I'll miss this view!

My craft space is all tidied up and waiting for the packers to come in on Thursday. Naturally, I feel totally inspired to create now, but, alas, cannot. So, this will be my last post until sometime around July 30th or so. We don't get possession of our condo until July 25th, furniture most likely July 26th, but that has not been confirmed as yet by our mover. Then, the computers will be the first thing hooked up again because both John and I are fanatical about our computers. They are a life-line, literally.

In the meantime, I will leave you with this delightful video I took the other morning. If you hear heaving breathing, it's because I'm hunched down trying to get a good shot from underneath the hanging stained glass in our front window while, at the same time, trying to keep Hank, our cat, from getting into the shot.



This is such a beautiful place to live and we have such a lovely property with trees all around and horses frolicking in the backyard. Not our horses, but our neighbours. The gentle breezes in the summer make air conditioning unnecessary. But then, there's always the winter. I will not miss the -40 degree C. or the snow that piles up as high as the house on occasion. When the sun shines in the winter, the sky is a phenominal blue and clear, but that's when it's coldest. And the one thing that Guelph has that Thunder Bay does not is FAMILY! That makes saying good-bye to the friends we have made here a little easier.

See you in a couple of weeks.

A late night creation

Just playing around this evening and I was trying to follow the instructions from I Like Markers for Skin Tones. It's a first attempt, so I'm hoping I'll get better. Marianne has fabulous tutorials on her blog and I learn something new everyday. Of course, having no natural artistic talent (I use rubber stamps because I can't draw a stick-man), I have trouble with shadows. I'm hoping my BIL can teach me something when we finally get moved to Guelph as he'll only be a few minutes away and he can come play in my stamp room whenever he wants to. For the background I often refer to Freedom in Creating. Michelle also has fantastic tutorials.

For the card base, I used my marble stamp and VersaMark, then covered it in fine gold embossing powder and heated it up. I was hoping that it would look like a gilded-gold frame around a portrait, but I'm not sure if that's the effect I achieved. Anyway, it doesn't matter because I like the way it turned out. Hope you do, too.

One Card, Two challenges

It's official, I'm a procrastinator. I will not pack until Monday, that way I can play all weekend. While blurfing today, I found two blogs that offered challenges I could not resist. I made one card utilizing both challenges. The colours came first and it was from the new blog on the block, Color Throwdown. I love colour challenges and will play frequently, I hope.

The next blog I saw was Ink N' Scrap Habits. Now I must admit that Jennifer is a friend from The Stamp Shack and when she posted the news about sketch challenges on her blog, well, I ran straight over to check it out. I loved the sketch and made a card using colours from Color Throwdown and Jennifer's sketch. Really, all I had to do was choose a stamp and colour to my heart's content, which I did. Here's the card.



The colours I used were Pretty In Pink, Regal Rose and Sage Shadow. A beautiful combination from Color Throwdown. As previously stated, the sketch is from Ink N' Scrap Habits and I love it. I chose the Cone Flower stamp designed by Aesla Hopkins and is from Cornish Heritage Farms. I don't remember when the snaps come from, but I like them and they're easy to use. I added a little hand-drawn border around the flower just to dress it up a bit. Of course, I needed a little bling so used some Yellow Stickles and some Star Dust Stickles for eye-popping bling.

I received this image from an image swap hosted by JP at The Stamp Shack. He turned up in my mail box yesterday and I coloured him in last night. I just had to use the sentiment I received when I purchased a grab bag of stamps a couple of months ago. I don't remember the company, but it had a ton of sentiments and this one works for this image, in my opinion. I started off with a Very Vanilla base, but it looked too bland so I rummaged around in my scraps drawer and came up with the polka dotted paper. The image is on white and double-matted with Chocolate Chip and Pumpkin Pie. The sentiment is stamped with Pumpkin Pie ink. I coloured him with Copic markers and added a little Close To Cocoa grosgrain ribbon. Every time I look at him, I laugh! What about you?

Still playing, not packing.....

....that's not good! If I'm still posting by Friday of new cards I've made, will someone please send me a swift kick in the butt!!!

In the meantime, here's a card I made for the JLO Design Team challenge. We were to use a sketch by Kerry Urbatch of The Stamp Shack. You may be able to see that sketch here.



The base is Select White by PTI, with a Cool Caribbean strip punched with the Spiral punch by SU. The stamps are, of course, by Jessica Lynn Original stamps. The metal embellishments are from the Hodgepodge Hardware in Antique Brass, also by SU. I coloured the dragon with Copic marker for the body, and used the Copic Spica glitter pens for the other bits. I love the sparkly effect the Spica pens give to a project.

Okay, that's my play time for today. Gotta go do something involved with moving now.

Why am I playing instead of packing?

Probably because playing is more fun.....hehehe! Anyway, while reading my Google Reader this morning, I found a challenge I wanted to complete. When I create my cards, I never use just words or sentiments, but recently I received several in a grab bag so I actually had something to use. Here's my card. It was made for Allison's challenge here, and it's challenge AFSS25 - Words, Words, Words. The base is Elegant Eggplant by SU, with accenting c/s Lavender Moon by PTI. The DP is from the scraps drawer and, therefore, unknown to me. I glitzed it up with some sparkly little flowers, also from my stash, but I remember buying them at the Dollar Store. A bit of dotted, sheer ribbon around a slide and it's done.

Go check out the challenge at Stampin' When I Can, and also all the other good stuff Allison places on her blog. She does a huge service for craft bloggers everywhere!

I'm measurement-challenged!

This is my entry for this week's Mojo Monday card at Poetic Artistry. I love the sketch, but somewhere along the way, I lost the ability to measure accurately. While no measurements were provided, anyone can see the strip overlaps on both sides in the sketch. Does mine: NO! Anyway it was a great sketch and I will be using this as a birthday card for a neice who loves to garden.

With the exception of the stamp, which is Veggiebella of Stamping Bella, this card was made using only scraps, therefore, I have no idea what papers were used. How do you all remember what papers and stuff you use when scraps are involved? I'd love to know.

New Style Card

Isn't this a lovely card? I saw this in a newsletter I receive regularly, Creative Papercrafts. Their description is wonderful and I made it in about 5 minutes. The hardest part was selecting the papers and the stamp set to use! The DP is from my stash and is no longer known to me. I used Delight In Life by SU and cut around the flowers. The ribbon is also from my stash and is just a sheer dotted bit. The sentiment is from the Women of Life by PTI.

I'll have a couple more cards in the next day or so because I need to get them made before the packers arrive and they take away my furniture. That all happens in a couple of weeks and I can hardly wait to get to our new home in Guelph. I can't wait to be a real Grandma to Jack. My other two grandsons are in England, but I'll see them in October when they come to Canada for Andrew's and Sheena's wedding. Then, for a few days, I'll have all the grandkids in one spot.