Tag Archives: heat embossing

Out of Touch

I have been MIA for the last few weeks!  It has been so long since I posted anything, I was wondering if I remembered how it was done.  Summer has been filled with a flurry of activity, and I will try to catch you up.

My husband and I visited family in Ohio for two weeks at the beginning of June.  It is always nice to get home and visit not only with my mom, sister and brother-in-law, but with all of the cousins I so seldom get to see.  One of the things we did while in Ohio was visit Niagara Falls.  It is about a 4 hour drive from where I grew up to the falls.  It was cloudy and rainy for most of the day there, but I did manage to get a few good photos.  Here’s one of the American Falls from the Canadian side.

Niagra Falls American Falls June 2015

Right after getting back from Ohio I went to work in my stamp room preparing for an art and craft fair in Denver in which I participated over this past weekend.  I was really there to support my daughter in her small business endeavors.  If you click on the tab at the top of the page it will take you to her etsy store, free/bird philosophy.  She set up a booth to sell her line of jewelry and clothing at the fair.  I had some of my hand stamped stuff.  Okay, I had A LOT of my hand stamped stuff.  It was a fun adventure and I enjoyed very much watching her in action!  I had never done a craft fair, and I would like to do one again some day.  It is a lot of work though.

Jenn’s father did a nice job creating a changing room out of peg board so her customers could try on her clothing.  It is behind the peg board wall in the photo.  Also, she was able to hang her clothing on a rack  he build into the thing on the outside.  All of it was easily assembled and disassembled and relatively light weight for moving.  You can also see some of my hand stamped items on the shelves in the background.

Jackalope Arts & Crafts Freebird Booth

This next picture is one of the free bird in my family… part of my pride and joy…Jennifer.  And she truly is a free spirit!

Jackalope Arts & Crafts Jenn

Something else I’ve been up to is walking everyday. I quit smoking over a year and a half ago, and I decided it is time to do something about the 20 lbs. I gained.  I have been walking 5 to 6 days a week in an effort to shed a few pounds.  Just when the scale says I’ve lost a pound or two, a couple days later it says “Just Kidding!”  It seems like an impossible task, but I sleep and feel better after walking, so I guess I’ll keep doing it.

Our four-year-old refrigerator died on the Fourth of July.  Talk about being upset!  Fortunately, we have a second refrigerator in the garage.  I bought it in 1993 when I purchased my house on Sequoia Dr.  We had a repair man come look at “the new one” and he said it wasn’t worth repairing.  It somehow managed to leak all of its coolant over the last 4 years and he said it would take hours and a lot of money to find the leak.  So, later that day We finally settled on another LG at Home Depot.  We gave the salesman the dimensions of the opening and he said the one we were interested in would fit.  A week later it was delivered.  The delivery man immediately said it was too large for the space.  After a lot of measuring and talking back and forth, it sounded like he would be able to get it installed.  He then looked at the water line for the refrigerator and when he realized it didn’t have a dedicated shut-off valve and we’d have to turn the water off at the house, he said he couldn’t do it.  He didn’t want to be liable for anything that might go wrong.  I called Home Depot and refused the delivery.  I was so frustrated I spoke with the store manager and filed a formal complaint!  I feel they should have alerted us to that before selling the appliance.

Later that day we went out shopping again and purchased a GE at a locally owned appliance store.    They’ve been in business for 57 years.    We thought it might be a bit more expensive, but it isn’t.  The salesman was very helpful.  He said LG has flooded the market with refrigerators that are nearly impossible to repair or take months to get parts.

The refrigerator finally arrived this past Tuesday.  It is a little smaller than the one we just got rid of, but I guess I will get used to it.

Enough about what’s been going on here.  My card for today is one we made in an all occasion class I had a few weeks ago.  I used the stamp set You’ve Got This to make a sympathy card.  I got the idea for the color combinations from the Annual Catalog.

You've Got This Sympathy

I’ve run a bit long, so I won’t bore you any longer.  Until next time…

Happy Stamping!

Josie2

 

 

 

Eight Do’s and Don’ts for DIY Garbage Disposal Replacement

If you have ever owned a home with a garbage disposal in the kitchen, then you know they don’t last forever and will eventually need replacing.  The person at Home Depot said they last about 10 years.  We’ve been in our home for 14 and we just now had to install a new one.  We don’t know how long it was in the place before we moved in.  A mid-range new unit runs over $100.00. ($149.00 to be exact.)  If you are anything like we are, you will want to save on the installation if possible.  My husband and I spent some time replacing our garbage disposal yesterday, and I wanted to share a few things that we learned in the process. .

1. Watch this video before you start. Make your husband watch it too. If he is anything like mine, he will not want to but he admitted afterwards that he was glad he did. It gives you a list of all of the tools and materials you will need in order to install your new unit.

2. Look at the unit you will be replacing and how it is connected. Determine the correct size of the unit you will be replacing before purchasing a new one.

3. Will you need to purchase an installation kit as the video says? Don’t let the salesperson at your local home improvement store talk you out of it if you think you need one. If you end up not using it, you can always return it. It will save you a trip to the store in the middle of the process.

We purchased our new disposal without doing any of this beforehand and it resulted in two trips to Home Depot while we were installing the new unit. The first trip was for the salesperson to talk my husband out of getting an installation kit, and the second was actually to purchase the kit. What should have taken an hour at the most, took four instead.

4. Read the installation instructions that come with your new unit. Again, your husband won’t want to do this, but trust me…he won’t be sorry if he does.

5. Do not believe the person at Home Depot when he says it will be simple. In theory, it is, but you know the person that made the video I shared used the art of editing before he posted it! Duh!

In retrospect, the most difficult part of the installation was hanging the new unit.  They are heavy and neither my husband nor I were able to hold it up in place long enough in order to connect it.  I have no upper body strength, and my husband has a physical condition that prevents him from lifting his arms over his head.  Just as I was admitting defeat and calling my son for help, my husband gave it, one last shot and got it connected.

6. Learn to cuss. As a young child, I used to watch my father do things around the house like work on plumbing, etc. Things always seemed to go better when Daddy cussed. I tried this myself once and it worked. I think my husband  cussed just as the disposal unit finally slipped into place.

7. Maintain a sense of humor throughout the process.

So, four hours, a migraine and a stiff neck later, I have a new garbage disposal!  We saved at least $100.00 by installing it ourselves.

8. I almost forgot to mention one last thing we learned while replacing our garbage disposal and you should remember while you are replacing yours. When the old unit is disconnected and the new one not yet attached…remember…DO. NOT. Turn. On. The. Water! Unless, of course, you mean to mop your kitchen floor in the process.

So here is my creation for today.  It uses an oldie but goodie stamp set Thoughts and Prayers.

All Occasions Class Thinking of You

Hope you enjoyed your visit here today.  Until next time…

Happy Stamping!

Josie2

 

 

 

Five Signs You Are Loosing It

You  know you are loosing it when you ask where your cell phone is while talking on it,  or you mistake a kitchen cabinet for the refrigerator when you are putting away milk.  You also know you are loosing it when you put something away for safe keeping then can’t find it when you need it.  (This is true stuff here!  I’ve done all of these.)

You know you are loosing it when you walk around the house for 10 minutes looking for your glasses only to discover they are exactly where you left them…on the top of your head.  Honestly, I get so used to having them up there sometime, I don’t feel them after a while.  And sometimes, when they aren’t up there I think they are and reach for them.

I used to do the same with my classroom keys when I was teaching.  No, I didn’t wear them on my head; I’d wear them on a lanyard around my neck.  I would on occasion find myself teaching and keeping 35 kids in line, while looking for my keys to open my classroom  closet only for one of my students to say to me, “Mrs. Cauler, they are hanging around your neck.”  Invariably, the class would erupt in laughter, and so would I.  You just have to learn to laugh at yourself!

I think the root cause for having these kinds of memory lapses is having children and a husband!  They are also the reason for gray hair and wrinkles.  A colleague once told me of the time she asked a 97 year-old nun in Colorado Springs  her secret to such beautiful and wrinkle free skin.  Sister’s response was, “I’ve never been married, and I’ve never had kids.”

You know your husband is loosing it when he can’t figure out why his socks are too tight and you have to tell him he inadvertently pulled a pair of your socks out of the laundry basket; not his.

Here’s my card for today.  I used the Sheltering Tree stamp set by Stampin’ Up!

sheltering tree

Hope you enjoyed your visit here today.  Until next time…

Happy stamping!

Josie2

 

 

 

 

A Happy Thing

Today I am sharing two cards that remind me of a very happy thing; my trip to Italy in 2006 with my sister.  While we were there I remember seeing lemon trees, and I even purchased a few pieces of Deruta Italian pottery that was manufactured and hand painted in Umbria, Italy.    I purchased what I would call a serving platter, pasta serving bowl, and wine pitcher that are adorned with lemons.  You can see a photo of the pattern here.  I received my inspiration for these two cards from these three pieces of pottery.  I  used the Sale-a-bration set A Happy Thing when I created these two cards.  I also used the masking technique which I will explain at the end of my post.

Gold Lemon Thanks

I have always loved the way navy and yellow look together.  I think they are classic, and the colors always remind me of summer!  The “Thanks” card is embossed in gold and colored with Daffodil Delight Blendabilities.

Lemon Friendship

The sentiment on this friendship card is embossed in gold, but the lemons are not.  They are stamped in the Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Daffodil Delight Blendabilities.

What is the masking technique?  If you are familiar with the stamp set I used, you know there is only one lemon image in the set.  Masking is when you stamp the image on scrap paper and cut it out.  You then stamp the image again onto the card stock you will be using.  After stamping, you cover it with the cut out image, re-ink your stamp and stamp another image right next to the first one you stamped.  When you do this, it will look like one is behind the other.  That’s why it is called masking.

Hope you enjoyed your visit here today. Until next time…

Happy Stamping!

Josie2

both lemons

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