I'm Making a List...Checkin' It Twice...

not because Santa's comin' to town, but because I'm goin' downtown tomorrow! Sandy is hosting a SAS for 6 of her colleagues/friends after work at her office. Since I have to "take the show on the road", I am checking, double-checking, and triple-checking my supplies in order not to forget anything.

Those of you who have come to classes at my house know how crucial this is, because I'm back and forth between my craft room and the dining room table umpteen times during each class for stuff that has been left there! There's no Hobby Lobby or Michael's nearby, so I'll be so hosed if I neglect to bring everything I need.

Since my boss was kind enough to give me the day off tomorrow, and I can check things over in the morning, I have procrastinated awhile this evening making some cards for a little girl I don't know. Her name is Abbie, and her mom is a fellow blogger. I'm going to meet her (the mom, Stephanie) Saturday night at a blog party. What's a blog party, you ask? Well, this one (I can't say what others are like, since I've never been to another gathering like this!) is a meetup of bloggers who all read Heather Whittaker's blog.

Anyway, Abbie LOVES owls, and I thought she'd enjoy getting some cards made with owls. How do I know she loves owls? Her mom posted about it here, and so the cards I've made coordinate with her room's colors.

The owls are from the set Owl for You, new to the Fall-Winter Catalog. In this first card, the birds have beeen stamped on the card stock and cut out, and the winged one has been paper pieced. They're perched in the tree from Season of Friendship. I went with brown leaves because it's fall and because I didn't want to detract from the colorful birds. I had the hardest time deciding where to mount the "hoot-hoot hurray!", and I'm not sure it's best where it is, but what's done is done.

In the second card, I colored each owl using the four colors shown in the bedding--Baja Breeze, Old Olive, Pretty in Pink, and Pumpkin Pie. If you click on the picture, you can examine each owl more closely. My favorite is the first one, with multi-colored rings around his eyes. I also had a great deal of fun positioning each one on some branch of the tree. I had these left over from another card I made. Saving scraps is ALWAYS a good thing!

Managing to incorporate the sayings was the most challenging, as all these images were courtesy of Lydia from Understand Blue. Thanks, girlfriend! This meant that I had to cut out the word "hoot" from a couple of the stampings of the sentiment "hoot-hoot hurray!" that she'd provided. The other sentiment she sent was "you're a hoot!" which I also used. There are several others, including "something for you from owl of us," "whoo-la-la!," and "guess whoo loves you!". There's a tree branch, a balloon, a party hat, a long stemmed flower, and 3 hearts in this 14-piece set.

I hope you can tell that one of the owls "flies" on each card. I did this by creating a paper spring and mounting the image to it. This closeup should help you get the idea, but if you want a full tutorial on this, check the "spring technique" label category in the sidebar.

Sorry I've been quiet, but now you have some idea why. There's a lot going on around here, and I'm just not getting much down time. Here are a few other things happening this weekend.

1) Heather, the blog party hostess, asked me to make the nametags for all those coming--about 40!
2) I'm hosting 2 folks on Friday and Saturday night...adventurous college kids who are traveling from IN for the festivities!
3) I signed up to make a batch of cookies and 10 Christmas cards as part of a team effort to supply a battalion of servicemen with Christmas cheer. Those need to go in the mail on the 10th.
4) I have to attend a learning coach class on Saturday so that I can officially teach other partners what I have learned while working at Starbucks this past year.
5) We're going to a potluck Sunday evening and have to make soup to bring.

All good stuff; I'm just going to be exhausted by the time it's all done!

Here's a funny photo from the weekend that I'll leave you with. What do you do when you're bored on a Sunday afternoon? You climb the walls! Notice where Michael's hands are compared to Bob's...