The Squareheadedstamper

CCEE1204- Scallop Beach

2012-01-26T00:40:00.001-05:00

Welcome to this week's CCEE challenge! It’s a special day for all Aussies today as it is Australia Day! It is on this day in 1788 that the First Fleet arrived at Sydney Cove. So our challenge is Aussie related … Frances is giving you a few options … use the colors green & gold on your card; create a beach scene (we love our beaches); use Australian Animals; Thongs (you wear on your feet btw) etc...

I chose to make a beach scene using Crab and Company which is a long time fave set of mine. It may not look like it but there was a lot that went into this card! I really love the looks on their faces.

Head over to the CCEE Challenge blog to see what the rest of the ladies have come up with. The talent runs amok in this group so it's well worth the peek. Who's a tired lady? ME! Bedtime for Big B. Ske-doosh.

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #108- Birdwax

2012-01-25T05:30:00.000-05:00

This week's Stampin' Royalty challenge is an inspiration photo. You can see it over on the challenge blog and while you're there, check out the creativity of my fellow Royals. Amazing stuff, these friends of mine create. Sorry for the short post but this week is kicking my ass. I'm off to bed. Ske-doosh.

Creative Crew January Challenge- Dig Mon Fils

2012-01-21T13:55:00.001-05:00

Stamps: I Dig You, Êtres Chers

Paper: whisper white CS, crumb cake CS, nq navy CS, chocolate chip CS

Ink: daffodil delight, chocolate chip, not quite navy

Accessories: daffodil button, lined thread, cupcake punch, dimensionals, white signo pen, pool party marker

It was Logan's birthday last week but we're having his party tomorrow. 11 friends are coming. Eleven. Scary stuff, man. LOL! This was the card that I gave to him on his birthday. I'm starting to realize that Logan has much less enthusiasm about my handmade cards as he gets older. We're having it at the school in the gym, though, so it shouldn't be too painful. : ) I'm busy making his cake and finishing the gift bags today so I'll have those photos to post sometime during the week...if I survive tomorrow. ; )

You are cordially invited to participate in the Creative Crew Challenges:

Catalog Focus: My newest stamp set. Use only stamps from a new stamp set on a non-traditional card. Keywords: CCREW112CF, CreativeCrew, SUO or SUM

Color Focus: Use a color combination that you’ve never used before. Make your card with this color combo using the attached sketch. Keywords: CCREW112DF, CreativeCrew, SUO or SUM

Holiday Focus: Valentines Day. Make a card or a decor item using hearts in a new way to you—something you’ve never done with hearts. Keywords: CCREW112HF, CreativeCrew, SUO or SUM

SB inspiration focus: a past holiday (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hannukah, Christmas) SB page or decor item. Use your newest dies, texturz plates or embossing folders to create this beauty. Use one or use many big shot items. Keywords: CCREW112SB, CreativeCrew, SUO or SUM

SUO just means Stampin' Up! Only and SUM means Stampin' Up! Mostly. Have a great day! Ske-doosh.

New Challenge Design Team!

2012-01-19T07:00:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I was thrilled to receive an e-mail from Charlene Merrick asking me if I would like to join the Cheers & Challenges Eclectic Ensemble. The CCEE Stampers are an amazingly talented group of stampers and I'm sure you've heard of all of them. I'm really excited to become part of their group and from the few chats I've had with them behind the scenes, they are a funny bunch of chicks! The challenges they come up with are always unique and fun so I hope you'll join us to play!

This week's challenge:

Chinese New Year is celebrated on January 23rd this year and it is the Year of the Dragon…so this week either use a Dragon on your card or find out what animal relates to your birthday year in the Chinese Zodiac and create a card using that animal.

Keyword- CCEE1203

Turns out that I don't own a dragon stamp so I went with my Chinese Zodiac; the tiger....except I don't have a tiger stamp either. *snarf* Cat, tiger...same difference, right? Ahem...

stamps: longfellows

ink: basic black, pumpkin pie

paper: crumb cake, basic black and pumpkin pie CS

accessories: mini clips, 1 1/4" black striped grosgrain ribbon, my awesome sewing machine, dimensionals, corner chomper

So, feel free to join me and the other rubber nerds in the CCEE every Thursday with a new challenge! Head on over to the CCEE Challenge Blog to check out what delights the ladies have come up with. Ske-doosh.

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #107- Crumb-y Owl

2012-01-17T22:00:00.000-05:00

stamps: gift givers

ink: turq, pumpkin, limeade, crumb, black

paper: white, crumb, limeade, pumpkin, turq

accessories: fashionable hearts embosslit, large heart punch, limeade organdy, dimensionals

Betcha thought I got hit by a truck, eh? Nope. Just really busy. I started an online class for work this week that will go for a year. Every Monday and Wednesday evening as well as one Saturday a month I will be plugged into my computer. Huzzah for personal and professional improvement! I've also been asked to join a new challenge design team. I'll have more details about that on Thursday. These thing together added to my family life, work, and other design team commitments make for a very busy Brandi. Not to mention my obsession with Pinterest. ; )

Don't you just love this colour combo? I'll be using it again, I'm sure. It's flashy and packs a punch. Head over to the Stampin' Royalty Challenge blog to check out what the ladies have come up with for this week. I've been quite remiss in my commenting on entries and blogs lately and for that, I apologize. I keep hoping that someone with come up with a 29 hour clock and then I could get all I intend to do done. (sheepish grin) Ske-doosh.

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #106- Fabric!

2012-01-11T11:56:00.000-05:00

Picture this cute coffee mug sleeve on a cute coffee mug instead of the ugly plastic cup I've used here. This week's challenge is to use fabric on your project. Given my somewhat obessive nature about Pinterest, lately...ahem...I decided to use a tutorial I found there to make a coffee cozy. I used the new Twitterpated fabric and some grey corduroy I had leftover from a purse I posted a while back. Sweet, huh?

Head over to the Stampin' Royalty blog to check out what the ladies have come up with this week. Ske-doosh.

January Creative Crew Challenges- Scallop Gnomies

2012-01-09T11:21:00.001-05:00

Stamps: gnome sweet gnome, gnomenclature

Paper: everyday enchantment DSP, crumb cake CS, whisper white CS

Ink: basic black,riding hood red, basic grey, daffodil delight, soft suede, pear pizzazz

Accessories: ridinghood red pleated satin ribbon, jumbo eyelet (retired), linen thread, large scallop circle die, clear circle die, crop-a-dile, blender pen snips, my awesome sewing machine

I think the Gnomies from Gnome Sweet Gnome are a polarizing stamp set in the demo world, much like the Sock Monkey. You either love them, or hate them. I, myself, am a lover of the gnomes. And by "lover", I mean "fan", not "chicka-chick-bow-WOW".

For this challenge, we were asked to use our newest stamp set on a non traditional card. After I finished my card and photographing it, I realized that I didn't put a shadow under his and the frog's feet to make them look grounded. Now they're kinda floating there...looking gravitation-ally challenged. Ah well...I ain't shooting it again, yo.

You are cordially invited to participate in the Creative Crew Challenges:

Catalog Focus: My newest stamp set. Use only stamps from a new stamp set on a non-traditional card. Keywords: CCREW112CF, CreativeCrew, SUO or SUM

Color Focus: Use a color combination that you’ve never used before. Make your card with this color combo using the attached sketch. Keywords: CCREW112DF, CreativeCrew, SUO or SUM

Holiday Focus: Valentines Day. Make a card or a decor item using hearts in a new way to you—something you’ve never done with hearts. Keywords: CCREW112HF, CreativeCrew, SUO or SUM

SUO just means Stampin' Up! Only and SUM means Stampin' Up! Mostly. Have a great day! Ske-doosh.

January Creative Crew Challenges- Black Magic Love

2012-01-06T10:59:00.000-05:00

Stamps: p.s. i love you, p.s. je t'aime

Paper: cherry cobbler CS, whisper white CS, basic black CS, vellum CS

Ink: basic black, whisper white craft

Accessories: rhinestones, cherry cobbler baker's thread, crop-a-dile, modern label punch, cherry cobbler button, water colour pencil crayons, black journal marker, cobbler marker, dimensionals, Adorning accents edgelits die

Keywords: CCREW112HF, SUO or SUM, CreativeCrew

Big Mama is back from vacation! Didja miss me? We got back last night after having spent close to two weeks in Québec City with my in-laws. For the last 3 days, we stayed at Auberge Lac à L'eau Claire in St-Alexis-des-Monts. Gorgeous just doesn't quite cut it as a descriptor. We had an amazing time and the boys were ecstatic to spend time around all the love. We had a 5 room condo and there were 23 of us so they were loved on a lot! One of the running gags of the weekend was that we were only supposed to have 18 people in the condo so whenever a truck from the site stopped by to drop off firewood, we all joke that 5 people had to hide. We've already reserved for next year.

I had the best intentions of pre-posting before I left but I quickly ran out of time to create as the holidays approached. At least I got the January Monthly Squareheaded Pinterest Challenge posted. I'd love to see some of your creations! There hasn't been much participation so far so I'd be grateful if you'd spread the word to your pinhead friends!

I mentioned a few weeks back that I had been selected to be part of the Splitcoast Stampers Creative Crew SU Design Team. The Crew was created to entice demos on SCS to partake in challenges thereby keeping the gallery chock-full of SU samples. To see the actually challenge posts, you have to be a demo but to see the gallery, you need only to type Creative Crew in the gallery search box. This will bring you to the gorgeous gallery and then you can participate in the challenges by adding the keywords provided here on my blog (or possibly on the blogs of other Creative Crew DT members).

I made this card using the Holiday Focus challenge: Valentines Day. Make a card or a decor item using hearts in a new way to you—something you’ve never done with hearts.

I used the Black Magic technique using craft white ink. I've done something similar using acrylic white paint and classic in on sponges seen here. The one shown here with the hearts was quite time consuming as I had to individually colour each heart. The results were worth it, I think. You can't really see the strip of cardstock vellum on the card but in real life it adds a neat bit of textured layering to the card.

You are cordially invited to participate in the Creative Crew Challenges:

Catalog Focus: My newest stamp set. Use only stamps from a new stamp set on a non-traditional card. Keywords: CCREW112CF, CreativeCrew, SUO or SUM

Color Focus: Use a color combination that you’ve never used before. Make your card with this color combo using the attached sketch. Keywords: CCREW112DF, CreativeCrew, SUO or SUM

Holiday Focus: Valentines Day. Make a card or a decor item using hearts in a new way to you—something you’ve never done with hearts. Keywords: CCREW112HF, CreativeCrew, SUO or SUM

SUO just means Stampin' Up! Only and SUM means Stampin' Up! Mostly.

I hope you can find the time to participate! I'll be back in a couple of days to share my other projects. Ske-doosh.

January Squareheaded Monthly Pinterest Challenge

2012-01-01T08:11:00.000-05:00

I'm not a big fan of jewelry in general but when I saw this bracelet on Pinterest, I knew it was going to be my next challenge project. It comes from Hope Studios blog and she has some great tips for making button bracelets. I encourage you to head over there and check out the tutorial.

I don't know how much I'll actually wear it but, dang, it's cute! Thanks to those of you that participated in last month's challenge. I'd love to have more participants this month. Get pinning and then creating, people! Ske-doosh.

Merry Christmas!!!

2011-12-25T13:38:00.001-05:00

Just a quick post to wish you all a Merry Christmas! I'll be back on January first with a post for you. : ) Ske-doosh.

Stampin' Royalty #103- Ornament Noël

2011-12-20T23:18:00.000-05:00

stamps: every little bit

ink: red, turq, olive, daffodil, black, sahara

paper: white, real red

accessories: 1" circle punch, blender pen, white signo pen

That's it. I'm done. No more Christmas stuff. I just can't do it anymore. LOL! Can you believe Christmas is on Sunday?! Insane. I'll be taking a blogging break for a bit but I'll be back in January with some nifty stuff to show. I want to wish you all a very Happy Holidays! I really appreciate my readers and am thankful that you guys continue to stop by and check out my stuff. Have yourselves a wonderful New Year!

Head over to the Stampin' Royalty Blog to see what the DT has come up with. Ske-doosh.

Inkspirations #100- The End of an Era

2011-12-17T07:25:00.000-05:00

stamps: every little bit, short & sweet

ink: black

paper: crumb CS, brights DSP stack, white CS, red, pacific, olive CS

accessories: buttons #5 die, 1" circle punch, black journal marker

I can take ZERO credit for this amazing clean and simple design. As I was trying (read: failing) to come up with something über cute for the challenge this week, I came across a gorgeous card on Pinterest. I clicked through to the source and realized it was made by none other than the amazingly talented, Leanne Pugliese. Her blog is one of my top faves in my Google Reader. Do yourself a favour and go check out her blog if you haven't already. You're in for a visual treat. I really didn't change much at all on my card aside from the buttons and the base colour, so I thank Leanne for the inspiration in my time of dire need (I'm sure you can all agree that when I say "dire need", it's no exaggeration... having no mojo fits the definition, right?).

After much thought on the matter, Keesh has decided to shut down the Inkspirations Challenge Blog. I'd like to publicly thank her and my fellow Inkspirations DT members for such a wonderful time creating with them. I'd also like to thank my readers that participated in the challenges, as well. It has been a lot of fun! Ske-doosh.

Stampin' Royalty #102- Glitter Bobble

2011-12-14T10:45:00.000-05:00

stamps: tiny tags

ink: black, olive

paper: red glitter paper

accessories: red brights button, tiny tag punch, linen thread, olive 1/8" taffeta ribbon,

glue dots, 1/16" circle handheld punch, clear ornament

We have a really cool inspiration photo for the challenge this week. Head over to the Stampin' Royalty Challenge Blog and check it out! I've made a couple of Stampin' Up! ornaments for my tree every year that I've been a demo (5 years) so my tree is looking quite papercraft-y. This ornament took all of 10 minutes to make and is über sparkly in real life.

I'm home with the always lovely and entertaining stomach flu today. (insert sarcasm font here) I have too many things to do to have the stomach flu. ricka-fracka-ricka-frack. Ske-barf.

Yet another messenger bag...

2011-12-11T11:47:00.001-05:00

(sad Blackberry photos again...my apologies)

Yes, yes...*another* messenger bag. Not very original but I haven't shared this one yet and everything else I'm making right now is for a future challenge. I don't want you guys to think I don't love you. So, who's done all the Christmas prep? Bwahahahahaaha! I'm not anywhere close. I've decided to stop stressing about it. Christmas will still happen even if my shortbread isn't made, right? I've got a blitz of handmade gifts to make this week and the baking will have to take the backseat. I'm zen, yo.

Ske-doosh.

Creepy Monkey Balloons

2011-12-09T09:53:00.001-05:00

I have to confess that I'm tired of making Christmas stuff. It happens to me every year. Christmas burn-out before it even starts. So, I'm sharing a creepy sock monkey card instead. Merry Creepy Monkey Day, everyone!

Ske-doosh.

Stampin' Royalty #101- Primary Dirtday!

2011-12-07T12:00:00.000-05:00

stamps: i dig you, woodgrain, a comme amie (retired), canvas BG (retired)

ink: turq, pumpkin, olive, daffodil, red, black

paper: turq, red, olive, black CS

accessories: scallop square die, oval punch, scallop oval punch, daffodil ribbon, dimensionals, my wicked awesome sewing machine

I made this card for my youngest son's friend's birthday coming up this weekend. He's an all boy kinda boy and loves all things trucks. I think he'll dig on this colour combo, too. I will never tire of this combination of colours. It reaches out and grabs your attention every. single. time. Love it.

Head over to the Stampin' Royalty Challenge blog to see what cool things the ladies have made with the sketch this week. Ske-doosh.

I'm the KAPOW Kreative Challenge Guest Designer! YAY!

2011-12-06T20:18:00.001-05:00

Here's the sketch:

And here's my card:

stamps: none

ink: craft white

paper: crumb, olive, red

embellishments: rhinestones, peacelovejoy die strip, simple snowflake punch, my wicked awesome sewing machine

Those of you in the stamping world, of course, know Carrie Gaskin. You know...the one that makes amazing cards with all the awesome details that have you shaking your head in amazement while thinking to yourself, "Why didn't I think of that?" Ya, that one. Well, Carrie recently started her own challenges on her blog, The Artistic Avenger (how *awesome* is that name, eh?) called the KAPOW Kreative Challenge.

I'm honored to be the KAPOW Kreative Challenge Guest Designer for this week. There's nothing that Carrie Makes that doesn't absolutely wow me and she has surrounded herself in good company with the ladies on her design team. Head on over there and check out their gorgeous creations for this week.

My favourite memory of Carrie from convention was her telling me that she was going to throw her underwear at me while I was giving a presentation at a demo booth. She's clearly a big fat chicken because she never followed through but I adore her anyway.

We'd love for you to play along with us in the challenges! Maybe if I like your card enough, I throw my underwear at you? Ske-doosh.

Inkspirations Colour Challenge 98- Daffodil Hello

2011-12-02T09:49:00.001-05:00

Hey! Guess who forgot to prepare her Inkspirations Challenge post again? I'll give you three guesses. ; ) Head over and see what the ladies have made this week. Ske-doosh.

The Squareheaded Monthly Pinterest Challenge- December

2011-11-30T23:43:00.001-05:00

Can you freakin' believe that it's already December? I mean...c' mon! DECEMBER??? I don't have *time* for it to be December. I still have so many things to make before Christmas. Today, as I was sitting in class, listening to a student read, I was daydreaming about contracting a quarantinable (is that even a word?) rash so I would be forced to stay home but not be bedridden. Imagine all that I could get done if I had 6 solid hours of quiet time to craft.

Bah. Who am I trying to kid? I'd probably squander it by pinning all day.

The good thing about being so pressed for time is that I had to come up with a cute project that was easy to make for gifts to friends and family. Check out this awesome key chain tutorial I came across on Pinterest via The Idea Room. Amy Huntley has some incredible ideas and tutorials on her blog! I encourage you to go have a look.

Easy, easy, EASY peasy to make and it's a wonderful way to get rid of some fabric scraps. I just placed an order on Etsy for some more lobster claw clips. Hopefully they'll get here really soon. Because I'm, you know...pressed for...umm...time.

Yeah.

So, I was pretty stoked to have some participation in November's challenge. I'd love to see more of you play along! You can find out all about the challenge by clicking on the tab at the top of the page or by clicking here. Don't be shy! You can make anything that you find on Pinterest. I have a slight obsession with mudrooms right now. When we renovate our home (soon, I hope) we very interested in changing our entry way so I've been scouring Pinterest for mudrooms and entryways.

If you decide to play along, you can easily find this post anytime during the month on the Squareheaded Monthly Pinterest Challenge page found at the top of this blog. Link back to this post in the comments section with your project. I'll consider setting up a Mr. Linky thing-a-ma-jig if participation eventually increases. So, c'mon people! Get pinning and get creating! Ske-doosh.

Stampin' Royalty #100- Anything But A Card

2011-11-30T07:24:00.001-05:00

Raise your hand if you're sick of seeing these bags! LOL! It just so happens that I had to finish this bag for a customer and it fit for the challenge...so, yet another messenger bag from mmmcrafts graces the pages of the ol' blog.

Why the crappy photo, you ask? Well, it's because I'm about as sharp as a bowling ball sometimes. I finished the bag late at night on Sunday (because I screwed up the strap...twice...and had to fix it) thinking that I'd photograph it to hand in for the challenge deadline on Monday morning (the deadline is actually Sunday but Georgie loves me despite my procrastinating tendencies). I get up, get dressed, get the kids ready...you know the drill. Rush, rush, rush.

I get to school and give the bag away, you guessed it, without taking a photo. I had to call the lady at home on Monday night (I work with her) to bring the bag in on Tuesday morning. I make sure to place the camera next to the door so I don't forget it in the morning. I even go so far as to check for the memory card because I've been known to leave home without it.

Get to school, lady gives me the bag, ask my beautiful friend Watson to put it on, grab camera, point...

...(blink).

No. Freaking. Battery.

Did I mention that I'm as sharp as a bowling ball sometimes?

Yeeeah...so, this photo is brought to you by my Blackberry that has a very dirty lens that I didn't notice until it's too late so I Picnik'd the hell out of this photo. Run on sentence, anyone?

Sigh.

Head over to the Stampin' Royalty Challenge blog to see what the ladies have created this week. Please leave them some love because if they even went through a quarter of the trouble that I did making this challenge project, I'm sure hearing from you would make it all worth it! LOL! Have a great day! Ske-doosh

Creative Crew Challenge-CCREW1111DF- Easel Card

2011-11-28T21:14:00.001-05:00

stamps: snow much fun

ink: turq, cobbler, marina, olive, black

paper: turq cs, olive cs, espresso cs, wwhite cs

accessories: jumbo eyelet, cobbler seam tape, blender pen, simple snowflake punch, stamp-a-ma-jig

I'm very happy to announce that I've recently been chosen to be a part of the Creative Crew over at Splitcoast Stampers. I'll be starting my tour of duty in January and I'm really excited! The challenges are fun and will push me to make some things out of my comfort zone which is always a good thing in stamping. I'd love to have my readers play along! Ske-doosh!

Inkspirations Sketch Challenge #97- Snowbuddy Crumb

2011-11-25T17:49:00.001-05:00

stamps: snow much fun

ink: olive, cobbler, red, pumpkin, black, pool, daffodil

paper: brights dsp stack, white cs, crumb cs

accessories: blender pen, cobbler seam tape, black journal marker, corner rounder, dimensionals

Don't you just love when you a schedule a post and then forget to click "publish"? (eyeroll) I was in the juice today and didn't have time to even check my e-mail, let alone verify if my post went up. Ah well...here 'tis. A nice, simple Christmas card. I've decided I'm actually going to make my x-mas cards this year instead of slacking off. I'm doing them with a bunch of girlfriends and a few bottles of wine so I can't guarantee that they be straight. Or coloured nicely. Or done.

Head over to the Inkspirations Challenge Blog to see this week's sketch and to check out the DT's creations. Have an awesome weekend, everyone! Ske-doosh.

Stampin' Royalty #99- Celebrate Grampa

2011-11-23T07:38:00.001-05:00

stamps:perfectly penned

ink: espresso

paper: crumb cs, big top birthday dsp, black cs

accessories: neutrals button, big top birthday quick accents, black journal marker, my awesome sewing machine

Dude, I feel like I haven't scrapped in ages! I was happy to see this challenge because it forced me to sit down and make a page. I haven't even sent photos away to be printed in forever. Gotta get on that. Hey, guess what? I slept for 14 hours last night! That's what happens when exhaustion finally sets in are a long period of insomnia kicks me in the butt. Let's hope this is the start of a nappy run.

Head over to the Stampin' Royalty blog to see the purdy pages all the ladies came up with! Leave 'em some love, too! Ske-doosh.

Inkspirations Colour Challenge #96- Krafty Valentine

2011-11-18T00:22:00.001-05:00

stamps: delightful dozen

ink: crumb, espresso

paper: crumb, red, bashful

accessories: small heart punch, rhinstones, simply scored

Valentine's card in November. This started out as something completely different and it took a turn towards hearts...what can I say? I'm not going to try and lie to you by saying that this is for an upcoming class or whatever. It's just one of those errant creations that don't fall into the right season. : )

Feel free to head over to the Inkspirations Challenge Blog to check out the rest of the DT's creations. I'm very lucky to be on the same team with these women. Their creativity astounds me. Big smooches to you, ladies. Ske-doosh.

Stampin' Royalty #98- Coffee Goddess

2011-11-16T18:40:00.001-05:00

stamps: morning cup

ink: black, poppy, daffodil, basic grey, pool

paper: domestic goddess dsp, basic grey cs, pool party cs, white cs

accessories: small heart punch, daffodil ribbon, blender pens, basic grey marker, dimensionals

I'm really late getting this sketch card up! I had a crazy busy day and I am just now sitting down for almost the first time today. I met with Logan's teacher after school to pick up his report card. He did amazing!!! We're over the moon with his results. He is top of the class and has worked his butt off to get there. It may only be grade one but it's his second language so there is a lot of homework so we couldn't be more proud of him. After the year we had last year, it's great to see all of his hard work paying off. No more blah blah...I'm off to play with my wicked awesome kid!

Head over to the Stampin' Royalty blog to check out the ladies creations. Leave 'em some love! Ske-doosh.

Manon's Messenger Bag

2011-11-14T20:51:00.001-05:00

I made this for my dear friend, Manon. I've mentioned her here on my blog before. She's an amazing photographer and an all around good egg. This bag turned out magnificently and I'm really proud of it. My hot and hairy husband said it looks like something from a store. Love him.

I also made a journal cover in the same design but the photo I took isn't so great so just imagine this bag, but as a journal cover. Same material, same appliqued flower. : )

I used the same tutorial from mmmcrafts that I used on this bag. I was going to give it to her today but the strap was too long so I had to adjust it. In the tutorial, it says make sure to measure before adding the strap...durrr. No worries, however. It's all fixed and I'm giving it to her tomorrow. Have a great week, everyone! Ske-doosh.

Mambo Flower B-Day

2011-11-13T10:22:00.001-05:00

stamps: well scripted
ink: bblack, melon mambo, old olive
paper: sew suite dsp, mambo cs, bblack cs
accessories: pewter brad, cchip 1-1/4" striped gg ribbon, little leaves sizzlet, flower builder die

It's 10:26 in the morning and I just woke up. (big stretch accompanied by a contented yawn) Phil took Skyler to his swim lesson this morning without me having to ask so I got to have myself a lovely lie-in. You know when you wake up and your arm is asleep because you slept like a log? Yeah, that was me. I'm feeling very well rested this a.m. which is something I haven't felt in quite some time. Insomnia has been kicking my ass, lately.

So, in light of my boost of energy due to a good night's sleep, I'm going to be a sewing machine today. (get it? Sewing...machine...ahem) I've got some bags to make for some people and I cut fabric for 4 of them last night. The coffee is hot, the p.j.s are comfy and season 3 of Dexter is waiting to be watched. I'm giddy with delight. Have a wonderful Sunday, everyone! Ske-doosh.

Stampin' Royalty #97- Get Well Crumb

2011-11-09T09:06:00.000-05:00

stamps: branch out (retired), en français, delightful dozen

ink: espresso, crumb

paper: crumb

accessories: 1 3/8" circle punch, clear circle die, cobbler seam tape, my awesome sewing machine, dimensionals, sponge

I cheated. I used a retired stamp set. I HAD TO!!! This was the only stamp I had that fit the inspiration I had. Do you love me anyway? I really like the simplicity of this card but I'm not happy about the reason I had to make it. Cancer sucks.

Head over to the Stampin' Royalty Blog and pour some love on those chicks 'cause they're wicked awesome. Ske-doosh.

Stars de Nous Tous...

2011-11-06T11:00:00.001-05:00

Remember when I posted that I was feeling better? And then I came back and posted that I spoke too soon? That was a month ago and now I'm sick again. I'm waiting for the Hairy Frenchman to get back from hockey with Logan and then I'm hauling my ass to the doctor.

I'm pretty sure it's bronchitis as I've already had it a number of times and know what it feels like. What are the symptoms? Well, for one; coughing. For two, me peeing a little every time I cough. '__' TMI? Moving on... I woke up at 4:30 this morning, coughing. That's A.M., people!! I have been up since 4:30 AY EM!!! That ain't right.

So, when I get home from the doctor, I'm really hoping that I won't be such a zombie that I won't be able to go stamp something. I rented season one of Dexter and I was hoping to get my stamp on, yo. Wish me luck! Ske-doosh.

Inkspirations Colour Challenge #94- Birthday Button Baloon

2011-11-04T12:33:00.000-04:00

ACK! I forgot to post my Inkspirations card this week and I'm in the juice so I can't blah blah about it!! See my sidebar for the link to the Inkspirations blog...have a great weekend, everyone! Ske-doosh.

Stampin' Royalty Colour Challenge #96- Button You

2011-11-01T23:59:00.000-04:00

Here's the colour combo:

And here's my card:

stamps: perfectly penned

ink: mambo, chocolate, blushing, peach

paper: crumb, mambo, chocolate, blushing, peach

accessories: buttons #5, vintage trinkets, soft suede ribbon, corner rounder, embroidery thread

I gotta say...I'm a fan of this card. I guess I'm a fan of this layout, as you can see here and here. I'm sure there are more but I don't want to toot my own horn for the whole post. Moving on...

I'm stamping this weekend even if it kills me. I keep planning these all day stamping marathons in my mind and then when the time comes to actually go downstairs and get to work, something comes up. Like swimming,. Or hockey. Or a nap. Life's pretty rough, eh? But this weekend; I stamp. Or sew. Or nap. We'll see.

You know what would make your Wednesday awesome? The Stampin' Royalty Challenge Blog! Head over and have a look at what the ladies came up with for this sweet colour combination. Have a great day! Ske-doosh.

p.s. check out the page tab at the top for the Pinterest challenge!

The Squareheaded Monthly Pinterest Challenge

2011-10-30T23:23:00.000-04:00

Although I didn't have an overwhelming response to my inquiry about who would be interested in a Pinterest challenge, I decided to go ahead with it anyway. For those of you that did respond in the positive, thanks! For those of you that are wondering what the heck I'm talking about...I guess my first question would be: Do you pin?

Pinterest is this wicked awesome site that allows you to store a photographic collection of things you like, love, or just want to remember from the internet. It's like an electronic cork board of sorts. Once you've become a member of Pinterest, you add a "pin it" button to your bookmark bar and when you're browsing the internet, if you see something you fancy, you "pin it" to one of your boards. You can then go back and find the image you "pinned" on your page. Nifty, right?

Warning: It is rather addicting. Ahem.

So, you can imagine that a lot of my pins come from the crafting world. There are so many gorgeous things to made out there. The problem is, I keep pinning pinning pinning...not much making to be had...yet.

In comes the Squareheaded Monthly Pinterest Challenge! Is there a recipe that you've pinned and been meaning to try? I quilt you've been eyeing on one of your boards? A card you've been meaning to case from one of the Pinheads you follow? Whatever it may be on Pinterest that you have seen, loved and wanted to do, this is the challenge for you.

I've decided to make it a monthly challenge because some of the things that I, myself, have pinned may take a little longer that a week to accomplish. I think a month gives us enough time to choose something, mull it over, and to actually get it made or at least started.

If you would like to play along, it's simple:

Step 1- find something cool that you've pinned.
Step 2- make said thing.
Step 3- blog about it or upload to your flicker/picasa/photobucket account.
Step 4- if you are so inclined, link back here to the monthly challenge post in the comments section so we can all oooh and aaahhh over your project.

I'll post the challenge the first Monday of every month (I'm aware that today is the last Monday of October but I really wanted to get this going...). The post, of course, will only be the project that *I* chose to make from one of my boards. There will be no specific requirements and no time limit. I just want to see what you guys are making!

Here's what I've made for this month:

These are reusable snack bags for Logan to take to school for his recess snack. I'm tired of sacrificing my cute Tupperware to his absentmindedness and I feel awful about the sheer quantity of Ziplocs we use as a family. I pinned this super easy tutorial on my Sewing Stuff board. The tutorial is from the i have to say blog. You can find the tutorial in the left hand column of her blog. The coolest thing about these is that you can just pitch 'em in the wash when the snack is finished. Awesome, eh? I suggest having a looky-loo around i have to say. Wonderful fabric goodies, I tells ya.

So? Who's with me? I'd love for this to work and, more importantly, I'd love for you to click away from here thinking, "I could make that!" Whatever "that" may be. Ske-doosh.

Inkspiration Sketch Challenge #93- Sew What?

2011-10-27T22:41:00.000-04:00

Here's the sketch:

And here's my card:

And here's the inside of said card:

stamps: sew suite, naturally serif alpha? (maybe?...I can't remember the name of it...)

ink: turq, olive, mambo, pumpkin, espresso

paper: I can't think of the names of anything tonight DSP, espresso cs, whisper cs

accessories: jumbo eyelets, chocolate chip polytwill ribbon, brights, neutrals, and soft subtles designer buttons, espresso marker

Ugh. That was painful writing out the "recipe" for this card. My brain was farting. Anyway...so, these more complex sketches usually kick me in the bum but this one came together fairly easily! I really wish that there were some cute sayings including in the Sew Suite set. Just sayin'.

Hey! Who loves Pinterest? I do. One thing I've been thinking about, though; I need to start MAKING the things I've been pinning on my crafty boards. I'm thinking of starting a monthly challenge to make something that I/we (meaning you and I, dear reader) have pinned. What do you guys think? Anyone interested in playing along? It doesn't have to be something big like a piece of furniture (unless you're keen to make one). It can be something small or even something non-papercraft. Anything DIY, really. Leave me a comment if you'd be interested, kay?

In the meantime, head over to the Inkspirations Challenge Blog and leave some love for my talented friends! Ske-doosh.

Stampin' Royalty #95- Hoo-loween Frame

2011-10-25T22:40:00.001-04:00

For this week's Stampin' Royalty Challenge, we exploring all things spooky and Halloween-y. *sniggle*...weeny. I've had these cheap frames from the dollar store lying around for ages and ages. I'm not big time into Halloween crafting so I didn't have any dsp for the occasion so I just used fabric to cover the frame. I wouldn't say this is spooky but it is Halloween-y...*snart* ...weeny. Head over the the Stampin' Royalty Blog to lay some blog love on the rest of the DT! I haven't taken a sneak peek at what they've made this week so I'm excited to see what they came up with! Ske-doosh.

Starry Rock Star

2011-10-23T22:14:00.001-04:00

stamps: a little something
ink: indigo, kiwi, baja
paper: wwhite cs
accessories: black medium eyelets, olive 1/8" taffeta ribbon, small and large star punches, dimensionals

Simple and quick is what makes this card a winner, in my opinion. I just punched out a big star and a small star and then sponged on some colour for this cool star strip. Then I doodled (NO WAY! Seriously? How unusual...) around the stars and added some dazzling details. You could make a buttload of these in no time flat, if you were so inclined.

Huh?

What's that?

How much is a buttload, you say?

Um...well it's...ah...a lot.

Ske-doosh.

Inkspirations Colour Challenge #92- Cobbler Thank You

2011-10-21T12:28:00.001-04:00

Here's the colour combination:

And here's my card:

stamps: aviary, woodgrain, delightful dozen

ink: navy, cobbler, black staz-on, vanilla craft

paper: cobbler cs, navy cs, vanilla cs

accessories: linen thread, eyelet, twill tape, extra-large oval punch

This was a tough combo for me. I don't know why because, individually, I really like all of these colours. Huh. Must have been an off day. Hey! It's FRIDAY! I haven't been so excited to have a weekend in a while now. I'm feeling much better and I have nothing planned for the weekend except supper with friends on Saturday evening. Stampy stampy STAMPY! Well, some sewing, too. In any case, I get to PLAY! : )

But right now? I gotta go back to work. Have a fantastic weekend, everyone!

Head over to the Inkspirations Challenge Blog to see what the ladies have made! Leave 'em some love! Ske-doosh.

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #94- Heartfelt Home

2011-10-19T12:09:00.000-04:00

Here's the sketch:

And here's my card:

stamps: house and home, fabulous phrases

ink: poppy, gray, daffodil, pool party

paper: domestic goddess dsp, white cs, gray cs

accessories: simply scored, gray marker, brights and neutrals buttons, daffodil pom pom trim, perfect pennants die

This was such a fun sketch to do! It's one of those base sketches that I find myself drawn to over and over. It has a nice central panel for images and it really shows off the fun patterned papers we have. The lighting is kind of bad on this photo because the paper came out looking purple-y or bluish. Huh. Photographer, I am not.

Head over to the Stampin' Royalty blog to check out the rest of the DT's creations. Leave 'em some love, too, if the feeling hits you! : )

Guess what? I slept for 10 hours last night! Apparently, I snored like a old man and my husband moved down to the couch but...I SLEPT! He's so sweet. He didn't want to wake me up to tell me to roll over because I've been having so much trouble sleeping lately. He was scared I wouldn't be able to fall back to sleep. My husband's a keeper, I tells ya.

I'm feeling much better and the coughing has almost stopped. It's been a rough couple of weeks but I'm back in the crafty mood so I should have some pretties up in the next week. Ske-doosh.

Red Lego B-day

2011-10-17T01:02:00.001-04:00

stamps: grunge rock
ink: bblack
paper: pacific point, wwhite cs, dsp
accessories: itty bitty shapes punch pack, striped gg red ribbon, 1/8" red taffeta ribbon, jumbo eyelets, 1-3/4" circle punch, black journaling marker, letter stickers

Sometimes I'm really organized. Case in point: this card. Sky's birthday isn't until April and I already have a card made for him. Pretty impressive, right? Don't look in the drawer underneath the telephone and we can keep this organized illusion going for ever, m'kay?

I'm still sick and can't sleep well. Someone come knock me over the head with a baseball bat. You guys would do that for me, wouldn't you? Ske-doosh.

Relish Weekend 2011

2011-10-15T22:48:00.000-04:00

Thanksgiving weekend, for our family, has turned into Relish Weekend. We head down to Québec City to spend time with family and to whip up a batch of yellow relish a.k.a. the best condiment on the planet. Theres no one in our family (aside from picky Logan) that doesn't like it. It takes a lot of chopping and cutting so its much more fun to make together as a group.

I asked my sweet, sweet mother-in-law if she wouldn't mind if I shared her relish recipe with you, dear readers. She gladly gave me the recipe and we tried to take photos for every step but I kinda failed. There are quite a few pics but not one for every step, so if you decide to try the recipe, please read the directions carefully.

Here 'tis:

Veggie Prep.

-6 large ears of corn

-6 large onions

-4 large cucumbers

-1 small cauliflower

-1 red pepper

-1 green pepper

-2 pounds of yellow beans

-1/4 cup of coarse salt

-2 1/2 cups of cold water

Liquid Prep.

-2 cups of white sugar

-1/2 cup of flour

-3 tbsp. powdered mustard

-1 1/2 tsp. turmeric

-1 1/2 tsp. mustard seed

-1 1/2 tsp. celery seed

-3 cups of white vinegar

-1 cup of water

This is my beautiful sister-in-law, Pascale. She likes chopping vegetables.

Now, I had good intentions of taking pics of the general sizes of each vegetable when sliced or chopped but...I forgot because my family and I were laughing throughout the process...sooo, yeah. Martin, my brother-in-law was in charge of the electric mandolin. This thing worked like a charm for the cukes but it kind of fails for the onions. I'd say to slice them both at about 1/8" - 3/8".

Cut up the cauliflower in small pieces (see one of the photos below to gauge the size) and cut the corn off the cob. The red and green peppers can be diced and the whole kit and kaboodle into the crisper drawer of your fridge. Now you're going to add the salt. Sprinkle it all over.

Next, add the cold water.

Toss everything up in the crisper.

Put a tea towel over top of the mix and place it in the fridge overnight. You can see the sizes that we cut the veggies pretty well in this photo.

The next day, use a salad spinner to "dry off" the mix. Take out a large pot (make sure its a pot with a thick bottom. If its a cheap pot, the relish will stick when its cooking) and whisk the liquid preparation until it's well mixed. Add the veggie mix and mix it up well.

Bring the whole mix to a boil and then let it cook over a low heat for about an hour, stirring frequently. It depends how crunchy you like your relish if you want to cook it for longer. We like it a wee bit crunchy. We over cooked it a couple of years back and it was kind of like a mush. Bleh. Get your brother-in-law to make crêpes for the whole gang while you stir.

Disinfect 12 or so mason jars and fill them up about an inch and a half from the top.

Place all of the sealing lids into a shallow bowl and pour boiling hot water over them to soften up the rubber seal.

Turn your pots over and let the heat of the relish do it's magic!

This recipe gives approximately 12 medium mason jars. We made a double recipe so we were able to bring home 12 gorgeous jars of yellow deliciousness. Mmmmm...hot dogs.

I really thought I was feeling better. In fact, I was, until today. I think this darned cold has moved down to my chest and I'm feeling quite turd-ish (waves at Sweet Tandra). I'm hoping to get some stamping done tomorrow. Cross your fingers for me, wouldja? Ske-doosh.

Feeling much better...

2011-10-13T11:57:00.002-04:00

...but because I was sick for over a week, I'm a bit behind in the crafting department. I'll be back on Saturday with a relish recipe and maybe a project...we'll see if I can get things in order. : ) Ske-doosh.

Inkspirations Colour Challenge #90- Flowering Friendship

2011-10-06T23:13:00.000-04:00

Here's the colour combination:

And here's my card:

stamps: season of friendship, perfect grid

ink: razzle, pipink, cchip, bashful blue

paper: playdate dsp, razzle cs, pipink cs, wwhite cs

accessories: 3 flower punch, blushing bride ribbon, rhinestones, cupcake punch, black marker, vintage trinkets, embroidery thread

Tired. SO tired. And sick.

Design team's display of awesomeness. Leave them some love.

Bed.

Ske-doosh.

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #92- Diggin' the Dinos

2011-10-04T23:45:00.000-04:00

Here's the colour combination:

And here's my card:

stamps: dinoroar

ink: basic black, old olive, more mustard, elegant eggplant, so saffron, white craft ink

paper: brights dsp stack, crumb cake cs, whisper white cs

accessories: scallop oval and large oval punch, cupcake punch, old olive 1/8" taffeta ribbon, dimensionals, sponge

This colour combo automatically made me think of Dinoroar. Which is a good thing considering I bought it and still hadn't used it. Why do we do that? Why, as stampers, do we go apesh*t when we see a stamp set that we just *have* to own...and then leave it on the shelf? Crazy nutters, we are.

I didn't notice the weird glare on the images until I uploaded the card and now I'm too lazy to go back and retake the pic. This card looks way better in real life. I think I'll get a lot of use from this set because it's so fun to colour. Maybe one day I'll embark on the Copic wagon, but not yet. I'd like to be able to send my children to college. I have the feeling if I start buying alcohol markers, I'll love it and then I'll have to buy every single colour. So, I'll wait. : )

Skyler saw this card and asked me if he could put it in his room so I gave it to him. I'm such a sucker when my kids like my cards. I'll find it all beat up in his bed in a few days but just knowing that he liked it enough to ask for it makes that ok.

I'm still sick and I'm really looking forward to having a long weekend. We'll be making my mother-in-law's amazing homemade relish. It's become a tradition that we make it on the long weekend in October. Instead of calling it Thanksgiving Weekend, we've started calling it Relish Weekend. It entails lots of chopping, lots of slicing and a tonne of laughing. Awesome.

Make sure you head over to the Stampin' Royalty Challenge Blog so you can check out what the rest of the DT made. Leave them some blog love if you have a few spare minutes. I know they'd love to hear from you! Ske-doosh.

Chevron Congratulations...

2011-10-02T11:41:00.004-04:00

stamps: well scripted
ink: bblack
paper: shimmery white
accessories: peach, pear, concord, bride poly twill ribbon, black journaling marker

The chevron pattern is all the rage these days. I'm kind of impressed with myself that I stuck these on straight. : ) So, I don't know if you guys have noticed all of the minor tweaks and such that I've been doing on the ol' bloggerino but I'm pretty stoked with how it's coming along. I've been adding to my "I'm a blog stalker" list up top. It's not finished yet but I ran out of gas last night. (Actually, I went to bed relatively early for me but couldn't fall asleep until 4:30 a.m...so I feel just GREAT today...not.)

Is there anything else you would like to see on my blog? If you have any suggestions for me, leave a comment and I'll see what I can do.

I'm sick as a dog today and I was kinda looking forward to stamping. Ain't gonna happen. I'm off to make some gin and honey, then I have a date with the couch. Ske-doosh.

Inkspirations Sketch Challenge #89- Schoolboy Sweet

2011-09-29T23:59:00.000-04:00

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

2011-09-27T22:12:00.000-04:00

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!

2011-09-25T19:56:00.003-04:00

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...

2011-09-22T23:48:00.000-04:00

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

2011-09-21T01:59:00.000-04:00

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...

2011-09-18T17:28:00.000-04:00

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

2011-09-15T23:59:00.000-04:00

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

2011-09-13T23:59:00.000-04:00

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

2011-09-12T12:44:00.001-04:00

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

2011-09-08T23:30:00.000-04:00

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

2011-09-07T00:30:00.000-04:00

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...

2011-09-04T07:10:00.001-04:00

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!

2011-09-02T12:01:00.001-04:00

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

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #87- Miss Wiggins School Stuff Box

2011-08-31T07:05:00.001-04:00

Welcome to another Stampin' Royalty Challenge! This weeks challenge is based around the back to school season. I'm going to start this post off by telling you that the box shown below was totally not my idea. I first saw it on the wicked awesome eighteen25 blog (do yourself a favour and check out their blog) and have wanted to make it ever since. This challenge got my butt in gear and voilà!

This sweet goodie box will fit in my mailbox in the staffroom and has everything I could need as far as office supplies go. I no longer have a desk in the staffroom so this will help me avoid having to run upstairs whenever I need something. The classroom I work in is upstairs and I'm quite lazy. Laziness and necessity paired together can be beautiful, eh?

And for those of you that want to see what's in it...neat, huh? I want to add a sewing kit and some more pencils and such to it but I loved all the colourful clips and erasers that I found at Zellers so much that I thought they'd make for a much more interesting photo. Besides, I couldn't find a bottle of hard liquor small enough for the spaces provided. ; ) What else would you add to it?

Please head over to the Stampin' Royalty Blog to see what the rest of the Goddesses have come up with. Don't forget to leave them some blog love! If you decide to play along with us, make sure you put SR87 keyword in whatever gallery you upload to.

Speaking of blog love, Blogger has a problem with me commenting on blogs that have the "comments embedded at end of post" option. It keeps kicking me back to the Blogger sign in page. Very frustrating as I've seen many beautiful projects that I try to comment on to no avail. I've sent an e-mail complaint but it still hasn't been fixed. For those of you that have that option on your blog, I'm sure I'm not the only one having this problem so you may be missing out on some blog love.

I mentioned in my last post about balance and losing weight. Well, I ate lots of fruits and vegetables and even went for 2 long walks. Yay me. Ske-doosh.

FS238- Lydia!!!

2011-08-30T01:59:00.001-04:00

This has to be really quick because it's 2 am. Forgive me for not posting the recipe for this card but I figure it's pretty straight forward so you guys will forgive, right? So one of my fave interweb blogging friends is the Featured Stamper at SCS this week. How fitting as she is also the Community Manager and all around awesome SCS guru. Lydia is awesome. I love her wit and quirkiness and really love her card making style. It was fun to poke around her gallery and find a card to case. I hope I did hers justice. Bed time for Big B. Ske-doosh.

One Layer Raining Note

2011-08-28T08:00:00.001-04:00

stamps: raining flowers, for your birthday

ink: pparty, ccoral, iindigo, wwonder, llimeade, bblack

paper: ccake

accessories: jumbo eyelet, oraganza ribbon, linen thread, samj, top note die

There's nothing I love more than a cool one layer card. This one is no exception. You could produce this one in mass quantities in no time flat. Although, I'd have to switch out the jumbo brad for something else because I'm hoarding mine. I don't often have negative things to say about my favourite company, but someone was asleep at the switch when they retired the jumbo brads. I've ordered so many pack of those things that I alone could keep the item profitable. *sigh* I'm going to miss them when they're all gone.

I spent the day sewing yesterday. I'm making agenda covers for our teaching agendas at work. I'm not making them for everyone but just for a few friends that like that sort of thing. I have to remind myself that not everyone likes handmade stuff. (pregnant pause)

I know, right?

It's bloody hard to imagine. I look around on Pinterest and blogs and I get giddy with the thought of all the stuff I'd like to make. If I had nothing but time and disposable income, I think my house would look like a craft magazine threw up in it. I saw a really cool photo wall on I Am Mommy, Hear Me Roar and I'm officially starting to collect frames and goodies to make my own. I'll post pics whenever it actually gets done. Remember? Balance, eh? Ske-doosh.

Inkspirations Colour Challenge #84- Stitched Miss You

2011-08-25T18:40:00.000-04:00

Here's the colour combination:

And here's my card:

stamps: up, up, & away, woodgrain

ink: tango, concord, daffodil

paper: tango cs, daffodil cs, concord cs, whisper cs

accessories: concord, tangerine and black journaling marker, 3/4" and 1" circle punches, medium white brad, concord ribbon, stapler, SAMJ, and my awesome sewing machine

When I first saw the colour combo, I thought "Uh-oh..." but this card came together really easily! Well, relatively easily...the flower took a few tries to line up the balloons. And I think I had the shakes when I did the stapling up in the corner...and the zigzag stitch is a wee tight. I need to stop drinking and stamping... *snicker*.

Skyler did the crumpling of the card stock for me, though. He likes to stamp with his mama. I thought that Logan was the artsy fartsy one, and even though he's great at drawing, he doesn't have much patience for stamping. Skyler likes the steps and organization of my kind of stamping. Wouldn't that be awesome if he got bit by the stamping bug?!

Phil and I both started back to work today and I'm really excited about this coming school year! I'm looking forward to getting back into the groove of things and I'm going to do my best to keep my blog up to date while juggling every thing else. I'm going to try to be all about balance this year. I'm going to do my best to lose some weight. Well, I'm going to try for losing a lot of weight, actually. I'm not going to write out a whole diatribe on why I'm overweight, what I'm going to do to lose weight and yadda yadda yadda. Just know that it would make me happy to know that there are blog readers out there that struggle with the same issue and that I have your pompoms flying for me. : )

Check out what the rest of the ladies came up with this week. As per usual, there's no way you could possibly be disappointed. Don't forget to leave some blog lovin', yo. Ske-doosh.

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

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #86

2011-08-24T07:00:00.008-04:00

stamps: something to celebrate, grunge rock

ink: old olive

paper: bblack cs, wwhite cs

accessories: glitter...everywhere. black, turquoise, and concord markers, sticky paper, rhinestones, corner rounder, black 1/8" taffeta ribbon, dimensionals.

I am *not* a glitter girl. I don't normally put glitter on my projects. Why? Because I can't stand how it spreads everywhere. I'm sparkly. My kids are sparkly. My tall, handsome, hairy husband is sparkly. Sparkly hair, man! All because of this card. Or because I don't clean up after myself very well. Whatever.

To get the mega rainbow strip of rampant glitter, I cut progressively larger strips of sticky paper and placed them one by one onto the white cardstock. I then peeled back the protective layer on one strip, added the plague-like glitter making sure that there was full coverage and repeated over and over until I could taste glitter in the back of my throat. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy...with glitter floating on top.

Please take the time to head over to the Stampin' Royalty Blog to check out what the other rubber nerds have come up with. Of course, I say rubber nerds with the utmost respect and affection. : )

Ske-doosh.

Brandi Buttons

2011-08-19T23:59:00.000-04:00

stamps: something to celebrate

ink: black

paper: crumb cake and all colors listed in my name

accessories: gingham ribbom, losta buttons, 1" circle punch, white embroidery thread, black marker, eyelets

Out of all the DTGD challenges this year, I think this one was the most inventive. What's in a Name? Well, in mine there's:

B- Baja Blue

R- Real Red

A- Always Artichoke

N- Night of Navy

D- Daffodil Delight

I- Island Indigo

Neat, huh? I love buttons. I used to think I was a ribbon freak but I think buttons are my weakness. I have to stop myself from buying them because I already have so many. I hoard the really cool ones. Who knows why...it's not like I'll do anything groundbreaking with them. They're just so pretty. : ) What do you hoard?

Ske-doosh.

Inkspirations Sketch Challenge #83- Raining Thanks

2011-08-18T23:59:00.002-04:00

Here's the sketch:

And here's my card:

stamps: raining flowers, letter it, thank you kindly

ink: tangerine, wasabi, night of navy, cobbler

paper: textured white cs, brights stack dsp, cobber cs, navy cs, first edition dsp

accessories: linen thread, silver eyelet, cobbler seam tape, dimensionals, stamp-a-ma-jig

Demos who attended Convention this summer received Raining Flowers in their bag and I couldn't be happier about it! I use it a lot because it's so easy to create a cute card with. Flowers are not really my forté but this set makes it really easy to love them.

I ordered the Letter It alphabet set using my SAB rewards and I *love* it! I think I have a love affair with alpha sets in general. They can be used for backgrounds, titles, monograms, ransom letters. All kinds of good stuff... ; )

Please go visit the rest of the team's blog to tell them how awesome they are!

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

Ske-doosh.

Stampin' Royalty? Who me? Why yes, I am...

2011-08-16T23:59:00.001-04:00

Want to know why? Because I was asked to be a part of the Stampin' Royalty Goddesses over at the Stampin' Royalty Blog, that's why! I'm excited to have yet another reason to stamp on a regular basis. I've made a bit of a resolution to myself that I'm gonig to stop procrastinating my stamping responsibilities...snort. I keep telling myself that I work well under pressure but, in reality, it stresses me out and that's not what stamping is supposed to be for me. It's supposed to be my retreat. My zen.

So, thank you to all of the wicked awesome ladies at the Stampin' Royalty blog for helping me find my zen. LOL! If you haven't already visited the blog or had the pleasure of the paper eye candy these chicks pump out on a consistent basis, head over and say hi to Sandra Farrell, Angela McKay, Georgie Manning (my sister from another mother), Jenn Pickard (a.k.a. Pick-erd), Stasia Sloma, and Carrie Rhoades...but not before you check out what I made for my very first SR challenge!

Here's the sketch:

And here's my card:

stamps: greeting card kids, woodgrain BG, teeny tiny wishes

ink: basic black, tangerine tango, chocolate chip

paper: ttango cs, cchip cs, just add cake dsp, water color paper

accessries: lots of markers ; ), blender pens, brights designer buttons, linen thread, scalloped dotted choc. chip ribbon, corner rounder punch, dimentsionals, black journal marker

I absolutely adore this set and I really don't use it as much as I should. I'm not a big giver of Halloween cards...heck, I'm not a big giver of ANY cards, to tell you the truth. It's kind of nuts that I make and make and make and make all of these cards but give so few. I have a lot of friends that buy my cards from me to give away to friends and family...uhhh...is that what we're *supposed* to do with them?! Huh. Go figure.

Ske-doosh.

Vacation, coffee, and the internet...

2011-08-16T15:35:00.000-04:00

And he says I'm addicted to the internet.

The photo is blurry but I think the chocolate joy translates anyhow.

For some reason, Blogger won't let me upload the rest of the photos that would complete the series of hilarious faces Logan made after having slurp a very hot gulp of hot chocolate. Use your imaginations.

Ske-doosh.

Blue Care

2011-08-13T23:59:00.000-04:00

stamps: because I care

ink: basic black

paper: whisper white

accessories: celery 1/8" taffeta ribbon, marina, baja, indigo olive, celery, daffodil and tangerine markers, black journaling marker, rectangle handheld punch

This is another card from the DTGD challenges at SCS. Karen Barber challenged us to marker layering and I'm so happy she did. I really thought this look could only be had using Copics. I refuse to start buying them because I know if I do, I will. Never. Stop. I know I'll love them and I'd rather buy a bunch of new stamps and my budget can't do both.

Luckily, Karen showed me how to pull this off using SU! markers. Score. I have those already. I guess this means I get to buy a new stamp set, eh? Thanks Karen! Click here for her marker layering tutorial.

Thanks for your visit. Ske-doosh.

Inkspirations Colour Challenge #82- Chaque Instant Pour Toi

2011-08-11T23:59:00.002-04:00

Here's the colour combination:

And here's my card:

stamps: chaque instant, all holidays

ink: marina, crumb, cajun, olive (cheater pumpkin eater) and craft vanilla, black

paper: crumb cake, vanilla

accessories: shimmer paint, crystal effects, dimensionals, rhinstones, black journaling marker

I 'm kind of on a clean simple kick, lately. You can't really see the shimmery nature of this colouring but it looks sah-WEET in real life. I'm bad at actually sending the stuff I make so 3 x 3 cards make me feel better since we can't actually mail them on their own. LOL!

I set up my lighting tent that I bought eons ago. The tent makes it so much easier to take photos of finished projects but it's too big. I should've gotten a smaller one. I need to get better lights for it as well. Phil just shook his head when he came downstairs and saw it all set up on an end table that I stole from the livingroom. He's a lovely man and incredibly hot, but he hasn't a creative bone in his body. He doesn't "get" the lengths we go to in the name of creating and sharing. I will commandeer a pair of his underwear if it will further my creative quest, I say!

Go check out what the rest of the team made and don't forget to leave them some blog love!

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

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! Ske-doosh.

Back to school so soon? Sigh.

2011-08-10T15:28:00.000-04:00

This photo was taken at Logan's Kindergarten graduation in June. It's hard to believe that he'll be going into grade one. Logan is a very active little boy and has a hard time sitting still for long periods of time. He tells me that his "mind moves fast" so it's difficult for him to sit still. He told me once that his mind talks to his legs but his belly doesn't listen.

We'll probably have him tested within the first couple of months of school to see if he's got hyperactivity issues or maybe ADD. If he does, we'll deal with it as it comes. He's a really bright boy and has his mom's sense of humour. He's very tall for his age and is as strong as an ox. He is very artistic and has a wonderful imagination. He's a fiercely protective big brother and a daddy's boy, through and through.

I guess I'm feeling worried about the upcoming school year. He didn't have a great year in K. He has the tendency to drive us up the wall at home with his ants-in-the-pants tendencies so I know he can't be the easiest of kids to handle in a classroom setting. I console myself in the knowledge that he has a hunger for knowledge and is very smart. We'll do everything in our power to support him and to work with his teacher to make sure that he succeeds in school. He's a high-energy kid but he's also a rock star, so I have every confidence that this year will be a good one.

stamps: first day

ink: oolive, bblack

paper: first edition dsp, oolive cs, cchip cs, just add cake dsp, wwhite

accessories: two tags die, large scallop circle punch, black journaling marker

I'm planning on making one of these for each of the kids in Logan's class. I say "planning on" because time is now running short given that we are leaving for vacation on Friday and not coming back until 2 days before school starts. Maybe I'll cut and prep the supplies and them assemble and colour them on vacation...maybe. ; ) Ske-doosh.

I did it! I did it! I did it!

2011-08-09T02:27:00.001-04:00

I finally finished all of the Dare to Get Dirty Challenges! It was down to the wire but I got it done. I had trouble uploading at the end so that was frustrating but it's done. I love the DTGD because I feel so creative as I'm doing it. And now I have a tonne of cards on hand. Quite a few of the samples I made multiples of. Now to organize!

I have 4 of these craft keeper boxes that retired and I always had good intentions to decorate them and separate all of my cards into categories. What's that saying about paved road to hell? Ayuh. SO! I got one done and have the paper cut for the 3 remaining ones. That's what I really want to finish before we go to the cottage. I also want a diamond tennis bracelet and a smaller butt. What do you think the odds are on me getting what I want, hmm?

Another super cool thing about me getting all these challenges done is I'll have a lot to share on my blog! (points finger menacingly) So no peeking in my gallery at SCS! Just kidding. Go. Peek. But still come back here to read all the wit and wisdom I spew, m'kay? I am *so* humble, eh? Bygones.

Hey! Here's a 12 x 12 page of the boys. I have no idea if you'll be able to read the journaling on it. Maybe click on the photo and it'll enlarge. Or don't. The journaling is far from interesting. I was kinda babbling because I started too high on the page and I wanted it to extend to the bottom of the photo. It's rambling, mostly. That's the awesome thing about scrapbooking, though. When I get a page with a lot of journaling on it done, I think about how cool it's going to be for Logan and Skyler to read it later on in their lives.

They know I'm a babbling idiot sometimes. Its not news.

I have to clean the house and start packing for the cottage in Trois Pistoles. It'll be our 4th year going and we're really looking forward to it this year. We're lucky to have a friend come to stay at our home while we're gone. We may live in a small town but it's still stressful to think of the house being empty. Not this year! Ya think if I left a list of chores to do that...ya...probably not. LOL!

What's the latest you've stayed up to stamp or scrapbook? I stay up *way* too late, *way* too often in the summer. I went to bed at 6 a.m. yesterday so now that my crafting blitz is done, I think I'll go get some much needed rest. : ) Ske-doosh.

Hoo Loves You and The Adventures of Llorenzo the LLama...

2011-08-06T13:56:00.003-04:00

stamps: none

ink: none

paper: crumb cake, playdate DSP, cchip cs, ssafron cs, baja cs

accessories: thickers letters, dymo gun, dimensionals, top not die, needle and thread, boho blossom punch for the wings

I made this wee owl for one of the Dare To Get Dirty Challenges (you have to be a Fan Club member to see the first link) on SCS and it took. me. FOREVER. All the stitching you see is done by hand. My husband didn't believe me at first. He thought I did it with a machine. Nope. Just by an obsessive compulsive paper crafting perfectionist, a piercing mat, and a needle with thread. : )

On to Llorenzo the Llama's Stampin' Up! Grow Convention 2011 Adventures:

I had never been to a Target before so Amy, Tandra and Llorenzo brought me on my very first trip.

We had to get some snacks for the hotel room and Llorenzo likes yogurt sooo...

Llorenzo and James became fast friends. (What do you think James is looking at? That's right...his silly iPhone. Llorenzo told me later on that he found James crying in the bathroom mumbling some along the lines of, "I shoulda got a Blackberry...they're so much cooler than iPhones...")

Sweet Dixie and her loving man, George. We loved him, and hugged him, and squeezed him.

Llorenzo and my friend, LisaCat!

Nothing like a good swap to get Llorenzo in the mood at the Stampin' Addicts Meet and Greet.

Amy and Tandra brought me to Layne Bryant's (heaaaaaavennnnn) and as I was trying on clothes, Tandra the Perv took some photos underneath the cabin door. She tried to tell me it was Llorenzo but I knew better. Sidenote: there were 2 photos taken, one of which showed me half naked in the reflexion of the mirror...duh-LEET!

Llorenzo really enjoyed Carrie's +Fun class!

Über cute Shannon.

Mmmm...sausage McMuffin...mmmmmm...

Llorenzo makes it to the big stage!

I wish I knew what this gentleman's name is...he was awesome! Tandra and Amy asked him if they could get a few shots of Lorenzo behind the camera. The shots are on Tandra's camera so you should all head over to her blog and pester her to post them. ; )

For those of you who have never been to Convention or a big Regional, Tom is considered kind of a rock star. He always gets huge applause when mentioned. Demos heart Tom.

Llorenzo had to keep up with all the latest Facebook chatter about SU! while attending General Session. (not seen in photo is the look of longing on James' face at the sight of my Blackberry.)

Llorenzo was being quite helpful to Angie from Stampin' Addicts as she posted all the news from the General Session floor.

Llorenzo getting schooled on My Digital Studio. He really is an attentive listener.

Llorenzo wasn't shy to say hi to Shelli's daughter, Sara.

The caption on this photo could not be more true. Spencer Willis is one of my faves at SU! He can sing, dance *and* craft. Triple threat, yo.

After morning classes, Llorenzo dug into one of the boxed lunches provided for all Convention attendees. They're not the best but they're far from the worst. : )

Llorenzo made some new friends in the Gathering Place. He's shown here chatting up Llama the Alpaca.

I told Tandra that I'd give her a nickel if she went up to get a photo of Sterling and Shalae with Llorenzo. She hopped up and got the shot but there was a technical glitch in her camera so I ran back to get one as well. He must have thought we were insane. Anyway, Tandra found the far superior photo on her camera later on. Once again, head to her blog and pester her to post it. : )

This was the only shot we were able to get with Shelli. Maybe next year.

We all went to the Market Street Grill for supper but Llorenzo wanted Mexican. He protested our decision by downing a bottle of Tabasco. Silly Llama.

Bad Llorenzo! Baaaad!

He may be a handsome Llama but he's not very bright. You were supposed to look for oncoming cars, dear. *sigh*

After a long day of hanging out with us, Llorenzo decides he's had enough.

So, for those of you that think we're insane for taking all of these photos...well...I guess you had to be there. If any of you are llama enthusiasts, link back here in the comment section of this post. Llama llama duck! ; ) Ske-doosh.

Inkspirations Sketch Challenge #81-

2011-08-04T10:59:00.002-04:00

Here's the sketch:

And here's my card:

stamps: sweets for the sweet

ink: pparty, llimade, wwonder, bblack, ccoral, iindigo

paper: shimmery white, iindigo cs, vellum cs

accessories: dazzling details, llimade, island indigo, and ccoral markers, 1/8" black taffeta ribbon, ccoral ruffled ribbon, designer brads, polka dot EF, dimensionals, black journaling marker

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that I have difficulty with sketches. That's what I love about being on the Inkspirations team. It inspires me to challenge myself. Neat how that works, eh? *sniggle* I think it's the geometric blocking of a sketch that gets me stuck. I can't see past it. Sketches certainly push me to think outside of the box.

You can't see it very well in this photo but there is a strip of vellum card stock underneath the main image and it had been passed through the Big Shot using the polka dot folder. It adds some nice texture to the card, I think. I used the a shish-kabob skewer as the handles of my lollies as I found toothpicks to be too thin to look authentic. And I'm really worried about authenticity as I make fake lollies, know what I'm sayin'? ; )

Make sure to check out the rest of the teams creations on the Inkspirations Challenge Blog. Don't forget to leave my fellow rubber nerds some blog love!

I've also got a few more Convention photos to share of people I adore:

Mel Hopes the Sewing Goddess and Maxine Conrad the Magnificent. Maxine is so much fun to read on all the message boards and I felt like I was running into an old friend. Mel is so talented and a wonderful person, to boot. I couldn't be happier that I was able to meet these two beautiful women!

The incredibly talented, Heather Summers. Heather and I first met on the plane going to Convention in 2009. I've long followed her blog and it was a treat to meet her again this year at Convention. She, in my opinion, is everything a demo should aspire to. She is not only incredibly talented artistically (Artisan Award 2011...hellooooo?) but, also, incredibly ethical as well. She is #1 in Canada for a reason and I'm proud to call her a friend.

I had to steal this photo of Jennifer Picard and I off her blog. I'm happy I have a photo of her and I together but, also, I'm sad because the 2 photos I had of her on *my* camera had a wicked awesome nostril shot of her and I due to poor zooming on my part. She jokingly said she paid my brother-in-law to "lose" the shot when he was uploading them to Picasa Web Albums for me but I now suspect she wasn't joking...*snort*! Jenn is also and Artisan Award Winner this year and her stuff is incredible! I'm stoked we got to meet, Pick-erd!

The only shot I was able to get of my fellow Inkspiration Design Team member was on my Blackberry so the quality is kind of low. The same could never be said about these four women. Carrie Gaskin, Jenn Picard, Connie Collins and Sandra Farrell. Top quality chicks, everyone of them! I swear, I was *not* stalking Artisan Award Winners. Carrie has yet to win AA (which gob smacks me every time I think of it) but I'm putting my money on her for next year! It was so good to have met you ladies and it was great to see Connie again!

My dear blogging and message board friend, Twila Davis. I was thrilled that we ran into each other at Convention! There are so many people there that if you don't actually *plan* to meet up, it's kinda of hard to do spontaneously. Huzzah! We did!

Heather Klump and I must have looked like giggling school girls as we met up on the General Session floor. We stood there for a good 10 minutes gushing over each other. We actually compared goosebumps! (head shake) Such rubber nerds, we are. LOL! It was great to meet you, my friend! Congratulations again on your AA win! Click on the link, people. You'll be treated to an amazing Artisan Award Winners blog hop if you do.

Ok, check out this photo of Georgeann Manning and I. I think we were separated at birth. Georgie and I sat next to each other at Make & Take session and she's a hoot! I did a wee bit of blog stalking when I got home from Convention and Georgie has a beautiful blog!! I'm happy I got to meet you, my sister from another mother. LOL! (I stole this photo from Carrie Rhoades Facebook...teehee. Thanks Carrie!)

Now, this shot should really go in with the Llorenzo the Llama Adventure Series but I had to squeeze it in here given that Kimberly Van Diepen is awesome. I mean, really? I handed her a wooden llama and said, "Smile like a goofball." and she did. How awesome is that? Kimberly, like Heather, is an incredibly talented demo that truly respects her fellow demonstrators. I really admire her...and her goofball smile. : )

I know you're all waiting with baited breath to see what Llorenzo the Llama was up to during Convention. Soon, my pretties...soon. Ske-doosh.

More Demo Booth projects and more Convention photos...

2011-08-02T01:06:00.002-04:00

stamps: up, up, & away

ink: pparfait, oolive, tturq, rred, bblack

paper: big top birthday quick accents, brights dsp stack

accessories: dimensionals, 1/8" red taffta ribbon

stamps: short and sweet

ink: bblack

paper: shimmery white, big top birthday dsp, bright stack dsp, bblack cs

accessories: petite pennant builder punch, black journaling marker, my sewing machine that rocks

stamps: sweets for the sweet

ink: oolive, tturq, rred, bblack

paper: shimmery white

accessories: on board merry medley, 3/4" circle punch, bling brads, black journaling marker

Here's a few more of my Demo Booth projects. They make me smile even 2 weeks after Convention is over because they remind me of how fun it was. : ) Here's a few (well, a lot) of pictures of some of my Stampin' Addicts friends:

Sweet, sweet Angie keeping everyone in the know at home. She diligently reported from the General Session floor. What a trooper! She's the better looking half of the two owners of Stampin' Addicts.

My beautiful friends, Amy and Lisa.

The sweet and tiny terror that is Holly! Great to finally meet you, girlie!

Tandra, Amy, and Janice who is better known as Hooch! LOL! (side note: Look at Tink there in the background signing autographs. *sniggle* Also, see James in the background? Ya, he's not looking at his program for Convention. He's looking at his fancy schmancy iPhone. Pffft. My blackberry could take your iPhone in a street fight, yo.)

Twila!! I'm so glad I got to meet you!

Tandra, Amy and Pammy on our way to Market Street Grill. It was *so* hot out!! What made it hotter? these 3 chicks.

Tanya and her cute husband! It was good to see you, lady!

Of all the people I got to meet for the first time at Convention, I think I was the most excited to meet Dixie. She is a spitfire of a lady and I'm happy to call her my friend.

You know what James is thinking in this photo? "I wish I wouldn't have bought an iPhone. All the cool kids have a Blackberry. Look at her sitting there...she's *so* cool." And Paula's laughing because she knows his phone sucks. That and I'm really funny.

Doesn't it look like Amy is about to call me a wiener in this picture?

We all went for supper together at the Market Street Grill on Saturday which had awesome food. It gave us all a chance to talk about all the fun we had and to say goodbye to one another.

Crissy! This is one of the funniest chicks I've ever had the pleasure to know. I adore her. She is my friend. : )

Amy was our official Convention 2011 driver and she had the brilliant idea to park on Level 2 of any parking garage we ended up in so we wouldn't end up wandering around looking for the car like in a Seinfeld episode.

I still have more photos to share, not the least of which are a series of Llorenzo the Llama photos. Come on back! Ske-doosh.

DTGD 2011- Letter Thank You

2011-07-30T17:06:00.000-04:00

stamps: letter it, thank you kindly

ink: tturq, ddelight, rred, oolive, bblack

paper: tturq, rred, oolive, bblack textured, wwhite

accessories: silver medium brads, white acrylic paint, sponges, SAMJ, dimensional, black journaling marker, ½” corner rounder

NOTE: I placed all of the Letter It stamps onto the “h” acrylic block from SU! and then sponged white acrylic paint directly to the stamps. I then used the SAMJ to line them up in the middle of a 12 x 12 text. bblack cardstock sheet. Working from the inside towards the edges, I repeated the stamping until I had a full page of white letters.

When the letters were dry, I let my adorable 4 year old son sponge color using classic inks onto the white acrylic paint images. He had a ball and I took a Diet Pepsi break. : )

Hey all! Do you know what time of the year it is?! It's time to get Dir-tayyyy! Yup, it the Dare to Get Dirty Challenge time over at Splitcoast Stampers. If you want to stretch your stamping prowess to the limits, then this is the challenge series for you! The Dirty Dozen Design Team and Alumni are throwing challenges at us Fan Club members for the next week and I'm dadgum happy about it.

Come see what all the fuss is about. Ske-doosh.

Inkspirations Colour Challenge #80-

2011-07-28T14:55:00.001-04:00

Here's the colour combo:

And here's my card:

I haven't used the Medallion background stamp anywhere near as much as I should. My friend Lyssa made a few cards using it for her Demo Booth presentation and I thought they were beautiful so I dusted it off and voila! I like the simplicity of this card and it's pretty easy to mass produce. Which is a good thing seeing as how I have a million things to thank people for lately!

By all means, head over to the design team's blogs to check out their awesome creations. Don't forget to leave them a bit of blog love, too!

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

I feel good that I'm back to blogging again. I missed stamping for fun and blogging gives me a chance to do just that. Something is coming up on the July 30th that I participated in last year and I can't wait to get cracking at it again this year:

You've all heard of the Dirty Dozen Design Team over at Splitcoast Stampers, right? Yeah, that's what I thought. Well, every year for the past 7 years (I think it's 7...) SCS and the Dirty Girls have hosted a week of challenges for Fan Club Members. Don't know what the Fan Club is? Check it out here. *So* worth it, in my opinion. These challenges stretched me and pushed me to stamp out of my comfort zone last year. It was a lot of fun chatting with other participants and there's prizes, too! I'll be there...will you? Ske-doosh!

Some more Convention Delights!

2011-07-27T14:20:00.001-04:00

Here's another card I made for my demo booth:

stamps: teeny tiny wishes, many mustaches

ink: bblack, tturq

paper: oolive cs, rred cs, wwhite cs, brights dsp stack

accessories: black journaling marker, mini brads, ticket corner punch, brights buttons, linen thread

I was so stoked to have met so many people this year at Convention. I got to hang out with all of my SA Sisters (photos of those crazy chicks coming in a day or two...) but I also met a bunch of new people this year, as well. It was a lot of fun to do a presentation because I was able to connect with demos that I don't think I would've met otherwise. Convention is such a blur of excitement, activity and schedules that by the end of the day, you feel contentedly exhausted.

The photo below was taken by Lyssa before our presentations started. We were all invited to have supper with the staff as we didn't have enough time between set-up and starting to eat elsewhere. Shelli stopped by our table for a minute but I'm not sure what I said to her because I was so nervous and when I'm nervous I feel quite barfy. The ladies at our table can attest to that as I'm pretty sure I grossed them out. Sorry girlies! LOL! Hey, BTW, if any of you have a group photo of us, I'd love to have it sent to me. I didn't get pictures with everyone, just the girls at our section and I really like to have pics of all the other ladies. Please, please, please? : )

I love this photo of Tandra and Melanie Hope! They're gorgeous and I have a cheesy grin with 6 chins. *sigh* Ah well, we're all hot because we're demos, right? Melanie made some serious gorgeous stuff that was featured in the product park. She's is incredibly talented and I was so happy to discover that she's hilarious, too. I couldn't get away with anything as she kept her eye on me. For some reason she thought I was a trouble maker...(shifty smirk on my face).

CARMEN!!! Sweet, sweet Carmen! Her and I were in the same blogging group a few years back when we both started out blogging. She has always been supportive and lovely and I'm *so* happy I finally got to meet her. She makes beautiful projects and I love her blog! Big hugs to you, Carmen!!

Les filles de Québec!!! J'étais tellement contente qu'elles sont venues au congrés! Vous êtes toutes les femmes extraordinaires, les beautés du nord!! hihihi! J'éspère vraiment qu'on va se revoir dans d'autres activités de SU!

Mindy. Minders. My homeslice. This girl is hi-LARIOUS. Many of you may know her from Splitcoast which is where I "met" her. I'm so happy I did because her e-mails and pm's make me literally LOL. I feel like a bloody giant standing next to her because she's about a tall as my son. It was hilarious because on the Thursday we planned to meet up for lunch. She texted me and said she was next to one of the fruit stands in the Gathering Place. Ok, so for those of you that have never been to convention, the Gathering Place is ENORMOUS. I walk in and can't see her anywhere. I text her back and tell her I can't find her. She says, "Ok, I'll stand on a chair...SNORT! I finally spot her and as I'm walking up, I'm laughing and saying to her"Jeebus, girlie! You're only as tall as me when you stand on a chair!" *sniggle*

I'm so happy to have met you, Mindy. You're tha shiz. Deuces, yo.

I just had to post this pic of Minders, as well. Funny story about her Ma:

Mindy's mom was worried about her going to Convention to meet a bunch of interweb "friends" who she thought were probably really internet crazies. She was worried that Mindy's roomate (hi Anastasia!) was really a creepy old dude posing as a stamper and he'd kill her in their hotel room. Anyway, as she dropped Mindy of at the airport, she tearfully said, "Trust no one."

That turned out to be the unoffical theme from the Grow Convention. Stampin' Up! Trust No One Convention 2011. As we were in Momento Mall, there was a lone tree just standing in the middle of the room. Of course, that lone tree produced this photo:

Trust No One. Ske-doosh.

Three scrapbooking pages I love...

2011-07-25T19:50:00.000-04:00

Here are three pages I made of my sweet boys for my Demo Booth Presentation. I worked very hard on them and am very proud of how they turned out. I'm also proud to be part of a company that, for the most part, has gracious demos that support one another and understand how important one another's works of art are. 99% of the time, I'm honored to be a demo.

stamps: pennant parade

ink: tturq, rred, ppumpkin

paper: brights dsp stack, bigtop birthday dsp, ccake cs, bblack cs, wwhite cs

accessories: naturally serif strip die, petite pennants builder punch, black journaling marker, on board merry medley, versamark, white ep, dimensionals, linen thread

stamps: jayne's type alpha, sweets for the sweet

ink: oolive, tturq, ddelight, rred, bblack

paper: big top birthday dsp, ccake cs, bblack cs, wwhite

accessories: 1-1/4" striped grosgrain ddelight, quick accents big top birthday, timeless type junior alpha medium sizzlets die, staples

stamps- up, up & away

paper- wwhite 12x12 textured cs, big top birthday dsp, bblack cs, wwhite cs

ink- tturq, rred, oolive

accessories- tturq, bblack markers, big top birthday quick accents, 5/8" rred satin, 1-1/4" striped grosgrain daffodil delight, 5/8" bblack satin, 1/2" pparfait stitched-poly, 1/4" grosgrain tturq, 1/8" taffeta bblack ribbons, brights designer buttons, linen thread, clips assortment, filigree brads, jumbo neutrals brads, dimensionals, timeless type junior alpha medium sizzlets die, my sewing machine that rocks.

Thanks for stopping by today. Ske-doosh.

Some Stampin' Up! Grow Convention 2011 photos...

2011-07-23T12:04:00.000-04:00

I received a phone call from Carrie Cudney a while back asking me if I would be interested in doing a Demo Booth presentation at Convention this year. I really had to bite my tongue to not respond with a hearty, "Does a bear poop in the woods?!"

I was incredibly honored and flattered to have been asked. I am part of an incredible company that celebrates creativity in a way that let's me grow as an artist every time I pick up a stamp. I can't imagine not having SU! in my life. Feel free to contact me if you've ever thought about signing up. There's a great deal on the Starter Kit this month. Only $119 plus a free project that's super cute. Contact me if you're interested.

This photo was taken right after I finished setting up my booth. I can't show the projects I made yet as I need to upload them to Stampin' Connection before I show them on my blog and i haven't finished editing them yet. I'll get on that today...

I spent much of my time at Convention running around accosting people with my brother-in-law's camera. I have more at-an-arm's-length photos than i know what to do with. This one is of Lyssa Zwolanek and I as we were setting up our booth's. I was so stoked to have met my friend, Lyssa, after all these years of chatting online. You should see the stuff she made!

Lisa Freeman and I. I was delighted to meet Lisa for the first time. She is an amazing woman with much strength. Her smile is infectious and she's funny as all hell, not to mention an incredible artist.

LeeAnn Greff. I just adore this lady. I was in the Control Freaks swappers group with her for a while so I'm really glad I got to meet her in real life. She is amazing and her projects were truly inspiring.

Amy, Tandra and I. What can I say about my roomies. They made Convention infinitely more fun than it would've been had they not been there. These are two of the most considerate, loving woman I have ever met. Do you know what Amy did for us while we were there? Well, because Amy drove to SLC from Idaho, she had more room for baggage than us plane bound ladies.

She. Packed. A. Foot. Spa.

On Wednesday after my presentation, my feet were killing me. We get back to the room and Amy starts bustling about setting up a foot soak with Epsom salts and lavender in it. She orders me to sit and tells me soak my feet for 15 minutes. Then she rubbed some sort of Body Shop foot scrub on them and put hemp butter on them. She slaps a pair of socks on my feet and sits me down at a Homedics foot massager. She then did the same thing for Tandra and then I did the same for Amy.

Heaven.

She saved my tootsies at Convention this year because normally my feet swell up like canned hams when I'm on the walking around for long periods. Especially after having been on a plane. All this to say that I was very touched by her thoughtfulness. The same goes for Tandra. Her and I shared a bed and I snore quite a bit. She never complained once even though I suspect I may have kept her awake more than once during our trip. I adore you, my friends. I can't wait to hang out again together at Convention 2013.

To thank them for being so wicked smaht and wicked ah-some, I made them some gifties for which I can take no credit in their design.

I made these two monogrammed felt owls using a tutorial I bought from Anj at Snowy Bliss. Here's the link to her Etsy shop to buy the über easy tutorial. Once again, Anj's felt owl made for a beautiful gift. Thanks, Anj! Oh, and isn't Logan cah-YOOT?!

I made these fabric journal covers using a free tutorial over at Bloom. I used leftover scraps of the Sew Suite SU! material and some linen fabric I had on hand.

I made each on them a sweet little business card holder from another free tutorial I found on Pinterest. Here's the link to the Crafty Cupboard blog.

I'll be back in a day or two with some of my convention projects. thanks for stopping by! Ske-doosh.

Inkspirations Sketch Challenge #79- Blushing BFF

2011-07-22T00:19:00.000-04:00

Here's the sketch:

And here's my card:

Hey-OH! What's up, blog readers?! Nice to see that you guys haven't ditched me after such a long stretch of neglect. I don't deserve any of you, I swear. I had myself a nice break from the blogging world and now I'm back at it. I'm feeling über inspired after having attended the Stampin' Up! Convention last week so I've decided to pull my socks up and get back on the blogging horse.

I can't even put into words how much fun it is to go and hang out with thousands of other demonstrators that are just as gaga over rubber as I am. The feeling of knowing that other people find such creativity and passion through paper crafting is really uplifting. You just can't walk away from Convention going, "Meh."

I got to meet so many people that I've wanted to meet for a long time now. I have pictures to share so come back on Saturday and I'll have those up. I've also got a few shots to share of my demo booth presentation which was a butt load of fun!!! I felt like a rock star and my head has swelled somewhat from all the kind words I received from people. It has since deflated as does happen when your kids look at you like, "Where are my clean underwear, lady?" No glory here at home, that's for sure. It's all good though as I really missed all of the handsome men at my house. : )

So, have you all seen what the Inkspirations Design Team has been cranking out in my absence? Are these ladies not *the* most awesome rubber goddesses *ever*?! I'm sure you have but in the off chance that you haven't, go check them out:

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

What an unreal group of artists they are. I was lucky enough to meet two of them at Convention. Ilina probably thinks I'm a crazy lady having been accosted by me in the Gathering Place one day. LOL! And having met Carrie...well, I *knew* her and I would click. She's freakin' hilarious and only slightly dorky. ; ) Love ya, girlie.

Now that I have actually posted a challenge card for this extremely forgiving design team, I'm headed to bed. So much stamping to do and so little...wait a minute...what am I talking about? So *much* time, more like it! I'm on VACATION!!! Ske-doosh.

Inkspirations Sketch Challenge #73- Sew Thanks

2011-06-10T01:01:00.000-04:00

Here's the sketch:

And here's my card:

Post and dash, man. My in-laws are coming for a visit tomorrow and it's already 1 a.m. Somebody smack me for staying up so late, m'kay? Ske-doosh.

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

Double Embossed Bonne Fête

2011-06-06T12:37:00.000-04:00

I made this double embossed card by rolling versamark ink on a BS folder and then passing a piece of patterned paper through the machine. I then used melon mambo EP and heat embossed. Pretty nifty look, eh? I really like the simplicity of this card. I borrowed the stamp set from my DL (Hi Val!) and liked it so much that I ordered it! Have a great day! Ske-doosh.

Inkspirations Colour Challenge #72- Tangerine Merci

2011-06-02T23:49:00.000-04:00

Here's the color combo:

And here's what I made:

Look guys! I did a challenge! : ) I'm so happy that Keesh is such a nice lady and that she didn't dropkick me off the team...*snort*. Yup, I've slowly but surely started stamping again. I made 2 cards that will never see the interwebs before I came up with this one. Cheese and crackers, it's hard to get back on the rubber horse. Sorry for the crappy photography. I love this colour combo but you can't see it so well due to my horrific photo editing fail. Go check out the rest of the teams stuff so you can see this awesome combo in ack-shun! Ske-doosh.

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

I am Mrs. Côté...

2011-05-23T11:46:00.001-04:00

Here's a 6x6 page that took me about 7 minutes to make. : ) I was feeling particularily stumped so I just took whatever I had lying on the table to put it together. It's another scrapweekend creation. I'm actually feeling like creating today so I'm headed down to my scraproom to see what I can come up with. It may or may not be post worthy so don't hold your breath. LOL!

I've had quite a few e-mails from readers asking where I am, what I'm doing and when I'll be back. These kind words and messages reinforce what I already know about the stamping and scrapping community that I am a part of: You are an amazing group of women that I am incredibly lucky to have in my life. Thank you for caring. Ske-doosh.

ETA: In the interest of time saving, I'm going to copy and paste an e-mail I sent out to Kathy today (waves frantically at Kathy!!) :

Funniest blog post, ever! I've gotten a lot of e-mails regarding this one...snort! It's a Québec gov't thing. You have to have a "good reason" for wanting to change it and it's decided upon by a case by case basis. I could've taken it further but I didn't. Most women in this province keep their maiden name and since my maiden name is my father's name (whom I don't know and have no interest in knowing) I wanted to ditch his name. I go by Côté unofficially, though, so it's all good. : )

I didn't want my readers to think that the government of Canada is backasswards so I hope this clears up my journaling. I'm sure I could've insisted and taken it further but I don't have the patience for redtape. I get my daily revenge by calling myself Mrs. Côté anyway. LOL!

Heurk...

2011-05-18T10:08:00.000-04:00

Here's a quick 8 1/2 x 11 page I did at my scrapbooking retreat in April. I post this in hopes that you all keep visiting even though I'm horribly neglecting you all. Ske-doosh.