Birthday Swap Details!!!!!

Ok, as promised, here are the final details for the Birthday Card Swap:

Total Cards you need to create - 8
When you need to get them to me by - Oct. 1st
Where you send them - Everyone mailing them in will receive an email with the address
Anyone sending them in needs to send an extra envelope and the same amount of stamps to send the package back.

All cards should be a birthday theme...for any age, theme...whatever!
Again, this is the world's easiest swap!

So get cookin' and make up a few cards, no sweat. I hope to have them all back to you a day or two after I receive them all. Can't wait to see all the great cards and be well stocked for the rest of the year.
Did I miss anything??
Again...remember...Stress-free, so don't even freak for a second...I mean it!

Quick Update

I have been so busy lately, and not enjoying it at all.
My nephew was with me last week and it was nice to have a playmate around for Max. It reminded me why I always wanted more than one kid and made me thankful for only having one. I was supposed to straighten him out (remember I am the mean sister) but really there was nothing to put back in line, he was an angel. He is a teen now and apparently been getting into quite a bit of trouble up in Wisconsin and giving his mother a lot of attitude. I have seen the attitude first hand but I would never let my son talk to me like that in the first place, which is probably most of the problem. I explain to him "if mama ain't happy, nobody is" and he seemed to be enlightened. What kid doesn't know how to suck up by the age of 13? Good thing I taught him that one, 'eh?

I met some neighbors a couple weeks ago because they were out on their front lawn with these new puppies:

My nosey nature and love of puppies paid off too! It turns out that my neighbor is a photography teacher at a local high school and has agreed to teach me to use my camera. I just can't figure the dang thing out without someone holding my hand. I can't wait!
Last weekend, I went to University of Illinois to visit my brothers and check out their new place. They have bunked up in a house this year with a couple other guys and it was funny to go for a quick visit before their classes started. I love taking pictures down at the campus, so many great photo spots. We will be going down again when the fall colors are in full bloom. And my brother is taking a photography class this semester and I gave him a camera, so there should be some awesome pictures this fall and I may even be in a couple because someone else will be able to work a camera! YAY!
I finished all my swaps (32 cards) for the holiday mini catalog. Felt a little weird making Christmas cards with the air conditioning on, but I got 'em done and couldn't be happier about that!
Here they are:We have been trying to get ready for school and figure out this whole school thing here in the big city the last couple weeks and that has really sucked a lot of time and energy. I have learned more about the public school system in Chicago in the past two weeks than I am sure most people know about their school districts. The most important thing I have learned is that IT IS SCREWED UP!!
The thing really sucking my time and stressing me out is work. I love my job because it is completely tailored to me. It is laid back, low stress, completely easy! I am the boss, pretty much. We are rarely busy and I can wear whatever I want to work. I only have to get my work done and other than that can do as I please. It is perfect. Unfortunately, we have been busy the past couple weeks and I can't even keep up. So, not only am I missing my daily internet time, but I can barely breathe at work. It is not good. Plus, most days Max is with me at work because camp is over and school hasn't started, so it is even more stressful. And it is killing my blog....obviously!
Friday we went to a concert at Lincoln Park Zoo. We are fortunate enough to have two zoos in this area, but Lincoln Park is definitely my favorite and it's free. (gotta love a freebie) Well, in the summer, there are concerts in the zoo and they are cheap. (gotta love cheap) Max waited all summer for this concert, They Might Be Giants. Well, it was great fun. The weather was a bit humid, but no rain. My little sister went with us and when they came on, went with Max and barged through the crowd to position themselves in front of the stage. It was no problem for them because they looked like two little kids that could easily stand in front of the grown ups without obstructing their view. Max loved it. Although he loves all concerts, he's a concert kid. He's been to more concerts than some adults I know. Unfortunately, no cameras allowed in the concert..damn! But I took a couple shots when we got home, how cool is that foam finger...it was FREE! That band is too cool! (and my son is a goofball, obvious from these pictures!)

So, that is about it. I need a vacation in a bad way!
Gotta go get another cup of coffee, clean the house and do some reports for work, can you believe that! It's Sunday!
Birthday swap details tomorrow, I promise. The magic number is 8 if anyone is dying to get started.

New Project

So, here is the newest project I cooked up over the weekend, it is a photo wallet. I saw the idea for a card in the Paper Crafts Magazine, in the Fiskars section, but it was for a card. I just added the accordian part to the center and changed the design a little so it was bigger and simpler.
The set is a summer mini set, Polka Dot Posies. Love it.
This is what it looks like before you unfold the accordian inside.
Unfolded accordian, one side.
The other side.
Just a quick little project, I am trying to think up good class projects and thought this might be appealing. The pictures are of my brother Andrew and his girlfriend, Katie. They are a common subject because they are always willing to pose for me, see...this is what you can get if you let me take a zillion pictures of ya!

CHA Aftermath

I left out all the goodness I got at CHA on my dining room table for the past 3 weeks and I think by osmosis it helped me create these layouts! No...really!
I couldn't stop looking at the papers and loved them more and more each day. All of these were made from the papers that we got in our goodie bags at the 2peas Reception.

This first one uses patterned paper from Cactus Pink. The cool brad in the middle is also Cactus Pink and I love these so much, I had a hard time bringing myself to actually use it. The pink letters are Chatterbox, I won those last year at CHA and the white dots around the photo was made with the White Signo Pen.This next one uses the paperned paper from We R Memory Keepers. The "C" is a chipboard letter from Making Memories.This last one is also WRMK paper and the little tag is theirs as well. I added the Doodlebug rub-ons to it.
So, that is it for now...I see that blogger is gonna take a little nap in a bit and I just wanted to finish posting this because I tried to do this yesterday and it finally went through!