Inkspirations Sketch Challenge #89- Schoolboy Sweet

Here's this week's sketch:

And here's my card:

At the beginning of the school year, I posted on our worries about Logan and how he would handle the school year. Well, I'm elated to report that he is having a fantastic start to the school year. He loves going to school now and by all accounts from his teachers, he is incredibly eager to learn. Yes, he still moves a lot but he makes up for it by being bright, kind, and ready to please. It has only been a month and I already can't believe the difference from last year. I made this card for him as a reminder of how proud we are for the efforts he is making in school. It's pretty cool to think that he'll actually be able to sound out the words on the card and read it for himself. : )

Thanks so much for the comments and e-mails concerning Logan. It's pretty sweet to know that people were thinking of him and caring about how he's doing. I heart you guys, for reals.

Please make a stop by the Inkspirations Challenge Blog and play along with us this week. It's a great sketch and we so love seeing what everyone comes up with. Ske-doosh.

Inkspirations Challenge Blog Cindy Kirsty Makeesha Renée Brandi Carrie Helen Ilina Lee-Anne Marisa

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #91- Merci K.I.S.S

stamps: borderlines, tous mes remerciements (thank you kindly)

ink: black, pumpkin, cajun, olive

paper: shimmery white

accessories: brights buttons, linen thread, black marker, stamp-a-ma-jig

There's something that I really love about simple cards. It's not just that they are a huge time saver, either. I think it's the lack of fanfare and hullabaloo yet they're still eye-catching. This weeks Stampin' Royalty challenge is K.I.S.S or Keep It Simple Sweetie. My high school social studies teacher, Mr. Farrar, used to say "Keep It Simple Stupid" but I never took it personally because he said it to everyone. Great teacher, that guy.

I made this card using the homemade-stamp-pad-made-with-a-baby-wipe technique. I'm sure there's a better name for it but I can't think of it right now. Not exactly keepin' it simple, am I? Anyway, I fold a baby wipe lengthwise into four so it fit my stamp and then I used 3 colours of classic reinkers to squirt a line of different colours. I was able to make 10 cards using the "stamp pad" before the colours started to look a little too mixed.

I'm sure you've all noticed that I have an obsession with doodles. Doodles make me happy. Doodling on a white card? Awesomeness. I tried to do this card without the doodle border...yeeeah, didn't work. So I wear my doodle nerd badge with pride. : )

I'd love for you to head over the the Stampin' Royalty Challenge blog to ooh and ahh over the DT's creations. I'm sure they'd love to hear from you because I know I do! Ske-doosh.

Win-nah, win-nah, chicken din-nah! A wicked cool messenger bag, too!

You guys have known me for a while, right? I think it's abundantly clear that I spend far too much time on the computer. There's something about surfing around the interwebs looking for nifty schtuff that is incredibly relaxing for me. One of my more recent internet crack habits is Pinterest. The digital devil, I tells ya. You go on it for "just a minute" to find a cool idea and WHOOPS! Three hours later, your kids are hungry and your husband looks like a zombie in front of his Play Station 3 console. Ahem.

The thing I love the most about Pinterest is that I've come across some really kick butt blogs while pinning. A few weeks back, I stumbled upon Larissa's blog called mmmcrafts. She's got some really amazing tutorials and among them is this incredibly simple yet incredibly awesome messenger bag. As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to make it using the Sweet Stitches fabric from SU! I figured it was quite fitting to blog about it today seeing as how I'm giving away the Pennant Parade stamp set at the end of this post. 

I used the new Perfect Pennants die to make the banners. I wanted them smaller so I just placed the fabric further down on the tip of the smallest pennant. I had a bunch of leftover squares from another project so it was a good way to use up scraps.

I adore the inside of the flap because of the huge piece of Sweet Stitches fabric. It's my favourite of all the SU! fabrics. Spice cake, which I have yet to dig into, is a very close second. I think the next time I make one of these, I'm going to put a zippered pocket on the inside flap. 

There's a big pocket on the backside so I can cram  organize even more things in the bag. 

The inside has two pockets for my gum and Blackberry. I hadn't noticed until now that the Otterbox on my Blackberry actually matches the Melon Mambo buttons in the fabric. She shoots, she scores. 

Now, I'm not a newbie at sewing but I am by no means an expert, either. If you like the look of this bag and you're saying to yourself, "Naw, it's cute but I could never make that." I'm hear to tell you to head over to Larissa's blog and check out the tutorial. It is so, so, SO easy to understand. I made this bag in one day. Lemon squeezy, yo. 

HEY! Who's here for blog candy?? Without further blah, blah, blah...the winner of the Pennant Parade stamp set is...

(btw, I figured out how to do a screen capture...just sayin')

 Rita said...

Another stalker checking in. :) I love your cards and your great sense of humor! The doodling you add to your creations is awesome and something I wish I was able to do!

RITA! I'll be sending you your stamp set this week along with a wee surprise ; ). Thank you all so much for stopping by and letting me know you're out there. I know how hard it is to comment on all of the pretties we see from the blogs we love so I appreciate every time someone takes the time to say hi. Speaking of saying hi, head on over to Rita's blog to check out her beauties! I just started stalking following her today!

I'm signing off to go watch a movie with the Hairy One. We had a busy day with hockey, family photos and a brief visit to the hospital for Skyler. Nothing serious, just a persistent cough that has been keeping us all awake. I'm bushed...ske-doosh.  

Inkspirations Colour Challenge #88- Hello Daisies and a blog candy reminder...

Here's the colour combination:

And here's my card:

stamps: could I be any cuter? (unity), a comme amie (retired su background stamp)

ink: melon mambo

paper: brights dsp stack, melon mambo cs, confetti white cs

accessories: daisies #2 die, rhinestones, corduroy brads, mambo, ppoint, black markers, corner rounder punch

I had the day off yesterday. I was going to tear through my stamping to-do list. It was going to be magnificent. Truly magnificent.

*sigh*

It took me all. freaking. day. to make two cards. Two cards. One. Two. I think we can all agree that stamping is the shiz, right? It's the thing we do to make us relaxed and happy. It makes us zen, right?

I was so far away from ZEN yesterday that if I and zen were on a world map, I would be Québec City and zen would be freakin' China. I just could not make anything go. I dislike the rhinestone placement on this card but I like the rest of it. The colour combo was difficult but I like bright stuff so no problem there. I dunno. Bad day, I guess. Moving on.

On a less complain-y note, I received a box of new SU! goodies today. Guess what I'm doing this weekend...? *teeheesnigglesnart*

I'm always impressed with what the rest of the team comes up with each week and I'm pretty excited to see what they did with this colour combination. I haven't peeked yet so it'll be fun to see them all! Head over to the Inkspirations Challenge Blog and leave the ladies some love.

Also, make sure that you enter my blog candy giveaway from a couple of posts back. No hoops to jump through. Just leave a comment. Ske-doosh. 

Stampin' Royalty #90- Cupcake Anniversaire

Here's the sketch:

And here's my card:

stamps: create a cupcake (faire des petits gâteaux)

ink: espresso

paper: just add cake dsp, wwhite, marinacs, espresso cs

accessories: 2 1/2"circle punch, cupcake punch, buttons embosslit, espresso marker, dazzling details, cobbler baker's twine, cchip 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, corner rounder punch, dimensionals

Sketch time again...duh-dun DUNNNNNN! Being required to do the sketches just may be making me better at sketches. Imagine that. Huh. I'm really pleased how this card turned out. It was touch and go there when the DSP went all soggy from the copious amounts of Dazzling Details I put on the top of the cupcake. It dried. It's all good. 

I always forget about the Buttons Embosslit! Then I remember it, pull it out, make something super cute with it, and promptly put it away to forget about it once again. I'm such a meat head. The squareheaded meathead, as it were.

I have this (unrealistic) dream about having a scrap room that has nothing but peg board and magnet board walls from floor to ceiling. Every single scrap booking and stamping supply I own is stuck to said dreamy wall. Everything is visible and nothing is forgotten. In fact, when I was a child, I used to think that my stuffed animals had feelings. I couldn't exclude one by leaving it in the other room, on the dresser, or heaven forbid, on the floor when I crawled into bed. It's feelings would be hurt. 

I'm an adult now and I have to admit, I have the same suspicions about my crafting supplies. My dream walls would remedy this nicely, don't you think? ; )

Can you tell it's late and that I'm tired? I tend to ramble when I'm tired. Hey, thanks to all of you that have commented so far on my blog candy post from a couple of days ago. It's nice to hear from some of you Google Reader subscribers! I really appreciate your visits, comments or not. It's just nice to know there are people enjoying my schtuff. The draw will be open until Sunday the 25th, so if you haven't already, go make a comment on that post and you'll be entered to win. It's been fun hearing from you.

Please head over to the Stampin' Royalty Challenge Blog to check out what the ladies have come up with this week. Leave them some blog love if you can spare a minute. Ske-doosh. 

Pedaling B-Day and some blog candy...

stamps: letter it, pedaling past, canvas
ink: espresso, limeade, indigo, black
paper: cchip cs, wwhite cs, limeade cs, indigo cs
accessories: jumbo eyelets, 2-1/2" circle punch, large star punch, decorative label punch, black journaling marker

This was a really quick card to make so I made quite a few. I think it makes for a nice looking masculine card. I'm sending one to my father-in-law for his birthday this week, in fact. He's a wonderful man who is so full of life. He's got a mischievous twinkle in his eye and loves, love, loves his family so much. Happy birthday to you, Maurice.

It occurred to me that I haven't given away any blog candy for what seems like ages and ages. So, to say thanks to all of you readers out there that take time out of your day to stop by and check out the stuff I make, I'll be doing a random number drawing for a Stampin' Up! stamp set called Pennant Parade. It's a super fun set that I already have in French so I thought I'd share the wealth a bit and give my brand new English set away.

All you need do, dear reader, is leave a comment on this post. I'd love to come up with a witty question for you to answer or something like that, but really, I'd just like to know who the people are that are stopping by my blog. I'll leave the comments open until September 25, 2011. Guess I'll have to figure out how to do that random draw screen capture thingy, eh? Ske-doosh.

Inkspirations Sketch Challenge #87- Glitter Rock

Here's the sketch:

And here's my card:

stamps: just jawing

ink: wwhite craft, bblack classic

paper: big top dsp, bblack cs, confetti cs, wwhite cs, red and silver glitter paper

accessories: designer polka dot brad, daffodil ribbon, black, turquoise, olive, peach red markers, corner rounder, dimensionals

This card was a lot of fun to make. It helped that I had my good friend, Cindy Major, here when I made it. She graciously let me have a piece of the gorgeous new glitter paper from the mini catalogue. She got to witness first hand my difficulties with sketches. I'm truly surprised this card ever even got made. ; )

Note: As I was linking up to Cindy's blog, I thought to myself, "Why not post a photo of us creating together?" Then I realized...I'm an idiot and we never took one. Crap.

Do you like the black background? Kinda looks like a piece of leather, eh? I crumpled a piece of black cardstock up and then smoothed it out flat. I then took my craft white ink pad and lightly, and I do mean lightly, ran it over the black cs. I then wiped the excess off with a Kleenex. 

I've always liked the look of paper piecing and Just Jawing is the perfect set to do it with. I hope you all like it. : )

Be sure to check out the rest of the teams goodies over at the Inkspirations Challenge Blog. Let the girls know if you like their projects! It's always fun to hear that someone likes what we create. : ) Ske-doosh.

Stampin' Royalty #89- Milk Carton Cupcake

Here's the inspiration image:

And here's my project:

stamps: chocolatissimo, grid, lots of dots, lines

ink: blushing bride, choc. chip, peach parfait, perfect pear

paper: blushing bride, cchip, pparfait, wwhite, rred

accessories: milk carton die, eyelet scallop border, decorative label, pennant punch, pear 1/4" taffeta, satin choc. chip ribbon (retired), organza taffeta ribbon, brights buttons, linen thread, yummy chocolates in the box

As soon as Georgie sent me the e-mail containing this picture, I knew what I wanted to make. I found a tutorial for the expansion of the milk carton die on Sunghee's blog, Creativity in Progress. Works like a charm! Thanks so much, Sunghee! It took me a bid of fiddling to make the satin "icing" but I'm really pleased with the outcome. 

It's funny because, normally, I would make a 3d box like this and then let it hang around my stamp room for a few weeks and then one of my kids would eventually get a hold of it...and well, you can figure out the rest. This time? I'm giving this bad boy away while it still looks like it hasn't been handled by every person I know. I haven't decided who to give it to, but I'm givin' it even it it kills me! LOL!

I've been on a stamping spree lately. Late nights are starting to kick me in the ass. I'm going to bed early tonight. I swear. I just have this one...idea. It'll only take a few minutes...

Don't forget to head over the the Stampin' Royalty Challenge blog and play along with the challenge this week! Ske-doosh.

DTGD 2011- Varsity HB

stamps: varsity alphabet, canvas

ink: baja, kiwi

paper: loop thing dsp (level 3 hostess retired), rhred cs, ggrey cs, baja cs, wwhite cs, first edition dsp

accessories: clear circle die, jumbo eyelet, olive 1/8" taffeta ribbon, black journaling marker

This is yet another Dare to get Dirty challenge card from this summer. I just LOVED this sketch! As you may already know, I'm not a fan of sketches. But this one made it easy to love! I just love the Varsity Alphabet and I don't think it'll ever go on the "to sell" pile. And I think I've already confirmed that the Canvas BG is an all time fave, n'est pas?

So, we're back into the swing of things here at Chez Côté. We eat at normal hours, the kids are in bed on time, and Phil is back to his winter sports schedule. The last item on that list is kinda fun because it permits me to stamp the evening away, guilt free. : ) We recently hired a house cleaner to come in once every two weeks because I was tired of trying to stay on top of everything. I like to do what I want on my weekends and housecleaning isn't one of the things I want to do. It's an "I have to" kinda thing. I'd rather hang out with all my boys on the weekends. Money well spent, in my opinion.

Logan has started back to hockey and Skyler will be taking a couple of swimming classes this winter. We asked Sky if he wanted to play hockey this year and it was a firm no. I'm not too torn up about it as I don't think I'd be a fan of living at the arena for the whole weekend. I know there are some that love it (Hi Manon!) but I can only take so much of it.

The next part of this post is for my Chibougamau readers:

Mon amie, Manon Dufour fait deux speciaux sur les séances de photos! Il y a deux choix de dates alors cliquez ici pour aller voir sur son blogue. N'hesitez pas car les places sont limitées!

That's it for today, my friends! Ske-doosh.

Inkspirations Colour Challenge #86- Kusudama Bobble

Here's the colour combination:

And here's my project:

I've already posted a couple of these awesome Kusudama origami balls on my blog. The problem is, I always give them away! This one, I keep. 'Tis mine. I used the tutorial over at Folding Trees and it's the easiest one I've come across on the interwebs. You could park a truck on this thing, I'm sure. It's super solid and quite purdy. I think I used 5 full sheets of 12 x 12 designer series paper and a half bottle of Tombo glue. Not bad, eh? These things make for a wonderful holiday gift and they're very inexpensive to make.

Head over to the rest of the team's blogs to tell them how awesome they are and please play along with us! Ske-doosh.

Inkspirations Challenge Blog Cindy Kirsty Makeesha Renée Brandi Carrie Helen Ilina Lee-Anne Marisa

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #88- Scallop Tea

Here's the colour combination:

And here's my card:

stamps: take a sip wheel, pour ton anniversaire

ink: concord, tango, daffodil, celery, black

paper: wwhite, concord, crumb

accessories: scallop die, clear circle die, blender pen, crystal effects, 1/16" handheld punch,

black, tangerine and concord markers, my awesome sewing machine

Welcome to this week's Stampin' Royalty Challenge. At first glance, I wasn't fussy about this colour combo but when I got the card all put together, I ended up loving it! It's flashy and funky which is right up my alley. The crystal effects adds that perfect touch to the tea cups and in real life, the card looks pretty wicked awesome.

As you've probably noticed, I used the Take a Sip wheel on this project. I unmounted all of my wheels because I find that when I leave them intact, I never use them. Given that the stamps are now unmounted, I can place them anyway I want on a large acrylic block, line the images up with the stamp-a-ma-jig and voilà! Nifty cards abound! Let me know in the comments section if you would like me to prepare a tutorial of how I lined them up on the block to fit the clear circle die. If there's enough interest, I'll do one. : )

How do you like the new look of my blog? I'm pretty darned proud of myself for the work I've done on it. I've spent the last few evenings searching the Internet for tutorials on how to change elements of Blogger in html. I'm no computer whiz so the outcome of all the web surfing and fiddling makes me happy.

Speaking of new elements, I've added a tab to the top of my blog that links back to the Stampin' Royalty Challenge Blog. Click on that bad boy and check out what the rest of the team has come up with. We'd love for you to come play along with us in the challenges! Be sure to use the keyword SR88 when uploading to any online galleries. If you blog about the challenge, we'd really appreciate a link back the challenge blog. Ske-doosh.

Another sewn agenda cover...

Here's yet another journal/agenda cover from the wicked awesome tutorial at Bloom. I making these puppies left and right for friends because I think they're so cool. What better way to hide the cover to a generic looking agenda? There are a lot more tutes over at Bloom so make sure to go check it out.

The red checked material I used is one of Logan's old shirts. I guess I just joined the hipster masses by upcycling a shirt, eh? I made this cover for a friend that is going through a rough time as a little pick me up gift. She's a special person and I'm happy she's my friend. : )

I'm throwing in a couple of photos that my sons and nephews and I took the last weekend we were in Québec City. We took them using a technique called Light Painting. I have a somewhat subpar camera so they're not great but it was a lot of fun to try. We'll definitely be doing it again sometime soon. Google light painting and you'll see what way more creative people than me can do.

Logan started first grade this week. My heart is full of pride but also a smidge of worry. He is so excited to be in school and he has a lot of friends. It's going to be fine. Just fine. Look, he's a superhero with big muscles full of light. What could possibly go wrong? ; )

Ske-doosh.

Inkspirations Sketch Challenge #85- Christmas Beaver!

Here's the sketch:

Here's my card:

Super quick post...I thought I had this scheduled already but apparently not. LOL! Head over to the Inkspirations Blog to check out all the beauties and enter a card in the fray! You could be chosen as the Inkspirations pick of the week! Gotta go...ske-doosh.

Inkspirations Challenge Blog Cindy Kirsty Makeesha Renée Brandi Carrie Helen Ilina Lee-Anne Marisa