The layout of the day on twopeasinabucket.com features those KI sheer papers. The clear things with designs... I don't know what they're called, but I definitely want to see one in person.

What types of things are you just itching to see?

I've started posting more and more videos directly to my twopeas blog. I hope this is all right. It's a LOT easier to post the code for an embedded video from the source. So that works out.

Why videos? For me, it's a lot easier to just turn on my camera than find my camera, make sure the batteries are charged and then take some pictures. For some reason, the camera I have (which was a Christmas present a few years ago) is losing a lot of definition. My parents got it for me as a gift, and while I really appreciated the gesture...I think it was more along the lines of 'we know you needed a camera, so we got you this because it was on sale.' And I love using it, Fuji has a great interface, but the memory card has always had issues when you take it out of the camera and try to add the photos directly to the computer. And it eats images.

I took pictures of my brother's graduation earlier this year and said something about the clarity of some of the pictures. My mom immediately said 'Well, you must have worn out the camera! You took too many pictures.'

Is that even possible?!? <insert giggle here> The next year, my parents got a similar camera for my grandparents. They love it, but my grandmother confessed she doesn't take too many pictures.

Seeing the reviews, I've decided I wanted the Canon Rebel if I was going to get another camera. Mine is, let's face it, almost dead. If the batteries are in for five minutes, they're dead. I use rechargeables (new and older ones), and the same thing happens. The thing zaps batteries, which ended up being the stake in the heart of my old point and shoot Kodak.

Now, I saw the Rebel in person at Best Buy the other day. Took some really nice pictures, too. However, I noticed how much the thing weighed and how bulky it was. That's the trade off for me. I'm thinking hard about how it'll go through airport security. How I'll have to have it with me, and that's the deterrent. And how I won't be able to just pull a camera out of my bag and start taking pictures. However, I'll have great, clear pictures that can be easily scrapped, that won't be subject to my own camera's megapixel limitations (I think it's 6). And I won't have to take 10 regular batteries, 4 rechargeable batteries and a charger wherever I got, which might be worth it. All too often I HATE taking pictures anymore--a video (meaning grabbing my web cam or opening up a seperate program to access the onboard one, then making the video and doing one more take, just in case) is so much easier, which I NEVER thought I'd say. Eeek!

Why am I getting all weird about these things? Because my birthday is in 8 days and Christmas is soon as well. And I just know people are going to be asking what I want. And every year I ask for charitable donations to an animal charity, I get weird looks. So, yeah.... Sorry for the stream of consciouness-rant type thing. But I feel a lot better getting it out. Yeah...

Happy day!

There was a hoarder's challenge (pre-stamptoberfest) posted over on the General Stamping board on Saturday, and it sounds delightfully wonderful...Have a Look See!

I'm doing it! I started working on the card last night, pulling out the pp I had, a stamp that I had AND some ribbon. This is stuff I got because I loved, but at the same time I just wasn't sure if I was going to use it... too cute, and all.

One of the prereqs for this challenge was that we gather stuff (our stash) together that we would normally hold onto and USE. And I think I actually did. I even experimented with multiple layers of embossing powder (which worked very well, btw). The card needs something else, not sure what else, but it was a great way to 'practice' pre-Stamptoberfest.

And I learned a lesson--just create. Don't be afraid to start and just do something, don't get all caught up in theory!

Because of all this 2peas holiday madness, I've decided to start listening to my Xmas music a bit earlier. Luckily, since I have it on my iPod, most of my coworkers will be spared...

My favorite albums?

Brian Setzer's Boogie Woogie Christmas
A Very special Christmas (any, but 3 is most heavily in rotation)
Let it Snow, Baby (Reliant K)

I also like particular songs, like "This Christmas" by someone I can't remember the name of (he was in the Macy's parade a few years ago singing it), Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas is You" (used to be a ringtone on my phone, LOL), "Where are you Christmas?" by Faith Hill (off the Grinch soundtrack), and finally "Christmas is All Around" by Billy Mack (Bill Nightly sings it in the movie 'Love Actually').

And all of this weird information can be attributed to Kelli Crowe, she's done a really cool project with paper piecing. Check it out here: www.twopeasinabucket.com/cg_display.asp!

I had every intention of making some cards and layouts last night.
I'd just discovered Page Maps and wanted to get in on a few DT calls.

I did the laundry, went for a walk, cleaned up the MB a bit, cleaned up the stack of errant DVDs and DVD cases. I even went on a dinner run and then the BF and I started using some Halloween rubons on some old bottles. I got most of the stuff off of an old can for my secret goblin swap buddy and can now start working to get it ready to decorate.

We had picked up labels locally... Here's what someone did with them...

As I said, I had every intention of doing something scrappy. And I actually did start a card... But I didn't finish because I got tired, and because watching 'Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy' and 'The Departed' were so much more interesting...

At least it's the weekend!

I've been on a songs that start with 'W' kick on my iPod lately....

They are:
What you Got--Colby O'Donis
What you Waiting for (Live)--Gwen Stefani
Whatever-However (spoken quote)--from Grindhouse Soundtrack
What's Another Day--Maria Mena
What's Left of Me (Passenger Remix)--Nick Lachey
What's Left of the Flag--Flogging Molly
Whatshername--Green Day
Wheel--John Mayer
When It's Love--Van Halen

I have tons of music, from my cd collection and bought from ITunes, Amazon, etc. on my iPod. And it never ceases to amaze me how much is on here...

I love my lil' iPod. And it's coming up on it's 4 year anniversary (okay, it did get replaced once, but other than that, it's been an amazing and impressive 4 years). How did I survive before it?

I use Bloglines as my RSS feeder, so before the great minds at blogger started using the 'follow this blog' widget, I kept pretty good track of people that I followed.
Now I've probably got 25 people that I follow in my scrap folder alone. Too much input!!
Or is it?

I like the flexibility of a RSS feed because I can look, clip and save stuff for later. If I like something, it's kept on the backburner until I decide to get rid of it. If I tend to not check it for a few days, the posts get a little crazy, but about 20 minutes later I can usually have most of the posts organized. I have a scrap folder, a book folder, a few review sites, a giveaway folder, a folder dedicated to celebrities (yes, I follow celebs!) and a few more and while it seems like a lot, it's not because they're all in one place.

Anyway, the purpose of this was to let you know that if I can follow you, I will probably be following you in the coming weeks. Just have to get to your blog and click the little button and let the magic of the internet work...

I'm a font lover. When I used to work as a creative, my mouth would literally water at the thought of new fonts. I had serif, sans serif and all different types of fonts in my computer (over 400)--and I used most of those in different projects. I used to be able to tell you a point as well as the font type (along with kerning) at first glance. I was, for lack of a better word, a font nerd.

I was introduced to thickers by twopeasinabucket.com. I got my first set of chipboard thickers through a promotion they ran, and I've been running strong ever since. One day, I want to just go into a few stores and just grab as many packages as I can and buy them. Then quickly leave so I can start playing them. I even have a thickers wishlist.  Seriously, I have a problem.

A few weeks ago, thanks to the lovely ladies on the boards who posted about their thicker issues, I checked my thickers that were on projects and found that they weren't staying where I'd put them.Agghh! I was mortified, then worried about all the vinyl I had.I decided to go through my other sets and see if any others were affected. I sent back three sets of Thickers to American Crafts, and they promised to send me replacements within 6-8 weeks.

Last night, about 4 weeks after I sent out my request,  I get a package. What's in the package? Thickers. 3 sets of awesome thickers in the fonts that I fell in love with. I pulled out a set and went to work on replacing the text on my cover page that had succumbed to thickers with minds of their own. And a box with a sticker on it saying simply 'The Goods.' Apparently, AC is also providing product to customers effected by the vinyl thicker issue.

Inside the box was 50+ sheets of paper from American crafts. All different colors and styles... BEAUTIFUL PAPER.

Thank you, AC, for your commitment to your customers. I would suggest anyone reading this can go buy a few packages of the product, they're very versatile and really fun to play with. And they can rest easy knowing that a company will stand by the products they manufacture. Okay, back to adding the new Xmas lines to my wishlist!

My internal clock is pretty regular, but every so often I ignore it. For example, I can tell that when the light shines through the blinds at a certain angle it's time to think about getting up.

I totally ignored that this morning and was 11 minutes late for work. Aggh! But it's surprisingly not been a big deal like it normally is (normally I rush around and freak out--didn't this morning).

My BF gets home tonight, and we're going to the newly opened Sonic in Streetsboro to celebrate. I LOVE that you can get a cranberry slush at Sonic. It's the coolest idea in the world. And we're also taking the puppy (okay, he's 6 so he's not a puppy) and going over to see BF's sister. Her fiancee just brought home a bulldog puppy named Emma and we're trying to arrange a playdate. It's a total surprise for BF, he thinks were going over to sit on their new couch, LOL...

So yeah, that's my day. I love it when I have things planned.

My Stamptoberfest Challenge relies on using something you normally wouldn't use to achieve an effect. What does that mean?

Well, instead of buying all brand new supplies to achieve a new look, I'd like you to try to use what you have to achieve the look. For example, if you want to age something, instead of buying an ink pad, experiment with coffee or tea grounds and dye the item--it'll give you a little more control over the finished product and you'll learn a LOT.

Still not convinced? Say you've got your eye on a marvellous set of Twinkling H2Os, but instead of buying that huge set, buy a set of basic watercolors and add some powder to make your own. (This has been discussed on the stamping board before, so you can check a thread for more information).

If you can't find the perfect font in a sticker on the shelf, make your own stickers with your computer and printer....

Supplies are all around us. Make a project with at least one item (meaning you can make a card/ATC/triptych/matchbox/etc.  then add an accent that you made with an alternative form of some product) that has been made through your own ingenuity and post in in the gallery under stamptoberfest and reinventing the wheel challenge. Remember it can be anything, from using the corregated cardboard from your last order to achieve texture to making your own stickles...Don't be afraid to experiment.

Winner will receive a RAK, TBA...

My BF's been out of town since Friday, meaning that until he gets home on Wednesday, I have the house to myself. We've had a terrible windstorm, 84 out of Ohio's 88 counties have been declared disaster zones and I've gotten a lot of what  I hoped to get done finished. Yay!

Over the weekend, I met a friend at Panera and I proceeded to do some crafts. I stamped, colored and flocked to my hearts content. And had an audience! My friend D was really nice and interested and I was even able to give her a demo on how to flock (BTW, flocking is totally appropriate at Panera). It was good to be around someone who was like 'that's cool.'

And Sunday I spent pretty much all by myself, getting some finishing touches for my image swap.

More to come: I have some dishes to do tonight, and laundry--but then I'm free to Src-Aft! Stay tuned for details about Stamptoberfest!

I won a RAK, a very special RAK. Thanks to Sarahak and her son (for picking my name)....

Totally made my day, thanks!