Ever have days like this?

Ever have days when your to do list looks and feels like this picture? It's been a busy week for me and it will be this way until the end of the month. My mantra has been "one frog at a time" from the Brain Tracy book "Eat that Frog".
The photo is from one of my CJ buddies Sue (see my blog roll) who loves to hike and actually climbed up to the top of this peak. Sue called it hiking, I would call it more rock climbing, along with a few other expressions. If I can't hike Nepal this year, maybe I will go out and hike and crawl up this thing. :)

Cats & Bats Class

While I had Lucy keeping Purrcy busy, I got a photo of my "Cats and Bats" sample board. It's another easy and quick class using two of my favorite themes, Cats and Halloween.

Cats & Bats with Purrcy

I was getting ready to take a photo of my class "Cats and Bats" when Purrcy decided he needed to have my undivided attention. He's never done this before and every time I picked him up to move him to his play pen, he would jump out and roll around the cards. Don't worry, the cars are in plastic covers I use when I display the board at the store. I finally had to find Lucy who made sure Purrcy didn't get in the way. Turning your back on Lucy is not a wise thing for any cat to do in our house. :)

Talking about AC units

As I was talking about getting a new AC unit for my studio, I have another story about a portable AC unit. I've had a Grand Jeep Cherokee for 15 years - yes we keep all our cars for that long. My Jeep finally threw in the towel right before the heat wave hit California. My AC went out (the fans stopped working) then the power windows stop working. Ever drive in a car during a heat wave with no AC and couldn't roll down the windows? I've been looking for a new car for some time now. During my CJ retreat week, I rode around in Patty's Lexus RX300 during our marathon scrapbooking store shopping. After grilling Patty about her car, I decided that was the car I was going to get. Come to find out the second hottest car to buy is (that means it's on back ordered with a long waiting list) - yes you guessed it - the Lexus RX. Remember I'm still driving around in a car with no AC during a heat wave. What's a girl to do? I brought Patty's Lexus! So now I think I have all my AC issues under control.

New Additon To My Studio - RD2D

Seems like it's been days since I last posted anything - well it really has been almost a week. As usual something is always going on here at Flatfishpaperarts. For the last week we've had unseasonably high temperatures during the day. One of the nice things living in the Bay Area is when the sun goes down so does the temperature. One thing I notice right after my studio was finished was how nice and warm the room was when I had all 27 true light bulbs on. I knew when summer rolled around this could become BIG problem. With the Zindorf workshop only a few weeks away it was time to bit the bullet and get AC unit for the studio. There was a perfect space for it in the corner of the studio - almost like I had planned to have one there all along. I've now named it RD2D It's working out so well, we got for my Dad too!

Zindorf Workshop

Here are the photos of the three projects Michelle will do at her workshop next month out here in California. I've been busy gathering all the supplies and double checking the list - can't wait!!!

Zindorf Workshop - Stamps

Here is are the stamp sets by Innovation Stamps Creations we will be using at Michelle Zindorf's workshop next month.

Happy 4th of July Chad!

Every year my family gets together to celebrate the 4th with a big BBQ and then a walk to Central Park to watch the fireworks. My son Chad is currently on his fifth deployment to the Middle East. We wanted to let Chad and his crew know that we are thinking of them and appreciate all that they are doing.

Simply Happy Halloween Class

Here is my sample board for my "Simply Happy Halloween" card class that I will be teaching at Cranberry Hill. I LOVE Halloween and making cards is even more fun! You can get really messy with your cards and they still look Halloweenish.
The cards are really simple (hint was in the title) so people can make them in a wave of a wand. (O.K. I just had to say that.) I have more Halloween stamps and designs waiting for me on my design table. Keep checking back, I will post them as soon as I get them done.

Feline Funnies

These are the samples for my "Feline Funnies" class in August. It's quick and simple card class in honor of all those fur babies with attitude! Lucy (my cat) was the creative inspiration for most of the cards. This morning she made sure she got all the attention. Coughed up a hair ball, beat up Purrcy (my other cat) and made him cry loud enough to get my attention and then ran around the house like the race car. I really love the card on the left - talk to the tail. When Lucy is really mad at us, she will turn her back to us and not make eye contact. I've heard that other cats do this when not happy with their people.

Plum Poppers

I'm not a big fan of plums - just can't get over the tart taste of the skin and pit. We picked some plums at a friend's house this weekend and they smell soooo good. I decided that I had to find a way to bypass the skin and get to the tasty stuff inside.I now call them "plum poppers". I break the top of the plum and quickly suck out sweet stuff. This all has to be done super fast because ripe plums are really juicy. I do have to stand over the sink but so far it's working. Anybody else do plum poppers?

New Background Class

These are the samples for my next class at Cranberry Hill. It's a background technique class using alcohol inks, re-inkers, twinkling H2O, masking and sponging. Can you see the heavy influence of Michelle Zindorf - my creative muse? When I have those creative blocks and no chocolate in the house, I always ask myself what would MZ do? I'm still brayer challenged so I have to sponge on everything. Can't wait for Michelle to be out here and show us all how she does. If you haven't yet visited her blog and great tutorials go to my blog roll and click on Zindorf.