My spidey, princess

So my 4 year old decided he was going to be Spiderman the other day for Halloween, since he got up this morning he has worn his Spiderman costume all around the house. He LOVES it, however my dh and I felt that since he couldn't have the candy or the hot chocolate or the smores at our church that I would stay home with him and my dd. He also doesn't do well with crowds, or changes in routines well either and so we thought it best we just rent "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything". He has been giggling through most of the movie, so I think I got a good movie for him. Meanwhile my dh and our oldest, have gone to the church to help out with the Halloween Harvest for the hungry...which is a great cause :)! I was going to take a bunch of pictures of him, but he isn't one to like a lot of pictures taken of him.





Here is my dd all dressed up in her little butterfly costume, I let the children wear their costumes around the house to show our Early Interventionist and they actually have kept them on all day. What a cutie pie :)!










Here she is in the morning just after we took her oldest brother to the bus stop for school this morning. She wanted to wear her wings over her sweater, and to run around the house with them on. She paused just for a minute or two for this picture to be taken...










Here she is posing for me, little did she know I was sitting next to her taking her picture...she was too busy watching Dora :)!


Have a great weekend everyone,

Catherine

Snow Peas, lol

I found this stamp and another stamp like this one that said "Peas on Earth", I believe that I mentioned them about 1-2 months ago...or perhaps a few weeks ago. Lol, my poor memory...it's sad :(! Anways, the other day Julie and I went to Carousel to pick up all the light pink cardstock she carried so I can make my sisters invites for her wedding. While we were there I picked up this stamp, Julie made me do it...well, actually she said that she would allow me to get it in the post awhile ago. So here is the card I created using this stamp...this is the kind of pun my dad would get a kick out of!

Happy Creating,

catherine

Inkerdoodles Blog candy up for grabs

Inkerdoodles blog candy up for grabs, and if you do go on over to her site PLEASE let her know that Catherine sent ya :)! Can't believe all the blog candy up for grabs, don't miss out...there are a lot of goodies out there for you to win :)!

Twisted Chick blog candy giveaway

Here is another blogger giving away some great grab bags, all you have to do is go on over to her blog : Twisted Chick and leave a comment plus link your blog to hers. Have a super day :)!

Hugs,
catherine

California Stampin blog candy up for grabs

Quick, hurry on over to Alexandra's blog and enter to win her grande finale blog candy that is up for grabs :)! I am hurrying on over there right now to enter....see ya over there....

Hugs,
catherine

beautiful cards gals

The other night, Julie had the usual gals over to have a crafty night and I was unable to go but I did drop off our card challenge that we had to do. Our challenge to our group this time was to make a Christmas card, then we draw names and then exchange the cards we made. I apparently got Deborah's card, look at this beautiful card...will have to get her to show me how to do this technique. I LOVE Deborah's cards, they are always so beautiful and done with different techniques too :)!


Then I also left another card I made for a previous challenge that I accidentally forgot at home, I actually nearly took Julie hostage and drove back home to get it. Anyways, I was to exchange my card with Louise when I saw her the next time and here is the card I got from her. I LOVE this card Louise, and the asian look to it too...she used the "Matchbook" card technique.

Elegant xmas card

I just love these angel stamps that I have found over at my fav. rubber stamp store called Carousel, these stamps are made by Stampendous and here is the newest one I picked up yesterday. This afternoon I decided I just HAD to stamp her out, color her in and use her for a card :)! I also picked up this xmas holly flourish from PhotoMemories a few months ago, it is by Inkadinkado. Here is the card I created around this angel stamp, LOVE it :)!

Hugs,
catherine

This is what 160 or so silver hearts look like

Yep, you read that correctly 160 or so stamped and cut out silver hearts :)! I thought I would get a head start on my sisters wedding invitations, and so that is what I was doing last night while all my stamping gal friends were over at Julie's house. I heard the pumpkin muffins were to die for, going to have to get my mits on that recipe :D *hint hint Julie*!! Tomorrow I will be picking up hopefully some of the Very Vanilla Cardstock and the pink cardstock needed to make about 72 or so invitations over the weekend. Then I ordered more cardstock so I will be able to do the rest of them, then print out the insert for the invitations and then mail them all out to my sister for her to address them all.

Hugs,
catherine

Something new

I am soooo excited to share this with you all, I know this might sound crazy to belive this is true but it is true and I just had to share a picture with you of this occasion. Today was the actual FIRST day my 4 year old son played actually played with his little sister, usually he would rather hoard all the toys so she has nothing to play with or be rough with her. Don't get me wrong that still sort of happened today, but look they are actually sitting down and playing with eachother happily. He was getting her to help him solve a "mystery" as he put it...I think he got this idea from CBC's "Busytown Heros".
I am also happy because today he has used several sentences to tell me what is bothering him rather than whining and getting frustrated, which is a HUGE improvement. I am sooooo glad we are sending him to Wee Care Developmental for Preschool, they have been doing an amazing job with him. We are going to be starting up an IPP program for him in the beginning of November, so it will be an individualized program for him and him alone that we can use here at home too :)!
We have an Early Interventionist coming out to the house now every week or just about that, who will be working with us here at our house with issues we feel need addressing. She is coming out this Friday morning, this will be her second visit out to us...and we are looking forward to seeing her :). She is hopefully bringing with her a "first and then" chart for us to use, as well as a daily routine chart that will both be posted where our son can see it and know what is coming up.
He seems to be a visual learner, which means everything or just about everything has to be done in visuals like pictures...that is how we got him to learn how to dress himself everyday!

Hugs,
catherine

Chocolate mug brownie

Got this recipe from someone's blog, and apologize that I don't know who's blog I got it from. Going to try it out, will let you know how it goes :)!

hugs,
catherine

Serenity in Stamping blog candy

Please, head on over to Serenity in Stamping blog she is having a wonderful blog candy giveaway and I didn't want you all to miss out on it either. I know you can't say no to goodies to add to your stash of stamping goodness, so please check it out :)!

Hugs,
catherine

My photoshoot with my dd this afternoon

So this afternoon I decided to have a fun photoshoot of my dd out in our front yard, and we did it just before the rain came pouring down but it was very windy. Lol, here she is talking about the apples on our lawn and Julie ( Julie wasn't here, but we had just finnished having a playdate over there at her house). "Julie" is our new favorite word to say :)!







She is standing in our driveway, eyeing a leaf that is blowing across the driveway infront of her and she doesn't know what to make of it. Lol, that's her "I dunno about you!" look :)!









She decided she had enough of saying "cheese", so she decided to start playing with some rocks from our driveway and then to start throwing them while talking all along. She loves playing with rocks :)! Don't know how children can squat like this for hours at a time, lol...I know I can't do it anymore.





For this picture she wanted to come give mommy a hug, so as she was running towards me I took this picture and I got her just in time because in the next shot which I will show you her face got a little warped from her being too close. Yep, my lil princess has a snotty nose :(...but then again who doesn't nowadays anyways.









This photo made me laugh, because the angle I took this picture from makes her have a weird shaped face. And no she doesn't have this weird shaped face, lol!







I had to take this picture because of the wind blowing what little hair she has, lol, we always say to her about the wind blowing her wisps. She was talking about my oldest son coming home on the bus, we were about to go get him from his bus stop.







Something caught her eye over on the front yard, whether it was a bird or another suspicious leaf catching her attention I don't know. Either way I LOVE this face she made, lol, she is saying "wow!"


Tonight I am at home (missing out on a fun crafty night at Julies, and yes gals I am thinking of you tonight), but I am being crafty. Yep, I stamped out 166 silver heart images and now I am cutting them all out. Just starting on my sisters wedding invitations, thought I would get the nitty gritty things done with...



Hugs,
catherine

Stamping with Denise

Run on over to to Stamping with Denise's blog for some great blog candy, you have until Wednesday the 29th I believe to enter :)! She has a great blog too, with wonderful work to check out while you are there entering the blog candy giveaway.

Hugs,
catherine

Watercolor Portrait Giveaway (not on my blog)

Please head on over to Sitting Pretty Studio to enter to win a portrait to be done of your child, this lady does amazing adorable portraits. I am also about to add a button for this giveaway too over on my sideline there.

Happy stamping,
catherine

Annual Xmas craft show

So today was the annual xmas craft show that I goto with my dh's wonderful Aunts, we were a little disappointed though this year. Some of our favorite booths weren't there this year, or they were there but didn't have anything new and exciting. The lady who makes the jewlery out of the forks/spoons/butter knives was there, but she didn't have anything new or exciting :(. We are going to another craft show in a few weeks though that hopefully will be better...we will see though. Here is what I did get though, I just had to share it with you :D!







I found this beautiful painting (I am sure I could have made it myself at home), with a beautiful sentiment at the bottom left hand corner. Something about this painting really made me feel I had to have it for my crafty area.... for inspiration perhaps. Or perhaps it was just something that I felt some sort of comfort from by reading the sentiment. The only thing I didn't like about this painting is the artist drew it in pencil, including the sentiment and DIDN'T erase her pencil lines. I was disappointed by this when I saw it in the light in my bedroom...sometimes I wonder...you take the time to do beautiful work, but yet it seems kind of sloppy to leave your pencil marks still on. Lol, hope the artist isn't reading my blog...


The next thing I picked up was really beautiful, and no I have no idea as to whom I will be giving them to. They are frosted round ornaments that are about a inch thick...going to have to find out where to get these ornaments (the non-painted one's I mean). I am not a tole painter, but I think they would look stunning to either stamp on or perhaps even use SU rub-ons with.







Anyways, this is the first one I picked up that had the Chickadee on it. The second one has a Cardinal on it, beautiful eh?? Anyone know if Michael's carries these ornaments (plain)??? Wish I knew how to tole paint like this....




The final ornament I picked up was this adorable snowflake, that was once again tole painted but it looks simple enough to do...lol, probably not that simple. I wanted to get it for my dd, dunno wanted to get her a special ornament she can pass down to her dd if she ever has children :). I so have to learn how to tole paint...anyone know if you can get plain snowflakes at Michael's??

I did get one other thing, I got some yummy fudge but I didn't want to tempt anyone or make anyone jealous. So I didn't take a picture of them...the first flavor is mint chocolate and the second one was vanilla caramel. It isn't the hard kind of fudge, it is the soft melt in your mouth kind of fudge...buttery...okay I will stop.

Hugs,
catherine

Julie's gals bday cards

Tomorrow is Julie's little girls Birthday party, and so I needed 2 very special cards...easy right?? Not for me today for some reason, but I finally made 2 cards that I felt both girls would really love...this is after a few attempts at other card ideas. Anyways, here are the two cards for the gals...my 2 boys are madly in love with Julie's gals *tee hee* :)!






Lol, it would help if I told ya which card went to which girl...sorry...was out late last night :)!! The first card with the daisy is for Julie's oldest girl, and the second card with the monkeys is for her youngest gal...E* picked out the monkey stamp for the card. The daisy card I cased from a card Linda Duke made, and the monkey card was one I cased from a card that Jennifer Ofiana made.


Hugs,
catherine

Not too sure

Need of some inspiration here gals, just wondering what you all are making/giving your teachers and bus drivers of your children for xmas?? I have about 6 teachers for my middle son, and 1 teacher plus 2 bus drivers for my oldest son...want to make something for a few of them. Last year I did Tim cards to the Bus drivers and made a box of my cards for everyone else...

Hugs,
catherine

Same card different ribbon

So while I was out last night with my friends having a good time, we (Julie and I) went to Walmart at 11:00 p.m. to go look for her daughters bday gift. We found some goodies, like for instance we found 2 "B plates" for $7 something which we thought was an awesome deal and couldn't leave there. Then I found some pink ribbon for the cards, so I thought I would change the card I did so that you could get a better idea of what the card would look like. I also picked up a package of 50 Dora stickers to decorate my daughters plain potty chair, we haven't been interested in potty so I thought I would put Dora on there. Well, she "loved" the stickers but not too sure about the potty. So we will see if I can get her to use the "new Dora" potty *wink wink* :)!



Hugs,
catherine

Kelly's Bday card

I went out with Kelly, and some of the gals last night to help celebrate Kelly's bday over at a restaurant called "Stonewall". We had a wonderful meal, and desert...would recommend the food...yummy food :)! Here is the Birthday card that I made Kelly...love this stamp...it is by Hero Arts and I stamped it on to some dark blue cardstock using silver ink. We also managed to get a free bottle of Jost wine too...don't ask...I haven't laughed this hard in a long time, Thanks gals :D! Hope you had a great night, and a memorable bday :)!


Hugs,
catherine

Another take of the wedding card I made yesterday

Okay, so here is another take of the card I made yesterday for my sister's wedding invites :)! Thank you so much Julie for your suggestions, I think I like the invite a lot more...and think my sister will too :)...that's what we want a happy bride. I used silver ink by SU, and just pretend that the green ribbon is pink...lol, then you will be all set to see the "new and improved" invite :D! It is more elegant I think...what are your thoughts??

Hugs,
catherine

Wedding Invite take 2

Well, my sister changed the date of her wedding from Xmas next year to August 22nd '09 and I am doing her wedding invitations. Anyways, we have totally scrapped the wedding invite that I created for her first and have I have cased a card that I saw that Jayne Mercer made...but made it work for a wedding invitation. She aslo changed her wedding colors too to light pink and dark pink and cream/white...so here is what I came up with :)!








The first card is Jayne's card that I cased, and the second in mostly pink is the one I created...I did create another card before this one but didn't like it as much. It was too plain, I also felt it was lacking something...perhaps the "elegant" look a wedding card should have. Know what I mean?? Lol, so please let me know what you all think :)!

Embossing with Nestabilities and Cuttlebug

Okay gals/gents, here is my picture tutorial on the necessary equipment/plates needed to make the embossed look that I made on my card last night. You will need the following:

1 Cuttlebug machine
2 B plates
1 A plate
1 Nestabilities rubber mat
1 Nestabilities die of your choice
1 piece of cardstock of your choosing
3 small scrap pieces of cardstock

So here we go, you ready?? This is how my dh made it, lol...I tried it as I said several times and several different ways but it didn't ever work out for me :(! That is until he came home and did it first try...grrrr! Doing this tutorial with pictures and commentary (well not one you can hear)...




You will first need your B plate:









Next you will need your rubber mat:











Then you will need your 3 pieces of scrap cardstock:












Then comes the piece of cardstock of your choosing:









Then comes your Nestabilites die, doing it in this order will enable you to place the Nestabilities die where you want it and see where it is .









Next comes your second B plate:








Finally, we have your A Plate:


Then you will get the Embossed image (hopefully, I am crossing my fingers for you), in the middle of your card like the one I posted yesterday. If not then please don't get mad at me, get upset with my dh, lol...



Happy Stamping and have a great night :)!

Hugs,
catherine

Basket of apples

Okay, I just LOVE this new stamp set from Clear Dollar Stamps...can't wait to play around with it a bit more :)! For those of you who saw my post this morning about the Cuttlebug/Nestabilities Embossing in the center of your card, I got my dh to help me when he got home...I tried at least 6 different ways and I couldn't get it to work. Anyways, of course when he got home he sat down and did it on the first try...grrrr!! The way he did it was totally different from what the Youtube tutorials showed how to do it too...so I am going to sit him down and get him to show me again...that way I can show you :D.
I have to apologize for my lack of blogging of crafty things over the past few weeks, this assessment thing really shook me up a bit...took me off guard and just had to figure out why it was I was feeling that way. I am okay, don't worry...just had to take some time to think about what was said and what we are going to do from here. I am going to be more crafty over the next couple of days, and I promise it will be a lot of different things. So I need to get back to my craft room, and be my creative self to get some good quality "me" time in there!
So this card's sentiment says the following since it is hard to make out here by my picture:

"Baskets of blessings are coming your way, hoping to brighten and cheer up your day!"

So here we go gals/and guys (if I have guys reading this blog, tee hee), I am going to work on a few more projects tonight for you and then post em tomorrow I hope or tomorrow afternoon. Before I forget, I must tell you that my son's Preschool is setting up a Individualized Program plan (I think that is what it is called) over the next couple of weeks and so I am really looking forward what we will be able to get going for him. Also, we are meeting our Early Interventionist on Wednesday morning...hoping that she too can help us out here in our home with any problems that we might have. Plus, perhaps she can be another advocate for our son too...come with us to appointments to bop professionals over the head...not really but would be nice when I feel I am not being heard.

Okay well hope you liked that card...and I shall ttyl :D!

Hugs,
catherine

Want to win a Quilt??

Run on over to Pigtails and Snails blog, because she is giving away a beautiful quilt...it is her first quilt giveaway...so hurry on over and check it out.

Hugs,
catherine

Julie's Japes blog candy

Please, head on over to a great blog called Julie's Jape's and check out her blog candy that she has up for grabs for her Blogaversary :)! She has some great stuff on her blog too :)!

Have a super day :)!

Hugs,
catherine

Christmas card and a question

So I stamped an angel image out last week, and just didn't get around to making a card for her to go on plus I just wasn't really in a stamping mood *GASP*! Lol, so today I thought I would make a card for her to be put onto and I thought the Christmas holly flourish stamp would look really nice as her background. So I used my Versamark ink, then used some fine gold embossing powder, then used my heatgun (which I am told there is a bettter one out there) and then I noticed something I don't think I noticed before. So here is my question to you, how to you prevent your cardstock from curling over when you are embossing??? I was happy with how my card turned out, but was sad that the card had a curl to it and I didn't have the heatgun on the card too long either.
My other question to you all is what else should I add to this card, it looks like it is missing something....any ideas??

Hugs,
catherine

Thanksgiving '08

Today, we went to my dh's Grandparents house for their annual feast and it is when we see all the extended family gets to see eachother. It is a huge get together that is for sure...we figured out yesterday that if we ALL were there we'd have 44 people coming to this event. Here is a picture of my dh's Aunt Diane, and she is holding my 4 1/4 mos old nephew. She is giving the little guys mommy a break, so she can visit with family and get a bite to eat...







Here is my middle son, snuggling with my dh's Aunt Nancy while Ethan warmed up to the family that was there. It takes a long time for him to warm up to new settings, even if he has been there several times before. I was thrilled to see him with Aunt Nancy, because he is quite particular with whom he will go with. Thanks Aunt Nancy :)!






My dd just loves her new little cousin (we only get to see them once in a while since they live in the next province over from us), and she always wanted to have a turn to hold him. She kept saying "Awww, cute babby!" Lol, it is too funny because her pronounciation sounds like the British form of baby. She was acting like a little mommy this wekeend, wanting to help out anyway that she could. Funny thing is my 2 boys also did that too, they loved being around their little cousin :)!








This next picture is of a card that I made my dh's grandmother for her Birthday, we tend to celebrate her Birthday and Thanksgiving together. She turns 80 tomorrow, she told us all how she couldn't imagine how she got to be this old...HAPPY BIRTHDAY Nanny :)!


Hugs,
Catherine

Some Fall Pictures

Yesterday, we went out to the new site for the children/youth camp called Bayside to check out how the construction is coming along. This camp is a Christian summer camp, and will also be used by many other churches for retreats as well...my oldest son went to the "old Bayside" for the first time this summer. Myself and many of our family members have all attended Bayside at one time or another, and he just couldn't wait to finally be able to go. Next year, will be the first year at the new camp and what a camp it will be :D! There is going to be a nice brick mosaic made out infront of the main lodge with names of all the people who donated money to this wonderful camp. Kinda neat I thought :D!




My father in law is in charge of building the cabins, and has had lots of people come out either through the week or weekends to help out in anyway they can. So here are some pictures I took while I was there :)! This first picture is taken from where the main lodge is gonig to sit, what a view eh?? Beautiful fall colors out there :)!









Here is a picture (from left to right) of: my middle child, my lil cutie nephew, my sister in law, my oldest son all eating a picnic lunch that we packed and are enjoying. There were lots of helpers there yesterday, and they ranged in age too which was also kind of neat to I thought.








Here is a picture of my dd, sitting on a rock...LOVE this picture of her, especially with the wind blowing her little whisps of hair. As you can see it was a beautiful fall day :)! I took this sequence of pictures, by having the children sit next to eachother and then take each of their pictures seperately.








I took my middle child's picture next because he was being so co-operative, and he was having a good morning too. The funny thing was that the kids through these sequence of pictures they were saying "cheese" the whole entire time, lol, poor things had a perma-cheese smile on their faces.






Here is my oldest son, he really didn't want to be sitting here for mommy to be taking his picture. Lol, he wanted to be running around and helping all these men/women build the cabins. That is the type of child he is :)! He is caring, compassionate, sympathetic, a big helper, he will help anyone when they need it...including those he doesn't know.





Here is one of the many group shots that I took, while we were there at the camp. Lol, I couldn't seem to get all the children to not blink as I was taking the picture. OR they just looked away from the camera as I took the picture, lol...the were too funny :)! My mother in law got a few good pictures of them that I have to get copies of :)!








There are the smiles I was looking for, and everyone isn't blinking :)! It was a good thing we went on Saturday, because today is a wet/cold/rainy day.





HAPPY THANKSGIVING again to all my Canadian crafty friends :)!


Hugs,
catherine