Acetate Cards

I have been scared to make an acetate card, but this weekend friends were in town and we took a class at Archiver's and made some super cute cards that quite frankly were not that hard. So now I am ready to use acetate on a regular basis. Acetate cards are super easy, very pretty and hard to take pics of ;) Come back this week to see more of the cards I made!

PayPal follow up

To the posters who were supportive, positive, and gave me great solutions to my problem ~ THANK YOU! I appreciate them!

Let me start the "meat" of this post by stating that the thoughts and opinions stated in this post and this entire blog are mine and I am allowed to have them and post them. If you don't like them, well, that's life and we don't all think the same way, and I don't expect you to all agree with me, but I do expect comments/responses on my blog to be respectful and not insulting . My first reaction to the comments on my PayPal SUCKS post was to just delete them, but then I felt compelled to share my reactions to them, because, well this is my blog and I can do that. And if you are going to make statements like were made, and not share your identity then I have to respond publicly, which quite frankly I am good with, because a good ole debate on your beliefs vs. my beliefs is not a bad thing.

If you want to understand where all of this is coming from, head on over to the comments section of my PayPal SUCKS post and read what Anonymous and Penny had to say!

First of all, please show me where I called PayPal evil. I stated that they suck, their tag line states they are a secure way to send money. Having over $1000 stolen out of my account isn't secure. If being 16 days out from the first disputes being resolved and still not having my money back when they say it will take 7 to 10 days is them taking my claim seriously, then I obviously have a different definition of serious. I don't do business with companies who behave like this. You can if you choose, but I wouldn't recommnend it, and that's exactly what my original post stated. I made no claim of being the all knowing PayPal Queen, but I think people deserve to know what PayPal is doing to people, and yes, more importantly hackers, but PayPal has known for a while that their site security is a problem and haven't made the changes that have stopped this from happening. So if you took my original post as preaching then that's your interpretation.

Second, I will be closing my accounts with both PayPal and my current bank and taking my business elsewhere. Might this happen with my credit cards and my new bank, yes, but I will not do business with companies who do not take the security of my money as seriously as I do. Maybe I just hold companies to a higher standard and expect them to be at least as smart or smarter than your average hacker (do I get flamed for insulting hackers now too?). Suggesting I put my money in my mattress, well, right now that's just silly, but if every account I have is hacked into then absolutely that's where my money is going. There are way too many businesses that I can still do business with if it comes to that. I hope it won't. I also don't believe it will come to that because I do believe that there are companies out there that will take care of my money appropriately. When I put my money into someone else's care, it is THEIR job to take care of it. I did MY job by being on top of my account activity, and called the bank before the PayPal charges even hit my bank, then called PayPal within 15 mintues of getting the notification, so on that note I did do everything I could do to protect my money, and I will continue to do that...and I will continue to expect the banks and other financial institutions I do business with to do THEIR jobs protecting my money or they won't have my business.

Edited to add: Oh, and I forgot to add the spectacular news that PayPal tried to withdraw all four amounts a second time last weekend. So, umm, while I will give them a lil leeway on the first four withdrawals, the second time it happened was COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY PayPals fault. Not evil, just MORONS.

I am in love with the JustRIte Monogram Stamper!!

Can you tell? All I've made lately are beauties with this amazing tool!! It is so simple, takes very little effort and makes wonderful cards!! This is the last of 4 sets, sorry, I didn't take pics of set 3 :(

I would have had all sorts of new fun cards to post as yesterday was supposed to be Stamp Club, but my friends son is very sick, so say some prayers for a speedy recovery for him!!

JDRF Walk 2008

It's that time of year again. On October 11, my family and I will participate in the Walk to Cure Diabetes here in Kansas City. My beautiful, smart, funny, sassy, stubborn and amazing 7 year old niece Sierra (she's the one front and center in the above pic!) was diagnosed with this awful disease in April 2005...it seems like longer. Sierra uses an insulin pump, which reduces the number of sticks she gets, but she still has to endure 10-12 finger sticks a day. I am in awe and amazement of her each time she explains to me in grown up terms about her disease, how to use her pump, how to count carbs, and which snacks she needs when her blood sugar is low. Please help support my family and I, and even more importantly the crucial research that will find a cure for this disease. Click here to make a donation! Anything you can give would be greatly appreciated!!

I will leave you with this poem that I cannot honestly tell you where I found it...but I love it...and it speaks to the HOPE we have to find a cure in Sierra's lifetime!

Do you know what hope is? It's magic and it's free.
It's not in a prescription. It's not in an IV.
It punctuates our laughter. It sparkles in our tears.
It simmers under sorrows. It dissipates our fears.
Do you know what hope is? It's reaching past today.
It's dreaming of tomorrow. It's trying a new way.
It's pushing past impossible. It's pounding on the door.
It's questioning the answer. It's always seeking more.
It's rumours of a break. It's whispers of a cure.
A roller coaster ride. Of remedies, unsure.
Do you know what hope is? It's candy for the soul.
It's perfume for the spirit. To share it makes you whole.
Take my hand...come... Let's share this hope...together...

PayPal SUCKS!!!

I would like to recommend to anyone who uses PayPal to cancel their account. They have completely lost control of the security of their information and so many people are losing money to hackers. Those people now include me. I am hoping and praying that this will all get resolved and be fine, but right now it is not at all fine. Here's my story...

At about 4:40 on Thursday I check my email. I get an email anytime a charge happens through PayPal and I have two emails from them that money was being "transferred" to two different people. One for $200 and one for $130. I immediately call my bank. They are less than helpful because the charges haven't posted to my account. I say, well, duh, I'm being proactive and I am telling you they are fraud and not to pay them. They tell me they can stop payment but that will cost me...so I say, so basically I get screwed out of money in all of this even though I didn't do anything wrong. The dumb bank lady recommends I just wait to see if they even post to my account and I apparently have a stroke and agree. I then call PayPal and while they are quite friendly, they tell me to submit disputes online which I do. As I am doing this, two more charges hit my PayPal account each to the tune of $400. Now I am pooping my pants because the first two are bad...but now I've just passed the $1000 mark...what the heck am I gonna do. So I now dispute 4 charges. Within an hour, the last two charges are resolved and I get notice that I will be refunded, which until today I didn't figure out that it sucks just as much that way, because what stupid PayPal is doing is taking the money out and someday...who knows when, I'll get my money back. Total scam in my opinion. So today I check my checking account...crap, there the charges sit in pending transactions...all $1130 worth of them. So I call the bank again and say don't pay em. Well, we can't do that now, you'll have to file a dispute. OK, fine. I cry like a baby. I call the bank back later, explain the situation again and say I need to talk to a manager or someone because how this has been handled is NOT OK. This lady is delightful, apoligizes for what has happened, tells me exactly what I need to do, and let's me know that the lady I talked to last night was (not her words) an idiot and she should have pushed me to stop payment even with the charges I would incur because those could go away if the fraud case is found to be true...well heck the lady last night certainly didn't help in any way shape or form. So, tomorrow morning I go to the bank to fill out the dispute paperwork and I will ask for "provisional credit" to cover the $1130 dollars til PayPal refunds my money. I gotta say, if they don't kiss my behind in every way tomorrow morning, me and my money are heading elsewhere. Also today I had to stop payment to Discover Card cuz now I don't have money to pay them. Now Discover Card was delightful, I called them, explained my situation and that I couldn't pay them right now but could I have some sort of extension for my due date without incurring charges. Sure, they can do that...how long do I have...it's indefinate, just pay when I can. Thank GOD for small amounts of good customer service.

My message to you after my long winded post is PAYPAL SUCKS and don't do business with them. Cancel your accounts with them. They are idiots with crappy security who are putting millions of dollars at risk (no not millions of my dollars, lol) I will be cancelling my account as soon as this is resolved...that's another piece of crap from PayPal...I can't cancel my account while the fraudulent charges are pending. Oh boy am I unhappy.

More Monogram Stamper Creations

If you didn't feel my love for the JustRite Monogram Stamper in my last post, let me just tell you again. This puppy is da bomb!! I love it! It is super easy to use, and the elegance and personalization it allows is just perfect for gifts. So here is set 2 out of 4. Set 3 should be completed today, and if I can figure out the middle name of the 4th person, I can get their's done too.

JustRite Monogram Stamper

Oh my goodness is this new tool the most wonderful thing ever!! I am in love! I see lots and lots of gifts in peoples futures with this baby. Today I created a set of 8 cards for someone at work. I intend to make them for all 4 of my direct reports, and 1 of 3 sets is done. I used SU paper as the card bases, all solid paper is also SU. PP is from a stack I got at either HL or Joann's. Black ribbon is SU, pink ribbon is PTI. I used my Marvy Uchida punches for the first time in a while (haven't traded up to the circle Nesties yet ;)) The set was put in one of those great clear boxes from PTI!

After I publish this post I am off to see what other letter sets and such I need to go with my Monogram Stamper!!

08|08|08

What a cool date!! And the perfect day to get my rear back over to my blog and post something. I have been on a creative hiatus. Life has been super busy with work and school that something had to give and sadly it was stamping. In the future I will be finding a better balance because even with craziness the creative release that is stamping is very therapeutic and this weekend I am doing some therapy!!!

So how about a PMS check since I haven't done one in way too long...

P(hysical) ~ I must say I am pretty exhausted. This week has been hard on my body, we are getting new window and ac at work and with 100 degree temps it makes for not the most fun I've ever had. But on the other hand my asthma and allergies are pretty decent and I feel pretty good!!

M(ental) As tired as I am my head is in such a good place these days. Even with the whining and groaning that has gone on at work with all the construction and how frustrating that has been, I have been doing well at being angry for a bit about it, then getting over it because one of my fave quotes I learned from a Flybaby friend is "Your attitude is contagious, is yours worth catching?" and I know I want to spread happiness and positivity!!

S(piritual) AWESOME...that's what I can say about this one. God is good, and when you trust that he's got a plan it makes life much easier. Having faith has meant the world to me lately!!

So, as busy crazy as things have been, I can roll with the punches, be flexible, plan as best I can and adjust as needed! Hope to have some crafty posts soon for you!!