Another curve ball

Well, I finished the last bit of Christmas shopping tonight unless I think of anything else tomorrow. I was expecting total chaos but surprisingly the line ups weren't bad at all. I'm glad about that.

On a sad note I attended a funeral today with several of my co-workers for our co-worker's husband who just passed away. My heart goes out to the family for their loss, especially this time of year.

Then, to make it worse I got home, made supper was about the get the kids ready for bed and my Mum phoned me. Her oldest sister passed away this morning. I feel so bad for my Mum, she was very close with her sister and again this is such a hard time of year to deal with grieving and trying to be happy while spending time with family, as well. This just sucks.

It's gonna be an off Christmas this year, I think. With my Mum losing her sister and then going to spend time with my Father-in-Law after we just lost my Mother-in-Law last month. I'm trying to stay positive, but I don't know how many more curve balls we need to be thrown.

Anyway, I'm not sure when I'll be back online. I imagine it'll be a little while likely a week or so with us travelling over the holidays, but I just wanted to wish everyone a wonderful holiday and all the best in the new year to come!

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Crafty Fun with Val

I had a wonderful night last night. My friend, Val Wilson, came over to have a crafty night with me. Val is such a great friend and she's such a hoot to be around. Full of some much fun and laughter, it's contagious! Just wish I wasn't so tired last night. I was up til 3 AM the night before finishing up Teacher's Xmas gifts and then had to get up yesterday morning to go in the office a bit early, so I was pretty sleepy all day. Just 2 1/2 more working days left for me, though and then I'm off work til Jan 4th, 2010. Still seems weird to write 2010 doesn't it? I can remember watching movies when I was a kid about all the space suits the general public would be wearing around on a daily basis, while driving their flying cars...don't think we're any where close to that yet, but the years seem to mysteriously keep creeping closer and closer to that date...

Val spent her night making beautiful little lumiere's. She was commissioned to make several for a co-worker for Xmas gifts and she made me this stunning black and white one sown above. I love it! Thanks so much, Val! :)

Here's a pic to show you when it's lit. They're so pretty! :)

OK, on to crafty projects. The card above is a sympathy card that I made last night for a friend that I work with who sadly lost her husband yesterday. So sad to lose someone anytime, but for it to be a week before Christmas makes it that much more difficult, I think. My prayers go out to her and her family during this time.

This is a card that Val showed me how to make last night. Such a neat idea and cool use of the Martha Stewart branch punch. It's a bit time consuming as you need to punch out about 50 branches, but it makes for a cool effect when you attach them all to the double sided tape that you've added to the triangle shaped tree in the background. Thanks for showing me this technique, Val!
Here's a close up of the branches to show you the dimension.
OK, I've gotta go do some housework and then brave the line ups at the mall to finish my Xmas shopping. I'll be back soon!

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Mojo117 Sketch Challenge

I made this card for a very special woman, a friend and co-worker of mine who just got promoted within our local agency and is going to work with our national agency. This is a huge opportunity for her. We wish her all the best in her new endeavour, but she'll certainly be missed within our office. We all signed the card and are giving it to her at a 'send-off' lunch that we're having for her tomorrow. All the best, Peggy! We luv ya! :)

Peggy is a beautiful, stylish woman, so who better to add to her card than an image of Audrey Hepburn. I love these photostamps, they're a bit finnicky to work with to get a good even impression but I really have fun with them...regardless of how much cursing I do when the image doesn't come out right! lol :)

I followed this week's MojoMonday sketch


This is a view of the inside of the card, using some of Suzanne's gorgeous calligraphy from QuietFire Designs.


Thanks for stoppin' by! :)


Supplies:
Stamps: Audrey Hepburn (QuietFire Designs), Love where you're at (QuietFire Designs)
Cardstock: Teal (Bazzill), Lime Green (Bazzill), Flat Black (CRS), Flat White (Staples), Photo Paper
Patterned Paper: Wild Raspberry (K&Company)
Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko), Vintage Sepia (VersaFine)
Tools: Fleur-de-Lis Punch (EK Success), Cuttlebug, Classic and Scalloped Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), 1/8" Dimensional Squares (EK Success)
Embellishments: Olive Green Grosgrain (Michaels), Clear Rhinestones (Dollarama)

My Kitty, Misha

I made a card tonight, but I can't share it with you quite yet...soon, though. :)

Until then, I have a pic of my growing kitten to share with you to show you how her coat is starting to darken up. She's so pretty and a great little cat...just very busy! She sure loves to climb...hence us waiting til the last minute to put up our Christmas tree this year! lol :)

I'll be back soon!

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Arrival of Twins

A huge congratulations to our friends, Ann and Andrew Ferguson on the birth of their beautiful new twin girls, Alyse and Amelia. They're so precious, ya gotta love a new baby and they've been blessed twice! :)

I loved this 'sweet pea' card idea when I saw it done by Sophia on her sister, Andrea Walford's blog. I decided to add an extra sweet pea this time for twins. You can see Soph's original card here along with a tutorial on some great other projects, as well.

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)


Supplies:
Stamps: Baroque Motif - Flourish (SU), Sweet Pea - 1800c (Paper Salon)
Cardstock: Lime Green (Bazzill), Flat White (Staples), Magenta (The Paper Company)
Ink: Wild Wasabi (SU), Blush-136 Touch Marker (ShinHam Art)
Tools: 1/16" Hole Punch (to make the hole to poke the plum and white flowers through), Scissors, White Gel Pen (Signo), Black Gel Pen (Signo), Oval Custom Cutting System (Creative Memories), 1" Circle Punch (Creative Memories), Sponge Dauber (SU), Sponge (SU)
Embellishments: Plum and White Flowers (Viva Craft - Dollarama)

More excitement in the Mutch household

So, it's been an eventful day today. We got up this morning and had a wonderful Brunch of homemade French Toast and Raspberry Cherry Banana Smoothies - one of our favourites. We were lounging for a bit, about to start to get a few Christmas trimmings out. The girls were playing beside me in the rec room and Alexandria (my 8 year old) tried to pull her sister, Natalia (my 6 year old) up off the couch by the arm and by accident twisted her arm a bit while pulling her up and she dislocated Natalia's elbow!

Natalia started screaming and crying. First, I thought that my little drama queen was over-reacting as per usual. But, I asked her come over to me so that I could look at her arm. As soon as I saw it I knew something was wrong, my first thought was that it was dislocated or perhaps broken as it was twisted around at the elbow. Rather gross!

We got ready I took her to our local children's hospital and the nurse and resident agreed that it looked like it was dislocated, they just wanted the doctor to confer. About 5 minuted before she finally came in to see us, Natalia was trying to shift about in bed and she leaned on elbow and we heard a snap. She popped it back in joint all by herself! A gross thought, but I'm glad she did it on her own instead of the doctor having to snap it back in place which is what she was about to do.

So, the pain is all gone now, but she'll have to be careful as once you've put a bone out of joint, it's likely to happen again much more easily. No more tug of war games for her! lol :)

On a bright note, Natalia was very excited to lose her very first baby tooth today! She's pretty excited for the tooth fairy to come! Above is a pic of her with her new funny-toothed smile! :)

Well, I think after all the excitement today, I'm ready for some crafty therapy time! I'll post my creation soon.

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Dance Like No One is Watching

I was asked by one of my male co-workers to make a birthday card for a friend of his. He just said that she likes dance, and I love the following quote by Mark Twain and I knew I wanted it to be part of her card. I hope she likes it! :)

"Dance like no one is watching
Sing like no one is listening
Love like you've never been hurt
Live like it's Heaven on Earth"
-Mark Twain

OK, it's way past my bedtime! Time to call it a day. I'll be back soon.

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Supplies:
Cardstock: Aqua (Bazzill), Flat Black (CRS), Ivory (Staples)
Patterned Paper: Wild Saffron (K&Company)
Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko)
Tools: Paper Piercer, Piercing Mat, Ticket Punch (SU), Scalloped Square and Oval Nestabilites (Spellbinders), Cuttlebug, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Epson printer using the font 'Freebooter Script' for the quote
Embellishments: Pale Aqua Flourished 5/8" Satin Ribbon (Michaels), Marcella - Silver Pearl Brads (K&Company), Silver Hearts Brad (Dollarama)

Xmas Cards from Friends

OK, I have some more pictures to share with you tonight of the beautiful creations I've received from my group of crafty friends lately.

First up is a beautiful Madonna and Child easel card by Deborah March. Isn't it stunning?Here's an angle view to show you the easel position.
Next up is a beautiful tea light candle shade by Val Wilson. I love these, they're so pretty and they fold flat if you'd like to make one and send it to a friend in the mail! :) It has a window on each of the four sides and the beautiful sentiment on the front.

A gorgeous snowflake card by Kim Prince. I love the intricate layered showflake on top of the white embossed one. So beautiful!

Here's the Xmas Cd that she made for the inside! What a wonderful touch to add to the card, Kim! Thanks so much! :)

This beautiful card is by Catherine Levy. This is such a great classic image of Father Christmas.

This gorgeous card is by Louise Allen. I apologize for the poor picture. It was hard to capture the stamped vellum, it really is gorgeous in person, though.

A beautiful Xmas ornament card by Catherine Levy. I love the way she stamped on the circle and made it into an ornament. Very pretty!
Another stunning Madonna and Child card, this one is also by Deborah March. I'm in awe over this one! Just stunning!

I hope you enjoyed looking at some stunning eye candy from my awesome set of friends! Sorry they took me so long to post!

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Cards from My Crafty Group

I finally had a chance to take some pictures of the cards that were from the card swaps that our local group of friends did while I was away during our trips to New Brunswick to be with my mother-in-law before she passed. I didn't participate in the swaps, but the girls were still kind enough to share their gorgeous cards with me to make my day!

This is a close up of the flower in the card above made by Val Wilson. What a stunning flower! I love it!

I believe this one was the card that group made by Val Wilson, as well. Love the butterfly on this one! So pretty!
A stunning card by Louise Allen. A beautifully chalked image in a stunning frame.

A gorgeous card by Kelly Eelhart. Beautiful papers and flower and I like the embossing that she added to the strip down the side.
Lastly is a fantastic Halloween card by Louise Allen. It's awesome! I really like the velcro closure on the gate fold. She actually used a life-like plastic spider and tucked it under the webbing. So cool! :)

This is the view of the inside of Louise's awesome card!

Hope you enjoyed the eye candy...stay tuned for more coming right up!

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Peace Dove

Another self-CASE from a previous card I made, this one is also for Tammy. I've been busy lately making cards for friends to purchase. I've had quite a few orders and haven't even got any of my own cards done yet! But, I think I've come up with a plan for this year. I think I'll purchase some from my work (Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Halifax) to support them since I'm not going to have time to make all my own this year. It's a great cause and their cards are really cute.

I'll be back tonight with some more eye candy...

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Supplies:
Stamps: Holiday Filigree (Inkadinkado)
Cardstock: Flat White (Staples), Metallic Silver (Creative Memories)
Patterned Paper: Snowflakes, and two tones of blue textured cs- Jacqueline Addison (Imagine That)
Ink: Bashful Blue (SU)
Tools: Diamond Scallop Punch (EK Success), Arctic Snowflake Punch (EK Success), 3/16" Mini Glue Dots (SU), Sponge (SU)
Embellishments: Blue Rhinestones (Dollarama)

More Xmas Cards

These are a couple more cards that I made yesterday. The one above is one from a Christmas card making class that I went to through the Military Family Resource Centre. It was a three hour class and we did a few different projects. Three cards, a bunch of gift tags for time fillers while we were waiting for the others to finish the current card and a little 3-D purse.

I had a nice afternoon although the cards really weren't my style. I finished this card last night. I just needed a little something extra, so I added the extra red and white layers underneath the coloured vellum stocking. This card measures 4" x 9.25".

Here's a close up of the stocking. I believe it's one of the stamps you get at Walmart.

This is a CASE of my own card that I made last year. My friend, Tammy, from work asked me to make her several Xmas cards and this was one that she wanted.

Here's a close up of the snowman. A cute image by SU. I have no idea what this stamp set this came from, but it has the year 2000 on it. Anyone know what set it comes from?

I have another card to make today and I'll also share with you the other cards that I received last week at our crafty get together with my local group of friends that I still haven't had a chance to take pictures of! Stay tuned for those...

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

A story too funny not to share!

I know this is long, but it want a good laugh, read on! :)

OK, So I just came back from getting a couple of things at Zellers and I was astonished at the cash register. I actually feel weak...is it possible that the girl that was working was that stupid?

Tooth paste was one of the items on my list. Crest Total Health toothpaste to be exact. The price of it on the shelf was $3.99, but I had a coupon for it which actually would make it free. When I gave her the coupon it, she was looking over her screen to see how much it was so she could take that amount off for the value of the coupon. Simple, eh? Oh no...not that simple! lol :)

So, she's looking for the toothpaste price and sees that it rang up as 'O.B. Dual Action...' which I'm assuming is the brand Oral B. It must have originally been packaged with an electric toothbrush combo that likely included the toothpaste with it and somehow my toothpaste got separated and still had that sku attached to it. Make sense?

She says, "Oh, it's $27.99."

To that I reply, "No, it's $3.99, the sku is wrong."

So, she says, "I'll have to call health & Beauty to make sure it's not $27.99."

In turn I reply, "Are you serious, you think the tube of toothpaste is $27.99."

She says, "Well, that's what it says, I'll have to ask them to make sure."

Just then the front-end supervisor, a nice guy in his late 20's walks over to us. She tells him how much the toothpaste is ringing up as and that they won't call her back from health & beauty and she doesn't know what to do 'cause I'm making a fuss 'cause I don't want to pay $27.99 for my tube of Crest toothpaste!

At this point, I'm just grinning at him and he simple looks at her and says, "Please put it in for $3.99", he lets out a sigh, looks at me and rolls his eyes, says sorry and walks away! While I try to contain my laughter...

Apparently, this girl doesn't buy the toothpaste in her house! I don't think she better go on the Price Is Right show any time soon, either! lol :)

Anyway, I hope you got half the laugh out that story as I've had tonight thinking about this girl! :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Penguin Solved!

Aha! I win the agrument! lol :) I found the stamp, here's what I found and the link in case you want a penowl of your own!

'Bob the Penguin' Wood Mounted Rubber Stamp - Kim Hughes Collection by Cornish Heritage Farms [KH-115E] $8.49

1 1/2" x 1 1/4" (approx. size of actual image)

Thanks for all the input, it was entertaining to read! I especially liked the one about calling him a penowl! :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Owl or Penguin?

So, I made this card tonight and I showed my hubby as I usually do when I finish a card. I'm not sure why I do, as I know he doesn't understand about my love or obsession with paper crafting, but I like to show him my creations nonetheless.

Anyway, tonight I showed him my finished card and the first thing he says is, "Why would you put an owl on a Xmas card?"

It's not an owl, it's a penguin, or so I thought! So, I'll ask anyone out there of your opinion. Is this an owl, or is it a penguin? There's no prize for sharing your opinion with me, I just need to settle a dispute! lol :)

I also don't know who makes this stamp as I got it as a gift from a friend and I forgot to write down who makes it, so if you know, please let me know. It's an unmounted rubber stamp on cling film, if that helps. Possibly Impression Obsession?

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Supplies:
Stamps: Penguin
Cardstock: China Red Linen (CRS), Jet Black Linen (CRS), Lime Green Linen (CRS), Flat White (Staples)
Patterned Paper: Believe Peace (Bo Bunny), Xmas Holiday Themed (?)
Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko)
Tools: Tweezers, Cuttlebug, Classic and Scalloped Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Circle Custom Cutting System (Creative Memories)
Embellishments: Light Green Rhinestones (Dollarama)