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!