Willow Vase

Well, I must say that summer is zipping by so quickly. I can't believe that we are almost into August already and before you know it, the babes will be back to school and it will be sweater weather (did I mention that I LOVE sweater weather!).

This is a card that I designed while stamping with one of my BFF's Jacqui. I am so excited b/c Jonathon and I are headed up to see Jax and her family in less than two weeks!!! She has planned an awesome stamping day with the rest of her crew and we plan to camp for a couple of days as well.

I used Old Olive, Ruby Red, Black and Sahara Sand on this card. As well, I paper pieced the vase with Cutie Pie DP! Isn't the wide Grosgrain JUST YUMMY?????? A little little thread attaches the sentiment quite nicely.
Hope you all have a great day!!!! I best get myself ready for work!!!!

Star of my Scrapbooks

Here are two layouts I completed while on Vacation at the Cottage A couple weeks ago.

The Wanted Layout uses the New Outlaw Designer Papers and the Wanted Stamp Set.

Have you ever tried to distress paper??? It is REALLY REALLY easy and can give your Cardstock the look of Leather. To do this, you simply scrunch your paper several times until it gets quite wrinkly. Unfold it and apply ink to the paper by directly swiping the inkpad over the paper. To acheive a softer look (suede) you can spritz the paper with water and set aside to dry.

The Winter Layout uses Two Colours of Cardstock from the In colour Collection-Blue Bayou and Summer Sky. Doesn't the Wintergreen DP compliment the two colours perfectly??? I took the opportunity to add some "Bling" to this layout by applying glitter to the Chipboard Flowers and inserting a Ice Brad to the Centre of each!!! Have a Boy Scrapbook Star is not usually conducive to copious amounts of Bling, but it works here!

Did you know that Stampin' Up! Craft ink works like a paint when directly applied to Chipboard???? I have invested in all the Craft ink precisely for that reason. It saves the hassle and mess of painting chipboard and particle board coasters. It also works on wood!!!

How to do it??? Simply take the ink pad and apply it directly to the piece that you are working on. You can set it aside to dry, or heat set it with an embossing gun to expediate the process!!!! I love this method of decorating my chipboard and no longer have to spend time finding coordinating colours of paint to match my Cardstock and Designer Paper.

Give it a Try, you should be pleased with the results!!!!!

Happy Stamping!

Vicki

My Football Star

We had an excellent trip to Toronto. The Boys were really excited to play a warm up game prior to the Argonauts vs. Montreal Alouettes.

The boys and the Coaches were escorted into the Stadium to gear up for the Big Game! Apparently the dressing rooms were under Construction, so they had to change in the Hallway. Because Tim Horton's supports Minor Football, the Junior Team was required to wear the White Jerseys. The Boys were a little disappointed that they Couldn't wear the X-MEN red Jerseys and it was a little difficult for some of the parents to identify their boys................Not Jonathon, he is one of the Bigger Boys on the Team and I had No trouble spotting him.

The Argonauts were completing their practices as the Xmen came onto the field. With lots of High Fives and Helmet Taps from the Big Leaguers, our Boys were Pumped to play!!!!!
We really enjoyed the Football Game, but sadly, the Argos Lost to the Alouettes. After the game Jonathon was able to get a few Autographs on his Football, that we then tossed about for some time before we headed up to our room.

Jonathon and I stayed at the Renaissance Hotel in the Stadium and quite enjoyed the cushy beds and comfy pillows. They had a really nice pool, but we didn't take the opportunity to swim as it was late when we came up from the game and we decided to head off to the Metro Toronto Zoo for the Day before coming home! All in all, it was a great Trip!

On the road again!

Seems like I just got settled in from the cottage and we are taking off again. Heading off to Toronto tomorrow to see an Argonauts game at the Rogers Centre (aka Skydome). I am not sure whether Jonathon is more excited about playing a short football game prior to the Game, or getting the latest copy of the Blue Thunder Cheerleaders Calendar!!!!! I hope to get some great pictures!

This Neighbourhood wheel really caught my eye in the new Catalogue and it was something that I absolutely HAD to have!!!! The images are rolled with Stayzon ink and coloured with Aqua Painters and Watercolour Crayons. A little glitter to the clouds adds some pizzaz to the sky!!!!!

Thanks for looking!

Oh So Lovely and Elegant

I created this card for an elegant card class that I am teaching tomorrow night.............it's funny that kraft paper can be used with an elegant theme, but to my surprise, it worked quite well.

The "Oh so Lovely" set is one of the new SU! Hostess sets in the new catalogue. Aren't the images pretty? I also LOVE the shadow stamp that goes behind the image. In addition to kraft paper, I used vanilla and Burgandy papers. The gold brads seem to match quite well.












A big thanks to Mercy for adorning me with a Rockin' Girl Blogger tag!!! That is SO cool and I LOVE the pink!!!

I am going to tag

Alli

Joan

Wendy

They are all Rockin' Stampers with great great Blogs!!!!!

I'm Back and want to play Tag!!!!!

I had a very relaxing (albeit damp-it rained and rained and rained...........well actually only for 2.5 days, but it seemed like forever!) week at the cottage. The rainy days facilitated extra stamping time for myself and Jacqui, which means I have a lot to post this week. Jacqui brought this Vases in Vogue Hostess set for me to play with!!! I just love it and hope to earn it with some hostess credits soon!!! The Background on the Celery paper was created using the Doodle Wheel.

Colours used include Bashful Blue, Old Olive, Certainly Celery, whisper white paper , celery, bashful blue and black stayzon ink. I painted the image with Aquapainters and marker (scribbled onto a CD) and used a SU! White Gel pen to make the dotted border.


I have been tagged a few times in the last couple of weeks, but haven't had time to play!!!

Check out these ladies blogs, they are Fabulous!!!!

Mercy

Leigh

Jane

Dana

Here are my Seven Random tidbits about me!

1. I love chocolate popsicles, hot chocolate and chocolate bars, but don't particularly like chocolate ice cream, chocolate cake or chocolate cookies.

2. I have travelled to many islands in the Caribbean, Paris, Florida, Nashville and Eastern Canada.

3. My Favourite Colour is Purple, but I seldom wear purple clothes.

4. Can't stand the taste of coffee, but love the smell.

5. Gave up Tole Painting for Stamping----didn't need another handpainted tray!

6. Love playing Lego

7. Like to play guitar and sing and write music and poetry.


I won't tag anyone else today, but stay tuned.................you may be next!!!!!

Have a great day!

Vicki

I'm outta here!!!!!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I am SO looking forward to a week of relaxation. It has been a hectic couple of weeks and I am ready for some R&R. I am heading off to a Cottage for a week with one of my Best Friends and fellow stamping addict!!!! I also just received my new catty shipment, so I will have a lot of new toys to play with!!!

I hope to have lots of samples to share when I get back!!!!

Enjoy your week and keep your fingers crossed for some Sun for me!

I had some fun with this card. The little dog in Parisbella's bag put me in mind of Toto from the Wizard of OZ, which incidentally is my favourite movie ever!!!! I may have mentioned this before, but apparently Johnny Depp is a huge fan of the Wiz of O as well, which is just way cool!!!!

I freehanded the Yellow brick road and the border. the flourish in the background is from Doodle This and is covered with Lime and Magenta Stickles....................too bad you can't see the way those Ruby Slippers Sparkle.................Main image is from Stamping Bella.

Arrrrrrrrgh!!!!

I just Love this set. This little fellow took a LONG LONG time to grow on me! You see at first I was NOT fond of his little stick legs and bean seed feet!!! Then of course after seeing many many many wonderful samples, the attraction grew. What a Fun set this is.

I scored the leftover patterned paper from my friend Joan. She was making an adorable Pirate album for her Granddaughter and I was totally drooling over the awesome designer paper ( I think it hails from Rusty Pickle!) So it has been kicking around in my scrap bin, waiting for a round tuit! Today I got around to it, when the SCS for the day was to make a card using strips of scrap paper. This was just the little push that I needed to get working on the card. The little Pirate was coloured using my watercolouring with markers technique (check the older posts for my tutorial). The Bird was stamped onto the background for the purpose of not having to go through the cumbersome task of cutting out his skinny little parrot feet. A second image was stamped and coloured, trimmed and placed on top of the original image with a dimensional. Stamps: Ahoy Matey and It's your Birthday from Stampin' Up!!!!!!

And while we are on winter!

Hmmmmmmm perhaps I am jinxing the weather with all these snowy cards. I am not really one to be superstitious, but you never know. What I DO know is that I have a cottage rented for next week and I am SO hoping that we have good weather. This card is another card in the Christmas Card series that I designed for tomorrow nights class. The sentiment went a little wonky on the bottom of the card, but I realigned my stamp for the next time!!!

What do you think about the embossed snowflakes in the background. I got that idea out of the new idea book and catalogue. Just roll your wheels through versamark (Better yet, get an empty cartridge and load with versamark refill) onto your background and emboss with clear EP. I like the way it gives the look of dimension and could see how this technique could slightly resemble dry embossing and the cuttlebug embossing folders. Bold images enhance the look of this effect.

This card was made with A Summer Sky and Mellow Moss combination, stamped with the "A tree for all seasons" stamp set. I coloured the image with aquapainters, summer sky ink and cocoa and really red markers! A little glitter on the snowflakes and a gentle winter scene is created.

I think I better start posting beach and sun cards soon!!!!!!!!

Wild about Wasabi!

With the weather being so cold, it seems fitting to have a Christmas in July Class!! This is one of the cards that we will be making on Tuesday (follow the link to my SU! events for details about the class.

I LOVE the Wild Wasabi card stock, which is part of the In Colours collection for this year. The main image is layered onto Purely Pomegranate, which is also one of the new colours.

The subtle snowflakes are stamped in Bashful Blue. I stamped off on the snowflakes to keep them light in colour. The Cute Snowman is from the Cold Play Stamp set. Letters are from the Letterpress Alphabet set. Wanting to highlight specific words in a sentiment stamp? Simply colour over the parts of the image that you want with a marker and gently "puff" on the stamp to ensure that it is moist before stamping. To create the Scalloped edge, I removed the guard from my corner rounder punch and continually punched the edge to get the border that I wanted. A little bashful blue marker lined to the left of the letters, give them more dimension. The little brad in the middle of the prima flower is from the new Fire collections of gem brads, available in the New Idea book and catalogue. To check out all the new goodies in the book, follow the link to my Stampin' Up! Website.

I wan't it to feel like summer, but it doesn't!!!!

Can you beleive that I have been wearing Fleece for the Last THREE Days???? AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!


This is just SO SO SO unfair!!!!! (am I conveying the mood of Frustration to you yet???)

On Canada day, which is SUPPOSED to be blisterin' hot, I stood for three hours wrapped in a fleecy blanket........................Hmmmmm did I already write about this???? (Now I am REALLY getting scared..................it all started when I turned down those progressive lenses a few months ago..............and now I am forgetting what I already told you!!!) . Anyway, my point was that it is STILL freezing. I wore socks today!!! Yes, SOCKS IN JULY! Now that is a travesty!!! At the rate this weather is going, we'll be wearing toques in August and skating on the Canal in September!!!!

Anyway, doesn't this fella look like he is having a nice splash?? Honestly, those are not ice chips all over him, but refreshing shiny dew drops (made with stickles of course!) I just received this Silly Sealife Set this week and created this card for the SCS Sketch Challenge. I used Basic Grey Designer Paper as well as Summer Sky and Blue Bayou, two of SU!'s new in colours for this year. I painted off the lid of my inkpads with my Aquapainter and Summer Sky and Blue Bayou ink. I used some Bashful blue for the water and sky. I embossed whisper white paper with my Cuttlebug Embossing Plate and then sponged SS and BB ink over top. The embellishments are from Karen Foster and Rob and Bob Studio.

Two posts in a day??? Oh my, Oh MY!!!!

That's because it's my Dad's Birthday!!!!! So then, I made a LITTLE bit of a faux pas this morning, when I failed to post a Happy Birthday along with his card...........but then again, his card wasn't finished this morning because I lost my fixabella!!!!

I had coloured my little man earlier this week when I was experiencing a bout of insomnia....................then he had the nerve to hide on me!!!! Handy Huh???

Somehow he got into the Laundry Basket (????) . Thank goodness it was the clean stuff because I am sure that my Father wouldn't have fancied a scratch and sniff dirty sock card!!! Anyhow, Happy Birthday Dad!!!

Dad is 72 years old today. He officially retired from his Government Job, but has continued to work in the Construction Industry since. He is a very talented Carpenter who built are home and many of the furnishings that adorn it. I hope and pray that he has many more healthy and active years!!!!!

Welcome new visitors!!!!

I had the great opportunity of meeting some fellow stamping enthusiasts this weekend. A beautiful (but VERY CHILLY............yes, I wore a fleece blanket around my shoulders for most of the day and thankfully it was Cheetah print, which matched my shell!) Canada Day was spent in the Park in Bath Ontario, which has one of the Largest Canada Day celebrations in Ontario.

So if you are new to the site, Welcome!!! I love to share what I am doing and hopefully will have an impact on your interest and inspiration to STAMP STAMP STAMP!!!!! If you are not new, I am STILL glad that you are here and thankful that you keep coming back, considering some of my silly posts!!!!

Can you believe the new Stampin' Up! Catalogue is online and you can order from it??? I put a good dent in my pocketbook yesterday and am keeping my fingers crossed that my goodies will arrive before vacation.

This card was created with the new Pick a Petal Stamp set. It was designed for a challenging featuring the "bombalicious" Cambria Turnbow who is an AWESOME stamp artist.............follow my side bar to view her fabulous blog...........stamp a little love baby!!!! Lots of metal and black matting and ribbon match the pink theme.

In addition to Cambria's Blog, I have listed some other eye candilicious blogs that will definitely whet your appetite for stamping, so grab a coffee or a cool drink and check them out!