On a bright note, I did some gardening, cut the grass with our brand-new lawnmower with an attached bag (woo hoo!! Of course, when the grass is still a tad damp from the rain, the bag doesn't do a damn thing...so I still had to rake up a bunch of grass). We have a brand-new lawnmower because my wonderful husband managed to break TWO lawnmowers last weekend. Yep, two!!! He decided our gas lawnmower needed oil, so he dumped so much in there that it overflowed and essentially inundated the engine. It's still leaking out of the lawnmower...8 days later. Then he pulled out an electric lawnmower that his old boss gave us when he moved a few weeks ago. This stupid thing was like "baby's first lawnmower": I think my 3-year-old niece could have operated it without a problem. Yet, somehow the engine overheated and shut down on that one...so we were without a lawnmower. I had to borrow the neighbor's just to get the grass cut. Needless to say, my husband is not allowed to do anything with this new lawnmower (we won't even discuss the fact that he broke the carpet steam cleaner a few months ago...he just needs to stay away from all large moveable appliances!!).
On a bright stamping note, I've gotten a lot accomplished this week! I finished three ATC technique swaps for a swap on Splitcoast, and completed a 6 x 6 scrapbook I'm sending to my mother-in-law. It looks really cute, and I'm half tempted to keep the thing because I love it! My husband lived over here in England when he was a child, as my father-in-law is retired Air Force. So I made a scrapbook with all pictures of England so they could be reminded of things they saw while they lived here, and also how things may have changed (as the skyline of London has most definitely changed...and my picture shows about 10 construction cranes throughout!!). But it got me in the mood to do more scrapbooking, which is good. I'm also making something special for my mother...but I'm not mentioning what because she sometimes reads this blog!!
So this is the first swap I completed. As it was a technique swap, I decided to try three techniques I have never done before. I actually read about this one, called the Faux Alcohol Ink technique, on Emily Giovanni's website. It's really neat: you take a cotton ball, soak it in rubbing alcohol, then apply drops of ink to the cotton ball. Then just dab it all over your cardstock! The first time I did it it was really bright, but this turned out perfect. I loved doing it, and it was cool because every piece was different. I will say that I used large cotton balls that I purchased at Tesco (essentially our version of a WalMart or Target), and I could use that one cotton ball on an entire sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock. I didn't even have to reink it!! To add a little zest to it, I colored the center of the flower (using a blender pen and Buckaroo Blue ink) then applied Crystal Effects. I wish that I had put a brad or some ribbon on it (just because I'm the embellishment queen), but I do love how it turned out. I'll post my other two swaps in the next few days!!Supplies (All Stampin' Up!)
Stamps: Doodle This, Warm Words
Paper: Buckaroo Blue, Whisper White
Ink: Black Stazon
Reinkers: Barely Banana, Buckaroo Blue, Certainly Celery
Accessories: Crystal Effects, Ticket Corner Punch
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