Fun and Mental Changes

Possible Eclipse Spoiler Alert!!! Ok, I just got back and..... WHOA MAN! WHERE DO I START??? This one blew the other two Twilight films AWAY!!! Is it just me or did this movie have EVERYTHING??? Comedy... check! Drama... check! ACTION... check! And romance... DOUBLE check!!! And the dude who played Riley NAILED IT!!! And thank goodness that Edward was a lot less "brooding" in this one. What I mean when I say that is he didn't take three days to say his lines... acting lessons? Anyway, this movie seemed to stray from the book way more than the first two did, but remembering how thick the third book was, I remember that there was a very large story to tell in just over 2 hours. And, was the line that became the whole namesake of the story missing from this film??? Or did I just miss it? I might have to see Eclipse again later in the week to make sure. It's possible that I was so wrapped up in Twilight deliciousness that I might have missed it.... I mean, this movie was ...

I remember when Dirty Dancing first hit theaters. At the time everyone was surprised that the box office numbers for this movie were through the roof! Never underestimate a good romance. And it will only go up from here! Women, who are already suffering with romance deprivation from the hustle and bustle of families, work and daily life, now contend with the added distraction of technology and gaming... ESPECIALLY gaming. So when a good romantic storyline presents itself, those same romance deprived women (who are now ravenous) are SURE to send it right through the box office stratosphere. Now are we REALLY surprised that the newest installment of the Twilight Saga: Eclipse, will be breaking box office records this opening weekend? I'm not surprised at all! In fact, I'd say that if you produce movies in ANY other genre, drop what you are doing and jump on the romance wagon. As more and more "gamers" enter adulthood knowing only how to interact with computers and ga...

I currently have about 90 Copic markers in my collection (some people collect stamps, I collect Copics) and I ran a quick poll amongst my fellow DT members over at The Town Scrapper and the results were so interesting, I thought I would share them with you. I asked: "What if there was a limit/ban on Copic markers and you could only ever own 12...which 12 could you not live without and why?" NO ONE could keep their collection to 12. This was my answer: I'm still pretty new to the world of Copics, but so far it would be E11, E50 and E51 for light skin tones. B93, B97 and B99 for denim. W3, C2 and N9 for highlight and lowlights. Y13, R27 and R59... well, just because, and then I'd risk prison to smuggle in the colorless blender. I'm suddenly realizing that 12 could NEVER work! How the heck did I survive kindergarten with only 8 crayons???? So now it's YOUR turn! Would you risk prison to keep all your Copics? I challenge anyone to keep their collection to 12!!! ha...

There is just something about the Asian culture and it's themes that just soothes my soul. From Feng Shui and Eastern medicinal remedies to the imagery and even the music, there's just something about it that speaks to me. So when I saw this little Geisha Anya from The Greeting Farm stamps, I just HAD to have her. I've colored her a couple of different ways, but the green/purple/red color combination as GOT to be my favorite. And stamps like this can be used to make cards to be given for just about ANY occasion. My next use for this little gem of a stamp is to swap out the flower in her hair for a snowflake and color her all in blue for a "snow geisha"... that one is going to ROCK!!! So a quick shout out to The Town Scrapper: Geisha Anya you see here is featured in today's Showcase Monday (check it out HERE ). And, in the same post, The Town Scrapper is announcing some pretty incredible specials. You'll want to head over and check them out.... not to ment...

Meet Charlie. He is one of many helpers in my garden. I found him this morning when I went out to the garden. Prior to gardening, I couldn't stand bugs. Bugs would make me jump and were always associated with fear and (in most cases) annoyance. Now bugs hold a special place in my heart for the services they provide to my organic garden... well, now that I know a little more about them. Spiders I would never have considered myself an arachnophobe, but I had a definitive dislike for spiders only tinged with a slight fear. Now I know better. While you don't want an infestation of spiders, having a few on hand (not literally) actually keeps other bugs away. According to Dr. Linda S. Rayor, Assistant Professor of Entomology, Cornell University , spiders are considered to be the most important terrestrial predators, eating tons of pest insects or other small arthropods every year. And those webs, that have always creeped me out, are actually my gardens best defense against unwante...

Ok, so if you know ANYTHING else about me, you should know that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Kraftin Kimmie Stamps! This upcoming week, The Town Scrapper is giving away the OH-SO-CUTE stamp that Tara Godfrey used in the card that is pictured here; here's how to win: Create a NEW creation using red and white color combination. Write a blog post on your blog featuring your creation. Be sure to mention The Town Scrapper's challenge and post a link back to The Town Scrapper within your blog. Then head back over to The Town Scrapper ( CLICK HERE ) to upload a link back to your blog post using the "Inlinkz" located at the bottom of the Friday Challenge post. It's that easy and you too can be the proud owner of this Kraftin Kimmie image called Emelia! :) Good Luck Everyone!

So, I've owned my sewing machine for better than 10 years, unused. I take that back, I used it once, realized that I wasn't immediately good at it and then stuck it in storage never to think of it again. Prior to getting my sewing machine as a Christmas present I was convinced that I wanted to make my own clothes. I envisioned the pride and joy of shopping for new and trendy patterns and then constructing the perfect outfit to show off to all my jealous friends.... that vision disappeared the minute I plugged in my new sewing machine. I mean COME ON, all of the sales people (INCLUDING that overly perky chick on HSN) said that the machine would basically run itself. LIARS! Not only do you have to run it, but a person could lose a solid inch on the length of a sleeve with a line of stitching that isn't perfectly straight. Enter paper crafting.... the thing that brought my sewing machine out of the deep, dark recesses of my closet after more than 10 years. Sewing on cards did...

Hi there gang! Here's a little project journey that included one of the newer Cricut cartridges.... Sentimentals! I got the Sentimentals Cricut cartridge a short while ago and LOVE how versatile this cart is!!! Is it just me, or is Cricut making EVERY cartridge a must have? UGH! Sentimentals is proving to be no different! * So I spent about an hour coloring this GORGEOUS Lisa Victoria Dragon image, cut it out with my Cuttlebug and a Spellbinder's Nestibilities die and sat it aside while I figured out what to do with this little gem. A couple of days later Sentimentals arrived in the mail and as I was browsing the idea book, the flower card and matching envelope JUMPED off the page at me. "How PERFECT to go with that cute little dragon I finished just the other day!" Typically, a card that doesn't have patterned paper and ribbon is usually quite boring to me, but this card just seems to work in it's simplicity! The AWESOME dragon and the flower die cut are plen...

DRUMROLL PLEASE! The winner of the bottle of Pink Gunmetal FLASH (OPI-MPJ) is: RMCandlelight !!! Email me at fittertwit@yahoo.com with your info so I can get it to you. Congratulations!!! And again, You Can Thank Scandalous ! Sorry that I'm late with announcing the winner folks. I know you were expecting this post yesterday, but I know that all of you who entered would be patient because you all seemed to really want it. LOL! I hope you all find my favorite version of this wonderful polish and as frustrating as it is that OPI came out with so many versions of the same color, we really should all be thanking OPI for the wonderful "easter egg hunt" they created! I would not have met some of you AWESOME ladies without it! ;) Have a great one gang!

This was my first pop out card! I'm so thrilled with how this turned out. I also love that I did a "girly" father's day card! It's not like anything I've seen before and still cool enough to give to Dad. The stamped image is the new Thursday stamp from The Greeting Farm. I used my Hannah Montana Cricut cartridge to cut out the words. The patterned paper for both the inside and outside of the card was from the Rusty Pickle's Pirate Princess... I love those papers! In fact, the flourishes you see on the front of the card (see below) are actually one of the Pirate Princess papers.... that is the beauty of pattered paper! To see even more fun designs, check out The Town Scrapper's Showcase Monday HERE . Happy Monday everyone and I'll see you back here in a little while to announce the winner of my Pink Gunmetal FLASH give away!!!

I just love the design challenges. And this one was so fun. Sorry about the super short post today folks, but I've got to run for a doctor's appointment this morning. Isn't that so nice!?! hahahahaha! Anyway, I used the Victoria Case design, Big Catch Evan... how fun is THIS little guy. What is it about The Town Scrapper??? This stuff just keeps getting better and better. Oh! And I colored him with Copic markers and actually re-purposed some aluminum foil (yes, like from the kitchen) that I dabbed alcohol ink on to make them orange. It's always fun when you can use ,or in this case re-use, regular kitchen items for art!!! Anyway, this one was created for the design challenge over at The Town Scrapper for Father's Day... what a great theme. So grab your fun supplies and play along: Click HERE for challenge. Have a wonderful morning everyone!

With this crazy economy and money tight, I STILL manage to vacation at least once a week. I had a phone conversation with my sister the other day and we discussed the power of visual and scent or flavor triggers that make you relax. Pictures of tropical beaches that we love to set as our screen savers is a VERY good example. So today I'm going to touch on how and where I "vacate" every week. I'm also going to throw in a little bonus a la my sister. 1.) Key lime Pie Protein Smoothie: A protein shake recipe straight out of my favorite recipe book of all time, Eating For Life. Every time I taste this shake I'm whisked back to my visit to the Florida Keys a number of years back, enjoying the BEST key lime pie on earth! Every sip is a mini vacation. You can see from the pic that I milk this mini-vacate to the hilt, full-on with decorative palm tree drink stirrer... a frozen one at that! It extends my get-away a little without leaving my kitchen. 2.) Tea Time: I don...

It's always fun when you meet people who are "the whole package"! When someone is mega talented but humble and helpful... well, that's just a combination that simply inspires and awes! So, I just recently became a blog manager over at The Town Scrapper (big news folks! And the reason I've been MIA this week!) and I'm dealing with some VERY talented designers on the design team for this blog. Now you'd think talent like that should go to some one's head... I mean, I'D be a diva. Hahahahahahaha! My VERY FIRST blog assignment is due tomorrow and some pretty pertinent information was missing requiring me to do some research that was taking more time than I had available (because I waited till the last minute...NICE) and I was spinning my wheels because I was looking in the WRONG PLACE!!!! Please let me clarify: I am a STRAWBERRY blonde... no, really!!! And who steps up to save me? Miss "I'm not a diva but totally should be", Donna!!! ...