thanks to a link sent by m'friend-n-colleague joshua, i have now gazed upon the official quantumof solace trailer. and so can you. it is HERE. and it is gooooooood. in fact it is very very good indeed. heck, even the *logo* is cool! here is a photo which shows said logo...oh yeah...and it's got some guy in it, as well. apparently he's in the movie or something. not bad lookin', i s'pose...if ya like that sorta thing:
hmmmmm...november 7th, eh? think it's too early to go get in line at the theater??! ...naaaaaaaahhhhhh...
last week i met up with the nieces at a fancy playground near their grandmother's house. there was a big castle with slides and ladders and secret compartments...a zillion sandboxes...smaller forts to climb around on... (including pirate- and princess-themed ones which were MEGA popular with these young ladies!) ...sliding boards of every shape and size...and of course, my old favorite: SWINGS--lots of them!
we tried out almost ALL the equipment...we posed for photos...we ran and squealed and climbed and laughed our heads off! we had a picnic lunch. there were sandwiches and grapes and juiceboxes for all; not to mention--and i cannot emphasize enough the importance of this--DORA THE EXPLORER CUPCAKES!!!
but maybe the most popular feature of the afternoon was this tire swing, on which all three cuties could ride AT THE SAME TIME--what could be better than to have this much fun...ALL TOGETHER?!
...unless it's to be a grown-up aunt, standing nearby, with a camera...yeah, that's pretty cool, too! :)
(rubber stamps: autumn leaves; patterned paper: cherry arte, ki, crafty secrets, paper pizzazz, basic grey; black glossy cardstock: ranger; journaling card & eyelets: making memories; rub-ons: american crafts; ribbon: michaels; gems: mambi; other: colorbox & ranger inks, prismacolor pencils, zigwriter, foam tape, stickles)
it's a thank you card for stef, of course! since that good woman is such an ingenious and creative stamper, i wanted to come up with something realllllllly cool to do with my new rubber...and i think just maybe i succeeded: paper-piecing! i stamped each image several times on different scraps of patterned paper and then layered them on foam tape on top of each other. for example, the heart is one layer, the body of the bird a second one, and his little wing is a third layer. i was quite proud of this innovation and now i want to look at ALL my stamps and see if there are others with which this idea will work!
seriously SERIOUSLY bumming that panera bakery's new menu does not feature their magnificent fuji apple chicken salad!!! (why??! whyyyyyyyyy???!!) (ps: if this upsets you, too, you can leave them a commenthere!)
loving that nowadays summer means new episodes of original cable shows like the closer and burn notice and monk!
this week's paper adventure assignment is kind of freeform: the prompt is ART...to be interpreted in any manner we wish.
can i get a WAHEY??! :)
ever since i saw the amazing documentary who gets to call it art i have had something that barnett newman said stuck in my head. i have also had the vague idea that i should "do something with" this little bit of wisdom...i just didn't know WHAT. until now.
(birds from a vintage children's encyclopedia; crafty secrets patterned paper; brenda walton clear stamps & provocraft roller stamp; dmc pearl cotton; paper source leaves; vintage beads attached with diamond glaze)
i had envisaged making more of a traditional collage, but when i found this illustration, i knew it was THE ONE...and being as it is on the large size (my book's 5.5 x 8.5) ...it somewhat limited what else was gonna fit on the page. plus, i did not really want to mess with the perfect simplicity of these two sweet little guys on their charming branch. so i went with loads of texture to embellish without covering up. i am quite happy with the result.
here is a closeup of the beads and the leaves and the stitching, unfortunately i could not capture the somewhat metallic & shimmery coating that is on the beads, but in real life they have almost a coppery sparkle.
and yes, you know i would not be my obnoxious but loveable self, if i did not point out with a certain pride that i am STILL CAUGHT UP on paper adventure...at least until tomorrow morning! :)
yepper: a couple of 3BT pages, from the other day, at work. i took a REAL LUNCH and spent half an hour playing with the (admittedly limited) supplies we have on hand and a couple of things i grabbed on my way out the door at home. the first is a free-form collage. (i made the little circular "thought dots" with the holepunch--i felt quite proud about that!)
(piece of a kraft-colored box, buddha from an advertising postcard, the inside of my bank statement envelope & part of an ad that was in it; sharpie pen)
the second is a journal entry as written by james bond, if he were stationed waaaaaaaaaaaay out in the suburbs, in a not-very-glamorous cover job, but still a 100% concientous superspy. (heesun is one of my neighbors at work):
(james bond from a discarded dvd cover; p-touch labelmaker; 7 gypsies & rubber stampede stamps; sharpie & mr. sketch markers)
yes, once again, i have managed to crack myself up...as i do onna regular basis! well...SOMEBODY'S gotta do it, right??! :)
my lovely blogging friend kristie had a bit of a birthday yesterday. and not only was my card not in the mail in time (ok, in my case, that SELDOM happens...card-based punctuality, i mean) but..and this is SO MUCH WORSE:
i completely failed to so much as mention or commemorate the day in any manner!(WAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!) and do you wanna know why??! (this makes it EVEN WORSE than previously, so much so that i almost don't wanna tell you) (ok, i definitely DON'T WANNA tell you...but i will; it's only fair)
i was under the impression that TODAY was july 10th.
yes. i *am* THAT OBLIVIOUS. apparently.
miss kristie, i apologize unreservedly! feel free to dangle me out the window of a fourth floor flat at your convenience, and i shall not protest!!! if it is any consolation, this calendrical mix-up also means i've been eating out-of-date yogurts all week. so i'm probably a goner anyway. but before i kick off, lemme at least wish you a belated birthday properly with a hilarious video clip that has nothing to do with birthdays in any way, i just really like it (plus it has a snappy song at the end!):
better still, on this occasion, i am willing to make the ultimate concession, in the interests of friendship:
michael buble DOES DO the best-ever rendition of "new york, new york"!!!
(sorry frank...had to be done...)
something that makes this whole debacle even MORE non-triumphant is that the other day i received a lovely lovely package from said dear blogging friend down under!!!
now, kristie *claims* be somewhat new to cardmaking, but i'm not so sure about that--have you seen the beautiful creations on her blog??! yeah. that's what i mean. they're verrrrrrrrry cool. and wait until you see the card she made for my birthday!
is that a LAUREN CARD, or what??! it's got birds...and flowers...and it's pink and black! what more could a girl ask for? absolutely nothing! except...in this case...there were goodies too:
as you can see... (sort of--please excuse the lighting in my pics!) ...inside a beautifully wrapped packet there were flowers, and ribbons, and little bird-shaped buttons in absolutely lucious shades of pink!!! as you can imagine, i am now ITCHING to whip up something with these goodies on it!!!
thank you VERY MUCH INDEED miss kristie,and i do hope *you* had a WONDERFUL birthday!!!!!
