I've been tagged

I was tagged by my bloggin' friend, Tracy. I am supposed to give one word answers with no explanation, then tag 5 people to do the same. Here goes...

Yourself: happy
Your Partner: home
Your Hair: flat
Your Mother: kind
Your Father: wise
Your Favorite Item: stamps
Your Dream Last Night: dunno
Your Favorite Drink: water
Your Dream Car: Audi A6
Your Dream Home: bigger
The Room You Are In: rec room
Your Fear: death
Where You Want To Be In Ten Years: secure
Who You Hung Out With Last Night: daughters
You're Not: outgoing
One of Your Wish List Items: new porch
The Last Thing You Did: snack
You Are Wearing: jammies
Your Favorite Weather: Fall
Your Favorite Book: dunno
Last Thing You Ate: tortillas and salsa
Your Life: busy
Your Mood: happy
Your Best Friend: Brandy
What Are You Thinking About Right Now: cardmaking
Your Car: VW Passat
What Are You Doing At The Moment: typing
Relationship Status: married
What Is On Your TV: nothing
What Is The Weather Like: cool
When Is The Last Time You Laughed: tonight

Now it's my turn to tag 5 others, I apologize if you've been tagged already! :)

Brandy
Catherine
Emine
Toni
Ana

Happy 3rd Birthday, Ethan

Yes, I've procrastinated as per usual...I left it until tonight to do up a card for my daughter's little friends, Ethan, for his birthday tomorrow. (My good friend, Catherine's son) Reason being, I have a very hard time coming up with ideas for little boys birthday cards or masculine cards in general. I wanted a card that was fun and happy and this is what I came up with. I hope Ethan likes it! :)

I used some colourful designer paper that I've wanted to use on something for a while now and added lots of bright coloured eyelets. I freehanded the curved cuts on the dp and white card stock as well as the 'Happy Birthday' using a scrap piece of the dp and then I cut it out. I used the Olivia alphabet for Ethan's name and the '3' using my Cuttlebug. This is the first time I've actually used my Cuttlebug with diecuts and frankly I thought the letters would pop away from the card stock easier. I think perhaps it was a weight issue with the card stock, though. The red cardstock was a much better quality and they did work out better, but I watched a video a while ago and they showed them using diecuts and they just held up the cardstock and the diecuts 'fell' right out. They made it look so easy. I even tried running it through the Cuttlebug twice, but then I ended up with the cardstock slipping and I got a double cut. Any ideas? The Olivia alphabet set is actually one that I borrowed from Catherine, I thought I really wanted a set of my own, but unless it's easier than this...I'm not sure. Maybe I just need to play more!

Jim gets home tomorrow! Yippee! That 7 weeks actually flew by pretty quickly for me, not for my girls, though and I'm sure not for Jim being away from them. They're beyond excited for Daddy to get home tomorrow. I'm sure it will be a tearful reunion! Well, I've gotta go get my beauty sleep! lol :)

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Blog Candy Winnings

Thank you again so much to Catherine. A few people have asked what I got for my blog candy winnings, this is what Catherine so generously treated me to for winning her 'One Sheet Box' challenge using one of Beate's templates. I had fun with it. They're were some fabulous entries, check them out on Catherine's blog. This was my entry from a few posts down.

Sorry about the bad picture, I think my camera has just officially died. :( Good thing Jim gets home in a couple of days, we're going camera shopping! WooHoo!

I look forward to playing with my new Cuttlebug toys in the future. There really needs to more hours in the day for crafting, though! Either that, or I'm just gonna have to veto sleep altogether! lol :)

Thanks for stopping by! :)

New Twist on Paper Dolls...

I saw this card a while back on Tracy's blog and knew I had to make one. Too cute...I'm sure Jim will love it! He's been away for 7 weeks and gets home on Thursday, so the card is more of a joke for him. Inside it says "Lucky You." *wink* lol ;)

Tracy saw the idea on Kellie's blog, and I just checked it after I already made my card and she actually has the template there. Apparently, I'm a little backwards! Here is the template for Kellie's His and Her's Valentine's cards. For mine, I just freehanded it on one side and then folded my template paper in half and copied the pattern to the other side, that way I would have it in proportion. Then, I traced the cut out template onto my patterned paper and cut it out and glued to the body. Do you think Anna Griffen had this card in mind when she designed this gorgeous paper? lol :)

Have fun with this template, it's a fun card to do. Kinda puts a whole new twist on paper dolls, though, eh? lol :)

So, what did you do today?

...I dropped a tree!!! It was actually kinda fun. My girls got to watch (from a safe distance) and they thought it was great. Alex even said, "Grampy is cool like the woodcutter in Little Red Riding Hood!" lol :) My Dad was helping out his neighbour to get rid of a dead tree. He cut the tree and I pulled the rope that was attached to bring it down in the right direction. What a bang! You can't really see how big the tree was in the pic, but I was a bit nervous that it might fall and knock over their wood pile. Anyway, I got in it pulled in the right direction, so I'm officially Woodswoman, Jules, now! lol :)
I had a great time yesterday at my Uncle Frank's 85th birthday party. He's my Mum's oldest brother. She's the 2nd youngest of 10 brothers and sisters. It was a great chance to chat a bit with a lot of family that I haven't seen in a while. The girls had a blast, especially in my cousins back yard. Look at that view in the pic below. (The pic really doesn't do it justice, though!) They live up on the Wolfville Ridge at the top of the Annapolis Valley. Matt and Holly have a gorgeous home and property, it was so nice of them to open up their home for us all for her Dad's birthday party. They're back yard over looks the beautiful Minas Basin and Blomidom Mountain. If you go for a drive to the Blomidom Look Off, you can actually see several towns at once. It's a spectacular view and really gorgeous at night to see all the lights.

This is their beautiful home and back yard.

This is my Uncle Frank and my Mum.This is one last pic, as we were leaving the girls jumped in my parents car and were pretending to drive home. :) The girls love their 'stang... when we were driving away, Mum and Dad had left just before us, my youngest daughter asked which way Grammy and Grampy went and Alex (my 5 year old) says "Just look for a blue flash!" I just about lost it! lol :) She was so serious, you've gotta love the way kids see things! This car belonged to my grandmother and when she stopped driving, my Dad took it over. My Gram loved her 'stangs. This was her third Mustang. It was pretty funny to see a nearly 90 year old woman driving around in this car! :) I can remember the police had to pull her over one morning driving home from church, because she was actually driving too slow! lol :) I'm sure when the cop was walking up to the car, she was the last person he expected to see in the driver's seat! My Gram passed away just over 3 months ago, and I really miss her. I often think of her and would like to go visit her, then it occurs to me that she's not here anymore. I'm sure it'll take a while to get used to that. I hope she's at peace, now, though. Ok, so that's all my pics for today. My Mum and I had a nice night of cardmaking last night. I didn't actually make a card myself but I helped Mum make a card. We had a great night. I really love getting together with her for some crafty time. It's so nice to be back in the Maritimes here so that we can do that. There were so many times when I was living up in Ontario that I just wished she was closer. I'm so glad that we can get together now and spend some quality time with each other.

So, I'm actually too tired to create anything tonight, but I'll be back on tomorrow with something new. Thanks for stopping by! :)

Stampin' with Catherine and Diana

Tonight my friends, Catherine and Diana came over to stamp with me. We had a nice night, other than the fact that both my girls woke up and took a while to get back to sleep. I think that sometimes they can sense that it's 'Mommy's night!' Oh well, I think I'm mostly to blame. Since we moved into our new house, the largest table to work at while friends are here is right outside my youngest daughter's room, in the dining area. We're in a bungalow, so all the bedrooms are on the main level. This isn't the nicest set up when I have all the girls over to stamp with me, as I normally close the kids doors so we don't wake them up. Well, that was fine and dandy all Winter and Spring while the temperature was ok, but today it was +34 C here and I wasn't even thinking when I closed their doors. They both woke up hot as can be. No wonder! I had the fans going in the dining room, but not in their rooms. Anyway, I feel really bad...what was I thinking! Bad Mummy! :( But, their rooms are cooled down nicely now and they're sleeping soundly again.

I got 2 cards done tonight. This is the first one that I made. I CASE'd this design from Amy Rysavy over at Prairie Paper & Ink. Amy's cards are always an inspiration, she does such beautiful work, you have to check out her blog, if you haven't already! I absolutely love the SU big Blossom stamp. For this one I stamped the back of the Basic Grey designer paper, (isn't it pretty?) and then cut it out. My card base is Eggplant Bazzill card stock, I then layered white and celery Bazzill card stock. I cut the purple corner freehanded and stamped the centre for the flower using my SU Rivetting set. I added a pewter brad embellie to the centre of the flower...yup you guessed it, from the Dollarama. Have I mentioned how much I love that store! lol :) Finished it off with some sage green grosgrain ribbon and some purple brads from Michaels.For the second card that I made, this was more of a fun style. Unfortunately, I CASE'd this one as well, but for some reason when I saved it, I forgot to rename it to add the creators name and this person is like me and doesn't use a watermark to protect her work. So, I'm sorry, I can't give you credit for your fun card, but if this looks familiar, let me know who you are and I'll gladly give you credit! :) Again, I used the SU Big Blossom, I love the versatility of this stamp, you can do so many different things with this flower. It's one of my favourite stamps, for sure!
For this one, I used Cranberry Bazzill card stock, then layered light blue and speckled mustard card stock. I added a little red grosgrain ribbon to the corner...where I flubbed on my attempt at adding eyelets, so I had to cover it up! Oops! I freehand doodled the border, and the sentiment '..thanks' was from a dollar store. I used SU Real Red for the Big Blossom and freehand cut the flower centre out of the speckled mustard card stock, as well. Now, that I look back at the card I was CASEing, I see that she roughed up the edges instead of tearing them...I knew I wasn't happy with this torn look, I'm more for crisp edges, but next time I would definitely just distress the edges of the card stock instead of tearing them.

Well, it's already after 1 am, so much for going to bed sort of early tonight. Oh, the morning is gonna come soon, gonna be a full coffee day, I think! I have to leave the house early for our road trip to my Uncle's birthday party, then we're staying the night at my Mum's, so my Mum and I can have a crafty night after the kiddies go to sleep. :) I'll post something again on Tuesday of what I make down there.

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Don't worry if I've unsubscribed....

I feel that I need to explain to those that I've just unsubscribed from through FeedBlitz. It's not that I don't luv all your blogs! It's just that I've been running Google Reader for a couple of days now, and am finally saving some time, I added all your blogs into my list, so I'm not missing anything. I love it! What a great service!!! :)

I've had a couple of people unsubscribe from my blog, I got all worried, thinking perhaps I'm really boring or I ramble to much...yeah, I know I do that...or maybe my creations just aren't nice enough. I'm such a worrier of what others may think of me! Anyway, hopefully it's just that they've done as I have and got on the Google Reader train! I hope so! I'm such an emotional sap!!! lol :)

Hope you're all having a great weekend for my American friends, that you're having a wonderful Memorial Day long weekend. It's been very rainy here lately, some sunshine, but still very chilly. Today, it's +34C! Woohoo! We actually had to leave the playground this afternoon cause we were all getting way too hot! I had to get home anyway, as I'm having a few friends over tonight to stamp and I have some sweets to make. :)

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Happy Birthday Uncle Frank

Tonight I CASE'd a card that I saw recently on the blog by Artfully Ila. If you haven't checked her blog out, skip on over, she does gorgeous work, you won't be disappointed! I actually really like Ila's card a lot better, she did a much nicer job. Unfortunately, I was in a bit of a hurry putting this one together and wasn't in the mood to redo parts of it that I wasn't happy with. Anyway, I thought it was a really cute layout and I think my Uncle Frank will be happy with it. His birthday party is on Sunday, it'll be nice to see him and a great opportunity to see a bunch of my Mum's side of the family. We always have a few good laughs. Keep your fingers crossed for me that my girls don't run and act like crazy hyenas, though! They get excited and lose control sometimes...ok a lot, but I really hope they behave themselves there for my sanity!

For this card I used my Cuttlebug...did you notice that I bought another embossing folder? My poor swirls is getting some great use, but it was the only one that I owned. I'm slowly building a collection. The bee is from the SU Watercolour Garden set. It's the only thing I stamped on this card. All the rest was freehand doodling. The ribbon is from Michaels. The corner frame I cut out by hand, as well.

Well, I'm calling it a night, busy day planned for tomorrow and a few of the girls are coming over tomorrow night to stamp with me. Yippee! :) I'll post my creations on Sunday morning.

Thanks for stopping by! :)

I Finally Tried Google Reader

I've been meaning to try out Google Reader for some time now, and I finally got around to setting it up last night. What a wonderful service. I can see being able to save a lot of time now. If you're not familiar with Google Reader, you add blog addys to it that you like to visit and it automatically tells you when each blog has been updated with a new post. So, no more visiting blogs to see if they've added anything new. I love checking out blogs, but I think I used to waste half my time checking them and there wouldn't be anything new from the last time I visited. So, if bloggin' is sucking up too much of your time, check Google Reader out, it's great! Hey, if you're saving time there, there'll be more time to stamp! lol :)

Doodle This One Sheet Box

For this project, I used Beate's tutorial for a One Sheet Box. This is my first attempt at one of these cute little boxes and it was a fun project to do. :) All you use is one sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" card stock and with a series of score lines and folds, ta-da you have a little box!

I used my SU Doodle This set for the flowers and the doodles. The 'grateful' is from the SU Small Script set. I stamped on the black card stock using VersaMark and then heat embossed it with white embossing powder. I used black eyelets on the back to feed the ribbon through. Black with white polka dot sheer ribbon is from Michaels.

Now, I have to decide what's going to go inside this little box. Thanks to my friend, Catherine for the challenge of trying one of these! It was fun! :) Now, it's your turn to try one!

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Dreamin' about Basic Grey

Basic Grey designer paper, that is! lol :) Don't you just love their paper!!! I've had this paper for a while now and I've been wanting to try a card using it, this is what I came up with tonight. The brown flower was from a Colluzle template and I freehanded the pink background flower layer. I couldn't decide what to use for the yellow layer under the pewter flower, but I decided on a square piece of yellow cs, to which I used my corner rounder. I found more of these pewter flower embellies at the Dollarama the other day...getting low in stock, what will I do when these are all gone! I love them! :( I also found the 'Dream' pewter embellie at the Dollarama the other day. I love going in there, you just never know what you're gonna find...yeah, I know that I get way too excited over the little things, I think I must lead a sheltered life! Oh well, I guess it's good that I'm easily pleased! The light pink with white polka dotted shimmery sheer ribbon is from Michaels. Found that on my last retail therapy trip. I've also added a little bit of 'bling' in the form of brown jewels to the corner of 'Dream' and 3 more on the edge of the strip of chocolate brown card stock. Can you guess where I got the jewels...yup...I need to get out more! lol :)

Well, gotta go see who's gonna win American Idol tonight. Then, I'm off to la la land a bit early. Thanks for stopping by! :)

A Touching Video

I saw this video on a friend's blog and I just had to share it with you all. It's nice to see how supportive of the troops some people are! This video was actually done by a 15 year old girl if you can believe it! What an amazing job! Take a look and see for yourself...

Remember Me Video

This is a pic that my husband, Jim sent to me yesterday of his ship docked in Windsor, Ontario. This is the H.M.C.S. Halifax, looking down at the ship and her berth.

He's away for 2 months right now. I'm glad that it's not for 6 or 8 months, but that's to come... there's really no life like it. I'm used to it, but it is very hard on our girls at times. I'm so very proud of my husband for the career that he chose, though and thankful for all the men and women that risk their lives so that we may continue to have our freedom. They need all our support!

This is a pic from a while back of Jim with our girls. The pic was taken while we were living in Trenton, Ontario and Jim was in an Army position. Weird seeing him in another uniform after so many years of being in a Navy uniform. He's now back in his Navy combats and sailing again, though. The girls love him so much and look so forward to when he's able to phone from away. It'll be a very happy reunion when he comes home next Friday! :)

Thanks for stopping by! :)

CCE card from Therese

My day just continues to get better!!! What a great day! First I got some screamin' deals at Michaels, then I got a great email from another crafty gal, Deb, regarding 105 ways to use ribbon (see posts belows) and now I just checked my mailbox and I got a wonderful CCE (Canadian Card Exchange) card from Therese Malak! Terese made a sweet little purse type card using gorgeous designer paper and a pretty little prima flower. Love the oval punch...note to self, gotta get some of those punches...oh the 'wish' list is growing larger...

Therese is actually the super crafty gal that got me into card making! When I lived up in Trenton, Ontario for three years, (I just moved back home in August) I learned of card making classes that she was teaching at the Military Family Resource Centre and I started going to them once a month. I had so much fun at them and Therese is such a sweet person and equally addicted (or probably more so, lol) to this wonderful hobby that we share... I really miss those get togethers, but I've hooked a bunch of gals around here now that I'm back in the Maritimes, so I now have others to play with. I do miss you guys in Ontario, though! Sure wish I could partake in Stampfest with ya'll in August! I'll be thinking of you all!

Thanks again, Therese! I love your card, it's proudly being displayed for all to enjoy in my craft room. I know I'll be CASEing this one! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

105 Ways to use Ribbon

Oh, the ribbon addict is happy! Thanks to Deb for emailing this to me today! I'll never get any sleep now!!! I'll just keep hearing voices in my head 'Must try ribbon technique #..., must try ribbon technique #...' LOL :)

from 2peas message board...

1. Cut a journaling block into horizontal strips. Tie a ribbon in a bow or knot
to the left end of the first strip, then the right end of the second strip, and
so on.

2. Create a page frame by stitching ribbon to each side of the page, and then
cover the joins with a button or another accent.

3. Collect scraps of ribbon and cover the spiral binding of a journal or album
in bows.

4. Tie a bow on a paperclip.

5. Soften the look of metal mesh by knotting satin ribbons through the
latticework.

6. Color block a layout, punch holes where the blocks meet and lace with ribbon.

7. Create a ribbon loop off the side of the page, securing with stitches or
staples, to index sections in your album.

8. Stamp tiny tags with a single letter and use narrow ribbons to attach to your
page for a quirky title.

9. Hold a bookplate in place by securing each side with a length of ribbon,
fixing the ribbons onto the back of your layout.

10. Punch holes along one side of a photo or mat and finish with ribbons tied in
loop knots.

11. Loop ribbon around one side of a metal frame, then tie with a tiny knot or
bow.

12. Laminate a leaf or another found object, punch a hole and tie on a ribbon.

13. Dye ribbons to match anything perfectly.

14. Criss-cross two lengths of ribbon to create a pocket.

15. Turn bows on their side and place at either end of a title.

16. Stamp a name or date on a ribbon, fold around the corner of a photograph and
secure with a paperclip.

17. Use ribbon to hang a locket holding something special.

18. Thread two metal rings onto a length of ribbon and secure them both in a
loop at one end (you can use an eyelet, nail head, brad, stitches or staples to
close the loop). Wrap around a journal, mini book or photo mat and pull the
loose end of the ribbon through the rings, just like a belt.

19. Make a masculine tag by threading a plain washer onto a ribbon remnant,
folding in half and stapling to the top of a tag.

20. Hide journaling or an additional photograph on your page. Using
self-adhesive ribbon as a hinge, secure just one side of a cardstock block to
the background.

21. Cover the join between two patterned papers with a length of ribbon.

22. Create a collage between two microscope slides or pieces of transparency,
and then tie ribbon around the glass sandwich.

23. Team up ribbon with anything else from the haberdashery section: rickrack,
upholstery trim, lace, fibers, snap trim, zips, elastic or a hook and eye set.

24. Layer a brightly colored sheer ribbon over traditional black and white
gingham to create custom colored gingham.

25. Stick ribbon over vellum to hide adhesive.

26. Make a flower with loops of ribbon plus a button in the middle.

27. Cover the edge of a border of patterned page with three inch lengths of
mismatched ribbons.

28. Use letter stamps on ribbon for journaling or captions.

29. Use rickrack as the stem for a flower accent.

30. Run a thread through a length of ribbon, making loose stitches, and then
pull the ribbon together to gather.

31. Apply rub-on letters to a twelve inch strip of ribbon to make a custom
border.

32. Cover a scrap of cardstock with ribbon scraps in lines, and then place a cut
out shape over the top so the quilted design shows through.

33. Fray ribbon scraps, then overlap and sew to the page.

34. Place a ribbon in a tiny glass charm for a message in a bottle look.

35. Weave your ribbons in big or little sections on your page.

36. Punch holes on one side of a photo mat, then lace the ribbon through and add
a charm to one of the loops.

37. Make one long loop of ribbon around an entire page, and then use shorter
ribbons to tie knots and bows to that ribbon.

38. Make a bulletin board look by criss-crossing ribbons across the page and
joining with brads or buttons.

39. Use frilly ribbons with rustic elements, mixing girly trims with twill tape
or a wooden tag.

40. Create your journaling in widely spaced rows. Punch small holes around key
words and thread ribbon through to box out or underline words with color.

41. Hang a letter charm from ribbon and wrap around the bottom third of a photo.

42. Use a variety of green ribbons in short, overlapped lengths to represent
grass for a summery layout.

43. Place your title and journaling blocks on your layout, then cut slits at the
top and bottom. Run sheer ribbon through to `hold' the blocks in place.

44. Spell a title by threading letter charms onto a longer length of ribbon,
adding a knot between each letter.

45. Cut a variety of ribbons to six to eight inch lengths. Adhere at odd angles
to the bottom of a double page layout, with the photos and accents above this
border.

46. Place short lengths of ribbon over the four corners of a photo and secure in
place with brads.

47. Place ribbons around the edge of a large circle shape.

48. Fold ribbon scraps in half and staple to one side of a photo mat.

49. Use a wide ribbon as you would a strip of patterned paper.

50. Stitch your ribbon with a zigzag.

51. Thread silk or paper flowers onto ribbons to create a daisy chain.

52. Use polka-dot ribbon with striped patterned papers.

53. Tie a series of bows or knots to cover a length of wire, and then attach the
wire by punching two tiny holes in your page and threading it through to the
back.

54. Run a simple border with one thin ribbon across the top of your page and two
thin ribbons at the bottom.

55. Tie a group of tags together with brightly colored ribbons.

56. Punch small holes and thread a border like you would lace your shoes.

57. Use sheer green ribbons to represent leaves on flowers.

58. Use your ribbons in vertical strips instead of horizontal.

59. Repeat just one ribbon pattern throughout your layout.

60. Hang tiny jingle bells on a Christmas page.

61. Select two ribbons of contrasting color. Attach one to the left side of the
page and the other to the right, then tie together in the middle. Repeat in the
opposite colors to make a criss-cross if you wish.

62. Get out your eyelets and add to a paper accent, like a monogram letter.
Thread ribbon through and tie in a knot.

63. Pin a safety pin through a bow or knot.

64. Tie a ribbon around the stem of any letter in your title.

65. Allow ribbons to come out the top of your {top-loading} page protector.

66. Place one bold strip of a patterned paper on your cardstock background. Add
an angled strip of a color-coordinated ribbon. Add an accent near where the two
meet, and place the body of your layout in the remaining gap.

67. Punch or cut several small squares or circles. Punch a small hole and tie a
ribbon on each, then line up for a border.

68. Line up several lengths of the same ribbon and secure the ends with brads,
then place your title on top.

69. Punch a group of holes in any preprinted accent and add ribbons to make it
your own.

70. Create a bold frame using short ribbon scraps around all four sides of the
page.

71. Have just the ends of flat ribbons appear from one side of a photograph.
Stick them directly to the page.

72. Use a series of ribbon-trimmed metal-rimmed tags to journal in list form.

73. Repeatedly wrap a ribbon around a block of cardstock, then tie with a charm,
tag or stamped image.

74. Use only black and white ribbons plus one color of cardstock.

75. Stick ribbon directly to the page and cover the ends with square or round
accents.

76. Place several twelve inch lengths of ribbon to the page, leaving an inch gap
in between. Number the lines of ribbon and add journaling for a `# of things
I...' layout.

77. Tie ribbons on bobby pins/hair grips and slide onto the edge of a photo.

78. Use ribbon inside a slide frame or book plate.

79. Create a pull tab with a loop of ribbon on a tucked away photo or tag.

80. Use just ginghams!

81. Attach tiny clothes pegs to a length of ribbon.

82. Use white sheer ribbons for angel wings.

83. Thread white letter beads onto ribbons for journaling.

84. Tie ribbons through button holes and tie on the top.

85. Attach pins or badges to a length of ribbon stuck straight to the
background.

86. Put your title inside a circle frame, and hold it in place with ribbons on
two or more sides. Tuck the ribbons over to the back of the page.

87. Thread on a buckle for a classy accent.

88. Spice up a simple layout with just three knots of ribbon near the corner of
the photo.

89. Create a pinwheel design by sticking down bright ribbons cut with an angle
at the end.

90. Fold your ribbon in half then cut at an angle to get that little V at the
end.

91. Instead of peeling your stickers from the backing, cut them out and treat
like regular paper. Punch a hole, tie a ribbon and look at your sticker in a new
way.

92. Create a layout with three blocks of cardstock, and then hang multiple
ribbons from the bottom of each block.

93. Make a summery layout with mismatched ribbons placed 3/4 of the way down one
side, to mimic flags on a sail boat.

94. Make a mini book to hold extra photos and journaling, and make sure the
sides wrap around to the front so the covers open to both the left and right.
Secure ribbon on the back and tie on the front to close.

95. Thread circles on ribbons to mimic Christmas ornaments, then tuck the
ribbons around the top of the page and secure on the back. Design the layout on
top of the ornament background.

96. Make it simple: stick a length of ribbon directly to the cardstock. Tie a
bow and stick it on top -- an easier way to make everything stay put.

97. Create your title with letters on individual blocks of cardstock, then
thread together by punching holes and tying together with ribbons.

98. Use watermark ink to customize your ribbon with a design or phrase.

99. Make curly ribbons by wrapping tightly around a dowel rod or pencil
(securing with pins if needed), spraying with corn starch and baking in the oven
for about five minutes. Leave to cool and set over night, then remove from the
dowel. Great for album covers and bindings.

100. Use ribbon to bind a small book of index prints on your layout, and then
add more ribbon to close or hang the book.

101. Grab your favorite ribbon of the moment and work your entire layout around
that inspiration. Print your photos in black and white so you don't have to
worry about color clashes and just have fun.

102. When making a page that's an homage to a favorite relative, use ribbon to
add memorabilia that reminds you of this person, like a recipe written on a
recipe card, a fishing fly, a playing card, or a necklace charm.

103. Use special paper punches to liven up your papers, and then adhere shimmery
ribbon to the backs so it shows through the negative spaces, making different
textured embellishments.

104. Send thin, colorful ribbon through the sticker maker, and then snip it
crosswise into little pieces, making bright confetti and streamers for a fun
party page.

105. Use a brown ink pad to rub onto light colored ribbon to make it look
"aged".

A Retail Therapy Day

Things don't need to be expensive to qualify for 'Retail Therapy' and I certainly got some screaming deals today. After I dropped my oldest daughter off at preschool, my younger daughter and I tore off for Michaels to see what we could find. They had a little clearance table out front and I got this cute little mini clipboard by Provo Craft. I plan to alter it and use it on my fridge to attach notes to. It's 4" x 6" in size. Painted white over wood. There's a hook on the back where you could hang it by, but I'm going to add a sheet of magnetic adhesive to the back instead. That's the plan anyway. I'll post my creation when I get it done. BTW, it was only $3! Yup, a screamin' deal! :)My next find was this super cute little plastic pencil case by Marvy Uchida. You undo the snap and the box style case slides out. Great for transporting some of my gel pens.I also got a few more rolls of ribbon. Nothing spectacular, but you know me....I'm a self-confessed ribbon addict! I think it whispers to me...buy me, buy me, I'd look so nice on a card! LOL Now that you all think I'm crazy, but one can never have too much ribbon! lol :) Oh, I can't wait to try out some of the ideas from an email I got today, stay tuned for my next post! Thanks, Deb for sending it to me! :) Oh, I'm in such a good mood! Today's a good day!!

Scalloped Kitty by Alex

EEEP! My 5 year old, Alexandria decided to make a little kitty today as a surprise for me... unfortunately it was with one of my punched scalloped ovals that Tracy sent me! Rather a cute little kitty, but kinda wish she had cut out one of her own... :( Oh well, she was so pleased with herself, how could I get mad? I'll just have to hide all the 'good' stuff from now on! lol :) She's absolutely obsessed with cutting things out and loves gluing stuff together. My little crafty girl in the making! :)

Stampin' fun with Shannon

I had a wonderful night tonight. My stampin' friend from Calgary came over tonight to stamp with me. It was so nice to finally meet her in person after we've chatted online for a while. Nice that she was able to come over for the evening while she's here on vacation. She even brought me a gift! Yippee! Presents! I'm smiling from ear to ear! lol :) Thanks again so much, Shannon! Can't wait to play with it! :)

I finally got my Holiday House Mouse swap cards done tonight...lol...I've been working on them for over a week now...each time with friends and I seem to be spending more time chatting than working on my cards. Oh well, they're done early and I've been having a great time hangin' out with friends! Anyway, they're done and I can drop them off to the host soon.

Well, my comfy bed is calling my name! I'll be back tomorrow night, thanks for stopping by! :)

Stampin' Up Party at Jamie's

I had a great time last night at Jamie's Stampin' Up! party. Thanks to Jamie for having us all over and to Yvonne for showing us some great techniques. :) We made a couple of cards that are very different than my normal style, but I had fun with them, especially the collage one. The tropical one is a bit bright for me, but I like the brayering effect, I'll be playing with that more! We used the SU piercing template to punch all the holes in the green card stock layer, then we used a black gel pen to connect the holes for the faux stitching.

For the Father's Day card, we made a little pocket using eyelets and the SU slit punch for the insert to hold a gift card. Please excuse the Xmas gift card....I borrowed it from my kids little toy cash register just to show you how it works. lol :) Woohoo, I have my Father's Day card all ready for my Dad, now to decide where to get a gift certificate from...

Well, I wanted to post these pics as I hadn't had a chance to yet today. Friends of mine came over tonight after I got the kiddies to sleep, to watch a couple of movies, I had a nice night, however it's now 2:16 am and I have to get up early to get the girls ready to go to birthday party. I must be crazy in the head! Oh, these eyes are gonna be tired in the morning! lol :) I'll be back soon...

Thanks for stopping by! :)

CCE cards rec'd from Irene and Dale Anne

What a happy mail day! I got one of most unique cards I've seen in a while. This CCE (Canadian Card Exchange) card was done by Irene Heirlmeier. How very cute! I love the gardening stamp and she even included a package of organic sweet basil seeds. I'm gonna give 'em a go! I love basil! The little apron is just darling! I haven't seen this template, I wonder if she thought this one up herself to go with the stamps? Great job, Irene! Thanks so much for sharing this idea with me! :)

My second CCE card was from Dale Anne Potter. Her card was done on a recycled looking card stock that I really like. She tore the front edge of the card (hard to see in my pic.) She used a single delicate flower and background stamp on her tag and added a great saying to the side. Very serene. Great job, as well, Dale Anne! Thanks so much!

I really love getting these cards in the mail...they really make my day and I'm always excited to see what ideas everyone has. There's no theme associated with this card exchange, you just make a card and receive one in return. I do up 4 of these a month, so I get 4 in return. Lots of fun! Yes, perhaps I lead a bit of a sheltered life, but these cards bring a little happiness to my crazy life! lol :)

Well, that's 3 posts for tonight, that's all for now. I'll be back soon, thanks for stopping by! :)

Thank you RAK from Tracy

I was thrilled to receive a card (with goodies included) in the mail yesterday from my fellow stampin' friend, Tracy Houghton from Tracy's Happy Place. I entered an altered tin contest on her blog, and although I didn't win, she sent out all the participants a little thank you RAK (Random Act of Kindness). How nice was that?! :) It included two of my favourite things these days...scalloped shapes and Bellas! These Bella images are just too cute for anything! I can't wait to play with them! Oh man, there really needs to more hours in the day!!! I'm stockpiling quite a 'to do' list! Thanks again, Tracy! You're a sweetheart! :)

Pretty in Pink Birthday Wishes

I had five of my stampin' friends over last night and I had a great time. I love having people over, we shared some stamps, ideas and funny stories. I'm very excited to start playing with some of my old stamps that have been overlooked as I wasn't sure what to do with them. Val showed me some great techniques and I can't wait to get a chance to play with them, just gotta get my swap cards sent out first... Thanks again, Val! :)

This is the card that I started at my Mum's on the weekend, and I finished it last night. For my 'Pretty in Pink' card I got to play with my SU Looks Like Spring set. The large flower I cut out by hand, the smaller one was done using the matching SU punch that goes with the Looks Like Spring flower trio stamp. (Can I stress enough, the need for a punch for the larger flower! Pretty please SU, make one for us! lol) For the background, I freehanded this using a white gel pen. First, I did all the diagonal lines in one direction, then in the other direction. Then, I added the dots where the lines intersected. Kind of a fun background to do. My happy birthday stamp was a little stamp that I found at a dollar store. I got a few cute ones from them, but they don't seem to be getting any more in. Boo! Hoo! :( Isn't that always the way, when you see something great, it never continues! Oh well. C'est la vie!

Last night, I also partially completed my Holiday House Mouse swap cards. But, I won't post them til after the swap goes postal, so I won't ruin the surprise for anyone that might actually read my blog, too. :)

Mini zoo trip

We also made a trip to another local farm (Hennigar's Farm Market, Greenwich, Nova Scotia) where they have a mini zoo of sorts. A pond with lots of ducks and turtles. Lots of bunnies, a male and female peacock, and goats. The goats just had babies. Too cute! :) They were the main attraction for the girls today. Along with the turtles sunning themselves, which they were obsessed with watching! lol :) Here are a few pics from this afternoon. Sorry, I know the past couple of posts have been a lot of pics, but just wanted to share my great weekend. Also, a couple of pics in my parents yard. The girls are pictured on my 30+ year old tricycyle! lol They had a lot fun cruising around the yard and checking out Gramma's flowers. I hated to have to come home to reality...loads of laundry to do and house cleaning. But, no worries, a bunch of the girls are coming over tomorrow night to stamp, so that'll be fun. I can't wait. Uh oh, I just realized they're coming over tonight now...it's already past 12:30 AM! Where does the time go? Gotta go get a few hours of sleep before it's time to get up again! Gonna need lots of coffee tomorrow, oh yeah, today...

Thanks for stopping by! :)

A Wonderful Mother's Day Weekend

I had such a wonderful Mother's Day weekend. I was very pleased as my girls acted very well. Not the norm for them at Gramma and Grampa's house. They are normally so excited that they run around like some sort of crazy hyena's! We drove down on Saturday morning and got there just before lunch and had the whole day to relax in the countryside. Nice to get away from the city for a bit. The girls went to bed pretty early so Mum and I were able to have some crafty time. Mum is big into scrapbooking, so she was working on some layouts and I made one card, well almost...I'll finish it tomorrow. Pretty sad, but I spent most of my time organizing my cardstock and patterned paper in my drawers. It's gotten to quite a mess lately, so I figured it was high time that I fixed it up a bit. Much easier to find things now. My daughter's kept waking up, my oldest is getting her 6 year molars and having a really hard time with them, her crying keeps waking up my little one, so between all the settling of little ones, I didn't get much carding done. Oh well.

Mum and I called it a night at 1:30 AM and at 6:00 AM Alexandria (my 5 1/2 year old) got up and decided to wake up my Mum to get her to help her make me Mother's Day breakfast in bed! lol :) After we went to bed so late, Mum convinced Alex to stay in bed until 7:15 AM then she got up with her and got her breakfast and then they made me breakfast and served it to me in bed at 8:00. How sweet. I got coffee, scrambled eggs, toast with jam and a piece of cheddar along with a very sweet card and gift that she made me at preschool last week. Yup, I'm a sap...I cried! :)

In the afternoon, my Mum set up a sulkie (spelling?) horse ride with the girls and I think I had as much fun as they did. Helga, who owns the miniature horses is shown here with my girls and her grandson. She took them around the farm a few times and then she dropped them off to stay with my Mum for a few minutes while she showed me the ropes. Then, I got to take the girls by myself with the horse (Cannonball) and sulkie. We had so much fun, what a nice way to spend Mother's Day. :)

I got to spend some quality time with my Mum, that I love doing. She really is my best friend. I love her so much. We don't get to see each other as much as I'd like to, but we talk on the phone nearly everyday. I always look forward to talking to her. She's the first one I call as soon as I have any news. Mum gave me a lovely hummingbird feeder for Mother's Day. (I'll post a pic soon.) I can't wait to put it up as I love to watch the hummingbirds. Aren't they just the most amazing little birds? Thanks again, so much, Mum. I love you!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom

I made this altered tin for my Mum for Mother's Day. However, I hummed and hawed for some time over what the design should be. I knew I wanted to alter a tin for Mum, but I just couldn't decide for what purpose it should be for. I know she loves flowers, daisies in particular, so I thought this SU designer paper would be just the ticket. But, then I remembered that she mentioned that she 'might' do her kitchen in a daisy pattern, so I thought, well, this could go in there, for recipes, perhaps or she could use it in her craft room. So, in any case, I kept it quite simple, leaving the tin themeless, frankly because I guess I wanted her to decide what she would like to use it for, and I can always add to it later if she wants . I added the "C," which I free- handed and it stands for her name, Carol.

So, Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there and have a wonderful weekend! I hope you all get a little bit of pampering for yourselves. My oldest daughter (5 1/2) has already told me that I'm getting Mama coffee, scrambled eggs, toast with peanut butter, and a slice of cheese for breakfast...in bed! I thought that was very thought out! Seeing as we'll be at my Mum and Dad's I guess she's getting one of them to help her cook it! lol :) We'll see about that, but cute nonetheless.

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Tole Painting Blast from the Past

I had totally forgotten about this towel rack that I made for a friend of mine back in 1999 until just yesterday. She brought it back to me and said although she really liked it, she wanted to give it back to me as it reminded her too much of her long time relationship that ended last year. She was going through some things that she's had in storage and saw this and thought I might like it back as I always liked it, as well. I feel kinda weird about taking it back, but I know it provides memories for her that she wants to let go, so I'm happy to find a home for it in my place. The little towels she sewed on were a gift from her X's sister, so it really reminds her of them. I hope her all the best, she's my best friend and I love her to death and she so deserves someone who will treat her like a Queen, the way she should be treated.

I haven't tole painted in years, since my first daughter came along, I've hung on to all my stuff, perhaps someday I'll get back into it, but for now, my love for stamping, card making and altered crafts has taken over, so we'll see...

Thanks for stopping by for my 'blast form the past.'

Delight in Life Flowers

I borrowed this set (Thanks, Kelly!) and I'm sooooo dreading having to give it back! lol :) I'm really kicking myself for not having bought it when I had the chance! Have I said that before about other sets...yup, probably, but I really do like this set. I'll need to look into buying in online, I guess!

Tonight, I thought I'd try some blue and browns for this one and I like the colour combo. I think brown is definitely one of my favourite colours to use. I'm really enjoying playing with my Cuttlebug, too, but yes, I know I need to buy some more embossing folders! Are ya getting tired of looking at this one, yet!? lol :)

Well, the evening has flown by on me again...I'll be back tomorrow...going to pick up my SU order in the morning, more stamps and toys to play with! Yippee! :)

Thanks for stopping by!