a few random things

Just wanted to post about a few random things tonight. First and foremost, a big happy birthday wish to my husband, Tony.

Rewind to Friday ... 08.08.08. What a cool date, eh? I can't imagine how many people got married on that day. Wouldn't it be cool if your baby was born on that date? I have always had this weird fascination with numbers. Anyway. Moving on now.

My coworker, Donesia's, birthday was on Friday so she got to celebrate a fun 08.08.08 birthday this year. I made this card for a bunch of us at the office to sign for her using a Stampin' Up! stamp that Liz gave to me with my last order (thanks, Liz!). I am really into the idea of using large, decorative stamps as backgrounds these days. I love how the foam letter stickers stand out on this card.

I'm also really diggin' this pink and blue combination for some reason. I just think it goes so well together, so I made Liz a thank you card to thank her for the flower stamp (silly, I know!). Renee loaned me her Making Memories tag maker tool, so I used it around the stamped "many thanks" image. Again, lovin' that background stamping!

We watched the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and were just blown away with how much detail and coordination went into each part of it. This Boston Globe article talks about how a Chinese film director, Zhang Yimou, designed and directed the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony with a $300 million budget. Holy crap! This guy's a friggin artistic genius. I was simply amazed at how beautifully coordinated everything was, and blown away by the sheer number of people involved with each "scene". I found this video about the dress rehearsal. Can you imagine how much discipline and focus it must've taken for all these people to make the show as seamless and perfect as it was? Craziness.



Lastly, we went to a wedding shower for our friends, Jill and Drew. It was on the rooftop of their Comm Ave condo building and the view from there was amazing. It's where I took some fabulous 4th of July firework photos a couple of years ago. The weather couldn't have been better and it was just fun seeing how excited the two of them are about their upcoming wedding date (October 5th). I snapped this photo of the Prudential Tower tonight.

And no, we didn't see Tom Brady while walking down Comm Ave tonight. ;)

tennis + dave brethauer + a birthday card

Tony and I decided to try playing tennis again today. It's been quite a while since we've hit the courts, and part of that was probably because I sucked so bad for a while there. Ha! Of course, the wonderful husband he is, he would never never say that but I know when I stink at a sport. I think I was almost 20 pounds heavier back then, too, so of course, I was probably a lot slower on my feet. What-ev.

After driving around in search of an empty court, we ended up at our old stompin' ground: Bunker Hill Community College. What's nice about these courts is that they are tucked away from the main road so most people probably don't even know that they're there. They were kind of beat up for a couple of years but it looks like they recently replaced the nets and they look nice now.

Turns out that we didn't suck as much as we had anticipated sucking. LOL I'm still quite out of shape though and had to stop for a couple of rests as my heart beat a gazillion times a second. Our tennis balls are quite old though, so they don't have much bounce to them anymore. Or so, that's what we'll blame part of our suckiness on for now anyway [wink, wink]. But we've decided to a) get me a new racket (mine is very old, strung quite loosely, and the grip is shedding - gross!), b) buy some new tennis balls, and c) get me some new sneakers that don't make my baby toes so sore (<-- I decided this last one just now) before we hit the courts again next weekend.

Tony and I both used to play avidly when we were younger. Did you know I was on the varsity tennis team in high school? Well if you saw me running around today you definitely would not have thought that - ha ha ha!

Renee and I took a colored pencils class taught by one of the owners of Memory Box Co., Dave Brethauer, at Ink About It in Westford, MA yesterday. He taught us some pretty neat blending techniques to use with colored pencils and we worked on pieces for five different cards. I liked this one with the fall leaves the best because we used three different colors and it really showed the blending technique the most.

On a side note, I've been awaiting my recent order of Stampin' Up! goods from Liz to arrive so that I could try this idea that I've had brewing in my head. I used the jumbo rolling "happy happy birthday" stamp and "wild wasabi" cardstock and ink pad from Stampin' Up! to make this card. I used the little cupcake stamp from A Muse and then punched them out with a circle punch. Anyway, it has been such a long time since I've created a card so I thought I'd post it here.

Later that night, Tony and I had a nice dinner at Coda in the South End. Read about it here. Hope everyone had a nice weekend!

may fair + more cards

After we had breakfast at the Bloc 11 Cafe in Union Square, Tony and I walked over to Harvard Square to check out the May Fair (thanks to Liz for suggesting it last weekend!). It was pretty neat how they had parts of Mass Ave, Church, and Brattle Streets blocked off for the various vendors and restaurants. We got to meet artist Bren Bataclan, I bought a really cute dress from LF Stores for only $28 (originally priced at $236 - no joke!), and we saw some great sidewalk chalk art. Crazy to think that this fair has been going on for 25 years and this is the first time we've ever been to it.

I managed to make a few cards lately too. And I've started something called my Track Back Project. Check it out here.

This one is just like the one I made for my mom and sister for Mother's Day.

I just love how blue and brown go together so nicely. I used my QuicKutz tool to punch out the flower petals, and my new "word window punch tool for the "congratulations" message from Stampin' Up.

I couldn't think of a way to incorporate a sentiment on the front of this card after I was done putting it together. It would be useful for just about any occasion, so I think I'm just going to leave it blank on the outside.

Ever since Liz's Stampin' Up party, I've wanted to try the scalloping technique that Amy Corr taught us. So I went to AC Moore last week and bought one of these corner rounder tools, took off the guard, and voila! LOVE how easy it is to make a scalloped edge now! And to think, I've been handcutting them all this time.

I had this sentiment stamp made through Impress Rubber Stamps because I like the quote so much. I used a lot of scrap pieces of paper on this card.

My mom has been able to sell a lot of cards at the salon lately so she needs me to send her more. Gotta go work on some Father's Day and graduation designs. But before I go, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all you moms out there! :)