Catching up

Well I havent had much time to post but I do intend to catch up...My friend Carol and I are going to try painting. I chose for her to paint this cafe print for me....she feels pretty confident with it...and i dont know what i am painting for her yet...i made the matchboxes for swaps....black and white swap and a words of wisdom swap......the ATCs are for an Adutls only swap.....I have had a lot of fun making things but I also moved and started two new jobs.....And this month looks just as busy so i will try!

Fairy matchbox theme swap

I LOVE SWAPS!

HERE ARE A FEW THINGS I HAVE RECEIVED LATELY FROM SWAPS...I LOVE IT ALL!

Almost finished!!

As you know I have been working on 200 matchboxes for a friends wedding. They will be used as wedding favors.....Take a look.....its been a long project...

Stampin' Up Party

So I finally got my blog posted for the party.....sorry Arline, I haven't got the blog posted for the cards we made together..i will soon!

It was so much fun teaching a new technique and seeing everyone's finished cards. I think it was a success!
Since the catalog came out just days before the party it was perfect timing for a party!

So Sweet!

This is the matchbox I received from Natasha's Shabby Chic Matchbox Swap! I had seen it on Michele's page and was admiring her work and when i received it for the swap I was so thrilled!! I just love the paper too! This was a great swap!

Finished charms!

I made a few charms a while ago and i finally finished them! What do u think!

An Inconvenient truth!

An Inconvenient Truth
BY ROGER EBERT / June 2, 2006
Cast & CreditsParamount Classics presents a documentary featuring Al Gore. Directed by Davis Guggenheim. Running time: 100 minutes. Rated PG (for mild thematic elements).
I want to write this review so every reader will begin it and finish it. I am a liberal, but I do not intend this as a review reflecting any kind of politics. It reflects the truth as I understand it, and it represents, I believe, agreement among the world's experts.
Global warming is real.
It is caused by human activity.
Mankind and its governments must begin immediate action to halt and reverse it.
If we do nothing, in about 10 years the planet may reach a "tipping point" and begin a slide toward destruction of our civilization and most of the other species on this planet.
After that point is reached, it would be too late for any action.
These facts are stated by Al Gore in the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth." Forget he ever ran for office. Consider him a concerned man speaking out on the approaching crisis. "There is no controversy about these facts," he says in the film. "Out of 925 recent articles in peer-review scientific journals about global warming, there was no disagreement. Zero."
He stands on a stage before a vast screen, in front of an audience. The documentary is based on a speech he has been developing for six years, and is supported by dramatic visuals. He shows the famous photograph "Earthrise," taken from space by the first American astronauts. Then he shows a series of later space photographs, clearly indicating that glaciers and lakes are shrinking, snows are melting, shorelines are retreating.
He provides statistics: The 10 warmest years in history were in the last 14 years. Last year South America experienced its first hurricane. Japan and the Pacific are setting records for typhoons. Hurricane Katrina passed over Florida, doubled back over the Gulf, picked up strength from unusually warm Gulf waters, and went from Category 3 to Category 5. There are changes in the Gulf Stream and the jet stream. Cores of polar ice show that carbon dioxide is much, much higher than ever before in a quarter of a million years. It was once thought that such things went in cycles. Gore stands in front of a graph showing the ups and downs of carbon dioxide over the centuries. Yes, there is a cyclical pattern. Then, in recent years, the graph turns up and keeps going up, higher and higher, off the chart.
The primary man-made cause of global warming is the burning of fossil fuels. We are taking energy stored over hundreds of millions of years in the form of coal, gas and oil, and releasing it suddenly. This causes global warming, and there is a pass-along effect. Since glaciers and snow reflect sunlight but sea water absorbs it, the more the ice melts, the more of the sun's energy is retained by the sea.
Gore says that although there is "100 percent agreement" among scientists, a database search of newspaper and magazine articles shows that 57 percent question the fact of global warming, while 43 percent support it. These figures are the result, he says, of a disinformation campaign started in the 1990s by the energy industries to "reposition global warming as a debate." It is the same strategy used for years by the defenders of tobacco. My father was a Luckys smoker who died of lung cancer in 1960, and 20 years later it was still "debatable" that there was a link between smoking and lung cancer. Now we are talking about the death of the future, starting in the lives of those now living.
"The world won't 'end' overnight in 10 years," Gore says. "But a point will have been passed, and there will be an irreversible slide into destruction."
In England, Sir James Lovelock, the scientist who proposed the Gaia hypothesis (that the planet functions like a living organism), has published a new book saying that in 100 years mankind will be reduced to "a few breeding couples at the Poles." Gore thinks "that's too pessimistic. We can turn this around just as we reversed the hole in the ozone layer. But it takes action right now, and politicians in every nation must have the courage to do what is necessary. It is not a political issue. It is a moral issue."
When I said I was going to a press screening of "An Inconvenient Truth," a friend said, "Al Gore talking about the environment! Bor...ing!" This is not a boring film. The director, Davis Guggenheim, uses words, images and Gore's concise litany of facts to build a film that is fascinating and relentless. In 39 years, I have never written these words in a movie review, but here they are: You owe it to yourself to see this film. If you do not, and you have grandchildren, you should explain to them why you decided not to.
Am I acting as an advocate in this review? Yes, I am. I believe that to be "impartial" and "balanced" on global warming means one must take a position like Gore's. There is no other view that can be defended. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Senate Environment Committee, has said, "Global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people." I hope he takes his job seriously enough to see this film. I think he has a responsibility to do that.
What can we do? Switch to and encourage the development of alternative energy sources: Solar, wind, tidal, and, yes, nuclear. Move quickly toward hybrid and electric cars. Pour money into public transit, and subsidize the fares. Save energy in our houses. I did a funny thing when I came home after seeing "An Inconvenient Truth." I went around the house turning off the lights.


go to stopglobalwarming.org to see a lil bit of the movie

Global Warming Crisis

I won't normally post things that aren't related to my crafting life....But I think our world and the future of our world is super important to post about. I want to have another child....but how can i bring him/her into a world that is in a severe crisis......well here are some small things we can do to help global warming stop.
Go to liveearth.org for more details and how you can help spread the truth about Global warming.

Please read these things you can easily do every day to help save our planet...I copy and pasted each of them for you to read. A lot of people are ignoring this ugly truth about what we are doing to our planet. But can u imagine our children, or children's children not having a safe place to live because we were to lazy to do one simple thing?




Live Earth Climate Crisis Solution:




By planting trees, you can reduce home cooling costs by as much as 50%and grow yourself a little shade on a warm summer day.

Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs) last up to 10 times longer than traditional bulbs and use only a fraction of the energy, saving you money over their lifespan.

You can make 20 new cans from recycled material with the same energy it takes to make 1 from scratch.

Wash your clothes in cold water and save yourself up to $400 a year in bills.

Every ton of recycled paper saves enough electricity to power a 3 bedroom house for an entire year.

1.5 million tons of plastic are used to make bottles every year, a waste that could instead power electricity in 250,000 homes.

If just 1 million people cut down their trash by 10%, we could reduce our yearly CO2 emissions by as much as 50,000 tons.

Consider bamboo the next time you’re landscaping your yard; bamboo stores more CO2 and generates 35% more oxygen than an equivalent stand of trees.

Computers use up to 70% less electricity when you put them to sleep instead of using a screensaver.

Paper represents more than 70% of office waste. Print and copy on both sides of the page before taking it to the recycling bin.

Globally, we use as many as 1 million new plastic bags every MINUTE at a cost of 2.2 billion gallons of oil a year. Go reusable whenever, wherever.

A 100-guestroom hotel can save an estimated 72,000 gallons of water a year through a linen and towel reuse program. You don’t wash your towel everyday at home, do you?

Purchasing 100% post-consumer recycled paper lightens your carbon footprint by 5 pounds of CO2 per ream.

If just 1 million people replaced a 5 mile car trip once a week with a bike ride, we could reduce CO2 emissions by about 100,000 tons a year.

I hope you consider doing at least one of these things, every little bit helps.

First 6 for the wedding.....

New Stuff

I was inspired by a blog I saw today and I made some ATCs....

Shabby Chic Matchbox Swap

Here are the matchboxes I made for the swap....It was so fun, I made two more, but I sent those out before I took the picture, typical Amanda thing to do. I am now making 150 wedding favors that are matchboxes, purple, pink and creme.....I went to the store to buy 200 of them and I did, but I bought the books, not the boxes, once again typical Amanda thing to do.....Tell me what you think of my boxes, its my first time, dont be harsh LOL

I got my BOX!!

I LOVE IT!!!!!!!

In an earlier post I showed of the box I made for my partner, well today i received my box!!