It's been a while

Well the past week has been a blur to me. I was very busy with work and getting ready for a weekend away. I missed posting. I think I will try to post a bit more often in the weeks to come.

Well this past weekend I went to a scrapbook retreat in Central Illinois. It's called the All American Scrapbook Company retreat in Mt. Auburn, IL. It's held at a Christian camp. Now when I say camp I mean a building with bunk beds. We haul all of our gear ( which is a haul if you could see what I have) and scrap continuous throughout the weekend. This time I did an extended weekend (from Thursday to Sunday) instead of the usual Friday through Sunday. It was a good time. I really enjoyed myself. I am very proud to say I completed nineteen layouts! Yup you heard me right nineteen! Around fifteen of the layouts were 8 X 8 and the rest were 12 X 12. I was especially proud of one I made for a friend of her daughter. She is a cute little girl. I saw some patterned paper in my stash and realized it would be perfect. I actually put the layout together in what I consider to be a reasonable amount of time. If you would like to see my layouts you may check my website.

Getting back on Sunday late I was exhausted but I managed to get the truck unpacked. There were three of us in my Mom's truck and we had it loaded. It's amazing to see how much stuff three scrapbookers can bring on a weekend getaway. It's funny.

Now I am getting ready for a trip to Arkansas for a family reunion. I need to pack and prepare my house for the return. I am not looking forward to this actually. It would be nice to see family but the reunions are typically boring. All we do is sit around and talk and eat. That's it. No real activities. Just sitting around a hot lodge looking out at nothing really. BORING!

Well I do plan on taking my crocheting with me and a book. I will make the most of it. My cardigan is not finished. I think I will work on it next week. I just need to sew it together. It has me a bit puzzled though. I am just now realizing I am not sure what type of thread or yarn to use since it is a specialty yarn. I am a bit confused. I still need to make it to a few yarn stores so maybe I can get some help there. But in the meanwhile I have started on a new project. It's another crocheted cardigan. It's cute. I like it a lot. I bought some really nice yarn at JoAnn's to use with it and I think it will turn out beautiful. I will post a picture at a later date.

My creative space has come along nicely too. I just need to find a desk. I hope to get one by the end of the year. I first want to pay down some bills. I have been a spend thrift this summer. I need to find something to bring in a little extra income.

Well my update is complete. Stay tuned for more details!

Cas...

Good Day

Well today seems to be much better. It seems things I have had an issue with are now good. First thing would be my printer/scanner. It was the inkjet cartridges. They needed replacing. I thought this was odd because my printer usually tells me when the cartridges are low. I mean actually tells me! My computer always has a message which comes over the speakers when I am printing or if there is an error with the printer. I did need to reinstall the drivers though. Weird!

Second thing was my hair! I had a great hair day. It actually looked good. I was able to make it look a bit more fashionable. I felt cute actually. I styled my hair and dressed for work a bit more fashionable and I felt a lot better. This may work out! At least until I get my braids again. I really want them back! I have starting sweating in my head already and this is not good. It might be a fro before you know it!

Third thing was I received a package today. I didn't expect one but I found one on my doorstep when I arrived home. I was a bit paranoid when I saw it. You see I watch Court TV a lot and I saw a Forensics File episode where a husband sent his wife a bomb wrapped up like a present and left it on the porch. It killed her unfortunately. When I saw the package I started thinking about who could be angry with me. No one really but you can't be to careful !LOL! Anyway this is what I got.

It's a radio and speaker case. It also has a pocket for a portable CD player/MP3 player and twenty CDs. How cool is this! It came at a perfect time too! I am going away for the weekend so I can use it when I need some music! Sweet!

This is a magnet with a picture of my cat Edgar.

This is a pillow with a picture of Edgar. Isn't it cute! Edgar seems to like it too. I put it on the floor close to his scratcher and he sniffed it and really checked it out!

These wonderful gifts came from my job. I thought it was a wonderful surprise. The adminstrative assistant had asked me for some pictures of my cat. I thought it was to submit to a contest for pet pictures on the job. Well it wasn't! LOL! They sent it to me because we did a good job getting some work done. It's great to be appreciated by management. I am lucky to have such a thoughtful department.

Well as you can see I had a wonderful day. It rained here and I still believe it was a beautiful day. As the song goes "what a difference a day makes"!

As for the recipe I spoke of the other day I will post it. I suggest you do not count on it this week. It's a very long recipe to type out (but not a tough recipe). Maybe next week. I am a bit behind on a few things I need to take care of first. But I will post the recipe. I highly suggest you read my blog next week for it.

Toodle loo!

Another weekend gone by

Well my weekend did not start off too well. I can't seem to get my scanner to work. I can't seem to figure out what is wrong with it. The light keeps blinking. I think I may need a new cartridge but it usually tells me when the ink is getting low. I can't seem to get it to stop blinking. I need it for work too! I looked high and low for my instruction manual and I can't find it. I have used it frequently and I definitely have misplaced it. I don't know where it could be. Totally frustrating!

On to another blight on my weekend I went to get my hair done. I have worn braids for the past four months. I dyed my hair in December to try something different. I have dark hair. Very dark hair which tends to be hard to color. It's also very coarse and dry. My picture on blog was taken shortly after I got the color. To make a long story short. My hair began breaking off. I mean really breaking off! It became shorter and more brittle. In April I began to wear braids. I love braids! They are so nice. Well I tried to make an appointment on Friday to get my braids redone and the woman who does it was out of town. For the next two weeks! Arrghh! I was so sad. But I needed to get my hair done. So I had it permed and styled. She had to cut a lot of the colored part out which left me with shorter hair than before. I now look like Florence from the Jeffersons. I hate this hairstyle! I mean really hate it. My mom thinks it looks cute but I hate it with a passion! It's definitely an older woman's hairdo. What do you think?

Well I at least think it is a pretty good self portrait of myself. I had to tweak the hairstyle she gave me. She had it styled away from my forehead which is not flattering. I have a very square forehead which needs framing. So I combed some angled bangs to the front. The back is short (where most of the breakage occured) but not tapered. I can't wait to get my braids back. I do not enjoy rolling and styling my hair.

Well I am not going to continuing whining about my my weekend woes fortunately. One good thing came out of this weekend. While I was searching for my instructions to my scanner I found a recipe I couldn't find for years! I am so excited. It's a really good one too! Very tasty. I can't wait to make it but it won't be soon because I will be out of town for the next two weekends. I will post a picture when I make them!

I hope everyone had a good weekend!

Smooches!

Cancelled

O.K.

I have cancelled my garage sale. I am just not ready to do it. Everything I have sorted is in my mind and no where else. So I just decided to cancel it. I received my balloons and price tags today. It was tied to my door. I think I forgot to mention this was going to be a neighborhood garage sale. My weekends have been too busy to even put things aside. Only mentally did I decide what I wanted to sell. Oh well. I need to start doing some other things in my life.

O.K. Today I went in search of a good yarn store. Stacey from Crimson Purls made a comment which lead me to think about finding some help for my cardigan project. I am having some troubles with the directions. I really hate reading crochet and knitting patterns. They seem to be written in an ambiguous code or something. I am currently winging the cardigan on my own. I went to a yarn store in Plainfield, IL and talked with some ladies. Evidently there is a published author of crochet books there so she would be able to help me. She wasn't available when I was there but now I know where to go for help. Thank goodness. I guess I will attempt some classes one day when I know I can commit. But I had a good time browsing the store and looking at yarn. Boy are there many different types of yarn! Geez! I was a bit overwhelmed but ready to learn. I would love to do a pair of socks one day. That yarn is very expensive though. I really need to research how many skeins of $18.50 bamboo yarn I need for one pair of socks. I never paid that much when I bought socks. It's will be hard to spend that much when I make my first pair. Also I liked the yarn but I could not see myself accessorizing using them. Very bright and lively colors. I usually stick to black, navy or white. Well I guess I will just need to find something to go with my finished project. Of course this gives me a reason to shop! Tee Hee!

The name of the store I visited was called Peggy's Strands of Heaven. It's a very nice shop located in the downtown area of Plainfield. I really enjoyed myself there and met some wonderful ladies. I do hope to go back one day and sit around and crochet. I want to at least become an advanced intermediate crocheter before trying knitting.

While I was there I bought a book. It's called Knitters', Needlepointers', Crocheters', Weavers', & Spinners', Travel Guide 2007-2008 a guide to knitting, needlepoint, crocheting, weaving and spinning stores and guilds in the United States. It's a companion guide to Shopyarn.com. I thought it was a cool idea. I travel quite a bit for work and I thought this would be perfect for my travels. I can visit stores from all over! I did this with scrapbooking stores. It's a blast meeting people with the same interest as yourself. Try it sometime! Here is a picture of the book.


Just to give you a quick update on my cardigan here are some pictures.



This is the front of the cardigan. The left and right sides.



This is the back



This is one of the sleeves.

I have another sleeve to make. The sleeves are giving me some issues. I am winging it for now. They seem to be O.K. I will ask for some help at a yarn store later. There are several more in my immediate area and I think I will visit them sometime soon to see where I would like to go best.


Earlier this week I found this!


I have many digital scrapbook magazine idea books but this one was a newbie for me! I really like it. It reminds you of Creating Keepsakes "Computer Tricks for scrapbooking" by Jessica Sprague. This one is by BHG Scrapbooks. I think they are seriously giving Creating Keepsakes a run for their money for sure. Lots of great tips for using photo editing programs for your scrapbooking. Not just Adobe Photoshop elements. I can't wait to try some of these techinques!

I haven't done much photo editing just minor stuff. But I do have a nice collection of digital scrapbooking idea books. They are just fabulous! I have both of Renee Pearson's books and also a subscription to the new digital scrapbooking magazines. I just need to find the time to actually do some one day. I took Jessica Sprague's class at CKU and it was fabulous. We made two 12 X 12 layouts and they are too cool. I want to do more. I will probably stick to 8 X 8 pages or 6 X 6 pages. I will not invest in a large format printer. The ink, 12 X 12 paper, and space requirements are just too expensive for me. I rather print them in smaller format on my current printer. It seems more financially feasible.

On to other things. While I was looking for the yarn store (I failed to write down the address but I knew the vicinity) I dropped into a cute little store in downtown Plainfield called Pixie Pizazzi. It's a gift basket store. I asked the nice lady about the yarn store and she told me where to find it. I thought that was very nice of her to help me. I felt obliged to purchase something from her store. I browsed around the store and bought some fun stuff to try. Check it out!



I like to try different things and spicy garlic mushrooms and cheddar cheese soup was right up my alley. Of course I have had cheddar cheese soup before but not the spicy garlic mushrooms. At least not bottled ones. I have purchased some hot at the Renaissance Faire in Wisconsin. There were delicious to say the least. I will try these and post about them later.

Well I think I have babbled enough for now. I hope everyone is having a pleasant week!

Butterfly kisses to you all!

July 4th

I know I am a bit late but I thought I would share some of my photos from my July 4th with my cuz. We had a good time as always. We ate barbecue and sat around and talked. My cuz has a new house and it was wonderful. She is very lucky.

I took many pictures of my little cousin Kaden as you can see. He is adorable. I also took many photos of Camryn and Samantha too. They were very willing posers.

I will never go back to work after a holiday like that again. It was just awful trying to get back into the swing of things with work. Weird week. Next time I will just take some vacation days.

On another note I had a productive week with my new furniture. I did complete my last bookcase for my creative space. I also move many of my scrapbooking supplies and such to them. I also put together my new chair and installed my curtains. The room is really coming together. I am very proud of myself.

This Friday and Saturday will be my garage sale. Hopefully I will make enough money to pay off the new furniture. I still need to pull furniture and other necessities to sell. Wish me luck. I have tons of things to do.

I spent this last weekend with my mother and brother. My brother was in a wonderful mood most of the weekend. It was a blessing.

Anyway I apologize for the delay in posting. Life gets in the way sometimes. Hoepfully I will have my crocheted cardigan almost completed by the end of the week and I can post a picture.

Peace out!

Sunday Cookout fun...

Well this weekend ended very well. I went to a cookout my friend had at her campsite at Blackwell Forest Preserve in DuPage County. She camps out there for a week and she invited her friends to join her for an evening.

We had fun. We all brought something (I didn't bring something to grill) and we cooked and ate and sat by the campfire. It was a lot of fun.

Here is a picture of the group.

It's always a great time hanging out with good friends around a campfire.

I hope everyone had a good weekend too!

Let's be safe out there!

Cas...

So far so good!

So far this weekend I have been able to accomplish at least one thing I really wanted to do. I went to Ikea to buy my bookcases. I bought three and also purchased a nice executive chair too. I was very pleased with my purchases. Here is a picture of one of the bookcases I purchased. I actually bought two of these. I want to use them to store some of my scrapbook supplies. I do plan on moving some of those magazines to another bookcase I purchased. I only put the two narrow ones together.

This is the other bookcase I have in my creative space. I purchased another one like it but I have to put it together. I think I will do it on the 4th. I have a barbecue later that evening so I will put it together in the morning. I am so excited! Now I only need a desk and I saw one at Ikea I think I want to get. It was $59.99! Very simple desk. But it should be perfect for both scrapbooking and sewing! I can't wait to buy one!

My Mom came by early to allow me to use her truck. She spent most of the day with me. Unfortunately when she left she was in some horrible traffic. It usually takes her 40 minutes to get from my home to hers but it took around three hours! It was so horrible. We don't know what happened. She thinks it might have been holiday traffic. I think there was an accident somewhere. But I am glad she made it home safely if not exhausted.

Well here is my current progress on my crocheted cardigan.

I mentioned on a previous blog that I was having some issues. I was wondering if its noticeable on this picture. On the left side is the right side of my cardigan front. The right side is the left side of my cardigan front. The left cardigan front is one stitch smaller than my right side. It's one row shorter and one V-stitch shorter horizontally. I think my guage is off somewhat. I think I will attempt the left side again. I don't understand how this happened. I probably became more tense since I was having troubles with the instructions.

These booties I did while watching television last week. I have yet to sew them together. They are very easy to make and I thought I needed a break from the cardigan since I was getting frustrated. I used the same yarn I used on my previous baby blanket. I like making these booties. You can do them in about an hour.

Then next I started a granny square baby blanket with the leftover yarn. I ran out of yarn on the last row when I almost made it half way.

I had some similar yarn from some other old projects left over so I thought I would use it to finish off my granny square blanket. I will use the white next then finish it off with the multi color yarn. It should look pretty nice I think.

Moving on to other things I have done here is a scrapbook page I made at my monthly TAC (The Angel Company) workshop with my friend Marisa. She prepared this wonderful girls night out page for us to do. We learn and hone our skills on many different techniques. I have yet to decide which pictures to use.

This is one of the cards we made. It's really cute. You open the purse and there is a tube of lipstick stamped on the inside. It's too adorable!

This is the other card we made. I kinda smudged my "thanks for everything" greeting but I like it a lot. Very easy cards.

Last but not least! I stopped by a scrapbook store in Lake Zurich, IL and browsed. I didn't go to buy anything (yeah right!) just to see what the latest and greatest was out now. Look at what I found!

My name in BLING! I was so surprised. Cassandra is a pretty popular name in the African American community (at least I have found many in my own small world) but to find it in bling was just too much! I couldn't believe it! Then I find my last name too! Even though Jordan as a first name has become extremely popular. I see a really cute layout forming in my head. I can't wait to use these babies!

Well I hope you enjoyed my update. I really wanted to update this week but I was tired and a bit discouraged about my cardigan. But I haven't given up. You will see me more often this week.

DON'T GET NOTHING ON YA!

Cas...