New CardMaker Magazine

Hello to My Fellow Rubbah Addicts,

I just happened upon an ad for this new magazine and I subscribed to it. It's called CardMaker. You get the first issue free, plus they have a deal on, you get 2 years for the price of one. $24.95 isn't that bad, I thought, for 2 years. That's only a little over a buck an issue with the shipping. Just thought I'd share in case you're interested.

Here's the link for more info and the registration page.

P.S. I'm not getting anything out of you signing up, just thought all you other cardmaker addicts might be interested! lol :)

Check them out!

A fun night at Kelly's

Tonight my friend, Diana and I went to Kelly's to stamp. We all had a great night of stamping and chatting. I actually got three cards done. That must be a record for me in 3 hours! Jim was very impressed when I came home that I had been so productive. He couldn't quite understand how I got three done tonight though, and only three done the whole day I was away on Saturday. Who knows... Anyway, I think I'm learning to branch outside my comfort zone of colour palette lately and try different colours than I'm used to using. I like the way these cards turned out and they're all totally different. It was a great night! Kelly had Cranberry Coffee Cake... oh my goodness, it was soooo good! You're the best little baker, Kelly! :) Yummmmy! Thanks again for having us over to play!

Welcome Baby Laura

My friend, whom I made the Baby Memory Can for, had her baby yesterday! I went over to see her at the hospital this afternoon, Oh my goodness, what a sweetheart. A little girl, they named her Laura Grace, she weighed in at 7 lbs 12 oz and 21.5 inches long. She decided to grace the world quite quickly, which sadly meant 'no epi' for my friend! Ouch! All is well with both Mum and Baby, though, just hoping for a bit of rest tonight. All the best to my friends at this special time. There's no better time than the birth of a new baby. Enjoy it while you can, believe me, they grow up way too quickly!

The three cards I got done at the scrap crop

Yes, it was a full day event, my first scrap crop that I've attended, but I only got three cards done. I think that was fairly productive, though! I'm happy with the way they all turned out. I used some different techniques that I'm not used to using, and I love this new tab ribbon technique that I saw online. I think it was Amy that introduced me to it. I'm always looking for new ways to use ribbon, I think this gives a nice little touch of it. It's hard to tell in the mauve and black card, but that's a strip of black ribbon above the line of flowers. It's beautiful ribbed ribbon that I found a little while back. Elegant looking.

I really love the scalloped circle (Colluzle template) that I used in the wish card. I borrowed it from a nice lady at the scrap crop. I've never used this system before, you use a swivel craft knife to cut along the template and come up with this beautiful scalloped circle. I MUST get one of these! lol :)

Thanks for stopping by!

My New Ribbon Holder Toolbox

Here's my cool new ribbon holder toolbox! I've been sharing with my Mum lately about my ribbon holder dilema and she surprised me yesterday with one of the ribbon holders that my cousin uses for scrapbooking. I'm so excited, I was able to fit 47 different ribbons in it! It's so cute! You all know of my love of ribbon, now I have it all in a little case that's easy to transport and easy to get at each. Each side container unsnaps if you want, so you could just take a few colours with you, if you wanted. Then, the door to that five compartments opens to reveal all your ribbons. The top cover comes off that has another tray that has six compartments as you can see in the top view pic. You can also remove this tray to an open center to add more ribbon or goodies. It took a while last night to unroll all my ribbons, but I love love love this new set up. If anyone's interested, she bought this at Wal-Mart. Not sure of the cost, as it was a present, but I'm sure they're probably reasonably priced. I'd highly recommend this product!!! :)

An Awesome Day!!!

I had the best day yesterday. I got up at 6 am and got the kids and I ready for the day and went to pick Jim up on the ship as he was duty the day before and had to stay overnight. We picked Jim up at 7:30 am and we quickly came home and I dropped him and the kids off and off I went at 8:15 am for a fun day of scrapbooking and cardmaking. It was an all day (9-5 pm) Creative Memories Scrap Crop. I don't do scrapbooking, but I just make cards and chatted with other and got some ideas. I went with my Mum and a couple of her scrapping buddies, Diane and Jane. We had a great day! Lunch was included along with a little goodie bag of patterned paper and stickers and some embellishments. An LMT (Licensed Massage Therapist) stopped and and was offering 10 minute massages for $10. I quickly took her up on one of these...and don't regret it! My back and neck and shoulders feel so much better! I never thought to take pics until we were about to pack up for the day. Tisk! Tisk! So, quite a few had already left to start loading their cars with all their stuff, but there was 90 people there. Quite a turnout, and so many friendly people! I borrowed a few punches to do some punching for future cards. Everyone's very kind to share their stuff. Afterwards, Mum, Diane, Jane and I all went to Michaels for some supplies. Can you guess...I got more ribbon and a couple punches. :) Then, we all went out for supper (at a real restaurant...without any kids!) and I got home around 8:30 pm. The kids we're nearly asleep, I just had to sing a couple songs and they were both out. Then, I got to spend the rest of my evening re-doing my new present from my Mum! That's my sweet Mum above in the black top and light blue vest. See my next post for the ribbon holder...

Does that look bitter cold or what?

I was just amazed at these pics that my hubby showed me today from his trip to sea two weeks ago. He's more brave than I, I'm afraid! You wouldn't catch me out there with the waves rockin' like that (about 25 feet high). He said you could feel the boat move up and then it would crash down with a huge bang and just shake the boat. Scary in my opinion. Looks darn cold, too. I don't fare well in the cold, I much prefer the Fall weather when it's just cool, but not hot like in the Summer. But, this certainly isn't a picture of one of my vacation dream spots! lol :) You can have it, my dear!

Thanks for stopping by!

A great night of playing

It never ceases to amaze my hubby as to how 'unproductive' I can be when friends come over to play with me... but, I think we had a very productive night tonight! :) My friend, Michele came over and after the kids finally went to sleep we were able to get some serious playing done. We both got all our stamps mounted... that's a job in itself! Then, we each played around with some of our new stamps while we chatted. It's always nice to get together and have a girls night. This is what I came up with for my one, yes only one card. I used my Spring Flowers Designer paper, my Spring Bouquet punch for the little flowers and I cut out the big flower. They REALLY need to make a punch for this one, too! I'd be the first to buy it! Did I mention how much I dislike using scissors to cut out flowers?! lol The brads were all from Michaels, but everything else was SU products. I'm sure I'll be playing around with this set a lot in the next while, I've wanted this set for some time now, glad to finally have it. :)

I'm gonna have so much fun today...

Oh, I'm gonna have so much fun today...it's crazy, but I absolutely love assembling new stamps! Yeah, I know...I need to get out more!! I'm so excited, I got 6 new stamp sets; A is For Adorable, Big Blossom, Crosshatch background, Looks Like Spring, Rivetting and So Very. Two punches; the slit punch and one I've wanted for ages...Spring Bouquet (this one coordinates with the 'Looks Like Spring' set that I also finally got. Can't wait to start using those. I also got the coordinating paper; Spring Flowers. Oh the pretty projects I'm envisioning at the moment!!! And a few accessories; Cranberry Crisp classic ink pad, 2-way glue (this stuff is awesome, BTW!), an embossing buddy to help me prevent the extra little embossed speckles, and finally a package of sponge daubers. Oh, it's better than Xmas! Yippee!!! :)

Stampin' Up! Party tonight at Kelly's

We had a great time tonight at Kelly's place. Met some new people, got to stamp and have chocolate cheescake, what more could a person ask for?! lol :) We made a couple of sweet cards. I love the tri-fold one with the 'Best Fishes' stamp and the 'Welcome Little One.' This one is gonna go with the baby memory can that I posted a couple of days ago. Six more days til she's due... the countdown is on! :)

I got my SU order tonight from my last party a few weeks ago, can't wait to start playing tomorrow night. Michele is coming over to play again. We'll see what we come up with. Lots of new toys... wahoo... it's just like Xmas! :) I'm sure I'll be posting more cards in the next day or two... keep an eye out!

Thanks for stopping by!

Ribbon, ribbon and more ribbon...

Yes, I love ribbon...one can never have too much! This is what I found on my ribbon mission yesterday at Michaels. I was excited when I found the criss-cross grosgrain ribbon for only $1.50 a spool. I'll be geting my SU order tonight (at another SU party by my demo!) and one of the stamp sets I finally ordered was the "Looks Like Spring' set. I've been wanting this one for a long time and finally got it. But, one of the stamps has this criss-cross on it, so I thought these ribbons would be fabulous. I also love the pink grosgrain with the sweet little brown outlined flowers. I love pink and brown together. This one was only $1.99 for the spool. I can't rave enough about the American Crafts Elements premium ribbon sets. Posted here are 'Uptown Green and Uptown Coral.' I had bought the coral set about a month ago, just included it in the pic to show you how pretty it is! I bought them both with the 40% off coupon, so they were only $6 each instead of $9.99 for the set. A screamin' deal! :) I wanted the Uptown Pink yesterday, as well, but they were all sold out. Darn it, I guess I'll have to go back again soon! Won't that be a shame! lol :)

I'll post pics soon of the cards we will be making tonight at the SU Party. Yippee! Another night out! I can hardly wait!

Thanks for stopping by!

And the winner is.......

Sorry I'm a little late posting the winner, but I'm teaching you all patience...just kidding, I just had a very busy day of running around!

Enough of my rambling excuses....the WINNER is TRACY H. of Tracyshappyplace!

Tracy submitted a link to a card she made for her daughter for her 4th birthday. Just sweet of Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh.

Here was her comment and a copy of the card she sent. Isn't it sweet! Her daughter must have loved it!

Love the new banner!! This is a great idea for blog candy. Mine is the card I made for my daughters 4th bday last week... http://tracyshappyplace.blogspot.com/2007/02/bad-mommy.html
Tracy, give me a shout with your snail mail address and I'll get your goodies out to you!

Thanks again to everyone for making the past few days so much fun! I've become inspired to create all sorts of cards again...now if there were just more hours in the day!!! :)

Blog Candy Giveaway Entries

Thanks to everyone for entering, I had a blast going through all the sites! It certainly cheered me up! So many beautiful cards...so glad I didn't have to choose the best one, that would have been a very hard decision! I also had a few more entries who didn't post a link for a card or just emailed it to me, they were also entered for a chance to win. A random name was picked for the winner.

I thought I would add the full links for all the cards from the blog candy giveaway entries that I received, so that I could share these beautiful creations with you all! (Some of the links were cut off in the comments section.)

Please also note that not everyone submitted their own card creation. The contest wasn't about judging the cards, nor did these people take credit for making the card, they just submitted the card as being one that they thought was nice and happy.

Enjoy browsing all these great sites! :)

Submitted by Kelly:
http://artsyvisions.blogspot.com/2007/02/come-play.html

Submitted byAllison:
http://stampinwhenican.blogspot.com/2007/01/sc109-tristans-valentine.html

Submitted by Dale Anne:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4v4VTYId-v0/RbKStU_yTCI/AAAAAAAAAP0/PRfGJo7jH5U/s1600-h/S4010014_copy.jpg

Submitted by DoverDi:
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=478103&limit=last1

Submitted by Kelly Sampson (AKA Emmiestamps):
http://diariesofastamper.blogspot.com/2007/02/februarys-house-mouse-stamp-of-month.html

Submitted by YM:
http://palmtreesandpogosticks.blogspot.com/2006_12_01_archive.html

Submitted by Cindy Keery:
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=477941

Submitted by Nancy Elrick:
http://nancyscreativemess.blogspot.com/2007/02/feels-like-spring.html

Submitted by Lilian:
prairiepaperandink.typepad.com/amyr/

Submitted by Susan Liles (AKA Susiestampalot):
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=134660&cat=500&ppuser=18434

Submitted by Mimi's Place:
http://emilygiovanni.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/roses-in-winter-feb07-1-erg.jpg

Submitted by Maria:
http://stampinupinspirations.blogspot.com/2007/02/daily-special-technique-day-lumiere-and.html

Submitted by Gerrie West:
www.picturetrail.com/digitalqueenmom Gerrie West

Submitted by Jan Scholl:
http://papertango.blogspot.com/2007/01/loves-me-loves-me-not.html

Submitted by L8ybug2:
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=343163&cat=500&ppuser=37753

Submitted by Tracy H:
http://tracyshappyplace.blogspot.com/2007/02/bad-mommy.html

Submitted by mjb coffee:
kindredspirits.typepad.com/kindred_spirits/

Submitted by Dawn Mercedes:
http://dawnmercedes.blogspot.com/2007/02/dhs-valentine-giftfrom-me.html

Submitted byBarb:
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=446477&cat=500&perpage=96&ppuser=61611

Submitted by gremhog:
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=386184&cat=500&ppuser=28520

Submitted by DeAnna:
addictedstamper.blogspot.com

Thanks for stopping by!

Baby Memory Can and Altered Notebook

This was my first attempt at a Altered Paint Can and matching notebook. I think it may possibly be my last! lol Just kidding. It was just a bit awkward working with the super tacky tape, it doesn't leave room to adjust the paper, making positioning a bit stressful. :) Nonetheless, I'm very pleased with the way the Memory Can and matching notebook turned out.

I hope little Baby Laura likes it! She's due to arrive in one week...but she could show up any time, so I wanted to be prepared. I can't wait to meet her! I love newborn babies, and since I won't be having any more babies of my own (by choice) I have to live through everyone else's babies, now! lol :)

The first picture is the front view and the second picture is the back view. There's also a close up of the side so you can see the pretty patterned paper by K & Co. The pink and white grosgrain Boutique ribbon is from Fabricville made by H.A. Kidd & Company Ltd. Did I mention how much I love ribbon!!! :) The final pic is of the altered notebook to use with the memory can to jot down little notes on what your little one is doing.

My First Blog Candy Giveaway

Hi Everyone,

It's been a few days since I've posted anything, just getting back into the swing of things since we've returned home from the funeral and haven't felt much like crafting. But, I think tonight I'll sneak into my craft room and try to create a few things.

For now I'll like to offer up a bit of blog candy. This is my first blog candy giveaway. Thought this would put me in a good mood and cheer me up to hear from other people.

In order to enter for a chance to win, just leave a comment and a link to a happy card. Perhaps we can inspire others, too! :) The card can be any style, just needs to look like a 'happy and cheery' card.

The goodies will include:
pkg of 4 silver dragonfly embellishments,
pkg of 6 metal rimmed paper tags,
little memory book with 13 cardstock pages,
pkg of handmade tag stickers,
pkg of glamour embellishment stickers,
pkg of jewel hearts in four colours for embellishing,
pkg of funky fibres in 3 colours.

You can leave a comment up until 10:00 PM Atlantic Standard Time on Monday, Feb. 19th. I'll get my DH to do a random draw that night and I'll post for the winner to send me their snail mail in the morning so I can send out their goodies to them.

Thanks for stopping by and playing!

A sad day

It's been a rough day. My grandmother passed away this morning. She was a wonderful woman who made me smile so many times. I grew up very close to her having her live so close by, I spent so much time with her. She always had interesting stories to tell me and was full of life. She was a very smart lady and taught school for 36 years. Alzheimer's struck a few years back, and until just recently she knew us all. It must be a terrible thing to lose your mind and still be physically well. My grandmother was 96 years old in December, she lead a good life and accomplished everything she wanted to. I will dearly miss her, but I'm glad she's finally at peace and may now be reunited with my grandfather.

This picture was taken of her with her great-grandchildren back in November 2006 at the nursing home where she resided since the Spring. I can still remember the smile that my girls brought to her face that day we visited. They don't get many children there and they certainly put on a show. At the time I took the picture, my grandmother was trying to convince Natalia, my youngest to grab a cookie for her from the container behind her! Grammie had turned into quite a cookie monster over the past year. I hope heaven provides all the cookies and smiles she can stand.

I'll remember you always, Gram!

Chabalah's, anyone?

I just finished making supper and thought I would share a funny story. I made, Chabalah's, as we call them. My oldest daughter has never been a fan of beans of any sort. I kept trying to sneak them into foods, hoping that she wouldn't notice and would just eat them. But, she always pied them and wouldn't eat them. I even went so far as to use a layer of refried beans in Mexican Chicken Lasagna, she never knew and loved it! lol

Well, one night I made a rice sidedish and it had mixed bean medley in it, my daughter asked what one of the beans was, and before I could say anything, my husband pipes up "Chabalahs, try them, they're good!" Obviously he just made the word up, we pronouce it Cha-bal-ahs. Well, she tried them and loved them. So, from now on, anything with beans in it is known by the code word and she's eats them up like they're going out of style! LOL :) Terrible to have to be so devious, but the rest of us love beans and and I'm not one to make different meals for everyone for supper, so I'm glad she likes them now. Anyway, incase anyone else out there is having problems with a certain food, maybe you could try out our solution! Good luck!

Thanks for stopping by, Chalablah's should be cooled down enough now to eat, gotta go!

RAK Received

I had a wonderful surprise in the mail today from Stephanie Barber. Or, should I say my daughter's had a wonderful surprise in the mail today!

Stephanie had noticed the picture of my little princesses on my PictureTrail site, when they were dressed up for Halloween. This is almost a daily costume around the house, though! They love to dress up! Stephanie took the time to send my little girls (3 and 5) Valentine cards and lots of stickers. Oh my goodness, didn't they have fun with the stickers. They were also tickled pink by the outside of the envelopes that were addressed to 'Princess Alexandria'
and 'Princess Natalia.'

We're all sick here with the flu and the girls were really feeling down today, as well as they're missing their dad a great deal who's away right now for a month with the Navy. This random act of kindness really made their day! Stephanie, you put a big smile on their faces
that lasted for hours! Thank you so much! You're a sweetheart!

Thanks for stopping by!

Pocketful of Valentine Posies

I used the idea from the card that I came up with for Jim's Valentine's Day card and changed the 'Love' buckle to be swirly clip. I don't know what these things are called. They're kind of like a fancy 'S' swirly shape in silver. I get them from Michaels. I'm always playing around with them, figuring new ways to use them with ribbon, today I decided to feed the ribbon through and then twist the ribbon and continue feeding it through. I like this method. The red and white card stock is from the Valentine Colours package from Michaels, the black cs is also from Michaels.

This group of 4 cards, all identical, are for a monthly swap that I do. I make four cards, usually the same, and I send them out to 4 different people across Canada, then, the fun part, I get 4 different ones back from 4 different people across Canada. It's a lot of fun to get a card in the mail and it could be any theme at all. It's a great way to get inspiration or just a way to bring a smile to your day! Yeah, I know, I need to get more! lol :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Bouquet of Posies for my Valentine

This is the card that I made for my hubby, Jim for Valentine's Day. I always have a hard time with masculine type cards, but I thought the red, white and touch of black was safe. Gotta add a bit of ribbon, too. The stamp set that I used was from SU Daisy Crazy. I stamped the heart daisy flower first in SU Reby Red, then I masked it and added the stems and leaves in SU Odd Olive ink. The ribbon is from the Dollarama...have I mentioned how much I love the Dollarama! lol :) The buckle is also another find from the Dollarama. It actually has an antique brass finish, but the flash from my camera makes it appear silver. I like it better as antique brass. Then, I added a finishing versamark watermark with a little heart stamp with a daisy in the centre around the red border. Hard to see, but you can see it better in my next post.

Hope Jim likes it... :)

A good find...

Ok, so I love love love the Dollarama! lol It's amazing what you can buy for a dollar! I just try not to think of some poor person that spent all this time making something and then I buy it for a buck. How much did they make off that?? A nickle? Yup, we won't think of that!

So here's my latest find. They've probably had these for a while I just haven't looked at gift bags in a while. I seem to have an insane supply at home that I just keep recycling on.

But, I spied this and how cute, is it! Perfect for the paperholics like myself! :) I just love the little faux leather flower attached with a brad and the clear strap handles. Isn't it funny to get this excited about a gift bag...I have an illness...I know I do! lol :)

Thanks for stopping by! Happy shopping at the Dollarama!

My First Altered Journal

So, I've been wanting to try one of these for some time now...finally got around to trying one. I really had fun doing this and I'm happy with the end result. I used pink and green tones of Bazzill cardstock, as well as Holiday Thyme double sided design series paper by Stampin' Up! I love these SU papers, I just find it hard to decide which side to use...

The prima flower was one that I received a few days ago from a blog candy contest that I entered. This is also my first time using primas, I think it adds a nice girly touch. :)

It's hard to see the saying on the antiqued buckle, it says, "Friend."

Happy Birthday, Catherine! This one's for you! :)




This is the co-ordinating Birthday card that I made for Catherine. This is the 2nd card...slight mishap with the first one involving a cup of coffee, a cat and me being absent from the room for a minute!

Note to self...reinforce no drinks near crafty items rule!

You're a great friend, Catherine! Have a Happy Birthday! So sorry I'm a few days late. I couldn't give you the book without the card... lol :)

A truly touching story

As I sit here with tears running down my cheek, I feel compelled to share this story with you all. I don't know Jen or her family, just learned of her story and what she's going through and it touched me and brought back a lot of memories. I've just been reading this website, that's been written by her husband. She is a 27 year old dying of colon cancer. At this point, her family is just praying for peace in her passing. She is on her way soon to a better place. I can relate as a friend of mine passed away last year of breast cancer at 32 years old, the age I am now. She left behind a loving husband, as well as 2 beautiful little girls that also loved her dearly. I can't imagine the loss that they feel now having to grow up without a mother by their side. But, I know Michelle is looking over over them and will keep them safe, always.

Jen's story is very similar. You can see from the way that her husband, Chris writes about her, that he loves her sooo much. They also have two very young daughters that she will be leaving behind. I would just like to ask that you pray for her little girls, her husband and the rest of the family that she will leave behind. You can see from her pictures and from her words, that are on the website, that she is a beautiful young woman, inside and out. The stories from her husband have left me weak with emotion as I think of them in her final time here. He shows such admirable strength that I would hope that I could even half way possess should something this terrible ever happen to my family.

If you're interested in sharing in this story, here is the link to her website. http://jenniferireland.blogs.com/weblog/

Please pray for peace and comfort for her in her final moments....I'm off to give my girls a hug and spend some precious time with them, because I can.

They are
not gone
who live in
the hearts
of others.
~Native American Proverb

Stampin' Up! Party cards

Ok, so these are the two cards that I made at the party. The first one used a new product that I've never used before. Puffy paint...who knew! What cool stuff. You squirt it on where you want it, wait a few minutes, heat emboss it and viola you have a really cool effect! This one made the foam for my latte.

We did some masking to add the straws to give the effect that they were immersed in the drink. A cute card. These are my favourite colours to work with lately. I love chocolate brown and pinks together! The two punches for the tag was also neat. A quick way to make a tag and layer it. With two quick punches, you're all set. See what I mean, I need more punches! lol :)





This is the second card that I made. Another pretty colour combo. I like the posies and the saying a lot. We all have room to dream a little, don't we?

Thanks again so much girls for coming over to play tonight! So nice to have a girl's night!

Well, that's all I have to say for tonight, my house is cleaned up, the kids slept through the whole party, thank goodness for sound sleepers...they'll never be the wiser that I had people over tonight! lol However, I won't be laughing in the morning when they come in to wake me up...it's already 1:45 AM now! Ahhh! Gotta call it a day!

Thanks for stopping by!

My Stampin' Up! Party Tonight

So Mother Nature decided to work with me tonight and hold off on the bad weather that we had expected. Nice of her since tonight was my Stampin' Up! party! We had a great time. Yvonne demo'd some neat new projects and we got to make a couple of nice cards. I also met a couple new gals that I've known of for a while on CST (Canadian Stamp Talk, a Yahoo Forum that I belong to.) Nice to finally put a face to the name and cards that I see. Kim and Val are very sweet and are truly talented ladies! And...from what I hear are very sick girls when it comes to stamping and the amount of stamps and ink pads that they have! lol :) Stamping truly is a sickness, for which I am am getting more and more ill as time goes on. What a wonderful hobby! :)


This first project is one that Yvonne Balmer, (my SU Demonstrator) demo'd. What an adorable little heart shaped oragami type basket to hold little goodies. I can see myself making these for my girls for Valentine's Day! You use a 6 x 6 piece of double sided paper and with a few folds and and minimal cutting for the heart shape, ta-da! You have the cutest little basket. For this one, she filled with gummy bears and yogurt covered raisins. Humm, wonder how long those will last! lol :)










For the next project, Yvonne demo'd, as well. This was a beautiful little portfolio to make to hold another card or cards on one side and the envelopes on the other. They slide down into a pocket and area held in place with the ribbon that you see that ties to hold the portfolio closed. I can see myself making some of these, too. A very nice idea! Thanks for idea, Yvonne!










This is the final card that Yvonne demo'd. Another sweet little card. Love the colours and the posies and adorable. Simple, but nice. I really like the effect of the cut out stamped flowers, but I 'hate' cutting things out! I wish I had a punch to do all the work for me for all the stamps I have that I like to cut out! I just need to win the lottery and I'll have a punch made to go with all those stamps! :)

So again, these three projects were made by Yvonne Balmer, my Stampin' Up! Demonstrator. Both a super demo and a super person! Thanks so much for coming out to play, Yvonne!

I Won! I Won!

I added a comment lately to a blog for a chance to win some blog candy...and my name was picked! I never win anything, I was so excited! I received my primas tonight, thanks again so much, Kim! I can't wait to use them...I'll have to brainstorm for ideas... :)

Oh Yummy Goodness...

I just finished making my ice-cream cake for tomorrow nights SU party. Now, if I could just get a little help from Mother Nature to hold off on the bad weather that's expected until after everyone is back home safe and sound! I'm really looking forward to having all the girls over. Jim's been away for 2 weeks now and I'm bored! I need some adult chit chat and stamping thrown in there is a huge bonus! :)

Here's the recipe, if you're interested in making it. It's easy to make and sooo yummy!

Julie's Ice-Cream Cake

2 cups flour
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup rolled oats
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 cup margarine, melted

1 bottle (250 ml) butter scotch / caramel topping
2 litres vanilla ice-cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Take ice-cream out of freezer to partially thaw.

Stir together first 5 ingredients, arrange crumble mixture onto a 9” x 13” baking sheet.

Bake 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Add ½ of crumble mixture to bottom of large spring form baking pan.

Drizzle on ½ of butterscotch topping, then 2 litres of vanilla ice-cream; spread smooth.

Add remaining ½ of crumble mixture over ice-cream.

Drizzle on remaining ½ of butterscotch topping over crumble mixture.

Sprinkle sliced almonds over top.

Freeze overnight to firm up again.

Remove from freezer about 15 minutes prior to serving.

Use a sharp knife dipped in boiling hot water, then dried, to cut the cake for a nice clean cut.

Enjoy! :)

A little Princess Castle

So it's cold here again today, so thought I would try to entertain the kids with a crafty project. I have a hidden agenda...trying to keep the floor as free of toys as I can, so less to clean up for my party tomorrow night! Too much other stuff to do, rather than have to spend time cleaning toys up, too! But, the girls had a blast!

I got the foam cut outs at Michaels a couple of weeks ago on sale for $5 for a whole container full of shapes. Bought the foam sheets today at the dollar store. We covered an old coffee can that I put through the dishwasher to get rid of the coffee smell. Not that it's a bad smell, but thought the girls would appreciate a clean smelling castle! lol So, a cheap project to do and the kids are happy as pie!

I'll be making the ice cream cake after the kiddies go to bed, so I'll post that pic later tonight with the recipe.