Play Day

Today was my day off. I had a loose idea of what I wanted to accomplish today: a bit of housecleaning for our guests who arrive Friday, do some grocery shopping before the guy comes to install the new dishwasher, go to the post office, and stamp. The day didn't go at all as planned, but it was great nonetheless.

Before all those errands I wanted to run, I knew I was starting the day with coffee with Melissa, a fellow partner at Starbucks. (We know it's ironic that we were meeting to have coffee when we work at a coffee shop.) While at her house, I was thoroughly greeted by her three large dogs, we talked, and I learned how to grind the finish off an aluminum rod. Not all surprises, because I knew before going to her house that she is a welder who sculpts things from metal, and that we share a love of dogs. But, what I didn't know this trip to her house would change my look.

Melissa used to cut hair and do color, and she asked me if she could cut my hair. I thought for a moment about my tendency to not take risks, but I decided that it was just hair and that it wouldn't ruin my world if it wasn't the greatest. Oh how wonderful a treat this turned out to be! She did a great job, and then she asked if she could give me highlights! Bob had been after me to get this done, but I hadn't wanted to spend the money. Well, what a gift Melissa gave me by doing this! The expression on my face in this picture is NOT an indication of how I feel about my new look. I love it!

So, now it was 3pm and the rest of the day's agenda was not going to happen, so I thought I'd try to do a little of the intended housecleaning. Dogs are so messy...they leave their hair everywhere! I got as far as getting the vacuum out, but the lure of the craft room was just too great to withstand.
See, I really did have good intentions...but I've been frustrated lately at my lack of gumption to create, so I made myself sit down and make something.

I'd been perusing several blogs and knew there was a layout and a technique I wanted to try, so I got right to work. Here's the result:

This card was made using the Wanted set, and a technique that I learned about from Erika Martin's blog, Stampin' Mama. It involves bleaching the paper after stamping and embossing the image, and the whole thing grew on me as I worked with it. At first I didn't care for the bleached effect, but I persisted and ended up being happy with the result. Here's a shot of the inside of the card.

It's called a reverse pocket card, and the medallion at the bottom right is attached to a little notecard. You could put a gift card in there and really make someone's day. I CASE'd this from Michelle Wooderson's blog, Mish Mash.

Well, I'm not getting to post as often as I used to, but I hope you're still enjoying reading. I'll leave you with two pictures of my dogs, which were taken this past Saturday. Perhaps this is why they're retaliating and leaving hair all over my house! Baths are NOT their idea of a good time, can you tell?