a day off ... and: CKC / Tulsa purchases!!!

The show that I'm stage managing opens THIS Friday night!!!  We had a technical rehearsal that lasted until a little past 11pm, last night.  What's a technical rehearsal?  In English, "technical rehearsal" translates to "pure living hell."  Want to punish a misbehaving child?  Send them to me, I'll make them sit next to me as we run light cues while stopping and starting a rehearsal FOR TEN HOURS.  They will never misbehave again...

But TODAY - ladies and gentlemen - I have had a day off...

It's been so so nice.

How did I manage a day off when the show opens on FRIDAY?  Because the rented sound system is being delivered, installed and tested.  And I don't know nothin' bout installing or testing no sound systems!

SO:  I thought I would use this moment to share with you MY CKC / TULSA SHOPPING HAUL!

I know you've been holding your breath.  Haha.

But I love seeing what people buy.  Why?  No idea.  And I love sharing.  Because you never know, I might be stuck and ask for advice and one of you lovely people with good memories might say, "Kory! Grab those classy embellishments you scored at CKC!"

Take a look at these classy alpha stickers and ... other sticker-y fun!

Classy embellishments- lots of the hit "9 to 5" collection from October Afternoon, the kickass wood cameras from Studio Calico that everybody and their mom are stickin' on stuff AND those very cool letter tiles...

A plastic bag of Tim Holtz 'singles,' and other randomness AND some fun brads- sock monkeys, robots, gears, taxi cabs.  Sock monkey ribbon and mustache ribbon!  (The sock monkey brads and the matching ribbon and mustache ribbon were gifts from Darla!)

Can't forget the PAPER!  Tons of papers!  Most of it from Studio Calico and My Mind's Eye...for a quarter a sheet!  You couldn't beat that deal with one of Joan's wire hangers!  A couple of small pads.  Some neato twill chevron ribbon.

And OF COURSE: the TAPE!  I had to fight myself to keep from buying one of every roll that I stumbled upon... and when I say fight, I mean fight.  Even the ugly rolls tried to jump into my hand.

And the best part about CKC?  Apart from buying all the cool stuff?  I got in for FREE!  Yes!  For FREE- mynsecond favorite four letter 'F' word.  When I approached the woman selling tickets, she glanced at me, handed me a wristband and said, 'Oh, you don't hafta pay, honey.'   I guess she assumed me to be an uninterested man who was there against me will.   Sadly, somdid many ofmthe women inside the convention- as they pushed past me, grabbed things I was reaching for as if my uninterested was keeping them from picking the item up and made annoying noises as if I was the one taking up valuable space.  I almost said something rather rude to one nasty person who kept hitting me with a giant bag- but then I realized it was her ass.   Not every person was nasty, tho- one fun lady that started talking with me as we dug thru a mountain of paper began declaring, to the crowd, that she was taking me home to marry her daughter.

So that's it for my CKC shopping excitement.  I loved it.  And Tanya and Darla made the best CKCompanions.  It better be a tradition from now on, ladies!

See you soon with MORE Halloween excitement!

-kory

Studio Calico - CHA 2012

I'm not exaggerating one bit when I tell you this:

Looking at Studio Calico's blog gives me the same feeling I got the very first time I saw a dirty magazine. 

It's a thrill.  And it also scares me how much I like what I see.

Out of every CHA sneak preview that's popped up - Studio Calico is the one that made me the most exciting in the pants.

Look at these journal cards: 

From Studio Calico

I'll allow you a few moments to pull yourselves together before I show you the next piece of Studio Calico CHA hotness.

Okay, all better now?  Here ya go:

From Studio Calico

I can already hear what you're saying- you've got the SMASH date-stamp.  You've got the Dear Lizzy date-stamp.  And hell, you've got a drawer full of date-stamps that followed you home from various office jobs.  But Studio Calico's date-stamp kills them all with a combination of hip design and smart phrases.  INSTAGRAMMED!   EPIC!  A ROW OF HEXAGONS?! 

Go over to Studio Calico's porno blog right now and look at everything else.  I'll be taking a cold shower.

-kory

New York City: a layout with washi tape, misting, stickers, a die cut, some bodily fluids...

I guess you can tell by the title, this layout has a little bit of everything- well, no flowers (Sorry, Paul) and no twine (Sorry, Frank).  Yeahps.  Nearly a little bit of everything, even some bodily fluids.  No, don't run- nothing too disturbing- just a little saliva, where I needed to smudge some distress ink.

I took this photo on one of my favorite trips to New York City.  I think it would be my second favorite trip.  On this specific vacation, I saw Tracey Letts' astounding play, AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY.  I also nearly got into a fistfight with a crazy drunk man outside in line for 'street meat' at four in the morning.  And that was after I nearly beat up a cab driver who tried not to accept out fare uptown, because his shift was almost over and he only wanted to go further downtown.  I'm sorry, but after a long night of awe-inspiring theatre and awe-inspiring drinking- a crazy man in line for food or a cranky cab driver is NOT going to get in MY WAY!

About the layout:

The base is just plain old kraft, and I think the light blue background paper with a slight resist pattern is from, well- I have no clue... if anybody knows, I would be much obliged to know.  I outlined/drew a square around the light blue page with a Walnut Stain Distress Marker.  The Chrysler building die cut is from Quickutz- I found it in the Hobby Lobby clearance aisle for two bucks.  The file tab is a punch from Jenni Bowlin/Fiskars.  I LOVE this punch.  

The strip of subway tape is from Mr. Holtz's new set of DESTINATIONS tissue tape.  This tape looks good everywhere.  It can work with so many different styles- I just love it- I need more of it!  

I used four different bottles of misters.  Boarding Pass from October Afternoon's set of "Sprinklers" that coordinates with their genius-beautiful-classy BOARDING PASS collection. Dewey, Heirloom Blue, Calico White- all MISTER HUEY from Studio Calico.  More of "my favorite things."  What did the world do before the proliferation of misters?  And what will we do when we're all sick of them?  And what of October Afternoon's BOARDING PASS collection.  Please don't stare at me blankly and ask what is THAT?!  If you haven't been hoarding up the pieces from October Afternoon's Boarding Pass collection, you must live a horrible life.  I know that my life was horrible until I discovered that line, and every time I buy more of it as I find it, my life gets better and better.  So that's proof.  OA's Boarding Pass equals life, love and happiness.  Yes, I have most of it and a duplicate paper or two- but WHAT will I do once it's gone?!  I want to be able to have a lifetime collection of Boarding Pass papers and embellishments.  October Afternoon, if you're listening:  If you find yourself cleaning out to make room for all the new genius stuff you're making, and you decide to throw out any extra Boarding Pass- DON'T.  Send it to me.  I will not only be the happiest person on earth, I will also do anything you ask.  ANYTHING.  Wink.

Here's the layout:

See the faint skyline stamped along the bottom?  That's a skyline stamp from Tim Holtz's Urban Grunge set, stamped with Antique Linen Distress Ink.  It's faint enough to fade into the background and add to the 'city' look, but still- part of the background.  I feel it adds lots.  

I also used the Quickutz skyscraper die as a sort of mask- and stamped on and over it at random parts of the page, to kinda add another faint skyline image to the right of the photo. 

I had lots of fun doing this page- I relived parts of the trip, I enjoyed the moment I'm in now- and that's part of what scrapping is about, isn't it?  Okay, that's as deep as I'm gonna get- to put it simply,  I felt good doing it and I love the page!

Happy May Day, everyone!

-kory

Well, if you twist my arm...

11:15AM CST:

It's almost time for my lunch break. 

CoWorker Michelle decides to take my PayDay-Friday Fever and run with it-  she practically gets down on her hands and knees and BEGS me to accompany her to Basket Market, as she is in need of alphabet stickers. 

By begging, I mean she just said, "Kory, let's go to Basket Market."

The next thing you know, we're flying down the interstate and she's honking and shouting, "OUT OF THE WAY, GRANDPA!"  (This part is not exaggerated.  She really shouted this at a Cadillac that was trying to make it off the off-ramp.)

The Mother-Land

Look at that blue sky!  If that isn't a sign from the Lord himself that we're doing the right thing, I don't know what IS!

While Miss Michelle dug through stickers and then disappeared into the Christmas aisle for the better part of 45 minutes,  I was crawling around the scrapbook aisle and found these treasures:

Wood Flags!  Studio Calico!

Sexy envelopes!

Here's everything together:

A new Sizzix/Basic Grey tag die!

Little black letters!

Crazy red letter stickers!

We stopped by the Portland Express Mart on the way back to work, for a nutritious lunch of Heat Lamp Burritos, and returned to the office to this:

The other ladies in the office went to pick up cupcakes, from Cuppies & Joe, on THEIR lunch hour!  Cake Party!

Happy Friday to everyone!

-kory





Oh, HI!

Happy Friday Eve, beautiful people!

I almost sat on a cat.

For real.  Thought it was a pillow.

Anyways- I was sitting around, feeling sorry for myself and- oh, who am I kidding?  I was sitting around thinking, WHOOHAWL, tomorrow is Friday!  Not just any Friday, either.  Tomorrow is the annual Friends of the Library SALE!

Once a year, the 'Friends of the Library' have a gigantic book sale at the OKC Fairgrounds.  It's HUGE.  The best part?  Hardcover books are ONE DOLLAR and anything not hardcover is FIFTY CENTS.

The next best part?  If you pay ten bucks a year to be a member of the 'Friends,' you get tickets to the 'Member's Only Pre-sale' the night before the sale opens 'to the public.'  Now, being a member of the Friends of the Library isn't as exclusive as I might've made it sound.  Anybody with ten bucks is good.  And there are LOTS of anybody's with ten bucks.  TONS of people show up for the pre-sale.  The line starts to form very early- just to walk in at 5, when the doors open.  Holly and I show up around 1pm.  And sit on cold concrete for four hours.  Just in the chances that being the first hundred people through the door is the only thing keeping us from finding a real treasure.

Waiting in the line is fun, tho- we see the same people every year.  We catch up.  Holly and the lady who is always there with her Aunt practice their 'pushing people out of the way of a good book moves.'  We make fun of the woman who talks on the microphone the entire three days of the sale.  We make fun of the 'unexperienced book shoppers' that walk in with dreams and a list of brand new bestsellers they'll find...  and then we make fun of each other.  It's all in good fun, we're not cruel.  Not that cruel.  And then the minute the doors open, we all run inside and forget we ever saw each other- until the next year, that is...

What kind of books do I find?  All kinds of things.  Books I never knew I wanted or needed or ones I've known I've wanted to have for a long time- and each one is a surprise!  I look for (and usually find) lots of scripts, published plays, theatre history books, crazy fiction, literature-  very cool stuff.  I do all this while Holly clears out the Home Decorating section.  I usually end up with fifty to sixty books.  Last year, I picked up a few old dictionaries and an atlas, for cool papers to use in crafts.  This year, I think I'll need lots more.  My old dictionaries are lookin' kinda ragged.  Well, the ones that didn't walk away with other people who needed cool old dictionaries.  I might pick up a few extras, for use in me 'n Holly's online shop.  No, it's not live, yet- so don't get too excited.

Wait a minute, where was I?  Oh yeah-  so, I was watching TV and thought, I can't sit still too long.  Project Runway All-Stars isn't entertaining me.  I decided to get up and work on a mini-album that I started a month ago.  I'm blocked.  I decided to try out a new Tim Holtz die that I bought a week or so ago.  That didn't get anything flowing, either.  I know!  I'll make a card!

I'm still slightly in love with that paper I used on the 'wedding' layout that I did a couple of days ago.  The opposite site is a bright yellow color- and, of course, I was dying to spray some Mister Huey's up in hurr!

I'm a bit proud of this photo.  I attached my camera to the super-nice tripod I found for five bucks at a Goodwill last Friday.  Believe it or not, my hands are not as steady as you'd think they would be.


I used a piece of Kraft cardstock that I bought from Jo-Ann.  This is the best kraft cardstock that I've ever got my dirty hands on- seriously.  It's thick and has almost the texture of a grocery store paper bag- you remember those thick brown bags?  It's slightly rough and is just terrific.

The only other things I used on this (surprise) simple card are:

Crate Paper: Brook Collection- 'Ripple'
My tiny attacher
The 'centers' that the Tim Holtz mini rosette die cuts out
and- Dark Calico and White MISTER HUEYS, for the win, as the kids say.

Here's another view:

Well, I don't know about you beauties- but like the card doesn't say, tomorrow is a new day, too- and I need my rest for a big day of half a day of work and THE LIBRARY SALE.  Wish me lots of luck!

-kory

The Weekend Ends...

Wow, what a weekend!

I am exhausted.  And tired.  And worn OUT.

...and I do not want to go to work tomorrow morning.

We closed the new play, FRESH MEET, last night.  After the show, I went out for what was supposed to be one drink, with my best friend, Jason.  We were roommates back 'when we were kids.'  We've known each other a long, long time.  He moves around lots, now, with his job as a very successful TV news producer.  So any time he's in town is an occasion to have a great time!  And as I was saying, 'one drink' after the show turned into a barhopping wild time.  Just like the old days.  I ended up staying up to four in the morning.  No, not out drinking until four- but when we did get back to my place, I got distracted by what I guess was an all night marathon of one of my favorite TV shows-  LOCK UP.  I love it when they show the women's prisons- the two ladies who run the loan shark business FROM THEIR CELLS crack me up...

Anyways, I did finally climb out from under my hangover long enough to make a card.  Yes!  It was time to try out my Mister Huey's Color Mist!  BUT FIRST, I needed some background music!  I went over to my record player and put on one of the new records I found at the thrift store on Friday.  This is the super cool record player that I found in someone's trash, last year.  Can you believe someone would throw this away?  It looks so cool and it WORKS!  The record is a collection of music from the '20s.  So fun.

With the music putting me into a great mood, I stared lovingly at my collection of Mister Huey's Color Mists.  And this was when I got the 'joke' of the name- MISTER Huey's!  Get it?  MISTER?  Clever! 

I've since peeled off the bright pink price stickers.  Hmmm.  Which to use, first?  Yeahp.  Calico White.  The first one I ever saw.  The shade that began a great love affair.

When I use any kind of mist or spray,  I use a big plastic bag.  I put whatever I'm gonna spray in the bottom of the bag and spray away.  

I sometimes see those cardboard 'Color Catchers' at the store, and often think about buying one- but I luckily come to my senses and realize that this works perfectly.  And it's free!

The mist worked perfectly.  A perfectly non-uniform, random mist.  I LOVE these!  I haven't been this excited about a purchase in a long time.  Now, to find the 'Clay' color!  

So- here's my card!

I used:

A Fiskars Triangle punch.  (Found at Big Lots for 3.00)

The 'chain' is a border\edger punch from EK Success

Spellbinders, Labels 1

Distress Inks: Frayed Burlap, Walnut Stain and Festive Berries

"Friend" stamp from Magnetic Poetry Word Stamps

The Kraft card stock is Michael's store brand

Colorful paper is from Kaisercraft's 'Surf's Up' collection

and of course, Mister Huey's Calico White!

Happy Sunday evening, everyone.  Have a great week!  Gotta run- THE WALKING DEAD is on!

-kory

Product Obsession Hotline

photo from Studio Calico: http://www.studiocalico.com/

Hello, thank you for calling the  Product Obsession Hotline, how may I help you?

Hi, my name is Kory.  I need some help.  I've been seeing these Studio Calico Misty Huey's Color Mists EVERYwhere I look- all over Scrapbook.com and all over people's projects and I don't have ANY of them... I've never even seen them in stores.  And I'm starting to get the shakes.  You know, the kind of shakes that you get when you've run out of, um, nerve medication. 

First of all, the bottles are beautiful.  Whoever said, 'don't judge a book by its cover,' did NOT understand the way my mind works.  I love packaging.  I will buy anything with a pretty box.  I might even buy two. 

Second of all- have you seen the effect these mists when sprayed on paper?!   It is just beautiful, just amazing- and if I don't get my hands on some, soon, I might die. 

I definitely need the 'Memoir' collection, featured above.  The 'Clay' and 'Heirloom Blue' look amazing.  But I need the 'Calico White,' too! 

Decisions!