camera pics + the killers

We have come a long way with technology to be able to take pretty decent pictures with our cell phones. Mine does an okay job and it's super handy because I almost always carry the phone around and sometimes I leave the camera at home. Anywho, I snapped this one this morning on my walk to work in the snow. Yes, we got even more snow today. They (the weather people on TV) say that we've already reached 40 inches of it this season which is really high for our area. Anyway, it was the you-need-an-umbrella kind of snow this morning.

I am going to be so happy when I won't have to wear my not-so-pretty-not-my-cute-pair-of-froggy boots. Seriously!

I had to do some errands during my lunch break the other day so I snapped these while walking through Harvard Square. The Bob Slate Stationery store on Mass Ave. had these really cool paper snowflakes in their window and it reminded me of the snowflake cutting contests I organized at Pioneer back in the day. Yes people, I actually coordinated such events in my workplace at one time. Crazy, no?


I think it takes a special talent to be able to make such pretty paper snowflakes. I'm sure if I really sat down to design one it would look okay, but some of these in their window really blew me away. Nice job folks!

So that's that for cell phone camera pics. Now, on to The Killers.

Ah, yes, The Killers. I really like this band. I really like their songs. We went to see them Monday night at the Aggannis Arena in Boston and it was an awesome show. They started out with songs from their newest album, Day & Age, which - truthfully? - we haven't liked as much as the other albums. But I do have to say that the songs from that album sounded much better live than on CD. Tony likes their Sam's Town album more, and I like their first album, Hot Fuss, more.

Here's a little video I made of the last song they performed that night, When You Were Young, from the Sam's Town album. (P.S. It looks better if you play it in high quality!)



Still no word about the valentines being sold at the Fred Flare store - stay tuned and stay warm! :)

spinning snowflake card

I saw this idea of a spinning element on a card in one of the paper crafting magazines, but it had a cute little black bat instead. I had these little die-cut snowflakes from Paper Source to use, so I decided to try the idea with an A Muse card base and voila! A spinning snowflake card!

And for even more poops and giggles kids, check out the video on how to "reset" it before you mail it to someone!



Now I needs to go get me some zzzzz's ...

once in a while

Once in a while, I'll get a card design in my head in the middle of the day when I'm busy doing something else. In this case, an idea came to mind about an hour before I left work today. I frantically drew out a rough sketch so I wouldn't forget it, dashed home (practically speed ran - ha ha), and made a beeline for my crafting table to execute the design. And voila!

I have to say that I'm really happy with the way it came out. :) I started out by stamping and embossing the snowflakes (Elzybells "snowflake 1" stamp) with a Versamark ink pad onto some new cardstock I bought from Papertrey Ink in "ocean tides". Then I poured some Rangers embossing powder in "seafoam white" on top, shook off the excess, and heat embossed them. Next, I punched them out with a 1-1/4" square punch and made sure not to make them all centered on purpose. Then I mounted each square onto a 1-1/2" square of silver metallic cardstock. I applied some Aleene's paper glaze around each of the 1-1/4" square's edges, then covered the glazed area with some microfine glitter, and set them aside to dry. I like how it gave the edges a chunky, snowed on look.

To assemble the card, I used a piece of white cardstock that was cut down to 5.5" x 8.5" folded in half as a card base, then I glued a 4.25" x 5.5" piece of "ocean tide" cardstock on top of the card cover. I bought some of Papertrey Ink's "stamper's select vellum cardstock" and just love how thick and durable it is. I cut a sheet of it into 4.25" x 5.5" rectangles, and then used a Martha Stewart "simple scallop edge" punch on the right edge. I adhered the vellum to the top of the card using two small mini glue dots which were then covered up by tying a piece of "ocean tides" ribbon on top. Once the glittered squares were dry, I set them in place with some adhesive, stamped the message, and ta-da! A lovely holiday card.