Rachel Carlson

moving day is FINALLY here!!!

WELL for TOMORROW that is.......i need a beverage or cupcakes already just thinking about it!  thanks to all of you that have been tuning in for the updates OR hearing it in person - sorry, it's almost over and i'll stop boring you with the details.  TODAY is the LAST day for box duty but i just needed to steal away for one last entry since our machines will go off-line tonight and hopefully be back on-line by late sunday, just in case you are trying to reach us? 

the moving truck arrives tomorrow and HUGE thanks to our friends that will be helping us with that part, you know who you are - we cannot thank you enough and will spend forever telling you over and over again so get used to it!

i leave you with some recent digital work:

digital credits:  our recent design team assignment using the fabulous tinkering ink digital kit at pclayers

the above layout was for the latest journaler's junction challenge - to document a word from the random word generator - this was great considering the state i'm in these days.  if you haven't checked these girls out, you should!

my words were:

jumping

raw

sigh

version

phrase 

i wanted to give a 'softness' to the hard-edged capacity that i am experiencing during this process.  i'm surprised the hubster still loves me.  and our 7yr-old choco-lab AND the new puppy - sigh.....at least i think they all still love me?!

NOT TO BORE YOU, I WON AGAIN:

did i forget to mention that i won again - HA!  it was a nice treat to find out that i won the latest blog challenge on the DesignX challenge blog - you girls are WAY too sweet and thanks again!!!  it was my layout from my last post.  check them out, they are challenging and thought-provoking.





the two designs above also from our recent dt assignments.  SO happy that Tinkering Ink has come to pclayers in a digital capacity - thank YOU so much!!!

and THEN there's the digiwerx kit "spring fling" by christina shuler  that we designed with last week.  she is also joining the digital brilliance at pclayers to offer us amazing kits to design with.  i met christina at cha in 2006 but have been using some of her other elements before meeting her.  you should also check out her amazing etsy shop too - WoWzers!!!  she is totally amazing and inspires me to dig deep.  HUGE hugs christina!

OKAY, back to work, i should NOT have been on here this long.  i have this 'neck' thing today too and it hurts like no other.  i KNOW, stress at it's finest!

happy weekend until we meet again....

SERIOUSLY, what is UP with this TINY print??!!  it's not in my edit post window!!!

we interrupt your regularly scheduled program...

which means we are STILL buried in boxes and will be buried until moving day NEXT weekend!!!  i'm putting the blog on hold so as to not lure myself off the M.O. (main objective).  please note:  i will not be back until the end of the month possibly longer??!!  i hope you'll come back for moving updates, puppy madness and the like..........why YES, i do wear silly socks every now and then!  can someone PLEASE send the GOOD witch with the magic wand???  i'll pay you back in cupcakes, anyone?!

i leave you with a recent design from a new challenge blog:   the design eXperiment - check it out, these girls are fabulous - HUGE hugs to my sweet friends on the dt - wendy reed and leslie ashe - miss you two SO much, your hugs mainly - tee, hee!!!

*7 Gypsies digital kit and Lazar elements*

here's the challenge from wendy reed:

Write a Haiku about today!   

*What is a Haiku you may ask, well here ya go...*   

hai·ku /?ha?ku/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[*hahy*-koo]   
1. a major form of Japanese verse, written in 17 syllables divided into 3 lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables, and employing highly evocative allusions and comparisons, often on the subject of nature or one of the seasons.

happy weekend and i'll catch up with all of you soon.............. 

chinese takeout anyone?

i'll take kung pao with a side of lomein - hee, hee! 

any questions?

as you know our choco-lab mix is named "lomein" and mr. max here will be kung pao max!

more on that later...........

happy friday, happy weekend - i'm off to wrestle with boxes AGAIN!!!

why are rugs SO expensive...

and other rambles............

long time no post!  and SO the countdown is on.  we are working so hard to be finished at the new house to be moved out of the old house by end of month - argh!  and we are SO tired!  we are doing something at the new house on a daily/weekend basis now.  have changed our moving date twice now or i'm not sure anymore really.

the rug above is one i found online the other day at target.com.  we need a rug for the "private door" room that we will share until we get hubby's roomed prepped which will take some time.  i'm okay with that because i'd rather share for now.  that room is now painted "cinnamon cake" and "bitter chocolate" - sounds yummy huh?!  seriously, the "bitter chocolate" color looked like the chocolate river in willy wonka (the original movie) but darker.  NOW i must find a recipe for these color combos and make a sweet treat to celebrate the room - cupcakes you think?

back to the RUG - grrrrrrrrrrr!  seriously, what are rugs made out of that they have to be so spendy!  they get dirty anyway and probably covered up with table and chairs, etc.  we really need a rug in the room downstairs.  i wanted splashes of red in this room and this rug works perfectly - POUT!

the pantry is done, the chalkboard wall is done, the room downstairs is done except for some touch-ups after peeling off some masking.  and NOW we just realized that we forgot to finish the cabinets where our dishes will live.  same shelf paper story in there - grrrrrrrrrrr!  i'm going to outlaw shelf paper OR teach people that you should remove the OLD shelf paper before putting down new shelf paper.  i have learned many lessons in this process.  one more coat of paint in the other cabinets and i'm DONE.  i will NEVER peel and paint again?!  OK, i wouldn't say never.....

pantry shelves BEFORE i started the orbital sanding. i had to scrape these clean before sanding - take that TWO layers of shelf paper!

pantry shelves AFTER orbital sanding.  a new canvas ready to go....

pantry shelves COMPLETE!  i even painted the drawers, pulling the hardware off first.  i also painted the shelving to the left there as there are also some above these shelves as well as painting the door trim inside/out AND that window in there.  and now i want to have a party in the pantry.  i can't wait to put all of our goodies in their places.  the swinging saloon doors will be left off.

remember that 'before' photo of the kitchen pantry, bathroom door and blank wall?

the chalkboard wall taped off.  YES, i'm that picky! 

COMPLETED chalkboard wall.  i think i like this wall better than the 'private door' now?!  more 'to do' items were added but also crossed off - WHEW!

and here are ALL the doors/walls COMPLETE!!!

in puppy news:  sadly, we still have not heard if we can bring max home, the adoption date is this friday and we need to know if it will be okay to bring the little dude home.  i'll be crushed if we can't!

back to work now...the boxes are mocking me and i need to fill more of them - grrrrrr!  i'm going to puke if i see another box.

have a great end of week!

forever inked in puppies!

and inspiration too!  and hands.  after all, you don't have fun unless your fingers aren't inked!  truth be told, i had a great time in tim's class yesterday.  i really did.  tim is filled to the brim with ideas.  and the class was small/personal enough to ask questions and pick his brain if needed.

we made an altered mirror (mirror from ikea) that can be used as a mirror, frame, cover to a box, etc. i haven't photographed it yet because i have to finish my title.  he used items from his idea-ology line.  i had seen these items at cha (two shows ago) and was so intrigued to finally get to play with some.  his grungeboard is really cool and we used his new mini elements during class along with his crackle paint and paint dabbers.  OH, and the fragments too!  i love me some fragments.  i had many ideas going through my head on how to further use these fragments.  must get them ordered at the store.  i learned that fragments require special instruction for proper use - WHEW!  i learned that his grunge board can be used in die-cut machines. i learned how to further ink with different types of blending tools.  i learned how to properly use a paint dabber and how to store them (upside down).  i learned how to use glossy accents as an adhesive (shhhh, i'll have to tell tow about that one).  i had already purchased some glossy accents for another idea i had and now i have another use for it. 

i KNOW, it's a LOT!  but i LOVE to take a class with intense technique teaching.  techniques that are new to me and that i WILL use.  that's what a class should be like.  cheers to you tim!

and cheers to you too mario!  a great assistant and picker of names - i LOVE my cosmo cricket prize package!  it was a great day and thanks again to you both.

THEN after work, me and the hubby headed to tara's for a puppy playdate!  after all, king max kung pao is growing FAST - ack!  we still need to get everything in order to be able to bring this guy home!?

do not adjust your screens, the hubster did not grow a tail out of his head - hee, hee!  this is the furry guy showering him with tons of puppy love. 

um YEAH, that's me getting some puppy love too!  um and check out just how much bigger mister max is now!  he's the biggest of all of them and furry too!

puppy pile takedown!

canines = FIVE
human = ?

can you find me in there?  seriously, there are THREE dogs to the right over there (can you count 3 tails), mister max in the center, bigger than all of them put together almost and mamma dog on the left over there.  puppy love, oh so sweet!

thanks to tara and her sweet family for having us over last night!

and NOW i'm prepping for a trip to ft. collins tomorrow with the girls.  i'm not allowed to bail and use my boxes as an excuse to not pack - ack!  but i have just discovered that i packed my photo paper in our 'moving' boxes and NOW i can't print photos for said crop-a-thon tomorrow - EEEEEEK!  sure i could easily go and buy photo paper BUT i have some awesome photo paper and i can't justify the spenditure right now - grrrrrr!   at least i can to layout prep and get it all done on paper and add photos later - all is not lost. 

thanks to my lovely hubby for letting me get away for a day - whew!

happy weekend all....

i'm off to see a boy about some ink...

thanks to the lovely monarch of all things paper and crafty, she has allowed me to skip school this morning (aka work), to attend the rogers rep show to take a class from the monarch of all things inky and altered?  TIM HOLTZ that is.   UGH, i'm not worthy to blog in the mornings.  nothing makes sense. 

OH!  i received the goody box, mentioned in the post below, yesterday on my door step.  WoWzers!!!  well, i didn't need another 'box' in our house, we have enough of those right now with project pack/move but GULP, the goods are FABULOUS!  thanks again cosmo cricket and tim holtz!

warm hugs from the land of snow.............ARGH!

TWO posts in one day....

*photo from tim holtz's bloggy*

GULP!  i quickly took a peek at tim's blog today and noticed that I WON his recent blog drawing (check it!) - ummmm, WOWZERS!  how generous he and cosmo cricket are - THANK YOU TIM!!!

AND i get to see mr. ink genius in all his glory this thursday, i'm taking a class from him.  wonder if he will hand deliver my prize winnings - EEEEK!!??

cheers to that!

life at the new place...

you can see it everywhere really.  i can't wait to see what all the buds on the trees will look like.  we have lots of flowering bushes, rose bushes, flower gardens and mature trees - hurry up and bloom!  we spent the entire weekend working on two areas that need to be done BEFORE we move in - argh!  i tackled a pantry that had shelf paper from probably 20 years ago?  peeling, scraping and i even used the orbital sander - scary!  take that pantry shelves!  i put the first coat of paint on it just yesterday and it will need probably two more coats.  while i was doing that, the hubby was very busy in the basement working on the 'private door' room that will eventually be my new space but will serve as a space for both of us until we can get his space done.  he did a great job filling holes, covering wall imperfections, rounding off corners, sanding, etc - lots of work to be done in this room!  we will then prime the walls/floor for painting in the days to come.  we DID finish one item and that was the chalkboard wall in the kitchen!  it looks really good.

here is the statue that pours water into the pond - i'll need to name her at some point?!  after all, we do name everything - hee, hee!

thanks for allowing us to share this project with you.....i know it must get boring at times.

have a great week!

NINE years ago today....

i agreed to go on a date with this beautiful boy!  what WERE we thinking - hee, hee!  two weeks earlier we met under THAT very dartboard in the background.  whatever we were thinking, it was ALL worth it and still is today.  thank you so much for putting up with me and taking very good care of me.  NINE years man! (said to the tune of a quote from "grosspointe blank").

and we are off and running, a mountain hike and back to work at the "1910 house"...........

AND THE WINNER(s) ARE........

VIV!  YOU WIN, WAHOOOOOOOOOO!

AND ANISA AND HOUSTON WIN TOO!!!

no offense to everyone else, SO glad that it was a local because i would hate to see what the shipping would have been for a package of this size - GULP!  and luckily i will be seeing you soon viv, WHEW!

sorry i have not photographed the goods but promise they ARE good - oh YESIREEEEEE!!!  we just spent the day at the "1910 house" doing prep work for move-in, let's just say that we will be working day in/day out on BOTH houses to get moved and settled!  what a day it has been and didn't leave room for much else.  we ARE going to treat ourselves to a morning in the mountains (a special day for us) and then it's back to work!

CONTEST updates and to be fair (in depth story from the hubby):  technically only TWO people followed the rules (anisa and houston) but i had 20 people enter the drawing.  SO, i entered all 20 people in the drawing and chose the a winner which was:  viv.  the two people that followed the rules ANISA and HOUSTON:  posting "cheers" in their comment AND making the deadline!  therefore, i've decided that BOTH anisa and houstong get a prize too.  TRUST ME, i could give you each a prize with the looks of the studio now but the shipping would break me, WAIT, i'm already broken - ACK!

STAY TUNED:  when we get settled in the new place and i'm wondering what to do with the things i should have given away 'before' moving - WELL, sounds like another contest to me!