It's broken, or is it??

A few months ago (2-3 months) my left wrist started to hurt me a lot, only when I did certain things...it wasn't just like a constant pain it was a ripping pain. The kind of pain where you have to grab it and hold onto it for a few minutes kind of pain, well it wasn't getting better and I finally had enough of it hurting. I have no memory of hurting it, or falling or anything...but either way I was going to the dr. My family doctor didn't have any appointments avialable, so I went to a duty doctor and she had just barely touched my hand and I jumped...so off for an x-ray I went. Lol, the hospital nearest me had their xray machine break down just before I got into the door...the other hospital near my mother's house, they had 3 out of their 4 xray machines break just as I arrived. You can see how one might just give up on having an xray with results like this :p! I went to one final hospital (last Friday), and their machines were all working..as they knocked on some wood...
I got a call yesterday saying that they had a requisition for me at the front desk at my doctor's office so that I could get the xray redone, plus the message said that if my hand was hurting alot to come in and see the dr. I was lucky, I got an appointment this morning at 10 a.m. and she told me they think I broke something in my wrist ( a bone that starts with a T) or it could be a calcium deposit...this is why they are redoing the xray. She sent me on my way with some Tylenol 3's, she told me that I might have to have surgery on my hand and a cast too...I don't have time for this I thought to myself. So I will keep you posted as to what is going on with the saga of my hand as I find out information...
Lol, this hand isn't stopping me from making cards or from going to Julie's house tomorrow night :p! In the meantime I was told to keep my wrist/hand brace on all the time...and ice ice ice.

Ebrace En Francais

I had to make a card today, my "Embrace Life" and the "En Francais" stamp sets were calling my name to come make a card with them. LOVE these two sets, if you don't have them already get them onto your wish lists...if you aren't sold on them, I highly recommend going onto the SCS (Splitcoast stampers) website and checking out what others have made with these sets. Will be making a few more cards today, because I have a few family members with Birthdays coming up and would like to get them done.



Here is what I used to make this card:

Cardstock:
~Avacado flat cardstock
~Brown weave cardstock
~SU Barely Banana
~Patterned paper from the Autumn Leaves slab

Ink:
~Brilliance Black ink pad

Stamp sets:
~SU Embrace Life
~SU En Francais

Other:
~SU Earth Elements watercolor crayons
~SU corner punch
~chrystal

Have a super day :)!

Changed my blog look again :p

This is the new look for my blog, I know I already said that earlier today didn't I :p! Well, that is before I recieved this NEW blog header from Amanda (a.k.a. Mandiannie), and I felt that the one she made was a lot better than what I had created this morning. A huge THANK YOU goes out to Amanda, for making my day and for making this wonderful blog header :)! Let me know what you think of the new look please...

*HUGS to you all*

What do you think of my new look??

The other day I decided that the blog template that I had was too much, by that I mean, it was hard to see pictures, it was dark, it was frustrating that the words would scroll but the picture didn't move. Anyways, to make a long story short I decided I would go with a classic blogger template and change the header to my blog...lol, not that I know how to change the header to my blog.
So I started the search of a good picture to use for my blog header, couldn't find one that I really really liked and so I decided what the heck I could make one myself ...easy right?? WRONG!!!! I decided to take mandiannies advice and do something with coffee grounds (I am soooo not the one to play around with this idea), but I thought how hard could it be....sigh, guess who was disappointed by that outcome. Yep, I was...I thought to myself *you are sooooo crazy to think you can get the look you want, ditch this idea before you get an eye twitch* I also thought I could make my blog title out of coffee grounds...yep, wasn't going to happen and no I didn't try to do it either...just a pipe dream.
Next...I went back to my idea of trying to find a picture suitable for my blog online, I found one but then I had the issue of not having photoshop or any sort of fancy shmancy photo editing program. Nor was I going to sit here all day with my dials up service waiting for one to download, so I was left with using "Paint" program that came with my computer. I got the picture onto my "paint" programs screen, next to add my blog's title easy enough....WRONG...so I call Julie in hopes she could help me, she recommended I wait for her dh to come home to help me.
I said this is silly...I CAN DO THIS!!! Lol, I went into the "paint" program and to my surprise I figured out how to get my blogs title on there without a big white box around it...and then I had to fool around with the font a bit. Here is what I was able to come up with...what do you think???
I want to thank all of you for sending me your thoughts, I do love flowers, but it has to be the right kind of flower...like cala lily's or water lily's. I was going to go for the Easter theme, but the template's I found weren't exactly my style...can't say I didn't try in all those categories. Thank you Mandiannie for your wonderful idea, it was a great idea too bad I am not a professional photographer I probably would have been able to get that perfect shot I was looking for.
I did mention something about blog candy didn't I, well...I would like to send out some blog candy to Mandiannie and so if you can send me your addy to c_levy@auracom.com that would be great. Thanks everyone...and have a great day :)!

"i{Heart}2stamp" blog card sketch challenge

I was going through Google reader again, trying to get my numbers down (not too sure if this will ever happen-lol) and I came across a card sketch on i{heart}2stamp's blog that I thought I would try.

Here is what I used to make this card:

Cardstock:

~SU Bravo Burgandy

~dark green weave cardstock from Carousel

~Blush cardstock from Carsousel

~patterned paper from the "Far East" DCWV pad of paper

~a small scrap piece of white flat cardstock

Other:

~Cuttlebug Flower folder

~SU corner punch

~Photo Glue stick

~Photo stickers

~SU 1 3/8 circle punch

I think it is time for a change...

Yep, it is one of those days that you just sit there looking at your blog thinking something has to change...the look, the name...oh you just don't know. That is the kind of day that I am having, I think it is time for a change...what do you think?? Change the name? Change the blog template?? If I do change the blog template what do you think I should have?? There just might be some blog candy up for grabs :D!

Have a great day :)!

On a card making kick

I started out using part of this card for Kim's color challenge, but then I put it aside to use for another card idea. This morning I finnshed this card, I felt that I couldn't let it sit there not completed...and so I tackled it. I took two pictures of this card because I thought it didn't give you a good view of what the card looked like, so I took another picture of it at a different angle :)! Oh how I love this patterned paper :D!Might alter a clear paintcan later, who knows...dunno if I feel that brave yet :p!

Have a super day :)!

Here's what you need to make this card:

Cardstock:

~Brown Weave cardstock from Carousel

~SU Bravo Burgandy

~ Whit flat cardstock from Carousel

~patterned paper from the Autumn Leaves Designer slab of paper

~piece of patterned paper from Michael's

Ink:

~Brilliance black

Stamps:

~Sentiment stamp from Hero Arts

~SU cupcake stamp from the set called "Short and Sweet"

~Hero Arts clear acrylic background stamp set

Other:

~SU Corner punch

~Copic Ciao markers

~Ribbon from Michael's

Beate's weekend card sketch challenge

Beate is having a great weekend sketch challenge over on her blog, just click on her name and it should take you over to her blog to where you can see the sketch. Join in the fun :)!

Here is what I used to make this card:

Cardstock:

~White flat cardstock from Carousel

~Chocolate chip cardstock from Carousel

~Avacado green cardstock from Carousel

~patterned paper from Autumn Leaves Designer series stack from Wal-mart

~patterned paper from "Far East" 8*8 slab by DCWV

Ink:

~Brilliance Black

~Matted Mauve Versamark dew drop

Stamp set:

~SU Stitched Exotics

~ Hero Arts Clear Acrylic butterfly stampset

~ SU Short and Sweet stamp set

Other:

~SU Corner rounder

~Swarovski chrystal

~Photo stickers

~Heat gun

Kim's Card Challenge

Okay, so when I had the SU get together at my Mom's place Kim challenged all of us cardmaking gals to make a card not using our favorite colors. For instance: I am not allowed to use Avacado Green or yellow, Julie isn't allowed to use blue or green, Kim isn't allowed to use pink or purple, Val isn't allowed to use any yellow, Louise isn't allowed to use any brown, Charly isn't allowed to use purple or green. Now we aren't just talking not using cardstock here...there isn't allowed to be any hints of our favorite (most popular color) we use on the card. This is including patterned paper, ink, embellishments, cardstock...so here is the card that I came up with :)!! It has a bit of an Asian look to it...

If you want to make this card here is what you will need:

Cardstock:

~Light brown weave Cardstock from Carousel

~Chocolate chip cardstock from Carousel

~Patterned paper from a the 8*8 "Far East Stack" of paper from Michael's by DCWV

~ a small scrap piece of White flat cardstock from Carousel

Ink:

Brilliance Black ink pad

Stamp set:

~ Hero Arts Clear Acrylic "Butterfly" stamp set

~Hero Arts Clear Acrylic "Sentiments" stamp set

Other:

Eyelets, crop-a-dile, white ribbon from Michael's, SU corner rounder, photo stickers

Thanks, Kim for challenging us and I look forward to seeing what everyone else created too :)! I dare you to be challenged this week :)! I have sort have changed the way I write out the "recipe" for what I used to make the card, what do you think?? Do you like it the way it is now, or the way I had it before??

Recipe for the CPS #52 card challenge

Cardstock:

Avacado flat cardstock, white flat cardstock, black cardstock from Carousel, SU Bravo Burgandy, patterned paper Prima Stone Rose collection.

Ink:

Brillance Black ink, SU Bravo Burgandy ink

Other:

Ribbon from Michael's, Copic Ciao and Tombow markers

Sorry about that, I totally forgot...then I remembered when I was sitting at the bus stop waiting for my son to come home from school. Tee hee!

Have a great night, check out the lunar eclipse it is tonight sometime :)!

Onesie Card

My wonderful sil (sister in law) and her hubby are expecting their first wee one at the end of May...I have offered to make her baby cards for her. I have been looking for a great card since I found out that she was expecting, but haven't quite found the "right" card for them (know what I mean, about finding a right card for someone??). I saw on someone's blog the other day this cute card made to look like a Onesie, but didn't see a link for a tutorial or a tutorial for them...so wrote CST group to see if anyone there could help me and they did. Thank you to those of you who sent me the link for the tutorial *HUGS*!! I then cased the card from Lauren M's blog, but changed it up a bit :)!

While I am talking about her blog, I just thought I would take the opportunity to thank her and others who share their great crafty card making ideas with us to case. If it weren't for these people, I think I would be stuck with making some cards. Thanks to you all who share your ideas for us to case, but as Lauren said on her blog, we have to give credit where it is due and not take their ideas and call them our own. Or they won't make great things for us to use anymore...and I for one certainly don't want that to happen!

Anyways, enough banter from me for now...have a great day, it is actually day 2 of sun here for once and no snow...well, not until Saturday :p!

CPS #52 card challenge

I decided it was high time to get the numbers on my "Google Reader" down, so I started the long long process of reading everyone's blogs (great stuff on everyone's blogs by the way). I got to CPS blog, and saw this weeks card challenge...I just couldn't let this challenge go without giving it a whirl. So I thought I would wait until tonight to do this card, but I couldn't wait and so I did it while my kids were enjoying some noodles for lunch :)!

Hope you like it :)!

Happy Stamping/creating :)!

My little avid reader

I caught my little dd sitting in our living room reading a book, this book had lots of pictures of babies in it (her favorite kind of book) and she was kissing the babies everytime she turned the pages of the book. Too cute :)! Here is a picture of my dd giving the babies kisses :)! Great Aunt Diane (a elementary school Librarian) would be proud :)!

Cupcake card

Here is the "Cupcake card" that I promised I would make, and actually didn't start or finnish making it until a few minutes ago. Sorry about that, just couldn't find my cardmaking mojo anywhere and have been running on very little sleep because my dd has been sick with a ear throat infection. Good news though...I got my mojo back *hurray*, and I just LOVE how this card turned out :)! I started making this card, wanted to see where it would take me and at first I was a little leary about the direction it was taking. I solved the problem and got back on track :)!

Recipe

Cardstock:

Avacado Flat cardstock from Carousel, Karen Foster Design paper "Maroon Sweetheart Potpourri" patterned paper

Ink:

Brilliance black ink, Versamark ink pad

Stamps:

"Cupcake" clear Hero Arts stamp set, clear acrylic background stamp set by Hero Arts

Other:

purple flower eyelets, green Michael's ribbon, pop dots, Copic Ciao markers

Great Cause, and great blog candy

Head on over to stampinmama's blog and check out the great blog candy up for grabs and it is for a great cause Autism. It was also her son's bday too..so to help celebrate it go here : http://stampinmama.typepad.com/stampin_mama_a_mama_that_/2008/02/i-am-so-excited.html

Happy Stamping!

Bday card for my Niece

My Niece turned 1 yesterday, and my mil (mother in law) will be taking this card and a little gift to her in a week or two. I cased the layout of this card on Splitcoaststampers website, and this card I cased was by someone with the nickname Buzsy. I wanted to make a card that was girly, I tried a few different ideas but this one I really really liked :) and I hope she does too. Happy Birthday Lil one :)!

Tracy wanted to know who made the cute "Cupcake" stamp set, so I thought I would shre it with all of you Hero Arts clear stamps :). Going to make a card with this stamp set tonight, and will post it once I get it done.

RECIPE:

Cardstock:

Blush weave cardstock from Carousel, white flat cardstock from Carousel, Avacado flat from Carousel, Certainly celery, Recycled paper that I got from Kim the other night at my SU night.

Ink:

Copic Ciao markers, Tombow Markers, Brilliance Black ink

Other:

Cuttlebugged certainly celery paper (not sure of folder that was used, I recieved this in a swap), pop up dot, ribbon from Michael's

Stamp set:

SU "Fairy Nice", "Messages" by Hero Arts (little messages on little stamps)

Couldn't leave behind

The other day I thought I should go get my submissions to the PhotoMemories Design team call, before something happened to them. This was my first ever submission to a design team call, and no I didn't get on it. My friend Val did though, this design team will be together for 3 months and then they will have another design team call...dunno if I will submit something again or not.

While I was there picking up my submissions, I just happened to walk past these lovely stamps and I couldn't just leave them there...that would just be wrong. Lol, I am serious though...I couldn't let them go...so I got them... it is part of a program Julie belongs to (HUP- Husband Unawareness Program):p!

Sorry, I haven't been a good diligent blogging gal lately...but I do have a good reason...it is called family, oh yeah and life. I will be posting a few things over the next couple of days though, my niece is 1 today, a neighbor up the street had hand surgery the other day and I need to make a thining of you card for another friend.

What I use to clean my stamps

I have tried 3 different sprays out there for cleaning stamps, well I have found one that gets even the toughest inks off your stamps. It is called "Simple Green", you can get it in a spray bottle at your local Hardware store...I got mine at Canadian Tire and it will last you a few years at least. It costs about $6 or so, I tell ya it is well worth it if you have used Stayz on inks on your stamps and couldn't get the ink off at all...try this stuff :)! I mixed 1 part simple green to 2 parts water, just take a look at the back of your bottle to see what they have to say, but this is what I used. I had an extra spray bottle around (or get one from the dollar store), mix the stuff up in it and there you can start cleaning your stamps :)!
Once you have sprayed your stamps with this stuff, I suggest taking one of those soft nail brushes you can get (made from soft plastic, and is a rectangle in shape) and scrub it really well. Then you can run it under some lukewarm/to warm water while scrubbing and this I find usually takes it off really really well, then let your stamps dry on a piece of paper towel.

Happy Cleaning :)!

My second February CCE group #1 card

Here is my card for February CCE group #1, and it is my first bleached card attempt that I have done :)! I found the tutorial on how to do this technique on http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ under resources, and once I realized how easy it was I got all my stuff together :)!

All you need is:

~ a Q-tip

~ some household bleach

~ some colored cardstock

~ a stamp

~ versamark ink

~ embossing powder

~ heating tool

~ small tipped paintbrush

Next, what you do is stamp your image on the color cardstock using your Versamark ink pad and then you use your embossing powder. Pour off any excess powder onto a sheet of paper, then if there is still some powder stuck on your cardstock around the image you don't want...I suggest you take your small tipped paintbrush and brush off any embossing powder that you don't want there. Then you take your heat tool, and emboss your image that you stamped onto your colored cardstock...once you have done that let it cool for a second. Next, take some household bleach onto your Q-tip and wipe it over top of your embossed image...it will take the color out of your cardstock or lightens it...looks really neat. I would even suggest letting that dry for a minute or two, incase you put too much bleach in a spot or two!! There's your bleached stamped image that you can use to create pretty beautiful cards with, try it out...it isn't hard at all :)!

Happy Stamping :)!

My Stop into Michael's

I went into Michael's today too, with a gift card for my Birthday from my sister in law... I went there before I went to Frenchy's and had my "coat adventure". Here is what I picked up:

~~>Look at all the beautiful 6 different ribbons I got (well, I did get 2 of the same color ribbon), I had to get more ribbon to make my dh's ribbon holder not look so empty. I can't wait to use some of this ribbon, some of it was $2.69 and the rest was for $1.oo :)! I also picked up this beautiful stamp with trees on it, I saw a beautiful card made by someone I don't know at Carousel and they used bleach...not sure how (not that brave yet). I LOVE the look of this stamp and can't wait to play around with it :)! I will have to look up this bleaching technique on Splitcoast stampers later, and will get back to you on what I found out...

Happy stamping today, and I hope you were able to get some stamping in :)!

Frenchy's Etiquette (if there is any)

*Julie, you are going to laugh when you finnish reading this...oh my....the adventures I have* Okay, so first off for those of you who don't know what Frenchy's is (I know I have explained it to you before, but think I will do it again for those who might be new readers to my blog), it is a second hand clothing store. The clothes are in several large bins, they are sorted according to age, according to gender baby/boy/girl/men/ladies and they also are labled shirts/pants/blouses/skirts etc etc. I go to these places because I can come out with a huge garbage bag of clothes for my 2 boys and my dd, all for $20.oo or less...not bad eh?? As I have said before it is rare that I ever find things for me, but lately I have even been finding a few pairs of pants ( I am 6 feet tall, and long legged so it is hard to find pants for me to begin with but it is next to impossible at Frenchies). You will have to check a Frenchy's out if you are in Canada or are visiting Canada, even if it just be one time...you never know what you are going to find.
Now that I have rambled on enough about that, on to my story or "adventure" :)! I went into a Frenchy's in Dartmouth this afternoon, just to find some jogging pants for my older son and some sweaters for my dh for work. They didn't have any jogging pants or sweatshirts, so I thought I would go see if they had anything for me (pants or shirts)...I found a pair of pants but they didn't fit right in some areas (don't worry I won't go any further than that). I put the pants in a bin where the "tried on clothes" go, and started over to the shirt section when I looked over to where they have coats and jackets are hung up. I see a really nice coat, a coat that I have sort of been eyeing in the stores, it looks like it is suede with what looks like a sheep coat on the edges and along the pockets. I start towards it, this older lady is standing there, she gets it off the rack, she looks at it, then flings it up over the rack where it was hanging. I think *Wooohooo, it's mine*, then I continue to watch her for a second...she takes two steps to the right moving on to the other coats. I walk over quickly, get the coat down to take a look at it to make sure there were no rips stains or the zipper doesn't work...meanwhile, the lady who put it down is standing there watching me intently almost glaring, almost saying "I had that, what are you doing with it?" I continue on, she still watching, the coat is fine, it fits nicely but I was wondering what it would look like on me and so I went off to the change room to try it on (in peace, without her gawking at me). The lady had me wonder if it was her coat (I checked as I was trying it on, lol, would feel pretty stupid if it was her coat...anyways) or if it was someone elses and that is why she put it back. I tried it on in front of a mirror, it looked great, I LOVED it...so I went on to the lady's shirt bin to check out some shirts for me. Lol, the whole time I am doing this I am being watched by the lady...I am feeling awkward about it by this point. I think well, she put it down, it wasn't in her hands or basket it is fair game then. Anyways, I did get it in the end and am thrilled to pieces but am wondering if it was fair game...what the etiquette might be if there is any etiquette at Frenchy's?? What would you have done?? The only thing I have to do with the coat is have it dry cleaned, so it looks a bit better...

TY, Kim :)!

Last night, Kim showed up with a box of goodies that she wasn't using anymore or wasn't interested in using and she said take what you want. I must say it was great, I came away with:





~beautiful recycled paper


~some patterned paper


~stickers that look like leaves


~ink pads


~ a baggie of eyelets


~ a package of jigsaw alphabet letters

Lol, me being silly asked a silly question...I didn't know that each color can be taken off the base of the ink pad to be used seperately. I thought it was one of those spectrum ink pads, lol, I felt very silly after asking how would you ink your stamp up using one color...sigh. It was my first time seeing one of these ink pads, so that is my excuse and I am sticking with it as funny as it might be.

Thank you Kim for your goodies, I can't wait to use them :)!

SU night at my Mother's house

Last night was my SU night at my mother's house, and what fun we had :)! The demonstrator made me this cute little jar, and used the SU new rubons on the sides and filled it up using yummy heart candies.

She also made this cute little party favor out of white cardstock SU vellum, red ribbon,SU rubons, and Super tacky tape. Very easy to make, can't wait to make a few of these beauties and I think they would be great for Valentine's treats :)!

We made 2 cards last night, and what fun beautiful cards they were to make :)! For this first card we used SU Black ink, we stamped the large flower from the "Embrace Life" new SU set onto Cardstock Vellum. Next, we used SU markers to color the flower in but we colored the other side of the vellum from what we stamped. We used the asian looking stamp, and stamped it all over the front of the card's base flap. Next, we poked a hole in the middle of our flowers that we cut out and we put the brads on them. We then took some SU pop dots, attached them to the backs of the flowers and this is how we attached our flowers to the cards base. We stamped the sentiment "Embrace Life" onto the lighter strip of blue and then attached it to the darker strip of cardstock. Then we attached the 2 strips to the back of the larger dark piece of cardstock, and then we attached all of those pieces to the cards base. Finally, we folded the "latch" over onto the front of the card's base and then taking a pencil marked where we wanted to put our slit for the "latch" to slip into. We then took our ruler to make sure that both of our marks were equal distance from the outside of the card's base flap. Once we got it where we wanted, and the measurements were correct, we took our knife and ruler to cut the slit for the "latch". Then we slid our "latch" into the slit that we had made, and voila there is our first card. We used SU "soft sky", and SU "Blue Bayou" inks and cardstock for this card....almost forgot to tell you which one's we used :p! What a beautiful card eh?? Will definitely have to make this card

again :D!

I LOVED making this card, because we did some watercoloring...something that I don't do often and not very good at. Okay, let me explain...I am not very good at using the watercolor crayons that I got from Michael's. I know, I know, I can hear you gasp from here...lol!! I should have splurged, and used my husband unawareness program to hook myself up with some of these SU watercolor crayons. The one's I got from Michael's are called "Karat Aquarell" watercolor crayons, and I highly recommend that you don't get them. The color isn't that great, it takes a lot of swipes of your aquapainter to get the color you want...and so now you can see why I was turned off of watercoloring. Last night I got excited about watercoloring again, and am going to get some SU watercolors :)!!!

Recipe

Cardstock:

Regal rose, Rose red cardstock, watercolor paper

Ink:

SU black ink, SU Rose red ink

Other:

SU watercolor crayons, aquapainter brush, pop dots, dimensionals, a brad, white ribbon, SU corner punch

Stamps:

SU "Embrace Life", "From the Heart" sentiment and "En Francais"

Happy Stamping :)!

Stepping outside my comfort zone

I needed a card for last night, I wanted a "Thank you" card for Yvonne the SU demonstrator that my friends and I have our SU nights with. So, thank you Tracy for your patterned paper that you sent me because it enabled me to step outside my comfort zone to make this great card. I am one to not step outside my comfort zone, but I felt it was high time to step outside my patterned paper use comfort zone lol. I LOVE this patterned paper, I think if it was in any other color I wouldn't like it so much...but these colors are perfect for this pattern :)! Let me know what you think about this card.

Recipe

Cardstock/paper:

flat Avacado cardstock, White flat cardstock all from Carousel, the patterned paper I got from Tracy so I am not sure who made it (hoping Tracy will tell me :)).

Ink:

Brillance black ink, Tombow markers

Other:

Corner punch by SU, photo stickers

My treat for SU night tomorrow night

Tomorrow night I am having a SU night at my mother's house (she lives more central to everyone else than I do), and was in need of having a treat for everyone. This is a marble cake, with buttermilk icing and fondant flowers...lol, had to make it a crafty looking cake. Thought it looked like "Cuttlebug flowers". Had to show you my second fancy cake I made :)!

Have a great day :)!

My Feb. CCE card for group #1

I just realized I had to get my CCE February cards out for my group #1, and so I came up with one of the cards this morning but need to create another one for tomorrow for me to mail out. I used the Autumn Leaves "Mindy's Zoo" stamp set to create this card, boy do I love this stamp set and can't wait to get my hands on the "Mindy's Flowers" stamp set.

Recipe

Cardstock:

I used chocolate chip cardstock for the base, brown weave cardstock, flat white cardstock

Ink:

I used Brilliance black ink pad, cloud white VersaMagic ink pad

Other:

I used ribbon from Michael's, I used the photo stickers, I used my Tombow markers (waiting for my Copic Ciao makers to get to me from my mil (mother in law).

Happy Stamping :)! Sorry, I haven't been that diligent lately in posting cards or other crafty things...going to have to get out of my funk or find my lost mojo really quick :(!

Beccabatgirl from SCS's Criss Cross tutorial

1. Cut full sheet sahara sand cs in half and fold intostandard 5-1/2 x 4-1/4 card. Cut full sheet soft skycs in half, then trim a little less than 1/4" off soit measures 5-1/2 x 8-3/8, fold in half. Turn softsky card opposite of sand card (it will be "slid" intothe sand card).

2. Open the sand card and position the top rightcorner so it is on your 2" mark of your cutter. Holdit there and position the fold line where it will meetthe cutting path of your cutter. Repeat this stepwith the sky card making sure you are cutting theopposite diagonal.

3. Stamp french script and baroque swirl on the frontsand card with choc chip(I stamped off french scriptso it was lighter), then sponge edges. Stamp the partof the sky card that will show with the diamondoutline from Looks Like Spring with sky ink. Spongeedges lightly with choc chip.

4. Adhere the back of the stamped sand card to thefront of the stamped sky card only for now. For theribbons I just cut them to length, wrapped the endsaround and taped them down with scotch tape.

5. Adhere the rest of the card together to make thepocket, remembering to tape along the bottom.

6. Punch two flowers out of vanilla cs. Run themthrough your sky inkpad. Bend the petals up a bit,attach them together. Punch out a 1/2" sky circle,adhere to middle of flower. Punch two 1/8" holes incenter of flower. Tie a knot in choc taffeta, threadends through holes, trim and tape them down on theback. Attach flower to front of pocket using a pop-upglue dot.

7. The pullout part: I cut the choc chip mat to4-3/4 x 4-1/8. The vanilla layer is 4-5/8 x 4. Stampa swirl in sky on the vanilla, the the words in choc.Attach vanilla layer to choc layer.

8. Punch a tab out of sky, stamp part of a swirl onit, tape to pullout piece. Punch hole in top, tieribbon on, slide into pocket.

I didn't have time to sit down yet to re-do these directions, or to make pics to go with this, but this is from Beccabatgirl from SCS. If you would like me to re-do these directions I will this weekend, but I have had lots of requests for these directions. Let me know if you would like to have pictures/ a new tutorial :)! The one picture I did provide for this tutorial, is actually the criss cross card that I made :)!

Happy stamping and creating!!

Check this out...my Birthday gift from my dh

Okay, so my dh has been out working in the garage a lot lately and I thought he was working on finnishing the children's toy box he was making or doing whatever it is men do in their garages (tee hee, I am sure I will get comments now from the men in my life about what it is they exactly do in there). Anyways, my dh wasn't doing that...he was making my Birthday gift, everybody now..."AWWWWWWW!"

Lol, well he made me a ribbon holder for my drafting table and you say well wait a second didn't you just get some cool totes for your ribbon to be stored in?? Yep, that I did but am going to have to store something else in the totes now because I have to use what my dh made :)!! I can't explain what it looks like to you, because I wouldn't do it justice and I wouldn't explain it correctly. So here are 2 pictures for you to see what he made me, IT is great :)! It is about 2-2 1/2 feet long, and it is easy to load and unload your spools of ribbon...going to have to figure out what to do about those ribbons I have on those wooden spools from Michael's though because I would love for them to be in this box. This box was made from 2cm slats of wood, shaped, sanded, stained, hinges on the back, enough space for your ribbon to be hung down the front of the box and it has legs on it so it won't roll. WOW, is all I have to say!!

He also took me to see a movie yesterday, "27 dresses", it was okay but I was a little disappointed because it wasn't as good as what I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong I had a good laugh here and there, but I should have chosen to go see "Untraceable"!!

30 years old, yesterday....

Yep, yep, yep, I am officially 30 years old and I just don't know how that happened...it's like I blinked and I was all of the sudden 30, lol! Going to take a bit to get used to this idea :P! For some reason I seem to be thinking a lot about my birthparents (yep, I am adopted...was adopted when I was 2 mos old) this birthday and I don't understand why more this bday than the others. I have met both bparents and their families, I have no contact with my bmom or her family ( I have contact with her brother) because I feel they are people I don't want around my family. I have contact with my bdad and with his family, we talk several times a month and send gifts to eachother's family for Bdays and Xmas ...we are close, it is like I have always known them.

Now time for my "Show and Tell" of gifts I recieved :), thought you might like to see the goodies :)! I got a full length mirror, a book about High spirited children (have one of those), and a gift card to Blockbuster from my parents :)! I got a gift card to "Carousel", some stamps from my brother, his wife and son...going to wait until after CHA for the new goodies to use my gift card. I got a sweater, some yummy meat spaghetti sauce, a Tim Horton's gift card which I am not using until they sort out their issues with their Cappucinno machine (their French Vanilla cap's are watery tasting and it doesn't seem to be getting better, I sent an e-mail to head office and they claim they fixed it...not true). I got 12 Copic Ciao markers from my mil (mother in law) and fil (father in law), boy was I excited, but they are still in the mail so I can't play with them now :(. Speaking of which how does one store those markers...on their sides or on end?? Hoping one of you can help me out with this question :)! I got a gift card to Michael's from my sil (sister in law), and a package of great recycled paper from my other sil (sister in law) :) which I can't wait to use :). From my Great Aunt, I got a donation into my stamping fund :p!

From Julie, (what a sweetie) I got 2 stamp sets and a tin to alter...plus, one of her great cards she makes :)! I can't wait to use those stamp sets that she gave me :), will make something this afternoon or this evening, and post it once I get it made.

Have a great day :)!

Stamps For Sale

I am selling these two stamp sets and 2 stamps, hope someone will be interested in them as I have no use for them...

---->This first SU stamp set I am selling for $10 used a few times, buyer pays for shipping:

This second SU set is also $10.oo in good condition, and buyer pays for shipping:

These other two stamps are $5.oo each and buyer pays for shipping:

If you are interested in any of these stamps please contact me :)! Hope you have a super stamping day!!

Stamp sets that I picked up this past week

I picked up 5 stamp sets, 4 from PhotoMemories (3, stamp sets for $1.49 and 1 $14.99 one) and one from Michael's (for $5.oo originally $21.oo). Here they are for you to take a peek at :), enjoy :

----->I just love this one

because it was cute, and will be great for making little boy or girl bday cards or baby announcements. LOVE the bird stamp in this set and the monkey :)!

fleece knotted blankets

I posted an add on Kijiji Halifax, to perhaps sell a few of my knotted blankets that I make and to my surprise someone sent me an e-mail last night wanting me to make 2 (one for themselves and one for their 11 mos. old son). They are horse lovers, so I found some beautiful fleece material that had a horse pattern on it, and for the other fleece side I used navy blue. The first picture is of the horse pattern, to give you an idea of what the pattern looked like because in the other photo it is hard to tell. The second photo is of the blanket on my rocking chair in my kitchen, wanted to show part of the knotted section :)! Anyways, I found the material this morning, made the blankets this afternoon before I had to go get my son at the bus stop and got it into the mail for them. Hope they will like it and get lots of use out of them, and I am pretty happy with how they turned out :)!!

A card for a friend

I had to make a card for a friend, actually she is the mother of the two boys that are at our bu stop, she was having a hard time and was frustrated and so I felt she needed a little treat. Yesterday, I made peanut butter cookies (ok, I cheated and used Pilsbury but I had to cut them and cook them and of course taste them tee hee) and so I gave her a few of these. I decorated the ziplock baggie, like I have seen on some of your blogs with a top piece of cardstock stapled over the zipping part of the baggie and added a neat multi-layered flower to stick on the side of the bag. Julie would be happy that I layered something again, lol, she's the layering queen. Sorry was in a hurry and I didn't take a picture of this baggie...will re-do one later and show you. I do have a picture of the card I made though :)!! This is $1.49 stamp from another favorite stamping store I haunt, PhotoMemories, and I came out of there with 4-5 stampsets that were at a decent price. I also got some beautiful Valentine's day patterned paper, and 3 acrylic blocks of 3 different sizes :)! The little bird stamp is by Imaginisce, or they are called Snag'em stamps :), too cute eh?? The base of the card is from Box of cards 50 textured cards and envelopes from Michael's. I will post the pics of my purchases later on this afternoon for you to see :)!

Here is a little side note, the ribbon I used on this card, I got from Tracy H. in her card to me a few weeks ago....love this ribbon, love the color of it and everything :)! I also think that the scalloped circle is from Tracy, but from way back when I was a newbie to this CST group, bout time I used them eh? Thanks again Tracy...haven't had my coffee treat yet...going to wait until I have no kids with me :p!