WINNER OF BLOG CANDY IS.......

foodpartyfun ~ Pat

Congratulations to you, Pat. Please send me an e-mail with your snail mail address and I will get these goodies out to you on Monday.

Thanks to all who participated and the random number picked by my DH was 23. Please remember to drop by and leave comments. They are so important and I enjoy reading each and every one of them.

If I have not heard from you by noon on Sunday, Apr 29th, I will draw another name for a winner. Sorry, but I think that is only fair.

foodpartyfun has contacted me and we have a winner! Pat, please send me your snail mail addy to stampingramma@tbaytel.net and I will get the goodies out to you on Monday. Congratulations on being the winner and I hope you enjoy the candy!

When you see paper you LOVE!

You just have to buy it, right? Well, I do and I saw this paper yesterday at Michaels and reminded myself that I don't need any more paper. For the entire rest of the day, I couldn't shake that paper out of my mind so today, after breakfast with a group of ladies, I went back to Ms and bought four sheets. I promptly went to my craft room and made this card. To me, it just begged to have the Gina K image of the little lamb. Once completed, I wanted to share it with you.

I also made this card using some little letters I found at Ms, too. That store has just way to much stuff and I'm constantly tempted and often "fall off the wagon" as I'm sure all you who are addicted to this craft can totally understand. My grandsons' birthdays are coming up in a couple of months, so I had to try out the letters on cards. As you can see, this is for Owen who will be one year old in June. I used the same paper, too! Of course, I think I went just one step too far and now I'm sorry I stamped that present on the card front. It would have looked better without it, in my opinion, anyway. What do you all think? Your comments are read and appreciated.

PS: Don't forget to leave a comment for Blog Candy just a few posts down. You may enter up until 8:00 pm this evening and I will be posting the winner after 9:00 pm tonight. Good Luck!

Love my new Gina K stuff!

I now am the proud owner, from Gina K. Designs of a little lamb, a sentiment to go with it, a kissy fish and some Peerless Watercolor thingies. I painted the little boy with the frog using the new system. On the tutorial, it says to go outside the lines and, to me, it still looks like I messed up, but I'm getting used to the technique and with these Peerless Watercolors, I'll be using it more often.
The fish was coloured with Prismacolor Markers, which I love, love, love and I think it turned out pretty good. I'm going to make a larger card and take a better pic to show it off and will post it later.
The lamb was also coloured with Prismacolor Markers. I think he's too blue, but that's okay, I guess. Added a little ribbon and the sentiment, also Gina K. says, "Wool be friends forever". Love that!

That's it for now. Scroll down for the blog candy, if you want to and you know you do!

Tagged!

I've been tagged by Charmaine over at Oodabug Alley and must now reveal seven little known facts about myself! Thanks, Charmaine, this is fun. Then, I will tag seven people who may play if they so wish. It's a great way to find out little bits about our fellow bloggers!

1. I have no home decorating sense. At least I didn't before I started stamping and stuff. My DH thinks that may have changed, but we don't need to do any decorating just yet!
2. I married a man five (5) years younger than me! Yea for me!
3. I buy kitchen gadgets and appliances with the most buttons on them....the more buttons the better they work, right?
4. My DH proposed to me, over the phone, on April Fools Day 1997.
5. I married my boss in 1997.
6. I can't draw a stick person...that's why I stamp all my images!
7. I am now the boss.....at home, anyways!

Here are my choices of people to tag: Sherri, Chelsey, Mary, Angie, Thanh, Mary and, Linda

So, c'mon out and play and share something of yourselves with your fellow bloggers. It's not mandatory, but sure is fun!

Tonight ~ Blog Candy Up For Grabs

Hi everyone, sorry it took so long to get to this. I reached 5,000 hits about two days ago and promised myself to make a celebration of it with a giveaway. Now, really, I'm a stay at home wife, no little ones underfoot and still, the hours just get away from me, thus the delay. So here it is.....ta da.....Blog Candy. What, you may ask, do you have to do to win these lusious little goodies? Nothing really, just leave me a comment saying how you found me! There is some chipboard flowers, a couple of $1.50 Ms clear stamps, some paper from CM, and a bit of chocolate. I'm trying to keep it light for postage purposes!

Leave your comment before 8:00 p.m. EDST on Friday, April 27th. The name will be posted later that evening. Please ensure that I will be able to get in touch with you, should you be the winner!

My mood today is...

...see Mood Indicator on the right!

My favourite quote of the day is "Exercise is a dirty word. Every time I say it, I wash my mouth out with chocolate" hence the mood of the day! I saw this quote on Diariers Of A Stamper and just had to use it.

I'm off to teach a scrapbooking class at Michael's this afternoon, but check back again over the next couple of days. I'll soon reach 5,000 hits on my blog and that will call for some Blog Candy. I wish there was a way to know who the 5,000th person to view my blog is, but alas, I cannot. I will come up with some way to give away some blog candy, so stay tuned!

Super Sketch Sunday # 11 Challenge Card

Whewww! That's a long title! Did you know that Amy Westerman has a card challenge each Sunday? Neither did I ~~~ until yesterday. I was doing the blog dance, again, settled at Heartfeltgreetings and saw this challenge. So, I picked up the gauntlet and here is my card. While blog-dancing, I also saw another card for this same challenge done by Charmaine at Oodabug Alley. This was loads of fun to do and I'll be checking back to Heartfeltgreetings regularly to see what's up. I'm just so thrilled to be able to gather so much information from all the talented cardmakers who are so willing to share their gifts with the rest of us. ED. NOTE: I forgot to give credit for this hilarious stamp, an oversight on my part. Stamp and sentiment are from Katiebug Rubber Stamps. My apologies to the creator of the stamp and all the readers who have enquired.


My Maryse Carrier stamps arrived yesterday and it took me a while to get them mounted, but here is the first of many, I hope. I chose Le Jungle stamp set because I see myself making many cards for my grandsons. While I realize they are still too young to appreciate them, I'm hoping their Mama's will save the cards for them as they get older.

Another blog I've just discovered, thanks to Erin K at The Stamp Shack is Updates From ParisEstates. She has on display some cute little tag cards that hide little things. I think I may have to CASE these cards because I think they would go will with the Maryse Carrier images of jungle animals and insects for my grandbabies. When I get one done, I'll post it here.

I've been TAGGED!

Last week I received a card in the mail telling me I had been tagged. The card was from Sherri/iloveflipflops from The Stamp Shack. I thought that was really terrific that Sherri thought my blog good enough to TAG. I didn't realize until today when I was blog-hopping and arrived at {stampings of the shug} that I now could TAG five of my very bloggers. DUH! Sometimes I am a total dork. To that end, here are my favourite blogs, the ones I seem to hit every, single day and always find inspiration and cool ideas. And, of course, more ways than I can shake a stick at to spend my money on stamps these ladies use to create their beautiful cards. I will list them in alphabetical order because it's the easiest way.

1. A Dragonfly Garden This blog is hosted by Stamper Gail and I love the cards she makes. Most are so elegant and delicate looking. Very beautiful.

2. fresh & fun Then we have Beate Johns. On this blog are some of the best tutorials you will ever have the pleasure to follow. Great stuff and fabulous work by Beate.

3. Craft Critique I'm not sure this is a true blog, but it is definitely the place to go if you want information about a specific product. All critiques are written by people who have actually used the product and will tell you the truth, as they experience it with a particular product.

4. L~J~Scrapp'in World Linda Brons is a fellow Shackie and her work constantly amazes me. I just love and admire and, yes, I admit it, sometimes copy her stuff. She's marvellous, dahling.

5. Oodabug Alley Charmaine, also known as CharmWarm on SCS was one of the first blogs that I linked on mine. She continually inspires me and it was on her blog that I tried the tri-fold card which I just now love so much. You can see a picture here.

Well, there you have it, my five choices. I wish I could name 10 more. All the blogs linked on my blog provide me with ideas and inspiration. Thank you, ladies, for sharing your wonderful talents.

I think this post needs a visual element, so here's a card I made yesterday. I was trying for the effect of looking through a window. The images are HM and the sweet little dog is from Hambo Stamps. I like to think he's smiling because he knows that "while the cat's away, the mice will play!

We Need the Proper Tools!

As you all know by now, if you are a regular reader of my blog, I'm a member at The Stamp Shack. Among the many benefits of membership, we get to yell and scream about things in our life that aren't working quite the way we would like them to be working. The other day it was Erin K's turn to look for sympathy because her washer and dryer are dying a slow and, for Erin, painful, death! (I don't think she published it on her blog, but go look at her marvelous cards anyway, after you finish reading this, of course!)I can totally sympathize with Erin because I've been there too. Not with a washer/dryer, but various other tools we, as homemakers, must employ in order to keep a tidy home. When our "tools of the trade" don't work, it just wears us out trying to complete the tasks at hand. Which leads me to this conclusion: men get distinguished looking as they get older because when they need a tool to complete a task, they bloody well go buy one! Am I right, ladies! You know I am. Whereas we poor, hard-working housewives and mothers continually "make-do" with our tools. And this card is a perfect example of why we look so haggard as we age. How can anyone age gracefully when we slave away and work our fingers to the bone to make sure hubby and kiddies have clean clothes to wear. Even if it means doing laundry by hand.
After reading about Erin's plight, and fight, with her washer/dryer, this image kept coming to mind, so I just had to do it. I truly hope you get the proper tools soon, Erin so that you will have more time to spend at The Shack. Show Brian this card and tell him this could be you if you keep having to work so hard!

Image is by I Brake for Stamps and she is entitled "Sexy Judy" for anyone who just can't live without her. Della has loads of humourous, seniors stamps. The paper and flower brad is from the Self-Addressed kit for April.

Yesterday's News

This is what was news here yesterday. I played with some new stamps that arrived in the mail. Actually, yesterday was a good mail day! I received my goodies from Self-Addressed, the monthly stamp club of which I am a member, the Sporty Turtle Clear Stamps I ordered from Inky Antics and a wonderful swap that was held on The Stamp Shack.
Lately, I'm wanting animal-, farm-, insect-, monster- and sporty-type stamps because of my two grandsons. Now, granted, they're only 9 and 10 months old, but they will one day like playing with these types of things, so I'm just trying to be prepared. To create Sporty Turtle, I used just plain white cardstock for the base. The green/white polkadot paper was in the Self-Addressed kit as was the arrow-like metal brad, which I think is pretty neat, by the way! Then I cut some ovals with my CM oval templates from lime green and dark green c/s. Next I stamped Sporty Turtle, put some sunglasses on him, a hat, with a skate board under him. That's four stamps of the 14 in the set, so far. Then, I added the words "cool" and "dude" and the other stamp was one stamp with the "snakes and snails...etc". The whole set is 14 stamps so I used about half of them on this card. Oh, and I mustn't forget that the shadow stamp is from my ever-growing collection of Stamping Bella stamps. These images were coloured with Prismacolor pencils and blended with gamsol. I kinda like this card.

Next up is "Kitty". She is from Pink Cat Studio. I just love Kitty. She just looks like a "don't mess with me" kinda kitty! I'm not an expert with Prismacolor pencils (or any other colouring medium) to be sure, but I tried to make her look like one of those very regal Blue Point Siamese cats, but it didn't work too well for me. I used a really light blue and light grey and tried to blend them together. Guess I'll keep working on my technique, eh? Then I coloured her top and scarf in a vivid pink. Her glasses are coloured with a sparkly gel pen, but it doesn't show up too well on the picture. The word "Kitty" is also from Pink Cat Studio. The little brad that is holding the yarn on the tag is from the Self-Addressed kit, as is the patterned paper and the pink Bazzill Bling c/s. I finished it off by adding a giga scalloped oval as the mat for Kitty.

So there you have it....yesterday's news. If I were really good, I could tell you tomorrow's news and we'd all be rich from the lottery. Alas, that won't happen today, at least. I'll try honing my mental-telepathy skills for future posts.

Reflections

This card is indicative of how I've been feeling lately. What do you think this lady is thinking about? A lost love, her young children now grown to adulthood, a new job, an old job she really, really loved, her future.....it could be one of a dozen unfulfilled dreams. This stamp from the SU's "Summer by the Sea".

This particular image reminds me of a time we took our children to a cottage for a week at Miller Lake, near Tobermory, Ontario. It was a wonderful week, the boys were able to build sand castles on the beach, learn to paddle a canoe, roast marshmallows over the fire, play in baseball games organized by the resort staff. We had so much fun. At that time I was in my "grind my own coffee beans" phase, so for a week in the wilds, I just HAD to take along my coffeemaker and bean grinder (what if they only had an old purcolater style pot, heaven forbid!). I'm an early riser, usually before 7 o'clock, and I would fill the grinder then wrap about 4 towels around it to soften the noise so that no one else would wake up. I brewed the coffee, poured myself a tall mug and headed down to the dock. I would untie the rowboat that came with the cottage rental and step into the boat, coffee in hand. I would settle myself on the seat, coffee nearby, unhook the oars from their casing and push off from the dock. I think that being in the middle of the lake on a beautiful summer's morn with the sun barely risen, sipping a fresh coffee in the quiet is THE best way to start a day. The only sounds were the waves gently lapping the side of the boat, soft summer breezes rustling the trees (it wasn't a huge lake) and chirping birds. On some mornings I was treated to the call of the loon.....such a beautiful and mournful sound. Peace and tranquility before the reality of having to chase 5 & 7 year old boys all over the place. Then one morning something happened and I didn't go out in the boat again for the remainder of the week. As I was sitting quietly in the boat, suddenly there was this loud thump, almost under my feet. I sat very still for a couple of minutes trying to figure out just what had caused this noise. I finally decided that it was a shark. No kidding, I believed it was a shark all the while knowing full well this was a lake, not the open ocean. And it was a fresh-water lake at that, not salt water. It didn't matter that I knew it could not possibly be a shark, every fibre in my being screamed, "Get the heck outta here." The coffee went overboard, the oars were once again released from their casings and I rowed like I was possessed back to shore. Finally, my heart rate returned to normal once the boat was secured at the dock and I was on good old terra firma once again.

That was the last of my early morning rowing excursions. In reflecting on this, I wish that I had listened to my head instead of the butterflies in my stomach. Sharks! C'mon Barb! I knew better, but allowed my fear to override the absolute joy of those early morning visits to the middle of the lake.

That's my reflection for today. The card was coloured using Lyra Watercolour Crayons and the technique is the "mirror" technique where you stamp the image onto a mirror block stamp and then onto the card to get the "mirrored" look. I also used on of my fancy SU corner punches to adhere the image to the blue c/s. Thanks for joining me today.

HAPPY EASTER!

I hope you are all enjoying the day with family and friends. If you like to cook, I wish that your dinner turns out perfectly. If you like to go out for dinner, I hope their chef makes a memorable meal for you to enjoy! We, hubby and I, are going out to brunch very soon. With no family around, I need to have someone else provide me a memorable meal and I'm sure we will have that at the White Fox Inn.



I spent a few hours this morning making Mother's Day cards. I'm going to be sending a package of cards over to Afghanistan for the Canadian troops. We have a member at The Stamp Shack who has a personal friend in the Canadian Forces and she is currently stationed there. She writes to Deborah and tells her how much the troops appreciate the cards that they can pick up, write a note and send home to their loved ones. You can see the absolutely amazing cards Deborah makes by clicking here. I have so many cards from swaps and I enjoy making cards that I thought this would be a wonderful way to share with those who are away from home and in such dangerous conditions. They give so much to us and for us, that this is just my small way of saying Thank You! Here are the ones I've made so far.

I've got to get ready to go out now, but before I leave you, please note that I've added a FeedBlitz thingie to my blog. I don't post everyday, and if you subscribe by adding your e-mail address, you will be notified when new posts are published. I do this on several other blogs and it really works well. I then only read those that have something new added. Saves a lot of time because there are so many terrific cardmaking sites out there in cyberland.

Heartfelt Thanks to a special friend!

I'd like to thank Angie a.k.a. Shuggy, for creating this wonderful banner for my blog. I've been a member of The Stamp Shack since it's inception, as has Angie and I truly believe that Angie is one of the most kind and generous people to have crossed my path. Not a day goes by that someone doesn't post that she has "shack'd" them. That is our version of a RAK. It truly is an honour to know Angie and I thank God that she is a part of my life, even if it's only in cyberland.
Angie, I love you!

Today is "Other Stuff" Day!

Last evening, my daughter-in-law, Kristyn, sent me a picture of my grandson, Jackson. It is so beautiful it made me get teary-eyed just looking at it. Want to see it? Of course you do. Okay, here it is.... Well, isn't that the most adorable picture you've ever seen. Anyway, it got me to thinking that now that I have two beautiful grandsons, I need to start making cards for them. Actually, I already have made cards for them, but now I need cards with cute, boy images. I received my Hambo Stamps today and here is a little-boy card. I'm not sure who will get it yet, but it will be either Owen or Jack. Whoever ends up with it, the other one will have a card equally cute! Now, here's the card....

I would never post a pic of one grandson without giving the other grandson equal time. This is a holdover from my younger days watching my Mom always make things equal among her grandchildren (10 of them) and then, my own children. I never once saw her give something to one and leave out any of the others. What to you grandmothers out there do? Do you make sure your precious grandchildren are treated equally? What about birthdays? If there is a birthday-person, does each of the children in that family, assuming there is more than one, get a present too? It's an ongoing battle I have with myself regarding this. So far, I have two grandsons living in different countries. I believe it is safe to assume they will not always be an only child! I'm not asking though, as that's really none of my business. Anyway, I digress. Here's one of my most favourite pictures of Owen.
Everytime I look at this picture, I smile. He just looks so darn proud of those teeth.

My sweeties, Grandma loves you!

Easter is almost here

And this is my first Easter/Bunny card! I don't have any bunny or Easter stamps, so when someone from The Stamp Shack sent me this image (thanks Nancy) I just had to use it. I picked up this idea from Stamp a Little Love Baby. I just loved the look of the cardstock with a little strip of the patterned paper along the bottom. I'm hoping that Cambria believes that imitation is the highest form of flattery! I had already coloured the bunny and mounted it on the patterned paper cut with the Giga Oval Punch, so I was going in that direction.

Then, I had to keep going with another image supplied by Nancy of these cute little kitties. I coloured them in with Tombow markers, added a little patterned paper, eyelets and some raffia. My own cat, Hank, was determined to get up on my craft table and play with the raffia, but I won that battle! The sentiment is from Pink Cat Studio. Well, that's two cards done in a little under 2 hours. I just am thrilled when I can make a card that I think looks pretty good. The stamping angels were certainly smiling on me today! Have a good one, all!

justjohanna contest entry ~~ NOT!

Why can't I ever follow directions? Do I march to the tune of a different drummer? I didn't think so, but this is not the first time I've attempted to follow a "recipe", only to find out, when I'm finished, that directions really aren't my thing! I'm going to show you, maybe even enter this card, anyway in the justjohanna sketch contest. After all, it's my creative spirit on the line here. There are three pictures: one with the window closed, one with the window opened and one of the inside of the card.

It was a lot of hard work staging this photo. I read the tutorial by Erin K about how she takes her photos and tried to follow it. However, I had it all set up, camera in hand, I had even pressed down halfway on the button when all of a sudden my damn, yeah, damn, cat, Hank, jumped up into the shot! I really cannot write here what I said so, please, just use your imagination, 'k!

10th Anniversary of Marriage Proposal

It was ten years ago today that John proposed to me. Yes, that's right, he proposed on April Fool's Day! Why you might ask? Well, as he explained it to me, he knows women are absolutely crazy for remembering specific dates about first date, first kiss date, first time couples say the same thing at the same time....you get the picture. So, he figured that he was less likely to forget the proposal date if he made it memorable, so he picked April 1st. However, that's not the only thing that was memorable....the proposal took place over the telephone. Yep, over the phone. You see, the night before when we were out for the evening, he asked me if I was aware that tomorrow was April Fool's Day and that it only lasted til noon. I said yes, that's right because our teachers never let us play tricks after lunch, only during the morning. Good, he said, then I'm going to call you tomorrow at 12:05 p.m. I have an important question to ask you and I just want a yes or a no, no explanations or hesitation, just yes or no. I reminded him I had a job interview at 3 p.m. and that if his call was delayed for any reason, I would have to leave the house by 1 o'clock, but yes, I would be home at the time he said. The next day, late morning, I began to get a little nervous. I was pretty sure he was going to propose, but as the saying goes, don't count your chickens before they're hatched, right? Twelve noon came and went, as did 12:05, 12:10 and 12:15. About 12:17 p.m. (I remember only because I was watching the digital clock) the phone rang. It was John and he apologized for being late, but he had been on a long distance call and couldn't get the person off the phone. He did sound a little strange, breathless like, and reminded me he was going to ask a question to which the answer had to be swift and short. I said okay, ask. He did, I said, without hesitation, yes and that was the truly romantic marriage proposal. Not because it came with flowers or wine or on bended knee, but because he wanted to ask on a day that he would remember forever because he knew I certainly would. To this day, neither one of us has ever forgotten April 1st, the day he took a huge gamble and won ME!

Please note the watermark on my card. I was able to do this because of the terrific tutorial found on the blog of Stampin' Kub. I actually found the link on Erin K's blog, so thanks, Erin, for posting such great information.

This card is also my entry into "Shack Survivor", a contest being held on The Stamp Shack. I hope I win, but there will be many, many entries by some extremely talented people, but I can still hope!