Today is Tuesday........well I think it is. LOL I have had my kids home ill and can hardly wait to get them back to school.

But Tuesday means colour challenge day over on SCS. I haven't done the challenges for a couple of week's, stamping and children underfoot, do not go well together. (Who'd have guessed?)

The colours today were Certainly Celery , Cool Caribbean and Elegant Eggplant. These are so pretty together, I decided to have a go at it.

Here is what I put together in these colours, hoping to use this a few more times. I was trying out my new spring Set's.

I really like this new alphabet........I hated mounting mind you, but I think it will be seeing a fair bit of use. I love the new doodle sets, but I am still somewhat unsure what to do with them. My table is covered with pieces that I couldn't put together. lol

But I am not going to give up.

For this card, I ran the background piece through the cuttlebug, then punched out the hole for the sentiment. I have some ribbon that matches so well that I had to use it! ( well a little bit of it anyway!) I stamped the main image and ran my aqua painter around the edges. I like how it turned out....but the paper still looked too white, so I used the DTP method and gave it some hope.

Very simple, but that is how my brain is working right now. :)

Is it spring yet? She asks hopefully... well I can hope can't I? It has been too much WINTER here. So many snow days in the last few weeks and cold, you bet ya!



So I have been wanting to try the coaster boxes that were shown on SCS in a Tutorial by Taylor aka Taylored Expressions. But I did mine with a bit of a twist. I love flowers, of all kinds real or silk or rubber for that matter. I got my new spring mini stuff and the new paper is yummy to say the least.



I took the pink polka dotted paper and covered 4 coasters with my handy UHU Twist and glue. Then measured out 2 holes and punched them with my cropidile. (I LOVE IT!)

Tied it together with my sheer white dotted ribbon and stuffed it full of flowers. This is so cute for Easter add some egg's, a shower or a new baby present. :)



I used my cuttlebug to punch the flower on the front out of a coaster, smooshed it into Pretty in Pink ink and then smooshed it again in versamark and clear ep'd it, a couple of times....very shiny!

It makes me happy just to see those bright Happy flowers!!!!!

What is Green and Purple and covered in Glitter?


A tinkabella, of course. As soon as I saw this sweet thing.....I knew I had to have her. What can I say? The little bit of cash I had was burning a huge hole in my pocket. I figured I needed a few new things for spring. So as I said, I got a cuttlebug and then I moved on to Bella's. There was a Bella swap I wanted to join so of course I needed them. (Really I needed them!) :)

So tonight, DH took the children to the MIL's house and I got left alone to stamp. I didn't get much done, the kids had kind of trashed my stamping room. I can't wait to move the computer out.....but that is another story. I will be reinventing my stamping area come March first, when my DH moves his wood working shop and I take over his space too! Mwahahahahhahahaha, pictures in March. (It's not that long of a wait)
So here she is........

I stamped her in black, then colored her in with sparkle chalks.......wasn't sparkly enough so I dipped the whole thing in Versamark and covered with stardust ep. She twinkles now, covered in fairy dust! I gave her green skin, cause faeries are green. A little known fact! I did her clothes in purple cause it goes so well with green.

I cuttlebugged the background with swirls, added a prima with a big crystal brad. It's very simple, but I can't expect much I have either had the kids home most of the last two weeks, with either PA days, snow days or sick days. I am lucky I can put together a sentence.

I am hoping to be able to stamp some more tomorrow, but ........wait the little one has another day off. Hopefully I can get away with watching Flushed Away with her while I cut my new Spring Mini rubbah! Right this minute...it's great to be me!

I got some good mail today! I got some beautiful swaps in the mail . I apologise to those of you that got my card. I am blown away by the talent of the artists, of the cards I received in return.

I have been hanging around a new site, ink-stains.com http://ink-stains.com/

I like it cause there are a lot of Nova Scotians on it and it is a nice small site. With a ton of talent , I might add. So i decided to do a swap, 5 for 5. The theme was Love, not necessarily Valentines Day.

This is a card by Kim. I adore the style and the sentiment. This is just so pretty!

I love the colours and patterns of this card by Beth. So sweet!

This one is so pretty....By Diane. The heart is on really shiny gold paper. It just sets it off beautifully. ( I feel so blessed)

This is just stunning too. Not only the image but the glitter bits and the silver wire. Very lovely. This card is by Bonnie.

This card is just so sweet.....if I didn't love Bella already, I would now. I really like this card, I love the edges and the glitter. A very cute and girly Love card.
This card is by, Carol.
Thanks so much to all who participated in this swap and to Kim for hosting it.
I also won a contest on Kim's Blog and in my package were some Primas and 2 very pretty rubber stamps. Which I will be using tonight. :)

I am BUGGED!
It's small and it's green...... and I am totally smitten with it!
You betcha, I succumbed to Cuttlebugitis. If there is a cure , I sure don't want it. I do think I was somewhat delirious when I bought it......and downright giddy with delight! I bought my Christmas present, my DH and i didn't exchange gifts at Christmas. So we bought our gifts this week. He got a hopped up, super powered Dremel and I got a delightful bug.

The only problem was.......the only store's that had Cuttlebug stuff were pretty much picked over. So I only got the Happy Birthday embossing folder and the flower dies. I have other stuff on order but I will play with what I got. I am soooooooo excited. Here is my first card using my bug.

I also used my Cricut for this card. I cut the cupcake from chocolate Bazzill paper, the wrapper is Basic Grey Blush paper and the icing is Pretty in Pink. I dipped the icing in versamark then covered it with stardust ep. I topped it off with a prima what can be more Happy than that?

I can't wait til I have more folders but I am thrilled so far......maybe it's just the romance of February, but I don't think this love affair will end. :) (Don't tell my DH, it's a secret!)

I Love Stuff! I Can't get enough Stuff! My DH says I have way too much Stuff. But......... I can't live without my stuff. So since I had the opportunity to go up to the big City of Halifax on Tuesday! I got more stuff, ribbon to be exact.

Isn't it pretty? I saw it at Micheal's and an audible gasp escaped my lips. My son thought I was having a spaz attack. Maybe i was....I ohhhhhhh'd and ahhhhhh'd over the ribbon whilst popping it into my cart. I could have bought more, I should have bought more, but this will need to be hoarded until the next trip to the big city. Just looking at it makes me Happy! :)

Well, it was a crazy, VSN weekend. Due to the number of entries, I think it was a great success!
Winners are announced tonight at 9 eastern time. I know my kids are waiting to see if they won any of the kids challenges. Only time will tell now!

This was done for my friend, Jen's challenge. It was encaustic art. (Her blog is too the side bar, let me warn you now...she's crazy) Now, it seems I had a problem with following directions on the weekend and was a victim of procrastination........so i really didn't do this right. but I am happy with the results.
Jen is excellent at using melted wax and the tip of an iron to make these fantastic scene's. Well she thinks that she is short when it comes to patience. That was too much for me, so i just melted and smooshed. I like melting things. I think the Crayola's shake a little when I walk by. :)
So i may not have done it right. But I love what i did!

I am really wanting to do this technique again soon.

It's no secret that I am a Harry Potter Fan. My sorting hat can tell you that! I jumped at the chance to use these stamps to do my friend Sharon's challenge.(Sharon's blog is on the side too, but she is sane!) It was make a magic themed or magical card. This was so much fun! I used a simple color scheme and glitter. I was really pleased with how this one turned out! Remember Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is out July 21st/07.

This last card...the challenge was to make chipboard buttons. I covered mine in Basic Grey's Blush paper. I love these papers. The card just makes me feel happy. I need to get me some more or the organza ribbon though.

I had an amazing time with VSN. Being a coordinator was the best especially when you have a great team to work with. I can't wait for the next VSN and hope that I can be a hostess this time around!

VSN, Rocks the House! Or at least it, it looks like an earthquake struck. We had little stampers going and then I even got to make 2 cards last night. I will go back and do some challenges later in the week. The coordinators last night did a rockin' job. I only hope I can do as well tonight.

If you are interested in VSN, check out this link!http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=202449

There is still time to play, uploading is finished Sunday February 4th at 3 pm eastern time.

This card was for a challenge by Flaxychick, it was to do a pearlex technique and use glitter. So I did the heated pearls technique, this is so pretty, although the scan was pretty good at capturing it! This is easy and stunning..........Take your stamp I love using it with BG stamps. Ink it up with versamark. Then stamp on your card stock. Cover with clear ep and heat set. Take a soft brush and apply your pearl ex on top of the clear ep and heat set again. Wipe with a swiffer cloth and you are good to go. (I used 2 colours here, pink and turquoise) The Flower is stamped in turquoise and then covered in Versamark and ep was added and heat set. I accidentally spilled my Iridescent Ice ep last VSN so my jar was empty....but being crafty or maybe clever, I made my own using clear ep and dazzling diamonds glitter. Very cool, I like this card. (I really don't like using tags, they always seem out of place to me but I am hoping that I will get the hang of it)

This card is for a challenge by PattyB, it was a feisty old broad challenge. Although I totally messed up because you were supposed to use purple, purple and more purple.....oop's. I used a little purple and this fun Dolly Mama stamp, with one of my all time favorite phrases, "Put on your big girl panties and deal with it!" Way fun. She is stamped on watercolour paper and embossed with detail black ep then water coloured in. I used the Iridescent Ice ep on this as well. It was a great night of VSN even if I only got 2 challenges done. Hope to see everybody at VSN soon.

Tonight was VSN on splitcoast! I am a coordinator so I really can't take part.....mostly due to time. Tonight the time was taken up, helping my 3 youngest make and upload cards. The card above is by Charlotte my 11 year old. They love using the alcohol inks, what a great medium for kids. The only thing I did was the cutting. I am proud of their work!
This card is by Laura the 7 year old. She loves red. (could you tell?) It was so fun watching her pound the alcohol ink into the paper. She made a lot of noise. LOL She choose and did all the elements for the card. I heat embossed and cut the paper. I think she did a great job. She also wrote on the inside to: Samuel. Who is this boy who has stolen her heart?
This card is by my 12 year old Andrew. He was so excited to participate.....first he said he wasn't going too then the vision of alcohol inks ran through his head and he was happily stamping away.

I just wish I had 3 pairs of hands everybody wanted me at the same time. After they were done and uploaded they left me alone to finish up. I have only done one card so far but I'm happy with it! I will upload it tomorrow!

Thanks for viewing my kids art, they would be thrilled if you left a comment! Thanks :)

Ok, here is my question. Have you ever bought a set that you would seriously die without, then get it home and want to chuck it in the bin?
I have, I have found my nemesis, it is called carte postale. I seriously had to have this, I was going to make the most wonderful things with it. So far that has not happened.
So I needed to finish my swaps. It is a small local swap, I only had to make 5 cards. This is a whole weekends work. (sad I know) But it is all I could come up with. I love the matching papers but they all have flourishes and things on them which make them hard to make a card with or in this case 5 matching cards.
I do think this card is pretty, but it is also rather plain and simple. I hope it will be a good swap card, but then what is the worst that can happen.........be banned from swapping?

I would have maybe done more but with VSN closing in and my homework piling up. I need to move on to other things. I will be posting more about VSN so stay tuned.

Is this to hard for a new stamper?

I need to make some cards for a class I am teaching.

They need to be super simple for the first time stamper. I was having a lot of trouble with this, cause I want to put on embellishments and stuff. So are these too easy or too hard?


I want to be able to give first time stamper's a non frustrating class. Most classes people have at least put ink to paper. I always worry, probably too much about whether the cards are good enough. So I guess it is up to the store (where I am teaching) whether or not she likes these.

Brocade blue, Burgandy and Navy, Oh My!

The color challenge this week on SCS was Bravo Burgundy, Night of Navy and Brocade Blue. Confession: I have never used Brocade blue before. I'm not sure why, cause it is a pretty blue. Needless to say the old ink pad was pretty dry. I shall try to use it more.


The other challenge from today was to use backgrounds so I got out the 2 jumbo wheels that match the simply said set by SU!


I seem to be in a paper tearing mood, I think having 5 kids will do that, besides it saves my hair. LOL


I do like how this card turned out, I water colored with the reinker too.

Now I really like how this one turned out. I have not used this set enough. I happened to find it as I was searching for something else. Not sure what I was looking for now. This set replaced it! :)

I stamped print pattern on a brocade blue card, using the same colored ink. Then I wheeled over it in Navy. That navy piece just kind of fell on the card so I went with it. Besides it looked good. So i pierced it and faux sewed it. Slapped some ribbon on it and called it done.

I also love my little ticket punch and don't know what I did with out it.

My mojo came back for a short period today. I am having a harder time with my simple valentines.........I will post that tomorrow!

Today is Wednesday!!!!! It's actually my favorite day of the week. Mostly because of the sketch challenge on SCS. Today is no exception. I think it is a cute sketch. Maybe not the best card, but a cute sketch, none the less. LOL
I got a ticket corner punch and love it!!! It is much easier than trying to line up the corners with the round punch. I love this color combo for this time of year. It's one of my very fave, color combo's.
After VSN, I think I will come back to this sketch and give it another go round. :)

Well, I have been at it again!

Messing with my water colour's that is!
I made this card using the watercolour resist technique. I stamped the main image using versa mark and then heat embossed in clear ep. I then water coloured using the pale plum and perfect plum crayons. When it was dry I over stamped the flower. Since I didn't use StazOn it didn't stay on. (well not very well) So i misted my water colur paper and using my aquapainter I used perfect plum reinker. I let it spread out around the flower image. I think it kind of looks like tie dye. I then stamped a simple sentiment and used my brand spankin' new ticket corner punch and finished it up with some pretty primas.
For this card, I coloured right on my stamp and then spritzed it with water and stamped it on damp water colour paper. I used ink on the sentiment and stamped it on the wet paper too. It bled a little. When it was dry I over stamped it. I really like how it turned out. Then I mounted it on a torn piece on a lime background. I Love lime and lilac together.
For this card I again stamped the image in versa mark and then used clear ep. I water coloured around the image. Again i stamped the sentiment on the wet paper and then over stamped it when it was dry. I ripped the watercolour paper and then mounted it on a ripped piece of perfect plum. I also used french script and print pattern on this card. I painted reinker along the edges of the print pattern to give it some wow. Added some ribbon and voila! I still don't have a workshop card but I have something to show the hostess!

I've been tagged!


A - Available or Taken: Taken
B - Best Friend: I don't have one.
C -Cake or Pie: cake
D - Drink of Choice: Diet Coke
E - Essential item you use everyday: My PC/stamps
F - Favorite Color: Green
G - Gummy Bears or Worms: bears
H - Hometown: Oakville, Ontario
I-Indulgence: Primas, lots of them!
J - January or February: February . . . my anniversary and 2 kids born in Feb.
K - Kids & Names: 5.....Jenille, Connor, Andrew, Charlotte and Laura
L - Life is incomplete without?: family, friends and stamping.
M - Marriage Date: February 2nd 1991
N - Number of Siblings: 2
O - Oranges or Apples: Apples
P - Phobias or Fears: crowds, drowning
Q - Fave Quote: " A heart that loves is always young" a greek proverb
R - Reason to Smile: My children (usually), being a Breast Cancer Survivor
S - Season: Autumn
T - Tag 3 or 4 People: Andi, Jen, and Caroline
Unknown fact about me: I am really, really shy and hate social situations
V - Vegetable you don't like: brussel sprouts
W - Worst Habit: not picking things up right away.
X-rays: everywhere
Y - Your Fave Food: chocolate, Turkey and stuffing, cream of wheat, oh and cinnamon buns.
Z - Zodiac Sign: Gemini

Tonight's topic, why do we love something, that shows us no love in return?

I am talking about my WCW (water colour wonder crayon's). I loved these little colourful gems so much when I bought them. I played with them for awhile, and then in a massive clean up,(it does not happen often) they got put away in a drawer and forgotten. Probably cause I had a nice shiny Cricut to play with.

Well this week on SCS the challenge was to use water colour paper. I had some, also in a drawer waiting to be used. Truth is I am scared of expensive paper, I mean, what if I screw up. It happens far to often for my liking. LOL

My other reason for playing with these items is i have been asked to demonstrate these for a workshop at the end of January.

Apparently, these crayons in an act of mutiny(along with the paper), have overthrown my mojo.

The card above is my favorite of the bunch so far, that's not saying much!

This card started off in the other direction, but it seriously needed something and I had no clue as to what to do for it. But as Jen says you can fix anything with a prima. So I consider it fixed!

What i found out with this card is that, SU Black ink is not waterproof on water colour paper. As soon as I started to colour it in the ink all ran too, making my image muddy. I was able to fix it up so that i was happier with it. I think the Basic Grey Blush paper can cover a multitude of sins. (wink)
For this tag, which really started out in my mind as a pocket card, then mutinied and became a tag. But it is not entirely awful. Again perhaps you can save anything with a prima. Also I used the cricut to cut out a tag in the Basic Grey Blush paper. Every little bit helps, right?

I made this card using the same beautiful paper from BOBunny, that I used in the purse and book below. I used the Heartthrob Stripe and i sanded it in spot's. Mounted it on a piece of Cool Caribbean paper and then onto a red card.
I ran the black gingham through my xyron machine and then used pop dots to adhere the primas to the ribbon.
It was fun to play with my Cricut again tonight, I cut the tag and the pocket with that machine. I love being able to create what you want in the size you want. I have a couple of cartridges that I am putting on my wish list.
This was a quick and simple card, but I think it's cute and fun too! The tag says "You mean the world to me" You have to love Michael's $1.50 stamps.

This is what I worked on over the weekend. It is another UHU project. I glued everything together using the twist and glue.

This is the cutest little purse by 7 Gypsies that I got at the LSS. It has a cute little chipboard accordion book that went with it. I also got a couple of sheets of new paper. It was too cute and I couldn't resist it. I mean really who can resist BOBunny, these papers are called a gift of love~Heartthrob Stripe and Forget Me Knots. They had cute dotted paper on the backs.

Plus the best thing...........matching ribbon. It is so cute!

I was making this as a Birthday Present for a friend. But it turned out so cute, I might just keep it. After all I used a hand painted silk Prima on the purse, That can't go to just anybody!

The pages were so much fun to do. I used my computer to type up sayings using different fonts and I printed them off in acetate and white card stock. I then used them to decorate my book. (well my friends book, maybe)
I used my cricut to cut the pocket and tags, I kept the colour scheme pretty simple. I really hope she likes it . I would like to get my hands on more of these, they are fun and such a cute gift idea. I think I am going to make a Alice in Wonderland one for my sister. :)

I got my free UHU samples in the mail last week. I was so excited and couldn't wait to use them. I am always a skeptical of glue not wrinkling paper and looking smooth after use. Well no more! This is the best glue I have ever used. I was impressed by how well it spread and it adhered paper to chip board, smoothly, cleanly and most of all easily. There was not a wrinkle or crease, it was so smooth. It cured quickly and I must say I am a UHU believer. So do you want to see what I made? LOL

I made this door hanger, using Bazill Chip Board pieces and Blush papers by Basic Grey. I adhered the paper to the chipboard using the twist and glue. It was amazing, but this glue works and it is smooth as glass after it is put together.

I then cut all the letters with my cricut from Bazill papers which match the blush so well. I glued them together as well.

I then added some ribbons, some primas and hung them from a ribbon.

This was a fast and fun project. I can't wait to use and continue to put to the test this glue.

Check out Maria's blog for more great projects. http://www.mariafilosa.com/

I love to do cracked glass technique. I hadn't done it in quite awhile so I decided to make a whole bunch of pieces. Then I could use some now and save some for later.
This is a very simple but very beautiful technique. You only need a couple of items, a versa mark pad, ultrathick clear embossing powder or regular you just need to do an extra coat or two, and a heat gun.
You stamp your image on card stock. Then put the whole image in the versa mark. Coat the versa mark with the ep and heat set. Sprinkle on more, heat and repeat til you get 3 coats on. It should be glossy and thick. Now, some people put it in the freezer for a few minutes and then crack it. But I just let it cool on my desk then i crack it. I think i get better cracks that way.
I really love this technique it's fast and fun and gives great looking results.
Do be mindful not to touch the hot ep. It burns really badly. (unfortunaly I know from experience.)

This card is also done with the cracked glass technique. The background is also fun to make. You versa mark your back ground stamp and then stamp on glossy card stock. Cover with clear ep and heat set. Then just sponge colour over top to make the back ground pop. Here I used regal rose and rose red. I also used some pretty ribbon. :)

This was a challenge card from SCS. We needed to use a stamp set that was our least favorite and staples. The back ground for this card was alcohol smoosh technique. I then stamped with black staz on. Again cracked glass technique but before I glazed it, I used glitter chalks to colour it in and give it some sparkle. I was very pleased with the result even though I thought why did I buy this set?

I am also into distressing all my edges. Maybe it's to relieve stress. That's my story and I am sticking to it!