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!

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Card for a Special Friend

Well, I finished a three week running program, and even though it was very difficult for me, I think it gave me the boost I needed to get going on a regular exercise/clean eating regime!  The best part of this clinic was meeting new people and getting to spend time with a new friend - I told her about the clinic, and she decided to give it a go, even though she's never run before, AT ALL!!!  I was so impressed with her effort, she came to every run and gave it her all, and she totally kicked my butt!  Anyway, I thought she deserved a special card to show how much I appreciate everything she's done for me and encourage her to keep going with the running.  What do you think, do the "Dancing Girlfriends" from Art Impressions fit the bill?  The sentiment that I stamped on here is so cute, it says "Dance like no one's watching... who can have you committed."  I stamped that last bit on the inside!  I thought it was appropriate as we often talk about how we're going to meet up at the asylum one of these days!  Here's a close up of some of the ladies:

I made the flowers with my NEW Tim Holtz Alterations die (tattered florals) and spring Distress Inks - they are so wonderful, I looooooove the blue especially.  And yay, I finally got to use one of Cheri's wonderful sketches AND get it linked up in time!

Can you see it?  I had to flip it sideways, and sub out one of the circles for the flowers, but I think it's pretty close.

I'm also going to enter this card at:

Art Impressions Challenge #66 - fitness

Bearly-Mine #39 - Tic Tac Toe (I used the line that says "dies, flowers, sentiment")

Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes

House of Gilli - vibrant summer colours

Stamp and Create - bold and bright

Thanks for looking!

Supplies:  Art Impressions stamp, Memento ink, Simple Stories patterned paper, Tim Holtz die and ink, Close to My Heart rhinestones, Twinery twine

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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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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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Thank You Cards Inspired by Pinterest

So in case you thought all that pinning was in vain, this post should prove that it`s not! Thanks to Pinterest, I`ve finally figured out how to crochet flowers!!! It took a lot of messing and fiddling, but I think I`ve got it, and I`m going to love adding these little doodads to my layouts in the future! Here`s the set of cards I made for Ailis`s thank yous (a little late, but better late than never, right):

These were shamelessly cased from Nicole Heady`s card here, also found on pinterest and also the first crochet flower tutorial that I was able to decipher:

I don`t know, my cards look a bit too plain in comparison, but seeing that they`re going to a group of 6 and 7 year olds, probably doesn`t matter too much. It was a learning experience, and I`m just stoked that I was able to pick up a new skill!

And now it`s time for the first ever edition of Roxy`s Ramblings!!!

Did you guys all see the Hunger Games? I`m so jealous, I haven`t made it yet, and I heard it was really well done.

Speaking of movies based on YA novels, I rented Breaking Dawn a couple of weeks ago. Usually, I let Jason choose the movie for Friday date night, but this time I picked. Now I`m not the biggest Twilight fan out there, but I have read all the books and enjoyed them quite a bit, although Breaking Dawn was my least favorite. Anyway, I hate to say it, but this movie really stunk! What`s with the talking wolves? That part was just laughable! And the whole thing was just BORING!!! Big disappointment.

It snowed here last night!!! And it still hasn`t melted!

Did you hear that Scrapbooker`s Anonymous are having their last challenge? I`m so bummed, love their challenges and all the DT.

What do you all do for Easter? We`re usually pretty low key, but we`re having friends from Victoria come to stay, so maybe I should plan something special...

That`s about all for now, hope you enjoyed my cards and my rambles, have a great Easter long weekend if I don`t post my new project before!

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A Birthday Card for my Daughter (and one for a laugh!)

Finally finished this card for Ailis, hope she likes it (but she will because she thinks I'm the best scrapbooker in the world - it's nice to be idolized, I wonder how long that will last?):

I really struggled with this one, I had a heck of a time figuring out where to embellish and with what. I had to cover up some cutting booboos, so that's why the end result probably doesn't look too much like the sketch by Graphicat I was inspired by:

Anyway, I got to use my new Tickled Pink digi, although next time I think I'll print her out bigger, she was pretty hard to colour with my limited Copic skills. The paper is MME, cardstock, sentiment, and ribbon are CTMH, and the felt flower, fabric button, and lime twine are from Lovely Bug Bits 'n' Bobs. Spellbinders dies, Copic markers, a bit of Broken China Distress Ink, and a Prima flower round out the supplies used here.

And here's the card that Jason made me for Valentine's Day:

He has atrocious handwriting, not to mention he was writing with a Copic marker! It says "A Window to My Heart".

I don't know how I managed to turn over my desk, it was quite scary, but I thought it turned out pretty good considering he's never really done anything like this before. It's definitely going in my SMASH book!

I'm feeling like quite the dork today! Have you ever volunteered for something, and your efforts turned out less than stellar? Well, please, do share! Here's my embarrassing moment for today: I was planning to make cupcakes for Ailis' class for her birthday/Valentine's Day, but seeing their teacher was planning a chocolate fondue for that day and she needed 100 cupcakes for 100 Day (today), I told her I would make cupcakes for today instead. She got me to make 2 dozen, and they were to be decorated with numbers 1-24. Well, I can follow a recipe, but I'm no pastry chef, and my cake decorating skills are virtually nil, but I thought I could manage. To make a long story short, I was up until 10:30 last night making the bloody things and they look absolutely pathetic! The moral of the story is: don't volunteer to make cupcakes, or anything, ever again!!! I no longer care if I look like the slacker mom, I do not need to prove myself! (Yeah, right! Let's see how long that feeling lasts, too.)

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Creative Accents February Challenge - LOVE!

I don't know about you, but I love me a good recipe challenge! It's time for the February challenge over at Seriously Creative Challenges, and we're challenging you to include some L.O.V.E. in your project! Normally, I add layers and embellishments to everything, but I haven't used ovals much since, oh, 2003? (Yep, I used to cut ALL my pictures into ovals, and don't deny it, I know you did too!) As for vintage, well, I just had to turn to my January Counterfeit Kit, and everything I needed to make this card was there:

I quite like how it turned out, and it was relatively easy to make seeing that I already had a coloured image ready to use. It's actually from a postcard I bought ages ago and held onto for who knows what! I cut some book paper for the outer oval, and stamped the card base inside and out with a Tim Holtz script stamp. Here's the inside, finished off with a scrap of BoBunny ledger paper and another piece from the postcard:

Well, by the time this card posts, I will be cheering on my boy in his home hockey tournament. Seems like the game is starting to click for him, and he now realizes he can skate with the puck! (Go figure!) Have a fantastic weekend, everyone!

Supplies: Close to My Heart cardstock, MME and BoBunny patterned paper, Tim Holtz stamp and Distress Ink, Prima flowers, buttons, ribbon, and book paper from my stash

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Happy Birthday Sarah!

Here's a card I've been working on for a few days for a fellow Seriously Creative DT member, Sarah. Now if you think you're having deja vu, you are because this card is very similar to the last one I made! I kept my Kraftin' Kimmie Roxy stamp and MME papers out, and built on the design of the last card. I was pretty content to work on this card for a while because I got to use my new Lifestyle Crafts dies and my iRock tool. Check out that bling! You could light the northern night skies with this puppy! I didn't have enough matching cardstock or patterned paper to make a card base with, so I inked and stamped up some plain cream stuff with the matching MME stamp set and some Broken China Distress Ink. And then on the inside:

Voila! Another Roxy Rolla! I thought that turned out pretty cool, but I don't know that I'll do it all the time, as it's a lot of work, but seeing that Sarah got shingles over the Christmas holidays, I figured she deserved a little something extra! Oh yeah, and it's her 30th, too, so that's a pretty big deal, right? (Just because I don't want to even think about my 30th, ahem, Jason, doesn't mean I can't appreciate the fact that it's a big milestone for other people!) Anyway, Happy Birthday for Saturday, Sarah, hope you get some wonderful scrappy goodies, and I'll get your card to you soon!

Well, I missed the sketch challenge at Sweet Sketch Wednesday, but I can still enter this card over at Kraftin' Kimmie. This week's prompt is to "shape up" and use 3 or more shapes on your card. I've used a rectangle for the card base, dies cut scallop squares, and flowers (I hope flowers count as a shape!) Thanks for looking!

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Happy Birthday Jenn!!!

I had to take a break from December Daily to do some card making, especially when I heard it was my bloggy friend Jenn's birthday coming up! I "met" Jenn 2 years ago when we both joined a group through Close to My Heart. Everybody from the group set their own goal, declared it on their blog, and we supported each other by commenting on each other's posts and linking everyone up on our sidebar. Through these past two years, the group has changed a bit, some members have blogged more than others (and I think some have disappeared from blogland forever!), but Jenn's been a constant. She's been with me through the birth of a baby, my husband losing his job, and a move, and always with a positive and uplifting comment. So, even though we've never met in person (and I don't even have her address!) I think of her as a true friend! Happy Birthday, sweetie, and as soon as I get your address, I'll get this bad boy in the mail for ya!

So, onto the card. Jenn's a big Kraftin' Kimmie fan, so using a KK stamp was a no-brainer. I decided to pull out ol' Roxy for the second time, and coloured her up with Copics to match this My Mind's Eye patterned paper. I used this sketch from Seems a Little Sketchy (new site I found!):

Flipped it and changed it to a rectangle, but it's still basically the same. Then I had to break in the new i-rock to make a little flourish (can you tell it's a flourish?) I had big ideas of doing up the inside, but after making some HUUUUGE mistakes, this is how it ended up:

Now I just have to write in it (how am I gonna do that? Hee hee!) and mail it! I'm also going to enter this one over at The Pink Elephant, they're having an "anything goes" challenge this week.

Speaking of challenges, I am challenging myself to create 52 layouts, 12 fancy cards, and 24 simple Christmas cards this year. I'm also hoping to finish some mini albums I started and didn't ever complete, not to mention this darned December Daily! How about you? If you need a little kick in the pants (or just want me around to comment on your each and every post!) why not join in on our 2012 Challenge? We'd love to have you!

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