Blog Candy Winner....

I'm just on the run to work, but I wanted to post the winner of my recent blog candy.

The winning random number is:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

17

Timestamp: 2010-05-28 11:24:22 UTC

That corresponds Kathy aka The Super Seven!   Congrats Kathy, I'll get your prize to you soon!

Thanks to everyone for playing along by!  :)

Beary Special Hugs

I'm sorry to report that I have another sick little girl on my hands.   I started back to work today and while I was there I got a call from the school saying that my youngest daughter was throwing up.  We thought she had dodged the bug that her sister and I both had, but I guess not.  Either she got it from us, or from one of the many people around that seem to have it right now.   It seems to running rampant around here over the past couple of weeks.

My daughter, Natalia has had one favourite stuffed animal that she's had since she was 6 months old and she takes her everywhere with her and still has to sleep with her every night.  So, I only thought it to be appropriate to make a get well card with dearest 'Cookie Bear' on it.  :)   When I got home from work I was spending some time with Natalia and she asked me if I could make her a card so that she would feel better.   To rip my heart out even more, she asked me when I would make it!   I told her I'd make sure I finished it tonight and she then said that she wanted me to wake her up as soon as I was done so she could see it.  Straight after my heart!

Well, it's almost midnight, she woke up about a 1/2 hour ago and ate a few crackers and drank some more water and I gave her the card.  She loved it.   The smile she gave me, was worth winning the lottery to me after seeing that sad little face just a few hours earlier.  Hopefully, she's past the worst of it and she'll be feeling better tomorrow. 

I'll post my supplies tomorrow along with another card soon.

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Road Trip to Sheet Harbour Falls

My youngest daughter went to Sparks (the first level of Girl Guides) camp this weekend and after we picked her up yesterday morning, we all went for a little road trip to Sheet Harbour. We had a nice picnic lunch right by the water and the kids played at one of local playgrounds for a bit. Afterwards, we walked down through the woods to Sheet Harbour Falls and took a few pictures. This is such a beautiful place and the girls loved it. Here's a few shots of the scenery and of my girls. The picture above is looking up from the bottom of the falls while standing on a bridge.

This is the view you have of looking down on the falls while standing on the bridge at the road.

When you get back up to the top there's a museum and they have a beautiful little arbor and gazebo there.  Here's a pic of my girls sitting under the arbor.

This is Alexandria standing at the foot of a massive wood carving beside the gazebo.

Here's Natalia perched on the same massive wood carving.

This one of Natalia is just for fun, just 'cause I'm so darn proud of her!  She's been trying to do handstands and cartwheels for months now and she finally learned how to last week.  Here's one of handstands, following right in Mama's gymnastics background footsteps!  :)

Ok, that's all for now.  Time to head to bed.  I'm back to work in the morning, so I need to go get some sleep!

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Birthday Butterflies

I had a lot of fun making this card.  This card measures 8 1/2" x 4".  I got the idea from a card by Becca Feeken of Amazing Paper Grace.  Thanks so much to Becca for the inspiration!  I changed up a couple of the elements but I loved how she did the ribbon and had to try it for myself.   I designed the butterfly trail using PhotoShop with tattoo brush 2388 and re-sized each butterfly and placed them so they looked like they were flying in a line.   This brush set was a freebie from AIFactory, you can find the Tattoo Brushes here.   The frame for the sentiment is Brush 590 from Lite Ornate Frames.  This brush set was another freebie from AIFactory, you can find it here.   I inserted the Happy Birthday text inside the frame and printed them out.

Here's a close up of the Happy Birthday frame.  This also shows the true colour of the cardstock.

I made two of these cards - one for my friend, Tammy, at work as she's celebrating her birthday tomorrow and another one for another friend of mine, but I can't tell you who...it's a surprise!  Humm, will it be for you?  :)

Well, my stomach flu is gone thank goodness, but I still have a wicked sinus infection and allergies.  What a pain in the butt!   Anyway, I think I'll head outside to enjoy the gorgeous weather we're having and fix my flower gardens up a bit.  It's about 30 C outside - yippee, summer weather is here!  :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Supplies:
PhotoShop Brushes: Lite Ornate Frames (AIFactory), Tattoo Stamps - Butterfly (AIFactory)
Cardstock: Aqua (CRS), Flat Back (Recollections)
Patterned Paper: Wild Saffron (K & Company)
Ink: Black (Printer Ink)
Tools: Lattice Arch Punch (Martha Stewart), 1/8" Dimensional Squares (EK Success), Scriptina Font for Happy Birthday Sentiment, Printer (Brother), Labels 4 Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Cuttlebug, 1" & 1 1/4" Circle Punches (Creative Memories) Double-Sided Tape (Sookwang)
Embellishments: Satin Aqua Ribbon (Michaels)

Debbie's Birthday Blog Candy

Debbie over at 'Passion for Crafts' is celebrating her birthday and is offering up a completely 'sweet' assortment of goodies as blog candy. You can check it out here, as the picture above doesn't include everything! That's right, I told you it was SWEET! lol :)  So, what are you waiting for, pop on over and wish Debbie a Happy Birthday!

Good luck! :)

Back to Work Blog Candy!

I had planned to post this a few days ago in honor of me returning back to work.   I was supposed to return back this past Tuesday, but I ended up getting a nasty sinus infection so I called them to see if it would be ok if I returned on Wednesday instead...seeing as I've been off since January, I was sure it wouldn't be a problem!  lol  :)   Then, with my oldest daughter being sick for a couple of days with the stomach flu, I was home with her.  Then, last night, I got the stomach flu!  Arg!  So, today I'm home not feeling very well.  Hopefully, tomorrow will be better.  Dang flu!  Anyway, I will be returning to work on Tuesday after the long weekend, so it's time celebrate!  :)

OK, onto the good stuff.  I bought two of these stamp sets a while back, so I thought I'd share one with one of my readers along with a bit of bling for good measure.  Just leave me a comment on this post by Thursday, May 27th and I'll choose a random winner that night.

I recently added the Follower button, if you'd like to become a Follower you can add a second comment if you do so.  (I'd be honored, but it's not necessary.)   Likewise, if you're an email subscriber of mine or a current follower, you may also comment twice for two chances at winning.

The winnings will include:
~Treasure the Moments Clear Design Stamp Set (Hero Arts)
~Clear Rhinestone Border Sticker (Crafts)
~Clear Self-Adhesive Rhinestones (Crafts)
~Blue Rhinestone Flourish Sticker (Recollections)
~4" Crochet Doilies (6 in pkg)

Good luck and thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Cardmaking Therapy :)

My oldest daughter was home from school again today, still sick with the stomach flu.  She's feeling much better, but is still running a fever and now she's got quite a cough.   Apparently, the flu wasn't enough for her, now she needs a cold to go with it!  :(  You can certainly tell she's my daughter, though!   When I asked her if she wanted to rest she said, "No, I want to make a card, it'll make me feel better."   That's my girl!  Who says card making isn't therapeutic?   lol   :)

The card above is the card that I made and the below is the card that my 8 year old daughter, Alexandria, made all by herself.  Well, I used the heat tool, but she did everything else.  Like many young children, she's amazed at the 'magic' of the embossing powder as it turns shiny, so she loves this technique.

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Supplies:
Stamps: Wish Dream by Dee Gruenig (Posh Limited)
Cardstock: Ivory (Staples), Olive (CRS), Groovy Guava (SU)

Ink: Old Olive (SU), Cameo Coral (SU), Soft Vanilla (Hero Arts)
Tools: 1/8" Dimensional Squares (EK Success), Sponge (SU), Heat Tool, Ivory Pearl - Translucent Embossing Powder (Stamp-n-Stuff)
Embellishments: Sheer Olive Polka Dot Ribbon (Michaels)

Spring has Sprung!

I love this time of year when all the flowers start to bloom in my yard. I have a new bush that I planted last year,but just bloomed for the first time. It's called a Purple Sand Cherry. I absolutely adore the little cherry blossoms, they're so dainty.

Here are some pictures of the other beautiful flowers in my year that were taken last year.

Tiger Lillies

White Clematis

 Pink Peony

Light Pink Peony

Mountain Bluet

I was goofing around and took this macro picture of a little red beetle.   I thought the picture turned out pretty good.  :)

Beetle

So, that's a look at the flowers at my house, why not share some of yours, too!  I've love to see them, leave me a comment here and a link to your pics.  :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Another Monarch

In case you're wondering, no, you're not seeing the same card that I posted a few days ago.  My poor little girl was up all last night sick with the stomach flu and Alexandria loves butterflies almost as much as I do, so while she was napping today I made this card for her to cheer her up a little bit.  Keep your fingers crossed that she's feeling better tomorrow and that the rest of us don't get it!

For this one, I used a different monarch digi image and cut out two of them so I could have the front and back look the same.  This monarch was a free download from ABC Teach.  You can find the image here.  I couldn't find my black wire, so I had to cut out the antennas instead.   They look ok, but I like the whimsical look that the curled wire gives, as well, in my card here.

Here's the back of the card, a mirror image of the front.

Here's a close up view of the back of the card to show you how the back is scored where you open the card.

Thanks again to Val for sharing this card idea with us that was on the Hero Arts website.  It's such a quick and fun card to make and it really made my little girl smile today when I gave it to her!   That's worth the world!  :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Supplies:
Digi Stamp: Butterflymonarchbnw (ABC Teach)
Cardstock: Flat White (Staples)
Ink: Marigold Morning (SU), Purely Pomegranate (SU)
Tools: Scissors, Double-Sided Tape (Sookwang), Sponge (SU), Printer

Emboss Resist & Bookmark

I finally got my other card done that I started on Friday night with my crafty friends. For this card, we did an emboss resist with this gorgeous peacock image.   I sponged on some butterscotch first, then added some Wild Plum, Stream and Citrus.  

Here's a view of the inside of the card.  It has a perforated bookmark that can be removed by the recipient.  You can find a tutorial for the detachable bookmark card on Split Coast here.

Here's a close up of the bookmark.  To get this effect, I inked up a reverse stamp - Garden Silhouette with the green (citrus), then the turquoise (stream).  I stamped it onto a piece of white cardstock.   Then, I misted water directly onto the stamp and re-stamped it onto another piece of white cardstock without adding any more ink.  I think it gives a such a pretty water coloured effect to the image.  So different from the one stamped without the water.

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Supplies:
Stamps: Smile (Studio G), Garden Silhouette (Hero Arts), Peacock (Hero Arts)
Cardstock: Flat White (Staples), Ivory (Staples), Turquoise (Recollections), Lime Green (Bazzill)
Template: Detachable Bookmark (Designed on the Silhouette)
Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko), Adirondack - Butterscotch, Wild Plum, Stream and Citrus (Ranger)
Tools: VersaMark (Tsukineko), Heat Tool, Pink Pearls Embossing Powder (Stampendous), Sponge, Eyelet Setter, Double Loops Punch (Martha Stewart)
Embellishments: White, Green and Orange Prima Flower, Lime Green Brad, Teal and Green 1/8" Satin Ribbon

Monarch Butterfly Card

I didn't get this posted yesterday...it was a very busy day running with the girls. Anyway, here's one of the projects that I completed at our crafty night that Val demo'd for us.  Her inspiration came from a project idea on the Hero Arts website, this is such a beautiful and fast project.  You can see Jennifer McGuire's project here on the Hero Arts site.  I think I might make these with my little girls one of these days and I think these would make a really nice birthday card for little girls.  I'll have to keep that in mind with us going to so many these days!  :) 

First, we used a sponge with the butterscotch colour ink pad.  We applied it all over the butterfly.  Then, we sponged on the plum colour just to the outer edges, the body and the large circle in the wing.   This is a super-fast way to colour it!  After you're done playing with the colour, carefully cut it out as close to the edge as you can.

Here's a top angle view, the card will even stand up on it's own.   Cute, eh?   :)

To make the antennae, we used pliers and cut a length of black metal wire.  We then used a pair of needle-nosed pliers and held the very end in them and then wrapped the wire around in a circular motion to make the curled effect at the top.   I used double-sided tape behind the front of the butterfly and covered the taped on part with a small piece of white cardstock.

We traced our coloured butterfly onto another piece of white cardstock and cut it out to make the back of the card.  We scored this one a half inch in down the left side of the butterfly.  Added more double sided tape and adhered the coloured butterfly to it to create a butterfly card that opens.

Here's a side angle view to show you how the card opens.

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Supplies:
Digi Stamp: Flutterbies (Hero Arts)
Cardstock: Flat White (Staples)
Ink: Butterscotch and Plum
Tools: Scissors, Pliers, Needle-Nosed Pliers, Double-Sided Tape (Sookwang), Printer
Embellishments: Black Metal Wire for Antennae

Sweet Pea Swap card by Val

I had a wonderful time last night with some great friends for our monthly crafty night.  I drew Valerie Wilson's name and was the very happy recipient of this beautiful card for our "Sweet Pea Stamps" themed card swap this month. You can see my swap card here.

She spent hours colouring this and did a fabulous job!   She's so beautiful and I absolutely love all the colours Val chose to colour her with.  She's so vibrant and full of life.  After colouring her, she decided to incorporate her into a pop up card and also did a little tutorial on this style of card last night, so keep a look out for one of these cards done by me in the near future!

Here' s a bit of an angle shot to show you the dimension.

Here's a close up of the colouring - WOW, Val!  Awesome work!  :)

Val also demo'd a sweet butterfly card with us last night and a bookmark card.   I'll post my project cards tomorrow.  I just need to finish the bookmark card, first! 

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Happy Birthday, Kathryn!

We have a new friend that's joined our local group of stampers. Kathryn actually just celebrated her birthday recently and this is the card that I made for her. She's a yoga instructor and is very big into spirituality, so I thought this card for be fitting for her.  A little birdie told me that she's found of butterflies, too.   I just happened to have a 'few' butterflies, so I could add them to the card, as well.  :)

I found this digi image of a woman meditating and I re-sized it in PhotoShop and printed it off. I had a bit of trouble colouring this image with my Copics and Touch markers, they seemed to want to bleed a little bit, darn it! I'm still learning, so bear with me! lol :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Supplies:
Stamps: Dream (Studio G), Butterflies (Studio G)
Digi Stamps:  Mary Meditate (edword.wordpress.com)
Cardstock: Flat Black (CRS), Teal (CRS), Purely Pomegranate (SU), Flat White (Staples)
Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko)
Touch Markers: 0 - Colorless Blender, 29 - Bareley Beige, 95 - Burnt Sienna, 98 - Chestnut Brown, 136 -Blush, (ShinHan Art International)
Copic Sketch Markers: BG10 - Cool Shadow, BG15 - Aqua
Tools: Cuttlebug, Birds and Swirls Embossing Folder (ProvoCraft), Classic Oval Nestabilities (Spellbinders), 1/8" Dimensional Squares (EK Success), Double-sided Tape (Sookwang), Scissors
Embellishments: Black Satin Ribbon (Michaels), Pink Decorative Ribbon (Dollarama)

Shining On, in Sweet Pea Style

We're having our monthly meeting tonight for our group of stamping gals and the theme for this month's swap was to use a Sweet Pea Stamps stamp on your card as the main focal image. I chose to use the Haiti Relief stamp, "Shining On."  She's so beautiful and the proceeds from this stamp went to help those affected in the Haitian earthquake this year.

I know you can't see the circle doily stamp very well, as I covered most of it up with the prima flowers, but it's up in the top left corner.  I sponged on some fired red brick distress ink, then stamped the doily over top using whisper white craft ink.  This doily is so beautiful, I'm going to have fun playing with it in the future where you can see it more.  :)

I took a Copic marker class the other night, and I think my colouring is actually getting better.   I'm having fun with it anyway!  Now, I just need to invest in some more markers...perhaps I'll treat myself for my birthday next month!  :)  Most of my markers are Touch markers that are like the Copic markers.  These are alcohol based, as well, and colour like a dream with no streaking.  They have the same square body and double-ended tips.  All that, at a fraction of the cost, nice for a bargain shopper, like myself!  lol   :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Supplies:
Stamps: Haiti Relief Stamp, "Shining On" (Sweet Pea Stamps), Circle Doily (Hero Arts)
Cardstock: River Rock (SU), Ivory (Staples)
Patterned Paper: Christine Adolph (Creative Imaginations)
Ink: Fired Brick - Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Ranger), Memento - Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko), Whisper White craft ink (SU)
Touch Markers: 0 - Colorless Blender, 12 - Coral, 14 - Vermillion, 18 - Peach, 29 - Bareley Beige, 31 - Dark Yellow, 32 - Deep Yellow, 36 - Cream, 42 - Bronze Green, 43 - Deep Olive Green, 95 - Burnt Sienna, 98 - Chestnut Brown, 136 -Blush, 175 - Lime Green (ShinHan Art International)
Tools: Cuttlebug, Labels Four Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Sponge (SU), 1/8" Dimensional Squares (EK Success)
Embellishments: Lace (Dollarama), White Prima Flowers

Happy Birthday, Louise!

I think I'm pretty safe posting this card...I made this birthday card for my friend, Louise, but I don't think she's on her computer often checking out blogs.  Apparently, she's not addicted like the rest of us!  Anyway, I don't think she'll see it before I give it to her tomorrow.  lol  :)

I had a lot of fun distressing all the elements on this card.  I made the Happy Birthday frame by using a grunge oval frame digi stamp that I got from The Graphics Fairy.  It was originally designed as a blog header, but I re-sized it in PhotoShop and inserted the text using a couple of different fonts for a nice little framed sentiment.   The elegant cupcake is from a logo from Icing on The Cake.  I know I'm probably not supposed to use this, but I'm not selling this card, it's just a gift, so there's no profit being made from this beautiful logo.

I'm working on a project tonight, so I should be able to share that with you soon.  Stay tuned...

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Supplies:
Stamps: Circle Doily (Hero Arts), Flourish - C95182 (Magenta)
Digi Stamps: Grunge Oval Frame (graphicsfairy.blogspot.com), Elegant Flourished Cupcake (realcupcakes.com)  
Cardstock: Dark Chocolate Linen (CRS), Goldenrod Linen (CRS), Ivory (Staples)  
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Tea Dye, Walnut Stain & Shabby Shutters (Ranger)
Tools: Edge Distressor (CTMH), Sponge (SU), 1/8" Dimensional Squares (EK Success), Double-sided Tape (Sookwang), Scanner/Printer (Brother)  
Embellishments: Lace (Dollarama), Antique Copper Pearls (Dollarama)