Happy Birthday, Brandy!

I made this card tonight to send to my best friend, Brandy, for her birthday next week. She got posted out West last year and I miss her dearly. We used to spend so much time together and talked on the phone all the time, but now that there's 3 hours time difference between us, it seems to be more difficult to stay in touch. I wish I could hop a plane and fly out to see her in Edmonton, but the timing just isn't right at the moment, nor is my pocketbook for the ticket. :( Anyway, I'm thinking of her and things will work out soon for me to go see her and her family.

As for the card, I really like this patterned paper from K & Company, but I find it hard to find a bluish-green to go with it. But, tonight I found this cardstock in my stash and it matches perfectly! The problem is I can't remember where I got it. Maybe at my local lss, but I don't think so. It's killing me, I need to know! I'm gonna have to go on an all out search now! lol :) I've also had these brads for ages and never used them, but I thought they looked kinda cute with the little flowers in the patterned paper with both being five-petaled flowers.

I decided to try something different with my photography tonight and use a black background. Does it look better? I think it makes the card stand out more. That's the idea, isn't it? lol :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)



Supplies:
Stamps: Flowers (Kolette Hall), 'Happy Birthday' (Studio G)
Cardstock: Red China Linen, Sage (?), Cream (Staples)
Patterned Paper: Wild Saffron (K & Company)
Ink: Onyx Black Archival (VersaFine)
Tools: Scissors, VersaMark
Embellishments: Red Grosgrain Ribbon (Michaels), Black Flower Brads (Making Memories)

Happy Birthday, Laura!

This one is for my Sister-in-Law who's birthday is on Monday. Happy Birthday, Laura! Hope you have a wonderful day! :)

This is the card that I finished last night after some thought as to how I would finish it. I don't know what it is while I'm out with the girls for crafty night, but I never seem to get much done at all. I think it's just that I enjoy the chit chat and relaxation of being out and I'm not really concerned with what I'm making or not concentrating, just having fun. I did change a few aspects of this card and I'm happier with it now.

Well, today was a busy day of running around and then we came home just in time for one of my daughters friends to come over for a playdate this afternoon. Wow, they were loud and crazy but they had a good time. While they were playing I got the new oak trim for my porch stained and it's drying now. We should be able to nail it up tonight. It's slowly getting close to being done!

I thought I would share a little visitor that we had when I was taking home the little girl that was here for a playdate. This duck walked all the way up my street, then came into my yard and hung out for a bit. A little stopover, I guess. :)
OK, gotta get the girls off to bed and then go get groceries. Hopefully after I get home I'll get in some crafty time if it's not too late.

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)



Supplies:
Stamps: 'Happy Birthday' - Flower Garden - Vol. 2 N0. 22 (PaperTrey Ink), Birthday Present (Studio G)
Patterned Paper: Classic K - McKenna (K & Company)
Cardstock: Light Mauve (Bazzill), Purely Pomegranate (SU), Cream (Staples)
Ink: Purely Pomegranate (SU)
Tools: Corner Rounder, 1/16" hole punch (Fiskars), 1 1/4" & 1 1/2" Circle Punches (Creative Memories), Sponge (SU)
Embellishments: Pink Bling, Gold String

Birthday Card from Deborah

When I was at Deborah's tonight, she gave me this gorgeous belated birthday card as we haven't seen each in other in a bit with her and I both being away. Well, it certainly deserves it's own post and will get a special place in my home to be displayed. Check out the detail! I really can't imagine the patience it took to make this card, far more than I have, I'm sure! Not to mention the fact that my eyes would never be able to handle such intricate work! Thank you so much, Deborah! I adore it and I truly appreciate you taking the time to make such a special card for me.

Well, I'm on my way to bed. I didn't quite finish my card tonight while I was chatting with the girls, so after I got home I pulled out all my supplies and I finished it. I'll share it tomorrow. So, stay tuned...

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Pretty Lady by Kim

I had a great time tonight at Deborah's. Fun chit chat with all the girls, some card making fun and heavenly blueberry cake to top it off! Yummy! Thanks again to Deborah for having us all over. Some gorgeous cards were made for the challenge this time around and it's funny, I got Kim's card and she got mine. Kim made a beautiful card using an image of a ladies face and when you pull out the tab to the side of the card, she changes colour. Very cool!

This is the view when you pull out the tab.
Thank you so much, Kim, I just love it! Even funnier, I'm just noticing that we both used the same colours of purple and mauve in our projects. Ah oh, we're starting to think alike, Kim! lol :) Oh, by the way I hope you don't mind that I scooped the pics off your blog of your card. It saves me trying to get a good pic and I like your black background better, too. :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Purse Book for Deborah's Challenge

I'm heading over to Deborah's house tonight and this is the purse book for the challenge that she devised for our group of friends for this get together. We always tend to have a theme for the night, make our card beforehand and bring it with us. We swap them out that night by drawing names. Just a little extra fun for the night. The challenge for this time was to make an interactive card with bling. I pondered for some time and then got to work. I tried to think of a fun idea for this one and one that the recipient could make their own. That's why I didn't add any quotes or text. I figured they could add their own depending on the pictures that they chose to insert in the pockets. Anyway, I hope they like their new purse book and have fun with it making it their own. :)

This is what the purse looks like when it's opened flat. You can see in the next pic how you can pull out the little photo inserts that hide in the pockets behind the larger squares. You use the tabs where you see the green bling peeking out.

This view shows the back of the purse when it's closed. I traced the light pink for the purse flap using a card envelop that my daughter found among my stash. It's a red envelop and I can't remember for the life of me where I got it. I can't even remember ever seeing it before, but I'm glad she found it! I love the shape of the flap and I just traced it and then turned the pattern around and repeated the pattern to make a diamond shape. Genius, eh? lol :)

This is the photo insert from one of the sleeves. I made two of these that are identical. One comes out of each pocket in the front and back of the purse book.

This is the photo insert with a photo added to show you. I left a little opening at the top to slide the photo in to. That's my little Natalia when she was about 18 months old. I love this pic with her big brown eyes. :)

I have to credit the idea for this purse book to Jan Tinklenberg of the blog Stamps, Paper, Scissors. She does absolute beautiful work, does up wonderful tutorials and is simply hilarious! She's a very creative gal and has a such a kind heart. When I'm reading her blog I catch myself laughing out loud at what she writes, it's such good therapy for the soul! Check out her blog if you haven't already, but be prepared, you're gonna be there for a while! lol :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)



Supplies:
Stamps: Cardstock: Plum, Chocolate and Celery (Bazzill), Perfect Plum and Fushia (Double Mates), Light Pink (CRS)
Patterned Paper: Grape Damask (Déjà Views), Plum Blossoms (Déjà Views)
Tools: 2 - White 5 1/2" Square Envelop for insert sleeves, Cuttlebug, Textile Texture Embossing Folder, Circle Custom Cutting System (Creative Memories), Photo Corner Punch (SU)
Embellishments: Plum and Pink Satiny Ribbon - Dashes Dots and Checks (Michaels)

Dragonfly Pics

I had to share these pics of a dragonfly that my youngest daughter found a couple of days ago while we were at Kent's Home Improvement Warehouse. They have a glass enclosure at the front of the store and the dragonfly got inside there and was flying around trying to get out, but it kept smashing into the glass. I think it must have broke it neck or something cause when we came out of the store, she found it dead on the ground. So, I brought it home. Thought I might put it in a shadowbox frame and hang it on the wall...is that weird? lol :)

He's still in pretty good shape, here's a couple side and angle shots to see more detail on him. Neat, eh? What a pretty little guy. :)


OK, gotta go install some flooring in my porch, I'll share pics later of our latest reno. :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Diva Lynux Kitty

Ok, I'm on my way to bed, but I just wanted to show you a couple of quick pictures. :) This first one was taken tonight of my fat cat, Lynux. My oldest daughter decided that Lynux needed a little bling, so she put some Mardi Gras beads around her neck. I thought that she would shake them right off, but 5 hours later she's still sportin' them! I'll take them off before we go to bed, but I caught this pic of her first. I thought the pic was funny, it looks like she's so unimpressed, but it's really just the flash that she didn't like. I think she's secretly very happy about lookin' fancy! lol :)

I'm sure you all know of my obsession with butterflies and dragonflies. While we were on vacation to NB last week, I found this cute little zipper pull with pretty beads and a beautiful silver butterfly and I had to buy it! How could I not? lol :) Now, I just need a coat to put it on! I've just discovered that all my coats have buttons on them, no zippers. See, the butterfly was clouding my vision...I never thought about the fact that I am coat zipper-less! Oh well, gotta go shop! But, for now I'm off to bed! lol :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Flap card that needs help...

Well, it's been another busy couple of days. We spent the day before yesterday tearing off the old wall board in our side porch, and I proceeded to crack fill all the holes and poor walls that were in behind the wall board. Quite a job, I'll tell ya! We let it dry overnight and yesterday morning we sanded it down, and painted it out. We tore up the old lino flooring and were ready to put down new flooring this morning...however, I forgot the screen window open last night to the porch and with the sideways rain that we had overnight, it came in and soaked my floor! Arg! Oh well, we had a fan running all day today and now it's nice and dry. We'll tackle it tomorrow morning and then we'll be able put the trim back up for the door frame. I'll post a pic once it's all done. I really like the colour now. I chose a taupe colour and it makes the entry way so much warmer now. I'm starting to feel like this house is finally ours, after we've painted more of the rooms. It's weird how when you buy a house you tend to deal with the colours that the old owners had, but it's really not your home until you add your own touch. I feel more at home now. :)

OK, I'm really rambling, onto my card! I bought this stamp while we were on vacation in New Brunswick last week and decided I would ink it up tonight. I had a whole other card in my head, thinking I would make the outer layer into a magnet that could be taken off by the recipient, but then I was at a loss as to how to attach the magnetic piece underneath so that it wouldn't be too thick. Anyway, I think I'll tinker with this one a bit more, but I'll show you this for now and if you have any ideas as to how you would change this card, I'd be more than open for ideas. :)

This is the view when you open the outer flap. You can write a note to the recipient on the inside but, the green opens as well as a card base. So, I guess this card opens twice. Why you ask...well, I'm not really sure! That's just how it turned out. So, help me, please! lol :)

Well, I think I'll call it a day. I have a fun project to show you tomorrow night, but it's a secret for now. So, you'll have to check back tomorrow if the suspense is killin' ya! lol :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)



Supplies:
Stamps: CardArt Thank You (Hero Arts)
Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, Groovy Guava (SU), Cream (Staples)
Ink: Chocolate Chip (SU)
Patterned Paper: Classic K - McKenna (K & Company)
Tools: Double-sided adhesive
Embellishments: Green Bling, Sweet & Sassy Satin Ribbon (Michaels)

Rec Room Painted

Ok, I don't have anything else new to show you in the way of crafty projects, but I have a before and after shot of my rec room to show you that we've spent the past three days prepping, painting and putting back together. We were VERY scared when we first started painting it...it looked like a pumpkin orange colour...not at all what we were looking for. We wanted something like a Terracotta, but a bit deeper. Anyway, we tried to stay positive and continued painting and we were very happy when the paint dried and with each coat it started to look better and better. We had to use a gray primer on top of the original blue paint so that the orange would show as a true colour. Then, it took three coats of the orange colour on top of that to achieve the look we were looking for. That's a lot of painting!

I'm so glad it's now done and I love it! The picture above shows the paint colour a little brighter with the flash on, but there aren't any windows in this part of the basement where the rec room is, so I can't turn the flash off and get a clear pic of the walls. So, in real life, the orange isn't quite this bright. It's called Kaleidoscope by Glidden - ICI Paints, but in my terms I call it more of a Tangerine Spice...hey, that could be a new ink colour, or maybe it is and I don't know it! lol :)

Here's a dark before pic of the light blue walls. Pretty dull, huh?
Anyway, just wanted to share a pic of my new 'Happy' rec room/stampin' space. I can't wait to create something tomorrow. I'll share a card soon, I promise! lol :) Ok, it's 1:49 AM and I need to call it a day!

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

We have a Winner...

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

1

Timestamp: 2008-08-22 02:30:55 UTC

OK, who says that the first person to enter a contest can't win...'cause they did!!! I've honestly never seen the first person to enter ever win a blog candy contest, so this may be a first! lol :) I'm counting Kim as the first person to enter since the first two comments were actually spammers and I deleted them! Man, I hate them, too! Do they have nothing better to do with their time but to leave crap on people's blogs and emails? Anyway, on to the winner...

This was Kim's comment:
Kim has left a new comment on your post "30K Blog Candy Giveaway":

Pick me pick me...hmmm...I am way better than the 2 spammers above me! lol Don't ya hate that? Anyway, I think your blog is fantastic....you are so creative and you explain things so well.

:)
Kim

Oh, your bathroom looks awesome!!! I can't wait to see the rest of the reno's!!!

So, congrats to Kim for being the lucky winner of my 30K Blog Candy Giveaway! I'll be in touch to get your new goodies to you soon! :)

Thanks so much to everyone for their kind words and for stoppin' by to see what I'm up to. I know I haven't had a lot to post lately, but I guess a lot of people are busy in the Summer and soon we'll be back into crafty mode with the Fall coming and the kiddies back in school or just with not such nice weather to be outside. Hey, can you believe that the trees have already started to change here! I was seriously in shock on our road trip last week when we started to see the yellows and reds and oranges about a month and a half early! I'm fearful that we're in for a bad Winter! Oh well, it's a good excuse to stock up on crafty supplies to give us something to do on those cold nights when we'd rather be inside! There see, I'm justifying my shopping! lol :)

Ok, I've gotta call it a day. We've got our rec room all torn apart, holes are filled and it's ready to paint in the morning. I'll share pics after it's done. We're going with a Terra Cotta colour and I'm excited to have a different colour on the walls finally. Well, I didn't get a chance to make any cards tonight, but I'm hoping to tomorrow. Oh crafty withdrawal...I need a fix! lol :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

RAK from Yvonne

Now that my camera is recharged I was able to get a pic of the beautiful thank you card that Yvonne Balmer made for me that she enclosed with my hostess goodies from the party that I held before we went on vacation. Nice to come home to find goodies waiting for me to play with! lol :)

Here's a view of the inside of the card.
I love the colour combination that she used and what a gorgeous border on the flap of the card. So pretty, gotta find out what she used for that...a Martha Stewart or Fiskars punch, perhaps? Inside the card is a pouch that held a little note for me. Too cute, eh? :) Thanks so much, Yvonne. I really look forward to the group of us all getting together again once I finish the work in my house. Soon, I hope! :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

We're back and some pics of Hopewell Rocks

We got home late last night to the mountain of laundry to do and all the stuff to put away from our vacation. It's nearly done now and now and we're on to more things to do around the house. We've got a full schedule of things to do over the rest of our vacation, including painting our rec room, tiling around the wood stove in the rec room, painting the floor in the storage room/back entry to the house, painting the side porch...the list goes on. We figure we've been here for just over two years...it's time to finally get some stuff done! lol :) So, there won't be much rest going on here, but it'll be so nice when it's all done!

I wanted to share a few pics from our vacation. Yesterday, we went to Hopewell Rocks in Hopewell Cape, New Brunswick. It was simply gorgeous, a must see for sure if you're in the area! You have to walk down a path through the woods where there are several lookout points to see amazing scenic views and then you come to a set of steel stairs about 6 floors high that take you down to the ocean floor. You have a few hour window where you actually walk on the ocean floor before the tide comes back in. Check out the formation of the rocks over time created by the clash of continents, carved by melting glaciers, then sculpted by the highest tides in the world! Hope you enjoy the pics! :)

These first two pics are of my hubby, Jim and our girls, Alexandria and Natalia. I was having a bit of a wild hair day on the beach, so I tried to avoid the camera...

Pretty amazing, eh? Well, I've gotta continue on with some stuff around the house. I've got a card to show you later on after my camera re-charges and I'll be getting in some crafty time tonight so I'll show you that later, too. Also, I'll do the draw for the blog candy tonight, so stay tuned! :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

30K Blog Candy Giveaway

One more quick post, I've just surpassed 30,000 hits and I thought it might be fun to offer up a bit of blog candy to give away after I get back from vacation. I'll see if I can get in some shopping while I'm away, if not I'll get it when I return and show you what you'll be playing for then.

So, simply leave me a comment on this post by Wed. Aug. 20th and I'll draw a name via Random.org shortly there after. Just leave me a note to say hi or you could leave a comment with something that you'd like to see on my blog. Whether it be to try a new technique or an idea on a different item to alter...you decide! :)

Thanks so much to everyone who stops by to peek at my life and to see what crafty projects I've been working on lately. I have fun sharing stuff with you all and have made so many friends through the world of blogging. What did we do before blogs? lol :)

I look forward to seeing all your comments. Take care and I'll be back soon! :)

Hugs,

MIA and soon to be MIA again... lol :)

I know I haven't posted much at all lately, but we've had friends visiting us from out of Province and now that they've headed back home we've been doing some work around the house, as well. Jim and I are now on vacation for three weeks! Yippee! But, no rest for the wicked...yesterday and today we painted the upstairs washroom and put it back to rights. We painted it a gorgeous Butter Yellow colour. I just love it! It's so nice and sunny and it really compliments the Bold Terra Cotta (like a brick red colour) that we painted the hallway outside the washroom along with the dining area and the kitchen. It just seems to all tie together now. It's hard to believe that we've lived here for just over two years now and we're finally getting some more painting done! lol :)

Here's a before shot of 'Painter Jules' in action showing ya the blue that we covered up. Hey, don't ya love the painter hat? lol :)
Our next projects are to paint the porch off the kitchen and the basement rec room. We also have to tile the floor around the wood stove in the rec room. So, lots to do...anyone wanna come help? lol :)

Anyway, I've got a few things to do tomorrow and we have a sitter coming over tomorrow night so we can go to our social with Jim's group. It should be a nice night out. Then, Friday morning we're heading away on another little vacation to New Brunswick. I'll be without a computer and my crafty supplies, so I likely won't have any other posts scheduled for about a week. By then I should be going through a good bit of crafty withdrawal, so I'm sure I'll have more to show you shortly after I get back...

OK, gotta call it a day, I just realized that it's 1:40 AM! Yikes! lol :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)