Sunday, April 29, 2007

It shouldn't hurt to be a child


Isn't this stamp Darling?? I found it at Heather's Stamping Haven
where they have a wonderful selection of stamps. This stamp was designed for Victims Of Violence All proceeds from the sale of this stamp will go to this Canadian Organization.

I had a great shopping day in Ottawa and also purchase many other stamps. A trip to the Local Scrapbook Store proved lucrative as well. I purchased a package of Crate Paper Zoom Collection-Perfect for Boy Cards and Pages. I didn't even have to crack open the paper for this card, I used pieces from the Cover Sheet. The image was coloured with SU! Markers and blended out with the Aquapainters. I cut out an additional Overall and mounted it on dimensionals for added depth (I cased that idea from a gorgeous sample that I saw in the store!). Additional Stamps and embellishments are from SU!

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Tagged!!!!!


Just found out I've been Tagged by Leslie at Running with Scissors

'Kay, so I need to tell you Seven things about Myself that you may not know.

I am a musician and songwriter. I play Piano (classical, but never in front of anyone!), Guitar (not So well, but will play with anyone!) alto saxophone and I sing. I was in a Country Rock Band for a brief period of time in the 80.'s when my Hair was bigger than my waist!!!!

I am Blind as a Bat!!! My prescription is so strong that if I don't have my glasses on my bedside table, I get panicky because I can hardly see to find them!!

I have a Belly Button and Nose Piercing

My Favourite Movie is Wizard of Oz....................Yes, Seriously!!!!! and apparently I have just learned that this is very cool because it is Johnny Depp's Fave movie as well ( I read that in People Magazine)

I am a People Magazine Junkie!!!! Have to have my fix every week!!!

I am ambidextrous...............I can write my name with both hands and light a cigarette lighter with my toes (OOPS, I forgot, I am not filling out the "weird" questionairre!)

And Last, but not Least..........I am a night owl.....................I seldom go to bed before 1:00 a.m. and require very little sleep ( I guess that I am a little on the hyper side!!!!

I will Tag:

Leigh O'Brien


Allison

Joan


BTW! This card was made with the both way blossoms stamp.floral and linen bg's and lots and lots of White Gel Pen!!! Whew! I go through at least one of these pens per month!!!!!

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Big Splurge!!!!!!



I recently purchased a Cricut Machine. I had been considering this purchase for quite some time, but was hesitant to to invest a great deal of money. Alas come the phone calls and emails from my "enabling" friends (lol!!!!! I am SO bad for encouraging my pals to spend as well) telling me that The Cricut was on sale at "M's" for next to nothing!!!!

WOOHOO!!!! I sailed over early on the morning of the sale. Two weeks later, the cartridges came on at a great price and I scooped up a few. I must say that I am LOVING this little machine. I used it to cut shapes and letters for the All about Me book that I was teaching at Lasting Memories. It is SO convenient and works really really well.

This card was created using the Daisy Field Wheel and the It's Your Birthday sets from SU! The Turtle is cut from the My Garden Cricut cartridge, in Old Olive and Artichoke paper from SU! I embossed the Shell with the Cuttlebug embossing folder and sponged artichoke ink dtp over the image to add additional dimension. The Eye is a MM Button Brad that I coloured in with a Sharpie Marker. I cannot remember the source of the ribbon, but isn't it the bomb!!!!!!!!

What a Fun Fun Tool!!! I can't wait to make many more creations with my Cricut!

Sleepy Stamper!









This Sleepy Stamper has not been posting to the blog. I was preparing for VICTOPIA.........My yearly weekend crop with my best stamping/scrapping friends. This is the Third year that I have hosted this and I must say it is still a blast. The Martini drinking girls are all from western ontario and travelled by train last Thursday to stay until Sunday. The rest of the ladies are local and came and went throughout the weekend. A great time was had by all. We pretty much scrapped and stamped at our leisure, but participated in one challenge in which we had to make a project with the items packed into a "mystery" bag by our stampin' Sista's!!!!

Caramel Apple Martini Recipe:

2 shots (1.5 ounces per shot ) of Green Apple Vodka
2 shots of Sourz Apple Liquer
1.5 shots of Buttershotz Liquer
4 Shots of Cranberry Juice
Shake over ice and serve with a slice of green apple.

These Martini's are to DIE for!!!! But watch out!!! they are smooth and powerful!!!

Needless to say..................between Thursday and Sunday I only managed with less than 12 hours sleep!!!! I have tucked myself in quite early the last two nights and still am tired.

Well worth it though! I am SO blessed to have such wonderful women in my life!!!!!

The projects you see are Jacqui and her wonderful mini book................her package definately was a challenge!!!!

Jan made this amazing little ornament out of a thick glass tile, page pebbles and chipboard........honestly, this woman can THINK OUTSIDE OF THE BOX!!!!

Lastly, my Unfinished Layout..............I received beautiful paper and stickers in my package, but was too pokey to complete the layout!!!!

Can't wait for JACTOPIA in October............where the East travels West......Stay tuned!!!!!

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Happly Sunday!!!!!


Well, for a Mid April day, I must say the Weather here is extremely disappointing!! Half snow and half rain, it doesn't seem to know what to do.............. I say Mr. Sun!!! Get with the Program! We need some better weather. Jonathon has started playing Football again and so far, the practices have been wet and SO muddy!!!!! So PLEASE, PLEASE !!! Let the sun come out again today!!!!!

I have discovered one of the Coolest Blogs!!

Stampin' When I can has been created by Allison and let me tell you, she has it goin' on in terms of what's happening in the Blogging World!!!! Card Candy, Contests, Giveaways, Great Tutorials-Allison has the scoop. She also has some great artwork as well!!!!!

This card was created using the Masking Technique and using Stampin' Up! Watercolour crayons to paint on coloured paper. To do masking, you stamp the main image onto the paper. Stamp the same image on Scrap Paper (Post it notes work great for this because of the removable adhesive) cut out and lay over your original stamped image to mask it out. Then take the stamp that you want to have appear in the background (this is the French Script BG stamp from SU!) and stamp over the mask, ensuring that you are covering all of the paper. Easy as pie!! Just remember, the images that you want to have appear in the foreground need to be masked first!!! The rich looking patterned paper is from Urban Windows!!!

See you Soon!

Thursday, April 12, 2007

"B" is for Beate!





If you have never visited Beate's Blog
you really must do so!! Beate designs many of the Tutorials on Splitcoaststampers and has been an inspiration to kazillions of stampers!!!! You will definately be impressed with her wonderful artwork!!!

I created this card for Beate's Birthday. The B is stamped with Pretty in Pink and Burgundy, on the White Cardstock using the Faux Shaving Cream Technique.

To do this Technique, you need to have a good size solid stamp. Ink the stamp in a light colour of ink. Then you can take a line image stamp or wheel and ink it up with a darker colour. Roll or Stamp the darker images onto the pre inked solid stamp, giving a little twist and swoosh of your wrist as you are doing this. Then you will stamp the image onto cardstock. Try experimenting with one or two additional colours!! This is a quick technique that leaves no mess!!

Not clear as mud???? Leave me a comment and I'll try to give directions with more clarity.

The leaves on this card were created with the small oval punch. I kind of folded and played with the paper until I achieved the shapes that I desired and then went direct to paper with the artichoke ink pad. The Flower was also created with the small oval punch and complimentary inks applied with a sponge. I freehanded the stem and also inked the edges for additional dimension.


Here are some additional samples of the Faux Shaving Cream Technique:


Just a Quickie!!!


For those of you kind enough to check my Blog daily, I must make more effort to stay updated. Not a lot of time for a lengthy monologue this morning. I added a link for a Great Blog that you can check out. Running With Scissors

Leslie does Beautiful Work....................Go check out her lovely creations and great tutorials!

This is a very quick card created with the Big Blossoms Set. I used markers to place the individual colours on the flowers, which is one stamp (imaged Copyright SU!) and added some dazzling diamonds glitter for pizzaz!!!!! The multi layers of paper bring added dimension and interest to the card.

Well, Better Run.............................Lot's of things to do at Work today!

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

A Card for Spring


It's quite amazing, how much dimension you can create on a card with a little ink and a sponge. For instance, if you look at the boots on this spring card, you will see that I sponged some creamy caramel ink directly onto the boots to create some shadow and dimension. Ink works wonderfully well for shading. Stamping Pastels, or Chalks will do a lovely job for highlighting, just be sure to only go a few shades lighter than you base colour, so you don't acheive a "Milky" Look. For example, if I were to add hilights to these boots with chalk, I would try chalking with Only Orange or Summer Sun.......Chalking with white would look just to "chalky" of course!!! Try experimenting with your inks and pastels/chalks to bring more life to your images.

What Happened to Spring






After being spoiled with warm weather last week, this weekend was a huge disappointment. It reminded me of Easter Weekend three years ago, when there was quite a bit of rain, followed by a big freeze. The caption on the Egghunt Layout for that year was "Eggs on Ice".

This was the first year in many that I didn't rise before dawn to hide eggs in the yard. We travelled to visit family for the weekend and now that he is 10..........well you know!!!! He was more interested in riding the new dirt bike. It was Very Cold watching him zoom around the track and he did get a LOT of mud on the tires............made for some nice pictures though........I'll have to post a layout soon! For now, here are a few pictures...............that is My Aunt on the back of the bike with Jonathon.

Friday, April 6, 2007




The Song that Accompanies the Slideshow is called Ocean Sized Love by Leigh Nash.....I found it on rocku.com

And Again! (Making up for lost time!!!)



Isn't the revival of Die Cuts Amazing? With the introduction of the Cricut and Cuttlebug amongst many other Home Die cutting machines, comes a new and wonderful way to bring versatility to Paper crafting. I remember several years ago, when paper piecing (do those little "people" dolls ring a bell?) was very popular on scrapbook layouts. You used to be able to purchase die cuts in the craft and scrapbook stores, but they were usually fairly one dimensional looking and in my opinion, lacked interest and elegance. It's amazing how a little ink, some layering, piercing and faux stitching can add so much to the look of the die cut and as a result, give your piece so much dimension, with very little bulk.

This card was created with a SIZZIX baby carriage Die Cut. I used Once Upon a Time Papers (the Mat Stack at 4.5" x 6.5" is Perfect for cardmaking) by DCWV. I cut the carriage out once with the base pattern and repeated the other elements with scraps of the alternative papers. With Piercing, Sponging and creating scalloped edges, I was able to bring the Carriage to life (well, I think I did!). A Snip of Wide organdy in the basket of the carriage, creates an elegant blanket. The textile embossed background in ivory adds to the vintage feel for the card. The Once Upon a time Papers are Rich and Glittery and work really well when you are looking to create vintage or elegant cards.

Been Looking for Me?????





I would LOVE to say that I have been blissfully buried under lots of paper, stamps and ink, but the truth is, I have been perpetually lazy about getting around to posting!!!! There are just NEVER enough hours in a day!!!!!

I did however participate in Virtual Stamp night On Splitcoast Stampers a couple of weeks ago (Never heard about it??? You can check it out here: Virtual Stamp Night

My very Brave friend Laura, the Beautiful Blonde in the front row (This picture was taken at a Christmas Dinner for the www.lasting-memories.ca, crew) ventured out at noon on Saturday to Play along with me.....................Little did she know (well, I THINK she suspected) that there would be NO time to fool around here.............the focus was Stamping!!!!!! With me in a Stamping Frenzy and Laura more so relaxed (when I wasn't hurrying her along!) we completed most challenges. By 9 p.m. Laura had endured enough and decided to call it a night. I completed the last two challenge and pulled myself out from under the rubble to hit the hay!

Here is my Favourite Card from the VSN Challenge!!! Working under pressure can be fun and although I think I do better with the more leisurely method of design, I was pleased with the results of this card. It has been awhile since I've done a faux postage card. Here is a great Tutorial for Faux Postage

The Stamp Sets that I used were A Tree for all Seasons, which is an older SU! stamp set as is the sentiment from the mini mates stamp set. I really like the look of the Cuttlebug Snowflake Embossing Template as a base for this card.

Seeing that we are having snow this Good Friday, I thought that the Winter Themed card would be appropriate, but would someone PLEASE call on some warm weather soon!!!!!!!!