especially with darker cardstock.

A little reminder:  Jacksonbelle Embellishments has 20% off your entire order through Monday, 12/1.  Use code THANK08 at checkout.  🙂

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a great day, and may your cinnamon sugar always be made with cinnamon!!  🙂 

Stamps:  Stamping Bella   Ink:  Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black   Cardstock:  Prism Black, Super Smooth White   Patterned Paper:  Basic Grey Urban Prairie   Accessories:  Copic markers, brads, Spellbinder’s Nestabilities, clear embossing powder, pop dots.  Card size 5 ½” x 5 ½”.

As you know, I was in Disney World recently. We visited the four main theme parks, most of them more than once.  But we probably spent the majority of our time at Epcot.  At the end of one day when we’d had our fill of Test Track (which I didn’t like), Mission Space and Soarin’ (both of which I loved), we walked around the loop of different countries.

Epcot has this “International Food & Wine Festival.”  For a bit of money, we could try different foods and sample different wines from each country.  After some walking, our darling daughter had had enough.  She bellows out (yes, it was quite loud), “Why, why, WHY do you have to keep tasting wine, wine and MORE WINE?”  It earned quite a few chuckles but let me just say before you build this vision of two sloppy drunk parents pulling their children around the world that we only tried three wines that night and the “glasses” were smaller than Dixie cups. 

This card was inspired by my daughter, whom that night I also heard use this phrase for the first time.

Chill Out

So this is me, at Epcot, wishing those Dixie cups had been just a little bit bigger.  🙂  I did feel (a little) bad that the walk was “boring” to some, but we didn’t enjoy waiting in a 110-minute line to see a “wad” of fairies either (our son’s words).  So we called it even.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a great weekend!

Stamps:  Stamping Bella “Winobella” and “Chill Out”   Ink:  Adirondack Pitch Black   Cardstock:  Prism Super Smooth White, Black   Patterned Paper:  Basic Grey Urban Prairie   Accessories:  Copic markers, Sakura clear gloss pen (on wine bottle and glasses), ribbon, brads, Nestabilities by Spellbinders, pop dots, glue dots (rolled under wine bottle).

Guess what?  I found a stamp with a saying on it that I use every single day…many times a day.  In fact, I use it so often that my children say it as well (and it has brought on a few snickers when said to other adults…if you can image a six-year old asking an adult “Are you serious?”). 

Are You Serious?

I recently purchased some goodies from Stamping Bella and Chatty Cathy here was among them.   The sentiment 🙂  is by Starving Artiststamps.

So let’s pretend this is me on the phone with my husband. 

(insert normal conversation…blah, blah, blah)

Him:  So I decided what I want for my birthday.

Me:  Oh?!  What?  (I’m thinking “YAY!” This man is so difficult to buy for. Finally an idea!)

Him:  I want “Guitar Hero World Tour.”

Me:  silence

Him:  Hello?

Me: Yes?

Him:  Are you there?

Me:  Yes.

Him:  Did you hear what I said?

Me:  Yes.

Him:  That’s what I want.

Me:  Are you serious? (This man doesn’t really have time to play video games and the last thing I can picture him doing is standing in our family room with a guitar in his hands…night after night learning to play “Freak on a Leash” and “Hot for Teacher”.  Actually, he’s more of a “Hotel California” kind of guy…which I can handle.)

Him:  Yeah!  I looked at the song list and that’s what I want.

Me:  (deep breath)…..ok…..

So, I found this Guitar Hero World Tour.  It’s in a closet awaiting the big day.  Heaven help me.  I should at least be grateful that he didn’t want the “bundle” which comes with drums and a microphone.  He did ask for an extra guitar though.  Hopefully he’s thinking that is for our son and not me.   (Watch me try it and like it.  )

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I won’t have a Just Sayin Saturday next week.  I’ll be out of town for a while, most likely with no access to a computer.    (lol)  But in the meantime, I have a few things I’ll “pre-post” here and there.  Have a great weekend…and week to follow!  I’ll be back “live” after the 10th!

Stamps:  Stamping Bella “Chatty Cathy”; sentiment by Starving Artistamps “Quirky”  Ink:  Adirondack Pitch Black   Cardstock:  Prism Vanilla Cream, Natural Smooth, Suede Brown Dark   Patterned Paper:  We R Memory Keepers Precious Metal Vintage Brass   Accessories:  Copic markers, Prima lace, pop dots.  Card size 4 ¼” x 5 ½”.