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Who's taking attendance anyway?!

I'm not quite sure if I should feel regretful or not, but with deadlines looming and lots to finish this week, I took to playing hooky from school this morning. I desperately needed some downtime so that I could take some time to focus on other things besides school. School is really all encompassing at this point and everything outside it (minus Ethan) comes second place...at least it seems. Thankfully, there remains only two months left of the semester and then all is done for the year! I've decided to take the Summer off to revisit parts of my life that have been neglected as a result of the last chaotic nine months, including finishing my match.com profile...Summer dating is on the agenda!! 

So what exactly was this girl up to then if she wasn't in school this am? I confess, it was scrapbooking that came a callen'! I spent a couple of hours creating two "Card Menus" for Crate's blog, which are expected to post next week. The card with the rosette {above} is by far my fave - wish I could show you the whole thing, but then the surprise would be ruined! The other card is Summer-worthy Yellow and solely devoted to a couple of cute floral doodles and a masquerading butterfly. I'll have full tutorials posted for both cards when they're up and live at the CP blog next week :) 

Now that I've confessed of my early morning's disparaging behavior, I feel sort of better. The only thing really left to feel guilty about now is the math exam awaiting me that I desperately should be studying for right now!! How about it, anyone want to join me in a round of polynomial and quadratic functions? I'll let you do all the graphing!! Laugh. I bet Jing Jing would be more than willing (math guru!) to volunteer her serious graphing skills if I were to ask her!! Math is so not my subject of choice :)

Keeping it short - time for me to take off! Wish me luck with tonight's Algebra exam!!~CM

Box of Loveliness

Finished, finally. I should of probably had this to Tara by now, but it's been hectically chaotic around here since the start of the second half of my management systems course. This week alone I pushed at the computer keys for ten plus hours and that was for just the one class! And as far as I'm able to determine, the systems class is to go full force 'til the end of May. It's to be a painstaking two months...but hey, I'll be an Access & Excel pro when all is done!

I cherish this box and it's many hidden contents. I actually can hardly wait for Tara to receive it as I know it'll be greatly to her liking. I tucked three to four handmade art pieces inside the box in conjunction with vintage see-through glassine envelopes containing various notions and antique assorted papers from Hunt and Gather. I opted for the see-through box not because I thought it was particularly attractive, but because I prefer that the contents be seen as "a whole" from the outside. I also desired to create a unified connection between the gorgeous polka-dot fabric , tag and everything within. Shockingly, it came together really well..I wasn't sure if the plastic container would suffice here. What saved me was the soft texture of the fabric and the personalized tags..it's amazing what one can do with plastic from the kitchen section of The Container Store!! I'm tempted to buy more of these cute, practical containers for the organizing of scrap supplies...

 

Fabric doesn't necessarily require "trimming" is a worn look is preferred. In preparing the fabric for the box, I first had to select a fabric from my fabric stash. I opted for neutral because it kept from minimizing my tag color options. I laid the fabric on top my kitchen table and measured three inches in from it's edge (salvage at the bottom) and trimmed a notch (about a 1/4" inch in length). I then used the notch to tear the fabric along it's grain so as to create a long ribbon-like strip of fabric for wrapping around the box. A word of caution here - it's easy to ruin a perfectly good piece of fabric during this process. There are a number of quilters and seamstresses out there (including myself) that cringe at the idea of fabric being torn because it tends to pull at the weave..personally, I'm a scissors kind of gal when quilting. For the purpose of this project though, I'm all for tearing!!  

 

Moving along...I enjoyed dinner with a friend this evening and her two adorable daughters. We dined at the local Olive Garden, one of our favorite restaurants!! It seems that regularly me and Jing Jing get together and partake in lengthy conversations about our intrinsic liking of paper and embellishments and the numerous other things going on in our lives. She's such a wonderful, kind-hearted person and I always look forward to our gatherings. We've a lot of fun whenever we meet up (minus the two hour pizza wait..next time, lets do take-out Jing Jing!!)

Aren't her two daughters precious?! We've a play date set up in the future with the kids..at this point, Ethan won't stop talking about visiting Jing Jing's house. He's super excited and so is mom..new friends!! Yeah!!

Midnight has struck my friends! Thank you for sharing your Spring Goals with me..we'll see if any of mine pan out into something that's tangible and beneficial long-term. Next goal to tackle - officiate the dating process!! Saving this conversation for later :) Have a fab weekend everyone! ~CM