crafty afternoon

I was asked to make one of my necklaces and bracelets for an Auction that my son's preschool is holding, so here is the first piece I made specifically for this auction. I LOVE it, and it sits just perfectly on your neck...everything on this necklace is Jolee's Jewels, which you can pick up from Michael's. Gorgeous pendant (think that is what you call it) eh??  This auction is to raise money for this very special preschool who does amazing work with these children, and every staff member is great too.

Then I also found this other pendant on a rack as I was on my way to the cash, and thought I would really like that pendant on one of my necklaces.  Here is the pendant up close, isn't it beautiful?? 

 

Then here is the whole necklace, but I am not quite done it because it is missing it's beads on the ends that will be on the back of your neck. If that makes any sense at all, lol :)!  Just need to find the right beads for the ends, then I will be done this necklace :).  I will also be making another necklace like the one that is being auctioned off, but a tad different...will post the picture of it later.

Hugs,

Second attempt at card

Here is my second attempt at this card, am much happier with this card...I think :p!  I LOVE that flower stamp :), okay I will stop talking about that butterfly flower stamp now before I make Julie mad.  

I now have to go off and make another card for a challenge my local crafty gals have issued us, the challenge is to make a card using :

~New stamp

~New paper

~New ribbon

~New Embellishments

~New bling 

so I think you got it now, the key word being NEW :D!  We are doing a card swap of our cards with the gals that usually come to our crafty nights out.  If we wanted to post our cards we could for this swap or let them be a surprise...I haven't decided yet!!  Have a super crafty day :D!!

Hugs,

A cofee card

Here is a card that I cased from a card I saw over on Christina Fischer's blog, so I thought I would use it to make my own card.  Turned out really well, just not the look I was going for I don't think and so I set out again to make the card I was hoping to make. The flower there, is infact made up of butterflies Julie and I got it from Dejahs (enabler alert there)!! Actually, she has a lot of new butterfly stamps...sorry Jim had to tell her and enable her :p!!

The stamp sets I used are from MFT, I also used the SeeD's coffee stamp set and the butterfly came from Inkadinkado (tee hee, now you got me laughing everytime I see that name Julie).

Hugs,

Parent Teacher night, and crafty night

Parent teacher night went really well last night, they told me they were quite impressed with how much our son has changed from his arrival until now especially with him on his diet.  He is now starting to get the hang of letters (picking out the letters in his name, writing his name), numbers, shapes, and colors (patterns) :)!  Before going to his preschool, before the diet he wouldnever ever be interested in these things he'd only be interested in balloons, water/sand play, puzzles, bubbles.  Now he is painting, coloring, doing some imaginative play, is able to use his words now for how he feels and what is bothering him :)!  They feel he is ready for Primary this year ( I am antsy), and we are starting on getting in touch with the school etc. to get the ball rolling to get a team set up for him.

After the parent teacher meeting, I hurried on over to Deborah's place to join a fun night of craftiness with the usual crew and was about half an hour late.  We all decided to start something new at ourcrafty nights, we decided to take turns teaching a crafty project and we had to bring our own basic things (glue, tape, ruler, bone folder, scissors etc.).  Let me tell you, on the first night the bar had been raised very very high as it was once again last night...I am thinking I should have gone first :p!  

So our first project (Val did) I missed, but it was an altered can, and you can pop on over to Julie's blog to check out her first project which I think it is safe to say is already posted up on her blog right now. I did get the stuff to do my own can, so I will be working on that later today if I  have a moment to myself :)! 

 

The second project that Val was teaching us to do was altering a notebook, I haven't altered a notebook the way she did it, just because I never had the patience to or wanted to ruin the notebook.  So I was thrilled to be doing it with the gals last night, especially since I had Val sitting right next to me incase I ran into a problem with it :p!

The last project we did was led by Louise, and what an amazing project it was to do...it was an accordian album (I think that is what it was called).  I wish I had brought my camera with me last night, because you should have seen the one that she made for being part of a DT at one of our local craft stores.  It was gorgeous!!!  So here is what I created, I am really looking forward to creating more of these wonderful little albums/book...thank you so much Louise for this project :)!  

Here is the inside of the album/book, which some of us had some problems folding up to make into an accordian. Yes, I was one of those people :p!

   

We also have to bring a card/project with us which the theme is chosen before the next meeting, and the hostess usually chooses the projects theme. Last nights card theme was Spring, then we draw names...the name we draw is the card/project we get to take home.  I drew Louises name :)!  so here is the card I got to take home with me, I just LOVE her style of card making.  I love all the gals style of card making, it is amazing to see how different all our styles of cardmaking is.  

We also had some yummy food prepared for us to enjoy by Val and by Kelly, WOW is all I have to say :)!  Val made a delicious lemon chiffon treat, Kelly made a maple candy as well as a yummy chocolate brownie (Grand Marnier  was in it).  Thanks gals for a fun night, I needed it :)!

Hugs,

"Spring" themed card

Tonight is going to be what one might call a hectic night, as soon as my dh comes home with our middle child I have to run out the door. My middle son's preschool is having his parent teacher night tonight, so I have to hurry in to get there for 6:50 p.m. (I will be cutting it close let me tell you). I am hoping that this won't take long, because all of my crafty gal friends are having a crafty night over at Deborah's again.  So of course I have to be there too :)!  As soon as my parent teacher session is done, I will be heading over to the crafty night.  Tonights theme is to bring a "Spring" themed card with you (one you made), and wow this one was a toughy for me.  It was a toughy, because I have lost or misplaced my cardmaking mojo *sigh* what a time for it to disappear!! 

One last "must do" on my today's to do list is: goto Tim Horton's and get a French Vanilla Cappucinno because it is that time of year again. Rolllllll up the rim to win, so you know it is spring time when this happens :D!!

So here is the card that I came up with, and I have to say that I cased this card from Amy Sheffer's card that she made today.  Am quite happy with how this card turned out, just because I was having a really difficult time with my mojo missing :p!  I stamp I used is from Elzybells "Daisy Canopy", I also used my Copic Ciao markers to color the image in, and I used Papier Glass Finish for the little chicks egg shell.  

Hugs,

Elzybells HUGE blog candy giveaway

Hurry on over to Elzybells blog, because they are going to give away ALL the new release stamp sets to one lucky winner. Yes, you did read it correctly...ALL the new stamp set releases could be yours and thought you would all be interested in finding out about this great giveaway :)!

Hugs,

catherine

sorry for lack of posts

I just wanted to come and apologize for the lack of posts lately, I started the New Year off to a great start of almost posting a new creation a day and then life happened. I am planning on trying to do a card a day again, starting today but before I do I just thought I would share with you what has been going.

Well, I was tired of just "waiting and seeing" in terms of what is going on with our middle son but I just didn't know what to do or who to turn to for help. I met a lady who had her son diagnosed by a pediatric doctor up in Moncton, she just raved about this doctor and she gave me his office number so I could call him.  I called, I talked to the secretary, got an appointment 2 weeks later to see this highly recommended doctor....boy was I impressed with the how fast it was to get an appointment to see this doctor.  

We decided to take our son off his gluten free diet a week before the appointment, and let me tell you it was a hard decision to make!!  We had taken our son in to our other appointments on the diet, but felt it might be time to take him off the diet so that the doctor's could see what exactly we were dealing with here and hopefully get answers.  Also, these doctor's really don't like the diet and for the most part they don't feel that food could cause behavioral reactions to food...umm...then what the heck is being drunk??

So we had our appointment this past Wednesday morning, our son was his usual off the diet self..by that I mean:

~rubbing his face on the floor 

~rubbing his face on the wall

~touching everything he could in the office

~opening the cabinets

but he also did something new, which was while sitting on my hubby's shoulders (or in his arms) would hang upside down and he spent most of the appointment wanting to be upside down.  I was so glad that this doctor was seeing this!! He told us that our son was a very healthy boy, but he was VERY concerned about what he was seeing and what he was hearing from us...he wouldn't say he had Autism but he also wouldn't say he didn't have it either.  He has referred us to a Pediatric neurologist to get an EEG done, as well as a battery of other tests done...and he also told us that he would help us out any way he can.

I was thrilled with this doctor, glad that we got an advocate on our side that is willing to help us get our son/family help.  However, after a few days of being home I got to thinking (bad thing to do sometimes) that this could be worse than we thought but we are just waiting to see what these tests say. Honestly, I was hoping that this appointment we would get some sort of diagnosis and we would be able to educate ourselves the best we could to help our son...so in that sense it was hard to come away with not getting that kind of help just yet.

Will keep you posted as thing progress here, and let you know when our neurologist appointment is :)!

Hugs,

catherine

the Spreader of love award

Thank you so much Anita for sharing this blogging award with me :)!   You will have to pop on over to her blog, as well as the other stampin' gals I hang out with and check out their wonderful creations. 

So now, I will commence with the rules of this award:
1. The winner may put the logo on their blog.
2. Put a link to the person who sent you the award.
3. Nominate 5 blogs.
4. Put links to their blogs.
5. Leave a message for your nominees.

Here are the blogs I nominate in no particular order:

Deborah

Kim

Yvonne

Julie

Tracy H.

Inkastamp blog candy giveaway

Head on over to Inkastamp blog to enter into their blog candy giveaway, and boy does she have some great goodies up for grabs...I know you don't want to miss out :)! 

Hugs,

catherine

Cat's Whiskers blog candy giveaway

Cat's Whiskers blog candy giveaway, please check it out and enter...lots of goodies :)!

Hugs,

Catherine

ok, so I need your help here gang

There is a wonderful lady, who makes lovely cards and other crafty projects but she feels that she should sign off from her blog for awhile since it is only her sister commenting now and again. Anywho, would love if everyone that reads my blog (even though there are a few) to pop on over to this blog and leave lots and lots of comments please :)!

http://stampingthroughthetulips.blogspot.com/

Hugs,

catherine

Pink Cat Studio contest

If you like fairies then I think you are going to love the new Enchanted Lily stamp set that will be released on Feb. 23rd! In the mean time I thought it would be fun to have a contest to help promote the new release.

To be eligible to win you will need to post the above animated blinkie on the side bar of your blog and leave it there until the contest ends. Then please leave a comment in this post stating that you added the blinkie and also include a link to your blog.

Here are instructions on how to add the blinkie to your blog:http://www.pinkcatstudio.com/AddBlinkieToBlog.htm

Hugs,

catherine

Coffee cup or tea cup

Check this out, I got this from Antje's blog and I sent her off a quick e-mail asking for the template for this MUST have project :)!  This morning when I got up I found that she had written me back, and included the template for this cup (thank you so much Antje).  I printed this template off and here is what I created so far, going to play around with it a bit more then post the end product tonight. I couldn't wait I am sorry to show you this neat idea, lol, that is why I am posting this first and end product later :D! 

Hugs,

Valentine's Day gifts

This year my dh got me about 1 lb or so of fudge (mint chocolate swirl), and we also kind of decided to keep it low key this year. So, on that note I wanted to make a cute little box I saw on Katharina's blog and I got some Cadbury eggs to put in it for us to enjoy together later :)!  About to make another Valentine's bag I found over on  Running with Scissors blog and it is such a beautiful bag.  So try your hand at making one of these boxes or bags :)! 

Here is the box from the side, I put holes in the box using my Crop-a-dile. Then I fed the pink ribbon through, am glad with how this box turned out.  This is attempt #1 with this box, usually it takes 2-3 attempts before I get it right. I think next time I will use patterned paper instead of plain cardstock :)!  

Hugs,

A Load of Old blogocks blog candy giveaway

If you are owners of a Nintendo DS then this blog candy giveaway is for you, please hurry on over to A Load of Old Blogocks and enter :)!

Hugs,

catherine

Whimsical Butterfly blog candy giveaway

Please head on over to the Whimsical Butterfly blog, because one lucky person will win the ENTIRE "Oooh La la Collection" courtesy of Stampavie and just for those of you who don't know that is 10 stamps :o!

Hugs,

Valentine's for my boys

Here are 3 of the 40 some odd Valentine's that I made for my son's to hand out to their friends in the next 2 days :)! Okay, so perhaps I did go a little overboard and made them very elegant looking but that's how I wanted to do them :)!

Hugs,

Look mommy I am in a picture frame

I got my 2 son's out the door to play outside for abit since it is a beautiful sunny somewhat cold day out here, and as my middle son finished putting his toque on he declares:  "Look Mommy I am in a picture frame!"  Lol, so I just had to take a picture of him with his picture frame hat on :)!  I laughed so hard once he left the house, the things they say...

Hugs,

catherine

Oliver's Bday card

Our neighbours son is going to be having a Bday party next weekend, we were invited and I needed a card for him. I found this great stamp set by Martha Stewart, that has: planes, boat and a car plus a few stars and numbers :)!  Cute set, and I think a must have...I used a gift card from my bday for this set.

Hugs,

catherine

Thank you card

Okay, so I am really unsure about this "Thank you" Card that I made a few minutes ago...dunno what it is...it is either missing something or I just didn't do it right. Or perhaps I am just not happy with how it turned out...thinking I am going to have to play with this set a bit more.Lol, so I am hoping a fresh pair(S) of eyes will be helpful :)!

The patterned paper you see here, comes on a roll and I picked it up and another roll at one of my crafty stores Carousel. It is pretty thin and delicate paper, so you need to be gentle with it or it will tear easily but isn't it just gorgeous???

The stamp set is from the new "Hero Arts" 3 Japanese girls set and the clear single girl set.

Hugs,

my new crafty bag

Here is a crafty bag my mother in law just finnished making for me for an xmas gift. She doesn't have a blog to enter into Nicole's giveaway, so I am kind of doing it for her :p (sort of also a way to say thank you for making this bag too).  Here is the outside of the bag, and it has pockets of varying sizes all aroung the outside and in.

This picture is of the inside of the bag, yep it comes out, it just velcros into the bag :)!  It also has pockets all around this centre part, how cool is that?? 

This last picture is of the inside of the bag, am 

trying to show you all the pockets in this bag...great crafty bag :).  I bought the pattern at my local fabric store, and it is the only crafty bag that has a pattern for it.  Mcalls makes the pattern :)!

Hugs,

Catherine

my first attempt for drawing something using my tablet

So here is my first attempt at playing around trying to draw something using Photoshop, now I did cheat a little bit. I went to www.deviantart.com and got a few brushes to help me out, like: wings, hair, hands. I tried to draw hands, hair and eyes and it just wasn't working for me...but anyways, here is what I created using Photoshop and my Bamboo fun tablet. Neat eh??

Hugs,

catherine

Still the Same girl blog candy giveaway

Hurry on over to this gals blog because she is giving away a MUST HAVE stamp set and she is going to be drawing on Thursday :)!

Hugs,

catherine

I am 31 today :)!

 Yep, I turned 31 today :o *gasp* I know...shocker :p!  I didn't mention it this morning, because things just didn't start out well...I woke up to  "Honey, can you please come here and clean up your dd because she threw up in her bed (plus, everywhere else?"  So I had to give the poor girl 4 baths (might have to give her another one later), just to get her totally cleaned up...and when he said it was everywhere it was.  It was in her ears, in her nose, in her hair...poor thing...was so upset too, I think it scared her more than anything :(!  All the schools were cancelled today all over the province, I decided I would keep my middle son home from school today too because of the snow storm.  So when I decided that, it meant my bday stamping errands (tee hee, hubby unawareness program) were Kaboshed for today and we just stayed home keeping safe and warm. I would have to say that the start to being 31 wasn't good...but the good news is that we are all safe at home and I am going out Thursday night with some of my friends to celebrate.  Sadly, Julie won't be able to join us because she and her girls are all fighting colds/flus :(! 

You are probably wondering what I got, well...I got my family gifts last week at a joint family bday party at my parents house and here are some of the things I got:

~Michael's gift card

~Chapters bookstore gift card (one from my brother and family...plus I got one today from my sister in law)

~Visa gift card

~some donations to the stamping fund 

~a crafty 

bag that I posted a week ago

Now for what my dh is getting me :)!  He is getting me a score-pal, and he is making me a photo tent...how cool is that????  I have been using whatever I had at the time, like:

~blankets

~shelves

~pieces of computer printer paper

~chairs

Can't wait to have the photo tent :)! That means I will have to take a photography course then :p! Well, thanks for stopping by...and sorry this post sounded kinda sad but things are good :)!

Hugs,

patience is what is needed

The other night I lent out 2 of my stamp sets to Kim and Deborah, so Kim let me borrow 2 of her sets and this card was made from one of her 2 sets.  Yes, I know I am CRAZY to even consider or let the thought cross my mind or even doing this...but I did. I cut out by hand this intricate flower vine stamped image, that is after  I colored it all in first :p!!  By this picture it looks like I only cut out part of it, but I didn't...I cut it ALL out :)!! LOVE this card, and how it turned out!! I did try it out on 2 other card bases that I made, but it just didn't look right to me and so I just had to break out my Label 1 Nestabilities for this project.

Hugs,

Mommy and Daddy Blog Ipod touch giveaway

Mommy and Daddy blog is giving away an Ipod touch phone, so if interested I suggest running over there and checking this giveaway out :)!

Hugs,

catherine