Sunday, July 29, 2012

Finally, a page to post!

I actually had this page finished a while ago, but wasn't able to post it due to my computer melt down.  And when I say "melt down", I mean literally, as the computer guy showed Jason where the hard drive was scorched!  Call me stupid, but I didn't even know it was possible to do that!!!  Anyway, it's all fixed now, but things are a bit different, hence, my photo isn't cropped - just when I was getting used to the old way! 


I made this page with the Seriously Creative Challenge for July in mind:


You still have a couple of days to enter, so make sure you use some of your hoarded supplies and link up!  Let's see, what did I use here... See the wrinkly background paper?  Well, it's actually linen with a paper backing, available from Creative Accents!  I didn't really know what to do with it, but it's very cool to work with.  I just distressed the edges, crumpled it up, and then inked it with some Distress Ink.  I was going for an earthy, natural look for the whole layout here, so I did some stamping with a Tim Holtz stamp my friend Andrea lent me - can you believe she's never inked up a single stamp from the whole set?!?!  I know, I couldn't believe it either!!!  I also used some chipboard pieces for the title and some ribbon (unopened packages from Fiesta).  Really loving the mix of colours here and those Prima butterflies! 
The sketch I used is another Page Maps sketch (love it!):
And, that's about it, I guess!  It's pretty stinkin' hot today, so I feel the need to retreat to the basement rather than fill you in on the details of my Vancouver trip - but stay tuned, that update will be coming very soon, I promise!!!

Thursday, July 19, 2012

My computer is so dead, I can't even get it to load windows anymore, argh! So, I am attempting to write this post on DH's phone . Just a quick note to let everyone know I'm still creating but not able to post pics or leave as many comments as I would like . I also have some huge news : we are moving once again!!!  I know, I know, we just moved here a little over a year ago, but what can I say? Onward & upward? Literally upward,  as it's a move north. Well, I'll fill you in on the deets once I get a real keyboard back, hopefully tomorrow!

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

First of all, just wanted to say a big mushy thanks to everyone who read my last post and left me a comment - you are all so supportive and wonderful, and that's what I love about spilling my guts in blogland!  So far my week has been much improved over last, and that is nothing to sneeze at!  Here is a card I made as my DT sample for July's Seriously Creative Challenge:
It's for my aunt's birthday.  I played with the idea of using some Tim Holtz stamps I borrowed from a friend, but then decided to go with the Dancing Girlfriends from Art Impressions again because my aunt's sense of humour is really whacked!  This photo may show the colours better:

Remember, the challenge this month is to use some items that are "Un-inked, Un-cut, or Un-opened".  I used two items on this card that have never before been used in the history of Roxy cards.  Can you spot them?  The first is the heart embossing folder.  I swiped the folder with the three colours of Summer Distress Ink, spritzed the whole shebang with water, then ran it and a cream-coloured tag through my little 'bug.  After it dried, I brayered  the tag with black ink.  The other brand-new-to-me item is the Inkable Crinkable Ribbon, available at an extremely reasonable price from Creative Accents.  The beauty of this stuff is that you can ink it to any colour you want and crumple it into a ball to dry to get this cool, shabby look.

And that's not all, folks!  Here's the inside of my card:

See these here flowers? 
 I think those are just the neatest!  I used the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die and the packaging material from the Distress Ink to make them.  I coloured them up with Copic markers, and they came out looking all delicious!!!  Thanks to Sarah for the inspiration for that one!  

Now I have a very important question for you all:  50 Shades of Grey trilogy, is it all that?  I've been hearing so much hype, I'd love to know from my worthy blog readers what the general consensus is.  Well, my boy's severely sunburned back requires attention, so must run!  (I think he learned his lesson from that one - next time I ask if he wants sunscreen, he'll eagerly run over and stand there patiently while I slather him in protection!!!  And then I won't feel like such a neglectful mother, right?)

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Destination: Vancouver

Well, I hope everyone else's week went better than mine!  Mine was a frickin' nightmare, to put it mildly!!!  Of course you want to hear all about it, but I'll keep you in suspense until you see this layout I created:

Still working with my June Counterfeit Kit.  I love the mix of colours in this one!  Not one I would normally choose, I don't think, but seeing I limited myself to the contents of my kit, I had to make it work.  These are photos of Nolan with Jason's brother Mike - he's a cop down in Surrey, and we don't see him that often.  (He's single, by the way - loves history, Ireland, Irish whiskey, and rugby, if you happen to know of any eligible bachelorettes in the area!)  When Jason and Nolan traveled down there for Nolan's hockey tournament, Mike drove them downtown to Stanley Park and all around.  Good thing, because Jason hates driving down there - it's scary!  Here are a couple close-ups:

Not sure if you can see, but I took a length of Tim Holtz tissue tape, cut it lengthwise, then ruffled it up along the top and bottom of the photo mat.  The challenge at Frosted Designs for Fabulous Friday is washi tape, so I'm going to enter this over there.  I also made a little flag out of a pin and some patterned paper, just for the heck of it - I've been seeing them everywhere and loving them!  This Page Maps sketch helped me out:


And speaking of "scary driving" brings me to the next installment of Roxy's Idiocy!  You ready for this?  Okay, after a (very) long weekend of ups & downs with Nolan, I decided on Tuesday that we all needed to get out of the house, despite the fact that I hadn't showered or made myself up.  I proceeded to tow all three kids to a parenting group, finding out when we arrived that it was not on this week.  Not to be deterred, I decided to head to the arena to sign Nolan up for a science summer camp.  Alas, the arena was not the place to sign up for said summer camp, so I loaded everyone up once more, pulled out of my parking spot, and proceeded to ram the front left corner of my car into a lamp post.  It had a concrete base.  There was no reason to hit this lamp post except for... 
  1. it was in my blind spot?  
  2. I was talking to Nolan?  
  3. I'm an idiot.
If you chose reason 3, ding ding ding!  You are correct!  After swearing a blue streak and getting out to examine the damage (extensive!), I drove to GM, the car making funny sounds all the way.  The guy there referred me to another shop, where the owner kindly fixed my signal light and tacked up the fender so that my Stabilitrac sensor wouldn't be lighting up the dash.  I drove home, emailed my husband in the bush to give him the heads up (the "please-don't-kill-me-when-you-get-home!" type of email) and cleaned the house from top to bottom out of guilt.  Oh yes, made a wonderful dinner, too.  I am not above brown-nosing!  Anyway, Jason was pretty good about the whole thing, even though this is my second stupid accident in two years (remember when I backed down a long driveway and dented the door on a telephone pole?)  You know, if I lived in the big city, I might just cut up my license and take transit.

Let's see, what else went wrong this week?  Spilled a whole cup of coffee on two scrapbooking mags and a library book.  (Heat embossing tool works pretty well to dry that out, by the way!)  Several monumental fights with Nolan, to the point where the posters in his room were destroyed and the card I was working on for this month's Seriously Creative Challenge was ripped up.  Many tears were shed, by all parties involved.    Jason was away on his annual guys fishing trip, with no cell service, so he was absolutely no help at all, and my parents took off to Calgary for two weeks.  Argh, worst timing ever!  I'm trying to be optimistic that this is all due to the change in routine and/or a change in medication, and hopefully this coming week will be better (please, let it be better!!!)  I'm not sure I can survive more days like these last ones!  Ailis is going to summer camp tomorrow, and I did manage to get Nolan signed up for the science camp, so maybe keeping busy will mean everyone is happier.

It wasn't all bad, though!  I got to visit with one of my best friends and her sweet new baby who I haven't seen in years.  She's moved to New Zealand with her kiwi husband, so I'm glad she's around for a couple more weeks visiting her parents nearby.  I was chosen as a fave at Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge for this layout, and I made Top 3 at Sketches in Thyme for this layout!  Oh, and I won a blog hop prize from Channa for a comment I left during the Frosted Designs blog hop a couple weeks ago.  Also, my very sweet friend stopped by after a particularly rough day and dropped off half her six pack of Palm Bays, restoring my faith in humanity once more.  If ever I needed to drown my sorrows in yummy sweet booze, that was the night!  So, I can occasionally see the glass as half full (well, maybe only a quarter, but still, not completely empty.)

Which brings me to the announcement of this month's challenge at Seriously Creative Challenges:

Are you still with me?  Hope you can join us with all your new and unused products this month.  It's surprising how many things I have in my stash that I could use for this one.  Off the top of my head, I can think of some new ribbon, paper, 2 stamps, a new digi (freebie from Saturated Canary here, scoop it while you can!) chipboard labels and brads from Fiesta...  I'm trying not to hoard, really!

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Happy Canada Day!

Welcome to our "Card Making Canadians Blog Hop", celebrating Canada Day today!  You should be arriving here from Sarah's blog, but if you messed up somewhere, you can always go back to Tara's blog - she has the whole lineup there.

So, of course our theme is Canada Day, and at first I was going to make a card with a Canadian stamp, but then I saw this cute Saturated Canary image I had printed out and had yet to colour on my desk, and she reminded me so much of my daughter Ailis that I decided to go with her:
She's coloured up with Copics (kind of an experiment with the reds, ack!) and cut out with a Spellbinders die.  I also found this great Canadian themed paper in my stash from sooooooo long ago!  It's by Around the Block, and I'm down to the smallest scraps now.  A border punch, some dry embossing and sanding, and some iRock bling and she's done.  I decided to use a sketch from a local gal I know, Cheri, aka Graphicat.  She has a great sketch challenge blog that puts out two sketches a month - be sure to check her out and play along!  Here's the sketch:
And here's the inside of my card:

What do you think of my freehand maple leaf?  I know it's not completely symmetrical, but I'm quite proud of it!  

Well, thanks for stopping by!  Just curious:  leave me a comment letting me know what you do for Canada Day, or if you're from another country, what you do for your big national celebration.  I'm planning to take the girls to a celebration at the 108 Heritage Site, and then possible to a BBQ - really looking forward to it!  

Now make your way over to Lucy's blog, and make sure to leave comments everywhere you go, as I know there are some skookum (I think that's a Canadian word!) prizes to be won!