So, how lame am I? Sara tagged me on...um...November 28. Yes, I'm that lame. So now I get to come up with seven things about me that you guys don't know. The fun part will be tagging 7 of you peeps!

1. I am a massive bookworm. I've been reading since I was 3.5.

2. I am petrified of going to the dentist. I'm working on getting over this one, but really I still need valium for anything more than a cleaning - and I do better with a cleaning if I'm medicated for that, too.

3. I played the clarinet (both B flat and E flat) and the baritone saxophone in high school. I learned to play the flute as well and I still noodle around on both clarinet and flute on occasion.

4. I wanted to play for a professional orchestra. It wasn't a "realistic" goal, according to my family and I didn't have the courage to attend college as a music major, so I lost my chops. Sometimes I still think about it, though.

5. I was born on Easter - and my grandparents' wedding anniversary. My birthday fell on Easter a second time in 1980 and will again in 2042.

6. My children were all born in even years when I was an odd age. The days of the month were (not in order of age) 7, 9, 11 and 13. Holly broke the series and was born at 10:52 pm on the 14th.

7. During most of my childhood, I had 7 living grandparents and 3 living great-grandparents. Nanny (my mom's mother) remarried when I was about 6 or 7, so I briefly had 8 grandparents, but he passed away when I was 12 and I only met him once. Oh! And I had another 2 grandparents when my mom remarried the first time, but I never met them at all, so I don't count them. I got one extra when Mom got married in 1989. She's the only one left and she sends me the nicest rosaries every so often.

Gramps - 1987, cancer
Grandma Rinear - 1989, a blood clot following major surgery
Grandpa Rinear - 1991 (this one was SO hard - he had a heart attack with me standing there helpless to do anything)
Grandpa Pinson - 1992, cancer
Great-grandmother - not sure. They didn't actually tell me until after Papa John died. (I think we were in AK, so 94 or 95)
Papa John - 1996, heart attack
Grandmother - 1997
Grammy - 1999, old age (96)
Nanny - 2001, complications from a stroke
Grandma Pinson - December 23, 2002, a stroke and age (she was near 90)

What made me think of this are the recent losses that Tonya and Marsha (and Jimmi's sister) have suffered. Although it looks really, really bad in print, I was SO lucky! I had them for so many years. I had a lot of friends who never knew their grandparents...and I had an abundance of them. Other than the few I didn't (or barely) knew, I was able to spend so much time with them. I have so many good memories and so many things they all taught me - and the love I was shown. On both sides, I was the first grandchild, and for many years, Nanny's only grandchild.

It was because of them that I wanted to have my children while I was young. I wanted to give them grandparents. I wanted them to have what I did. And while I miss them all terribly, I have pictures. I started scrapbooking in part to keep their memories alive. So I want to thank Sara for tagging me and Tonya, in particular, for reminding me not what I've lost, but what and who I've been fortunate enough to have in my life.

With that said, here are my 7 tagees:
Lisa
Jacqueline
Tonya
Ashley
Lee
Tanis
the other Carole (I had to!)
And if she wants to, my dearest friend Jenny. I won't make it official, since she would be #8.

I guess I've never been very good at following rules.

Hip Hop Holiday Hangover!

I can't believe I hopped until some ungodly hour last night. Er, this morning. But! I have pictures finally. So, without further delay, here we go.

These are all for an ATC swap on Swap-bot that called for ladybugs. I tried to use stamps other than Unity - but I just couldn't do it! I do have a few other ladybugs, but I just like these more. There are actually two swaps involved. One is for one ATC to one partner and the other is for two ATCs to a single partner. I decided to make each partner an extra.

The first two use the Big Cute Bug stamp. I stamped them, embossed them, coloured them with Copics and cut them out before putting them on their backgrounds. The first one I did, I actually cut around the antennae. Never again!!!

I got smart on the second one and embossed the antennae directly onto the background. I think it looks a lot better - and it was so much faster and easier.

I used twinkling H2Os on the backgrounds of the next two. The first one came out really dark. Then, of course, I couldn't find the ink I wanted for the sentiment - I found it last night, but these two have been being flattened, as they were a little on the wavy side from all the water. Once I added the Spica marker and the silver embossing, I think they perked up quite a bit. Both the trail of ladybugs and the sentiment are from the Cute as a Bug set, which I think will be sold only as single wood-mounted slides after the new year. (Please correct me if I'm wrong, Angela!)

The last one has the same brayered background as the first two and the ladybug trail from the second two. The flowers, which were stamped in three different chalk inks, came from the August KOTM - Remember Happiness. For the sentiment, which came from Fall Festival, I used twinkling H2Os and reverse embossing with clear embossing powder.

My next project will be a couple scrapbook pages and then some snowman ATCs for another swap. I'm so glad classes are over. If I can finish up Christmas cards, I'll really be rocking!

Happy December! Where on earth did the time go? I have been a busy little beaver the past week, hence no posts from me.

I had six paintings to do for one of my classes. That was pretty much all I did Thanksgiving weekend (and the weekend before and all this week!) I got the last one turned in and now I just have to make it through the final critique next Thursday and that class will be over. My Drawing 1 class has its final critique on Monday morning. I'll be posting a couple of the drawings afterward. There are a few I'm actually kind of proud of.

So, Hip Hop! Fun as usual! I get so recharged by everyone there. I won the Time for Tea stamp from this Unity kit from the lovely Maren for guessing that she was wearing a red shirt. I don't have that one and it had been on my wish list, so I am totally thrilled! Okay, I would've been thrilled no matter what, but getting one off my wish list made it extra sweet.

I finally found something to finish the Prince of Peace card from a couple posts ago. What do you think? I am thinking it is just about a million times better now. It looks finished. Lee was right. It needed some blingage. I am much happier with it now.I'm working on a few ATCs this morning. I'm using the giant ladybug from Cute as A Bug. I'll post pics shortly. Need to get 'em finished first. I'm having fun embossing right now. I admit it, I'm a glitter girl.

Hey, if anyone knows how to make the background of this blog something other than stark white, can you please let me know? I haven't quite figured that one out yet.

Have a great one.