I just love coasters. I just taught a coaster class at a Super Saturday. These are such fun and easy projects. My Cricut Expressions machine really is a huge help. This paper is the cutest, it's by Basic Grey (of course). It's called Figgy Pudding and I had to hoard a whole bunch of it. I am sending this off to my secret sister. But I had to make sure I photographed it first. But I think I will make another one. (for me of course)
I used some pretty wide ribbon, that I got from my ribbon pusher, Texas Jody Lynn. She does awesome ribbon shares and I got this hand delivered when I met her in SLC a little while back.
I love to hoard my ribbon but it made this extra special.
Click on the picture to see it supersized, for detail.

I think many are wondering if I have forgotten how to stamp? I was kind of wondering myself, but I can and have been stamping. I'll prove it.

I was really happy with how this turned out. I wanted to do a pink and brown card. This one opens to show that the sentiment is on the inside of the card.

I had some problems with cards because everytime I picked a colour scheme, I didn't have enough paper to complete the cards. When did my paper stash get so low? Anyway, i'll make due with what i have.

I need to get my cards finished and in the mail. Among other things, why , oh why do I leave this all to the end?

I really like this card and I am sorry that this set is retiring. It is so cute! Oh well I can still enjoy it. I sewed on this card too. I guess it saves some money on adhesives. This gives you a little peek into what I have been doing. Since I haven't been posting on my blog as much as I like. But I hope to have more to post tomorrow.......I am off to my craft room.

I had to share this....................remember back to the abused cat I rescued that had 6 kittens.

Remember when I said I wasn't keeping any of them. Remember when my friend Jen mocked me saying I'd keep them all. LOL Well, I didn't keep them all.........just 4 of them Moo, Mojo, Floyd and Sweet Pea. Well they seem to love the tree as much as I do, for they sleep in it, jump around in it, and chew on all my pretty girlie ornaments. GRRRRRRRR. Any way I did catch a cute picture of Moo in my tree.

He doesn't look like a shoe nor is he dainty but he kind of looks cute in there.

It's 17 days til Christmas. I just love this time of year. I have had my trees up for awhile now.....since November but I really like to enjoy them. I still have shopping and baking to do , but for the most part I am relaxed. (Sure!)

I love my trees and I thought I would share them with you. I just am not thinking about the time it takes to put everything away.

This tree is in my dining room. The ceilings are 10 ft, so the tree is a 9 foot tree. I have a matching tree in the family room. I love the giant poinsettias I picked up. It's a very serene tree. I have a bunch of butterflies on it. I chose butterflies as a symbol of my recovery from Breast Cancer. So now that my Oncologist has given me the all clear, I love my butterflies even more.

This is a closer view and it is clear that this is a girlie tree. I'm glad my DH is so easy going. But he says he love how much i enjoy the trees. I think he's just glad I'm not buying any more ornaments. Yeah, that's what he thinks. :)

Well it's Monday morning and I thought it was a good time to pick some winners. I used a random number generator and it spit out number 12 and 29. So the winners are.......................
Shutterbug and Darlene d. I will need you to email me your addresses so I can send a treat your way.

Thanks to everybody who played. You all brought a smile to my face. :)

Everybody loves surprises! I know I sure do! In fact ask my post lady what I ask her, when I see her filling the boxes. Do you have any brown paper packages tied up with strings? LOL Most days she says no, that makes me sad. So lets get going with some Blog Candy! Yes I said Blog Candy! I want to give some postal surprises.
To help me think happy thoughts (see 2nd post down) I want you to leave me a Happy Christmas Memory or Tradition. Something that makes you smile when You think about it. It can be an event, a special recipe or ornament. Just a Happy thought that brings a smile in this wonderful season.

Mine is..... I always start the season with a viewing of Irving Berlin's White Christmas. I love this movie so much. I play it several times during the Holidays. I am a little sappy. LOL
This movie aired every year on Christmas Eve. My sister and I would slip away from the festivities upstairs. (It's my Dad's Birthday) and we would watch the movie together. We would sing and dance to the sisters song and those memories do bring a smile to my face. In fact I feel like having a Hot chocolate and watching it today. As Elf would say "Smiling is my most favourite"! So is Christmas, so help me smile and post a comment.
"Winners will be chosen at random" But you can't win if you don't play!

I see Angels! I love the new stamp set by SU! , Holy Triptych. I love the simple beautiful images. I also love cracked glass technique. So put the two together and you will be seeing Angels.

I love to add a little bit of glitter to the cracked glass so my first step is to cover the whole piece with the versa mark then........ emboss it with iridescent ice. Then do my glaze layers. I love glitter. :)

For this card I stamped the frame then masked it, I then stamped the angel in gold ink. I cut around the tag frame and punched my ribbon hole at the top. Then embossed the whole thing in iridescent ice ep. Then I applied 3 coats of glossy glaze. Put it in the freezer for a minute then .........(my favorite part) I got to the Crackalackin!

I stamped the flourish from Baroque Motifs in gold ink randomly on Night of Navy card stock.

I would have used round gold brads but apparently I don't have any. LOL

This is beautiful in real life. I don't know if I will make it as my Christmas card. It's alot of work. But well worth the effort.

I used an unusual colour combo for this one. Night of Navy, Garden Green and Baroque Burgundy. I used the new so swirly wheel on the back ground with gold ink. I did the Angel with the iridescent ice ep and the cracked glass tech. I love how these cards look.

I am working to improve my camera skills, it is a work in progress. I think I need a new camera, but my DH just rolls his eyes when I say that. Hmmmmmm maybe a little present to me, is in order? wink wink.

I have not done a lot of stamping through the month of October. I had my wonderful trip to SLC and then came back to the real world of dishes and laundry and the sneaky approach of the Christmas season.
I know I promised some blog candy this week......... but I will let you know why I didn't get to it. (This is sad) On Wednesday as we went to pick up our daughter from school, my little munchkin cat Oswald was chased under the truck as we backed down the driveway. We hit him, he died in my arms on the way to the vet. This was an amazingly special cat. My DH bought him for me when I finished my Cancer treatments. The whole family was in total grief and we spent a lot of family downtime this week.

I still miss him talking at me through the bathroom door and seeing his funny little short legged run. He was extraordinary and missed greatly. So this was my week. But the world doesn't stop so neither do I. I was able to stamp last night and it did for the short time get those awful images out of my head.
Thanks for reading my ramble. :)

This is too, totally awesome. I took my Daughter up to Halifax today to go to UC Baby. I must admit I had tears in my eyes when I looked upon the sweet face of my unborn grandson Ayden.

I just can't get over how beautiful he is. He looks so much like my DD. It was a very sweet afternoon.

It was so cute to watch him open his eyes, and smile and suck his fists. I can't wait for him to arrive. He is definately a boy! :)

I haven't stamped a whole lot, but I plan to change that over the weekend and be able to post new items this weekend.

Look for some blog candy coming next week. Yippee I love candy!

Well, I am back from my trip to Salt Lake City!!!! I had a blast. It was great to be able to shop at all the cool stores, All my memories, Hobby Lobby, Archivers and Roberts! We also hit the scrapbook expo too! I did a little bit of shopping and really don't know how I got it all home. I nearly didn't!

This is a quick post until I can update it with all the cool projects we did!

While we were shopping at Hobby Lobby we ran into Jaron and Shannon from Stampin' Up! They were great and let us chat at them and posed for a bunch of pictures. They also offered us a tour but we were to focused on our bargain shopping. Maybe next time!

I made this as a rak card for someone and i decided to use the CC131 colours. I would have never put them together but I love how they turned out. I hadn't used my Bellas in awhile and i could hear them snuffling in the binder so i brought them out to play!
My trip is coming up fast and i need to have everything done and packed so i am pretty busy but i will try to post a few more things before i go.............I am sooooooooooooooo excited!!!

Can't wait to show you all the cool things I'll do while i am gone.

Ta Da!!!!!

I know that i have been slow to blog.........but I have been up to super secret things. LOL

I am going at the end of the month to SLC (Salt Lake City) to stamp with my pals. I can't wait, but we needed to bring 2 shoe box swaps (mine are still in the thinking stage), a door prize, ( I absolutely love how mine turned out.....but no pictures until after my trip). Of course i had to make gifts..... no, you can't see those either.

But i can show you.....my ATC'S. As if i didn't have enough to do, I joined a swap this month as well. These need to get out in the mail ASAP. I have never done an ATC (artist trading card) Before. I am happy with how these turned out.

I used river rock as the base. I love the new IN COLOURS!!!! The paper is Apple cider collection , new by SU!. The ribbon is also river rock, the brads are Heidi Schwap in a rust colour. It's hard to see but i used my quickie glue pen and dazzling diamonds on these too! I hope everybody likes them.

Hi, this is just a quick note to Canadians. There is a new stamping site for us, it was started so we could trade shopping info, swaps and talent. Alot of companies won't ship to Canada. It is a cool new site full of cool Canadian stampers. Swing by and check it out!
http://stampincanada.freeforums.org/index.php

I've been bitten by the bug!

The scrap booking bug that is, I have never scrapped before aside from a couple of 6x6 about me pages. But I took some great pictures on our recent camping trip and decided to give it a go.

I am still trying to figure out the camera thing. But I think it needs to be viewed as a 2 page spread. I am so happy with how this turned out, granted it took me 3 days to finish it but I am proud of it. I used the photo corner punch from SU! and coated the cut outs in crystal effects and then pored sand on them. I love the texture they provide. I used the in colours from SU!, river rock and blue bayou.....I can't say enough about these colours.
I love the photo's of Andrew i took. It was a magical beach and the light was just perfect for the photo op.

I look forward to returning to the beach, next year!

The lighting for these pics is not great. LOL But I love the photo's just the same. My camera has a broken shutter button and I have not been able to have it repaired. So some of my pictures turn out blurry. I printed out the picture of Laura and her Dad in sepia too. It looked very nostalgic.

I had to keep piece and scrap this picture of Charlotte. I took the picture of her through a tree trunk. I like how it turned out. I am going to work on getting more scrap type items. I really enjoy this.....the kids enjoy helping to design their pages too. I am also going to jump on the trend wagon and try digital scrapping too!

Right now I am researching 12x12 printers and scanners. More for my ever growing wish list!

I had a chance to stamp on the weekend. I took full advantage of it . The kids were really good and helpful, What's up with that? LOL

I have just a short time to do lots of stuff..........I am going to SLC (Salt Lake City) to meet my SCS Chatter friends. I am so excited. But now I need a door prize and 2 shoe box swaps and a little gifty item. (None of which I will be able to show until my return.)

Not to mention my submissions..........it's a crazy time. But I did make a few things.

I really love this layout. The layout was cased from a card I was sent by Linda (Studbo) on SCS, her card was so bright and cheery. I used the apple cider papers by SU! and the new set True Friend. I coloured the flower with really rust and Sahara sand. I stamped it on Vanilla paper, mounted it on mellow moss. I glued a half back pearl to the center and finished with moss gingham.

This one is an older layout challenge from SCS. I again used the new papers and stamps. I used really rust and river rock. I absolutely love the new in colours. ( Really , really) I used a tech from the Technique Junkie news letter. It was called stipple frames. I need more practise but I am happy with how it turned out.

I just changed this one up a bit and made it circles instead of ovals. I made the center using the cracked glass technique. But I first used iridescent ice ep and then continued with the glassy glaze. Fun stamps, papers and ribbon bring out my mojo.

I also got one of those cool photo light boxes, I am still learning to use it. It works great for cards but i need to figure out how to photograph my 12x12 pages. I will post those next. I was really happy with how they turned out.

I have more to post later. Thanks for taking the time to view my work. :)

Well I played last night. It was fun to be back in the craft room and i just can't leave this flower alone. I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is an Artful Inkables image and can be found here: http://www.starvingartistamps.com/

I just had so much fun with it. I finally tried masking for the very first time. A big shocker and it was fun. This image is great for so many things. I think now the only hurdle to get over is I am embellishment impaired. I can stamp the cards but nothing seems right, the ribbon isn't perfect I don't have the right coloured brads. Even Primas aren't working for me. :o

But I think I did ok with these....

This one I think is my favorite. I masked the flower to stamp the leaves. Painted the flower with twinkling H2O's. Over stamped the whole thing with French Script and a doodle by Rhona Farrer. I am happy with how it turned out. :)

I like this one too! I masked the flower and over stamped with Print Pattern and French Script. Then I stamped a little Baroque Motifs to finish it off. I love the orange twinkling H2O's. I used wasabi and chocolate chip for this one.

For this card I used the same images and then stamped the mosaic background on top and embossed it in black. (this is by starvingartistamps too) It needed something to finish it off, my DH picked the finishing touch because I am embellishment impaired. LOL Colours used were guava, rose red and wasabi.

This is the reverse mosaic stamp. I stamped this in Guava and stamped the images in Chocolate Chip and wasabi. I used some iridescent ice ep in the flower center. The Ticket Corner punch by SU finished up the edges and used brads. (I need to become embellishment abled)

I had so much fun playing with these. Thanks to Kristin for sending them to me!!!! Lovin' it!

I'm back home, from what should have been a restful camping trip. "Right" We went to Kejimkujik Park for 3 nights of group camping. It is truly beautiful there. The first night it rained and the wind howled, I never realized trees could make so much noise. LOL No one in our area slept.

Then the next night porcupines, loons and the masked bandits made sleep elusive again. The final night a group coming in at midnight (yes, midnight) with at least 10 kids who screamed and ran around until 2:30 mean that I am very sleep deprived.......but all in all we had a wonderful time.

We enjoyed spectacular sunsets from our private beach and even a rainbow. I took some great shots and I am actually really excited about scrapping them. Hope to show a few pages soon.

I only had time to do one card yesterday. I was on SCS and saw the TLC challenge and took it. It was to make a paper tole flower. Time consuming but so worth it! I used one of my fave Artful Inkables flower image, as well as the leaf and sentiment. Put it together with some of my favorite colours and added some twinkle with an aqua painter and voila...a real beauty, but not to mailable. LOL

Having never done this before, I may have made too many layers. It took along time for the water colours to dry , I am not known for Patience. But I am happy with the overall card. I love the images though very versatile. I have a few of Kristin's images and am saving my pennies for more!
This view may be better....I had to take a photo, this is not the kind of thing that likes to be squished in a scanner. :)

I received some wonderful rak's. Images and some rubber from my friend Kristin's images. Check out the starvingartistamps site at right. Artful inkables are the name. They are so cute.

I love this frog.....it was stamped on watercolour paper. I coloured it in with inks and an aqua painter. I love how the rock and water blended. (won't be able to do that again. LOL)

I used river rock and blue bayou paper, I wheeled the lily pads around then coloured in the lilies with a stardust jelly pen. Punched out the scalloped circles and popped it all together. I was happy with how this turned out. Just an easy cute card.

The linited supply challenge today was to use words to make the background. I used my snap stamps to stamp "Just Ducky". This is also an artful inkable image. I coloured it in with markers. My first time colouring with markets so please excuse the fact that it is not very good. It was fun just to be able to stamp.

I have pulled a Karen! In other words I have rescued something that becomes a bigger thing. LOL

This is Lily. I brought her home on Thursday night, she was frightened, abused and abandoned. No Animal Shelter would take her. So now she resides in my dining room. We are slowly gaining her trust. (Food works wonders) I even had my DH's approval. (Huge shocker there) You see we already have many animals that share our home, I mean what's ONE more right? Can you say 7..........LOL

We woke up this morning to the birth of kittens. Six of the little cuties to be exact. They are stinking adorable. But now I have to be the ogre and say that we can absolutely, positively not keep any. Yeah right.

I have a bad case of.............. Mojo-slump-er-rama!

I don't know where it comes from, it always seems to happen when I get a new stamp set that I love then can't do a thing with it. I have been in a slump for awhile......hence the no posting of super duper creations.

I think I may have had a small mojo infusion last night. Although I have a ton of 1/2 finished stuff cast aside on my table that didn't work, I had a couple that did work. (If they didn't, Please be kind. LOL)

I started with a base of Wild Wasabi.......I just like saying it, WASABI! I ran a piece of Pomegranate through the cuttlebug. I used the script folder. Then I randomly stamped a piece with the doodle this set, in guava and pomegranate. I used my quickie glue pen and covered that with dazzling diamonds. Mounted it on pomegranate and then on wasabi. :) Added the ribbon and tag and voila a cute card done fast.

For this card I used the same colours. I really heart them, too bad I only order 12x12..I am almost out of these colours.......GASP! Pretty simple I ripped the wasabi and pomegranate to frame the stamped images. The stamped piece was 4 by 5 1/4 and it made my head spin. Although I kind of liked it! Finished it with ribbon that has guava and pomegranate. Not sure I'm keen on the ribbon but the card is done.

For this I stamped the doodle this flower 3 times and cut them out. One was from pomegranate paper and the other 2 were whisper white. I coloured them using an aqua painter and pomegranate ink. The top flower got sprinkled with iridescent ice. I popped on a gem and pop dotted it to the paper. I stippled the paper with pomegranate cause it looked too white. LOL

I can't say that the mojo is back, but I think it is trying.

I finally got my copy of the July/August, Rubber stamper! I am very excited, I got published!!!! My very first time. I submitted alcohol ink cards. I love working with Alcohol inks, it is so much fun. I am so in awe to be counted in this article with lots of other fabulously talented stampers, like my friend Amanda Sewell (blog in column on right, Inkspirations).
Sorry the scan is off, but there is my card from page 44. Lot's of talented stampers in this issue. Check it out!

SHE walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies,

And all that's best of dark and bright

Meets in her aspect and her eyes;

Thus mellow'd to that tender light

Which Heaven to gaudy day denies.


One shade the more, one ray the less,

Had half impair'd the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress

Or softly lightens o'er her face,

Where thoughts serenely sweet express

How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.


And on that cheek and o'er that brow

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

But tell of days in goodness spent,—

A mind at peace with all below,

A heart whose love is innocent.

Lord Byron wrote these tender words. But I could not think of another poem that would capture the thoughts and feelings of this day. Our oldest was married this morning and I still can't get over that when I saw her for the first time this morning she took my breathe away.

Ok..... she didn't take my breathe away at 6 am when she was crying because she thought she had pink eye, or at 7.00 am when she was puking in my kitchen garbage can.......... but at 11 am she took my breathe away. :)

Her hair and makeup took a tad longer than expected so we had a bit of a late start and a kind of nervous Groom. I think she was worth the wait. She was so happy, scared and excited all at once. Her bridesmaids were all tearing up, it was wonderful to see that part of the big event.

These are the girls that stood up with her, they really were a big support to her. When they weren't sobbing. lol I'm just proud that 3 of them are mine. :)
Of course girls just want to have fun. They sure look like they do!

I was very glad and grateful the Jenille's Grandparents could attend. Her Grandmother had been very ill recently , but she was determined to make it to the wedding. It was wonderful that they could!!!!

I will have to share the cake pictures in another post, I don't know how many pics I can add in one post. LOL The cake cutting turned into a cake throwing event, it was pretty funny! (wink,wink)

As if I had nothing better to do........................My DD says what about wedding invitations? I'm like hunny it's a week before the wedding why do you need invites now?
Cause, Duh! (I should have never had a princess.)
So I made 40 invites today. Took me all day, but I guess it's not like I am doing anything else? Right. The dresses, the cake,the flowers, the arrangements are just going to do themselves. Like Magic. Where did I leave my wand, anyway?
I used my french script back ground stamp......I don't know what I will ever do without it. I use it all the time. I mourn it's loss from the catalogue.
I used Baroque Motifs and matched it to her theme which is baby blue and white. I think they are nice.
She looked in the box and after rooting through says "Are the Thank Yous here too?" I tell you straight to the moon is where I'd like to send her.
I would dearly love to stamp but....I am making dresses, sewing with my own 2 hands, making the wedding cake, (that should prove entertaining to say the least) and doing all the flowers and settings. Yes, I am nut's. Someone should come and save me from myself....Please. :)

In the haze that is my life, I found a chance to stamp this week.
I have been to the soccer field everynight this week. The Hospital (son demo'd a toe), the bridal shop and countless hours of shopping for this and that. I have found out weddings are not that fun. I will just be grateful to breathe a huge sigh of relief on July 1st. Yeah right. Then the newly weds move in with us. Sounds fun, sure it does.

But I was able to find a couple of minutes to try and use my new rubbah.......this set is called Baroque Motifs, although I call it Broke Motifs cause my mojo isn't working. Maybe because i can't stop my head from spinning. LOL

For this card I used wild wasabi. I love the new in colours. I only got the 12x12's to start. I wish I had gotten the solid colours instead, oh well, it's almost July. I really love these new colours they are so awesome. I will use them more than the colours we had last year. I also used the new baroque designer papers with this. They are beautiful as well. I plan to use them for scrapbooking. I am still not in a groove with this set, but hope it will come.

This is the same layout just a different usage. This colour is River Rock. It is beautiful and just begs to be distressed. (really it does)

I will continue to work with this set I am just waiting for a giant act of MOJO to happen. Maybe if I call it...... it will come. :)

Enough already with the cold. Somebody should tell the weather that it is the middle of June. I took Laura on a field trip yesterday and it was so cold, I am talking mitten cold. LOL What was the first thing they did with the kids? The pool of course.

Here were our 8, little grades ones in the pool, turning blue and teeth chattering but having a great time. (Laura could only dip in her legs as we don't have the Doctor's ok to get her back wet)

We went to Yogi Bear's camp ground. They had a great little program for us to do, except it was a bit too much for Laura. (Being only a week post op) We came home early but we still had fun.

This is Laura and I together, a kindly stranger offered to take our picture. :)

Laura's favorite part was the swings. I had to laugh she was so cold, one of the other Mom's got a blanket for her. I don't think she was too warm for quite awhile.

She also enjoyed this play structure, it was good, cause she could still play with the others, but sit quietly as well. Yesterday was a long day for her, but she had fun!

I did something totally strange today......I stamped.

I have been so busy trying to catch up on things since my youngest DD had her surgery, and my oldest DD is getting married at the end of June..(and moving back home but that is a whole other story)

I started with the SCS sketch and colour challenges and went from there. I am very sorry to see this set go. I really love it and it is so not my usual set.

I am so in love with these colours too!!!!! Maybe this will be my new fave's. Well until my order comes on Friday!!! (Dances with Joy!)

I really needed the break from all the stuff occupying my mind. Apparently I need to clear my mind more because it took me 2 hours to make 1 card. Oh, well at least I am happy with it!

Happy mail day to me!

I got some wonderful mail today....... a couple of Birthday raks from some wonderful people over at SCS. These cards really made my day!

I got this wonderful card from Sarah aka seattlestamper on SCS. I love it!!! Many thanks for brightening my day!

This sweet card came from Shannon aka E3stamper on SCS. This is just the cutest card. The frog is cut out and popped on top of the mushroom. Another great reason to smile. :)

A sad confession is ......I have this set and I have never even mounted it. Now it is being retired and I've fallen in love with it all over again. Silly me.