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Thursday, April 29, 2010

Blog Candy Winner!

Thanks to everyone for your wonderful comments on my Paper Sundaes Sponsor Appreciation and Blog Hop post.  I had 46 comments, and lots of great guesses...the stamp that I used is from Belle's and Whistle...I just discovered these stamps and love, love, love them!

I used the Random Number Generator, and her is what it gave me:
Comment number 25 was from KanataNewf!  Congratulations!  Thanks again to everyone for your wonderful comments.


Hi everyone! 

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Bella Birthday

There is still time to enter for my Blog Candy and participate in the Paper Sundaes Sponsor Appreciation and Blog Hop!

Tuesday already!  Oh my, this week is just flying by...Sunday was a challenge - the little one is really vying to be the boss at our house - and then I had another headache...went to bed early.  Monday we played catch-up a bit and I made 2 cute cards that I have to take pictures of.  Early to bed again 'cause hubby had to get up in the middle of the night to go to work early.  Today the big kid starts Spring Skating School, so that will be a lot of fun...I'm looking forward to spending some time knitting while she's on the ice. 
Anyway...I pulled together this fun birthday card last week using some scraps from my Basic Grey Urban Prairie paper pack.  Rather than matte the card I used a coloured cardstock and then stamped my sentiment right on the paper.  Quick and Easy.

This week's Eclipse Quote:
I believe that. But I want you to know something — when it comes to all this enemies nonsense, I’m out. I am a neutral country. I am Switzerland. I refuse to be affected by territorial disputes between mythical creatures. Jacob is family. You are… well, not exactly the love of my life, because I expect to love you for much longer than that. The love of my existence. I don’t care who’s a werewolf and who’s a vampire. If Angela turns out to be a witch, she can join the party, too.

Bella Swan, Eclipse, Chapter 6, p.143
 
Stamps:  StampingBella Giftabella with Hat, StampingBella Sentiment
Paper:  Basic Grey Urban Prairie, CTMH SweetLeaf
Ink:  Memento Black, Copic Markers
Accessories:  Prima Flower, Misc. Button

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Paper Sundaes Challenge 15 - Build a Sundae!

Have you been on the Paper Sundaes Sponsor Appreciation Blog Hop yet?  If not, be sure to check it out, there are plenty of prizes to be won!

We've got more fun with this week's Challenge.  We challenge you to "Build a Paper Sundae"!  How do you build a Paper Sundae? 

Three scoops of ice cream: 3 patterned papers
Two toppings: 2 different cardstocks
One cherry: a single flower, of course!

I had a lot of fun making this card...it made me wish for Summer and it's months away!  Because I made this card well in advance (yeah me!) I was able to add a little extra, and I hand stitched around the edge of the card with yellow embroidery floss.  I just love the look!

The layout of my card is courtesy of Card Patterns Sketch#55...I just discovered these ladies and they have some fabulous sketches!  My card also qualifies for:
Corrosive Challenge:  Use a Charm
Clearly Inspired Challenge:  All Tied Up - use Ribbon
Stamp Something:  Use a Charm

Stamps:  Surf Tilda, Amy R Sentiment
Paper:  K & Company Citronella, CTMH Tulip, Clover Meadow
Ink:  Copic Markers,  Memento Black
Accessories:  Misc. Yellow Ribbon, Yellow Embroidery Floss, Misc. Flower Charm, Red & Yellow Stickles

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Paper Sundaes Sponsor Celebration and Blog Hop!

Happy Saturday and welcome to the Paper Sundaes Sponsor Celebration and Blog Hop. You should have arrived from Jenny's Blog...if you're just joining us, what better place to start than at the beginning...at Paper Sundaes Challenge Blog.

The DT at Paper Sundaes Challenge Blog is so super excited about our upcoming sponsor line-up that we just couldn't keep it all under wraps any longer! Each DT member is showcasing a different sponsor. Plus, there are five prizes to be awarded, in addition to some candy along the way. There are multiple chances to win for everyone who plays along, so be sure to read this post to get full details.

I just love this little beauty in her bathing suit...and pink and yellow were what I was feeling like today!  I used the brand new sketch from Friday Sketchers and my colour inspiration from the Copic Colour Challenge (YG00, RV13, V91) and I had to throw a flower on there so that I could say that I qualify for S2G Twisted Thursday (flowers on the paper and the actual flower!) 'cause I love them over at S2G! Whew!

Do you know what company my stamp came from?  Leave a comment before Wednesday April 28th at 12 midnight EST with a guess and I'll pick a random comment to win a surprise goodie bag...new followers are always welcome! *wink*wink*

Your next stop is Crystal's blog...where there may or may not be more candy!  Indulge your sweet tooth!

Copics used for this card:

Stamps:  If I told you, then the whole comment/winner thing wouldn't be any fun now would it!  I'll tell you who when I announce the winner on Thursday.  Sentiment is Amy R Stamps
Paper:  Basic Grey Two Scoops, CTMH Buttercup, Baby Pink
Ink:  Copic Markers, Memento Black
Accessories:  Kaisercraft Pink Gems, Prima Flower, Misc. Button, Fiskars edge punch

Friday, April 23, 2010

Fabulous Friday Challenge

Happy Friday!  Today's challenge over on the PCP group i {heart} copics is recipe challenge:  2 Patterned Papers, 5 Coloured Copic Things, 1 Image (I can't get the exact wording, because I can't connect to PCP, but as soon as I can, I'll fix that.  On to my card:

Totally cased this one from Sparkle...more specifically, this card here.  If you're ever looking for some great sketches, Sparle seems to have it down to a science...sometimes it's easier to surf her blog to find great sketches than to wander the blogs! Anyway, with the card layout case'd, I pulled out my Basic Grey Urban Prairie Papers and some embellishments and got to work. 
Can you believe that all of the embellishments are coloured with copics...seriously!  I coloured both flowers (and some ribbon that I didn't end up using) with my copic markers and then the little gems were clear one's but I wanted them to match everything else, so I coloured those as well.  I was impress too, because I coloured them and then stuck them on my projects and no colour transfer at all!  Finally, I coloured the brad for my flowers center and voila...perfectly matched embellishments!


Stamps:  CC Designs, MFT Essential Sentiments
Paper:  Basic Grey Urban Prairie, CTMH Heavenly Blue, Honey
Ink:  Copic Markers, Memento Black
Accessories: Prima Flower, Another white paper flower whose name I dont' know and I didnt' save the package, ack!, Misc. clear gems, Yellow stickles

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

FORE!!

Oh my gosh, it's Wednesday evening already!  Lucky me, I spent the afternoon in my scrap area, mostly cleanign and organizing, but I was able to pull together two quick cards.  This one features Golfabella from Stamping Bella.  It's been a while since I inked up my Bella's and I almost forgot how much fun they are to work with.  I have a few more that I coloured last night, so they'll be popping up in cards over the next few weeks.  Why was I in my craft room and not at work?  The new washer and dryer were finally being delivered, and of course I can't be first on their list.  The delivery window as from 12 noon until 4pm and of course they came at 3:30pm...poor me, I had to tough it out in my scrap room!  LOL!

The sun was shining today, and the despite being cranky and overtired, the kids helped me clean the house a little this evening while hubby tired to get the new appliances hooked up (the washer is running a test cycle as I type this, but the dryer won't be completed until tomorrow after work).  Anyone with two little kids will know that after 8 days with no laundry facilities (thanks to my Mom for doing my one desperation load at her house on Monday) there is so much dirty laundry I'm not sure where to put it all right now.  I never in my life would have thought that I'd be looking forward to doing laundry...oh my!

My card will be entered into the following challenges:
The Color Dare:  Old Olive, Summer Sun, Certainly Celery, Very Vanilla
The Res-Q Challenge: Take a Mental Health Break (pastels and an image that makes you smile!)
Fab N Funky:  Get it all out (use something you've had forever...like my Bella stamp that hasn't seen daylight in over a year!) 

A quick shout out to Stacy over at The Scrapbooking Cottage...1 year old!  Woohoo!  Hop on over there for some great blog candy...every day this week!  And become a follower, not only does she offer great products in her store at great prices, she's got some awesome art to show you on her blog!

Finally, a Happy Birthday shout out to my friend Allyson...who may be better looking than me, but now she's older!  LOL!  Hope you had a great day...the card is in the mail!  LOL!

Stamps:  Golfabella, Stamping Bella Sentiment
Paper:  Basic Grey Urban Prairie, CTMH Sweet Leaf
Ink:  Copic Markers
Accessories:  Recollections Rhinestones, Prima Flower, Misc. Button

Monday, April 19, 2010

Be Happy - It's Contagious!

I just love that saying...I should live by it a little more often!  This is one of the cards that I was able to create while BananaStamper had the kids.  I stared with this week's sketch from Crazy 4 Challenges and my CTMH Key to My Heart Papers...not even sure that it is current anymore, but that's okay.  The image is Gratty'tude from Stamping Bella, and thi sis the first time that I've inked her up, though I've had her for a long, long time.  Once I coloured her, I finished off her flowers by adding a little yellow stickles to the centers....which of course you can't see here but is super cute in person!  LOL!
I'm quite happy with the way this card turned out...and since the paper was already on my table you'll see a few more with these colours in the next week or so.  Sparkle has inspired me to start using what I have before I buy some new papers...we'll see how that goes.

I promised a quote from Eclipse today, so here it is (for those who don't know, this is Bella talking about one of the Quilleute men looking at his true love):

The way he stared at her! It was like a blind man seeing the sun for the first time. Like a collector finding an undiscovered Da Vinci, like a mother looking into the face of her newborn child.



Bella Swan, Eclipse, Chapter 11, p.242
 
Stamps:  Stamping Bella Gratty'tude
Paper:  CTMH Key To My Heart, CTMH Tulip, Juniper, Creme Brulee
Ink:  Copic Markers E13, E15, YR21, Y23, G21, R24, R46, E000, E00

Accessories:  Prima Flowers, Misc. Button, CTMH Bigger Brad in Honey, Stickles.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Paper Sundaes #14 - No People!

Hello everyone!  Happy Sunday!  Oy, I hope I sound better than I feel.  I'll explain later, first lets talk about this week's challenge at Paper Sundaes Challenge Blog - No People!  This week's challenge is sponsored by MelJen's Designs, a super fun digital stamp company with some great images!  For my card, I chose Smile Flower to use on my card today.  It's a super fun image and right from the minutes I saw it, I thought about using buttons for the center of my flowers.
I ran some yellow and green papers through my cuttlebug to give them a little dimension, then coloured my image and adhered the buttons.  I used the Sketch #52 from The Sweet Stop Sketches and voila, a very bright springy card was born!  Don't forget to hop on over to the Paper Sundaes, we're having a Sponsor Appreciation hop next week, and there are many prizes and lots of ways to enter. 

Do you really want to hear about my day?  First, let me preface this with a big 'ol THANK YOU to my good friend BananaStamper, who most of you know lives just a few houses away from me.  My kids were driving me insane and I was desperate for some time alone yesterday, so we formulated a spectacular plan.  I took all our kids to the ice show, which gave her a few hours at home by herself, then I dropped the kids off to her for dinner and some play time and I was able to spend some very productive time in my scrap room. I went to bed last night feeling productive and relaxed.

Today however, the 4 year old fell asleep on my lap in church...and I wanted to give her a few minutes to sleep so that she wouldn't be a grouch and my feet fell asleep and my back started to ache.  Then, I sat funny at Timmy's after and my neck started to get sore.  Today was also the Skating Awards and we were asked to attend...the big kid won Canskater of the Year for our club...so proud of her!  And she won a Bursary for $75 off next year's skating fees...Woohoo!  But of course, I had to sit through the AGM and by then (2pm) my head was just pounding and my neck was sore.  I'm extremely sensitive to any strain on my neck, even talking for a few minutes with my head turned can be disastrous.  So, 2 hours later at 4pm when we head for home my head/neck/ears hurt so bad my stomach is turning.  I literally came in the door, took enough Motrin to knock me out and climbed into bed.  Thank goodness the hubby is understanding of this and he took the kids outside to play for a few hours.  Now I'm up and I still feel groggy, like I've been sleeping for days.  And, I hop onto my blog to do a littler mindless surfing and realize that I've scheduled my post for 8pm...so I came in to tell you all my tale of woe...what's a few more minutes (this will be posted just after 8pm). 

So, note to self...if head hurts, even if it is going to cost $6 at the hotel gift shop for 2 Motrin...buy them...lots of them...and the rest of the day will be salvaged.

Because of my great day yesterday I was able to make enough cards to have something to post almost every day this week, and I've a finished a few DT cards weeks in advance....aaahhhh! :)  And, I won't always be this wordy, but tomorrow I will have another quote from Eclipse!

Stamps:  Meljens Designs Smile Flower, Amy R Holiday Sentiment
Paper:  CTMH Sunkiss Yellow, Key Lime, Orchid Bouquet
Ink:  Copic Markers YG05, YG07, V04
Accessories:  Misc. Buttons, CTMH Clover Meadow Gingham Ribbon, Prima Flowers, Sparkly Big Brads (Doodlebug I think), Cuttlebug, Sizzix Embossing Folder

Friday, April 16, 2010

i {heart} copics Fabulous Friday Challenge!

This week's Fabulous Friday Challenge over on the i {heart} copics group on PCP is a sketch challenge.  I used this fun Raccoon Flowers image from Chicken Girl Designs and my Basic Grey Lemonade papers.  I love the simplicity of this sketch...you can keep it simple or add a whole lotta bling to make it a busier card.  Personally, I like 'em simple.

Did you even just have one of those weeks?  One where it didn't seem to matter what you did, you were always behind the eight ball, one step forward two steps back kind of week?  Me too!  Sunday started out well enough, except that the little one threw up at Tim Horton's (Canadian Coffee shop we visit after church every Sunday)...not to worry, we made it to the bathroom in time!  When we got home, she ate a little and seemed fine, but tired.  She wanted to see the ice show again, so I agreed to go with her and hubby even though I had already been the day before and had planned to spend a few hours in my craft room.  Did I mention that the big kid skated like a pro?

This put me behind in my crafting...and all seemed find until the little one woke up late in the evening and lost her dinner...looks like the day off I planned for crafting on Monday is a day off for a sick kid.  Of course, this sick kid is the kind that wants to sit on your lap all day...no biggee, I got 7 loads of laundry done.  Just after the last load went into the washer, I discovered a small trail of water on the floor.  Some investigation by hubby revealed that there is oil leaking from under the washer...time for a new washer.  And, I'm exhausted so no crafting for me tonight.

Tuesday the little one wakes at 6am with lots of attitude...she's feeling better!  Tuesday night my parents take the kids so that we can go and look at new laundry appliances.  Too many dollars later I am now the proud owner of a front-loading washer and dryer...at least on paper, they won't be delivered until next Tuesday.  Yikes...that's a long time to go without laundry facilities.  Wednesday the cleaning lady came and I was embarrassed at the state of our house (even if she is the cleaning lady, we clean up the clutter before she comes)..so that evening we spent time cleaning out the little one's bedroom and ended up with a full garbage bag full of old papers, broken toys and the like.  After the kids were in bed I went grocery shopping and came home at 10pm and promptly went to bed. 

Thursday, it took everything I had to get out of bed and function.  Little one was up at 5:45, but I managed to keep her quiet until 6:00 before beginning our day.  Saw a doctor friend who made some recommendations on the little one's tummy troubles (she gets every stomach flu going and is always complaining that her tummy hurts).  Totally overwhelmed at the amount of work and "elimination diet" entails, but I promise to consider it and do some research.  I can't face going back to work, so I go home to craft and "forget my troubles."  Not successful with hubby home and wanting to discuss washer and dryer placement etc.  Thankfully, my Mom dropped by and even though I all I did was whine for a few minutes, I felt 110% better after she left.  I just needed to vent and whine and complain a little.  The rest of the evening went off without a hitch...until I started taking a look at my photos for today's i {heart} copics challenge...take a look at this picture.

You're probably thinking that I'm being overly critical of myself, when in fact I had a good laugh at my many mistakes here.  First of all, she's a Raccoon...when was the last time you saw a brown Raccoon?  Honestly, I coloured her like a Squirrel!  I saw someone else's design who had coloured her and this is what alerted me to my mistake, so even though she was pasted on the card already, I re-printed her and coloured her again.  I took this picture intending to show you that she still looks cute brown.  When I pulled her up in my graphics program I realized that I had coloured her tail the same colour as her dress!  How did I not see that before...seriously?!  I even asked hubby what looked funny about the image and he pointed out that her "feet" were green...I thought they were boots!   LOL!  He didn't even notice the green tail until I pointed it out!  Oh, sometimes a picture really can say a thousand words...this picture sums up my week completely!
If you're still with me, thanks so much for reading about my ramblings.  I did manage to spend some time in my craft room last night (Thursday) and got some DT stuff done and I have another card that is well on its way to being finished.  Hubby and I chatted and we've agreed to fit in a few hours for me to craft this weekend, so that I don't get so far behind again.  However, we're busy busy.  The skating wrap up is this weekend and the big kid is getting an award, so that will take up Sunday afternoon.  Hopefully we'll make to the gym Saturday morning to burn off some steam before we get to clean out the laundry room in preparation of the new washer/dryer and the construction that will be happening mid-May.

Here is a quick shot of the copics that were used on the final image for this week's challenge.

Paper:  Basic Grey Lemonade, CTMH Tulip
Ink:
Copic Markers
Accessories:  CTMH Bigger Brads

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Paper Sundaes Challenge #13 - Make A Scene


Welcome to another Paper Sundaes Challenge - hop on over to the Challenge Blog to get all the details and see the other DT Samples.  This week's challenge is sponsored by My Creative Classroom

This week, our challenge for you is to MAKE A SCENE

Can you believe that I've had this CTMH stamp set Steep and Deep so long it actually retired before I used it?  Oh my, I've neglected this set.  But, it was perfect for this challenge.  I started with 2 pieces of Colonial White cardstock and stamped the trees on both in Ponderosa Pine ink.  I grabbed my honey ink and Small Circle Nestabilities and used the smallest circle as a template to sponge my shining moon!  Next I grabbed my Stipple Brush and Outdoor Denim ink. I used my stipple brush to literally brush the ink onto the paper, making my sky. 
I used my largest cirlcle and cut out a piece of the trees and then pop-dotted it onto the matching piece.  I stamped and cut out my snowboarder in black and my sentiment in green to match the trees.  Both the sentiment and the bottom of the snowboarder are popped up to be the same height as the pop-out circle.  This picture is a little dark, but it shows the dimension of the circle better.  Once it was all assebled, I used my stardust stickles to make stars in the sky...but I haven't quite figured out how to photograph stickles correctly.
It seems like all I've done in recent months is cards with images that are coloured, and that is mainly what I think I'll be sticking to, however, it's fun to dabble in stamping only cards.  I'm sure you'll see things like this make an appearance every once in a while.

Don't forget to hop on over to Paper Sundaes Challenge Blog and join us in this weeks challenge.

Stamps:  Close To My Heart Steep and Deep (retired)
Paper:  CTMH Colonial White, Outdoor Denim
Ink:  CTMH Outdoor Denim, Ponderosa Pine, Honey
Accessories:  Nestabilities, Pop Dots, Stickles - Stardust

Friday, April 9, 2010

i {heart} copics Fabulous Friday Challenge

Today's challenge is a colour challenge - and it's a really fun combo - BG15, B91 and Y21 (if you don't have these colours, use what you have that is closest.

I started my card by colouring my image.  This is a Sugar Nellie - Honey with Gifts that I got from one of my friends on SCS through a snag list.  I've never inked her, so it was fun to play with a new stamp.
I used the layout over at Paper Sundaes - you still have a day left to enter your creation in thier current challenge - the sketch is very versatile.  I used only cardstock, and ran one sheet through my Cuttlebug to give the card a little interest.  All Papers are CTMH, and the ribbon was a gift from BananaStamper. 

Why not come on over to PCP and join us this week for the i {heart} copics Fabulous Friday Challenge?  We'd love to see what you can do!

And, I just realized that my card also fits the Christmas Card Challenge for this week - woohoo!

Copics used:

We've got a jam packed weekend, so I have a few cards already made up in hopes of having time to post.  The big kid is in the skating show, the parents are home and hubby is working.  Luckily I've taken Monday off work to recover, do laundry and craft!  Yay me! 

Stamps:  Sugar Nellie Honey with Gifts, Amy R Holiday Sentiments
Paper:  CTMH Crystal Blue, Juniper, Creme Brulee
Ink: Copic Markers of course!  Memento Black
Accessories:  Misc. Ribbon, Prima Flowers, Misc. Buttons, CTMH Bigger Brad in Creme Brulee, Cuttlebug embossing plate

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

i {heart} copics Fabulous Friday Challenge

You've still got a few days to enter this week's Fabulous Friday Challenge over on the i {heart} copics group on PCP...and it's an easy one!  SPRING!  That's right, any spring themed card will do, so long as you have used Copic Markers somewhere on your card.
I used my Chicken Girl Designs Spring Squirrel Stamp and Neenah 110lb Cardstock.  I coloured her up with my copics and then matched her to some really old (like 2 or 3 years old) Patterned paper that I had in my stash.  I kept the layout simple so that the stamp was the focus.  I wrapped it all up in my Pink Ribbon and voila...a spring card!  Oh, and did you know that i {heart} papers carries over 200 different ribbons that you can buy by the yard!  How cool is that!  Check it out, there is some great ribbon!

Paper: Unknown
Ink: Copoic markers

Sunday, April 4, 2010

TGF Battle Week #2

Okay, I'm here asking for you to vote again.  This time the challenge was an Easel card and the team picked mine (below) as our submission this week.  So please, hop on over to The Greeting Farm Challenge and vote for my card so that we can play another week.
It's been a long time since I made a card without a sketch, but I did it!  I knew the image had to be from The Greeting Farm, and since I only have a couple of them, I created the card first and then added the image at the end (usually I build the card around the image)  It was an interesting process.   The paper is all from DCWV The Sweet Stack with Glitter.  I actually "borrowed" the flowers from BananaStamper since I didn't have any that matched just right, and the sentiment is from Whiff of Joy (last summers collection).

You might have noticed that I haven't posted since last week.  Those who know me, know that I never get sick...I'm serious, I have the immune system of a Super Hero!  However, it's year end at work, the kids are super busy with end of year skating practices and extra practices for ice show, and then my husband came home with a head cold.  I wasn't worried...I never get sick.  Well, never say never.  I woke up on March 31st feeling like I have been run over by a truck and it only got worse (especially since I worked a 12 hour day that day).  I didn't actually start feeling better until Saturday afternoon...and even then I went to bed at 9pm.  Oh my.  So, long story short I've faced the sickness and won the battle.  I feel great today and was able to get into my craft room and do a bunch of cleaning and organizing.  I'm all ready and raring to go this week! 

If you've made it this far, thanks for listening.  I hope that you have a wonderful Easter Day.

Stamps:  The Greeting Farm Sweet Ebony, Whiff of Joy Sentiment
Paper:  DCWV The Sweet Stack with Glitter, CTMH Key Lime, Hollyhock
Ink:  Copic Markers:  C1, E000, E00, E13, E15, R11, RV13, RV17, RV19, Y32, Y35, Y38 Blender Pen
Accessories:  Prima Flowers, Misc. Buttons, Misc. White Brads, SU White Ribbon,