Sasha Obama's Inauguration Day outfit was so cute.....

....I had to make a card using pink and orange.



I thought both girls looked stunning, but Sasha is just so sweet. With all the February birthdays, I knew if I made a card for a female, it would go to someone special. I can't say who it's for, just in case they read my blog (not likely, though). The base is white and then I used some SU designer paper from last year (gasp!)and ran it through the Cuttlebug using the Circles & Dots embossing folder. I discovered this only has benefits if you do not then cover up almost the entire card front! I then used Labels 2 from Nestabilities and used the negative bits to make a frame so that it looks like Hanna is inside a window....window shopping....get it!! Sorry, too much coffee already. The coloured cardstock is Pixie Pink and Only Orange. I did some paper piecing on three the bags she's carrying. There's definitely a lot of different things going on with this card. I coloured the image with Copic markers. As a sidebar, I'm going to attend a class taught, by Nicky, at Stamping Bella on February 25th. Any ladies in the Toronto area should check out the calendar to read about it and other classes, too. To complete the card, I added Primas with centres by Maya Road flowers and little, bitty button brads and some hot pink dotted ribbon. Okay, that's my card for this morning. I'm feeling crafty so maybe I'll do another later today as I have to be at home awaiting delivery of a new coffee pot.

Same layout as post below....different occasion!

As previously noted in the post below, I love this layout. I made it a birthday card this time. In fact, I did the card and took the photo. The more I looked at it, the more I thought it was missing something. The top card was the first go round. Just a few minutes ago, I took that card, added some Glamour Dust and re-tied the ribbon, this time using two colours of ribbon, Sweet Blush Swiss Dots and Berry Sorbet Silk ribbon. Personally, I think it made a huge difference. The entire card uses only these two colours, both in cardstock and ink, except for the card base which is plain white. Tell me which one you prefer.

P.S. If you click on the photo, it will open a new window and you can actually see them much better, including the sparkle on the lower card.

"Gettin' Sketchy" with LPS challenge

This is my entry for the sketch challenge goin' on over at Little Paper Shop. I think the Flourishes stamp set hits the mark for Sympathy cards. I'm almost certain that the card base is Vintage Violet. It was a piece of left over c/s that was in my scrap drawer. Onto the base, I placed a piece of gray, textured paper. You can just barely make out that it is textured in the photo, if you look closely. The main image was stamped onto Pure Luxury white c/s and I used Smoky Plum ink by CTMH. I loaded up the stamp with lots of colour and stamped it once, then, without re-inking, stamped it twice more. This actually happened by accident as I was testing the amount of ink on a scrap piece and was too lazy to clean the stamp so I just stamped it again and again to clean the stamp the lazy man's way. Lo and behold, it made me think of a person's soul winging it's way to Heaven! I mounted the white piece to a 2" x 2" bit of Elegant Eggplant. The smaller squares were cut from Elegant Eggplant and Vintage Violet and stamped with one of the smaller flourishes from the same set. The sentiment, also from Flourishes, was stamped onto som Vintage Violet and then I put it onto some Lavender Moon ribbon by PTI and surrounded it with some hardware from Hodge Podge by SU. The little flowers were strategically placed to secure the threads left by the stitching. I really like the way this card turned out. Unfortunately, I know that I will have to use it one day, hopefully not too soon.

This is the sketch we were to follow and I thought it was fantastic. In fact, I'm going to make another card today for an upcoming birthday for a special person. Thanks, LPS, for a great sketch and the opportunity to win Flyin' By. It's much appreciated.

C.A.S.E. ~~ I saw the cutest card today

While blog-hopping this morning I saw the cutest baby today and needed to make it. You can see the tutorial on Lauren Meader's blog, My Time, My Creations, My Stampendence. And lucky for me, a friend just recently gave birth to a son last Monday so seeing this card today was rather fortuitous! Lauren, if you should ever see this, it took me a little longer than 10 minutes, but I persevered and here it is.

It's my first Onesie card, but it won't be my last. I used Baja Breeze and trimmed it up with Pacific Point. The stamp is "Love Bug" by Stamping Bella. I have had a tremendous amount of use from this stamp. I think it might be time to buy another Huggabugga stamp. It's a good thing I'll be attending a class at the Bella Boutique soon where I can pick up one or two. Well, that was short and sweet. I'm off to watch a movie with DH now. See y'all later.

Birthdays, Birthdays & More Birthdays!

February is a very active month for family birthdays, let me tell you. There are no less than seven, count 'em, 7 birthdays coming up. There is Kirsten (DD) on the 4th, Sheena (DIL) on the 7th, John (DH) on the 12th, Anne (SIS-I-L) on the 13th, Tiffany (DD) and Shirley (Sister) on the 17th and John (SIL) on the 22nd. That's a lot of birthday cakes even for me! Two of them are living in Britain, so that leaves just five cakes to be gobbled up. I think I am up to the task! Here are two cards that have been completed, but just to be safe, I'm not saying who will receive them.



Both cards also fit with the SCS CC203. Both cards use Garden Green, Pacific Point and Baja Breeze. The "h" card uses stamps from CTMH. I used my Nestabilites for the scalloped and plain circles and added a green button to the centre. I only had white scrapper's floss, so I took a sponge and a Baja Breeze ink pad to turn it into blue scrapper's floss. Brilliant, I thought, for me anyway. Then I stamped the "Birthday" from SU's Happy Everything set with True Thyme ink because I didn't have any Garden Green ink. It will just have to do. I stitched using green thread, as well.

The second card uses "Gliding By" from Paper Pretties. I think this girl is adorable. The DP is from Two Scoops by BG. She is coloured with Copics and adorned with brads, also Two Scoops, some Prima flowers and a little Glamour Dust on the skate blades and the trail her skate leaves.

Okay, it's back to the drawing board for four more cards. The post below is also a card I made for someone's birthday, again, not saying who!

See you next time.

Colour Challenge

I always check the Color Throwdown blog to see if I've got the colours for their weekly challenge. Lucky for me, this week I did and this is my card for Color Throwdown #26.

I haven't used this stamp in quite awhile and it seemed to be on my mind and was crying out to me. The card base is Pink Passion. I stamped the image on Pure Luxury white from Gina K. Designs and used my Copics for colouring. I can't sing the praises of this cardstock enough. I love the way the colour glides onto the paper and the vibrancy of the finished product. Anyway, on with the description. I mounted the white onto some Basic Black and used the Spiral punch on the left side of the black bit. For the Kraft requirement, I used the punch and stamp from the Cute & Curly set for the sentiment.

That's it for now, short and sweet. Thanks for stopping by.

I've been tagged!

I've been tagged Today I was tagged by the talented Tammy to take part in a fun little blog tag. Here is the instructions: 1. Go to your Picture Folder on your computer or wherever you store your pictures. 2. Go to the 6th Folder, then pick the 6th picture in that folder. 3. Post that picture on your blog and the story that goes along with the picture. 4. Tag 6 other people that you know or don’t know to do the same thing and leave a comment on their blog or an e-mail letting them know you chose them. Well, I followed the instructions explicitly and guess what? The picture that comes up is actually an 18 second video I took about one week before we moved from Thunder Bay. You want to know why that's amazing. I'll tell you why! It's because Tammy, the gal who tagged me, is from Thunder Bay and still visits my blog on a regular basis. Of all the pictures I've taken of grandkids since we've been here in Guelph, and I'm tagged by someone I met in Thunder Bay and the picture is one taken in Thunder Bay. I just think it's like serendipity or some other weird and wonderful thing happening. Okay, enough.....on to the video.



There really isn't any story to go with this video. When I took it, I knew it would be one of the last times we would have deer in our front yard and DH loves that we lived in a spot where wildlife would wander in and out of our yard throughout the day. Even I miss it occasionally now that we're in a condo, but life moves on and you play the hand you're dealt.

Now it's time to tag six unsuspecting people. Here we go.

1. Sherri
2. Suzi F.
3. Chris
4. Angie
5. Jan
6. Erin K.

All right ladies, the ball's in your court. Show us your pictures.

Design call for......

....Whimsy Stamps. This design call for February 2009 was posted last Saturday and you have until January 26th to take a shot for this marvellous stamp company. I love Denise's designs. They are great to colour, they're cute and, well, they're whimsical. Go check out the link above, it goes directly to the post with the rules for entering. You won't be sorry. Here's my card.


This duck looks 'lovesick' to me, at least for the purpose of this card. Being whimsical, it can look like whatever I want next time I ink it up. Today, he's lovesick. The sentiment is computer generated and says (in case you can't see it), "quackers" for you!. The hardware is Hodge Podge by SU. My card is 5-1/2" square and the base is Wild Wasabi. The DP is Stella Ruby by Basic Grey and I love it. Can you believe I found this bit in my scrap stash! I mounted it onto some corrugated paper scraps I also found in that drawer. The image was stamped onto my newest acquisition, Pure Luxury 120 lb. cardstock from Gina K. Designs. It's fabulous and the colour goes on like I'm spreading butter with a hot knife. It just melts onto the paper. Again, I placed some of the corrugated paper under the image as a mount. Next, I added some fibre by EK Success. I think the fibres add dimension and are a fun look for this card.

Well, here's my entry and, to anyone who reads this, please wish me luck. I would love to be a part of the Whimsy Stamps design group.

My digi-scrapping attempt

I decided to try a challenge at The Lily Pad to make a digital scrapbook page. What do you think? I know, there's lots of room for improvement, but I do enjoy putzin' around with Photoshop CS3. It's not what I'd call user-friendly, but it is a lot of fun if you've got no other demands on your time.

So, if you want to learn digi-scrapping, try The Lily Pad, they've got some fabulous papers, embellies, brushes and all manner of goodies to get you started.

Two Peas ~ KWernerDesignBlog ~ and me!

Now that's a combination I couldn't resist. As an avid follower of KWernerDesignBlog, I was totally swept up in the classes Kristina will be presenting over the next 12 months at Two Peas in a Bucket. I decided to play along. Clicking on the links above will display the cards designed by Kristina. Here are the cards I made, using the layout, but changing up the embellies because that's what I had on hand. I like they way they look and am now looking forward to next month's class.



Outside of the the layouts on these cards, the differences are subtle. The overall difference on my cards is the patterned paper. "Love Blossoms Hearts with Glitter", by Heidi Grace. It was purchased in 2006 at MOA and I finally was able to use it. I loved it then and I love it now.

The card on the left has lips on the flowers instead of buttons and a heart where the word 'love' is stamped. I had to use the Slit punch by SU because I don't own the scallop edge punch, yet!

The middle card is the one that taught me to measure twice, cut once. You will notice that the Chocolate Chip rectangle has been mis-measured. It was already attached to the card when I realized the Very Vanilla square would be even to the top of the Chocolate Chip rectangle, thereby not be as visually appealing as Kristina's sample. So, lesson learned: MEASURE TWICE, CUT ONCE. A very valuable lesson for life, never mind cardmaking!

And lastly, the little 3" x 3" square. It's just adorable, isn't it? I so rarely think to use buttons as the centre of the flower, but I really, really like the way it looks. I'm hoping to use them more often, especially as I have about a thousand buttons and always forget them!

So, I think should take a peek at both Two Peas and KWernerdesigns and join in the fun. Okay, off you go now to play with your stamps and stuff. See you again soon.

Color Throwdown # 25

Oh my heavens, two posts in one day. I was really thrilled to see the colour choices for today Color Throwdown # 25. Thrilled because, not only are they gorgeous, but I had all three colours! When all the stars align, what can a girl do but PLAY!!!

Upon waking this morning, I had an idea for a stamped image, I just didn't know how I was going to work it onto a card. The stamp was sent to me by Cindi, one of my fellow Shackies. I was randomly chosen as the winner for a goodie package when I visited her blog for the World Open House back in December. The package contained this stamp and another cute little frog with a crown and other stuff, but I had an idea for the Tree stamp. I stamped the tree in black and then masked it. I stamped it twice more using Grey Flannel ink by CTMH. While I was blurfing, I saw the Color Throwdown # 25 challenge and things started to gel in my head. I knew I wanted to put ornaments on the tree so I rummaged through my stash and found these transparent buttons. I had blue ones, green ones, but no orange ones. There were however, clear ones, so I grabbed my trusty Copic marker in Orange and started colouring the clear buttons and soon they were orange. Now I could put my card together for the CT #25. I searched for more embellies and found the pins that I stuck into the ribbon, added three Antique brads and took a picture of my creation. Hope you all like it.

I'm challenged.......

...again! This time it's a challenge from Denise at Stamping with Denise, owner of Whimsy Stamps. The challenge is taking place on PCP and you can see all the rules here.

The card base is black, which is the main focus of the challenge, and I paired it up with Lemon Tart by PTI. I used my Copic markers to colour this cute little owl in shades of brown from the "E" family of colours. Did you notice I applied a little "BG" colour to create eye-shadow? I added some Prima flowers in brown & yellow, a few yellow brads and some lovely black & white ribbon from my stash. The sentiment is from the Carolyn King collection by Gina K. Designs. Of course, the Labels 2 from Nestabilities were used also and I picked those up at Stamping Bella on my last visit to their delightful boutique. Okay, I think I covered everybody who has product on this card. Now to go put it into the forum at PCP. Wish me luck, I love the Whimsy Stamps.

I decided to do a challenge!

Isn't he adorable? While going over my Google Reader and keeping up with the blogs I enjoy, I discovered that Whimsy Stamps is sponsoring the Papertake Weekly Challenge this week. Since I have three new stamps from Whimsy Stamps, I decided to participate. I don't think it's necessary to use Whimsy Stamps, so don't let that stop you from joining in the fun!

The card is 5-1/2" x 5-1/2". The base is Chocolate Chip to which I added some Stampin' Up double-sided DP. The image is stamped on Select White and double-matted onto Sage Shadow and Chocolate Chip. Of course I used my Copic markers for colouring. The sentiment is computer-generated and I used the RGB code for Sage Shadow. I added some Primas and brads and it was complete.

Go on over the Papertake Weekly Challenge and see what you can do!

When the computer goes down.......

and needs DH to fix it, I found myself with some spare time to fill. Well, as you can see, the computer is up and running again and I have a scrapbook page and a card to share. First, the 8" x 8" scrapbook page.



Ava is about 18 hours old here and I'm just getting around to scrapping it now. My Bad! Anyway, I rummaged around in the paper bin and came up with this delicious paper by Stampin' Up. It's a double-sided paper and it's perfect for little girls. The stamp is Love Bug by Stamping Bella and the sparkly letters are by Dooblebug Design Inc. Ribbon is by American Crafts "Baby" collection.

I took some of the DP scraps to make this card. The stamp is by Paper Pretties and is just right for Valentine's cards. I coloured it with Copic Markers and added some glitter dots and Glamour Dust around the hears. The cardstock colours are Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla.

Now that I'm back in the groove, I'll be posting more often. Thanks for stopping by.

Back to Stamping!

I really had to work at getting myself into the groove again, but with a little help from certain blogs I have seen recently, I did it. First, Beth of Freckled And Fun gave me the boost I needed. She published a post on how to put your signature on your blog posts, something I wanted to do and didn't know how, so thank you Beth. Click on the link to read the post.

Next I needed to pick a sketch because my own brain wasn't in gear yet, so off I went to SheetLoad of Cards. Thank you Alicia.

Oh no, what colours to use??? This difficulty can also be solved by visiting Color Throwdown, which I did. I wasn't disappointed, I loved the colours for the first post of the new year.

The only thing I had to do myself was pick my stamp and I chose Love Bug by Stamping Bella.

So, thanks to everyone involved in getting me back on track. Here is my card.



Isn't she adorable. This stamp is going to be used over and over again as I scrapbook pages of Ava, my darling granddaughter! Ohhhh...I did have one orginal thought.....I stamped the ribbon with the sentiment too. First time I've tried that little trick.

A Eulogy for Hank

Well ... I don’t know where to begin …

I just went to the bathroom and no one yowled to get in, no one attacked my pulled-down underwear and no one jumped in the sink waiting for me to turn on the water (‘cuz we all know running water is better than water that’s been standing in your dish). No; I had absolute privacy this time; and I cried.

Hank passed away last night; sleeping in my sweater, which was where he went after checking GrammaStamper’s bathroom activities. It was as if he had a bad dream and yowled against the unseen demon … then was gone.

I’ve had cats all my life. A dozen or more and GrammaStamper has had none. She asked if it’s always like this and I replied “it never gets easier”. And it never does.

Hank was born “Cinnamon” and he told us that his moniker was ‘wussy’ so we suggested “Hank” and he approved. Hank, not Henry, was impetuous and irreverent and totally frustrating at times. He was impatient and demanding and exceptionally affectionate; to everyone, as long as you weren’t a child, dog or other unfamiliar animal. He would enter the Sear’s saleslady’s jacket and inspect any purse he was unfamiliar with, much to the chagrin of folks not accustomed to curious cats. If you didn’t like cats, he was sure to be on your shoulders trying to explain to you the benefits of felinity.

Hank took on this blog when GrammaStamper had her knees replaced. He did the best he could to bring a smile to all during a difficult time. I think he did just fine even though I had clean-up chores after his party.

Some might say I write this for cathartic purposes while others might say I write this for personal gratification but I write this for Hank; a fine friend and, although only a pet, worthy of a notation in our digital world.

Good-bye Hank,

Nice knowin’ ya.

We’ll miss you.

-GrampaStamper

Welcome to The Stamp Shack's "Open House Around The World"

This wonderful idea is the brain-child of Jan / Far North, one of the members of The Stamp Shack. We have members from around the world and Jan thought it would be a great way to "visit" our Shackie friends over the holiday. I'm with you, Jan, and would like to wish all of the visitors to my blog a Very Merry Christmas. Please leave a comment because I will be choosing a random number and that person will receive a little Christmas gift from me to say thank you for visiting. Are you ready? Then let's begin.

Here we are at the entrance to our condominium suite. The "Welcome" decoration was purchased at a craft fair many years ago. It is fabric and rope and I just fell in love with it. If you allow your gaze to slide over to the door, you will see a whole mess of jingling bells put together in the shape of a candy cane. I like it because of the delicate jingle sounds it makes when I open the door.


Once inside the door, you can see a semi-circular table that is a place to hold all sorts of things like keys, purse, mail, etc. At this time of year, I place a few Christmas ornaments on it.

Let's move on into the living room. We have this antique radio that John found so many years ago I can't remember (before we even knew each other, actually) which he loving restored and stained. Here you will see more Christmas stuff. As you can see, the movie camera is at the ready for when Jackson is over and being entertaining.

Here's a picture of our dining room table set for lunch. Andrew and his lovely wife, Sheena, will be joining us soon. These Christmas dishes actually belong to my daughter, Tiffany, but when her sister, Kirsten, gave them to her a few years ago, Tiffany had no place to store them. I eagerly agreed to "take care" of the dishes for her. Every year since then, 2001, I think, I have enjoyed using them at this very special time of year. I'm just lucky that they haven't gone missing, or worse been broken, in all the moves across country we've had since then!


This felt Christmas stocking hangs on the wall just next to the dining table and holds all of the wonderful cards we receive each year. Almost all that are in there now are from Shackie friends. You can just see the tip of the Christmas tree in the background. Here's a better picture of our tree. I waited until evening to take the picture so that the lights would be on and twinkling.



One of my favourite things about Christmas is decorating the tree. Every year as I place the ornaments on, memories come flooding back about special occasions and special people I have known and loved. Here are just a few I would like to share with you.




These beautiful ornaments commemorate the birth of my two sons, Andrew (1981) and Phil (1983). They celebrate "Baby's First Christmas". While I actually have four children, this type of ornament was not available when Tiffany and Kirsten were born or I would have four "Baby's First Christmas" decorations. Every year I feel a pang of guilt because the girls don't have their own. So I say to you young parents everywhere, start buying ornaments each year for your kids and no one will feel left out.

This lovely little glass bell with a snowman inside was, once upon a time, a set of six. These ornaments were sold as fundraisers at my daughters' school way back in the early '80s. I just love them and every year they remind me of my 'little' girls and how cute and sweet they were trying to sell them to relatives and friends.

The story behind this beautiful Angel might make you cry, so beware. In May 2002 I moved from Mississauga, Ontario to Summerside, Prince Edward Island. It was a move of approximately 1,000 miles. Just before the move, my Mother had to be moved to a nursing home as she could no longer live alone. I returned "home" for Christmas that year and I gave her an angel to hang on the wall opposite her bed so when she looked at it, she would think of me. It was to be our last Christmas together and when we were clearing out her room at the nursing home, I kept the angel and every year it goes on our tree. Okay, moving on now with Kleenex in hand.......

.....and last, but by no means least, is this gorgeous ornament I received from Heather/firecracker in Utah. There was an ornament swap at The Shack and Heather sent this lovely Main Street Christmas ornament. I'm pretty sure it is ceramic and is beautifully painted. It will grace our tree for many, many years to come and each year it will remind me of the generosity, kindness and goodness of our Stamp Shack members. I am truly greatful to have been given the opportunity to know such fabulous women and to be a part of such a terrific community. I would like to wish each and every person who visits my "Open House" a safe and Happy Christmas! Good night, my friends.

Thank you so much for stopping by for a visit. The next stop for the Open House Around the World is hbpuppy in California. You can visit Heather by clicking here.

A great gift for guests

Over at The Stamp Shack, we have a section for recipes of all sorts. One of my good friends from there, Sherri, shared her recipe for Hot Cocoa Mix. It makes a huge amount and makes great gifts for people you really don't want to miss at Christmas. This year I finally made up a batch and here's what my end product looks like.



I purchased some jars from Canadian Tire, you know the ones you use for pickles and spaghetti sauces and such. They're 1 litre in size and hold lots of the great hot cocoa mix. I cut a 1-1/2" x 12" strip of "Christmas Boughs of Holly" by American Crafts to go around the jar. Then I used my Curly Label punch set and mounted that onto some glossy green c/s and placed it on the jar because the 12" strip of paper didn't quite make it all the way around. I added some red ribbon to it and I think it looks really festive. Then, I made some tags with mixing directions and coloured Santa with Copics and added Candy Candy Stickles for bling, along with some White Perfect Puff for Santa's beard. I heated the Perfect Puff to make it look fluffy just like a real beard. All in all, I must say I wouldn't mind giving myself one of these jars for Christmas!

Birthday Card for my brother, Bob

Today is my brother's birthday. I won't say how old he is because, quite frankly, I can't remember. All I know is loss of memory comes with age, so I'll say no more! I'm hoping to see him this afternoon or maybe he and his wife, Lesley, this evening. It's great being so close to family now. I won't miss any more birthdays (or cake)!

I visited SCS this morning and the CC195 appealed to me, particularly for a man's birthday. I didn't have any Sahara Sand, so I substituted River Rock. The main image is from the Lovely As A Tree set. I stamped the upper trees in Flannel Gray by CTMH and the lower trees in Palette Hybrid Black. For a splash of colour, I added Copic G28 (Ocean Green), mixed in with some C3 (Cool Gray). I added a bit of River Rock ribbon to add a dimensional interest.

The inside of the card uses an image from Happy Harmony in the lower right, stamped in Sahara Sand and the sentiment is from Happy Everything stamped in Wild Wasabi and re-stamped, using my Stamp-A-Majig, with Flannel Gray. Overall, I like the way it turned out.