Hat, Cody the swimmer and Framelits

Here's the hat I wore at the craft show - hmmm, I know!

Phase 1: Just the strip like a crown (worn Saturday).

Phase 2: The cross sections and the first circle (worn Sunday).

Phase 3: The four extra loops (worn Sunday after 2pm. The craziness starts to set in then).

I know for a fact that some people could not be paid to wear something like this - I thought it was fun though. Plus it's easy to wear something on your head when you can't even see what you look like.

I did drink a lot of water like I said, so I could go check myself out in the mirror in the bathroom. I really wanted to see what the extra circles looked like. They were...interesting...ha ha. I just plopped my hat back on my head and went out and did my thing.

Who cares? Like really, who cares? Nobody. Life's too short, so wear the hat, I say.

Thought I'd finish today with some cute photos of the dog that I saw when I was going through all the photos on our computer - he's grown so much.

I remember this time - everything was so new for all of us. We didn't know him and he didn't know us. That soon changed and we became buds in no time.

Look at the tummy!

:o)

What a joy he is...and a great swimmer!

He swam outta sight on Saturday and I'm like, "Hello? Come back..." (Andrew wasn't concerned of course). He did came back pretty quickly - he was chugging down the river like a paddle steamer - so funny.

He was originally chasing a duck and when the duck got outta reach, he came back to find us and the ball. The teacher in me found the whole out-of-my-sight thing hard.  Far out, get back here where I can see you.

Anyway, Andrew's not a teacher, he's a guy, and guys don't tend to worry about stuff like that as much as us girls. I'm told he's in charge when we go to places like this. I'd just like fences over the river to keep him wrangled in one spot!

And to finally finish, some Cody cards.

I had them on display at the craft show - they were just the photos on the cards. I made them using the new Sizzix Framelit dies. They're so great - they cut the shapes as just shapes ie. big punches!

I really like Spellbinders and have a few sets, but sometimes when I go to just cut they still emboss a bit and I have to wrangle the whole die cutting to get them to just cut and cut only.

The Framelits cut the shape - one pass through the machine and fabbo, done.

Also, because they just cut, they're good for framing things (thus the name) for cutting like the photos below (you'll see on the link above that they're also bringing out Framelits that match stamps).

I put the square die over the photo and moved it until I got Cody positioned where I wanted him in the square. Ah la Jennifer McGuire, I put a post it note on the die to hold it and the photo together, and then die cut it.

(Honestly, that's one of the best tips I've received in a long time. Gotta hold something still while die cutting? Use the sticky bit of the post it note to hold your paper to your die or whatever. You just peel it off when you're done. Thanks, Jennifer....no really, thanks).

I also used the Framelits to cut the card base. I folded my card and put the fold just inside the top die line (so it wouldn't get cut) and then die cut it. All three sides cut except that top one where the fold was...viola, square card.

Yes, I could've used a trimmer, but I didn't have to measure anything because the two square dies (base and then layer) I used fit perfectly. So quick and neat at the same time.

And I bought the little label dies at the show for 10 bucks. Three punches essentially for 10 dollars - they were made for the Presto Punch from Spellbinders, but PC just carries the dies. They work in your Cuttlebug and Big Shot, so good one.

The heart is from the orange four-in-one Heart punch from Sullivans.

And that's my dog. My gorgeous dog. The photo was taken the day after he had an allergic reaction and was all puffy. Poor fella. Makes me shake my head - he (we) didn't know what was going on and it was a bit hard there for a while.

Love you, doggie, I'll come and throw the ball to you in a while, hey?

Have a great day everyone!