Sick Little Mouse

Oh, when I first saw this image I just had to have it.  Sick little Henry Mouse is just too adorable.  And, I wanted to focus on the image, and have the option of giving this to a male, so I left off all the bling.  Sometimes I think we get so caught up in adding bling that we forget a few simples layers can have the same effect.

Hubby and I made a big score on Saturday...walked into the department store, took 25 minutes and a whole lotta bucks and walked away with our Christmas Shopping complete.  What a relief!  And on the way home we stopped at the local Butcher and ordered a 20lb Turkey and 10 dozen Perogies for Christmas Dinner, which I host every year.  Things are going to be a little slim this year as my parents are going to be in Florida and BananaStamper is taking her family to her parents for Christmas.  Normally we're about 22 for dinner, but it looks like we're down to 16 this year.  I'm sure that before the day arrives I'll have picked up a few more to feed!

All that's left now is to clean the house (hubby's home so he's been assigned one room every day so it's easier to maintain), decorate the house (hubby has also been assigned this task...he's to set up the tree and then wait for direction), bake 6 different kinds of goodies (the kids will help with this), and make more Christmas Cards!  Like a true card maker, I've already started thinking about Valentine's Cards!  LOL!

Stamps:  Whiff of Joy Sick Henry, Amy R Spring Sentiments
Paper:  Echo Park A Walk in the Park
Ink:  Copic Markers, Memento Black
Accessories: Spellbinders Lacey Squares

Adorn Those Corners!

This week at Paper Sundaes Challenge Blog we would like you to 'Adorn Those Corners' of your images!  You can adorn your corners with stitching, pearls, die cuts, flowers etc.  The possibilities are endless.  Our Sponsor this week is Simon Says Stamps.

I chose to make a gift tag...a large one, but that's okay.  Don't we all have a few "large" gifts to give every year?!?  The image is from Magnolia and I coloured this guy last year just after Christmas and he's been patiently waiting to get onto a project. 

I cut him out with my Spellbinders Mitten die and then distressed the background with some CTMH inks.  The Sketch is #308 from Splitcoast Stampers...I haven't played along with these in a long time, but it was such a great sketch I couldn't resist.  I am also going to enter my card over at All That Scraps Wednesday Challenge - Make a Tag

I made the top of my tag with my Spellbinders Labels 16 and then cut the background by hand.  I added Zva jewles to every corner to make the whole thing sparkle.

Stamps:  Magnolia

Paper:  Bo Bunny Magical Winter
Ink: Copic Markers, CTMH Pansy Purple, Indian Corn Blue, Bamboo
Accessories:  Spellbinders Mitten Die, Labels 16 Die, Zva Jewels

Sparkly & Bright

Whew, it's almost the weekend.  Today started off a little late, and I decided to just give the kids a break and drive them to school.  It snowed last night and is quite warm, so they were able to build a snowman in our yard before I was ready to go...and on the way to dropping them off my Dad phoned to tell me that the buses had been cancelled.  The Munchkin was upset because I didn't drive them back home for a snow day.  Goodness, the roads were fine once we were out of our subdivision, so I saw no reason for them to stay home.

In the spirit of all this snow, I have a card covered in snowflakes today.  This was started months ago, and then hung around on my desk waiting to be finished.  I most definitely used a sketch, but it was so long ago and I didn't write it down of course.

I know that pink and brown aren't traditional holiday colours, but I just love them together.  You can't really see it, but the big snowflakes are covered with pink glitter, and they really do sparkle quite nicely.

I am going to enter my card in the following challenges:

Fab N Funky:  Goin' with the flow

Simon Says Stamp Challenge:  Let it Snow

Stamps:  Amy R Holiday Sentiments
Paper:  We R Memory Keepers
Ink:  CTMH Black
Accessories:  EK Success Snowflake Punch, MS Snowflake Edge Punch, Cotton Candy Stickles

Paper Sundaes - A Sketch by Shana!

This week at Paper Sundaes Challenge Blog our challenge is sponsored by Paper Jewels. Paper Jewels has an amazing sale on right now on all of the stamp lines they carry!  All stamps are Buy 2, Get 1 Free, Buy 4, Get 2 Free, etc.  And if that's not enough, the Spesch stamps are priced to clear at only $6.50 each!  You can read all of the sale details in her shop.  Jenny carries Spesch, CC Designs, Bildmalarna, and Sweet Pea!  

What is the challenge you ask?  A Sketch by our very own Shana!

When I heard that Jenny was having a sale, I hopped on over to Paper Jewels and bought a few!  Included in this bunch was Bonnie - this fun Spesch Stamp.  I love her because she is so versatile...I know you'll see her come up on Baby Cards, Birthday Card and Get Well cards in the near future!

I chose to shrink the sketch a little to make it fit an 4.25 x 5.5 card.  I paper-pieced Bonnie's little dress and coloured the rest with my copics.  The Flower was made using my Spellbinders Poinsettia's dies...so much fun!  I am also entering my card over at Crazy 4 Challenges where they want us to  Use Circles on our cards.

The snow if flying here again today, so I guess I have to accept the fact that it is here to stay for the winter.  I do not like the season of wetness and cold.  I wish I could hibernate through this season all together!  And big thanks to everyone who sent well wishes...the move at work is almost complete (yes, it has taken 7 working days to move our entire shop...with one more to go) and I am feeling better, even though I don't sound better yet. 

Stamps:  Spesch - Bonnie, Amy R Holiday Sentiments
Paper:  Echo Park Paper - A Walk in the Park, CTMH White, Misc. Cranberry Paper
Ink: Copic Markers, Memento Black, CTMH Cranberry (for distressing the poinsettia)

Accessories:  Spellbinders Poinsettia Dies, Misc. Button, Nestabilities Small Scalloped Circles

Simple Card

After spending 8 hours colouring, I really wanted to make a card...no really, I spent most of my crop time last weekend just colouring.  Anyway, I managed to locate the Get Sketchy sketch this week and went to work.  My card also qualifies for Crazy for Challenges as a Christmas card.  It's funny, now that I am making my own card, I find that I make a lot that are not religion specific, even though we celebrate Christmas in a religious way.  Strange.

As I was thinking about this post, and what I would say, I realized that this is a global card.  The black and white paper is SEI and was purchased from i {heart} papers from my friend Kate.  The blue paper came from CTMH via BananaStamper.  The Nestabilities were purchased from The Paperworks Co and the Sentiment is Amy R Sentiments via The Scrapbooking Cottage.  The snowflake punch was a brand new purchase for this weekend from my local Michael's store.  The little blue jewel was swiped from my table-mates stash while she was out watching her daughter play hockey (oops, I forgot to tell you about that!).

I'm not sure what all this means...but I know that I have some great friends who own great stores!

Stamps:  Amy R Winter Sentiments
Paper:  SEI, CTMH
Ink:  CTMH Black

Accessories:  MS Snowflake punch, Nestabilities Mittens, SU Tag Punch, Blue Jewel from Allyson's stash

Paper Sundaes - finally I'm back!

This week they have opened the Sundae Toppings Bar and are featuring Punches, Ribbon, Embossing and the Colour Blue! We would like you to show us your creations with at least two of the toppings - of course you can load your Sundae creation with three or four toppings too!

Oh, how I have hated being on hiatus from Paper Sundaes...and I can't guarantee that I'll be able to play every week, but this week I did! 

The sponsor this week is Belles n' Whistles stamps....and isn't this little guy just gorgeous!?! 

Oh my gosh!  When I posted this last night, I totally forgot to link it up to The Sweet Stop...I used their fabulous sketch this week!

Super busy this week moving our offices and shop, so not much to say...plus I've managed to pick up another cold...going on day 5 here...second one this year already....oy!

Stamps:  Belles n' Whistles Surprise, CTMH Happy Birthday

Paper:  Echo Park Summer line
Ink:  Copic Markers
Accessories:  Nestabilities, Prima Flowers, Misc. Button



Why I love cards more

Okay, I have been talking about my knitting projects for a while now, and so I figured I better show you what I can do.  I do love to knit...it is something that I can do on a long drive (when I'm not driving of course) and it's a very portable craft.  I have been known to pull out my knitting needles and wait in the car while the Munchkin goes in for her piano lesson. :)

This is a hat and mitten set that I made for my cousin's daughter.  She'll be 2 in January and is the tiniest little thing.  I had this yarn hanging around from the hats that I made the kids in the spring and so I decided to use it up for a Christmas present.  I even got smart and measured her head.  To give you an idea of how tiny these are, the mitts measure 6 inches from tip to the bottom of the cuff.  They're adorable in person.

So, yesterday I took the hat with me to try on her little head (it's been finished for weeks) and lo and behold the darned thing doesn't fit!  Argh!  It's the first time I've knit with two colours (where the blue dots are) and even though I tried really hard to keep my stitches loose, its too tight at just that one part.  And this brings us to why I love making cards more...if I screw up a card, I just start over or cover up the mistake with a flower or other cute embellishment.  But with a mis-sized hat, I have to start all over again.  *Sigh*  Luckily for me, I can knit while the girls are at skating, so it's not a total loss.

It looks like I won't be betting any time in my craft room this week, but I have BIG plans for the weekend.  My local LSS hosts a Yap N Scrap every fall, and it's this weekend.  So Friday night and for 12 hours on Saturday I will be sitting with my markers and my images and crafting away.  I can't wait to make some cards, I think I'm going through card withdrawl!  LOL!

Oh, and hey...hop on over to Paper Jewels where Jenny is having a Buy 2 Get 1 Free Sale!  Jenny is located in Alberta and is a great lady to deal with.  She ships fast and she carries Spesch stamps, CC Designs, Bildmalarna and Sweet Peas!  Check it out!

Munckin's Birthday

Well, I had a grand post pictured in my head, then things went crazy and I forgot to take pictures of the loot bags, so a description will have to do!  Here is the invitations that we sent out this year.

Had to keep it simple in the interest of time...no colouring...boo!

Big thanks to Lee-Ann at Snappy Scraps for the initial inspiration for my loot bags.  She suggested an "ice-cream sundae" theme, and I actually went in search of items for this but it is totally the wrong season for ice cream so I had to make a few alterations and her is what I finally came up with.  The theme for the birthday party was chocolate and so the loot bags was all about Muchkin's Favourite Chocolate Things.  I even composed a little song...hum the "My Favourite Things" song from The Sound of Music as you read it...Munchkin can sing it...hmmm, that would make a fun YouTube video...oops, sorry got sidetracked there.  Anyway, song is:

Hot Chocolate filled with fluffy white marshmallows

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

And Dairy Queen Ice Cream

Friends celebrating my birthday with me

These are a few of my favourite things!

And the loot bags included an individual packet of hot chocolate, a few mini-marshmallows and a chocolate covered plastic spoon, 3 chocolate chunk cookies and a $5 gift card for Dairy Queen.  All these items were placed into a white paper sandwich bag, sealed with a ribbon and then I printed the song out and matted it and used my spellbinders to make it all pretty...if I had just remembered to take a picture...argh.  But, you get the picture.

I thought that life might slow down a little, and in some respects it has.  Hubby had a CT scan mid-October and the results show no tumour growth, so that is good news.  We're working on seizure control right now.  The kids have settled into the school routine, and I finally figured out that if I pick the Rock Stars clothes the night before and let her eat a candy after she's dressed in the morning she will dress herself without a meltdown!  But, we finally got the keys to temporary location for work, so the next 3 weeks will be filled with thoughts of layouts, moving things and the new office. 

Lucky for me, hubby and I are taking off this weekend for 2 days on our own.  After that I'm hoping to actually get into my craft room and get some creating done.   Until I have some papercrafts to show you, I'm going to post a few of my knitted projects.  So, have a great weekend..I plan on sleeping, shopping and sleeping some more.  So exciting!  LOL!