Ornament Card & DIY Lightbox

So, I’ve been thinking about what’s in store for Hubs and me over the next few years. He applied for grad school recently and I was struggling with the idea of possibly moving to another locale for a few years. I’ve given it great thought, and I think I’ve come to peace with relocating. In fact, I think it’ll be a good experience. For one, I will have extra time to pursue some creative fields of work that I’ve been contemplating. Two, it’ll give me a chance to get out of my comfort zone and introverted shell.

It might not come across in my blog, but I’m a pretty introverted person. I wouldn’t say I’m shy (shy and introverted are often thought to mean the same thing, but the two are not necessarily related). But, if I’m around a large group of people for an extended period of time, I can become exhausted. I need down time, and lots of it. Hubs is completely the opposite. He’s one of the most extroverted people I know. He gets energized at large gatherings with tons of people.

Anyway, I think that packing up and moving to a big city would force me to go out and meet new people, join clubs and groups, and do things that I wouldn’t normally do. Now, we’re just waiting to hear the schools’ verdicts to find out where we’ll be for the next two years. Unfortunately MBA applications have skyrocketed (up 40%) since the financial mess, so we’ll have to wait and see where the future takes us.

Today’s card is a simple one. I wanted to make an ornament shaped card, so I used a scalloped circle die and ran it through my Sizzix machine. The top of the ornament is just a thin strip of paper that I ran through my Fiskar’s paper crimper plus a ring that I punched from using two nested circle punches. Quick and easy.

You might have noticed that the background for some of my card pictures have changed. I set up a makeshift lightbox in my house using a frosted plastic bin, binder clips, clip on lamps from Walmart,  daylight energy saving bulbs, and a piece of white posterboard.It actually works pretty well! The whole rig was around $30. Lamps were $8/piece. The bulbs were expensive because I bought energy efficient ones at $7/bulb. I had the tub already, so no cost there. If you sell small items on eBay, this is a great home set up. I got the idea here.

Before I go, I just wanted to share Stampin’ Up’s latest promotion. It’s a few days late, oops, sorry! From the SU website:

Dates: December 1, 2008-January18, 2009
Product Offer: Spend $20 and get 20 percent off any stamp set from the Fall-Winter Sampler

Alrighty, have a great day, everyone!