Hello!

I just wanted to let you know I am still kickin' around, and that I've survived Christmas. I hope all of you had a great holiday and were able to spend some time with the ones you love. I got to do that, and I was spoiled with Christmas gifts too! I'm a very happy girl!

Currently we are up in Collingwood, visiting family and skiing. I went out skiing today for the first time in about 15 years. Uh huh, I am crazy...how did you guess? LOL Ok so I played it smart and I had a lesson today so I could remember what I am supposed to do on skis. It felt weird to have them on my feet-like my size 10's aren't big enough, now I had to contend with ski feet! I did ok at my lesson, and only fell four times. In an hour. That's once every 15 minutes. Is that bad? I actually had a headache when I was all done, because every time I fell on my tush, my head hurt a bit more. I guess we know where I keep my brains! That explains a lot, actually....

Anyway, I didn't bring my stamping stuff up because I figured the car would be full enough with the girls' and my hubby's ski stuff(and when I pack stamping stuff, I am not a light packer!), and because for Christmas I received the last two books from the Twilight series, and I brought one with me. I should have brought both! I'm already 3/4 of the way through number 3 and I am going to want to read number 4 right away! And it is getting really good! I can hardly wait to see what happens, but I don't want to give anything away for anyone who hasn't read it but wants to. You have to hurry to read it so I can talk about it, ok? I am restless, not knowing what happens!

I would like to send out a big Happy Birthday to my friend Jacqui! Hope you had a great day! I've been thinking about you today-yeah, thinking about how hard you'd laugh watching me trying to ski! LOL I would have laughed at me too, I bet it would have been hilarious to watch! Anyway, I hope you were treated well and spoiled rotten!

Have a great day!

Festive Friday #3!

Happy Festive Friday! I hope you're having a great Friday so far...of course, Fridays get better with each passing minute, because you inch that much closer to the weekend! Even though I don't work outside the home, I love Fridays because it means my girls are here for the weekend, and every other weekend my husband is here Saturday and Sunday (not just Sunday). Also, on Friday mornings I volunteer at my girls' school with the reading program. Every Friday, I have the same 5 children, one at a time, who sit with me and we read. Of course, I also like to chat with them about their siblings, their plans for Christmas, what they're asking Santa for...and so on. I could just sit there with them for an hour and just chat, they are all so adorable! Now that I've been doing this for almost two months, they've started to come out of their shells a bit, so they open up more and have fun. I really look forward to my time with them every Friday.

So, for today's Festive Friday, I've decided to showcase a cased card I made. I know we've all seen a Christmas card or two, but I thought this one would be appropriate because it is elegant and quick to make, which doesn't always happen. I love the Dasher stamp that SU has this year, he is so beautiful. Of course, all of those swirly things around his antlers are just screaming for some kind of bling, which as you may know, I love to use! As you can see here:

I stamped Dasher in plain old Real Red, and didn't emboss him (because he looked pink by the time I was done with the embossing gun). The white embossed piece was done with SU's pointsettia embossing folder. I like SU's folder a lot (and hope they come out with many, many more!) because unlike some other folders, this one embosses the entire card, and there are no un-embossed borders left on the outer edges. It's true! I trimmed down the white piece for this card, but what I trimmed was all embossed!

Well, I'm done patting myself on the back for being on time this week, I'm off to run errands. Have a great weekend!

Donna

An Ode to Mugs...

I'm very sorry for not posting last Friday. I didn't forget, I just didn't have anything to show. The weekend was a bit of a blur, too. I'm just now catching my breath, and only because my youngest is ill, which makes me homebound for the day. Otherwise I'd be running about, working on my Christmas shopping. So it's stamping, cleaning and hopefully baking on the agenda for me today! Oh, and blogging!

The idea for this mug came from the SU mini. They had a picture of a nice white mug with a silver snowflake rub-on on it, and it looked gorgeous! So of course, the next time I was out and about, I checked out the coffee mugs to see if there was one that would fit a snowflake or two on it. I found these ones, and they weren't that costly-always a plus! So I picked up a couple, washed them, and put the rub-on snowflakes on them. The pictures above are of the front and the back of the mug.

This is what it looks like all decked out. Unfortunately, I still have to spray some acrylic (?) spray on it, so the mug can be washed without the snowflakes falling off. I think what I'll do is put tape around the top of mug so no one is putting their lips on the spray stuff, and then wrap it back up.

I'm thinking I'll put a gift card in it and the girls can give this to their bus driver. She is very sweet and the girls love her. When I rode the bus in elementary school (a loooong time ago!), my driver was this whacky lady who used to talk to herself! LOL And every once in a while she'd try to shift gear and the bus would groan loudly. I don't know if she forgot to use the clutch, or it was fussy and only worked when it wanted to.

When I went to high school, I had the same lady, but she didn't seem so whacky. I came to understand that when she talked to herself it was a kind of road rage (I'd be lying if I said I never complained about other drivers, especially when I'm late for something. Which is always! People in glass houses, you know...). Of course, it was a mild, 80s version of road rage, not the scary kind we hear about now. She was, all in all, a sweet lady, and was complaining to herself more than anything else. I don't think I ever gave her a gift, which she would have definitely earned, dealing with some of the kids on our route! And because she came to know my sister and I, and how we were always late-even in high school I was not a morning person! There were many a morning my sister and I got in our workout for the day by running to the bus stop as she patiently waited for us! LOL My sister always got to the bus before me. I always blamed that on the fact that my books were heavier and I had to take home more of them, since I was older and had more homework! LOL That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

So one gift down, lots more to go! I'll be posting some of my Christmas cards on here this week, too. So stay tuned! I will be back this week!

Take care!

Donna

Festive Friday #1

Welcome to Festive Friday! This is my first post in this series, so if you happened to stumble on this by chance, don't worry, you haven't missed any FF projects! ;)

This first one is a 6" x 6" Tag Pouch. It's very simple to make, and it makes a nice gift too!

What you need to make one of these:

-a piece of cardstock that measures 6 1/2" x 8 3/4", which is scored at 2" and 2 1/4"

-one 6" x 6" page protector, with the holes carefully cut off. You just have to be sure that you don't remove so much of the side that you're removing the part that keeps your pouch sealed shut.

-designer paper that measures 5 1/2" x 1 3/4", set to the right of the small flap of your pouch

-scallop circle punch

-snowflake rub-on

-velcro closure

-tags (I used my Big Shot and a tag die to cut mine)

-I used a Simply Scrappin' kit to create my tags and the centre of my scallop circle. I have to say I love how fast I could put this together with the kit!

-and finally, some gems and glitter, 'cause it's all about the sparkle!

Pretty simple wouldn't you say? Yeah I thought so too. Which is why it makes such a perfect gift. Who says your gifts have to be complicated and time-consuming? At this time of the year simple is good!

Ok, so the reason why this one is posted so late, is because I spent today volunteering at my girls' school, and then once we were all home, we had my nephews and niece over for Christmas photos in front of the Christmas tree (yes, it's up already! LOL) and then to dinner and then....here comes the best part of my day---my honey and I went to see New Moon! Oh yeah, baby!! I have to say, it was pretty mushy, but I loved it anyway! I don't want to give anything away, but I can tell you the special effects were awesome! Now I have to run out and buy the book so I can devour it. I saw Twilight and then read the book which was fun, because I loved the movie and reading the book was like a behind-the-scenes look. There was more detail in the book than any movie could offer, so it was interesting to learn some new stuff. So now, having loved the second movie, I am looking forward to the next behind-the-scenes look! I know, it's backward of me. Usually you read the book then go see the movie, right? I actually prefer it this way. Then I don't spend the movie comparing it to the book, I can just sit back and enjoy! And enjoy it, I most certainly did! I can hardly wait for the next one.....is it here yet??

Enjoy your weekend! I'll see you again next week!

Donna

A Couple of Announcements

Hello and Happy Monday!

I hope that everyone had a great weekend! Mine was great, first because I got to spend time with my girls and hubby. We have recently started playing a game called Blokus-have you ever heard of it? It makes you use your brain, it's a fun challenge! My husband is very competitive so I like to make sure I keep him humble by kicking his butt at games(this only works sometimes!). LOL Of course, our girls are both very smart and often show us up by kicking both of our butts, keeping me humble. Secondly, I had a great weekend because I had a fun stampin' day with my girls and some great ladies yesterday (see post below). And now, on Monday, my fun continues! I was informed by my friend Jacqui that her sister Diana had a special somethin'-somethin' on her blog that I should check out. You can see it here, but remember to come back for the second announcement. Ok go, I'll wait....

You're back already? Did you see me? I was the very smiley girl in the top centre photo. Not a bad picture for me, considering how un-photogenic I am usually. These pics were taken at Victopia which I attended in the spring of this year, which you may remember from posts I made in April.

Ok, on to the second announcement. I have decided to commit myself (no, not to an institution! Although....) to a special series of posts about Christmas-only creations. Being the person I am, I had to come up with something catchy so I could remember what day I committed to, so I've decided to call the series "Festive Fridays"! See how even I could remember that? So be sure to check in on Fridays, where I will post pictures, and in some cases tutorials, on certain creations I've come up with for Christmas! There will be ideas for Christmas gifts, cards, and fun stuff, so check in with me this Friday for the first one!

I will be posting on other days as well, so you won't have to wait for Fridays with bated breath for me to make a post! (ha ha) But for sure I'll have Christmas ideas on Friday.

Have a Happy Monday!

Donna

Stamp-a-Stack Sunday

This afternoon, Jacqui, Tami, Laurie, Kim and I hosted a Christmas-themed Stamp-a-Stack. We used the Christmas Jingle Simply Scrappin' Kit so we could demonstrate how simple and easy it is to create cards from a scrapbooking kit. Out of one half of a kit, the ladies attending made 8 cards and 8-3" x 3" note cards. These were the cards I designed for today's event, and I can finally show them to you!

On the top card, the large ornament was covered in versamark then I used a mixture of embossing powder and dazzling diamonds to cover it, embossed it and adhered it to the card with dimensionals. The ornaments on the second card were decorated using 2-way glue and dazzling diamonds.

As you can see, I made smudges on both of these cards with the red ink. I did that on purpose, you see, so when the ladies made their cards, they wouldn't have to worry about accidentally picking up my card and taking it home. Wasn't that nice of me? ;)

Hope you had a great weekend! I'll be back this week with some more!

Top Note Purse

Isn't this so adorable????
My friend Kim and I went to the Creative Festival in Toronto a few weeks ago. There were a lot of great vendors and samples too! I saw this Top Note purse idea there at a Stampin Up display(I believe it was Caroline LeBel's) and knew I had to try it! Fortunately, I was headed from the Festival, straight to Jacqtopia, where I spent the weekend stamping, so I had plenty of time to make this. Not only do I love this idea because it is yet another awesome use for the Top Note, but also because it was a perfect excuse to use my build-a-brads, which I've owned for over a year and never used! LOL
I have been trying to make this card in a smaller version (this one measures 5"x5") so it would fit into a regular envelope. I like this size better because it gives me the room to mat the main part of the card with a complementary colour. Hmmm....I'll have to keep trying!
I know I haven't posted the picture of the Hallowe'en treats I made for my daughter's class. I'm sorry. I spent this last week preparing for this weekend. I am currently in Frankenmuth, Michigan, on my yearly family trip. Every year my honey and me pack up the girls and head out with his mom and her hubby, and his brother and family, and we head out here to see not only Bronner's Christmas Store, but also to head over to nearby Birch Run to shop at an outlet mall. A huge outlet mall. I usually get a fair chunk of my Christmas shopping done here, which is great, because then I don't have so much on my list when I head back home. I love it! And of course, you can't help but get into the Christmas spirit once you've strolled through the Christmas store. They have everything there. And by that I mean everything. You want to decorate a tree with birds? Fruits? Sesame Street characters? No problem!! Oh my gosh, it's awesome there! Can you tell I've already been? LOL
Ok so now I am headed off to go shopping at the outlet mall, but I wanted to post something, and to apologize for the lack of posts this week. It's a lot of work to get ready for this weekend, especially when I let the housework and laundry slide the week before!
I will post again this week. And stay tuned for my Christmas post series....I'm brewing up some fantabulous ideas!
Have a great weekend!
Donna

My Friday

I'm sorry I didn't post my last Hallowe'en project today. My oldest girl was home sick with a fever today, so my plans were changed a bit...I will try to post tomorrow. I had made little somethings for my youngest daughter's class which I wanted to show you, but I sent her off to school with all of them, so I had to wait until she came home from school. Hopefully I will be able to show you tomorrow.
Happy Hallowe'en!
Donna

Crayon Card Tutorial

Good morning! As promised, I was hard at work yesterday, coming up with the tutorial to this simple, fun project. Here is what you will need to begin:

-Green Galore- 4 1/4" x 11" and another piece that measures 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" and is scored at 3/4", 2 6/8", 3" (place the long side along bottom of your cutter)

-Window sheet- 5" x 4 1/4" and scored at 3 1/4"

-White cardstock- 4 1/4" x 3 1/2"

-Ballet Blue- 4 1/4" strip with one long edge scalloped

-Striped dsp(I used a piece from Pawsitively Prints)-6/8" x 4 1/4"

-orange grosgrain ribbon-14"

-Black Staz-On, Green Galore ink, crayons, sticky strip, 1/2 a velcro dot

1. Start off by stamping your image on the white cardstock. Adhere the scalloped Ballet Blue strip to the top and back of this piece. Adhere to the front of the card, leaving enough room for the striped dsp piece which should then also be adhered to the card. Tie the orange ribbon around the card and let it sit between the striped piece and the image piece. Set aside. (note-I've used a piece of green galore only for the purpose of the picture so you can see the white cardstock, I haven't adhered it yet to the card.)

2. This is what your scored piece of green galore should look like. Sorry it's so dark, but I couldn't light this picture and have the score lines show up. Fold the first score (3/4")out (mountain fold), and the other two in (valley fold). Decorate the 3/4" flap with a small stamp and Green Galore ink. It should look like this:

3. Once the scored piece is folded, fold the score in the window sheet using a bone folder to secure your fold. Use sticky strip on the edge of the short side of window sheet(the long part hangs over the crayons) and adhere to the back of the green galore scored piece, as shown above.

4. Using sticky strip, line the outer edges of the green galore and adhere together as shown. Put crayons in your box. Fold the window sheet over the crayons, and use a half of a velcro dot to secure closed. Your green galore/window sheet piece should now resemble a kind of crayon box that is self-contained.

5. Adhere your "crayon box" to the inside of your card, and voila! You are done!

See? Easy peasy! This could be a great idea not only for a birthday card, but a great replacement for sweet treats for a child's class both at Hallowe'en and Christmas, or a great idea for a child in a hospital or home sick, or.... the possibilities are endless!

Wow! I don't know if you are watching the Biggest Loser, but I am, and I am having a hard time with this week's show. Abby on the show just told her story about how she lost her husband, 5 year old daughter, and newborn son in a car accident. Oh my gosh. I could barely contain myself, that poor woman! Her whole life wiped out in a moment. Then, if that wasn't enough, Shay talked about life with her heroin-addicted mother-oh my gosh! So sad, that even as an adult, even though her mother died, she still yearns for her mother's love...poor thing, I can't imagine how hard a childhood that is.

Then there's that Tracey. There is something about her that sets off the bells and whistles. I noticed too, that even though she was jubilant that she'd lost 5 lbs and was out of the 200s, and her team was clapping for her, not one of them was smiling as they clapped-not even Bob, her trainer!! (I just hit rewind three times to make sure that observation was right.) So apparently, I'm not the only one who's unhappy she is still on the show. I haven't watched the whold thing yet so I don't know if she gets the boot this week or not. Darn, the other team has to face an elimination, not Tracey's team. Shoot. Maybe next week...

Anyway, if you happen to make one of these, please send me a link to your project in the comments section, I'd love to see what you did!

I have one more Hallowe'en project that I will post either tomorrow or Friday, so come on back!

Have a great day!

Donna

A Stampin' Up CASE

Stampin' Up has a magazine just for their demonstrators that we receive monthly. Often, they have great creative ideas for their latest products which I love, but never seem to get around to trying. This is one of the few that I've actually tried(yay me!)! I love this Build-a-Bear stamp set-the little girl and boy bears are so cute, and (bonus!)you can use them for either a girl or a boy birthday card. Here is the neat part about this project: as you can see, the image on this card is uncoloured. But wait! When the birthday boy or girl opens the card to see who would give them a partially finished birthday card, look what they find inside:

Isn't that a great idea?!? It took me a little bit of time to figure out how to fit the crayons in there without them falling all over, but I did it! Kinda. Now that the card has been completed and carried around to show various stamping friends, I have noticed that the crayons have been travelling a bit and marking the inside of the card. Hmmmm....so now I have to find some way to prevent that. The obvious answer would be to keep them in the box, but it doesn't seem as inviting (to colour) that way....so it may require a clear envelope somehow...I will be working on this today so that tomorrow you can come to see the tutorial, ok? Yes, I said tutorial! I will take pictures and measurements so you can make one of these little beauties too!

So until then, have a great day, and go diving into your stamp collection to find a stamp set you can use to make one of these! I'll see you again tomorrow!

Donna

My First Christmas Card!

This past weekend, I was in Woodstock with some of my girls, stamping up a storm! Our hostess, Jacqui, has been holding Jacqtopia for 5 or 6 years now, and this was the third year I've attended. It is such a blast, and I really do look forward to it, planning in advance who will take care of my girls, trying to talk my hubby into letting me sleep over for extra nights, and packing my stuff to go. This year, Vicki (some of you may know as Summerthyme Studio) brought these plastic bubbles and challenged all of us to create something with it. You could practically smell the smoke, we were all thinking so hard, trying to come up with something to do with the bubble! LOL In the end, we all came up with very different projects-it was interesting to see what everyone came up with.

This Christmas card was what I created with the bubble. I love this tree from the Snow Swirled set, it is so, so elegant. I didn't have any micro beads to put into the bubble, so I decided I would pull off the "legs" of my star brads and use those instead. Here is what they look like when you shake the card:

If you want to see what the other ladies came up with, and read Vicki's blog entry about Jacqtopia, you can click here. But be warned, the picture of me is not the greatest(ok, I think it is downright scary! LOL)-I don't sleep and I don't wear makeup when I am at Jacqtopia, all of that frivolous stuff just takes away from my precious stamping time! LOL But seriously, consider yourself warned!
As I look at my pictures here, I realize I lost a gem on my scallop circle! I didn't even notice when I took the picture, I notice only now as I look at it...wonder where it went? Anyway, inside the circle it says Merry & Bright. The scalloped circle, and paper were from last year`s Christmas Simply Scrappin kit. I still haven`t used it all, fortunately for me, because I like the way it looks with this tree.
Well, that`s all for today, but I have a bunch of other projects that I completed this past weekend that I can hardly wait to show you, so stay tuned!
Have a great day!
Donna

Bonus post-test tube holder

This is my bonus project-a test tube holder all decked out for Hallowe'en. I first saw one of these last year, and I am finally making one of my own! These are pretty simple, and I will have to post the directions next time for you so you can make yours next year! LOL I'm sure that you won't wait as long as I did!

I don't have any Hallowe'en designer paper, so I had to use my Spooky Nights stamp set. At least, that's what I think it's called. This set comes with a cat who has his fur standing on end, and an owl, and moon and two word stamps. I used to own a black cat years ago. My hubby gave him to me for my birthday. Little advice on the choosing a cat thing--do not pick the cat that's the most energetic, pouncy thing of the litter! That's what my honey did, and he must have picked the craziest cat ever! When he was a kitten, he would bite you on the hand in the web area between your thumb and forefinger, his front legs wrapped around your wrist, and his back legs wrapped around your forearm. No joke! I could literally pick him up and hold him off the floor like that, except that it was pretty painful with 5 of his 6 ends being pointy and sharp! I still have scars from him on my arm...I loved him anyway, the crazy coot, but we gave him to someone who owned a farm, so he could be outside all the time, and not hurt anyone. So back to the stamp set, the cat in this set may have his fur standing on end, but he is smiling, so you know he wouldn't hang on your arm like it's a jungle gym...

Oh, and inside the test tube (which were ordered online by my downline, so I'm not sure of the site, but there are lots of 'em!) I used a package of Sour Peaches. The Hallowe'en ones are tiny, so they fit nicely in the tube. Incidently, this is not a good project for peanut M&M's, in case you're wondering. Unless your objective is to jam just one in there, and watch someone go crazy trying to get it out!

Ok, well, I have to go and get ready for my stamping weekend. Yikes, I have a lot to do yet! Have a great weekend!

Donna

Bad Blogger, Bad Blogger!

Ok, so here I thought I was soooo smart, thinking up this kitty using the same technique I used for the Jack o'lantern bucket. No sooner do I finish my kitty, when I went onto Splitcoast, and lo and behold, someone's already thought this up! So much for my flash of genius! lol

Even though it was not the first kitty bucket, and I am terribly disappointed that my brain is so slow (LOL), I still like him! Isn't he cute? I didn't stray too much from the other bucket, except here I used black paper, I applied white craft ink to the edges, and gave him long whiskers. I couldn't figure out what to do for the mouth and was toying with the idea of not having a mouth at all, until my Kaitlyn suggested just simply giving him a smile. I think it works. It works much better than the teeth I was trying to cut out for him-what a disaster that was!

Since I didn't post this when I said I would, I decided I would add another post today so that you are not upset with me for too long. I am headed to Woodstock to stamp at my good friend Jacqui's tomorrow night. I am hoping to have lots to show you on Monday!

Look above this one for the bonus post!

Isn't Jack cute?

As promised yesterday, here is the project that I finally got around to trying-isn't he cute?? And super easy too-he's made with the pillow box die from SU! Funny, I was thinking not that long ago, that there must be something else that can be done with that die besides cute pillow boxes. Then *poof!* the tutorial for this little guy magically appears! As soon as I saw him, I knew it must be fate, and that it was a sign that I had to give this guy a try! LOL

If you'd like to give this jack o' lantern bucket a try click here to see the tutorial at Splitcoast.

I'm hoping to have a chance to try something else out tonight before I hit the hay, so I just may have something else to show you tomorrow...stay tuned!

Have a great night!

Donna

Happy Bearthday!

This September, my nephew celebrated his 7th birthday. As I've mentioned before, I have a difficult time coming up with cards for males of all ages. Lucky for me, the month of October gives me the chance to practice! LOL I have no less than four birthdays, all male, to create cards for this month. Oh the stress! LOL

Fortunately, I have this new Build-a-Bear stamp set, which works perfectly (well for the boys in my family, anyway)! I love this little guy! The best part about him, is he has a "better half"! LOL A girl bear comes with this set, too, so any card I can think of for a girl, I can now create for a boy, and vice versa.

So for my nephew's card, rather than try to stamp a background, I punched out 3/4" circles in colours that matched his clothes, party hat and balloon, and adhered them to the main card. In this replica of my nephew's card, however, I had a bit more time (what, me wait to the last minute to make a card? never! Ok, maybe sometimes...) so I cut out his clothes and party hat. I just couldn't mask his head and party hat to make it look right. It either looked like he was wearing his hat on his forehead, or it was floating above him!

This picture shows how his clothes and shoes are raised above the bear image. To make the circles stand out, I followed my oldest daughter, Kaitlyn's advice, and inked around the outer edges so you could see the Green Galore circles on the same coloured background.

For the balloon, I punched a 3/4" circle of Real Red, raised it with a Stampin' Dimensional, put a couple of white gel pen lines on it to make it look like it was shiny, and then added more shine with Crystal Effects. I love using Crystal Effects on a card because of the kind of extra dimension it adds, especially to a balloon! It helps make the card more fun, don't you think?

I think I've mentioned before, that I love to colour, I find it calming somehow. Must be a throwback to my little girl days. So you can imagine how happy I was to pull out the watercolour crayons to colour this little guy and his party hat! I don't use my crayons enough, and there are so many different ways to colour with them. For this card, I coloured on the paper, then used my aqua painter to spread the colour around. When I wanted to highlight, I squeezed out the excess water from the bristles, and picked up colour directly from the crayon, and then painted it on the image.

Tomorrow, I am going to show you a cute little project for Hallowe'en that I've seen and finally tried!

Until then, have a great day!

Donna

I'm back! Sort of... ;)

I am so sorry I haven't posted in so long. Last week, I was busy, we were away on the weekend, and now, I have a cold. Being sick stinks! It's so hard to find your creative "mojo" when you're constantly looking for kleenex! LOL So, I went digging through my pictures and found these that I had not yet posted. I thought I would post two, since it's been so long...

I made these with a Simply Scrappin' kit. These two cards were a part of a set of four that came in a special card holder, which I will have to post at a later date. But I have to say, Simply Scrappin' kits are awesome for putting together cards very quickly! Which is a good thing to know, if you're like me, and you tend to wait for the last minute to pull things together! LOL

Well, I am off for now, to chill out and hopefully feel better soon.

Have a great day!

Donna

Build-a-Bear part deux

As promised, here is my other Build-a-Bear card! Isn't he so cute? I couldn't resist putting together one of these little cuties! The dsp SU has for this die is priceless...I just love the plaid on this little guy. It goes so well with his jeans. He has no shoes because his mom spent it on his sister's bling. Poor little guy-good thing he's a bear!

It looks like he's waving at someone-must be the other bears I've been putting together for other cards...ah, but that's a story for another day.

Well, my first week without any girls during the daytime is about to end, and my girls are about to come running in the door to shed their backpacks and lunch boxes in a flurry of activity and chit chat. I'll end this for now, but I will be back!

Have a great weekend!

Donna

When my youngest daughter, Olivia, and I were looking through SU's Holiday Mini, we both drooled over the new Build-a-Bear Workshop dies and stamp sets. In fact, Olivia "put in" (more like commanded!) an order for all things Build-a-Bear! LOL Fortunately, I found them as adorable as she did, so I did order some dies and a stamp set or two, for both of us to play with. When the order arrived, Olivia kept thanking me for getting her the Build-a-Bear items! LOL If only she knew.... ;)

Of course, we were both equally excited to play with the new dies, and we happily played to our hearts' content. This card is my first bear-isn't she precious!?! SU has a special package of designer paper to use for the clothing-so smart! Here, I went with a pink plaid for the skirt and matching jacket, and a green herringbone for the cuffs and shoes (the shoes have to match, after all! LOL). I couldn't resist dressing up her shoes with little flowers, and then putting one in her hair. And since I am "all about the sparkle", I added a pink jewel to her hair flower. Isn't she so cute??

The idea of dressing little bears is somewhat similar to this Barbie designer thing my sister used to have when we were younger-and oh, how I loved to design outfits for Barbie and then add flowers or stripes to the skirt and shirt I had chosen, or to turn a skirt into the bottom half of the wedding dress...I had a lot of fun helping the Barbie drawing get dressed! Then many years later, when my eldest daughter, Kaitlyn, was about 4, my mother-in-law purchased this wooden puzzle set that had different fabrics for skirts, shirts and shoes that you could mix and match and dress the little puzzle girl. I had more fun with that than Kaitlyn did! (I wonder where it is now? hmmm....) Anyway, I have always had more fun dressing other people, both wooden and real, than I have dressing myself! (I really hate shopping for me). This new set of dies and designer paper are perfect for me! I get to dress adorable little bears now! LOL I really do have fun with these ones! There are going to be a lot of people receiving Bear cards from me-and all of them dressed differently too, no doubt! LOL

I've also put togther a little boy bear, but you'll have to wait to see him! Stay tuned!

Happy Labour Day weekend!

Shelli's SIP Challenge

This month's challenge given by Shelli Gardner (co-founder and CEO of Stampin' Up!) was to create a SIP card. That is, a card using only Stamps, Ink and Paper. No ribbon, no brads, not even dazzling diamonds! (yikes!) A tough challenge for me these days, as I like to use embellishments to add extras to give my card more dimension and pop, especially since I am not one to layer, layer, layer, like so many of my favourite stampers do. However, I was determined to come up with something for this challenge, because it seemed it would be fun to challenge myself the SIP way!

This card was great fun, as it turns out! I decided to try weaving, which was recently written about in a Stamping Success magazine (SU's magazine for demos). So I weaved. And it was fun! I used the new Cottage Wall dsp. (Don't those stripes look sharp when they're weaved like that?) Then I ran it through the Big Shot with the clear circle die. As a background, I cut a Rich Razzleberry Scallop circle (my new favourite colour! But chances are, you already knew that-LOL). I have recently acquired the Many Thanks sizzlet die and thought I would try it out. And of course, the Butterfly die provided me with the perfect finishing touch! Normally I would use some kind of bling for the butterfly's body, but used the horizontal slot punch-it fits in there perfectly!

So that's my challenge for this month-I did it! I hope you like it! If you happen to try some weaving in a card, please feel free to send me the link in the comments so I can check it out!

Have a great day!

RMHC class

This is the second half of the class I recently showed you the cards for. I cased this purse from someone, and couldn't remember who, so I couldn't post this without first doing a bit of research so I could give the proper credit. I now know, I cased this from Becky Roberts over at Inking Idaho. Her cute little purse was so adorable, I knew I had to try it. I didn't have the cute polka dot paper she had, but I did have the new dsp with my new favourite colour (Rich Razzleberry!) in it. (you know I had to throw that into today's post! LOL) So this is what I came up with. I was able to use the new clear circle die instead of the coluzzle to cut the circle-shaped dsp for the top of the purse. And, because I just received the new daisies die, I used the smallest daisy with a jewel brad as the clasp on the purse.

So the class I held to help support the Ronald McDonald House charity consisted of this purse and the four cards in the previous post. Janice and Anne joined me last night to put together their purse and cards, and it was a great time, chatting about Disney World and other places we've travelled to. It turns out that Anne and I were at Disney world at the same time this year-and we didn't even know! What a great surprise that would have been if we'd have seen each other there! It would have been quite the surprise!

If you decide to try this purse, send me a link in the comments section, I'd love to check out your version of this adorable purse!

Have a great day!

A Worthy Cause

Here is a portion of a class I'll be teaching this Thursday and next Tuesday. It uses the Very Thankful set on the back inside cover of the catalogue. This is a special set because it is this year's Ronald McDonald House Charities set from Stampin' Up!. That means that every time someone buys this set, $2 goes to the Ronald McDonald House Charity. As a mother to two healthy girls (knock wood), it's easy for me to take for granted that I don't have to go to a hospital just to see my girls, and that I don't have to watch them be subjected to tests, needles, drugs, and operations.

I can't imagine what it would be like, living with that kind of stress, and feeling like there was nothing I could do to take away the hurt. It was bad enough for me when my niece, who was born prematurely this spring, was being pricked on her ankle so the nurses could have a blood sample. They were a-squeezing away on her poor little ankle trying to obtain enough blood, and she just wasn't giving it up! Although she was born that morning, she was surprisingly patient for most of it, but after a minute or two of constant ankle squeezing, she finally started to become upset, and so did I. I actually had to sit down because I was starting to feel squeamish, watching her poor little ankle go red and not bleed, forcing the nurses to prick and squeeze again. I couldn't watch. And that was just one "little" blood sample! I'd probably pass out if I had to watch my girls go through other, more complicated tests. They'd need to make sure the bed next door is empty before they started anything while I was around!

As a result of the work done by this charity, I am proud to be able to offer a class using this set, and hopefully make a small contribution to help those families who have to live with this kind of stress. It's sad that this kind of charity is even needed, but heartwarming to know that someone is doing something to help people in this kind of situation and that I can help!

If you live in this area, and would like to take this class next Tuesday, please e-mail and let me know! I still have a few places left and the cost of the class ($28) includes the set. (dstollery@yahoo.com)

My next post will show you the purse that these cards fit into (also part of the class).

Have a great day!

D

Rich Little Birdy

Here is another of my projects from Jenntopia, again with the Rich Razzleberry! (Have I mentioned yet today how much I love Rich Razzleberry?) I had the opportunity to use Jacqui's scallop oval punch, which I also love, love, love! I was playing around with colouring the rubber stamp with the blender pen and ink. It wasn't as dark as I'd hoped, but I like the general idea behind this card. I am supposed to have my own scallop oval punch in my hands tomorrow, so I am looking very forward to using it a lot more!

I still have a couple more things to show you from Jenntopia, so come back soon!

Have a great day!

Donna

Look Donna! The sun is coming up!

So last weekend, I was stamping with my best girls until all hours of the night-literally! Saturday night, I stayed up extra late with my girl Jenn who had come down from BC and was hosting us at her mom's house. Finally, at 5:30 or so, I decided to head to bed.

Jenn was still on BC time, so while it was 5:30 am for me, it only felt like 2:30am to her. Jenn and I were sharing a room, and as I tried to close my eyes and catch a few winks, it was very clear that she was in no mood for sleeping! She walked up to the window and pointed out that the sun was coming out and mentioned that she wanted to go take pictures of the sunrise. I said I was tired, and tried to go to sleep, but it seemed that my nocturnal friend Jenn was not going to let me sleep. She kept talking and giggling, and finally she got out of bed, walked to the window, and yanked up the blind to show me that the sun was coming and we really, really should go out and take pictures!

So, out we went, in our jammies, with cameras in hand, and we started snapping away. Of course the mosquitos were out, so we would take a picture or two, and smack at the mosquitos bothering us, then take another picture or two, then smack! In between the attacks, both Jenn and I did manage to capture some nice shots of the sunrise. Hopefully this is the last sunrise I stay up to see for a long, long time! LOL

Have a great day!

Razzleberry, razzleberry, oh how I love my razzleberry!

Last weekend was a blast! I had so much fun stamping with my girls! It was a great weekend, and as I had predicted, there were tears and laughs. And there was a lot of stamping! I don't remember the last time I had such a productive weekend!

This first card was one that I had made for the sole purpose of trying out the many thanks die from SU. I also got to use the Cottage Wall dsp, and, most importantly, my new favourite SU colour, Rich Razzleberry. I think every one of my projects from last weekend had this colour in it! LOL I'm hooked! The ribbon on this one was the polka dot razzleberry ribbon, but I flipped it for a more elegant, less busy, look.

So this is only my first project to show you. Tune in for more!

Have a great day!

Off for the weekend!

Hello!

I haven't posted this week because I have been busy getting ready for this weekend. I am headed off for another stampin' weekend with my best girls!! The best part about this weekend is that I'll get to spend time with a dear friend of mine, Jenn! She is coming in from Vancouver, and I am sooooo excited to see her! It has been a year since we've seen her last, and we have all missed her terribly. It's guaranteed to be a bit tearful this weekend, first with the hellos and then, of course, the dreaded goodbyes at the end of the weekend. But, I am not thinking about that yet--I am way too excited to see her and my other stampin' girls! I will definitely have pictures for you next week!

Have a great weekend!

My Tin Challenge

Well, I haven't had a chance to work on the tutorial for the pop-up card yet, so I am showing you this box in the meantime. I will work on the tutorial, though, honest!

This was an empty tin given to a group of us as a challenge during my stampin' spree in Kingston. I can't remember who gave this to us (Diana Gibbs? Kim Pargeter? darn my bad memory! LOL), but I tried to figure out how I was going to tackle this challenge. You see, I'm a tin-hoarder. LOL I have so many tins in my stampin' area, just a-waitin' for me to put them to good use, and I shudder to think that I may not do them justice. So they sit there in my tin basket (and my stampin' closet, and...) looking naked and sad. I didn't want this one to join the group and set out to do something fun with it.

Kim gave me some gorgeous paper so I had to use it, and this was a perfect project for it! Then I realized I had rub-ons in a colour that would match. Ok, my bad memory strikes again, but this rub-on set was the one with owl on it from the last catalogue. I figured out that these words would fit beautifully in the window-how lucky was that? Then I tried to emboss in orange around the edges. Tried to emboss. It wasn't easy, and some of the powder jumped into areas I didn't want and decided to melt and stay there, so there is a bit of a speckled look. Don't look too closely! LOL If I were to try this again, I would definitely use the embossing buddy, and probably the Versamarker for the tin edges where I wanted embossing.

Despite the speckles, I thought this turned out pretty cute. Hey, I may even have to pull out one of my other tins and try again! Maybe not.....LOL

Have a great day!

Donna

Pop! Pop! Pop-up card!

As you may remember from an earlier post, I attended SU Regionals here in London in February. I love Regional meetings-a day filled with stamping, surrounded by ladies who love it just as much as I do! And it was my friend Kim's birthday that day too! Which made it even more special for me! But I digress...

During the course of the day we had presentations given by a few of our fellow demonstrators. There were many fabulous ideas-Stampin' Up! has quite a talented group of women working for them. One of these women, Ally Fereday, demonstrated how to make these fun pop-up cards. Instead of using paper to pop out your image, you use strips of window sheets! Isn't this neat?!?

This particular card was for my nephew's birthday, which is why it was made in primary colours. With an easy change of colours and stamp sets, the possibilities for this kind of card are endless! You could suspend hearts for Valentine's Day, flowers for Mother's Day, birthday candles, butterflies, Christmas ornaments, or, as I made for my youngest, letters, spelling out Happy Birthday, and then the recipient's name. (I'll have to find a picture of that one to show you!)

I will try to post a tutorial for this card for you soon so you can try your hand at making one too!

Have a great day!

Donna

A Crinkle in Time

This was the Father's Day card for my Dad. My dad is an avid golfer and big fan of the game. I grew up knowing all the great players of the 70s and early 80s; Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller, Lee Trevino, Bruce Leitzke, and on and on...In 1979 I went with my dad and uncle to the Canadian Open at Glen Abbey. I have a bad memory, but I remember vividly a lot of parts of that day, and how much fun I had seeing the pros in real life. I had brought an autograph book with me so I could collect autographs from all the players. One by one, I collected the autographs of all these men I had watched on tv since birth! I stood at the eighteenth hole patiently waiting, along with 15 or so other kids, for the players to finish for the day, walk to where we were, and sign our autograph books.

Of course, the one autograph I really, really wanted was Jack Nicklaus' ! I could hardly wait as he finished his putt on the 18th. Neither could another 100 other people who suddenly showed up out of nowhere! Unfortunately for me, there were too many of us, so he didn't grab my book to sign. A group of us kept walking with him as he headed toward the golf cart. One man was walking in front of him, backwards, talking to him about something, like he was trying to sell him on some kind of idea. I don't remember what he said, but I know I thought he was a pain in the butt, and besides, if he didn't want an autograph, he should leave poor Jack Nicklaus alone, so the rest of us could get one! Well, as if turns out, because he was walking backwards and couldn't see where he was headed, he knocked down a little girl, who immediately began crying. He hastily picked her up and asked her if she was ok, leaving the rest of us to our business of trying to get an autograph. Well, now Mr. Nicklaus was at his golf cart, and I still didn't have an autograph! I wanted one very badly-getting it would be like having the goose that lays the golden eggs! And I was so close! So as the golf cart pulled away, I did the only thing any kid would do-I ran after the cart!! Now imagine for a moment, I had a backpack on my back with cans of pop that my mom had packed for us to have. There were still a few left, and there they were, bouncing around, clanging behind me as I chased after one of the greatest golfers of all time! Fortunately for me, golf carts don't go very fast, and I was able to keep up. Once he and his driver got to the clubhouse, the cart stopped, he hopped out, and the 10 or so of us who had chased him down, were there waiting, panting like dogs, and my pop probably fizzing like crazy and being just mere moments from exploding right out of the cans. We stuck out our autograph books and papers, and one by one he grabbed them and signed them. He finally got to mine, I gave him my pen, and guess what?? It was so cold my pen wouldn't work!! Augh!! All that hard work, and running with clanging bells on my back and for what?? Stinkin' pen! Fortunately, Jack grabbed a marker someone else had, and used that to sign my book!! I was so excited!! I walked back triumphantly to my dad and uncle, and showed them my prize! What a great day that was! But I digress!

The only reason I bought the stamp set "The Back Nine" was so I would have something to use whenever I made a card for my dad. I like this set because the style of it is different from most that I have, in that it has an antique feel to it, and the images aren't necessarily ones that you absolutely have to colour. I have used this set a couple of times already, and wanted to try something different with it, so I tried what I call the Crinkle Technique. The paper that I stamped the image on, if you look closely, is antique-y looking. What I did was run that piece through the crimper three times (horizontally, vertically, diagonally). I crumpled it into a tiny ball, then straightened it out. When you look at your cardstock on the side, you can see that the sheet is layered. If you pull the layers apart very gently, you will then have two pieces of paper, and the inside has a softened, suede-y look to it. This is the part I stamped on. This stamp set is perfect for antique-ing, don't you think?

I don't have a Happy Father's Day stamp, and I purposely left off any sentiment, so my parents could use this card for another golfer for a birthday. From what my dad said when he saw this card, I don't think they give too many of them away-my dad mentioned something about having a nice collection of cards! LOL It's nice to know people appreciate my cards-almost as much as I appreciate my Jack Nicklaus autograph!

Have a great day!

Thank you, thank you...

Last month, my DH organized a surprise birthday party for my "29th" (I won't tell you how many times I've celebrated my 29th birthday! LOL). It was a very well-kept secret, and I was very surprised! We started by going to the beach with the girls for a walk along the water's edge. The water seemed very cold to me and my toes, but it wasn't too cold for some-there were people swimming in it! Yikes! Fortunately we were there just for a walk and to soak up the beautiful sunshine. As we were leaving the beach, my hubby pulled a blindfold out of his pocket and I got into the car without knowing/seeing where we were going.

Little did I know that he was driving in a crazy pattern, trying to throw me off course so I wouldn't realize we were headed back toward my mother-in-law's around the corner from our house. What he didn't realize was that after the second turn, we were driving out of my mental directional grid, and I was already lost! He kept driving for about 25 minutes, up a hill, down a hill, turning left, turning right, doing a three-point turn, and on and on...I was actually starting to feel carsick! LOL Fortunately we reached our destination before I was too ill, and I got out of the car, still blindfolded, and was guided into the backyard. I was told to remove my blindfold, and discovered where we were, and that there were a lot of witnesses to my getting older! LOL It was a great day, catching up with friends and family and just being surrounded by so many people I loved!

Of course, being a stamper, I just had to come up with a gorgeous, yet quick, card to thank all of my guests for their generosity, and for helping to make my birthday so special! I wanted to personalize it with my initial, since I have this graceful alphabet set that I've yet to use. This card is what I came up with. Normally, I am a fan of blue, or softer colours for a card, but I had used the Raspberry Tart dsp, and the Rose Red was the only colour that would make this card work. I liked the idea of using a shorter piece of ribbon instead of trying to tie (and mail!) some 20-odd bows. It would have been too much stress trying to tie my bows perfectly for each card! LOL I know, I have issues...

All in all, for a card that isn't normally my colour choice, I liked the way it turned out to look flowy and graceful, and feminine! Just like what I want to be, when I grow up!

Have a great day!

Kusudama

When I was in Kingston in April, I visited my cousin one afternoon. She took me to a tea store there called Cha Cha tea, that was run by the nicest Japanese lady. I love origami, so I was looking around at her decorations as well as the tea. I think I surprised and impressed the woman when I asked her about the kusudama in her store! Her face lit up and we started talking not only about the kusudama, but also the 1,000 cranes decoration she had hanging in the front window, and of course, we talked about tea. Her kusudama was different from the one I made here, but I have yet to see a kusudama that I don't want to try!

This one in particular is made from 60 pieces of 2" x 2" paper. Each piece makes one petal, then you attach them in groups of 5, and then you make a half of the kusudama by attaching 6 flowers together, and then you glue the halves together. Sounds simple, right? It is! The only thing is that making a kusudama requires patience. It takes a while to complete one. My friend Sandra made one all at once, and it took her four hours! That is a long haul, so I break mine up, allowing the glue to dry overnight, and then tackling a little bit the next day. Not to mention, folding 60 pieces of paper makes your fingertips raw, so having a bone folder handy is essential.

The tutorial I followed is found on a site called "Folding Trees", and it has excellent step by step instructions and pictures. I loved making this one, and am trying to find instructions for a different fold, but have not found one yet. You'll know when I do!

Have a great day!