Monday, December 31, 2007

Happy New Year, Everyone!

Wishing each and every one of you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2008. May the coming year be your best year EVER.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Naughty Santa





Right before our fire, I bought a grab bag of different stamps from Viva Las Vegas stamps....lucky for me, they didn't arrive until after the fire, so I didn't lose them all! I haven't had a chance to even look at most of them yet, but I did see this decorated palm tree, that I thought was excellent for Christmas greetings from Florida, along with the Santa peeking though the window of the card. But WAIT! there is more to Santa than meets the eye ;)

Had to think hard about who would most appreciate this card ~ and that person would have received it by now, so I guess it's ok to post. I think this is the cutest Santa card EVER!!

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Sunday, December 23, 2007

Christmas Cheer from Robyn


Wow, the first handcrafted Christmas card I have ever received ~ I'm thrilled! It came from my cyber-friend Robyn, and she did such a beautiful job, don't you think? I recognize the use of the cuttlebug on the embossing at the top. Robyn, if you are out there, how did you get the embossing only part of the CS? And how did you do the scallops the bottom? Is that the Cerise paper from SU? Sure hope you're willing to share your recipe ~ feel free to send a link to your blog :)

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Look What I Got!



My blogger buddy, Robin at The Pink Stamper organized a Christmas gift exchange and was gracious enough to allow me to participate. My package came from Melissa, and it contained all the awesome goodies in the picture. I'm so excited about it ~ it was like Melissa knew all my fave colors and exactly what my tastes are. What a great assortment of goodies.

Please check out Melissa's blog at What Do You (Th)Ink. She is so talented!

Make Merry


When I discovered a package of nice, thick, holly-printed CS at Big Lots, I just knew I had to have it to make this year's cards. It's printed on one side and plain on the other, so it's perfect!

Here's the end result. Designer paper is from a paper pack that contained paper for all seasons, tags are punched using SU's two tag punches, and I used my SU markers to color in the ornaments, with a small brass brad in the centre one. The dots on the holly are stickles ~ I used lace stickles, but would use red next time. Not sure the origin of the ribbon.

I tried to avoid any mention of Christmas specifically, so that this card could go to anyone, no matter which holiday they celebrate. What do you think ~ is it too "Christmas-y," or is if generic enough? I'd love to hear opinions!

Wednesday, December 5, 2007



We celebrates two Thanksgivings this year...and goodness knows, we have a lot to be thankful for :) This page was done after our 2nd Thanksgiving, celebrated in Florida. I used donated papers and ribbon (that matched perfectly), and a Stampin Up wheel to do the pattern on the bottom BG paper. The word "thanks" is from the Mini Monograms Cricut cartridge, and giving is from Opposites Attract.

Friday, November 30, 2007

So Grateful



Are you tired of seeing my thank you cards yet? I hope not. Here's one that I did for my hubby's union, who sent us some cheques to help us get back on our feet. Stamp sets used were Petal Prints (one of my all-time favourites) and Small Script. It's a pretty basic card, with the sentiment punched out using the Word Window punch, and two step stamping on the main flower.

Indeed, I am very grateful. A. First and foremost, we weren't home, and B. We have met some truly incredible people as a result of our tragedy, in person, online, and by mail. There are some incredibly generous and caring individuals out there. I still can't get over that people who don't know us at all would care about us...brings tears to my eyes every time I think of it.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Trick or Treat



As soon as I saw the Halloween LO on my friend (and Stampin Up Demo)Alesha's blog, I knew I had to CASE it and make it my own. Here's Alesha's LO :Spooktacular

Now, I don't have any of that wonderful SU patterned paper, nor do I have the same stamp sets, but I found a way to do something that worked really well nonetheless. I found the BG paper at JoAnn's, and knew right away it would be perfect. Added a strip of leftover patterned paper from another LO, and cut the scalloped circles with the MM cartridge on my Cricut. The "Trick or Treat" was a stencil that I bought at a used scrapbooking supplies sale, sponged with Whisper White craft ink, then embossed to really bring it out. On top of the circles are stickers I bought at the same sale, then I used Alesha's technique on the edges of the orange CS. I think it came out really nicely....do you?

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Thank You



I've received a few Stamping and Scrapbooking care packages, thanks to Alesha and Deborah, who posted info about my fire on their blogs, and to the people who have so generously sent me everything from ink to stamp sets, to embellies. Thank you all!

Wanted to use my new supplies to make thank you cards, so here's the result. Can't say too much about the supplies used, as they have been generously donated to me, but I am sure having fun using them.

My new Scrapbooking/Stamping group starts Wed., Nov. 14 at Sun n Fun. We meet from 930 - 1230, so if you're in the area and would like to join us, email me for info. We're a fun group of ladies (and one man, once) who meet to scrap 'n' gab once a week. We'd love to have you join us! No charge for the group; small charge for supplies if you choose not to bring your own.

Friday, November 9, 2007

Vellum Pocket Card with Designer Label accent



This is the last card I did before our fire.....just two days later our house burned down! It's also the last of the ones I had waiting to be posted, so I'll have to get busy now!

I'm starting my Scrapbooking/Stamping group at Sun n Fun this week, so hopefully I'll get to make some things and post them...first one is going to be a Halloween LO that I totally CASE'd from Alesha (see a link to her blog at the right).

The challenge I did here was to use a pocket on a card. Since I have the Pocket Fun set, it seemed almost like cheating, it was so easy to design. I stamped the pocket onto pale blue vellum with white craft ink, (then waited forever for it to dry), stamped the tag with white craft as well, and used my designer label punch to cut out the front of the card. Ribbon was colored with Old Olive marker, cardstock used was Bliss Blue and Mellow Moss.

Although you cant' see it in the photo, when the tag is inside the pocket, the Thank you shows through. Pretty and simple all at the same time. Thanks for looking!

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Altered Item Tutorial ~ Beaded Pens



OK, I know I was asked to do a tutorial on altered items a looooonnnng time ago, but finally I'm getting around to it. A few months ago, I went to a meeting where one of the make'n'takes was a beaded pen. They were so quick and easy to make, I have done quite a few since, mostly for birthday presents.

To make one of these pens, you will need the following supplies:

- pen with a smooth barrel (think dollar store, or Staples if you want something fancier)
- white address label that will fit around the barrel of the pen (I used 1" x 2 5/8" here)
- small stamps (I used the Little Pieces set)
- alphabet set (optional)
- 3 or more coordinating ink colors
- clear microbeads (Stampin Up has really nice ones; dollar store ones work also)
- double sided adhesive (ThermoWeb or dollar store wide adhesive tape)
- heat gun
- 6" piece of narrow coordinating ribbon (optional)

Here's what to do:



Begin by pouring your microbeads into a shallow container that is slightly longer than your pen. I used a covered plastic container here so that I could leave the microbeads in the container and not have to transfer them back and forth from the container they came in. This one is actually larger than I would have liked, but it's what I had on hand. Set the container aside for now.



Next, stamp your label while still attached to the backing material. I wanted bright colors to match my pen, so I used Yoyo Yellow, Gable Green, and Real Red. Then, I decided I wanted to personalize my pen, so I used Basic Black with an All Night Media 1/2' alphabet set that I picked up on clearance at Wal-Mart. (Note: I'm anti Wal-mart and only buy clearance items there as my own little form of protest. I figure I only shop there when they are losing money by selling things to me).



Wait a couple seconds for the ink to dry (doesn't take long), then remove your label from the backing and wrap it around the pen.



Next comes the hardest part of the whole process ~ and it's really not all that difficult! Cut your adhesive strip to fit completely around the pen barrel, covering your entire label. It's ok if it overlaps itself, but it must completely cover the label or you will end up with an area without beads. I'm using dollar store double-sided tape, so I had to cut two pieces and overlap. Once the adhesive is stuck in place, remove the protective paper from the other side of it, so you now have a sticky surface completely covering the stamped label. You're almost finished!


Heat the sticky surface with your heat gun. You don't want to completely melt the glue, just soften it up so that the beads will stick really well. About 20 seconds or less will do it.



Then, while the glue is still warm, quickly roll your pen in your container of microbeads. Try to resist the temptation to touch the beads with your fingers, as the oil from your skin will cause them not to stick as well on this and all future projects that you use them for. Once your pen is completely coated, set it aside for a few minutes to cool. This will set the beads.


Congratulations, you did it! If you are giving this pen as a gift, you might want to tie a small length of ribbon around the end, or just leave it as is ~ it looks great. Makes a perfect accompaniment to an altered calendar, notebook or clipboard. Although your first pen seems to take forever to do, you'll find that subsequent ones make up very, very quickly...great when you need just a little something to give someone.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Froggy Birthday



I'm so glad to be getting back into the swing of things! I joined a birthday card swap at SCS before the fire, so I figured I'd better get moving and not let the ladies down. Here's a card I made for Joanna, using punches.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Firefighters ~ Our Heroes



Here's the card I made to thank the firefighters who tried their best to save our home. Those guys (and gal) and truly heroes in our eyes...when I heard that our staircase was already destroyed when they arrived, and yet they tried to be sure no one was sleeping upstairs...when I heard they tried to rescue my photo albums...when they asked me what items were most valuable to me and tried (in vain) to locate them for me....when they apologized for not being able to save our home....when I heard they are volunteers who receive next to nothing in compensation for risking their lives for total strangers....I was (and still am) totally in awe.

Thanks to everyone who responded to my RAK request for the firefighters.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Guess where we are?

As though the fire weren't bad enough, we received notice from the campground we were at that they wanted us to move our trailer out by Nov. 30. Now bear in mind, the trailer we have there is a park model, with an add-a-room as big as the trailer itself....not designed to be moved! We consulted with an attorney, who threatened legal action against the campground, and we don't have to move the trailer, at least for now, but WE had to move, as the water was shut off and will remain so until the end of April. I still can't get over the total lack of compassion on the part of the owners....when I thought they were coming to offer their condolences, they were in fact telling us to get out!

So where are we now? Well, we spent the last two winters in Sarasota, FL, so I decided we may as well return, since a. we don't have anyplace else to go anyway, b. it is somewhat familiar to DH, for whom routine is so important after his injury, c. we no longer own any winter clothes and d. with email and fax we should be able to handle whatever issues arise just as easily as we could from anywhere else. So, with only a few days' notice, we arranged our things, packed what little we now own into our van along with DH, Kelton and Karma (our dog) and set out for the south. We'll be back mid to late April, if all goes according to plan.

A huge thank you to those people who have donated items to us, including stamping supplies ~ I have made my thank you card for the firefighters and will post it soon. I'm also sending cards to those who have sent me things ~ but I don't have everyone's snail mail address, so if you sent something without a return address, could you email me at keltonsmom@gmail.com? I really want to be able to thank everyone! In particular, I'm looking for an addy for Cristin Keller and Bernice Van Loenen.

Monday, October 8, 2007

RAK Request

A huge thank you to Deborah for suggesting this (see her comment under my last post).

I'd like to request that anyone who wishes to send a thank you card to our local fire department for fighting our fire do so. There were approximately 20 firefighters at our home, almost all of whom were volunteers. I'm in awe over how hard they tried to save our home...and it made me cry when some of them came over to me after and apologized for not being able to save anything. Those guys and gal were amazing.

If you want to personalize it, our name is Kostis and the fire was at 816 Smith Line of St. Clair Township.

Thank you cards can be sent to:

Beecher Fire Department
c/o Doug McGee
RR#5
Wallaceburg, ON
N8A 4L2
Canada

Thank you in advance everyone, and especially Deborah for the great idea! Deborah, if you are reading this, could you please send me your contact info? I don't know how to get in touch with you, and would like to!

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Ideas, Anyone? Blog Candy Offered

I haven't been able to stamp even a single card or make a single scrapbook page since the fire ~ partly because I lost most of my supplies, and partly because I haven't had the time or desire.

I do want to make a thank you card for the firefighters, though. Those guys were amazing. There were about 20 of them at our home that day, and they went into what was already an inferno when they arrived, searching our home to make sure no one was there. I can't say enough about them ~ having never seen them in action before, I had no idea the danger they subject themselves too. They are amazing men and women.

One of my alphabet sets is intact, so I wanted to make a card with the word "heroes" spelled out on it, and possibly an image on the front as well. Anyone have any ideas?

Since I'm not feeling very creative lately, I'd love links that I could go to to CASE a suitable thank you. Can you help? I'll offer some blog candy to the person who points me to the card I use. It can be yours or someone else's. The candy won't be much, since I lost a lot, but I promise I'll send something.

Thank You

A huge thank you to Michelle (see her comment on my previous post below). This wonderful lady, a stranger to me, sent me the most awesome care package in the mail. It contained household supplies, clothing (including her favourite pink suit, which I absolutely love), and some Usborne books for our son.

I must say, the Usborne books are wonderful. I had heard of them before, but never seen any. Our little guy, Kelton, is 3 but can already read very well, and the first thing he noticed was that there are internet links in the books. He's been reading the "encyclopedia of the human body" and going to the associated web pages. It is *such* a relief to have something to occupy him while we work on all the issues that need to be dealt with.

Michelle, you're an angel!

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

I am so tired

For those of you who haven't seen the link yet, here's some photos of the fire:

Fire Photos

DH and I are totally exhausted ~ we are being forced to go through the tedious, heart-wrenching process of attempting to list each and every item we had in our home along with how long we had it, where we purchased it,and what it's replacement value would be. Initially, I had assumed with a total loss such as ours, the insurance would just pay out the max. amount of the policy .....WRONG. Think: how many pairs of shoes did I own, what brand were they and how long have I had them? How many LeapPad books did Kelton have? How many bottles of aftershave for DH? What the heck was in our kitchen drawers? How many photos on the wall? Type and price of their frames? Furniture is the easiest, other than the fact that the store where we bought a lot of our stuff has gone out of business, and I don't know the maker of a lot of things.

Today I am going out there again to sift through the ashes with a shovel and see if I can find things that remind me of what we had. It's a losing battle though, as the chimney collapsed down into the main part of the house and virtually destroyed even pieces of anything that may have been left. Dangerous too ~ I now own my first-ever pair of safety shoes with steel soles....put a nail into my foot the first day we were out there.

Also, we have found that we don't have enough insurance to rebuild. The first (verbal) estimate we have gotten is more than double our policy max.

And what a weird feeling to realize you suddenly don't have clothing....our daughter Briar found 3 pairs of PJ's that might fit Kelton; I'm picking them up today. The other morning it was cold outside and I realize I don't own a single sweater or sweatshirt.....a friend has now given me a hoodie. And we have a meeting to go Oct. 9 where we cant' wear shorts, so I'm going to have to try to find time to go to Goodwill or somewhere and get outfits for all of us.

I can't believe how little support we have from our families. Dh's mother hasn't even called us, and my parents although they have spoken to us about it haven't offered any support.

Anyway, that's my tale of woe for today. Thanks for listening.

Despite it all, we are very grateful....the outcome could have been so much worse. We are all safe and together and that's all that matters.

Friday, September 14, 2007

Our Home

 


This happened Wednesday. I will not be blogging for awhile, but please keep checking back and I will be back asap. I have a couple saved blogs and will post them in the next few weeks just so you don't forget me until I can be back. No one hurt, thank god, but right now my priority is my family.
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Monday, September 10, 2007

Jen's Challenge


A card from a T-shirt? when I saw this picture as an inspiration challenge on a blog I visit, I was intrigued. My first inclination was to do a one-layer card and try to match the pattern exactly with my stamps, but then I started thinking "Cricut" and "embellishments" and using up small scraps of paper ~ here's the result:


BG cardstock is Tempting Turquoise and Positively Pink (I think). I ran the pink through my cuttlebug with the Bloom Dots embossing template, and cut the flowers from my George cartridge set at the smallest size (1"), using the Outline feature. Scalloped circle is from Mini Monograms (Cricut). Stems and leaves are from the Petal Prints stamp set, using Old Olive ink. The plastic flower accents are buttons that I picked up at Jo-Ann's last winter and cut the shanks off the back. Sentiment is from Happy Harmony.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

First Trip to the Dentist



I had a lot of fun doing this sketch challenge! I was really excited when I found the blue paper in my ScrapRack, since it went so perfectly with the BG paper that came with the little boy scrapbook that I planned to put this layout in. Since I only have 1/2" and 1 3/8" circle punches with nothing in between, it didn't look right when I interspersed the larger and smaller circles, so I just used two of the large circles for interest. Initially, I planned to use buttons to form the circle, but then remembered my Typewriter Alpha stamp set, and decided it, along with the Block Alphabet from All Night Media, would be perfect for the title. The Typewriter Alpha is actually square blocks, but I used my 1/2" circle punch to make rounds instead. The accent circles were stamped with 2 Stampin' Up sets ~ Little Pieces and Big Pieces. They are designed to coordinate, so that was easy.



Have you ever used the color combo site at Scraptitude? That's where I got the ideas for the colors I used here....more mustard, really rust, creamy caramel and brocade blue.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Warm Winter Wishes Pop Up Card



When I saw this pop up technique as a challenge on SCS, I knew I had to make one! Although the instructions were 12 pages long (yikes!), it turned out to be an easy card to make, and a lot of fun to pop up. (If you would like a tutorial, please LMK). The greeting is hidden until you pull on the ribbon at the top. My DH got a big kick out of popping it up and hiding it quite a few times....go figure.

This card is made with Always Artichoke, Bliss Blue and Barely Banana cardstock, the same colors of ink plus Cameo Coral, and some ribbon that I colored with an Always Artichoke marker. Honestly, I don't know why people buy all different shades of ribbon when it's so quick and easy to color white ribbon and get the exact shade you want. Stamp set used is called Snowflakes. There is also a matching brass template for this set, so I think I'll try one of these cards using the brass template instead of stamping the background. Then I think I'll substitute Real Red for the cameo coral to make it look more Christmas'y (is that a word...LOL.

What do *you* think?

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Thanksgiving Invite


For the last three years, we have had a potluck Thanksgiving meal at our campsite. Last year it grew to 20 people! Somehow, a rumour got around that we were not having it this year, so IMHO the best way to dispel the rumour was to make written invitations. Any excuse to stamp, right? Anyway, I used this turkey stamp that I won in some blog candy. It's made by Cornish Heritage Farms and, I must say, it's a really nice stamp. I did some very quick watercoloring with garden green, pumpkin pie, more mustard and creamy caramel to make little "Tom" come alive, then added a strip of Always Artichoke stamped with the same color ink. The maple leaf stamp is from some unknown dollar stamps that I picked up a few months ago. Sentiment is also from the dollar store, from a set called "Words of Expression.

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Our (Stick People) Family



Recently I had a chance to get together with some friends and share stamps. I used an idea that I saw on Heather Summers' blog to make a sign featuring all of our family as stick people. Heather's used a 5x7 format, but with 9 kids, 2 adults and 2 pets, my sign just looked a bit too cramped, so when I found a 4x12 frame at the dollar store, I decided it would be perfect.

It was so much fun making this sign. Here's a brief tutorial: First, I stamped baby Kelton, and then masked him so that he would fit nicely between mom and dad. Then I stamped the rest of us, starting from the feet up. I cut the lettering on some spare CS with my Cricut, using the Opposites Attract cartridge, then used the cutout as a stencil, masked my entire family and sponged Going Gray ink onto the cutout spaces. Finally, I colored everyone using markers and a blender pen, shaded beneath their feet using the same method, and wrote in the names with my favourite black Zig marker. I'm so happy the way it turned out.

Friday, August 31, 2007

Second Page of Paisley Challenge Layout


As promised, here is page 2 of the LO challenge from Splitcoast this week. Once again, I used the quotation marks from Tear Drop as paisley accents. To do the journalling card, I used my Stamp a ma Jig to line up the lines on my stamp. Even with an acrylic block, I couldn't get it perfect, since I couldn't see exactly where the lines were on the stamp. Took me a couple of tries with the Stamp a Ma Jig, but I think I have the hang of it now.

To me, the top of the LO looks a bit bare...I'm thinking it needs a flower or some kind of accent in the top left corner. Suggestions welcome.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

This Week's Splitcoast LO Sketch Challenge



This week's scrapbooking sketch challenge on SCS was a 2-page LO using paisley. I went through all my chipboard stash, but no paisley....yikes! Then I got the bright idea to cut a paisley shape using one of my Cricut cartridges. Decided that the quotation marks looked kind of paisley-like. The one in the centre is cut from the George cartridge and the ones on either end are cut from Tear Drop. In both cases, I used the Shadow Blackout feature.



I'm still working on page #2, and will post as soon as I get it finished.

Monday, August 27, 2007

How Addicted to Blogging are You?

I just started blogging, as you all know, and according to this I am 74% addicted. What about you? Click below to do the questionnaire and find out.

74%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Mingle2 - Dating Site

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Halloween Witch



It seems like every blog I go to lately there are Halloween cards/scrapbook LO's being featured, so I decided I might as well jump in and try one of my own. Since I liked the Cami's trifold sketch so much (see the card with the purple fish for another example), I decided I would use it again for my Halloween card.

I really wanted to use some black paper on this one, but couldn't decide whether to emboss it or stamp it with white craft ink, so I decided to try both. The spiderweb is embossed with Pewter embossing powder, while the sentiment is stamped with white craft. Can you tell the difference? Which one do you like best?

Background of card is the Little Pieces stamp set, stamped in Basic Black and Mellow Moss. Witch is from the Hey Ghoul Friend set, and is colored with a blender pen. Spiderweb is from a company that was going out of business....sorry I can't remember the name, but boy am I sorry I didn't buy more from her; the stamp quality is very, very good. Scallop frame and window are cut from the Mini Monograms Cricut cartridge once again. Boo!

Friday, August 24, 2007

You Brighten My Day



A friend and I got together recently to try some new techniques. I decided to combine one of the SCS sketch challenges with a challenge on a blog that asked for fall colors. This is what I came up with...I love the colors but am still debating whether to use a butterfly in the centre instead of the flower. Planning to try it as soon as I get a chance.

The patterned cardstock is from Pocket Full of Posies; plain CS is Stampin
Up Close to Cocoa, Always Artichoke and Apricot Appeal. Stamps are SU's Petal Prints and a set from Verve Visuals (the lettering and dots around the word window punch. I used the Rock n Roll technique to do the flower.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Great Card for a Guy



I was so excited when I got this new clear stamp set from My Favourite Things! In addition to the tv scene shown here, there are slippers, a golf club and tee, a bunch of sentiment stamps and more. In this example, I colored the picture using a blender pens and various shades of Earth Elements markers. I didn't have a ribbon that coordinated with this paper, so I cheated and used some word window punch cutouts that I found in my ScrapRack. I also found the pizza slice there, and thought it went perfect with the recliner and TV theme.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Free Glue Stick Sample

If you are a blogger and would like to review a new glue stick, please click on the link to Maria's blog (to your right, under "Blogs I Like Best"). This offer is available to bloggers in the U.S. and Canada....you don't even have to pay for postage. I ordered my free sample today and got a really nice email to say it is on its way. Can't wait to try it out and post what I think.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Trifold Card, Cami Style



I bought this retired stamp set a week or so ago...it's called Toucan of My Love. Then, when I saw the challenge for the Trifold Card, Cami Style on Splitcoast, this stamp set just seemed to call out to me! (You can get a tutorial on how to make this card at SCS in the Tutorials section).

This technique called for using the slit punch to make the flap, and I don't own a slit punch, so I used an oval coluzzle template and just cut out a little less than half of it. Then, I was supposed to use punches or a coluzzle for the window and insert, but I didn't have either of those, so I figured out a way to do it with the Mini Monograms cartridge of my Cricut. And my patterned cardstock isn't two sided, so I improvised by stamping with the leaves from my Petal Prints stamp set onto the exposed white side of the card stock.

This is definitely a card I will be doing again. A lot of thinking went into substitutions for things I don't have, but I'm really happy with the result and love the look of the card.

Monday, August 20, 2007

My Baby is Three!



This week's scrapbooking sketch challenge on Splitcoast was a 2 page layout that I thought would be perfect for the pictures I took at Kelton's birthday party. I can't believe he's already three ~ my little man is growing up waaaay too fast! I'm also proud to say that his party was June 7, so I'm only a little over 2 months behind in my scrapbooking...I'm so proud of myself for being caught up! (Of course, we won't talke about the fact that I haven't even STARTED scrapping the other 8 kids except for a couple of events here and there~ bit of an overwhelming task to go back almost 27 years to their baby photos).



I'm thinking I might add some arrows to this LO to show the progression of the photos, starting from bottom left. What do you think ~ does it need arrows, or is it self-explanatory?



For this second page of the LO, I made my own BG paper, using 3 of the images from the Favourite Teddy Bear stamp set. I'm quite pleased the way it turned out. I got a bit lazy on my letting, though, and used the Kristen font on my computer to do the journalling and the title for the page. Note that one of Kelton's favourite books is the Stampin' Up catalog! How cute is that!

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Happy Anniversary, Joe and Nancy



Our friends, Joe and Nancy, are celebrating their 23rd anniversary today ~ way to go! DH asked me to make them a card (and believe me, I am always thrilled when DH asks me to make anything), so I decided to combine it with a challenge someone had posted on Splicoast asking you to use a stamp you'd never used, then also combined it with a challenge on Jen's blog to make a square card using hearts.

After some thought, I decided on a trifold card...it folds into a square, so I think that counts, right?

What you see below is 2/3 of the inside of the card ~ just imagine another third on the right, with plain CS the same as the other sides, and you've got the whole picture.


Stamp sets used were "A Light Heart" and favourite greetings. I have no idea where I got the patterned paper with the hearts on it ~ sure wish I knew, as I really like it and would love to get more.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Teenagers

I received an email the other day inviting me to join an online crop at www.goscrapping.ca I've never done an online crop, before, and wow, was it intense! There was a new flash challenge each hour from 7-10pm, and AT THE SAME TIME, there were games going on, AND a series of week-long challenges! I was totally exhausted by the time I finished. I made cards for all of the flash challenges, and then decided to tackle some of the week-long challenges.

Here's one of my entries:


My scanner cut off some of my journaling. It reads, "Love how you two could look so serious and mature for the camera one minute, and be totally at odds with each other the next!"

I couldn't decide what lettering I wanted to use, so I looked in my ScrapRack section where I keep all my "oops" letters. (When I cut a letter with my Cricut that I decide not to use, I put repositionable Xyron on it, then stick it to a sheet of CS that I keep in the lettering section of my ScrapRack. I can't stand to waste anything.) Lucky for me, I found a combination of "oops" letters that worked really well for this LO. I'm pleased with the way it all came together.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Hot Summer Card



A fellow blogger had a challenge this past week ~ make a nautical or beach-themed card, use blue as one of the colors,and use flowers on the card. This is my contribution. I used my cuttlebug on Tempting Turquoise CD, colored the sandals from a Michaels dollar stamp with markers, used the sun and part of the greeting from the SU "Some Like it Hot" set, and punched out some flowers from the Little Pieces set with my 1/2" circle punch. Sandals were also heat embossed before coloring.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Zander's Birthday



Not only am I a mom to 9, the youngest of whom is only 3, I am also a grandma! My daughter, Briar, is mom to Zander, who turned one year old this week. His birth only missed DH's birthday by a few days, so now I have a hubby, a daughter, and a grandson all celebrating birthdays in the month of August.

I made Zander an A to Z scrapbook for his birthday, but naughty me didn't take photos of the pages before giving it to his mom. I'm hoping she'll let me have it back so I can post some photos...I used a common color scheme throughout but a different technique/idea on each page.

Anyway, here's the card I made for Zander. The truck and background BEEP is from the "By Land" SU set, lettering is an All Night Media alphabet set, star behind the lettering is a Michaels clear dollar stamp, sentiment is from "Favourite Teddy Bear' (SU), scalloped circle is cut with my Cricut Mini Monograms cartridge, and the greeting is on paper punched out using the Designer Label punch from Stampin Up.

Buddha's Gone

Not feeling much like stamping or scrapping. We had to put our dog, Buddha, out of his misery this week, as he had an incurable immune disorder. I am devastated.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Hey! I won a prize!



I'm so excited....the online crop I attended last week has won me a couple of prizes. Here's my winning entry in one of the categories. The challenge was to create two cards and 2 gift tags from one sheet of CS plus paper scraps. Here's my entry.
My prize is an album and some chipboard. I'll be stalking the mailbox until it arrives.

Monday, August 6, 2007



Here's a card I entered in yet another blog contest. The challenge was to do an animal theme, loosely based on a sketch provided on the blog. Sorry I can't remember whose blog it was....if you read this, please fill us in!

I didn't win, but I did have a lot of fun making this card. I embossed the black, and then filled in the color with an aqua painter. I'm pretty sure I got the cute dog stamp on clearance at Wal-Mart. It came packaged with the pawprint.

Sunday, August 5, 2007

My Boys




My husband came up behind me when I was mulling over this scrapbook layout challenge from Splitcoast stampers. He immediately said, "I know the perfect thing for you to do with that ~ there are four photos on the centre strip, and we have four boys, so "My Boys" would be the perfect layout. Thanks, dear!

Here's what I came up with:





Lettering is from the Tear Drop and Mini Monograms cartridge from my trusty ol'cricut, and I used a green gel pen to bring out the edges of "My"...it seemed to fade into the background paper until I did that. Background paper is all from a Studio K Super K paper pack I picked up at Big Lots, Cricut frogs are from the Animal Kingdom cartridge, frog stickers are unknown, vellum quote is from a ColorBlok quote pack of baby boy quotes, go Dad is a SEI rub-on. I cut the paper with my Creative Memories wavy trimmer (not sure if that is what it's really called), and used my CM corner rounder on the photos, as well as the Stampin Up Square Steps corner punch on the photo of Kelton and Daddy.

Do you use rub-ons often? I always seem to have a terrible time getting them onto my LOs....think I'm going to give up soon. It probably took longer to do the rub on than the whole rest of the LO...yikes!

Saturday, August 4, 2007

SU Catty CASE



A fellow blogger's site had a challenge to create a card based upon something in a catalog, so I designed this one based on the level 3 hostess set card sample on page 23 of the SU catalog. BG paper is tempting turquoise, I used the stamp sets Riveting, Small Sayings and You Make Me Happy, and some leftover PP I had sitting around in my ScrapRack. I think it's even prettier than the card I CASE'd!