Card Inspired by Pinterest and a Ramble!

I started this post, happy as a clam (why is a clam happy?  I'd really like to know!), went out for an hour and a half, came back and found bits of my Sirius radio plug all over the floor, Hunter looking at me all shamefaced!  I am so mad and sad, but I've had my cry and now I'm hoping to distract myself by blogging, so here goes:

What do you think of this card I whipped up yesterday?  I really like how it turned out!  I needed something quick for a baby shower, so I turned to my pinterest "Cards" board and was inspired by this one here.  Then when I opened a little tin of embellishments I'd packed for the Fiesta crop weeks ago to look for twine, I found this ready made rosette!  Cool!!!  I totally forgot I'd made it!  Don't you love it when that happens? Here's a close up:

Turns out I didn't even need a card, somebody made one on the computer for everyone to sign, but hey, gives me an excuse to play and enter some new challenges:

Tuesday Throwdown #100 - Masculine
Cards for Men #11 - Congratulations
Craft Your Passion Challenge #112 - For Baby
Here Come the Boys Challenge #28 - Anything Goes

Supplies (mostly from my May Counterfeit Kit):  My Mind's Eye and Echo Park patterned paper, Twinery twine, Tim Holtz tissue tape, CTMH stamp set, Memento ink, button from my stash


It feels like I haven't blogged in ages (even though it's only been a week) so I feel I need to ramble on a bit here.  If you've come simply to visit my card, feel free to skip this bit, head straight to comments and leave me some love, 'cause I sure do need it today (I love my radio something fierce, don't know what I'm going to do without it, not to mention I just paid for another year's subscription!)

• Do you know my friend Roz?  She is just the sweetest person around, and she has some super sweet candy to give away to a lucky follower!  Get on over there before the end of the month for your chance to make a new friend and maybe win big!!!
• Are you a Beastie Boys fan?  I looooove the Beastie Boys, I had this T-shirt once that I wore so much that it pretty much disintegrated.  I was very sad to hear that Adam Yauch, aka MCA, died of cancer at the age of 47.  That is way too young!
• On a more positive musical note, Linkin Park, Metric, and The Offspring all have new songs out!  Not that I'll be listening to them on my radio any time soon...
• I've been pinned!!!  Actually, I've been pinned twice, but the first time I didn't know enough about pinterest to get really excited about it.  Anyway, you can find the pins here and here.  Thanks, Emma and Gayle, I'm truly honoured!
• Speaking of pinterest, what's with those Ryan Gosling pins that keep popping up, the ones that say, "Hey, girl..."?  I don't get it, was that a famous line from a movie or something?  
• And what about those "Keep Calm" pins, how did that start?  I wish I'd pinned the one I saw that said, "Get Mad and Break Stuff" - too funny!
• I was meeting a friend downtown last Friday to check out the Farmer's Market, so I bought a Tim Horton's coffee for $1.95.  I parked my car, reached over the console to grab my purse, and knocked the whole thing all over the passenger seat!  Grrrrrrr, I didn't have any paper towel to clean it up, just a roll of toilet paper (don't ask!) and Jason's work long johns.  But get this - as I was cleaning it up, I found a toonie on the ground outside my car.  Weird!  It's like fate paid me a nickel to dump my drink!
• The running program is going...well, it's going.  The good news is my time is improving every night.  The bad news is that my glutes are seriously weak (is that why I have saddlebags?) and I kind of hate it.  I love the group, I love the fact that I'm getting out three times a week to exercise, but running is just not my thing.  I'm going to finish up the clinic, tonight and Friday, and then I have to keep the momentum going and find something that I actually enjoy.  Yup, simple, right?
• During Monday night's run around the marsh, these geese waddled up onto the trail and hissed at me!  Scared me half to death!  As I got farther down the trail, I saw a bunch of mom's and dad's with their little fluffy goslings (not of the Ryan variety!) walking in a line - it was so adorable!!!  I went back today to try and snap some photos, but the geese weren't out - maybe they only come out at dusk?  I better bring my camera tonight, just in case!
• I made Top 3 at Frosted Designs for this card!  Woohoo!!! 
• Did you make a project this month using a handmade flower?  If so, you still have a couple of days to link it up at Seriously Creative Challenges, I'd love it if you did!!! 

Well, blogging didn't really help me get my mind off that stinker of a puppy, so I better get out and walk him.  I'd rather get some actual scrapping done (or reading, I'm into this incredible book right now, practically devouring it!), I've been working on the same layout for a week now, but then he'll just find something else to eat when I pick up Brenna, so... a walk, it is!

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May Counterfeit Kit and a Smash Page

 A couple of things to share with you on this holiday Monday!  First up is a SMASH page I started ages ago, but it always needed just that last little touch.  Once I added the fussy cut butterflies, I figured it was done.  It's mostly random stories about Ailis, and some of them are pretty funny!  Here's a closie of the left page:

 And one of the right:

 The "laugh out loud" card is here (love this whole set!)  and the "today we..." card is here.  The green "TODAY" card I can't find anywhere, sorry 'bout that!  If you've visited my "SMASH book ideas" pinterest board, you may already realize that I have an addiction to free printables, and if you know where to look, you can find some awesome journaling cards!  I have a whole ziploc bag crammed full of 'em!!!

I feel like I'm a bit late this month getting my counterfeit kit together, but I missed the last two months and this month's kits are so gorgeous, I really wanted to make my own.  Here's the inspiration kit I chose to copy:

Isn't it pretty?  It's the Monmarte Add-On from Studio Calico's April '12 kits.  Of course I don't have any of the same products, but I was inspired by the colours, so this is what I came up with for papers:

The back row is all Echo Park This & That (love!) and the front row has from left to right: 2 BoBunny, MME, BoBunny Double Dot (only a half sheet unfortunately), Recollections, and Bazzill.

And here's the rest of what I pulled from my stash:

Yes, I know it looks a bit of a mess, but there is a method to my madness!  What I'm most excited about is turning my kraft scraps into journaling spots with white ink, white embossing powder, and some older stamps!  I've also got some ancient buttons and heart pins that I'd love to use up, and some newer product mixed in.  Ooooh, now I want to play, too bad I have to go for a run tonight, in the rain no less!  Hope everyone had a great weekend, and thanks for looking!

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Happy Anniversary and a Commission!

Finally got Jason's anniversary card done, only 2 days late, and I was quite pleased with his reaction!  I told him it takes time to create a work of art.  Here it is minus the sappy note I wrote inside:

Is this a gate fold card?  I couldn't get it to stay closed for the picture!  Here's the inside:

He really liked the colours, and said it was his favorite card yet!  I used the May Stamp of the Month from Creative Accents (by Hampton Art) to make the front panels, clear embossed with turquoise ink and brayered with black.  I used the same technique on the label cut with a new Page Maps Spellbinders die.  I traced the heart with an old yellow die cut I had, then inked up a canvas Prima key - get it, key to my heart?  On the inside I just used some more of the beautiful BoBunny paper.

And I thought I'd add a couple pictures of my first commission!  Jason's boss turned 50 yesterday, and they were planning a surprise party for him but didn't know what to do for a card.  The receptionist gave me this cute picture printed from somewhere, and the rest I made up as I went:

 I went with a beachy theme and made some "waves" with cardstock inked with Broken China Distress Ink and smeared with gold Perfect Pearls.

 I sprayed the top with mist from Lindy's Stamp Gang, and made the kites and cloud by hand.  I think it turned out pretty neat!

Well, I went for my first run on Wednesday night, and I'm really feeling it in my hamstrings today!  I'd be tempted to skip tonight's session, but I've paid my fee and feel obligated to get my money's worth!  See, this is how my mind works, and I knew there was a reason why I signed up for this running clinic.  It should be the kick in the pants I need to get me motivated long term.  Here's hoping!

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A Birthday Card for My Mom

 Raise your hand if you think this is the funniest image ever!  There's something about a bunch of more mature, curvaceous ladies dancing around in tutus that makes me laugh!!!  I've had this stamp set from Artistic Impressions for a bit, but I had to be in the mood to colour, and finally I just went for it.  I used this sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday:

(flipped around to fit my image) and Copic markers for colouring.  I used the Fabulous line from Simple Stories (have I mentioned how much I love these papers?  Only about a billion times!) as my colour palette, added some embossed cardstock (new Sizzix folder that came in our goodie bags from Fiesta!) a paper strip punched with my new Fiskar's border punch (yay, finally bought a new border punch!) and some flowers and buttons from my stash.  All that work and I still didn't post it in time for the challenge, boohoo!  But on the up side, my mom loved it!

This is going to be a short post because I have to take advantage of Brenna's nap time to make Jason an anniversary card.  It was our 13th yesterday, and I think with all the hubub around mom's birthday and mother's day, I just didn't get time to make him anything!  Here's what he sent me yesterday:

Pretty cute, huh?  Kind of wish I thought of it first!

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A Mother's Day Card for Graphicat Sketches

Well, I tried to get this card up in time for the Graphicat Sketch challenge yesterday, but Google completely died on me!!!  So, alas, I missed the deadline (again!) but I did get this card to my MIL for Mother's Day.  We had a pretty fantastic time here in 100 Mile House, nice dinner with both grandmas, a papa and a brother, so it was quite the family affair.  We even had a cake and candle for my mom, seeing her birthday was on the 11th.  I'll make a separate post with her birthday card, but right now I have to get the girlies to bed so I can go for my first run - I heard via the small town grapevine that it's going to be 5 km, and I have nothing to wear, oh my!

Supplies:  BoBunny patterned paper, Bazzill and Close to My Heart cardstock, Versamark, Tim Holtz, and Memento ink, Close to My Heart stamp set (words) and embossing powder (clear detail), Prima canvas

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B-day Card for Frosted Designs

Ailis was invited to a birthday party today, and apparently the little girl likes Barbies, ballet, and eating.  So here's a cute little card I whipped up this morning for her:

Before NSD, I think I lost a bit of my mojo, but I must have been very inspired by being around like-minded people that weekend, because I feel the creative juices flowing once more!  Here's a closeup of the ballerina bunny (I used a freebie digi you can find here) and my embellies:

This was a very quick card to make.  I used a bit of grey (C3) to colour the fur, but felt it was a bit dark, so I just blended it in with the colourless blender.  Then I used my new Spellbinders (door prize from the NSD crop!), some Fabulous papers from Simple Stories (love these!!!), some pink Glimmer Mist, and this sketch from Frosted Designs:

On the inside it says "Happy Birthday Tutu You!"  The sentiment came with a new stamp set from Artistic Impressions that I'm currently working with to make my mom's b-day card.  She's 62 today, and the old gal  is still in pretty decent condition!

I have another ramble in the works, but I'll save it for another day, as I should probably get dinner started.  Just so you know, though, I had a terrible sleep last night - I could not stop dreaming about snakes!

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BFF's for "Use Your Stuff"

I just love how this page turned out!  I love the photo (my friend took it with her phone and then doctored it up with instagram - myself, I'm an instagram virgin, that was the first time I'd seen what it is!) and the boots (cute Quickutz die I borrowed at the Fiesta crop), the colours and the kite (I paper pieced that myself!)  I used a Creative Scrappers sketch, but I erased it off my computer and I'm too lazy to go looking for it right now!  Here's a close up of those boots:

 And another of the kite:

At the fiesta crop we had a pinata, and I was lucky enough to win some Claudine Hellmuth Matte Medium. This stuff is perfect for gluing down twine as it doesn't come out all shiny if you make a mess with it.  The hardest part of making this layout was probably choosing which of the Simple Stories Fab-U-Lous papers to work with, they're all so gorgeous for girly pages!!!

I'm going to enter this page over at a new blog I found called "Use Your Stuff" - their challenge this week  is to do a nature-inspired page.

So here I'll take some time to do a quick ramble for ya:

• I had a fantastic time at the NSD Fiesta crop put on by Creative Accents on the weekend!  The food was prepared by a real live chef, and the goodie bags and prizes were fantastic - my door prize was a new set of Spellbinders!!!  It was only marred by my trip home, where I came as close to death as a person can get without any actual bodily harm.  A trucker was tailing me through a construction zone, where I was vigilantly obeying the speed limit of first 50 km and then 80 km an hour.  When I didn't speed up for him (I'm assuming it was a man, but I suppose it could have been a female), he flashed his high beams at me.  So I, developing a bit of fear and rage in equal doses, decided to roll down my window and give him the bird.  Yeah, admittedly not the smartest thing I've ever done, but I was hoping it would get him to back off.  It didn't!  Instead the blankety blanker got even closer and turned his high beams on and kept them on!!!  I have never in my life had something that big driving so close to my bumper!  Right after that, I signaled and pulled over.  I would have liked to get his licence plate number to report his reckless driving, but I couldn't see it.  Needless to say, my heart was pounding like a jackhammer for most of the hour drive home.  
• Nolan and Ailis came home super excited yesterday!  The kid who threw rocks at Nolan's head last week jumped off the big toy at school and busted his ankle!  How's that for karma?  If I was a better person, I would have told the kids to show a little sympathy for him, but I guess I'm not that kind.
• I won the random prize at Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge for April!!!  Woot!
• Do you have a cleaning schedule for your home, or are you kind of random?  I was always a random kind of cleaner, but now that I'm a pinterest addict, I've been taking note of some great ways to stay organized and clean better.  I'm trying to follow a schedule this week, and hopefully once I get into the habit, it will mean that my bathrooms won't be so grungey all the time.
• I think I might have signed myself up for a running clinic.  Ugh!

Okay, it's 11 am and Brenna and I are still in our PJ's (she calls them jee-bees, so cute!) so I guess I best get going with my day!  Have a great rest of your week!

P.S. just had to add this - Oh, my God, I took Brenna and Hunter for a walk and had my first encounter with a snake in the wild!  People have said that there are snakes this far north, but I've never seen more than a shed skin.  It slithered right in front of me and I screamed!!!  I know the ones here are harmless, but still...snakes freak me out!

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May Challenge at Creative Accents!

Yes, it`s that time again, time for a new challenge at Seriously Creative Challenges, and it`s one I absolutely love!!!

If you`ve visited my Pinterest boards, you may know that I have one devoted to embellishments, and many of those are flowers!  There are so many ideas out there, the sky`s the limit, really!!!  For this layout, I crocheted a few flowers out of embroidery floss (tutorial here) AND made some rosettes (much easier with a scoring tool and some hot glue, I tell ya!)

 And here`s a close up of my flowers:

I really hope you`ll join us this month in making some beautiful flowers from scratch!  Hmmm, maybe I`ll put some of these cute rosettes on a Mother`s Day card...

I`m going to enter this layout over at Frosted Designs.  The first challenge posted for their NSD online crop was to make a project with only patterned paper, no cardstock allowed!  Fun, fun, and if you`re thinking my rosettes and journaling strips are cardstock, think again - it`s BoBunny Double Dot (love that stuff).

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Frosted Designs Recipe Challenge

Here`s a layout I whipped up last night for Ashley`s recipe challenge over at Frosted Designs.  The recipe was to use 4 of these 6 elements:  the colour yellow, polka dots and/or stripes, twine, punch, at least 3 buttons, and 1 handmade embellie.  I decided to forgo the punch and handmade embellishment:

And some closies of the journaling and embellishments (I tried to make the twine look like tangled fishing line):

All the products here are from BoBunny (except the twine and buttons) and I have to say that I probably would not have thought to buy this Ad Lib line, but it came in our Fiesta goodie bag, and now that I`ve worked with it, I love it!!!  So bright and sunny, perfect for these pics of my little man!

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NSD layout for Frosted Designs!

Frosted Designs is having an online crop for National Scrapbooking Day- if you haven't checked it out, you totally should!  There's some great challenges to get your mojo going!  Here's what I created for Heather's Challenge - strips of paper:

Most of the products here are from the Simple Stories Awesome line, but the title piece is from MME.  Here's a close up of the journaling:

Don't you love that sunburst Spellbinders die?  I borrowed it from Janet (thanks, Janet)! And a closie of the patterned paper border (so much fun to make these!):

I also used this Page Maps sketch, flipped sideways (love this sketch, I'm sure I will use it again):

These pictures of Nolan and Hunter are soooooo cute!  Unfortunately, their relationship has changed since then, and Nolan no longer takes much responsibility for "his" dog, but it's nice to look back and see how it was in the early days.  I'm confident that once Hunter mellows out a bit, they'll start hanging out together more often!  

Anyway, I have many more Frosted Designs challenge creations to post today, but for now, I have to get Brenna out of here before she drives me crazy!  I'll have to remember to tell you about how I was almost killed on the way home from the Fiesta crop this weekend, but I don't want to ruin the suspense so early in the day, so stay tuned!

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Creative Accents May Stamp of the Month

As part of my Design Team commitment at Creative Accents, I'm required to make some card samples once every few months for their Stamp of the Month.  Well, it's not really much of a hardship, especially when I get to work with a beautiful background stamp like this one from Hampton Arts:

This first card is 4x4, and I just used some black ink to stamp the background image on a panel, then brayered and sponged over it with some Fired Brick and Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  The patterned paper is from a BoBunny line called Serenity (GORGEOUS!!!) and I used a new Spellbinders/Page Maps die to cut paper for the sentiment.  Seems like I'm seriously lacking in small sentiments, so I just spelled out "hi" with TLC stickers.  The twine is from a roll I have sitting in the big mess of stuff on my scrap table, not sure where it came from, but I liked the olive green with the papers.  There you have it, easy peasy and reproducible at a moment's notice!

I loooooove how this second one turned out!  Let's see, I inked the stamp with some old turquoise pigment ink I had from Colorbox (I really had to work the petal on this one, as it was almost dry!) and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  Then I just brayered over it with black to make this beautifully vibrant panel.  I inked up a matching strip of paper, stamped a sentiment, and cut it into a little banner shape (which it looks like I cut off when I cropped the photo, oops!), added a little twine bow, and she's done!  I think I might make another one exactly the same for my MIL for Mother's Day.

I have to interrupt this regularly scheduled program to tell you about a stinkin' hilarious book I'm reading right now:

I've read some of Susan Juby's other books, and they were really funny, too (even her memoir, which describes her life as a teenage alcoholic in Northwestern BC).  Anyway, if you do take my suggestion and read this book, I suggest you don't do it in public, because it can get a little embarrassing!  I was reading it at judo the other night, and luckily there weren't many parents around, because I was actually laughing out loud!  I tried covering my face a bit, and biting my lip, but I just couldn't help it.  Hopefully none of the kids thought I was laughing at them, might be a bit of a blow to the ego.

Speaking of blows to the ego, yesterday morning Nolan looked at me with real concern and told me how my skin is very pale and I have dark circles under my eyes - he thinks I need more sunlight!  The sad thing is, I've definitely looked worse!

I need your advice about a hypothetical situation (actually, it really happened, but I'd like to pretend that it's hypothetical):  what would you do if your child was walking home from the bus and someone (another kid, who should know better but probably doesn't) threw rocks at them, hitting them in the back of the head and the butt?  Nolan wanted me to call the police, but I finally settled on the principal.  She said she'd handle the boy (and his sister, who I think of as the ring leader), but, sigh...  it just kind of weighs on my mind.

And my Nana is another weight on my mind.  My dad's mom is 91 and has had pretty good health up until her 80's, when she fought and defeated breast cancer.  But my dad told me yesterday that she had a couple of strokes and is in the hospital, poor thing.  I guess she still has all her faculties, but is partially paralyzed on the one side and talking with a slur.  I bet my dad would love to go over to Australia to see her, but I don't think he can fly due to the blood clots he had in October.  

Anyway, didn't mean to turn this into more of Roxy's Rambles, but it kind of ended up that way.  Hope everyone has a great day, and hope you're able to get some craft time in!  

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