employee discount

There is one bad thing about working at a craft studio: an employee discount.

Bad? you ask. Yes. In my case, it's even worse when it enables you to dabble in various crafts.

A little bit on new rubber stamps. Perhaps a couple of bead strands. What's that? You say I need four skeins of yarn to knit that super cute bag? Ring it up, please!

Alas, at least I have some of my creative mojo back these days, and I managed to put together these two cards tonight. I have to say that I really dig the birdies. It turned out way cuter than I had envisioned it, which always makes me happy.



And if you wish to add either of them (or hey, why not both?!) to your card stash collection, they're available in my Etsy shop. (A little bit of shameless self promotion there. Sorry.)

On another note ... I can't believe we're already in the middle of September! I think we missed summer here in New England, but that's okay because I love the fall season here and I can't wait to go apple picking! Plus it's football season and so far the Pats have managed to win their first two games of the season (although very closely and thank goodness that they did!).

new shoes

So the other day I got a phone call from our mom.

Mom: "What size shoes do you wear?"
Me: "Mom, you know I wear a size 2."
"Not a 3?"
"No, 2."
(Shouting to someone in the background:) "She wears 2."
(Now back to me:) "I'm buying you shoes. They are sooooo cute!"
"Where are you?"
"I'm at Nordstrom."
"Are they having a sale?"
"No. The minute we walked in and I saw it I said, 'Oh my God, I have to get those for Candi!'"

I'm laughing by now because I can totally picture our mom with a cell phone in one hand and a little shoe in her other one fighting for the salesman's attention. That was on Monday.

And look what was waiting for me when I got home from work!

And they are (to quote mom) soooooo cute!

I tell you, among my many other woes in life, buying sophisticated looking shoes in a kids size 2 is among the top of the list. As a teenager and during my early college years, it was either Barbie-meets-velcro or some other type of flat, kid-ish looking shoe.

Alas ... NORDSTROM! Hallelujah!

Seriously, this is about the only place that I can find adult-ish, semi-heeled, cute shoes. And of course, it helps to have a mom that loves to shop. Correction: shop at Nordstrom. Add the bonus of her great taste. Not to mention the cherry on top: she's so thoughtful!

Thanks, Mom! I love them! :)

*******

Edited to add: oh and by the way, it's almost 2 am as I post this, but I still think/feel that it's Friday night. We're off to Jeff and Sara's wedding tomorrow! (Errr, this afternoon ... gotta go to bed!)

Oh oh oh ... before I forget! I put together this layout called 'Family' for a class I taught at Spark on Thursday demonstrating the new American Crafts line of papers, ribbon, and alphabet stickers. I used photos from my recent trip to Colorado of my sister and me with our cousins, Greg and Patrick, and our aunt. Very simple one to put together, plus I did the third challenge in Elsie's book by using ribbon to create a border!

Sleep, sleep ... !