Challenge #121 at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps: Recycle!

Whew!  A whole week in between posts?  I feel like the Rip Van Winkle of bloggers.  One minute, I'm uploading a blog post...the next minute, 25 years have passed and I'm scratching my gray hair with a wrinkly finger going "Whuh"?  Okay, I'm a notorious embellisher, not only with cards, but with stories, as well.  It may only have been a week, but I'm still left befuddled about where the time went.

I'll take a quick moment to say in my defense that my black whole vortex of lost time wasn't due to slacking.  We have been scrubbing, polishing, cleaning, packing...basically all the action words ending in "ing" to make our house ready to put on the market.  Sadly, we have outgrown our tiny 1,100 sq. ft. town home and desperately need something bigger to accommodate our changing lives.

Kirk, my incredibly talented, funny, and smart husband, has a BBQ spice rub and sauce business, along with a passion for cooking, grilling, and BBQing.  His rather large BBQ toys have filled our minuscule patio and now we barely have space to enjoy our outdoor meal in the same area it was prepared.  Outdoor dining is top priority for us and we been known to send smoke signals from our patio throughout the year, even when the weather turns brisk.  Plus, he needs a place for AlbuKirky Seasonings to call home and a couple of offsite indoor storage lockers are just not going to do it anymore.  That's a good thing.

I also took over the second bedroom and now it is solely used for my craft studio.  Sounds great, huh?  It is.  I have 2 wonderful wire racks with canvas baskets that house precious tools and supplies and a beautiful desk at which to work.  It's not so lovely though when mom comes to visit.  I give her the royal treatment by sandwiching a twin size air mattress between my art desk and our computer desk.  She rolls one way and she gets a Copic Marker in the eye...she rolls the other way and it's a staple to the forehead.  It's a dangerous business being an overnight guest at our house!  A third bedroom would be divine...right, mom?

Anyway, the point of all this is that we need a larger home, so now we start the Selling the House/Buying a New House amusement park ride and hope that we don't get thrown off the Ferris Wheel during a freak accident.  Wish us luck :)  The ride has begun and we're coming to the end of the Fixing Up part of the process.  We had our bathrooms tiled this week and they look snazzy.  We also had a number of small cosmetic repairs completed.  We've also packed and stored what seems like a gazillion boxes filled with tchotckes, knick knacks, dust collectors, thingamajigs, and whoozy whatzits.  Where and when did we accumulate ALL this stuff?  I smell a garage sale around the corner!  The goal is to list next week and then the REAL fun will begin.  A thrill inducing, whirlwind of excitement known as The Waiting Game.  I hope it's the abbreviated version and not the Trivial Pursuit version that never seems to end.  We shall see.

So, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

BUT, that's not why you're here, is it!  Nope, you want to know what the new challenge at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps is and all I've been doing is blathering on about non-papercrafting stuff.  Okay, I'll focus now...lol!  This week's challenge is brought to you by the lovely and talented Melanie.  She is asking us to use something recycled on our project.  I had no idea what I was going to use until my lovely hubby brought me home a cupful of inspiration this morning in the form of a latte from Starbucks.  A quick inspection of the underside of the cup sleeve revealed gloriously textured corrugated cardboard.  BINGO!

This beauty was cut down to size, edged in Gathered Twigs Distress Inks, and lightly treated with white acrylic paint.  Dang!  I just now thought of glitter.  That would have been a nice touch.  Oh well, next time.  My image du jour is called Betty and she is a sassy little number to color.  You can check out all of the images available by visiting the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps shop.  Also, be sure to stop by the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps challenge blog and see all of the DT samples.  Fabulous stuff!  There are also 6 Frugal Friday images on sale right now, so don't forget to take advantage of that discount.  It's only on through Sunday.  OH, before I forget...Melanie used Calla Lily on her card, so that is this week's prize for one lucky random winner.  Can't wait to see what you create!