Suck it up Cupcake!

Again, it has been too long. I’ve started a second job and it is taking some adjustment to working 20 more hours a week. I am now a barista for Starbucks. I guess the free coffee should give aid in adjusting to the increased work load. So far it seems to be a great company to work for with possible long term options. I will be working at a brand new store that is opening a few miles from home. Currently I’ve been training at a store in Portland and learning to speak Starbuksese. Soon I can add “fluent in typo and Starbuckese” to my resume. The biggest drawback to this job is that most days will be going in at 4 a.m. Do I even bother going to sleep?

I’ve been tagged by my friend Jami over at More is More. These were fun to answer.

1. YOUR ROCKSTAR NAME (first pet, current car): Muffin Voyager

2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME (favorite ice cream, favorite cookie): Vanilla Snickerdoodle

3. YOUR FLY “GUY/GIRL” NAME (first initial first name, first 3 letters last name): J-NEW

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME (favorite color, favorite animal): Red Dog

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (middle name, city where you were born): Dean Nacogdoches

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME (first 3 letters last name, first 2 letters first name): NEWJE

7. YOUR SUPERHERO NAME (2nd favorite color, favorite drink, & add “the”): The Pink Coke

8. YOUR NASCAR NAME (first names of your Grandfathers): Hubert Eldon

9. YOUR STRIPPER NAME (favorite perfume, favorite candy): Beautiful Snickers

10. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME (Mother’s & Father’s middle names): Donna Bert

Thank you Jami! I can’t wait to see you again in a few weeks. I’m tagging anyone who hasn’t already been tagged and wants to join in the fun.

My sister and BIL went back home earlier this week. We had a great time. Last Saturday we went to the coast and spent some time there. One of our favorite places to visit is the tide pools. We saw starfish, crabs, harbor seals and gray whales. Most of all it was great to spend the day with them and laugh and laugh. They are two of the funniest people I know. Hey Rach, what is up with all this wifi?

On to the project. When I first saw the preview brochure and saw Baroque Motifs I thought it was ugly. But this Jeanne S creation changed my mind. I can’t quit using it now.

I *heart* the dollar store. There are many secret treasures there waiting to be transformed. I found these square shadow boxes with cheap, plastic gold crosses in them. I flipped it over and there were two little screws on the back. I was able to take it apart, flip the cheap art out and replace it with my creation. I stamped the background piece with the swirl stamp from Baroque and wanted to tie the black from the frame in. So I stamped the small flower in basic black ink, but it was a little too harsh. I took my stardust pen and colored over those. This mimicked the color of the frame. For the focal image I stamped in basic black ink on river rock paper and embossed it, then colored again with the stardust pen. Very sparkly! I then attached the focal image with dimensionals. I will be going back to the store to buy more of these frames.

Thanks to Andee Cate for my watermark. I finally figured it out.

Stamps: Baroque Motifs
Ink: Close to Cocoa, Basic Black
Paper: Close to Cocoa, River Rock
Accessories: Vintage Brad, clear embossing powder, stardust pen, frame

Here is a picture of Rachel and I from last weekend.

My sister and her husband are here visiting this week. I love and miss them both so much. It stinks living on opposite sides of the country. They were supposed to arrive Tuesday night, but due to a multitude of issues they didn’t arrive until Wednesday. I feel cheated! We spent tonight stamping. I can’t quit using Baroque Motifs. Originally I was not impressed with this set. It is not my style at all. Ever since Mr. Brown delivered it though, it is my go to set.

This first card was for the sketch challenge this week. This is not what I originally had in my head when I started, but this is what evolved and happened. I made my first transparency overlay card. Very fun and I see more of these in my future. The card base was stamped with the swirls from Baroque Motifs in Soft Sky ink. I then use Purely Pomegranate ink to stamp the small flower. The transparency was stamped with Blazing Red stazon and I thought it was close to the Pomegranate. A strip of Soft Sky DP was placed on the transparency. Lastly I stamped the medallion on a transparency and cut it out. It is attached with a jewelwed brad. Thanks Roxie for a great sketch again this week.

Stamps: Baroque Motifs
Ink: Soft Sky, Purely Pomegranate, Blazing Red stazon
Paper: Soft Sky cardstock and DP, transparency
Accessories: MM jeweled brad

This next card was so fun. I *heart* the look of black embossing on black cardstock. It looks so elegant. I attached the black panel to the card base before stamping. I stamped the swirls in black and then embossed. I knew that the card needed a little something more and Rachel found my rhinestone ribbon slides. This was the perfect touch tied with a little bit of silver organdy. It was still a bit plain, so I added the small flower stamped in silver randomly around the swirls. And following Jami’s philosophy of more is more I added some stickles to the centers of the flowers.

Stamps: Baroque Motifs
Ink: Basic Black, Versamark, Silver
Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White
Accessories: ribbon slide, organdy ribbon

This weekend we are headed to the beach, so I probably won’t update again until next week. If you want to know when that happens you can click on the orange feedblitz box on the right side of the screen. Have a great weekend!