100th Post Giveaway Update!

**There was a bit of confusion with the Giveaway instructions. The Giveaway post has been updated with new instructions scroll down to check them out. Thanks for your patience!

100th Post Giveaway!

Today is our 100th post! Thanks so much for sticking by us over the last 9 months. That's a good chunk of time (we could have had a baby in that time... wait, Maria did!). We wanted to do a simple recap of our 5 favorite project posts since we started the SEI Lifestyle Blog. We want to make sure that you are made aware of these amazing posts in case you missed them.

• #5- star album Josh had a video tutorial on how to create a star album. It featured Alpine Frost but can be made with any paper line anytime of the year.
• #4- mimosa leftovers Every month we feature how to use your Club SEI leftovers. With this post we provided a box, bag and flower template.
• #3- paperdoll One of our favorite projects was this paper doll. If you need a project to entertain a bored little girl on summer break, visit this post
• #2- baby blocks Anyone having a baby will love you forever with these customized baby blocks

And our number one post that everyone fell in love with was from our guest blogger, Heather Mildenstein. It was her baby tie tutorial:

baby tie tutorial

Since our CHA Sneak Peak was our #1 giveaway (with over 100 comments), we have decided to give away one more sample packet. Click here if you can't remember the contents.

GIVEAWAY PACK!

Entering the giveaway is simple. Here's how:
1. From your blog, link back to this post! See, simple.
2. Leave a comment showing your blog address.

3. Your blog must have a post containing the link below:

http://seilifestyle.blogspot.com/2009/06/100th-post-giveaway.html

• Giveaway is open until Monday, July 6th! Good luck.

Online Blog Exclusive!

earrings | pouch | dress | shoes | bathing suit
from Anthropologie

The weather just keeps getting more & more beautiful. Summer colors are my favorite. The color pallets are always so bright and lively. A few months back we finished this line, Silk Road. To me it just screams summer, and it makes all my good summer feelings come alive. This week we are doing an online exclusive. Silk Road was featured as the May Club SEI kit and we liked it so much we decided to make the papers available to purchase. This line will only be available online and we are allowing our blog readers to be the first to purchase it online.

All you have to do is click here and at checkout enter the promotional code: seiblog.The promo code will also give you 10% off your entire order. It expires a week from today, July 6th, so be sure to use it while you can.

Two Tales of Weekend Debauchery

Tale One: It ain't a party till someone breaks a tooth!

So Friday night was Girls' Night In at my friend Sarah's house. Laurie and I decided that we'd make a night of it and go out for sushi beforehand, which we did, and it was fantastic. Seriously, thanks to Laurie, I'm now in love with sushi and could eat it every day. I'm not talking about hunks of raw fish, don't get me wrong; I'm talking about the adorable little rice, avocado, shrimp, crab, seaweed, and tempura concoctions that you dip in soy sauce and wasabi (Bev likes her sushi spicy!) and eat with chopsticks. But ANYWAY, I digress.

We had a lovely meal and great conversation, as always, then we headed on over to Sarah's and met up with some other girls. We met a new chick who seems nice, and I like making new friends, so that's cool. We were drinking dirty vodka martinis; which is basically just Kettle One vodka shaken up with olive juice and with a couple of good quality green olives in there. I love olives, I love salty foods, and of course I love(d) vodka, so I had... a few. Ok, I had three (ish). Yeah, I was pretty sauced, but I wasn't driving and I was being my usual sociable and charming self (heh), so it's all good, right?

At one point we had to look something up online, don't remember what, and Sarah made the mistake of leaving herself logged in to Facebook. People who know me know to NEVER, EVER DO THAT. We updated her status tout de suite, and then we might have joined a couple of groups that I thought Sarah might be interested in. You know, like "Sarah is now a fan of pussy," "Sarah joined the group 'Pig Fuckers United,'" and Sarah just became friends with "Randy Lickers."

In retrospect, I guess I had it comin'.

Next thing I know, I'm standing in the kitchen talking to my new friend Jen & we're still giggling over our little adventures in Facebookland. La la la... everything's dandy... when suddenly 5'9" of liquored-up brunette hit me from behind and pulled me over onto the floor. HARD. All I saw was the shocked looks of people around us and then the ceiling, and my teeth smacked together with such force that I instantly knew something bad had happened in there. I tasted a little piece of something... at the time I feared it was a filling that had been jarred loose. I now know that it was actually a piece of my freaking back MOLAR that had been broken off by the impact of my friend's surprise tackle. Fucking great. I guess I should be grateful that it wasn't a hip or something, because I am clearly getting too old to drink heavily.

That's when Sarah's husband came down and gave us the bum's rush, and we went back to Laurie's house. Where apparently, we hung out for a little longer, but I couldn't say I remember that part. Nor do I remember the part of the evening when Laurie claims I said, "I am just gonna lie down for a minute," and then I crossed my hands over my chest and lowered myself straight back onto her couch, in her words, "like a vampire lying back into a coffin." Nice.

I spent the next day lying around pledging to never drink again. Those salty drinks sapped my body of every last drop of moisture! I looked something like this all day on Saturday, though I certainly was not rockin' out to my boom box.
<---------

In a related story, I will never drink Dirty Martinis again. The End.



Tale Two: I think you underestimate the sneakiness!

Unbeknownst to us, last night our son sneaked down from bed and hid out in the kitchen while we were watching TV. We were just killing time until True Blood came on, so we watched a DVR'ed episode of Arrested Development. I thought I heard something at one point, and Jim went and investigated and decided it was the cat moving his cat dish. Okay, cool. We reverted back to our TV coma. When it ended, we had about 20 minutes still so I put on Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. We were laughing away, and it was the part of the movie when John Cleese starts giving the Sex Ed class. You know, the part where he starts clinically detailing the acts of foreplay and sex:

"Yes. Good. Nibbling the earlobe, uhh, kneading the buttocks, and so on and so forth. So, we have all these possibilities before we stampede towards the clitoris, Watson."

We were laughing away, and we had just gotten to the part where the professor's wife comes in and they're lying face to face about to demonstrate for the students when I heard a noise from the kitchen.

!!!!!

So I pause it, and of course it's such a ridiculously suggestive freeze frame that I instantly start blushing, and we discover Danny hiding under a kitchen bar stool, watching the TV. Oh, SNAP. Jim starts grilling him about how long he'd been watching, and I went from annoyed to bemused in about 3 minutes... right around the time Danny outed himself and said, "I haven't been here very long. It was the cat moving his dish!" Hahahahahahahahaha! Busted!

In case you haven't seen it, check out the scene here:


The moral of these stories: Choose your drinking buddies carefully, and don't assume your children are asleep at 9:45 PM just because they've been in bed for almost two hours. They are sneaky little mofos.

From The Vault

I got the nicest sympathy card in the mail yesterday from a long-forgotten teacher named Mrs. Elliot. That's her in the picture below, hugely pregnant. I remember when her baby was born (she named her Clarissa, a name I've liked ever since), and I remember going to her house for an end-of-the year party to meet the new baby. Good times. Anyway, she sent me the sweetest card telling me how sorry she was to hear about my father's death, and she included a little print-out of our class photo. I was so touched! First, that she remembered me at all, and second, that she was so thoughtful to send a card and include a picture. We lost most of our photos in a house fire when I was a teenager, so things like this mean even more to me now.

The quality is terrible and was made worse by my crappy scanner, but here it is anyway:



Can you spot the Bev? :)

Have a good Sunday, everyone! I am finally on the mend after over-indulging on dirty martinis on Friday night. Maybe tomorrow I'll tell you the story of how I now hate dirty martinis and how I now need dental work thanks to my drunk-ass friend Sarah. In the meantime, I'm going to go have a nice lunch with Mala & family and then I'm going to make a casserole to drop off at the Jillinator's house. I won't go into it, but her family suffered a very tragic and sudden loss last week, so everyone please think good thoughts for my friend Jill. Love you, girl! oxoxox

Weekend Projects

Summer is always a great time for me to catch up on projects that have been burdening me for a while. I think it has to do with the longer days making me feel like I have all the time in the world. I love summer! I found this website today called Oliver + S. They have the cutest patterns for children's clothing. They are all under $20 and they offer both girl and boy patterns. I think I might make these one of my weekend projects. I can work on a few outfits for my nephew. Whatever you busy yourself with this weekend, have an enjoyable one. Take it slow and appreciate the small things.

Pop Icon Friday

Yaaaaay, it's Friday! *happy sigh* We made it through another week, and what a week! In keeping with the fact that I see death everywhere I look, three big celebs died this week, and no, I'm not still talking about my dog. Last night my Facebook feed was nothing but status reports concerning Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett. So, of course, rather than just ignoring it as I probably should, I need to dwell on it for just a mo' because they were important members of the pop culture lexicon, and dwelling is what I do. Bear with me.

Oh, and btw, I have nothing to say about Ed McMahon. He was old. He was on Late Night with Johnny Carson and Star Search. Recently, he wore a neck brace and had money troubles. That's really all I got. NEXT!

First of all, when I was a kid I LOVED Michael Jackson. Like, really, honestly loved him & wanted to have his babies and move to Neverland. Little did I know that at age 8 I was already too old for him and (allegedly!) the wrong gender. But, let's put the fact notion that he was a pedophile wackjob out of our heads for just a bit & focus on the muzak, ok?


The Michael I loved was the Michael from the Jackson Five, the Michael whose "Off The Wall" album was in constant rotation on my portable denim-covered record player. On Saturday mornings when I was really young, I'd slip downstairs super early to catch The Jackson 5 Cartoon. Yes, it existed, and I loved it! Hey, don't judge me. I also watched Hee-Haw, so WTF did I know?

To this day, if I'm at a wedding or out on the town (which admittedly isn't all that often now that I'm a boring old mom-type person), if somebody plays Don't Stop Til' You Get Enough, watch the fuck out, because Bev will work it. And if they play Thriller, expect to see some zombie hands.

Speaking of "Thriller", here's a confession I've never shared with anyone that I think you'll find both humorous and mortifying. My sister Debbie will remember this, because she was the only witness to it. I was maybe 8 or so when this happened, and it was Debbie's album, not mine. So I was in her room snooping around, which was something I did a lot back then (sorry, Deebs, you were interesting and I had no sense of personal space!), and I got out her "Thriller" album and put it on. Then I decided to have some fun with Michael, my big crush (shhhhh), so I got in her bed and opened up the fold-out picture of him in the white suit. You know, this one:

I swear to God, nothing happened. We were totally just talking! No funny business. BUT, Debbie walked in and caught me in bed with Michael Jackson, and I don't think she has ever looked at me the same way since.

I could go on and on and on about how much I liked "Bad" and how many MJ pins I had on my corduroy jacket, or how much I envied that trashy girl on the bus who actually had a red vinyl jacket with zippers just like Michael's. Bitch. But I'll stop now, because I've already over-shared and I'm afraid you're all gonna start looking at me funny, like Debbie still does.


Moving on... Farrah. What's to say about Farrah? She seemed like a nice lady, and she was incredibly beautiful, and I loved her on Charlie's Angels. I can't say that she was my favorite, because that honor went to Jaclyn Smith. Btw, I still love Jaclyn Smith, and I even watched that terrible Bravo show about hairdressers because she was on it.

I remember when I was young and my parents had some friends over for dinner, so I was left to entertain myself in the living room with my good friend, Television. What did 9-year-old Beverly Anne choose to watch? Why, The Burning Bed, of course!

Yep, a TV movie about an abused wife who can't get anyone to help her. SPOILER ALERT: After her disgusting drunk dick of a husband rapes her one night, she sets the bed on fire... with him in it. Rock the fuck on, Farrah! HELL YES. Also, Farrah was terrific in the movie, so don't let me hear you say she couldn't act.

So, there you have it: way more information than you needed (or probably wanted!) about me and why I am the way I am. Pop Culture junkies aren't born, they're made; usually out of too much free time, too much extreme weather, and too much access to movies, cable and satellite. I mean, it was northern Vermont, where the winters last 9+ months of the year! What else was there to do but read like a fiend and watch the same 80's comedies over and over again?

Ok, that'll do. Have yourselves a lovely Friday and weekend! I'll be out eating sushi and drinking dirty martinis with some girlfriends tonight. I will raise a glass to fallen icons and that will be that. Death sucks, and I've had about enough of it for quite a while.
Ciao, bella!
oxoxoxo

Wonderful Stationary

This past week, I received a postcard from my friend Rachel addressed from Barcelona, Spain. Mandi is still in Switzerland... and I'm getting the travel bug. Since I won't be able to travel abroad anytime soon, I figured I needed to do something in my life that would make me feel better. This stationary from Paperwink hit the spot. Although I can't travel abroad and find exotic postcards, I can have personalized ones. They make me happy!
Does anyone out there have any summer escapades planned?

Man Babies, Sunshine, and a Must-See Movie

I came across a funny website today, so of course I did what any good Facebooker would do and "shared" that shit just as fast as you can say, "Spam." It's a site where some creative Photoshop peeps take pictures of men with their babies and swap their faces. The results are sometimes just okay, but once in a while you'll get one that makes you pee your pants a little, like this one:

GET MORE AT ManBabies.com!

Or this one:

GET MORE AT ManBabies.com!

Some of them just freak me right the fuck out, but they're still funny as heck. So, use their little embedded linkage up there and go take a gander for yourselves. I'll wait.

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Back? Okay, good. Let's see, what else? The sun is out! YES! Here in New Hampshire! "It's a large fiery ball at the center of our universe, but that's not important right now!" Except it is important, because I was starting to get pruney. It has been raining for going on 2 weeks straight, with only a few hours of sunshine here and there to break up the monotony. Oh, and that sunshine also included muggy "tropical rain forest" moisture, so it hardly counts. Now, I know we're heading into our warmest months, and I know by August we'll be begging for rain, but right now... I just want to dry out a bit.

The other day I was thinking about the movie Garden State, which is one of my faves. I used a line from that movie in an email correspondence with Samsmama, and asked if she had seen it. She said no (!) and wondered if she should, so I thought I might as well make an example of her (in the nicest way possible... with love!) and tell you all to watch this movie. It was written, directed by, and stars Zach Braff from Scrubs. This is probably the best thing he will ever produce, and it was his first ever movie. It's kind of neat because he shot it in his home state (NJ, duh) and a lot of his real family members make cameos in it. It's a real labor of love, and it shows.

Plus, it's INFINITELY quote-able. And you know how much I lika de quotes. (No Bev, you?) Also, this movie introduced me (and millions of other people) to the music of The Shins, a terrific band. In fact, I love them so much that my youngest son was born to their album "Oh, Inverted World."

Here, watch the preview if you still need convincing:


It's touching and hysterically funny all at once. Watch it this weekend. You can thank me later.

Fun Toys

To relax a bit I wanted to share a blog post I'd found on Black Eiffel. Right now we're in project mode here at work. With making projects I've come to appreciate simple ideas. The more simple a concept, the more ingenious it seems. These wooden cities from Muji are wonderful. They offer cities such as London, New York, Paris, Tokyo & Barcelona. Below the image I used is the World in a Bag. This combines many different cities. The blank wooden shapes allow for a child to use their imagination.


These wooden shapes reminded me of the wooden blocks that we had made for Maria's baby a few weeks ago. The wooden blocks that we made here at work have been so entertaining for Maria's two year old son. He loves stacking them and building with them. Isn't it funny how the most simple ideas can entertain a child for hours?

If you watch this clip, I guarantee two things:

1. You will laugh
2. You will boogie in your seat.

I love the Flight of the Conchords. Yes, yes I do.



She's so hot she's making me sexist! Bitch!

I'm feeling better today, peeps. Last night I mopped up the traces of dog blood from the floor (don't ask), sent his dishes through the dishwasher and packed them away, and then I burned some white sage to cleanse the house of negative energy (you knew I was a hippy freak, so don't judge). We had take-out for dinner; I was lazy and didn't cook a thing. After the kids were in bed Jim went and did his thing (read: took a hot bath) and I lay flat on my back on the couch and watched my "vamporn," True Blood. DAAAAAAAAAMN, Eric got a haircut, and he is now even more FINE, am I right? Loved the scene with Bill and Jessica's family, too. Wicked. Cool.

Tomorrow is my day off, and I haven't made plans. I am toying with a couple of ideas, but haven't felt like committing yet. It's a good feeling, and I'm enjoying these last few days of complete freedom. J and the kids will be out of school next week and then things get more complicated and busy, so I'm savoring my last total "me" day.

I'm about ready to bounce on home! It has been a very quiet week at work. My boss is out of town and I've had about an hour's worth of actual work to do in a given day. Combine that with this dreary gray weather we've been having, and I'm a little bit zoned out. Who needs drugs when I can make my brain feel dull and numb just by sitting quietly in a gray fog for two days? Well, drugs would still be more fun, but whatever. They're hard to get... um, I mean bad for you... so I'll just stick with being naturally comfortably numb for the time being.

Independence Day, done right!

**To start off a lot of people have been asking if the new lines will be used in a Club SEI kit. The answer is yes. Christmas Mint will be featured in November's kit and Winter Song will be used in December's kit. Moravia will not be in a kit but will be available as an add-on. You can tell your local scrapbook supplier to pick it up for you at CHA next month or order online at shopsei.com in August. Now onto our project.

We wanted to give you enough time to plan for the 4th of July. I love this holiday! There's nothing about it not to love. One tradition that I've heard a lot of families have is wearing matching shirts. We have come up with a great idea to customize your own 4th of July shirts in an inexpensive way.

Did you know that SEI carries a product called Tumble Dye? It's a dye that is sprayed on and then heat set, and it dyes a lot of different surfaces. It's non-toxic, and easier to clean up than other dyes - no boiling water, pots & pans, nasty chemicals, or stained hands! That makes it a fantastic summer project to do with your kids or grandkids. And it's only $3 a bottle! We used Raggedy Ann Red & Blueberry to create the shirts below. I know the tie-dyed look might not be your favorite everyday look, but it's so fitting for the 4th of July. Here is the project along with instructions:

These cute girls belong to Lee Tibbitts

Sheryl, who works here at SEI, made these shirts.
• You can use an old white shirt that you have around the house (even one that may have a stain, you can cover it).
• First, to make the stars on the shoulder, Sheryl cut stars out of scrap paper and laid them on the shirt. She sprayed the Blueberrry Tumble Dye all around the cut outs, and then removed them, leaving white stars behind.
• Next, to achieve the "stripes", Sheryl gathered the shirt on a diagonal to create loose folds and sprayed the exposed fabric with Raggedy Ann Red Tumble Dye.

That's it! All in all, Sheryl was able to make six children's shirts, using one bottle of the red dye and a half bottle of the blue.

While you're here, tell us - what are your 4th of July traditions?

Sad Kermit

ETA: I edited this post because I didn't want you all to think I was suicidal. Hahaha. (I'd say NTTAWWT, but yes, there is something wrong with that, so YTISWWT?) I'm just a little blue today because my dog died, goddamn it. That son of a bitch universe keeps hittin' me, but I keep gettin' back UP! To quote Malomatic, "BOOO-YA!"

IS THAT ALL YOU GOT? Wait, don't answer that. Fate, consider yourself un-tempted, k? Anyway, I'm fine, I'll get over it, just a bit of a downer.

So, I give you Kermit the Frog covering Elliot Smith's song, "Needle in the Hay." The song was used in one of my favorite off-beat dramedies, The Royal Tenenbaums.



and for shits, giggles, & comparison's sake, here's the scene from the real movie:


Catch up with you later, taters.
After all, tomorrow is another day....

CHA Giveaway Winner!

Thank you all for entering our giveaway. We are so glad to see that you are excited about the new lines. We hope to see some of you at CHA next month. So the two lucky ladies are...


Congratulations! To claim your prize, please email us your shipping address to, seiblog(at)shopsei(dot)com. Thanks again, and stay tuned for some fun summer projects this week!

Corn Dogs, Air Show...my cup runneth over

I hereby dedicate this post to the lovely Samsmama, who has been to an air show, and who also enjoys the occasional foot-long corn dog.


Ribfest was a blast! We met up with Mala, Laurie, and their respective friends and families and started right in with the eating of the ribs and the drinking of the beer and the bounce-housing of the children. First thing, we stopped and got the kiddos a couple of corn dogs to appease Frank, whose only request of me was to see me eating a corn dog. Why? I dunno. I really couldn't say. I have no ide-- hey, wait a minute! Frank! You perv.



Hey look! Balls ---->




<---- Does this look wrong to anyone else? No? Just us? Oooookay, then. Hey, Mala spotted it, not me!




Seeking shade... because yes, it turned out to be a sunny day! Woohooo!!! The rain held off all day, and I even got some color. Ok, color for me means that I now have a white band around my arm where my wristband was and the tip of my nose is Rudolph-red, but whatev. For me, that's practically bronzed!





A rare quiet moment for our sons.




Yup, there was an airshow. It was pretty good, too, because several times we were ready to grab the kids and run. It's just not fun unless you're convinced you're going to die in a a fire ball, am I right?


Mala's husband showing off his new big inflatable guitar. What?

Speaking of husbands, they ditched us for a good portion of the day to go on a tour of the brewery. J texted me throughout. Figures -- the teacher is the worst pupil of the bunch! He sat in the back and sent me text messages along the lines of, "I don't care when Anheuser met Busch. Where's beer?" and "Still no beer. WTF?" One-track mind? Maybe.

At any rate, by 5:30 we were ready to roll on outta there, and we wavered between rallying and going up to Mala's place to dump our kids with a sitter and go out to dinner and a comedy show, having people back to our place to play Rock Band (as planned), or just taking my tired, sticky children (and self) home and crashing. Three guesses which one of those I picked.... Yes, I was in my pjs on the couch by 6:30, folks. I went to bed crazy-early! Sadly, I think my party animal w/ tons of stamina days are behind me. The heart is willing, but the flesh is weak... so very weak.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there! Hope you all have a great day and get your corn dogs eaten. My husband and sons rocked it out on the Wii for a while after enjoying breakfast in bed, and now he's sittin' around in his Grateful Dad shirt, goofing off. It's that kind of day; rainy and gray and chilly.

Hope everyone has a nice Sunday! *MWAH!*

F is for Friday...

that's good enough for me!

Are you singing the Cookie Monster song? Well, ya should be.

I'm sooooo glad it's Friday, folks. I seem to be coming down with something; got a tickle in my throat and I sound a little Kathleen Turner-ish, which is the good part of getting sick, IMO. It's also STILL BLEEPING RAINING, and looks like the whole weekend will be a wet one 'round these parts. I'm really, really, really getting sick of rain. However, it could be worse and we could be getting tornadoes or record heat like other parts of the country. So, there's that.

Tomorrow is the annual Rockin' Ribfest at the local Anheuser Busch Brewery. We stumbled across it last year for the first time; it was one of those beautiful sunny Saturday mornings when we had no plans, but wanted to do something fun. I went online and found out about it, we went, and had just about the best day ever. They have all these kids' activities set up - bounce houses galore, face-painting, carny food, etc., plus live bands all day, an international rib competition (the Aussies were our faves last year - YUM!), and of course... BEER. We're not big Bud fans (AT ALL), but they had Red Hook and a few others that were tolerable, so we managed to muddle through without microbrews for a day. Ha ha... we're beer snobs, yes.

So, this year we're going with a couple of other families, which will be great... except that it's gonna effing RAIN all day and be 60 degrees instead of sunny and warm. &*%@#! But, we'll survive. I'm hitting Target later to get myself some cute rubber boots, and I plan to fully embrace the damp. Quack quack, and all that.

Sunday's Father's Day, but we don't have any big plans beyond the obligatory (and admittedly cliche) breakfast in bed. I need to run out today and pick something up for the J, but I'm not going nuts. I'm hoping that we can just have a quiet day at home for a change, because I'm burned out and need some serious "couch" time. "TV" time. "Nose in a book" time. "Please everybody stop talking to me" time. In other words, good times.

I'll leave you with some random pics taken within the past week or two.

Hey baby, come here often?


My big kid!


His Native American name is, "Wind in his Mullet"

Have a fantastic weekend, everyone!!
oxoxoxo

Unbelievable Giveaway!

So after oohing and ahhing over these beautiful new lines we want to share these exclusive products with you. So we're not doing 1, but 2 giveaways! You will be the first people outside of the SEI premises to own these lines (yay)! Other than the 2 lucky winners, these lines won't be available to take home until August. Each giveaway will include the following:

• 3 sheets from Moravia, 3 sheets from Winter Song
and 3 sheets from Christmas Mint
• Moravia cardstock stickers,
Winter Song die-cuts & Christmas Mint ribbon

These 9 sheets of paper will include all of the treatments being showcased in the new lines. For an up close view of the papers in the giveaway, click on the image below to enlarge.

glitter | flock | pearl
mint foil | varnish | pear foil
flock | copper foil | die cut sheet

How can these all become yours? Well here are the simple instructions:

Giveaway #1- Join as an SEI Follower. Under the followers section on the right hand side of our blog, become a follower of SEI. One winner will be chosen from our "Followers" section.

Giveaway #2- Leave a comment!

• You can enter both giveaways (one time each, please)
• Deadline is Sunday, June 21st, 2009 at midnight.
•The winner will be announced Monday, June 22nd, so be sure to check back.

See I told you it was simple! Ready, set, go! Good luck!

Thurd Thursday: Kalia

Want a quick leftover gift that says, "Thanks a bunch!"? Well we have a perfect solution on how to use flowers straight from your garden. Using our Kalia line, that is featured in our July Club SEI kit, we created mini pop up notecards. We also used the paper from Kalia to wrap a 4" inch terra cotta flower pot.
The template for the flower pot is available to all here on the blog. Just click and print the template below and simply trace and cut. The note cards featured in the above photo can be made using one of the pop-up techniques found in the July Club SEI kit.

Wonderful Wednesday: A recap

Yesterday was indeed wonderful. Well, it started off less-than wonderfully when my youngest son got up at the ass-crack of dawn and proceeded to scream like a banshee for over an hour because he was... wait for it... TIRED. But, let's not dwell on that, mmmkay?

I had my very first ever REAL psychic reading yesterday. I had one before, but that woman was clearly a phony and a dingbat, because the experience I had yesterday was in-fucking-credible. The real deal, yo. No doubt in my mind. Note: the psychic will hereby be referred to as A because I am too lazy to spell out her whole name, k? I won't go into the full details because I don't want to bore you stiff, but here's the Reader's Digest version:

First thing A says to me is that her spirit guides say I'm a lovely person. Ahhhh, thanks, guys! (preening) She says something like, "You're just good, you're just a good person, and believe me, I cannot say that about everyone who sits in my chair." She gestured towards the door, through which Mala had just made her exit, and said, "I can see why you're friends. You are a giver, and so is she." Awwwwww.

Next she went into this whole thing about how I'm such a sensitive person (STFU, it's true. I may have the whole tough girl persona going on, but I bruise easily, inside and out), and people have always criticized me for being so sensitive, but she said that most of the time I'm actually right. A says I am an excellent interpreter of what people are really saying. (HA! I knew it!) But, that doesn't mean I handle it so great, so need to work on not holding in my feelings until I explode on folks out of anger. Check.

She said several other things that were accurate about me and my loved ones, specific details that blew my mind b/c no one could know them, especially a perfect stranger who only knew my name. She knew about a random health thing my husband had a couple of years ago, about a friend I talk to a lot, my crap job, a shitload about my kids and what kind of people they are/will become. She knew I'd been married for seven years, knew what kind of person my husband is, and said we had a good marriage. All true.

But here's where she blew the freakin' doors off. My dad came through. LOUD AND CLEAR. My grandmother too, but A said he literally pushed her aside and said, "She's here for me." YAY! Some things she identified that made it 100% crystal clear that it was really him:

- What he died of, specifically: "Feels like a heart attack, but it wasn't sudden. He had time to prepare and time to say goodbye. I have shortness of breath, and I am thinking emphysema or lung cancer." FYI - Dad had lung cancer, but died of a heart attack a month after finding out.

- the numbers 3 and 5 in reference to when he died. He died 3 weeks ago, in the fifth month, the month of May. This, btw, blew A's mind. Apparently it is highly unusual for a spirit to come through so soon after passing. She said it usually takes 6 months to a year for them to get things figured out over there, so she was astounded that he was there so powerfully. I wasn't surprised - that's just my dad. ;-)

- He had two children, but also identified a miscarriage my mom had before I was born. Um, wow. Nobody knows that. Nobody.

- He planned it so my sister and I wouldn't see us die. He didn't want us to see that.

- My grandmother was there when he passed and helped him cross over. She was also around him for several days leading up to his death.

- He will be there for "The Milestone." This is something we talked about a lot; he was sad he wouldn't see his grand kids graduate from HS and college, and we said, "Well, at least you'll see Danny graduate from Kindergarten!" Well, that graduation is today, and apparently Dad's planning on attending.

- Tons of stuff about my mom, details about his belongings, (i.e. sell the truck, don't move, get a housekeeper).

- A said that his sense of humor is still intact. He said something like, "I've got the damn dog!" THAT IS SO DAD. I asked which dog, and he said, "the one before the last, your mother's favorite," and "the one we were all so sad to lose." He meant our collie, who we lost after a house fire when I was a teenager. The dog got freaked and ran off and we never saw him again, which was really the final kick in the nuts after losing all of our worldly possessions!

- He loves his grandchildren immensely

- There was nothing we could have done to prevent his death. Now that he has a larger picture of the grand scheme of things, he knows it was his life's plan all along.

- He gave A the image of brush/trees, and regret. So funny! Before he got sick, he and his friend were planning to come down and help us clean up our brush. We had a lot of tree damage from an ice storm last winter, and he was going to come help out. He never got to, and he said to me several times in our last month together that he regretted not helping us with that. Apparently, he still does.

Pretty amazing. I wasn't at all surprised, somehow. Sure, I'm shocked and amazed that something like this is even possible, but I've always believed strongly that after death we just take on another form. I don't believe in heaven or hell or anything like that, just an indefinable change. Now, I have confirmation, and I feel really peaceful about it all. Rock on!

Moving on... this post is already way too long... SORRY!

After, Mala and I had a nice lunch and enjoyed some rare sunshine. It has been a very rainy June here in New Hamster. After some burgers & sangria, we decided to phone in the rest of the afternoon. Literally. Here's Mala making her daughter VERY unhappy by arranging for after-school care. Poor little Morgie, shuffled off to childcare so Mommy can get her drink & pampering on!

We went to Mala's mani/pedi place, which was appropriately called "Ok Nails." Just ok. Nothin' fancy. But, it was actually quite fancy - they had such strong accents that Mala and I were like, "Sure, whatever!" Next thing you know, we're drinking some sort of fizzy pink wine thing in vibrating chairs (hence the blurry cell phone pics), having our hands dipped in hot parafin wax, and they're drawing little Asian flowers on our toenails. Guh? Hmmm, I guess I said yes to that? Whatev, it's kind of cute.

Then, while under the hand dryer, Mala totally got hit on by an Asian dude who may or may not have had Downs Syndrome. NTTAWWT. I had the giggles by that point, so watching her field questions about her heritage was quite amusing. Him: "You must go tanning a lot." Her: "Um, nope, just part Native American." Him: "You like tanning?" Her: "No, just drinking." HEE!

Possibly the most disturbing part of the whole experience was the fact that the girl who did my nails talked like a Vietnamese prostitute. She called me nothing but "Baby," and told me she loved me several times, and kept repeating, "I only do for you. Only for you, baby." Oh, and it was important to her that I remember her name (Lee) and repeat it a lot. SAY MY NAME, BEYOTCH!

So, that's my day. Pretty freakin' wonderful, eh? Mala and I agree that it's probably a good thing that I work 4 days/week or we would be raging alcoholics with beautiful nails and credit card debt out the wazoo.

Christmas Mint

Thanks for all the wonderful feedback with the lines so far. We're excited that they'll have good homes to go to once they leave SEI. Now here is another creation we hope you adore:

Serve up sweet holiday memories with the delicious flavors of Christmas Mint. With candy colored ornaments, luscious swirls, and yummy patterns, this collection captures the irresistible sights and smells of a cozy Christmas at home. Signature colors include meringue, three flavors of mint, and Christmas tree green, offset with cocoa and holiday red. Bright foil, pearl, and varnish paper treatments, along with designer brads, specialty ribbons, and coordinating embellishments, make the perfect ingredients for mouth-watering Christmas keepsakes.

Click photos to enlarge!

Next Up, Winter Song

Although summer is just beginning, CHA Summer is when our winter lines are released. I hope that the beautiful details of our winter lines win your hearts over. Let us know what you think about:


Reminiscent of a frosty day in the country side, SEI’s Wintersong paper collection is perfect for holiday & winter photos. Accented with warm flocking and sparkling glitter these papers also make beautiful cards and personalize gift giving.

Click photos to enlarge!

Lisa Rupp Giveaway Winner!

Thanks to everyone for entering our giveaway. Most of all thanks to Lisa for enlightening us with all her inspiration. So without anymore chit chat from me, the winner is:


Congratulations Debbie! Now in between your victory dance, please email us your shipping address to seiblog(at)shopsei(dot)com.

Have you seen this blogger?

MISSING

Answers to: garrito, burrito, garritoto, garritutu, garritofu
Blog Name: "Hey, A Shiny Object"
Raison d'etre: Making fun of shit, being a lovable curmudgeon
Last seen: 2 months ago, when he told us all he was preparing to get married. This is the Blogosphere's equivalent of "going out for cigarettes."

Possible reasons for disappearance:
* Still having mad newlywed sex
* Contracted Swine Flu while honeymooning in Mexico
* Abducted by aliens
* New wife discovered his loyal female blog following and was not easily amused
* Became a time traveler and is now trapped in the 14th century
* Doing hard time for pimping
* Suffered a traumatic brain injury after being kicked by a mule; consequently lost his sense of humor and ability to taste
* Got a life/just got sick of this shizz

If anyone sees this blogger, approach him cautiously and assume that he is armed. Give him a bologna sandwich (NO CRUSTS!) and a rubber chicken and apply cool compresses to his genitals immediately.