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.

This is for the colour challenge on SCS, the colours were Cool Caribbean, Chocolate Chip and Garden Green. I had seen this layout on Alli's blog and loved it. The sketch challenge this week was similar as well and that was all I needed to make this card.
I was really happy with how it turned out. I used Botanicals, still one of my all time favorite sets. I also used my cuttlebug to cut the ribbon slider. I really like this layout and hope to use it more. ( If I can find the time to stamp.)

This is a card I did for my VSN SS (secret sister) . I really liked this layout it was a sketch challenge from SCS. This is one of my fave colour combo's too! Perfect Plum and Pale Plum. My SS said her fave set was delight in Life so that is what I used. (Thoughtful, Hunh!)
I used the cracked glass tech, but before the glaze I ep'd first with iridescent ice. It is so super sparkly.
I love cracked glass, it is so much fun to do!!!! I had a lot of fun with secret sister's this time around although it was pretty short on time. VSN is great for meeting new people.

I am so excited.......... My friend Kristin has a line of art stamps that can be purchased here...http://www.starvingartistamps.com/.
Here images are so cool, and I am so proud of her for being able to go out and persue her dreams. You can see her images here http://starvingartistamps.com/artful_inkables_blossoms_and_petals_1.html
http://starvingartistamps.com/artful_inkables_bugs_1.html
http://starvingartistamps.com/artful_inkables_plants_1.html

This is a link to her awesome blog.......http://www.artfullyinking.blogspot.com/

I am waiting to pick up some stuff because I know she has some more amazing stuff coming out in a couple of weeks. Her pond friends are so cute, just sayin'. So go and check out Kristin's stamps and share the dream. :)

I am going to share some more VSN cards. Even if you didn't participate, you could still try some of the challenges to jumpstart your mojo. (come on it happens to all of us.) Here is the link to all the fun challenges: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=250174

The card above was you had to make a flower out of stamps or supplies that were not part of a flower. I used my large oval punch and built the flower from those pieces. I then stitched around it to make it stand out. It was a fun challenge and a quick card to make.

For this card you needed to make the sentiment take center stage. I love this sentiment and this is such a great version of it. My friend Teresa sent it to me. :) I am pleased with how this card came together.
I really like this card. The challenge was to use a pocket on your card. So I had these little brown paper bags with tags in them and I prettied them up with a prima. The verse on the tag talks about beauty so I thought it went well with the outside.

I really enjoy VSN, but what I don't enjoy is picking the winners. It was very hard this time. Everyone's cards were super!

My challenge for VSN was Mulberry Batik. It is alot of fun! I had to keep it secret and alot of my friends were doing the technique but i couldn't share what i had done. But now I can. :)

I like using the SU! wheels (bold) for this technique. I also like the fact that if you don't have mulberry paper you can use a coffee filter. Now that I have finished looking at everybodies entries i have learned some cool new stuff.........check it out here--------} http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/showgallery.php?mcats=all&si=MAY07VSNL&what=allfields&name=&when=&whenterm=&condition=and

I really enjoy this technique as much as my iron enjoys being used once in a while.

This one was made with a coffee filter and another SU! wheel. The butterfly stamp is part of a huge fancy pants set that I adore. http://www.fancypantsdesigns.com/aprodstamps.html

The butterfly is from the Bella Brush set. I have the pollen dust set too! I heart them alot!

If you are interested in giving this a try here is a great tutorial from SCS http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/mulberrybatik.php

It is a really fun technique, hope you give it a go.

There's no place like SCS......it's VSN time!

I love VSN, again this time I have the pleasure of being a challenge hostess. Mine isn't til tonight at 5 pm Eastern time. Last night I was able to participate a little. I was too tired from a too early wakening. :) Anyway I managed to squeak out a card or two. I will share this one with you.

The card stock is ruby red, old olive and creamy caramel. I used round stickers and a bit of bling and voila!

Check back for my other VSN cards.....coming soon.

I made a decision today................. I stepped on the scale, and could not believe the number looking back at me. No wonder I don't feel great. So I made myself a weight loss journal to use to motivate me as I go.
I used new papers by Tres Jolie. (They are so pretty) I used one of my new flourish stamps from Fancy Pants designs. I don't know what the set is called because it was mislabeled.
I played with all my new toys today because I also pulled out my Rub-On Magic from K&Company. Ummmmm Glitter!!!
But my favorite part is my Bohemia embossed chip boards. I LOVE these!!!!!!! I Took the letter L, cause it is my initial and this is my book. I inked it with very vanilla craft ink, dried it, inked it with Taken with Teal, craft ink then dried it again. Sanded it, then inked it with Only Orange craft ink. Dried it again. Dipped it in versamark and gave it 3 coats of glassy glaze. I love it, if I do say so myself. Popped on a Prima, a button and some ribbon and called it done.
I so love how it turned out, I am looking forward to starting this journey........

It is my neice's birthday at the end of the week, I have surprised myself by actually having a card ready to mail to her. This is a hostess set that I have not used before this past weekend.

But I discovered I actually like it! I used pale plum and perfect plum with plain white. I ran a piece through the cuttlebug......mainly because it was getting lonely. Also because I love it!

After stamping and dipping my piece in versamark, I first ep'd it with dazzling diamonds. I then applied 3 coats of glassy glaze on top, popped it in the freezer and with a quick snap had some cracked glass.

It is very glittery. I like it very much.........so much that i made another 3 cards with the technique. I can't show one because it is for my Secret Sister. (But it is the nicest one) I can post it after VSN.

This kind of reminded me of a bridal dress, I have no wedding sets, so to speak, that I tried this one out. Since my DD is determined to be married this summer I figured i should maybe start playing with some ideas. Heaven help me.....LOL

Since it's spring, and spring means flowers.......I want to share my favorite flower with you............Lily!

Such a sweet flowers she is.....when I was back to Ontario to see my Dad, i got to spend time with my great neice Lily. What a doll. The kid never sits still, well unless cake is involved. But I did manage to capture a few adorable pictures of her.

This was done using coasters, and the amazing new papers called Tres Joilie, they also have amazing little sticky trims. Makes doing these coaster frames a breeze. I used close to cocoa craft ink to do the edges and of course primas. (Lily is extremely Prima worthy)

In fact I love the papers and her so much I did two coaster frames, ( Did I mention I have coasters? Only 2500 of them.) I feel a coaster share coming on.....LOL

I just love these papers and trims, they also have buttons..............I am seriously a hoarder who may in fact need professional help. Nah just joking.

I am scraping some pictures of Lily so i'm sure they will pop up again soon. I love them when you can spoil them and send them back. :)

And the winners are........drum roll please.
goody1woody@yahoo.com
di_ane@blueyonder.co.uk
and from the comments section
Gina wrona

Please send me your snail mail address and I will get a prize out to you. ( I did 3 winners to keep the peace, all the kids wanted to pick a winner.) The prizes will be the same items, the stamp and ribbon will be different for each prize. I hope you enjoy your candy!

Thanks so much for playing in my blog candy contest. I am pleased to say my blog has had it's 10,000 hit so there will be more candy soon. :)

It's finally here......................the moment you have all been waiting for! It's time for some crackalackin' Blog Candy.

It's easy to play , and fun to win! ( You know you want it!) You can also get 2 chances to win, if you are already signed up to my blog I will draw one winner from that list. I know who you are!

I will also draw one name from , my blog comments. So even if you subscribe you can leave a comment and double your chances at winning this.......................................................... All you need to do is tell me your favorite quote, simple right? Include who the quote is by, if your quote inspires me to use it on a card, you'll get a surprise too! So it's fun, fun, fun. The contest will run from today til April 27th. ( that's next Friday)

So let's get quoting!

Someday's it's just a good mail day!!!!!! I had a great mail day, something other than bills or bad news.

I got my new ribbon from Jody's Ribbon Share. If you don't know about it, check it out! (There is more to life than primas.......it's called ribbon!) http://confessionsofaribbonaddict.blogspot.com/

I got beautiful polka dotted ribbons, the colours are so yummy! The May Arts ribbons are wonderful too! I already had a small sample of these beautiful ribbons now I have more. :) ( The velvet is particularly beautiful)

Isn't it sweet of Jody to share like this! Now where to store it. Jody is a wonderfully gifted artist and a world class Enabler. ( But that is what makes her so much fun!)

I also got an amzing package from my friend Alli! It really cheered me up. I love sending things off in the mail, but it is really fun to get something back. Thanks so much Alli you really made my day!

I just love this pocket card, I mean how cute is that? I can't wait to play with my foam stamps she sent, as well as the chocolate box. The chocolates are gone but the box is so pretty and I am going to use it as card inspiration. Look for that later this week!

Hope it is another good mail day today!

Well, some of you might have been wondering what I was doing, and where I was off too? Even if you weren't i am going to tell you now. We were off to our adventure in the big city. Yes, us rural country folk, don't get up the big city too often. We went ot Toronto, Ontario for The one of a Kind Show. Wow, I have never seen so many people in one place, and everybody was dressed so well. Hmmm except poor little country me. But I soon caught on and with a little makeup and a funky new hair style, I could almost pass for one of them. LOL

My DH makes Native American style flutes. They are beautiful handcrafted, concert tuned flutes. ( I'm not just saying that, they really are) We had a wonderful responce to the flutes and I got a little time to roam and see what other venders had to offer. Everything in the show has to be made by the vender so we got to see some awesome things. ( I am going to share a few of my faves over the next couple of days.) It was really cool to meet others from Nova Scotia as well. We really met some cool people.The One of a Kind Show also does a Christmas show which runs from November 22 to Dec 2nd. So we are getting geared up to do that too! The flutes seem to to be a popular item.
We dropped by Mike's old school as well. Appleby College is where he spent his high school years. When he found out they were tearing down the old dining room to make room for a newer one. He asked if he could get some wood to make flutes for the school as a fund raiser. We brought home with us a way cool chunk of oak table to make the flutes from. We can get more in the summer when we go back. It was a very cool trip. But I must admit with show hours and trying to peek in at some stamp stores.......we are pretty tired. But home again. :)

Happy Easter! I hope everybody has had a great weekend with family and friends. We are just spending a quiet weekend with the kids. They missed us while we were gone. (Who'd have guessed that?) Now we just have a group of clingons. LOL

This card is done using my favorite technique. I never get tired of this one. I find it fun. This was also a challenge for VSN. I didn't play last time, i was trying to get ready to leave and wrangling the kids at the same time. Not an easy task, I might add.
I used glossy card stock and ep'd the images with clear. Then I just sponged the colour overtop. Simple and pretty. The little bunny stamp is so cute......he is holding a flower so I just popped a little prima on the end of the stem. These primas are so cute they come in a little flat tin, they only have a couple of flowers in them but they only cost a couple of bucks and, well, they are Primas after all!

I'm BACK!!!!!!!!
Look for blog candy, and a coaster share.........coming soon.

Happy Easter!

This is another emboss resist card i did! I love this technique. I love how the daisy looks with the glue dot and glitter beads. Very cute and springy. I want to work more with the doodle this set.
This is my attempt at the sketch challenge on SCS this week. It is not exact to the sketch, but I am liking it more. I think the pretty primas, might have something to do with it. I am still trying to figure out Carte Postale, I might someday too! The bottom layer is cuttlebugged. I tell you the cuttlebug is the best tool ever. I love mine. I wish i could play with it more.

I like this card.......it is a bit busy. I used the polka dot paper by SU! Then I ran it through the cuttlebug. The rest is self explanitory. I think I would maybe change the polka dot ribbon if I did this again.

My DH said there were just too many polka dots. He could be right?

This was a fun card to do. I sat down the other day and just made embellishments. So i would have them ready to use and not have to wait for stikles to dry. I need instant gratification. :)

So for the flowers, I used circles stamped with snap stamps and covered them with crystal effects. I am really into regal rose and rose red, so I used them again, with some new spring mini sets. I randomly coloured in some circles with a white gel pen. Fast and simple card.

I love this emboss resist tech. It is so limitless to colours and stamps that you can use. Here I used chocolate chip, rose red and bashful blue. I finished it off with a cool chocolate prima and cute polka dotted brad. Love these colors together.

Woot! I stamped today. I actually stamped, I didn't just sit there looking at my stuff! lol The WT challenge today was to use glossy paper. I love glossy paper. (really, really)

There is so much you can do with glossy paper................. Like this!

This technique is so cool, and I discovered it by accident. But I love the results. It has shimmer and texture, that the scanner just doesn't pick up. But I will tell you how to do it.

You take your glossy card stock and cut it to card front size. I then sponge Lumiere on it and let it dry. You can sponge as much or as little of the Lumiere as you'd like. Then you sprinkle, detail black ep on it. It does not need versa mark. At least I've never used it with this. The ep just seems to stick to the Lumiere and glossy card stock. I then heat it with my trusty heat gun. You can press the warm sheet into your tray or the ep on your work area and emboss again until you get the look you want. This works with clear ep and I bet it would be smashing with the pearlized ep's too! I then stamped the flower stamp with white craft ink on black.....distressed away and had a cool card.

This is also Lumiere on glossy card stock. But I brayed certainly celery ink over it and wiped it off. The image is stamped with black stazon and then painted in with inks and an aquapainter. This takes quite awhile to dry, but the effort is well worth it. I distressed all the edges, I guess i must feel distressed. Added some primas with bling and said "I like this!"

This is a background made with alcohol inks. I love alcohol inks, it's a good thing they go so well with glossy paper, just like cookies and milk. :) I stamped right on the back ground with the doodle this set and embossed it with detail black ep. I cut one oval from glossy paper and stamped on it with versamark and ep'd it too. Then I sponged orchid and olive over top of it. Put it on another oval and drew in the little black spots!

I made more cards than this.......but you will have to wait to see them. You need a reason to come back........

What is a Pirates favorite letter?

Well, RRRRRRRRRRRR of course. (bad joke I know)

Since it seems that I have pirates on the brain, I will share my cards from tonight. What makes them relate to pirates, you may ask? Well it's the ink I used, I used the Castaway ink pad on these cards. I mean who wouldn't want to be castaway with Captain Jack, even when the rum is gone!!!

This card is made using , Regal Rose, Rose Red, Close to Cocoa and Very Vanilla. I used castaway ink on the wheel and proceeded to wheel onto the rose red. You let the paper sit for about 5 minutes ( I am not patient so , lets just say it doesn't take exactly 5 minutes.) then you iron it on cotton setting and voila your paper changes colour. Very similar to bleach, but with out the fumes and with a much better result. IMO. I used my tag corner punch and put little bling into the corners. This was quick and easy but not really what I was going for.

Again with the same color scheme, these are my favourite pinks. I love how the flower turned out on this one. Very simple but hopefully has a bit of impact.

This card is done using the SCS colour Challenge for this week. Really Rust, Morning Marigold and Brocade Blue. I used the French Flair BG stamp from Stampin up and the castaway pad. I also like to rip paper and since a layout was not really coming easy I ripped and stamped the edge pieces. I didn't want to cover up the pretty French Flair. ( That is a problem with this stamp. lol)

I really like my castaway pad, I have been wanting one for along time. I got mine here.....http://www.franticstamper.com/

It is unique to the paper, on certainly Celery it changed to a pale pink, on Lovely Lilac it changed to a really pretty pale blue, on Close to Cocoa it took on a nice warm Vanilla colour. I can't wait to try it with other colours. I will never need bleach again. Yippee!

Are you a Pirate? I am.................................check out the cool Pirates trailer at the bottom of my blog. You could be a Pirate too!

Well, it's Monday again. I feel Mondays need a little perk up. Nothing perks me up more than a motivational quote. So I was going to share this site with everybody.....http://www.free-great-quotes.com/

As I was looking around this site I found another really cool site to add to your blog, it gives you a quote and it updates everyday. How cool is that? You can find it here http://www.brainyquote.com/link/google.html
See samples right over there------------->------------------>

Get inspired or motivated by reading some great quotes. Then use them in stamping or scrapbooking. (I dare you) :)

No, I didn't win the lottery. ( But it looks like I did) :) I had to go up to the city for some Doctors appointments. The plus side of this is I get to go to Micheal's and Photo Memories and on the way home my dear, dear husband stopped at Two Much Fun as well.

This is just a portion of the loot I got. I found my bank card and well there was more money there than I thought. Can't have that now, can we? Certainly not.

I think the cashier at Micheal's thought I was a loony. She kept asking me if I had enough ribbon? Heck No! But I was trying to behave, well a little. LOL I have in the picture a jar full of the ribbons on spools. How cute are they? Better yet they were on sale.

My DH surprised me a few weeks ago and brought me home a grommet setter. (and some beautiful Primas that will forever be in the vault) So now I have this wonderful grommet setter and .......no grommets. (But I do now) :)

I also got some cuttlebug stuff, which I am dieing to use. I am doing a swap with my chatter friends and these scrap pages are just not coming together the way I would like them too.

I am busy right now, trying to get ready to go away.......10 days alone with my hubby! I can't wait...... he is doing The One of a Kind show in Toronto. This is his website www.northmountainflutes.com He makes beautiful wooden flutes in the Native American style. The flutes he has made for this show are so awe inspiring. (I'm not proud of him! much)

Well, now that I have shared this peek at my mad shopping escapade, I should go do something with it to show you!

I actually stamped today........I can't believe it.

I hurt myself cleaning yesterday, (really I did) and my muscles are sore so I am taking it easy today. So today I thought I would stamp for a little bit.

Since Bella was sitting on my desk she seemed like a logical choice. I stamped her in chocolate chip on Whisper White and colored her in with ink and an aquapainter. I used my new Doodle that stamp set by Stampin' Up! I am happy with how this turned out. I cuttlebugged the background. It is hard to see in the scan. I need to replace my camera, I am hoping to find something on sale. I think I would like to take photos's of the cards it makes them look nicer.

I am happy with a card until I scan it, then it always looks better in real life. Oh well, hopefully I will have a camera soon. :)

What color is Happy?

I think all Primas are Happy coloured!

These were the Primas i got from Jody's prima share.......... the box was small and light but it was packed with wonderful primas. Some of these colors make me smile just looking at them....now the task at hand is to use them. (yes, I will use them....but slowly) :)

Now what to do with all these lovelies, I just can't have them lying around in little plastic baggies, they won't be able to breathe. I found my storage solutions in two different places the grocery store and the hardware store.

I got this spice rack on Clarence at the grocery store. ( I knew I should have bought more than one) This holds all my Daisey flowers, it holds 16 bottles. I love to just watch it spin......I know easily amused.

I was able to buy the whole display for this so I could hang it on the wall. These are little hardware containers. They clip to your work belt and were meant to hold screws or nails. They have a nifty pop top. They are somewhat see through so that I can see what's in side. I am going to pretty up the display so it looks more crafty!

This is just a close up of the cases. I want to see if I can get more of the spice racks. What didn't fit in these storage containers, I bought some glass jars at the dollar store to hold the rest of the flowers. But the rack takes up less room and I need to conserve space.

I can't wait too use these. :0