Candy crafting.

So, as you can imagine, my treats are also OCD. (See prior post on Star Wars cookies last year).  So true.  Anyone know how to hand-dip pretzels without getting a flat side?  

Here's the finished product.  Not without time and trouble, though!  First, I used those plastic Wilton Candy Melts.  Painted on dots with a very fine paintbrush, chilled, then spooned candy into the melts for the base color.

Finally, how to hand-dip pretzels without getting a flat side?  Shot glasses.  See, I knew those had more uses than vodka.

Genius.  Now on to the next project.

Home on a Saturday for once?

Getting ahead on my thank you cards.  You know, for all my gifts?  Silver cards from Impress in Seattle.  Purple/silver background made with Ranger Alcohol Inks put on with applicator on glossy.
Snowman made with Cricut Winter Wonderland.  Snow is just some flakes I picked up somewhere, just some glittery swag.  Awesome.

Perfected card.

Let's pretend I sent you a Christmas Card... it would look like this. Too bad if I didn't. So, tried a few things. Used watercolor paper as background.
BACKGROUNDS:
1) Tried Ranger Adirondack sprays, diluted. Used some Tsukineko Potion #9 as well to spread around color. I think the Ranger inks are discontinued, but they are water based. So, you could make your own spray with water based refills. Then spritzed Tsukineko shimmer spray as well on paper.
2) Tried to paint blueish background with Twinkling H2O's. Made paper warpy. Hard to glue down.
3) Tried some darker backgrounds than this as well. Looked pretty cool, but then bird and leaves didn't stand out.
GLUE:
Gluing on watercolor paper is tougher than it looks.
1) Tombow glue in dispenser. Didn't stick well after a week it came up.
2) Glue stick. Worked ok, but comes out hard.
3) I have not perfected this. On the edges that came up, needed to use Stampin up glue pen to glue edges back down.
BIRD:
1) Twinkling H2O's. Had to get pretty thick on brush. Had some screwups with too much water on brush, bleeding. Make sure paper is really dry.
LEAVES AND HOLLY BERRIES:
1) Twinkling H2O's. Thick. Looked really nice.
2) Then I got smart/lazy. Used Copic Atyou Spica glitter pens. Looked pretty much the same, but didn't bleed.
STAMP:
Got at Impress in U Village Seattle. Also totally plagarized card from there, but it was easy and fun.
That's all for now. I need to wrap gifts, and get inspiration for thank you cards.

Christmas Cards

Totally copied a card I saw at Impress in Seattle, but hey. It was hard work. Water colored Memory Box stampwith Twinking H2o's, sprayed background with diluted Ranger Adirondack spray ink, spritzed with Tsukineko shimmer spray.

Trial and error.

Meetings, meetings.

So, I went back to Seattle for a great weekend of meetings, eating, and uh, shoes.  I'd tell you all about the Huskies v Arizona game, or the Seahawks debacle, or my Jacuzzi suite at the Silver Cloud, but I suspect you're reading this for the shoe porn.  So here we go:

Badgely Mischka Lexie, regular $225, Nordy's Rack $45.00.  I could not pass up this deal.  I have no idea where in this town I will go in these, but believe me, I will find somewhere. 

Next we have some "sensible" "comfy" sandals to wear around.  Calvin Klein "Liz", $49.90 at Nordy's Rack. Regular $110.00 on Shoes.com, sale $69 Endless.com if you "need" these.

If you are wondering, no, these are not "similar" to the ones above.  Just FYI.  These are much less dressy, wooden heel, thick straps.. uh, ok.  Next is the Michael Michael Kors "Zoe" that I picked up for $36.90.  What a steal, considering they are regular $98.00.  You can also get them on sale at Nordstrom.com for 48.90 in case you have the burning urge to be like me. Just remember, I paid less. Bahahahaaa!

 Finally, as my feet hurt from all this shopping, I could not pass up the Cole Haans on sale for $45.00.  The Lunetta is very similar, but I can't seem to find these online in Black Snake.  So... here's the actual pic.  Any Nike Cole Haan's for this price are a steal.  So, I can now walk in comfort... 

That's all for now.  See ya later.  Let's hope for shoes for Christmas!

Skrillex show!

So, I went to the sold out Skrillex show last night at the Knitting Factory.  For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a pretty awesome DJ that plays dubstep - basically club music.  Sounds like bad news, but it was a really cool show (considering my other genre is metalhead and 80's)... 

So what to wear?  I had to be semi-conservative as there were clients in the midst...  cool clients, but still.

So, out come the Madden Girl "Oaklannd" shoes!  The pics on top are from online, they apparently come in different colors.  The bottom ones are the ones I actually got at some cheapie store like Ross or TJ Maxx for I think $12.00.  The multi-color glitter was good for this show.  I figured I'd need going out shoes that I didn't mind getting wrecked, but they were a score as they're still $39.00 on Zappo's etc.  The only disturbing part is that they are in the "Juniors" section, etc.  When am I ever going to grow up.   Wore with BR black silk mini w roses on bottom, and the infamous Michael Kors silk tank I picked up for $6.99 at either Ross or TJ Maxx.  Anyway, it was epic, and the shoes are still intact.

Meeting in valley causes problems.

So... while I was on my Nordy's rack kick...  I had to go to a meeting in the valley for a client.  Then I had to wait for my cousin to get done working... so, I went and waited at the Rack.  You know, look for some basics like nylons, maybe some winter shoes... uhhhh

The Coach "Sheri".  Lo and behold.  I realize these are like my Calvin Klein Olive shoes, but they didn't have more of those in my size (they had patent CK's very close to this).  But... they did have these.  They were Coach comfy, and have a little Coach inscription on the heel that no human will ever see.  Just what I need for my suits, right?  Uhhh.  Crap.

So then I also perused the clearance racks.  Some Badgley Mischkas for $40, from $200?  Uh yes, please?  I also have nowhere to go in these, however, for $40, I can't pass that up.  I will have to find an event to go to, just for these.  This meeting sure cost me...

Seattle ABA TIPS meeting...

Well, I've been so busy lately (Monday evening and still procrastinating, I see), however during my meeting in Seattle, I couldn't help but "need" some emergency shoes.  My go-to Enzo's started hurting on the hills of Seattle.  So... I popped into Nordy's Rack for some help.

 Here we have the Coach Inez.  This was my non-sane splurge.  Apparently, it was well worth it, as I received many compliments on them, and they got me up and down the Seattle hills without wanting to die.  Apparently, these are "hottt" on.  I want to go places just to wear them now.

 Nine West Rocha.  Only $29.00.  They looked good with jeans. 

Practical.  Sofft Astoria's.  I was told by many ladies they looked good on.  I was going to pass on these for $39.00 (regular $99), but I thought of the Spokane snow that can't be toooo far away, and I saw rubber bottom closed toe shoes.  Have to wear something to court, right?  I am so conservative, I'm not sure about patent... but nevertheless, I got these.

I was then so poor, I went into dirty Ross to get a dress.  Bought a hot Calvin Klein black dress for $23.99, and then got the red one too, as the dressing room folks got all excited about it.  Same price... but I digress, this is not a dress blog.

Super funny shoe incident.

So, today I was running errands and looking sketchy. You know, you can't wear heels everyday. This lady sitting down having coffee at Great Harvest ( where I was using my Living Social coupon, btw) says "nice shoes". Ironic. Got them on sale at Costco. Run, don't walk, and go get your Adidas kicks @ Costco for running Sunday errands.

Lesson is, even when you think no one is looking.... they are!  Who would have thought my scuzzy Sunday outfit would garner compliments! 

More Halloween cards.

The "Spooky" is a Memory Box stamp.  Other cut outs are Cricut "Gypsy Wanderings" and "Ornamental Iron".  The purple bat was a cheap foam sticker I got in a pack, and I wove orange ribbon through the Ornamental Iron cutout before gluing on.  Gray background paper is from one of my paper stacks cut with Gypsy Wanderings tag (shift for oval). 

outfit alert

Well, so I finally wore the Banana Republic skirt I bought to match the Badgely Mischka shoes.  I finally found an event to wear this to!  The Communities in Schools auction and charity event.  It was a hit - mainly the shoes but then the "after party" got comments on the skirt.  Wore it with black JCrew sweater on top.

I was able to wear the shoes all night, although I will admit by 2AM they hurt like crazy.  I walked around and danced in them, so for shoes like this, they weren't bad.  Good times, good friends.

October.

Watercolor paper, spray ink, Spooky stamp. (Spooky Collage by Memory Box).

but wait, there's more. This is what happens if I stay home on a Friday. Copics.

Nice, huh.  Some Magenta stamped flowers.  For the curious people, the middle row:  Y17 and Y18,  then my favorite, E0000 as a base, with E04 and B45.  Finally the orangish one, YR02 and YR15.

And then pastels.  Too bad it is not spring, however, I'm sure it'll be spring before I get to sticking these on a card.  Will be nice to stick a brad or something in the middle and layer.  It's almost killing me to be good and stay home tonight...

cards and color chart

Well, I've been busy... working, golfing, stuff like that.   Travel... getting rid of "excess baggage", you know.  That takes time.  In the meantime, I did finally glue a couple things together.

I think I really need some inspiration, since these are pretty plain, but maybe I'm just trying to simplify things... life included.  It's like I either do Copics or Cricut, not both.  I've got to figure out how to incorporate that. 
In other news, I don't know why I'm OCD, but I hate "missing" collections.  This is getting expensive, considering that it appears I'm using my favorite colors over and over.  I need inspiration.  In life and in crafting.

Works in progress...

J Crew Incident

Well, I didn't just stop there.  There was a 30% off sale at JCrew online.  So... found some cute flip flops of course for $11.89-

There was obviously more of an incident than this, but this is mainly a shoe blog, right?  I'll leave it to your imagination, but there was yet another "incident".  I mean hey, it's my bday month.

I also bought some dresses awhile back that they still have, one of my favs is the Aveline:

and the Astin dress (sorry so small, but they are out of it) that I wore with gold accessories and my new gold Madden sandals I got at DSW last week.  Looked great on my tan.

Also picked up some Sparkle flip flops from J Crew:

What a steal.  I also picked up some BCBG clothes at Smart Bargains, and a Juicy Couture dress.  Ok, you can see those too...

Uh, yeah.  So, happy belated birthday to meee....

More shoes, for no reason other than they were a great deal?

um 6pm.com today.  Incident.  I was browsing shoes yesterday, and didn't see any great deals, when 6pm.com sent out a Twitter today... and looky here.  Donald J Pliner's, for $34.00, regular $340.00.  90% off.  I have these in brown, but paid $69 back then. 

To add to the incident, I then picked up some other flats that seemed like they'd be good traveling shoes.

Not "hot", but hey, even well-heeled women need a day off occasionally.  And for $22.00, regular $225.00, um, I had to do it.

To end the "incident", I rounded it off with some nice William Rast jeans, $49.99, regular $209.00.  I mean, fall will eventually come, right?

Even some shoes weren't enough to cure me...

Was kind of feeling down the other day - after the b-day, after the "breakup", etc etc.  Obviously, I was head over heels for no apparent reason, and didn't need shopping or crafting.  Dumb, I know.  So, back to the shopping and crafting... which I am apparently better at...

DSW.  Birthday reward $10.  Coupon $5. 

Brought my Madden sandals to $23.09. Considering they are still in style, not bad.

Next, I saw some cute flip flops I just *needed*.
Enter the Guess WG Joyce...  $18.32 (with part of my coupon discount). 

The shoes didn't quite make up for my crummy week, but I think eventually, they'll come in handy.  Expect to see more crafts soon.