Occasions Mini Catalog Available NOW

You can now order from the Occasions Mini Catalog!! Woo Hoo!! There are so many great things in this mini catalog, you won't be able to help yourself. I know I couldn't....LOL. Check it out HERE.

You can also now order the new pop-up dies from the mini. These dies are way too cool!! There is a Pop Up Three Tier Cake (item 116760 for $39.95). It folds flat for mailing but when it is opened, look out, a 3-D cake pops up!!

American Idol Results

We're going to see if Simon is right. He thinks the ones who will be in trouble tonight are Anoop, Megan and Matt. Hope it's not Matt!

Their Ford video shoot was really cool! Next we get a sneak peek into the behind-the-scenes life of the Idol contestants. These guys are living the life.

Here we go - 3 groups of 3 each. My guess is they will pick one out of each of these groups.

• Matt, Megan & Kris
• Lil, Danny & Allison
• Anoop, Scott & Adam

Bottom 3 - Megan, Allison (???) & Anoop

What's up with Allison being in the bottom 3? I think there's no doubt the judges would save her. Megan is about getting on my last nerve! She keeps waving to the crowd and acting silly, like this isn't a big deal. She reminds me of a little wind up kewpie doll - wind her up and she'll perform for you. I really think she wants to go home and be with her baby. Wonder what she will do when they go on tour.

David Cook performed. His debut album has gone platinum in just 3 months. He was great!

Lady GaGa performed too .... not quite in the same league as David! I guess I'm showing my age but I didn't get her performance. What would Simon say to her if she was one of the contestants???? I can only imagine.

Megan is the lowest vote getter. Finally!! So THANKFULLY Megan is on the chopping block, and Simon doesn’t even bother to lead her on. He informs her that she won’t be saved, but she puts us through the torture of her final song just the same.

Diva Challenge

I've been on a roll the past couple of days!  I missed a whole week of card making, so I'm making up for lost time now.  Monday and Tuesday I made 8 cards!!  I decided to make a few to submit to a magazine.  I've had 2 cards published before, but it's been a while.  So, I decided to get cracking and see if I can get published again. 

Today, I only got one card made.  I had other things to do today!  But, decided to do a card for the Diva Coffee Break Challenge.  Here's the sketch -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have been going through some old stamps that I am going to put in the used stamp sale at Stampers Alley (May 2).  I brought a bunch of stamps back from Ashley's - mostly non-Stampin' Up stamps that I had given her when I started with Stampin' Up.  Now, she, like me, mostly uses Stampin' Up.  Of course, I had to go through the old stamps and pull out a few that I think are "keepers" and this is one of them.  The stamp is by Inky Antics and I think it is so cute.  I used my Copics to color her - note, I tried to make her  shoes a little scuffed and worn at the toes. 

 

American Idol Top 9 Perform

Tonight the top 9 are singing tunes from I-Tunes Top 100 Downloads. Guess the field is wide open for them tonight. Let's see how they do -

Anoop - Usher song - I hated the song! Randy like the vocals but didn't think it was the right song. Kara thought he played it safe and said she thinks some frat boys dared him to do Usher. Paula thinks he needs to work on stage presence. Simon nailed it when he said "it was a mess!"

Megan Joy - Bob Marley??? Maybe her voice is reggae?? It sure is strange. I think the judges are going to tear her up. And .... I'm right - Kara 's says she's in trouble!! Wrong song choice. Even Paula didn't like it or Simon or Randy. Think she's sang her last on Idol.

Danny - Rascal Flatts - What Hurts the Most - Finally - a good one! He was great. Paula's on her feet - a good sign. Simon says it's his BEST performance. All the judges agree!! Randy wants him to take the mike off the stand and rock it. Kara had goose bumps.

Allison - No Doubt - Don't Speak - Her hair and her outfit are something out of a science fiction movie or as Simon says, The Adams Family. Maybe a little Janis Joplin?? She doesn't need that. Randy agrees with me and wanted to know what in the world she was wearing. The judges thought her outfit was a little distracting and unnecessary. She played the guitar tonight and did a good job with the vocals too.

Scott - Billy Joel - Just the Way You Are - Great song but I wish he'd sing something a little more lively. He always does slow songs. And his hair??? Last week they dressed him up in pink pants and this week they "poufed" his hair up! Poor guy. Kara loved it all - the new look and the performance. Simon thinks it's his best performance - by a "country mile!" Randy says - one of the best of the night too.

Matt - Fray - You Found Me - He's keeping it current. I'm not familiar with the song, but I thought he was good. Paula doesn't agree with me - she thinks it wasn't a great performance. Simon thought it sounded uptight and wasn't a good commercial song. Again, the judges think it was the wrong song for him. Kara does not believe he deserves to go home. I AGREE! He should not have been in the bottom 3 last week.

Lil Rounds - Celine Dione - I Surrender - Wrong song choice - again! The judges don't usually like the contestants to do Celine. In my opinion, she was ok - not great. The song was too old fashioned for her and the judges agree. It didn't show her personality. Ryan interviewed her kids - how cute! The little girl was hugging on Randy!!

Adam - Wild Cherry - Play That Funky Music - He's looking more & more like Elvis to me! Well, Paula likes it - she's on her feet and dancing. Too much screaming for me but everyone else seems to like it. True genius is what Paula tells him. Simon thinks it was original. Randy loved it - in the star zone, hands down. Isn't that nice (or kissing up?) - he thanked Ricky Minor and the band!

Kris - Ain't No Sunshine - Kara is clapping during the performance - she must like it! I thought he was great and made the song his own. Randy thinks it's one of the best of the night. Kara's three words - That Is Artistry! Simon said he showed confidence tonight and it was his best performance.

My fav's - Danny, Matt, Kris

Bottom Three? Anoop, Megan, and maybe Lil Rounds - I think it's time for Megan to GO!

Monday Mailer

Here is the Monday Mailer I received when I returned home from my trip.  Isn't it great?  There is no stamping on this card .... makes it so easy!  She used Tea Party designer paper.  (Guess I'm going to add that to my wish list.)  She cut 3 of the flowers out of the paper and adhered them with a blue brad.  Such a spring-y card!

I'm Back!!

Well, I'm back home. Wow! Did we have fun! Everyone should have a daughter that is also a best friend. Over the next few days, I'll be sharing pictures with you of my trip.

When we arrived in DC, we took Mom and Angela downtown DC. We did a few touristy things - Smithsonian's and statues - as I described earlier in THIS post. Here is a picture of the 4 of us with the Capitol in the background. (you have to click on picture to see all 4 of us!)

Here's a picture of Mom and Angela with the Washington Monument behind them.

Here's the Hope Diamond - although this picture does not do it justice. But, you get an idea of how huge it is!

I love beautiful flowers - just not the work that goes into growing them! These are some of the gorgeous orchids that we saw in the Orchid display in the Smithsonian.

Monday Mailer

Here is the last April Monday Mailer I will be sending to Jennifer.  Love this Sock Monkey!!

Baby Card

This card is for Sean and Becca.  They are high school friends of my son's who have just announced they are pregnant!  They are the last of the "gang" to have a baby.

Did You Know?

•  It takes one ton of water to make one pound of refined sugar.
• A honeybee must tap 2 million flowers to make one pound of honey. A bee produces only one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey during her entire lifetime.
• American and Russian space flights have always included chocolate.
• The best selling chocolate bar in Russia is Snickers.
  ~The Amazing Book of Useless Information by Noel Botham &
             The Useless Information Society

American Idol Results - Matt in bottom?????

Well, I missed the results show last night!! After taking Mom & Angela to the airport, Sonny & I met Ashley downtown (at an Irish bar, are you surprised?). About 8:30, Ashley tells me that she taped the Pittsburgh basketball game (Sweet 16 and they won!) for her Dad instead of Idol. (She can only TiVo one thing at a time.) Well .... we were watching the basketball game at the bar anyway!!!

So, when we got home, we had to watch the results show on the internet.

Some elimination are real shockers, like last week's out-of-no where ousting of one-time favorite Alexis Grace. Eliminations like that, you don't see coming. And then there are others that are so obvious, even Scott McIntyre could see 'em coming. Like last night's eliminated singer, Michael Sarver. Not exactly a shock, there. The real surprise was that the judges still forced the poor schlub to sing in vain, in the hopes of getting a Judges' Save. Not gonna happen!

No surprise to see Michael and Scott in the bottom three. But, Matt???? For him to almost get eliminated last night. What the heck? Was America watching the same show as me this week? Did the people in TV Land watch Wed. night with the sound off? With the SCREEN off? Matt was at his best on Motown Night. He sang "Let's Get It On" and made you want to "get in on"! Simon and Randy even declared Matt a serious new threat in the competition after his killer, confident performance. I'm utterly baffled that Matt was in the bottom three. And I'm even more baffled, when I think about it, that he was in the bottom TWO--Scott was sent back to safety first, which means the lowest two vote-getters of the evening were in fact Michael and Matt. This would have made sense if Matt had stumbled through but he deserved to be in the TOP three, not the bottom. I dunno, maybe it was Opposite Day or something...

Anyhoo, America ultimately made the right decision and sent Michael, not Matt, packing. I have a feeling if it had been Matt in last place, the judges might have deliberated a little more seriously over whether to exercise their Judges' Save veto power (I don't for a moment think they ever considered using it on Michael, since Simon had emphatically declared last night that Sarver had "no chance of winning").