Fun new technique for me

So today, I was able to stop into one of my favorite little stamp store Carousel and take a really good look around...usually I am in a hurry or I have a child with me.  So I came across this beautiful card, I was lucky that the owner was there to tell me how this technique was done :)!  I hadn't evern done or heard of this technique before, and was quite anxious to get home to try it out...she even carried the stamp that was used in the card which I find is a rare thing to do when you got into your local crafty stores.  Anyways, I got home and I tried the new technique out...so I WILL be doing a tutorial on this technique for you all and look forward to doing so :)!  I have no clue what this technique is called, but I will call it the muli-layering watercoloring technique...how's that for a mouthful??  I was quite impressed by how this card turned out, especially on my first try...but wasn't impressed by the ink marks all over the sides of my hand when I was done this.

Happy stamping :)!  Tutorial is on it's way :)!

Hugs,

Catherine

12 days of Christmas challenges day 1

So over at Papercraft planet they are having 12 days of Christmas with lots of challenges and prizes ...hurry on over and don't miss out on this new site :)!  Lots of neat tutorials, places for your photos, and check out lots of other stamp companies too while you are there :).  

Here is my card that I created for the 12day1 challenge, hope you give it a try...

Hugs,

catherine

bday cards for my oldest son's friends

I am not an artist by any means when it comes to drawing things, but I am the crafty sorta gal :)! Lol, my son's friend is into the Starwars things now, so I thought it would be cool for me to make a "Storm trooper" card for him.  Here is my attempt at a storm trooper mask....lol, my son had to even ask me what it was!! He first thought it was a Power Ranger, then he thought it was something from the Rescue Heros...lol. Oh well, I tried....to me it looks like something on that T.V. show called "Animal Mechanicals" on CBC. Se will see if his friend can figure out what it is...lol! 

Here is the little girls card that I made, I LOVE this card...something about it :)! Her bday party is at a bowling alley so it will be my son's first time bowling, he is super excited about these two bday parties he is invited to and is lucky he can goto both.  She will be 7 I believe, so I had to make it girly and princess like even though she is into the Backugans (spelling error I know) and the Pokemon things.  I used some rub-ons that I got in a scrapbooking kit that I didn't use, so I thought this would be a good time to use them...I am not a fan of rub-ons. I also used the "Happy Birthday" Cuttlebug folder, on the two front pannels and then left the centre one blank.

Hugs,

catherine

Bev's blog candy

Lol, lots of blog candy going on here in blogland...here is Bev's blog candy giveaway too...put your name in and don't miss out on these goodies too :)!

Hugs,

catherine

Joy's blog candy giveaway

You HAVE to check this blog candy out, please head on over to Joy's blog and enter into her blog candy giveaway...lots of goodies here to be had.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends out there :)!

Hugs,

catherine

Whimsy stamp blog candy (not my blog candy)

Please head on over to this  Denise's blog  and check out her blog giveaway, you have until tonight 7 p.m. EST.  So hurry on over and put your name in, the stamps that she is giving away are adorable :)!

Hugs,

catherine

xmas tutorial

Okay, so my teabag book idea came to a halt (for now anyways) because it is hard to find those teas that are individually wrapped. Plus, to make my life more difficult it is harder to find a Xmas tea with individually wrapped tea bags...oh well and so it was time to find something else that would work just as well.  Or my other choice was to do something completely different...but I really was looking forward to using the teabag books. 

So my mom came across these bags of coffee at Second Cup (which is a 

chain here in Canada, not too sure if it is in the States or not),  and it is called Caramelo coffee light

 medium roast ground coffee. They are big bags

 like the usual one's you can get from your grocery store, they are about half of one of those bags of coffee..but I HIGHLY recommend this coffee because it is YUMMY and even smells good.  So I wan

ted to do something around this little bag of coffee, but didnt' know what, was thinking a cup holder for a hot drink like at Starbucks. Then I thought I wanted to do something a big more than that, so here is what I came up with for my little coffee bag.  And surprise of all surprises I even am going

 to include a tutorial here for y

ou to make your very own :)! 

Supplies you need:

~2 strips of 8 1/2" by 3 1/2" cardstock of your choice

~ 2 strips of any patterned papper of your choice ( 6 1/2" by 3 1/2" are the measurements)

~paper trimmer

~2 pieces of any color ribbon Ribbon 2 " in length

~4 eyelets

~Crop-a-dile

~Super tacky tape (from Michael's)

~ Double sided tape from the Dollar store

~3 dimensionals

~2 Nestability different s

izes scalloped circles cut out on any color cardstock you want

~ See D's coffee set

~Archival Black ink

~markers of your choice

Steps:

1)  First cut your plain cardstock to make 8 1/2" by 3 1/2 " strips, then attach the two strips together using super tacky tape.  Also attach your eyelets using your crop-a-dile at 

both ends of your 

attached pieces of cardstock.

2)

 Next take your two pieces of patterned paper (6 1/2" by 3 1/2 ") and attach them to the front of each strip of 8 1/2" by 3 1/2"

cardstock using your super tacky tape.

3)Next cut out your Scalloped circle Nestablilities out of 2 different colored

 cardstock of your choice and then attach those 2 scalloped circles together.

4) Stamp your coffe cup image on a piece of scrap white cardstock, then color it in using any markers you might ha

ve. I used my Tombow markers for this project :)! Then attach your colored coffee cup image onto the scalloped circles using 3 dimensionals, and you can use any size dimensionals but I used the small round one's on this project. 

5)  Then please attach the scalloped circles and the stamped image onto your main project, and I would suggest either using your super tacky tape or your dollar store tape. Next, attach your bag of coffee using a piece of super tacky tape to your bag that you made. 

6) Thread ribbon through the eyelets and then tie them so they won't come apart. Then that is it, your cute coffee bag holder/bag :)!  

Thanks for stopping by,  and I hope you have a great crafty day :)!

Hugs,

catherine

 

Teabag book

I was planning on making these for my sons teachers for Christmas presents, but cannot seem to find good xmas tea that is single wrappped.  The Holiday tea I was going to use, is from Sobeys but they seem to not make it anymore. I am going to have to look for some holiday tea over the weekend.

The stamp set I used for this teabag book, is from See D's stamp set...gotta luv these sets :)!!  

Here is the inside of my teabag book, it can hold 2-4 tea bags that are individually wrapped :) and the best part is that they are easy to make. I got the tutorial over on Splitcoaststampers site :)!  I know that the pointsetta petal didn't get all the way stamped, but I thought to myself that what pointsetta is perfect and has all it's coloring the same...looks better in person than it does here in this picture. Lol, oh well thought I would give it a go anyways :D!  Cute teabag book eh??

Hugs,

catherine

snow, snow and more snow

Yup, last night we had a big snow storm hit our maritime region and I think I heard that we got 30 cm of snow.  Here is the white stuff sitting on my back deck, with of course foot prints from my oldest son.  I would say that the snow came up to my knees, and I am about 6 feet tall...just to give you an idea of how much snow we got.

Here is my middle son out for a few seconds to just have one ride down our driveway on the

 toboggan, but it seems his mittens flew off.  My dh made a toboggan run down the side of our driveway, and it is really neat, it kind of resembles a luge run or bobsled run...hopefully this time around it will last a little longer than the one did last year. 

Hugs,

catherine

Masculin Bday cards

Tomorrow is a family Birthday party for several people, and they are: my Uncle, My Nephew, my dh, my dd over at my parents place.  I needed 2 masculin cards for my Nephew and my Uncle, they both like Calvin and Hobbes...so I thought I would make a card for them using these cartoon characters.  LOVED how these two cards turned out, and hope that they will really like them too :)!  Unfortunately my dh, my middle son and my dd are all sick so they won't be there at the party, but not to worry we will be bringing their gifts to them. I think I will also be bringing home some Bday cake too :)!    The first card is for my nephew, and the second card is for my Uncle :) ! 

I didn't get what I had anticipated to get done during thi

s wintery day, because my dd was in that "I feel rotten just want all your attention and snuggle with you all day" kind of mood.  But not to worry I HAVE to buckle down to get these other projects done, oh I did work on a gift for my bdad and his family for Christmas. Still not finnished it yet, and I don't want to take the risk of posting it incase they come to see what I have been upto :p!  

Hugs,

catherine

snow's a comin'

Yup, we are to get 10-15 cm of snow starting tonight and then another 10-15 cm tomorrow!!! So I will actually get some indoor crafty time, I have decided to challenge myself to get more crafty projects going and posted. Lol, think I lost a few readers since my slump in craftiness but hey I am willing to get them back :D! So here we go, tonight I AM going crafty crazy and into tomorrow :)...can't wait to post what I made :D!

Publish Post

For those of you living around me bundle up, get those extra groceries that you might need for the weekend and stay safe :)!

Hugs,
catherine

Google reader issues??

Anyone else experiencing Google Reader issues?? When I log in to Google reader, it doesn't do it's usual thing...instead it is a blank screen with just the tool bar at the top of the page and no info in the middle. Hoping they are just fixing some stuff or upgrading or something, and that it isn't my computer...lol, or it's operater (that being me...tee hee).

Hugs,
catherine

fun pics to show you

Over the past few weeks I have been taking some pictures of my kids, guess one might say these are candid shots that I took of them. I think these kinds of shots are the best, just because they are random and they happen out of the blue when they aren't expecting it. Here is a picture I took of my oldest son, LOVE how this picture turned out and the angle I took it at.

My middle child called me to come into the living room the other day to take a picture of himself and his sister sitting on our couch, and so I did. He isn't one for wanting his picture taken, let alone with his sister but was thrilled that he
wanted to.

Lol, I was in the kitchen making supper and I hadn't heard my dd for a few minutes...I went into the living room where she had been eating a snack in her Calliou chair. Here is what I found, too cute eh?? Poor thing was very tired, and the chair has a tendency to lay back if you sit on it a certain way...lol, so in a way she has her own lazy boy chair :)!

Here is the second shot I took of her, just to show that she had actually slumped over and fell asleep. She stayed there for an hour or more, she must have really needed that sleep!!

This picture was taken 2 nights ago, before I goto bed I usually check or my dh usually checks on the kids to make sure their blankets are on etc. The other night I thought I would check on them, since my dh fell asleep on the futon watching T.V. and here is what I found when I went into the boys room. The boys share a room, and apparently my youngest son convinced his brother to sleep in his bed with him :)! The mural on the wall you can sort of see there is a African sahara with lots of wild animals all over the wall. Nope, I didn't do this mural but the daughter of the previous owners painted it herself and she now attends the art college here in our city. Cool eh?? Wish I could do murals like her :)!

Yesterday morning I had to take the next pictures, because they were of my dd playing dress up :)! She was wearing her daddies ball hat, her beads she got from Julie, my shoes and her pj's ...lol, she looked like a little rapper.

Here is the last photo that I took of her, it was a better one in terms of the lighting and it shows her hat a bit better too :). What a gal :)!

Thank you card

I was in need of a "Thank you" card for a friend of mine, I decided that I HAD to figure out how to use the SU scallop punch and that this is the card I wanted to use it on. Here is a bit of background information about the issue I had with this punch, see I thought it was one solid punch long enough to get the length of a card in one punch (know what I mean?). But it doesn't, it ony gets about 1-2" of the card and you have to punch it 2 times or more...I found it hard to line up and to get the scallops to not look deformed. So I turned the punch over so that I could line it up better, sure enough that is a whole lot easier but not as easy as I was hoping it would be. Sorry about the lighting, I sooooo HAVE to take a photography course or something...or get my dh to rig me up a photo box :D!

Supplies:

Cardstock:

SU Very Vanilla Cardstock, Chocolate chip cardstock, avacado green cardstock from Carousel Rubberstamp store

Ink:

Archival ink black, Archival ink Coffee, SU Bravo Burgandy and SU Always Artichoke, 985 Tombow marker

Stamp sets:

SU Watercolor garden, another stamp set from SU with HUGE daisies in it not sure of it's name, SU Short and Sweet stamp set

Others:

Burgandy ribbon from Michael's, dollar store double sided tape, a dauber, and Cuttlebug folder with branch, Cuttlebug, SU Scallop punch

Hugs,

catherine

Passion For Crafts blog candy giveaway

Please head on over to Debbie's blog "Passion for Crafts" to check out her blog candy giveaway :)!

Hugs,
catherine

Heartfulstamping blog candy

Please, head on over to Heartfulstamping to check out the blog candy that she has up for grabs...she has a lot of goodies :)! Don't miss out :)!

Hugs,
catherine

Question 4 you

Just wondering if any of you have used or heard of the Bamboo writing tablet??? Would love to hear some reviews about this product :)!

Hugs,
catherine

Old Red Barn Co quilt giveaway

Yep, once again Old Red Barn Co. is having a fun quilt giveaway...you could win 1 of 3 beautiful quilts :)! I have added the lovely button over there on my sidebar so you can click on that, and you should be zipped on over to their blog...hurry on over to check out the details for this giveaway. LOVE their quilts, beautiful handmade quilts :)!

Hugs,
catherine

Impression Obsession goodies

Awhile ago I applied to be part of the Impression Obsession DT, but I didn't get it...however, they sent out goodie bags to those of us who applied and didn't get on the team. I used 2 of the stamps from my package I received in the mail today, both the stamped image on the front of the card as well as the sentiment inside. Once I made the card, took pictures of it, then uploaded them onto my computer I realized that it was missing something.









I tried a few different things and came up with this end product of having a nice ribbon going on the bottom of the bush or whatever you would call this stamped image.









The sentiment is one I just LOVE, because I just love the font and the wording of the sentiment...it is something different than the usual "Happy Holidays" etc. I got 5 other stamps in the package, which I will also try to use in a card or two for you to see over the next couple of days :)!

Hugs,
catherine

You Want the Cookie blog candy up for grabs

Yup, head on over to "You Want the Cookie?" blog candy giveaway you do NOT want to miss out on this one. Cute stamp sets up for grabs, and you should see what she creates over there too :)!

Hugs,
catherine

Sheetloads blog candy up for grabs

Take a look at these goodies gals, wow...hurry on over to www.sheetload.blogspot.com to check out her blog candy up for grabs and I have also included here below other options you have to get in on the draw. Cool eh??

Here is how you can win...

Two (2) winners will be chosen during our November Show Us Your SheetLoad (details forthcoming)

One (1) winner will be chosen for simply blogging about this Blow Out (see details below)

The final winner will be chosen by participating in our Beyond the Card challenge (details forthcoming)

Blog about the Blow Out and Win!!
This one is easy. All you need to do blog about this month's fabulous prizes! Make sure your post includes:

- "SheetLoad's Blog Candy Blow Out" as the title of the post
- Picture of the prize (snag from above)
- Link to SheetLoad of Cards (http://sheetload.blogspot.com) AND this post specifically

When you have completed the post, come back here and leave a comment with a link directly to the applicable post. If your blog does not have "contact me" info, make sure to leave your email address in your comment.

The post must be up and your comment must be left here by November 16th at Midnight.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Ben, Happy Birthday to you :D! Yup, today is my dh's 31st bday and we are celebrating by having supper/sleepover at his parents house tonight. Hope your day is a good one hun, and filled with lots of special memories :D!






I am lucky in that my dh is never online, and he doesn't look at my blog :)! So here is the Birthday card that I made for him, thought this could be used either for a guy or girl and also for any aged person. I used the "Birthday" Cuttlebug embossing folder and a sentiment from Michael's ( $1.50 stamp). I also used aobout a 4" ribbon (from Michael's), and I just doubled the ribbon over 3 times, then taped them together. This is how I made the "bow", not too hard right??

Hugs,
Catherine

a swing in the country

Yup, that is what I am calling this card...just because it looks like a beautiful big old tree in the country somewhere that has a tire swing attached to it. I used the small stamp set by See D's that has the tree in it, gotta love those small See D's sets :)...I usually get mine from Carousel Rubber Stamp store. I used a small daubber to daub the sky color around my stamped image as well as the grass color around the base of the tree, I thought it gave it a soft glow look to the stamped image which is what I was trying to achieve. The 2 leaves I got from the Clear Dollar stamp set called "Just Divine", I stamped the leaves all over the base of the card using Julie's Silver "Encore" ink pad. The cardstock, the ink is all SU products and the rest is either from PhotoMemories or Carousel :)!

Hugs,
Catherine

Daisy

Woo hoo, I got blogger to work :D! Okay, so this invitation for my friends wedding is what she is looking for but is having a hard time deciding which daisy she likes the best. Anyways, so I thought I would do something different with the daisy and cut it out have it on a dimensional :)! Then have the stem and a leaf off to the side, I think I like this one the best...lol, but it is NOT my wedding :P!









I took these two different pictures at 2 different angles, so that she could get a better idea of what the card looks like. She only needs 80 invites made, or at least that is what the count is for now :)!

Hugs,
Catherine

blogger issues

Anyone else having blogger issues this morning?? I can't seem to get any of my pictures to load up, or once I do get them uploaded they won't show up on my post. Grrr, anyways....I will try to post later.

Hugs,
catherine

Our IPP Meeting was today

Our meeting at my middle child's preschool was today for us to help the school develop a Individualized program plan (hope I got that right....tee hee), and it went really well. I am SOOOOOO glad that we have our little guy in this Preschool, because they are looking at all his needs and are going to be working with him on his Sensory Issues. HURRAY :)! So, now I can't wait for it to be implemented and am excited to see what results will occur :)!
We are also starting the process of getting in touch with the elementary school that he will be attending in the fall (GACK, boy am I nervous about that one), and get all the necessary things in place for him to go. Right now we feel he isn't ready to go, since he is lacking in so many necessary skills to be there in elementary school....in the elementary school where they expect the kids in Primary to be reading the first week of school. We will see what happens it is still Novemeber, and lots of work to be done between now and when he goes :)! Will keep you posted :)!

Hugs,
catherine

Okay, birders I need your bird identification skills

I am in need of bird watchers here, because I need someone to identify this bird for me so I can color him the appropriate colors. I am not a birder, and so I am hoping someone out there in blogger land will be able to help me out :)!

Hugs,
catherine

Same invite different daisy

Here is the same invite as I made before, just a different daisy on the front of it...thank you Julie for letting me borrow your stamp set :D! We got the colors down pat, just have to get this daisy thing undercontrol...lol...got to find the right daisy.
So this note is going out to my usual stamping crew, any others of you have any daisy stamps please let me know :)!

Hugs,
Catherine

4th card

I think I like this one the best out of the 3 daisy cards that I made, looks more elegant but also the blue isn't really this bright it is a nice shade of blue. What do you think???

Hugs,
catherine

2 more card attempts for my friends wedding invites

This is card #2 for my friend, she loved the "gate fold" style card but wanted a daisy on the front instead of the bride and groom. She also wanted a sky blue and a leafy green color to be used, but I thought I would do 2 different cards to get her opinion.











For the 3rd card, I used a light blue color and also a leafy green color...don't think I like this one here...not the right colors. Going to have to wait to see what my friend says....

Hugs,
Catherine

Thank you cards for my sisters wedding

Yep, here is what the "Thank you" cards might look like for my sister. Just sent her the picture a minute ago, so hoping she really likes it...simple is what I am going for.

Hugs,
Catherine

Christmas card

Here is a Christmas card I made this morning, I used some beautiful patterned paper that I picked up from PhotoMemories a few weeks ago it is by Holly Lane and is called Peppermint stick. One side had a beautiful Holly pattern on it, and the other side had these stripes on it. I ran the patterned paper through my Cuttlebug using my Snowflakes folder. Then I layered every stamped image and the patterned paper, to give it a very festive look to it. The stamped image of sprigs with red berries came from the set "Always" SU stamp set :)! The sentiment stamp there came with the "Season of Joy" SU stamp set, another beautiful set to get.


Hugs,
catherine

Wedding invites for a friend of mine

A really good friend of mine is getting married in August, it is going to be a small wedding and she has asked me to do her wedding invitations too :)! Don't worry I am almost done my sisters invites, and will be able to do my friends next...tee hee I am excited :)!










My friend wanted to have a pocket in her invitations so she could put a map in there, plus her RSVP cards. She will put her verse (or whatever you call the writing inside the invitations), it will be printed on Very Vanilla cardstock and attached on top of the yellow "pocket" center. So here is what I came up with as attempt #1, just to give her an idea of the card....she hasn't chosen a style yet...so this is what we are working on. I am sure I will have more pictures of more cards in the next couple of days :D!

Hugs,
catherine