Simpsonize Me!

OK, with the Simpsons movie coming out today, they have been really advertising a lot. One of the things they have come up with is to "Simpsonize" yourself. Since DH is a big fan of the Simpsons, I thought I would Simpsonize my family. Check out how funny!!!

My Scrapbook Room

I have been working on getting my scrapbooking room/ office all unpacked and put together. I know it's going to take a long time because I only have money to do a little at a time for what I really want it to look like and since we are only renting this house for now, I won't be painting the walls at all.

Here is the starting of the first of my "Kreative Korners"


I will post some before and after pictures later as it comes together!!!

How to Get Burnt Popcorn Smell out of the Microwave

OK, I was upstairs in my scrapbook/office working on the computer and Hunter wanted some popcorn. I have let him make it himself before but this time I forgot we only had the small bags and I gave him the time of 3 minutes 30 seconds instead of the 1:30 that the small bag calls for.

I hear him put it in and I hear it popping, but didn't really think anything about it. THEN, he comes over to the base of the stairs with this smile on his face and says, " Mommy, the popcorn is still going, and it's doing something, you should come see!" He had never seen smoke like this and I am sure he had no idea that it was burning! I ran downstairs not knowing that it was burning until I turned the corner into the kitchen. OH MY HECK! There was smoke pouring out of the microwave! I did the wrong thing and opened the micro door. I should have just turned it off, but opening it makes it turn off.... here I am screaming,m OH MY GOSH it's BURNING!!! IT'S BURNING! I turned the vent fan on full blast, in the meantime Hunter went and hid in his closet, lol! I ran around the house closing all the doors to the rooms and opening up the outside doors and windows. Then I was calling for Hunter, I needed to get him out because I was coughing. I heard this little voice in his room and opened his closet door, there he was with a frightened look on his face. Poor little guy! We both ran outside with the dogs, poor hamster, she was probably hiding in her bed under the chips, lol!

While we were outside I told Hunter that it was a good thing to come get me but the next time, he needed to come get me and then GO OUTSIDE right away, not hide in his closet, I explained that if it was a real fire he could have been trapped inside. SOOOO, all in all it was a good learning experience for him. NOW, here I am on the internet to find out how to get that nasty smell out of my microwave! Maybe this will help someone else!

Eeeew! What is that? How can I get it out?

Steps

1. Take a new sponge and a small bucket of water.
2. Wipe down the entire inside of the microwave.
3. Then place a bowl of water in the microwave for a few minutes. 5-6 minutes should be fine.
4. Wipe out the microwave again with new water.
5. Cook some strong smelling food in the microwave. Vegetables, pizza, etc.
6. Wipe out the microwave again.
7. Let it open for a while.
8. Repeat steps 1-4 and 6-7 as many times as it takes.

Alternate Method

1. Get a non-metallic bowl and fill with fresh lemon juice.
2. Put it in the microwave for more than 5 minutes.
3. Wipe down your microwave.
4. Get more fresh lemon juice and do it again.

Tips

• Any Citrus fruit will do, such as lemon, lime or orange, as will vinegar.

Warnings

• Never use household cleaning products in a microwave because even microparticles of it could start a fire if not cleaned out for at least a few days.
• Never put a metallic object in the microwave. It will blow your microwave up.

Things You'll Need

• Lemon
• Non metallic bowl
• microwave
• Cloth

OK, and I like this one too... I like the idea of dropping some sort of cool extract in the water. The thing I did wrong that I now know is that I wiped it with Clorox wipes instead of just water and paper towel. Hope my food doesn't get too many cleaning chemicals in it :|

Getting Rid of that Burnt Popcorn Smell in the Microwave

To get rid of this awful lingering stink, fill as large
microwave-safe bowl with one cup of water and sprinkle
your favorite spice like cinnamon or add several drops of
vanilla or lemon extract. Bring to a boil. You must let
it sit inside for 10 to 15 minutes to cool down. Simply
wipe the walls down with paper towels. Leave the door open
to further air it out. 

Family Flip Blocks

Well, lots of people have been asking me about the project I did for the TLC convention and how I did it. SO here are the instructions...

Materials:
1 wooden flip alphabet. You can get these on eBay

1 Runway - Caroline Collection -Circles Kit, Retail Price: $8.95

1 Family - Memory Gems, Retail Price: $5.95

1 Arrows/Brackets - Memory Gems Retail Price: $5.95

1 Singles/Rows - Memory Gems Retail Price: $5.95

1 Caroline Collection - Drizzle Outerwear Retail Price: $8.95

2 Caroline Collection - Rub-ons, Retail Price: $7.95

1 or 2 Sparkle Rub-on letters, depending on how many of each letter you need for names. Retail Price: $9.95

You can find all of these things on my Breezy website at http://mybreezyshop.com/faithsisters/

You also need:

-Mod Podge by Plaid, I used the Acid Free Matte for paper, it's in a blue bottle, you can get it at a craft store. You will use this to adhere ALL of the paper and photos to the blocks. You will also put a coat of it over everything when you are done.
-Red Paint for the block edges.
-Light Yellow Paint for the little anchors that hold the toy together
-Brown Ink, to ink the edges of the blocks

QUOTE(Adriane H. @ Jul 25 2007, 09:13 PM)

Adriane: KARMA THIS IS F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C!!!

HOW did you get the circle so perfectly cut and aligned?

Karma: This is from our diecut circles... I just took the squares off of the frame and bunched the squares together and set the circle die where I wanted it. Then I took my exacto knife and cut it where the edges met. Then I mod podged it onto the block.


Adriane: HOW did you get the paper all the way around each cube? Do you have to take the cube out or just cut the paper to the size of each of the 4 sides and glue it on?

Karma: I took all the squares off and I painted them all dark red. I actually also rubbed them with Radiant Pearls and then dipped them in embossing powder and heated the powder on. It gives it a shiny look, but I noticed the embossing was pealing off, so you can just paint the block edges. To get the paper on the blocks I just measured them and cut the paper out to the size I needed and mod podged it on. I snaded the edges and then inked the edges. It made a great finished look.

Adriane: HOW come my projects never look this professional??!!

Karma: LOL, this was a spur of the moment decision to do this. A week before convention when I was unpacking my sb room and found the letter flipper that I had wanted to do this with for a long time. And since it was for the contest, I spent a LOT of time on it, like over 17 hours!

Adriane: Keep the ideas flowin' like the salmon of Capistrano...as my buddy Jim Carey would say!!

Karma: HAHAHA, I love Jim Carey quotes! "That's it, I've had it with this dump! We got no food, we got no jobs, our pet's heads are falling off!!"

TLC Convention - A Success!

This last weekend I attended my first TLC convention. People were asking me how it differed from the LP conventions, lol! There wasn't much difference accept people were a LOT more happy all around! What a breath of fresh air! The new product rocks, the projects were great! I was very happy that I could be there. I was introduced as the newest design team member. I am eager to get started on my assignments! I will be doing 14 pages from the Urban Threads Circles and 14 pages from the Urban Threads Shapes for the LifeTimez digital software and then later on in August I will be doing a Cruise theme when I get my new computer! If you have any ideas to contribute, please post them in the comments section!

Here is a picture of the attendees at convention (I am located at the top facing left, second from the middle on the right!):


Jan Pepe made this digital book out of the professional convention photos and we will have a chance to buy this gem! What a great business tool it will be, I can't wait to get mine!!!

From Texas to South Carolina!

YES, we moved! DH got a new job in South Carolina and he is really lovin' it! SC is sure a beautiful state. The area that we are living is amazing and I am really loving it! It's always hard to leave your friends, but I really think that this move was something that we needed for the whole family! (Miss you Jamie!)

Here are some pictures on our way there!

Rainbow Bright

Today was a very interesting and hard day. It has been what David would call, "A Gilbert Grape moment" of a day. Most of which I will not write on my blog though... We had a big thunder storm today that dropped hail. After the storm was done, there was one of the most beautiful rainbows that I had seen in a long time. Take a look at what God can do! This was taken from our back door.

Art, Toys, & "Hunting Trophies"

So, it started when my mom wanted a photo of all the art on Hunter's wall. Below you can see all the art he did the past few years that he or I am proud of, lol... along with a few posters of army things and stuff like that!

I am sure Hunter is like the next boy. He LOVES to buy toys! It doesn't matter if he has $5 or $20, he wants to spend it. Well, after 7 years of TONS of little toys and big toy messes, David and I decided that no longer was he going to be able to spend his allowance weekly. (He gets $7 per week if he has done what he is told and his chores for that week) I will admit that we often forget if he hasn't done something that week and he will get the full $7 : So, our plan was to save his allowances for something that he really wants that costs more money. No little toys. So, he has now saved up enough money for some Heelies. You know those shoes with the rollers that pop out of the heel that all the kids either have or want? Well they are like $70! There was no way I was just going to pay for those! Anyway, while I was taking a picture of the art, I thought I would take a picture of the small sampling of toys that are n his train table just under that art!

Last but certainly not least, I want to tell you story about Hunter's behavior in school this year. This being his first "full day" year of school, he was having a little trouble adjusting. They had a smiley face system in place. If he had no problems in 3 different aspects of his day, he would get a smiley face in each of the categories. Well he was having problems. We took away privileges, we had to resort to bribery, etc etc... Then one night we were in bed reading books and he and I were looking through the Oriental Trading Company catalog. Well, he saw a Cork Gun. He KNOWS that I don' like guns, at all. I didn't even want him to have any kind of toys guns at all. Well, as I found out, there is no getting past gun play with little boys. He said that he wanted it so bad and he would do anything for it. This was back before Christmas too. So I gave him terms that I as pretty sure he could never hurdle! I told him that if he got smiley faces everyday for the rest of the year, meaning until he graduated from 1st grade, that I would get him this cork gun. I was laughing in my head because I thought there was NO way with the way things were going now that he would be able to do it. WELLLLLL, as you can see on the wall.... his most PRIZED possession, his CORK GUN! LOL! That little stinker put his mind to something and it worked. To the left you are probably wondering, what the heck? Well, that's his "Sully Skin" that he pretends that he shot with his gun, hanging on the wall, lol!

DONE! 2004 Family Album!

Got my 2004 Family done! It tooklonger than usual because there are SO many photos in this kit~! I love it though because I CAN fit so many pictures on the pages! I can't wait to get it published into a photobook through LifeTimez!

Short Hair Photo for Sunny

Hey Sunny girl, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! You wanted to see my short hair... here it is! 8 inches shorter than what it was before I went to Australia! Ahhh!~

Yes, I am a little obsessed with red color spots lately... The signature ladybug of course and the black and white polkadots... I think I was infatuated with them before Heidi Swapp!

David and I took a million photos of me today because TLC wanted a photo and my bio for convention or something and I didn't want to use an old photo. I learned that you need to give a true representation of yourself because when people see you in person and you look nothing like your photo they are disapointed, lol!

Remember Alaska when I colored my hair dark brown before I went and the last photo seen of me to my team I had blonde hair? Well, I heard someone say that my photo was a lie... pretty harsh I know. Sorry that my hair was a different color and not put up on my head like my photo!

So THIS photo is what I look like this minute. A 30 year old lady who could stand to loose some pounds and who cringes at most photos of herself. Not much different than how most women feel about themselves in photos. This is as good as it gets right now! But, I DO like myself even if I have some work to do!

Self Portrait - Challange

I really want to get some goodies from Elsie... She is doing a challenge for everyone to take a fun, funny, silly or serious self portrait... I took this picture of myself on a whim right before church one Sunday...

SERIOUS KARMA!

Family Updates...

Hello Friends!

I just wanted to post to let you know of some updates, praises, and prayer requests!

Hunter - He is doing great! I am so glad and sad at the same time that school is ending in a few weeks! Hunter is looking forward to graduating from the 1st grade and going into the 2nd. He said to me the other day, "Mommy, I'm so happy to be graduating then I won't be going to this school anymore!" I asked him why he wouldn't be going to that school anymore and that 2nd grade was going to be there. He didn't understand there for a minute that he doesn't go to a different school every time he graduates from a year. LOL! He is excited that our community pools have opened this week and I am sure we will be spending most of he summer in the pool!

This summer, Hunter will be going to camp! He will be gone for a few days. He LOVES the outdoors and outdoor activities, so I am sure it will be a big hit!

Karma (Me) - My website designing business has been going very well, in fact I am a little backed up with work on that! So that is cool! My scrapbooking business is going fine, but the big news there is that I have been hired to be a digital designer for Top Line Creations! This means I will design digital papers, and elements and page kits for those who are addicted to scrapbooking on their computer! It is all the rage right now! So I am super excited about that. I will be going to the convention this July and will be presented as a new designer for the company. This is a huge honor!

Our church had an audition for Praise (Worship) Team members a few weeks ago. The judges were from a different church and are well known voice teachers/clinicians, around here. I tell ya, it was the longest audition I have ever been through! Anyway, I am happy to say that I am once again singing for the Lord on our praise team there as well as in the choir. I was one of only two picked from the whole group who auditioned, so that is a huge honor again. While my mom was here last month, I sang a solo at church and my mom was so happy! The Lord has really blessed us with this church!

David - David is a hard worker as you all know, as well as an amazing man! David is now playing the keyboard at the church (like he could get away from not playing anything, haha) He is really enjoying that and using the different sounds on the keyboard to really make the music that much special. He is also playing the piano for the men's Saturday morning breakfasts too.

Along with working with me on our website development business, David has been working at Excel Communications since we got here last June. Can you believe is has almost been a year since we have been gone? Well, yesterday, David was let go from his job. They were restructuring the company for the 3rd time in the last year and they let 10 IT people go yesterday. So, even though I could tell that he was rehearsing what he was going to say to me when he got home at 11am yesterday, I felt calm and I am not worried at all. The Lord will provide for us just the same as he has this whole year! David is out right now at his head hunters office and there are many DBA jobs that are in the area. He may even be able to make more with a new job now. Please pray for him as I know he would appreciate that!

Thanks for continuing to be our friends and having a place in our hearts!

Removing Chewing Gum from Fabric

So, my DH sat himself down on a pile of bubblegum the other day. I am thinking it was Trident by the way it smelled, lol! Anyway, these were a BRAND NEW pair of Levis and I had to find a way to get that gum off. This may be helpful to someone else some day:

Removing Chewing Gum from Fabric

If you've gotten yourself into a sticky situation by getting chewing gum on your clothes, there are ways to get it off that are safe for your garments .

Using a dull knife lift the gum off the fabric. Then, rub ice on the stain. This will help harden the rest of the gum so you can lift it off more easily.

If the fabric is washable…

You should spray the stain with a pre-wash spray. Let it set for five or ten minutes. Saturate the stain again with the pre-wash spray, rubbing the gummed area to dissolve the gum. Work some laundry detergent into the stain, then rinse it well with hot water. You should hold the stained area under the faucet so the gummy residue can be rinsed off.

If the gum remains, repeat the process. If not, launder the item using a bleach that is safe for that fabric.

If the fabric is non-washable…

To remove gum stains from non washable items, you should sponge the stained area with a cleaning fluid such as Energine or Renuzit or Carbona. You can usually get these products in drug stores or houseware departments.

Test an area first…

Always test cleaning fluid in a place that doesn't show. If the fluid doesn't seem to hurt the fabric, you can use it. Place the stained side of the fabric face down on a clean paper towel. Sponge the back of the stain with cleaning fluid. If the paper towel doesn't absorb the gum, tap the back of the stained area with a spoon. The sturdier the fabric the harder you can tap. Repeat the process until the stain is gone.

Consult professionals…

For valuable, dry-clean-only items, have the stain removed professional. Be sure to point the stain out to the cleaners.

The Georgia Cooperative Extension Service is not endorsing any products mentioned. There may be others that work equally well to remove chewing gum stains as those named. You may check labels and ask for such products where cleaning supplies are sold.


http://www.aginfo.fvsu.edu/teletips/stain_...removal/853.htm

What Happened to Me?

When I started blogging back in 2004 on the AOL blog, I wrote a whole bunch of random thoughts and daily activities down. Those posts seemed to be a little more interesting than these one sentence posts with a picture. So I will make it a goal to make my posts a little bit more interesting, lol!

This morning started as usual. The alarm goes off at 7am, I hit the snooze button twice. Then I figure that I better get up because the school is CrAzY for giving tardies for only being 1 minute late even. THEN they have the nerve to count it as a real LATE and that goes on Hinter's record as being late! I mean LATE is more like 10 minutes for a record.

I get Hunter up and dress him myself because he is just as much of a morning person as I am. NOT! I ask him what he wants for breakfast. I WAS a toaster strudle for about 2 months straight but now he has changed his mind and doesn't like them anymore. So I have 3 boxes of them in my freezer. Today he had a smoothie (I usually am not in the mood nor do I usually have time to make them on a school morning)and lucky charms, with milk. I am surprised he asked for milk in his cereal today because he usually doesn't want any at all!

Since I still do not have a car and haven't had one since we sold our last year before we moved from CA, we hop on our bikes and ride to school. With 7 minutes to go until the bell rings, Hunter is safe and sound inside of the school. I ride home and get the usual looks from the other parents in their cars. One can only imagine what they are thinking. Either oh, that poor woman, she doesn't have a car and always has to ride her bike to school even if it's pouring rain out! OR WOW, that woman is SO dedicated to exercising on her bicycle every morning! I sure wish that I had her dedication! LOL!!! The best thing about riding your bike to school on rainy or frosty mornings is taking a corner too fast and falling down right in front of the line of parents in their cars waiting to drop off their children!

I was in the habit of going back to sleep as soon as I got home, but the past month I have been hopping right onto the computer. Today I got on, did the usual, checked my email, my message board, my layout gallery and to see if any of my friends have made any fun posts on their blogs. After that I decided that I was going to digi scrap my 2004 year and review album. I am using a kit from TLC called "Photobooth Fun" You can find it on my TLC website http://www.topline-creations.com/kreativekarma It is a simple kit and really usues a TON of photos. As of now, I am done 28 pages worth of photos but now I am going back and adding some journaling (which has never been my forte) and also a few embellishments, since this kit is just made of photos.

2pm comes along, while I am on the computer I like to have the tv on, that way I don't have to watch my shows that I TIVO'ed at noght until all hours of the night anymore.(Used to do that) So, 2pm I watch Little House on the Prairie. Yeah, I know, I'm funny... but there is something about those shows that I love. Kind of like how I have seen Anne of Green Gables a million times. Speaking of AoGG, have you seen the 3rd installment? Kinda strange... go check it out here. Back to LHOTP - it was the one where Walnut Grove goes out of business because of the railway so they have to move to the city. It is pretty emotional... but this is also the one whereMary (now blind) goes to teach at the school for the blind and Laura meets Albert for the first time, hehehe!

So, instead of geting Hunter some dinner, because NOW it's 5:25 I am sitting here typing because I feel like it. Tonight Hunter has AWANA. He is working on memorizing the books of the bible. We are doing it by listening to a silly song. Hear it here.

I will post that 2004 album when I get it done! TTFN!

P.S. Hunter got 2 hamsters last week... we adopted them actually... will write more about them later... in the meantime, here is a picture!

My Family 2005

Hello!

So I have been playing with my LifeTimez digital software and the TLC digital kits. I decided to use a simple kit called "Through the Years" You can get these things at my website here:
http://www.topline-creations.com/kreativekarma

Check it out!

You can see the layouts larger at http://www.kreativekropping.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/5278/cat/6075/limit/recent

Waiting For the Tornado to Come!

Well, the local sirens went off and they were LOUD! There was a tornado warning in effect and we wanted to see it coming. We stood outside in our backyard and watched as the clouds smashed into each other and swirled! It was pretty amazing! From Califonia earthquakes to Texas tornados, what more could our adventerus family ask for?

This is so Stinkin' Sweet!

The Secret

http://www.thesecret.tv

G-Day Mate!

I just wanted to drop a quick note from Australia! My vacation is almost done and I have had a great time cuddling, changing, burping and loving on my neice! I will post more details after Easter! But in the meantime, here are a few pictures!!!

ABC Album

I have been doing a lot of digital scrapbooking lately and I am very excited to get everything done and caught up! This album is of my favorite pictures in 2001 made into an ABC album. I will get this one printed into a hard bound book next month when I get back from Australia!