card of the week

I have sent a number of cards lately, and am just declaring that they must be received by now. :)

First, card of the week. I made this dress card yesterday. It was a bit fiddly, and I don't like that, so I can't say I will make it again. It should come in useful with all the nieces tho. :)

Ben's birth was yesterday, so here is his card.

Thought this one was funny for Gregory.

Made this for Shari when she had to miss our girls' nite out for dance class. (No, not belly dancing, but that is the only dancing stamp I had!)

I made these for Olli and Ethan to celebrate being such nice big brothers. (Hint, hint, Olli!)

Have a great week.

Anne

Book of the Month

I said "month" cuz I don't really know how often I post them. :)

Two books this time.
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First, nonfiction:

Deadly Persuasion:Why Women and Girls Must Fight the Addictive Power of Advertising
by Jean Kilbourne

"If you're like most people, you think advertising has no influence on you. This is what advertisers want you to believe. But, if that were true, why would companies spend over $200 BILLION a year on advertising? "

That is how the book starts. :) I particularly liked the chapters on food/diet, alcohol and cigarettes. (I also recognized all the ads in the cigarette chapter from magazines when I was growing up. I just didn't look at them so closely at the time to see what subliminal messages my brain was taking in when I skimmed past them!)

"The tobacco industry is in the business of getting children addicted to nicotine. It has to get three thousand children to start smoking every day simply to replace those smokers who die or quit (in the United States alone)." Scary, huh?

The parts about the affect of TV coming into undeveloped countries is staggering also.

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Second, fiction:

"My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult

I first heard of this story from the movie trailers. I was NOT interested in seeing the movie from them, but the story intrigued me so I got on the list for it at the library. (There were way fewer names on the "Large Print" list, so that is what I read. :) )

The book is... awesome. I loved it. It did take me a while to get adjusted to looking for the names at the beginning of the chapters, becuz I don't usually bother reading chapter titles. :) Once I got the characters' names memorized, I was golden.

I did hear a rumor the movie changed the ending, but I don't know if it is true. If you read the book, prepare to cry.

Have a great weekend,
Anne

babies

This week I made a few new babies. It had been brought to my attention that Gregory did NOT have one, so I made one for him to take with him to the doctors yesterday. He did seem to like it, tho he liked Senja better! I picked the hair yarn that I thought would look wild and curly like his. :)

When Mom saw it, she asked me to make a girl as a baby gift. So I did a girl also. Her hair was a bit stiff tho- I won't use that kind of yarn again!

The skirts take the longest. I am now making a "spare" for Mom- she always wants to give them away, but I actually like to know who I am making them for so I don't usually make them just for the gift bin. I am this time cuz I wanted to try a new hair yarn. :)

Have a good week!

Anne

card of the week

I decided if I made a "card of the week" then it would give me an excuse to blog weekly, and to get into the beadroom weekly. :)

Today's card is ideal for many people. I have found several of my friends have problems saying no or cutting off bad relationships. I think there are toxic people in the world who you should avoid, and also that you can't go thru life worrying about who likes you and who doesn't. (Who cares!!) And, if your parents are abusive to you as a child, you owe them nothing as an adult. (I could lecture longer, but won't.)

So, when the time comes to tell someone like that how you really feel, this card is right for you.

Front:

Inside:

Have a great week!

Anne

Why I Love My Xyron

I usually don't buy dies that need to be pieced, because I am pretty bad at it. (Pieced dies mean very intricate die cuts that you cut out in more than one color, cut them apart and put them together so they are multi-colored.)

Last week Shari gave me two Hello Kitty! dies that she had purchased, not realizing they would not fit in her die cut machine. They were really cool, but needed to be pieced. I decided to give it a try, but as usual, got glue all over the place. This picture was taken AFTER trying to rub off the excess glue for about twenty minutes. (Felt that way anyhow!)

Somehow even the BACK got messed up.


Then I had an inspiration- why not run the pieces of cardstock thru the xyron first?? Then I could just stick them together. (I have a xyron 900- that means I can run sheets of paper or cardstock up to 9 inches wide thru, and turn it into sticker paper, or laminate it.)

Brilliant! Here is the finished xyroned piece:

This is the other die Shari gave me. It has LARGE pieces, so I managed okay with just glue. :)

The success of using the xyron led to a new rule- the kids can't use xyron paper anymore. It is just too expensive. So they will have to use glue sticks on paper dolls when the current sticker paper supply runs out. HA!

Happy 4th!

Anne