Explore

I worked on this page Monday night because I wanted to have something new to post Tuesday - (I'm scheduling this to come on line at 1:00am)....I may not have time later to stamp.

Anyway, this sketch is from SCS Friday Scrapbook Sketch Challenge. I haven't done many of them, but have decided that I want to try so I can get more of my kids' pages done. With their ages at 21 and 18.......I have a lot of old work to do. However, I have a bit more time to do it in, so I guess that evens it out. I didn't keep the photos the way they are in the sketch.
I used an old Simply Scrappin' Kit....I've bought whatever ones were available for boys and girls in anticipation of using them
for Grant and Allison's books. I cut letters from different dies for the Big Shot and placed them on die-cut stickers that came with the kit.

I MAY be able to do Tuesday's colour challenge after school, but we have tickets to see "Fiddler on the Roof" in Edmonton. I CAN'T wait. I saw it live when I was in my teens and living in Chicago. I had the privilege of having a FANTASTIC music teacher in Jr. High, who taught us the songs and then took us on a field trip to see it. (The other production she took us to was Godspell) My father also took me to see it, so the music is ingrained in me. Topol was scheduled to play Tevye, however he did something to his shoulder and is no longer in this run. It would have been his final performances. That would have been toooooo cool! The replacement has played the part over 200 times, so I guess he'll probably be okay. :)

I hope you have something to look forward to in your day, no matter where you are. Remember to stop to notice the beauty around you and thanks for taking a bit of time to stop by for a visit.

Music and Cupcakes

Yesterday was an extremely busy day, but I did manage to get two cards created in the evening.

The Musical card is for the Featured Stamper challenge yesterday - the stamper was jdmommy - Anne. She has a great gallery and it was hard to make a selection until I came across the card in the thumbnail. I knew I had to use it. So, I pulled out my set and changed it up a bit. I'm going to begin planning a "Music Lover's Card Camp" in the next month or two and think I may use this one. I want all of the cards to have a music theme and stampers can add different greetings as needed.
This cupcake is a digital image is from Delightful Inspiration. What a yummy cupcake! I used a metallic pen around the edges of the plate, but you can't really tell. The microbeads along the side are stuck to "sticky strip" - duh! and I glistened up the cherries with Chrystal Effects.

I'm off to school - Hope you have a wonderful Monday.
Thanks for stopping by.

Hearts & Snow

Well, I'm a little surprised that my heat gun hasn't fried because I sure did use it a lot this morning.

My first card is for today's inspiration challenge from the Accents section of Nell Hill's. I picked the little "love" piece, which is in the thumbnail, because it reminded me of the faux metal technique which I really do enjoy. I incorporated Our Creative Corner's Colour Combo Challenge which was to use blue's and greens of any hue.....I used Night of Navy and Taken with Teal.
To create the reverse embossed hearts I smeared versa mark onto a small section of paper, applied embossing powder and melted it. I repeated this process two more
times so that I had a section of embossed gold that was 3 "layers" thick. The last time I heated the piece I made sure that the heart was ready with Versa Mark on it and I quickly pressed it into the melted embossed section. I then decided to add a contrasting heart in the middle. Here is a link to the fantastic step by step instructions for this technique by Beate Johns.

The adorable little snowman was drawn by Tracy Vinson's 8 year old neice. Tracy is the Owner and Designer of Sugar Creek Hollow Digital Images and Primitive Paper and asked the design team to use this image today. I knew right away that I wanted to cut up his sections and make him stick out from the paper. I guess I didn't really have to cut them all up - but it was more realistic in my mind. The middle section has actually been raised twice. I covered him with Dazzling Diamonds and added seed beads for his eyes and mouth. The colours are in answer to "Stamp Something's" colour combo of blue and white.

It's now time I got down to some other sort of work. I should clean the house a bit, and I need to start cutting paper for an upcoming Birthday Card Camp. My husband and I have a Christmas Dinner tonight for the Josephburg Choral Society......then the season will be over.

Have a great Saturday and thanks for dropping by,

Past and Present...(and Future)

PAST - I delved into some of my old stash to come up with these owls I had never used. They are fitting into today's "Ways to Use It" challenge - which was to add birds to your card. I also started out using this week's sketch challenge, but the card sort of re-designed itself along the way. You can't see the words in the small scallop oval - they're a rub-on and say "thinking of you". I thought it was appropriate with the way that the owls' eyes were going.

PRESENT - I used all current product for the second card - AND I kept to the sketch challenge for this week. The colours were taken from the Colour Throw Down - they're Mellow Moss, Garden Green and Rich Razzleberry.

I have been totally inspired by Theresa Momber over at Crafting the Web. What she does to the edges of her cardstock is simply amazing. I've taken a step away from using ONLY the ink which matches the cardstock and over the past couple of days have even used two colours along the same edge. Today her card has been air-brushed and she gives all the steps for colouring her central image and doing the airbrushing. Take a visit over there - I don't think you'll be disappointed!!!
FUTURE....Vancouver - next month....I downloaded two of the pictures I took yesterday of the Olympic flame. I was enthralled by how it went down the "carrier" looking as though it enveloped the whole top section. Our students were very very lucky today because one of our teachers knew one of the torch bearers who ran through town yesterday. She came to our school, with her torch, and the kids were able to touch it and ask questions. All of the "flame" elements had been taken out, but it was very cool to see.

Well, I'm off to visit some sites, eat supper and then try and get a few more pieces into that (stupid) 2000 piece candy cane puzzle I'm STILL working on. I WILL NOT GIVE UP!!!!!!!!! :)

Thanks for dropping by

More Pretty Chocolate Razzleberries.....

I must not be eating enough chocolate lately!!!!! And well, "raspberries" are my most favorite fruit....so I've got more cards with Tuesday's Colour Challenge.

On my first card I've used my first images from Sugar Creek Hollow. I just love the scroll work around the heart. My camera decided not to feature the words - their clear in person. I added a range of big and tiny bling and the outside of the heart just called for Dazzling Diamonds on this card. I used Rich Razzleberry and Pretty in Pink around the edges of the scallop. I was going to add a bow, but decided that the simplicity of the bling was enough.

When you get a chance you should pop over to the Sugar Creek Hollow and sign up as a follower so that you don't miss out on the Grand Opening and an opportunity to win a $50 gift certificate at the store. Wooo Hooo!!!!

The image on the second card comes from Delightful Inspiration - It's the second week of a
challenge where you get a free digital image each week by creating a card with the image from the site. I love almost anything served hot in a cup....coffee, tea, chocolate. I went a bit overboard with this card though. I paper pieced the cup, part of the saucer, and the little hearts on the saucer. Then I rolled up some chocolate chip paper, made a little slit in the image and stuck in the two "cinnamon sticks". Next, since I recently found some old liquid applique - I just HAD to make the whip cream look good enough to stick your finger in!!!!!

So, with all that done - I'm heading to bed. It was a long afternoon taking 300 kids to watch the Olympic torch pass through our city. They were excited though and showed good Olympic spirit. Also...I'm still on my roll of getting up early in the morning to do my Wii fit, stamping and posting each day - on top of working. I can TRULY say that my prayers are being answered....I pray that your days, too, are blessed with creativity, patience, endurance, and peace.

Thanks for stopping by,

New Adventures and Chocolate.....

Well, let me tell ya......yesterday afternoon was pretty busy.

First, I got the news that I've been invited to join the design team for Sugar Creek Hollow - a brand new digital stamp company which will be opening it's "doors" on March 1st. Click on the badge at the right for the link. I'm really excited about this because it's a whole new avenue to go down. I'm also excited about being part of a team of women of faith!

Next on the agenda was to make a card from various challenges. I don't think this was exactly what I was expecting with this card. I had some of these bunnies stamped in Chocolate Chip and decided since it was one of today's colours for the Challenge, I would use one of them. ( The other colours are Rich Razzleberry and Pretty in Pink). Well, he changed from being a flat chocolate "chip" bunny to becoming a "crafty" glazed chocolate bunny. Once he was embossed I wondered what these hearts would look like - and vwala (how do you spell that???)

I used the sketch from over at Paper Works Co. - (PWCOSS#15). I liked using the ovals and Circles. Anyway - it became a wee bit "fancier" than I expected but I like it. I noticed that the gel pen spots I added around the oval soaked into the cardstock because of the fibers being roughened up by the sponge dauber. It's all okay - melted chocolate is just a good.

The weather has been wonderful here too - melting snow - not chocolate. Hope your day is filled with warmth and excitement! Our school gets to see the Olympic Flame today as it passes through town - talk about exciting!!!!

Thanks for stopping by

Coming Up Hearts......

Here are two more projects from the Extravaganza I was at this past weekend. I finally got to do a shutter card. I saw this as a SCS challenge quite a few months ago; folded the cardstock, but never got to finish the card. It looks so intricate, but it really is rather simple. And, I am TOTALLY sold on the bird punch now. I've seen people working with it, but now that I got to play with the punch.....it's super.

The main project we worked on in the afternoon was creating 30 different 3x3 Valentine notes from the "Love Sparkles" Simply Scrappin' Kit.
Tamye and Lori got the idea from CraftyPerson
Production. All the directions were easy to follow. I've gone to Debbie's website and she has a lot to offer so check it out.

Funny how we so easily move from Christmas to snowflake to heart motifs in our creations......WooHoo!!!!!

I hope you are having a wonderful day! Thanks for stoppin' on by!!

Duel Inspiration

I really enjoyed the work from Saturday's Inspiration Challenge website - Groovy Inclination. This tree caught my eye and I thought I could do something similar with the "Thoughts and Prayers" tree. I stamped the tree in Certainly Celery and then went through and re-coloured all of the leaves black. I then spritzed the background with black, added some gray chalk and drew on some lines. I didn't like how dull it ended up looking, so I took the chalk eraser and took the chalk off of the tree itself and away from the edges. I was inspired by Tamara Bertram, Saturday at the Extravaganza I was at, by how she added ribbon to some of her cards. She uses the Double Rectangle punch and then feeds the ribbon through. I decided to add a button to the centre. Quick and Neat!!!















The second piece of art at Groovy Inclination that caught my eye was a number of cool looking birds...like this little dude. I like all the circles on his body. So.....I decided to try making my giraffe look like an actual giraffe this time (see previous posts about the Ogopogo) and looked for DSP with circles on it too. I created the Dustry Durango piece by using the Circle Circus set. This sketch is from Prairie Fairy Fridays Challenge blog. I like all the circles on the sketch and it fit right in with the inspiration.
It's the beginning of a new week - the Olympic Torch comes through the Fort this week and we're taking the entire school to the route. I hope that something exciting happens in your world this week too.
Thanks for stopping by -

Four from the Extravaganza

Wow, another fantastic day of stamping at an Extravaganza hosted by Tamye Dunbar and Lori
Waples. I'm so lucky to be part of that team. I'm loading 4 of the cards we made Saturday morning. I will get some more of them posted over the next couple of days.

I liked the website for Saturday's Inspiration Challenge, and have picked out the image that inspired me - I will work on it today and post it soon.

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend - weather here is very nice....but in Alberta it can
change at a moments notice.

Thanks for dropping by -

First Digital Project

Yesterday I used a digital image for the first time ever. I happened across Designed2Delight digital stamps and found a challenge using digital images and decided to try it out. I'm sorry that the writing is fuzzy in my picture. I'm excited about doing challenges on Delightful Inspiration's blog - the images I've seen so far are very appealing. So....that was challenge #1.

The second challenge I've included in this card is Thursday's "Ways to Use It" challenge which was to use something new.....in this case - the digital image. I may post another card using some of the stamps I've purchased from companies other than SU.

Next, the "Limited Supply Challenge" using only pinks, reds, black and white and some sort of polka dots within the creation. The Razzleberry Lemonade DSP has a very subtle dotted sheet which I used for the two side strips.

Finally, the sketch is from Stamp Something - or rather - Sketch Something for this week.

I'm excited about today because I'm going to a Stampin' Extraveganza with my Upline. Tamye and Lori put on such wonderful events. We'll be stampin' a whole whack of projects that I'll be sharing with you later. I hope you also have a wonderful day. Thanks for dropping by.

Gearing up for a Birthday Card Camp

Here are two of the cards I've created for my Birthday card camp at the end of this month. I really love the "Nature's Nest" set and look forward to using it more and colouring the images. They are just so wonderfully drawn.

I also like the "Animal Stories". Although when I showed this card to my husband he wondered about the "snake" on it. I told him it was a giraffe....but agreed that it did at least look like Ogopogo - who lives in Okanagan Lake in British Columbia - where he comes from! I must use the full image on my next card!

Tomorrow is Friday - Yipee!! Hope your week went well; Thanks for stopping by.

Trio for You

Well, today was a day for triples! I created this card using three challenges...

First, I used the Sketch Challenge from Splitcoast, shown at the top.

Second, I used this week's colours from over at "Colour Throwdown" - Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip and Dusty Durango.

The third challenge is from "Stamp Something" which honored the "new" year by using something new for our card. I received a cuttlebug embossing folder from a Divine Secret Sister a while ago and hadn't used it yet - so....this was a great opportunity.

The week is almost over and I'm gearing up for a Stampin' Extravaganza on Saturday from my Team in Edmonton. I can't wait - 48 different projects - WOW.
Hope you're having a wonderful day! Thanks for stopping by -

Bermuda Celery Hunter

I finally got around to opening up my package of Pendant Notes - Took a little while for me to figure out what I wanted to do, but I'm please with the result and think I'll use it as one of my cards for next month's technique workshop. I used sticky strip along the top to adhere the microbeads (haven't used them in ages) and although you can't see it in the photo, I used Crystal Effects on the flower to add microbeads to the centre.

This week's colour challenge on Splitcoast is behind the name of today's post. It sounded cute.....hunting for celery. Anyway - I like these
colours together - Bermuda Bay, Certainly Celery and Handsome Hunter. The "dessert" of the challenge was to add a bit of pink to the card without using cardstock. I did include the cardstock, but added the pink brad for the flower centre. This card also follows a sketch challenge from a couple of weeks ago.

School has only been in session for two days, but I have still managed to create and post cards, do my Wii-fit routine (and play with the darling daughter), and enjoy my school classes. Bring it on 2010 - we're on a roll.

Hope you too are having a great week -

Patchwork and Simplicity

Wow, I was able to hit two challenges yesterday after school....

The first was the technique challenge which was to use the Patchwork Paper technique. I had spotted it on someone's work a little while ago and wanted to give it a try. I'm glad I was able to wait and find out yesterday morning that it was a challenge!!!! I think I'm going to use this for my February technique workshop. I used the Rich Razzleberry Paper - which I'm going to have to corder more of because I've used it so much!

The second card is for the Clean and Simple Challenge which was to create a Valentines Card. This gave me the opportunity to use my new "I {Heart} Hearts" stamp from the New Mini - which goes into effect TODAY!!!! Woo Hoo!!!

I had fun creating this card because I haven't done the masking technique in a long time. Also I combined a whole whack of glitter colours together for the border. I stamped the "friends" heart on white paper and then punched it out with the heart punch. This created a nice white border around the edge which I covered with Tombow Glue and then added my mixture of Rose Pink Cosmo glitter, Silver Galaxy Glitter, Pink Supernova glitter AND Dazzling Diamonds. I was "introduced" to mixing glitter colours at the last SU Regional that was held in Edmonton. Something soooooo simple - but rarely considered. It's good to be reminded about things from time to time.

I hope you're having a wonderful day - It was great to see all the kids at school yesterday. A few looked very tired, but for the most part I think everyone was ready to get back into the swing of things.
Thanks for stopping by! -

Natural Birthday

Good Monday Morning -
I am planning on having a Birthday Card Camp at the end of the month and this is one of the projects. I love how the images from "Nature's Nest" turn out. The etching is so wonderful. I am not the best colourer - but I look forward to working with these images more.
The base of the card is Mellow Moss with a layer of So Saffron which has been distressed along the edges - although it doesn't show up much in the photo. I had thought of using the new Satin Ribbon (from the new All Occasions Catalogue), but decided that a strip of black paper would work better for the card camp. The ribbon is wonderful though - so I'll be using it soon. I sponged Ballet Blue ink around the edges of the Top Note and decided the Curly Label Punch matches pretty well.

Well, this will be posted as I'm getting ready for school. I'm looking forward to music classes that don't centre around a Christmas concert! The kids were fantastic though - I'm always in awe of what they can do. I hope you are having a wonderful day.

Thanks for dropping by