Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Clifford the big RED dog


Yep, this is supposed to be Clifford the BIG red dog :)..cute eh??? Why am I making a huge deal about this picture?? Well, my son doesn't make me pictures...he doesn't like to color or draw but today he made me this. When he does draw or color, you should see the concentration involved and he doesn't color outside the lines either. He is 4 and just had his first day at Preschool, he had a really good day today and can't wait to go back on Thursday. Had to share with you this special picture :)!
Hugs,
catherine

Guess what this is?????


Okay, for a really really good blog candy contest....here's what you have to do...is tell me what my dh has made for me, it is what he is holding in this picture. You have until Friday morning to give me your answers and I will get you a rockin prize...yep, I said rockin I know :p! So what is this thing a-ma-jigger???
Let the games begin:
Hugs,
catherine

Monday, August 25, 2008

lack of posts

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, busy getting my 2 boys ready for Pre-school and also Primary so please hang a few more days...don't give up on my blog just yet :)! I have made a card, but I can't show it to you since it is part of a challenge that Deborah one of my stamping buddies has put out to our usual stamping crew. Make a "interactive card, with bling" was her challenge...so I have a neat card to share with you Friday morning, and can even give you directions on what I did...and perhaps a link to the video clip I used to make this card. Take care and thanks for putting up with me...my lack of posts....

Hugs,
catherine

my oldest son and his lemonade stand



My son had one of his school friends over to our house on Friday, and they decided that they wanted to have a lemonade stand. Here are my 2 sons up at their lemonade stand, you have to understand that we live on a very busy road and we have sort of a hidden driveway. So I expected one or two cars to stop, but nope...we had lots of cars/trucks stop...I couldn't believe it and neither could the kids. My son did the lemonade stand for 2 more days, and he was thrilled to pieces because he made $20 with this endeavor of his. He told me today he is going to hold off a few days, then start it up again...you know to give everyone a break from lemonade purchasing so they can get more quarters. Lol, he is too funny!! Here is a picture of my other son at the lemonade stand, hollering "Extra, Extra get your lemonade here!" He also is pouring the lemonade into the cups as he is hollering as cars pass by our driveway, too cute.


Hugs,
catherine

Diana's Painted rocks


A friend of mine painted this rock for my dd, my dd LOVES Fifi and the flower tots on T.V. :)! My friend Diana, paints rocks and sells them...she also painted a rocking chair for my dd with Fifi on it and my dd sits in it as much as she can. Here is the picture of the rock that Diana made for my dd, if you are interested in seeing more pictures of the rocks that my friend makes then just send me a message.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

One of those kinds of days, lol



I had this martini glass stamp that I wanted to use, I got it in my latest blog candy winnings, and I wanted to use it to make a card today. I found the perfect sentiment for this card, but I am NOT going to tell you what it is...you will just have to read it yourself :)! I also used a new Cuttlebug folder that I got, it might not be one of the "new" one's but it is new to me and my collection :).
Here is the inside of the card, so that you can see the sentiment I chose for this card...tee hee, I thought it was great and couldn't have been a better one :D!!! Oh darn it all, just noticed the eyelet isn't centered...sigh...lol, thought it was when I put it in...but in this picture it isn't. LOL, at least it fits the cards theme..."Don't ask it's been one of those days!"




Hugs n' happy creating,

Catherine

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Another Christmas card and a Asian looking card




Here are two more cards that I made this morning, after I made a large batch of THE BEST chocolate chip cookies...but this time I used Score Bits and chocolate chips in the cookies.


The stamp I used Kim picked up for me at Photo Memories, but they had to order it in for us and it finally came in :)! I used my Square scallop Nestabilities for the frame of my stamped image, then a gel pen to make the dots. The patterned paper is from SU, and I colored the image with my Copic Ciao markers and also some of my SU markers. Thanks, Kim for this stamp it is beautiful...and you are such a sweetie :)!


Here is the second card that I made this morning, I made it using a stamp by Stampabilities and I got it at Carousel :)...it was one of those stamps that you just can't leave behind. I didn't use ink pads to ink the stamp, I actually went old school (lol) and I used the SU markers to ink up the stamp. Turned out better than what I thought it would, and I used some great watercolor paper from Carousel too. The patterned paper on this card is from K&Company pad of paper that I got from Walmart for $9.97 I think it was. They had 4-5 different pads of paper there that you could choose from, and I picked up 2 of the pads that I liked the best.


Here is a picture of my dd, looking like a girly girl ...she doesn't like it when I put her hair up and she usually pulls out the hair clips or the pigtails that I have in her hair. This morning she left them alone...and so I just had to take a picture of her with her pigtails in since I didn't know when I would get them in again. Cutie Pie :)!


Monday, August 18, 2008

Projects





I wanted to make this card for someone who sent me a little something in the mail the other week, and I also wanted to send them a little surprise in the mail to go with the card. Hope they like it, you will find out in due course as to whom I sent this to :)! I used a new background stamp that I picked up from Carousel Rubberstamp store







My oldest son was invited to his little friends bday party over the weekend, we were unable to attend. I wanted this card to be as girly as I could make it :), for her gift I made one of my wire necklaces...of course that was also pink.




Here is another card that I made for a little boy named Cody, he was just diagnosed with having a tumor the size of an orange on his kidney. He is in surgery now to remove it, and we do know it is cancerous. I am planning on making up a huge basket of goodies to send along to him, his family....like a few meals, some toys etc. Please keep this family in your prayers, this little boys mom is also expecting in September...





I wanted to make this a fun and kind of different kind of card, I added the Cuttlebugged monkey peeking out after I finished the card. Lol, yep...I did what Julie does sometimes (frequently), take the card apart and addit :). I have also decided to get a plain shirt, paint my kids hands and perhaps a few of Cody's other friends hands and put them on the shirt for him...hope it will work out well...will let you know. Will also keep you posted on the news on Cody!!



I also picked this House Mouse stamp up from Carousel (one of my places I haunt for my crafting/card making goodies), and wanted to use it to make a card for Cody's parents. I used one of the new Cuttlebug folders (the birds and swirls), for the front of this card, and used my circle Nestabilities (both the classic and the scallop). I used my SU markers and my Copic Ciao's to color in the House Mouse image, which turned out really beautiful. Sorry this picture doesn't do it justice that is for sure, because it is really bright and pop's off the page. I can't wait to use this stamp again :D!






Over the weekend I was talking to my dh about needed a storage container or shelf for all my SU stamp pads...to which he replied and how many do you have?? Or do I want to know??? Lol, I said I only had 11...so he said that wasn't as bad as what he thought I had...which is good for me because that means I have room to grow my collection :p! He took one of my ink pads out to the garage with him, and several hours later this is what he emerged with...my dh rocks!!! Next he's hopefully make Julie and I a storage unit for our cardstock :)...don't worry Julie he didn't forget!!!




Here is a Xmas ornament that I made this morning actually out of another wonderful stamp I got from Carousel the other day, and I wanted to do something with it today. I used my Nestabilities scalloped circle for this ornament, I stamped and cut out the bird image twice...then I used dimensionals to raise the bird off the page. LOVE this bird image too...going to make more ornaments with this image I think :)...what ideas for this stamp do you have??? I think I will try embossing this bird next, perhaps emboss it using gold powder :)!! Will have to use brighter colors the next time I do this...


Here is another card that I made this morning, as I waited for the silly computer store to call me back to let mw know that my computer was done. I also got this stamp about 2 mos ago from Carousel, and thought it was high time that I used it. My dd really liked the little girl picking up the shells, she picked up the card and tried to make off with it...but before she did I took this picture of her holding it. Too cute :)!
Hugs and happy creating,
Catherine




MIA

Sorry, for being MIA for the past week...my computer got a weird virus type thing and it started to slowly delete all it's programs. I guess if I had left my computer alone, it would have lost everything on it and would be left with a "Start" button on the bottom of the left hand corner and it would work. Soooo, I took my computer into the shop to get fixed and am now back with lots of projects that I created over the weekd :)!



Hugs,

catherine

Sunday, August 10, 2008

A Thank you gift


I needed a card and a little something to say thank you, to a friend of mine whom has been helping us on our quest as to what is going on with our middle child. Whether it be who we should call next, books to read, flash cards, or a e-mail to say hello...
Here is the card that I made for Kelly, and I used the same patterned paper that I made my "wish list" notepad out of....LOVE this paper. Going to have to hold on to it as long as I can :p! Then here is the necklace that I made for her too...going to have to goto the "Bead Pod" to see what kinds of beads and stuff they have.
This afternoon was a annual picnic for Autism Awareness, so we met up with Kelly and had a great afternoon full of : bouncy castle type things, balloons, games with prizes and food. Thanks Kelly for everything...hope you liked your new necklace :)!


Hugs,
catherine

Saturday, August 9, 2008

I wish I may, I wish I might.....


So the yesterday I was talking to Julie (www.mutchtostamp.blogspot.com), I know a rare occurrence (tee hee) and she was talking about creating a wish list notebook to put all her stamping wish list wants into it. So if her dh wanted to get her something all she would have to do is hand him the book...or if she wanted to order something then she could goto this same book too :)! So I thought what a great idea, and I would follow suit or copy or case or whatever you want to call it her project idea of making one of these "Wish List" notebooks and I had just the paper to do it with :)! I am soooooo thrilled with how this project turned out, just need tabs for the different sections that I want to have in this notebook :)!!
Here is a run down of this notebook and what I used for it, I did NOT use any stamps :o*gasp*! That is beautiful patterned paper that I got out of the large pad of patterned paper that I picked up from WalMart. It was out of the Designer paper, by K&Company and I paid $9.97 for 36 sheets. I thought that this would look beautiful on the notebook I was creating :D! Then I added a K&Company ladybug sticker on one of the stems, I used my Paper Studio scallop Punch and my SU 1 3/8" circle punch. Might add something else to the coils of the notebook, but we will have to see...

Hugs,
Catherine

Bday cards


Here are the two cards I made for the Bday party tonight, I am not one for making masculine cards (going to have to get more stamps in that category so it will be easier to make these cards perhaps). Anyways, I just decided to use the "Winds of Grace" SU stamp set for these two cards and decided to try out my own kind of technique...it is called daubing. Basically, I used this little wooden foam tipped tool to rub onto my ink pads that I had and then I daubed or rubbed the ink on the paper. The package said it was used for embossing...not too sure for what part of embossing. So I decided to use it for something else, and to my surprise it worked out really well :)! For this first card here I got my dh to tie a flat really nice fishing knot, because I felt that this card needed something else...and I didn't think "bling" would be a good thing to use on a masculin card. Lol!
Here is my second card, I am not too sure if I am happy with it...might have to either get rid of it or perhaps make a completely different new card using my "Boards and Beams" stamp set.


Hugs,
catherine

Friday, August 8, 2008

Lol, too funny

Over on Jan Tinks blog she posted this funny post which I just had to share with you all...lol :)!

"Attention Spouse and Children of Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrators!

The arrival of your wife's (husband's, mother's, or father's) new Fall/Winter 2008 Idea Book & Catalog probably means you won't be getting any dinner, having your socks washed, or your toilet cleaned. Beware of interrupting your demonstrator while she is first looking through the catalog...some people have reported extreme impatience bordering on irritability on the demonstrator's part. Gently remove all sharp objects from the vicinity of the demonstrator...might as well not take any chances. Wait until she/he comes up for air with a blissful smile on her/his face before addressing her/him. Hitting her/him up for an increase in your allowance, a new car, or any other...er...favor is just sneaky, so DON'T do it!"

Sisterhood of Scrap Challenge





I decided to do something fun and something different this afternoon, I decided to do this Sisterhood of Scrap Challenge (www.sisterhoodofscrap.blogspot.com) *sorry Blogger is giving me grief for links*. Anywho, here is the sequence of pictures that I would love to share with you for my entry for their picture sequence challenge!
So the sequence of pictures that I chose are my dd picking dandelions in a field (which I shared 2 of the pics the other day), but thought that would be the cutest sequence I had.









Thanks for this challenge, it was fun :D!















Hugs,
Catherine

more "Blurffing"

So, I saw someone's card here online...don't remember for the life of me who's blog it was...but the ribbon on this one particular card caught my eye immediately...not everyday ribbon has this sort of effect on me. Anyways, I continued on "Blurffing"...now I am wondering who makes this amazingly stunning ribbon and where do you get it?? It is chocolate silky color on one side and the other side is like a soft minty silky green, beautiful sounding eh?? Any ideas as to who makes it and where you get it?

Hugs,
catherine

A Challenge to you

I was "Blurffing" a bit this afternoon and I came across a blog that I read anytime the Google Reader says there is something to read on this particular blog. The blog is called "Letters to My Daughters" check it out sometime, anyways in todays post they were saying that they read an article about "carving out me time, specifically, creating and writing a bliss list- special treats for yourself designed to help you automatically have more energy." They listed their "blisses" and then said "what about you and what is on your bliss list?"

So here is my bliss list:

1. card making/ crafty time
2.French Vanilla Cappuccino
3. Ice cap's from Tim Hortons (only if it is a hot day)
4. chocolate
5. going for walks
6. reading a book at night before I goto sleep (it is a rare occurrence that I read)
7. Listening to music
8. BIG ol' bubble baths
9. talking to friends
10. renting a movie with my dh
11. watching a fav show on tv
12. a nice fluffy bed
13. canoeing


So what would go on your "bliss list"?

Hugs,
catherine

End Products


Okay, here is the end product of what I posted yesterday...am pretty happy with the outcome, but I think that some more playing around with the images has to be done if I do this project again. The grass seems too bright..gotta find the right grass color, or perhaps I will actually watercolor next time. Let me know what you think please, I would love to hear what you have to say :)!
Lol, now that I see the pictures posted on here...I am VERY happy with the turn out of this first project. I did look for a darker wooden frame in this size, but they didn't have any and so I had to settle for this color. Wow, they look sharp...I think I will do watercolor on the second canoe on shore image and not use markers!!


Happy creating :)!

Hugs,
Catherine

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Second image


Here is the second image that I will be using to frame I think, still not sure yet though...might have to play around a bit more with this image.
I think I am going to cut out some other paddles, and make them 3D looking and maybe even the side of the canoe that you can see (the red part).
Oh, I dunno...

Hugs,
catherine

No Peeking Bernie

Lol, I doubt that my father in law is peeking here on my blog...but you just never know :p! Okay, now for some background information for you before I tell you my idea and see what you think of it. My Father-in-law is an avid canoeist, actually we all are in this family pretty much...well not so much the extended family (Aunts and Uncles) and so I thought that I should find 1-2 rubber stamps that were about canoing. I looked online, I finally found 2 stamps that I really really liked and thought my Father-in-law would like too...I got them in the mail yesterday too :D! Yep, I had a pretty good mail day yesterday :)!
I stamped out the image onto some watercolor paper, then colored in the image using various markers that I had and so now here is what I am thinking of doing. Oh yeah one thing I forgot to say was this is for my Father-in-laws Bday prezzie, sorry my morning Tims hasn't kicked in yet :P! So I was thinking of coloring in the images I stamped out, then going out to find 2 nice small frames that the images would fit in and frame them for him. What do you think????? Cheesy, corny, bad idea?? Let me know plz :)! So here is what I have done so far, and I wanted to share it with you to give you an idea of the image I am working with first...but had to put it down here at the bottom of my post in case my Father-in-law started to read my blog. Nice image eh?? Okay, so I am not a professional coloring expert here...but I still LOVE this image...



Hugs,
catherine

TY TY TY TY gals


A few weeks ago I won some blog candy from www.janesaddiction.typepad.com , and it arrived yesterday in my mail :)! Lookie what was in the package :)! I received a sheet of clear acrylic stamps, a sticker sheet with sentiments on it, a Copic sketch marker, a martini stamp, 3 other little stamps and a technique booklet. I am sooooo excited and I can't wait to play with the stuff I received in the mail :)! The large sheet of acrylic stamps had a theme...it was a party theme. Kinda neat, will post some pics later of some creations using this stamp set!! Sorry, I tried several times in different lighting to get a picture of the large sheet of acrylic stamps but it wouldn't work. Will just have to create lots of projects with them for you :p!






Then I also received in the mail this beautiful card from Tracy H., which was a nice surprise :)! Both of these gals made my day, thank you so much to you...BIG *HUGS*!!

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's cottage


We were away this past weekend at my parents cottage, since it was a long weekend and all :)! Here are just a few of my favorite pictures that I took over the weekend and thought I would share them with you since I haven't been crafty. But never fear crafty time is near, lol, oh brother that was corny. I have to be crafty tomorrow since my Father-in-law and my dh's uncle are having Bdays coming up...have GOT to do something.

This first picture is of my 4 year old son, who is lying on a teeter totter at the small playground just down from my parents cottage. My kids and their friends spent a lot of time at this playground over the weekend...our ds was drawn to the teeter totter though.
Here is my dd waving at Grandpa (aka. Boppy or something close to it), who is sitting across the playground sitting on a picnic table talking to a friend of his or a fellow cottage owner. She was enjoying swinging, then just happened to spot my dad and started to get all excited :)! Too cute :)!



My poor dd not feeling well at my parents cottage community annual "Hot Dog" day, so much so she slept through the whole event and didn't wake up until everyone was packing up to go. My parents cottage is one of 30 or so cottages in a little community, and it is a beautiful spot to grow up during the summers. I have been going there since I was a baby, same with my mother and her family...kind of neat eh? It is like our own personal "Neverland" :D! We still don't know what is going on with our dd, she was seen by the duty dr. tonight and she said she hadn't seen this sort of thing before. But to put Benadryl cream on it...if she gets worse bring her back!!!



Here is a great picture, because this picture brings back a lot of memories for me at my parents cottage...this is a picture of my 2 sons and some of their friends playing on 2 large rocks. They called it "The Witches Cave", I don't think my crew had a name for it when we used to spend hours on these rocks hiding from the adults and running through our forest pathway systems we had. See what I mean by "Neverland"???




I just happened to look up from talking to one of the fellow mom's and a good friend of mine, when I saw my son just gazing off into no where...I just had to have that picture. So here he is deep in thought or something, just lying on one of those big rocks I mentioned above and you can see in the other picture. Although he sort of has a goofy look to him, which I didn't notice until I posted the picture on here...lol!




Here is a picture of my dd wearing her sun hat, and she is getting ready to go over to the playground...to get some of that nice foggy misty seaside air. She sort of reminds me of Strawberry Shortcake , perhaps it is all the pink she has on :p!






My older son is walking across the playground with a Hot dog and a pop in his hand, trying to eat it as fast as he can so that he can go back and play with his friends. Lol, unfortunately he doesn't look too happy in this picture...oh well...it is a hit or miss thing at this age :)!





This picture is a good one, this is my 4 year old trying to be a rescue hero and he is wanting to try and rescue me. I am apparently the princess, even though I was unaware of this adventure and the fact I was in it. I am not even in this picture but this is what he told me when I went over to talk to him, however he was kind of stuck in the tree and needed the "princess" to save him. Sounds like a new good "Fairy Tale", that should be written..I think it would sell lots of copies....of how the Princess saves the noble prince..lol :p! What do you think??





My sons decided that they wanted to go say goodbye to their friends, and so they felt a loud banging parade was in order. So my oldest got 2 of Grandma's water jugs, and started banging them together...our middle son used a ball to bang with his hands.







I realized that most of my pictures if not all my pictures were of the children, so I decided that I had better take one of my parents with the kids too. Here is part of the beach that we played on for a bit, that is if it wasn't raining or lightening out!!! My parents are helping my dd down the ramp, she was having a hard time getting down to the beach and so they offered to help her :)!





We decided that we should go down to the beach to play in the sand before we all piled into the van to come home, and my dd wasn't too fond of a BIG dog that was there. She thought grabbing the closest thing, which was Grandpas leg was a good idea and to hold on for dear life. Plus, she wasn't too sure of this somewhat damp and sticky sand :)!










Then she thought that Grandma's leg just might be better, and she also thought that she needed a hug. Plus, I think she thought if she went with Grandma that perhaps she would be able to sneak into the water...that is until she spotted the seaweed moving in the water. Guess it is snuggle time, and a great time to take advantage to get a hug out of it too :)!





Here is my oldest son and a little girl that he also became friends with over the weekend who is just a little bit younger than he is, they are running up to the playground together. Thought this was a cute picture too :)!










I just happened to luck out and get this picture of my dd, she was swinging in the little kids swing and she was on the return swing towards me. I didn't think that I got the picture I wanted, but I was happily surprised about what I did get :)! She is wearing her brothers sun hat, since he kept dropping it...my Aunt put it on her to keep the sun off of her for a bit. The funny thing is that she would keep this hat on, but not her cute little pink sun hat on that she did have on earlier....






My mom and my Aunt were both up at the playground with us for a bit, they both decided to give the other swing set a try...I don't think they knew I was going to take their picture. Tee hee....gottcha!!!












This is the little girl that my sons made friends with over the weekend, both my 4 year old and this little girl really liked the Teeter totter. Her mother was on the other end, and was giving them both a turn on it. When it was just the two of them on it, they didn't really balance out well!







Here they are again, but this time my oldest son hopped on for a quick Totter :)! Boy was it a hot afternoon, and very Muggy...









Here is my dd picking flowers in what used to be the baseball diamond, well....she is picking Dandelions. It looks like she is in a huge meadow, but she isn't...tee hee! She looks like she is in her own little world there, not noticing the older children running around her making lots of noise.









Here are my 2 kids with the little girl again, up in an old apple tree that is in the baseball field and they wanted me to take their picture! Pretty cool pic I thought :)!







Now for the final picture that says it all, as how well our weekend went and how busy we had been! Lol, but he doesn't look comfortable at all...he slept like that almost the whole way home.