For Cath With Love Blog Hop

Hello!  I am here as part of a very special blog hop for Cath Edvalson!  As many of you know she is not able to take part in CHA this week due to a shoulder injury so Virginia Lu and Lorena has put together this blog hop to cheer her up!  I had to take part!  Never mind the busy day I had ahead and that I was finishing putting together a 20 card set that I needed as a gift for tonight! I love the idea of this hop to cheer her up!  It's no fun living in pain and when it stops you from doing what you love it's even worse.  Thinking of you Cath!

Here is my card for her, I went with the first idea I had:

I embossed the wildflowers in chestnut onto some patterned paper by My Mind's Eye.  It was sitting on my craft table and I had been "hoarding" it so I finally decided to use it! And had to use twine, can't seem to stop!

Please visit Virginia Lu's blog here for the rest of the blog roll!

I hope that this hop helped cheer you up Cath!  Hoping the days ahead are better and that a solution is found for the pain.  Sending you a virtual hug!

Teal, Red, White and Grey Wreath and Sledding Fun!

Hello!  I hope that you are having a great weekend!  :>  We sure are! :>  Enjoying a lazy Sunday at home is the best!  Today I wanted to pop in and share a new wreath that I made.  My friend ordered this one from me and picked the colors, and I just love how it turned out!  I love it so much it deserves it's own post, I also had fun taking a bunch of photos of it:

Wreaths are quite popular these days and I think having one on your door all year really makes your house shine!  I really love this color combo as it's bold and draws attention to your door!  :>  I love adding pearls to the wreath as I think it finishes it quite nicely!  This is the first time I used silver pearls, love how it looks!  You know I love playing with paper but I also really enjoy making wreaths too.  I often wrap the yarn around the wreath when driving (as a passenger!) I find myself working on wreaths when it's late and I can't stamp straight!  I can't keep still very well I gotta be doing something!

On Friday after school we all went sledding as a family.  The weather was warmer and it was perfect sledding weather!  We recently discovered that a park close by has a toboggan run.  All my life the idea of a toboggan run terrified me and boy was I missing out!  I love it!  I grew up next to two huge hills that we would go sledding down all the time but now as an adult and mommy I find myself screaming the whole way down and putting my legs out to slow it down!  LOL I know what happened to me?  And this is where I love toboggan runs yes it's fast but it's a cleared path and no chance of crashing into someone or something!  And the walk up is easy and I don't end up having to carry a child up the hill! As my kids grow up I see that there is so much you can do with them (makes it a bit bearable that they aren't my little babies anymore)  I took some photos:

I got some great photos didn't I?  Love that when I asked Ariel and Carter to sit together they sat this way!  :>Gotta love winter fun!  Oh and I have a love for animal hats!  :>

Love Never Fails

Hello!  Hope your doing well!  It's been a pretty good week, no idea where it went though!  :>  Happy to share that the weather has warmed up but it's still winter!  :>  I read an article that stated that my city Winnipeg is the coldest city of it's size in all of North America!  I think a few other cities in Canada come close though! It makes me wonder what made my parents immigrate here from Croatia?  Oh well I have a great long past the knees with a furry hood parka and it's warm so it's not all that bad. Yes I know with reading that it gets to be minus 40 something here you picture me in a snowsuit when I go out, if only people did that here!  I do have snowpants though, with little kids and sledding it's a must!

I have a card I made for my parents they needed it for my cousins wedding in Banff!  Sadly I wasn't able to go but I did enjoy hearing all about it and seeing pictures!  I love that my parents wanted  me to make a card for them, although I totally stressed out about it:

I used some pp from My Mind's Eye lost and found collection, I love the glitter on it!  I used a metallic cardstock with it. Love this bible verse, it's actually the first one Ariel memorized this year in September.  I couldn't believe it when she came home with it, a whole page and she did it!  And every month!  Hearing her sweet voice say this verse is one of the sweetest sounds ever!  I just had the best idea to video tape her doing her verse each month!

I do have a few things to share.  My kiddies are improving amazingly with skating!  I am so proud of them!  On Sunday we went to the Forks which is where two rivers meet and a great location for various things and one of which being winter fun!  There is a great rink (where they had djs it was cute watching Carter trying to skate and dance!) And a bunch of ice trails that you could skate!  Ariel loved it!  On Monday the kids had skating lessons.  Carter got his first skating injury!  At the very end of the lesson out of nowhere a kid comes and accidentally hits Carter with his hockey stick!  All I see is the stick leaving his face and Carter crying!  :<  Luckily it was a plastic stick and it hit him under the eye not the eye!  He had a pretty big bruise but it is healing quickly. :>  Carter keeps telling us "I have to learn how to skate so I can play hockey!"  If he ends up doing so this may just be his first skating injury!

I also wanted to share a few links to recipes that I have tried lately.  Not sure if I shared but I am doing Slowcooker Mondays.  With skating lessons being at 4:30 and having to prop Carter up for half an hour I am exhausted and we are so hungry when it's done!  I have been trying new recipes.  This Balsamic Chicken was really good and easy you can find it here.  It was recommended by a friend and than I shared it with another friend who really liked it!  

I love peanut stir frys not sure if you remember but I think I have mentioned it on my blog before how I've been on the hunt for one.  My friend shared on facebook this Asian Sesame Stir Fry and it's sooo good!  I think I may be making it once a week!  Just telling you about it makes me want to make it right now!  You can check it out here.

And I baked something new too, Reese's Peanut Banana Bread!  You can find that recipe here.  We enjoyed it but next time I won't put actual reese pb cups in, I'll just put chocolate chips since there is peanut butter in the batter so I think it would taste better.  :>

With trying new recipes I did have a bad one, not bad but horrible!  I won't give you the link to it but that is part of trying new things right?  Hope yow enjoy these recipe links do you like that I share that?  I did have a friend mention that she did.  I would love to know if you try it!  Oh and did you find something that you think I should try?  Let me know!

Well I am off to spend some time with the hubby!  :>

Hoo Loves You?

Hi!  Yay it's Friday!  It's always great when the weekend comes again! If you remember from my last post where I was talking about cold weather here it got colder!  I haven't left the house since Wednesday afternoon!  Yesterday I think was the coldest day this year so far with the windchill it was minus 41!  Yikes! I've been enjoying being home.  Cleaning and catching up with stuff.  Today I've been in the mood to be creative but just don't have the mojo for it!  Annoying much!  Although I am working on my last wreath for an order of 3, so I am still being creative!   The weather is supposed to get warmer tomorrow and it better as Ariel is invited to an outdoor birthday party!

Today I have another Valentine card to share with you.  It's one that I made with a non valentine stamp set!  

I love this set by Jenny Suchin for the Craft's Meow.  It's not a Valentine one but can be used for one!  (BTW did you see the Valentine one, oh how I love it!)  I paper pieced it and used a cute valentine sheet by My Mind's Eye, Love Me, love that it's two sided!  Added some glossy accents to the hearts and there you go!

I am off to play with some felt and yarn and create another wreath!  Next week I'll share one!  :>  Hope you have a fantastic weekend!

Oh so CAS Valentine

Hello!  Happy Wednesday!  I've had a great day this morning Carter and I went to stay and play (indoor play time at our church with coffee and chat time for mommy!)  It's beyond cold here minus 34 C with windchill! Tomorrow they are calling for -41 with windchill the weather calls it "extreme" windchill!  Even though it's cold I've been spoiled as Chad drove me to Stay and play and picked  me up!  Just having to walk from the car pretty close does make a difference!  Than I told him I needed some yarn for a wreath I am working on so he brought me to Michaels and waited in the car!  And than we got some groceries! Isn't my husband wonderful? So I am all set not to leave the house for a couple of days, well until I can handle it!

Today I have another Valentine card to share.  Remember my window card from the day before?  Looksie what I made with the leftover:

I found a good use for the die cut from the window didn't I?  A CAS valentine!  So fun as when I cut the window out I never even thought of what I could do with the scraps!  I heat embossed a sentiment from Year Round Sentiments from HA with chestnut brown zing powder.  Stamped old letter writing on the white to tie the collage feel of the die cut in.

Well I am off!  I have to get supper started and I am hoping to get creative tonight!

Valentine Week Day 1

Hello!  Happy Monday!  I wanted to start this posy by saying THANK YOU!  Thank you for all your sweet sweet comments on Friday's post for the Hero Arts Catalog Hostess Blog Hop!  Absolutely floored with all the kind comments I received!  I very much enjoyed reading which card was your favorite!  Each card received much love!  Thank you for making me feel special!  At the end of this post I have the winner of the basic grey paper pack!

I don't know what it is but I am loving making Valentine cards!  In fact this week I will be sharing a Valentine card each day!  Do you also love making Valentines?  I want to encourage you to check out Winter's Valentine Card Drive!  This is her third year collecting Valentine cards for Children in the hospital, she does it for several hospitals!  Please check it out here.  

 I wanted to stamp and decided to make another collage stamped card like my last one but I changed it up.  Sometimes when something works and you enjoyed making it why not try it again but make it different?

Here's a side view:

And a laying flat shot:

When I started this card I wasn't going to go the window I was going to layer a pink mat stack 4 die cut with the hearts but than thought it would be way more fun to make a window!  I realized after taking photos that I am not supposed to send cards with buttons so I will take it off when I send it. To make the window I used my mat stack 4 die from PTI decided where I wanted it and used a bit of tape to hold it down, I didn't want it to be crooked!  Cute isn't it?  I think a child will like it!

I am also going to enter this card into this month's Hero Arts contest, Love Hugs and Kisses!

I used random.org to pick the number for the lucky winner of the 6 by 6 Indie Bloom paper pack is;

Vera W. Yates (Ling) said...

These cards are fabulous, Anita! Love that first one. :)

13 January, 2012 09:22

yay Vera!  Please email me your address!  :>

Well I am off!  I love Monday night tv!  After skating lessons where I stand bent over holding Carter up and skate and  not get kicked when he "fast skates" I am tired, but I still had to get the kids to fed, educated (reading, piano, spelling, memory verses) and to bed  so now I am very tired!  Looking forward to laying on the couch and laughing at sitcoms!  See you tomorrow with another Valentine card!

The Tooth Fairy

Hello!  If your looking for the Hero Hostess Catalog blog hop please click HERE.

Well I am here with the last Wee Memories challenge!  Major boo!  But I totally understand Jenny's reasons!  It's been a pure pleasure being on this design team!  And so fun!  The girls on the team are beyond great!  Thank you for being so wonderful to Wee Memories and playing along!

This week we have three sponsors, we are going out with a bang!  Our sponsors are There She Goes Stamps, The Twinery, and May Arts Ribbon!!!  We have a sketch challenge:

I got to play with the stamp set Fairy Best.  I was quite excited to play with this set and made a card using the sketch and something else:

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The set has a fairy in it and a tooth fairy!  So I  made a card with the fairy following the sketch, I'll add it to my pile for little girl birthdays!  And with the tooth fairy I had to make a box for when Ariel loses her first tooth!  I was really happy when I found the little jewelry box in one of my drawers and dressed it up with papers from Lime Twist by My Mind's eye and the tooth fairy!  Colored everything with my pencils and tried something different inspired by my fellow DT how they colored, I didn't blend with mineral spirits (paint thinner) like I usually do.  I added a lot of glitter to the Tooth fairy her dress and outline of her wings are pink, and the inside wings is stickles!  I think Ariel will love this!

Ariel is 6 and she should be losing her first tooth any day now.  I have a lot of friends who all have kids the same age as her (we had a mommies group when they were young!)  And all of them have lost there first tooth.  In fact Ariel is in grade 1 and her and one other child in the class have yet to lose a tooth!  Her cousin and friend who are younger than her have lost theirs!  I'll be honest I am not a big fan of the whole no teeth thing!  :>  I was hoping it wouldn't happen until after we took Christmas photos and since those are done now it can happen right?  Well maybe not apparently Chad didn't lose his until he was 7!  And apparently he had to get A LOT of teeth pulled since the other tooth was growing in underneath!  Yikes!  Ariel was 8 months when she got her first tooth, which apparently is late so maybe she will lose her first tooth late too?  Well here's hoping they grow in super fast since they seem to take a while to fall out!  It's not a sore subject for her we always just talk about how it will happen and it's okay it hasn't.  But I have hidden this box in my sock drawer so it's surprise and so she doesn't get sad she can't use it yet!

Well I hope you will join us and play with our last challenge!  :<  Please check out the Wee Memories blog for more details!  I am off to make more wreaths!

Hero Arts Hostess 2012 Catalog Blog Hop

Hello! Happy Friday!  I am so excited to be part of the 2012 Catalog Blog Hop with the Hero Hostesses! (day 5)  You should have arrived here from the Hero Arts Blog!  This time last year my dream came true and I was asked to be a Hero Arts Hostess!  I loved it and love now that I get to be part of this!  Hero Arts rocks!

P R I Z E S. Hero Arts will be awarding prizes from randomly drawn comments. For a chance to win, simply comment on ANY of the stops along the hop on ANY day, including each day’s starting post at the Hero Club Blog. The more comments you leave, the better your chance of winning!

B R O K E N   L I N K S. If you find a broken link, you'll find a master list of the hop links at the Hero Club Blog. Also, please report broken links to Tami.

My first card features one of my favorite stamps from the new 2012 catalog:

This card has been removed for publication!!!

                              This card has also been removed for publication!

My next card is a CAS Valentine Card:

Products used:  Untitled Heart, Newspaper Background,  Year Round Sentiments, red pigment ink ny colorbox, clear embossing powder.

I stamped with red pigment ink the heart and clear embossed it, and stamped the newspaper background over top.  Added some rhinestones and a sweet sentiment!

I made another card with the Untitled Heart set, a more romantic one:

 

Products used:   Untitled Heart, Year Round Sentiments, Old Letter Writing, red and raspberry pigment ink by colorbox, angel pink memento ink, antique linen th distress ink, Hero Arts lace.

I stamped the old letter writing in antique linen and than stamped over top the hearts in the various inks, some I second stamped to have a lighter image.  I stamped and cut out the heart in red and popped it up with foam squares and stamped the sentiment.  I wanted to add lace but when I tried white and cream it blended in so I colored it pink myself.  I ran the white lace under my ink pad a few times and spritzed it with water (so that the color runs through!) and let it dry in the sun!  And there you go!  A romantic card for my hubby!

Before you go I wanted to let you know that I will be giving away this 6 by 6 pad by Basic Grey to anyone who leaves a comment here.  You do not need to be a follower of my blog but I would love it if you were!  I will leave this open until Sunday January 15th, 2012.

The Basic Grey pads with matching Hero Arts stamps are some of my favorites!

Thank you so much for stopping by!  I hope you continue along the hop because I know you will be inspired!  Your next stop is the super talented and my hostess sister Heather Maria!  I can't wait to see what she has in store I know you will be inspired!

Luscious Mini Card

Hello!  Happy Thursday!  I am very much enjoying a day at home!  I love being out and about but being home is also great!  The fact that beyond freezing cold weather has come helps me want to stay home!   This morning I've been catching up on laundry and crafting!  I hope to bake a bit this afternoon I am in the baking mood, I think I'll whip up some oatmeal coconut chocolate chip cookies!

I want to share some exciting news I had a card picked up in the June 2012 issue of CARDS!  Yay beyond exciting!  I was a bit lazy and truly waited to the last day to submit which was Jan 1st which was also the day I was super sick with the stomach flu.  Boy was I kicking myself!  Around 1 oclock when I wasn't feeling any better and I realized that I may not be able to get the energy to submit I looked at my hubby and asked him if he would do it for me that I would tell him what to type.  He said of course!  Let me tell you I was so happy!  It meant a lot to me.  Thankfully later that evening I felt better enough that I was able to do it myself, well I did have a pounding headache!  Having a card picked up after that ordeal really made it worth it!

Today I have a mini card to share.  After making one for the current Wee Memories Challenge which is mini cards I got in the mood to make another:

This card measures 3 by 3 and uses scraps for the paper and lace!  So fun to make, the hardest part was finding a sentiment that fit!  :>  I love the Hello Luscious papers and stamp set by Hero Arts!  

By the way I don't know if you noticed but I added a new profile picture, it's from our December family photo shoot:

Well I am excited to be back tomorrow as part of the Hero Arts Hostess Blog Hop!  :>

Owl Be Thinking of You

Hello!  Happy Monday!  Hope your having a great day!  I am so enjoying the less business of January so far!  Today I have a card to share that uses my friend Jenny Suchin's first stamp set for the Crafts Meow!  Last night I sat down and played with it, it's absolutely adorable!  Heres my card:

I did a lot of paper piecing with cardstock for this. I also finally used my grass die by MFT that I had to have and got in the summer and than never used! 

We had a great weekend.  On Saturday we had a couple over to watch hockey and hang out.  On Sunday after church we went sledding.  It was our first time trying out a toboggan run as opposed to sledding down the hill.  And I much prefer a toboggan run!  Less scary, no worries of crashing into people and so much fun!  I feel wrong saying that as I grew up next to a huge hill that we would sled on practically daily in the winter!  I think it's just my old age!  :>  I bet when the kids get older the hills will be what they want!  The weather was 0 and since we went early right at lunch time (early service means early lunch) we were the only ones there!  I love family fun!

Today the kids started skating lessons for the first time!  For Ariel it was overdue and for Carter it was probably a bit early.  He is in a parent and tot class he did well at first but soon had enough.  Hopefully next week will be better!  Ariel did well! 

I want to share two great recipes I made today that I got off pintrest.  For dinner I made this Crock Pot Honey Sesame Chicken.  And it turned out amazing!  We all loved it!  So tasty!  And than tonight after dinner I saw these Donut Mini Muffins and had to make them!  They were sooo yummy!  We have kiosks here that sell mini donuts and these tasted even better than those!  You so have to try them, they are delicious!

I am off to spend some time with Chad!  Thanks for stopping by!  :>

Mini Cards with MFT Stamps!

Hello!  Happy Saturday!  I hope you've had a fantastic start to your weekend!  :>  I am happy to share that yesterday the temperature got a bit cooler and it snowed!  The weather had been unseasonably warm and we had a mostly brown Christmas!  This week the weather was so warm that you wanted to be outside but there was no snow to play or sled on!  Everything was getting muddy, in January!  I don't ever remember temperatures like this!  I really doubt that this year we will have the minus 40s like we usually get in January!  But not having much snow makes me worry we will get it in the spring!  With the snow falling Ariel who had a playdate over and her friend played so happily in the backyard!

I am here with a new Wee Memories Scrappy Saturday Challenge! This week our challenge is sponsored by MFT Stamps (My Favorite Things)  I am more than sure you know about MFT Stamps!  I love there pure innocence stamps and all there dies!  I found them so easy to order with and it came quickly to me here in Canada!  Our challenge is Mini Cards!  It's so fun to make mini cards I should do it more often!

 Here is my mini card, it measures 4 by 4 inches:

I got to play with the Fairy Good Day set!  I loved paper piecing her!  If you remember I did use her when I made Ariel's birthday invitations, you can see that here if you want. 

I am sure that you saw this post that the Wee Memories Challenge will be closing.  Since this is Jenny's personal blog she will be keeping it she just won't be doing the challenges anymore.  You can read more about it there.  We still have a few challenges left so I hope you can continue to play with us.  I am really sad that it is closing BUT I really do understand her decision and respect her for it.  I have loved being part of the challenge.  Jenny really is so easy to work with and is also so very generous!  I wish her all the best!  And my fellow friends on the design team are seriously amazing our guest designers month after month say that we are such a great group of ladies and it's true!  I really will miss being part of this with them!

Last night I went out with a few girlfriends for appetizers and dessert to celebrate two friends birthdays. We had so much fun!  It really is important to get together with your girl friends and spend time chatting!  After the holidays and being with the family so much it was quite needed!  :>

I really hope that you will join us this week for our challenge.  Make sure to check out the Wee Memories blog for more deets and to be inspired by our talented DT!  You have until Friday December 13th 11:59 pst to play!

Girly Birthday Card

Hello!  Happy Thursday!  My daughter is still on winter break from school so we have been enjoying A LOT of family time this week!  Thankfully I am healthy after my stomach flu!  Today I am popping in with a Birthday card to share.  I am super low on my birthday card stash that it's crazy!  So for the next bit birthday cards are going to be a focus for me!  After I picked my card favorites from 2011 I felt like playing with my getting ready cling stamp by HA and wanted to do the kissing technique again.

 

I love the way the envelope pattern by HA adds so much to this silhouette stamp!  Blogging about this card makes me want to make another one using these stamps!  :> I find for me that the kissing technique works best with dye ink as opposed to pigment, how about you?

Yesterday I took the kids to the Children's Museum.  I invited friends and several were able to join us which made for even more fun for the kids!  The museum just recently renovated and everything was new!  So fun we will definitely be visiting again soon!  Here's a few of my favorite photos from the day:

In the Lasagna lookout climbing thing 

Can you tell it's noodles!  Carter loved the water table!  He was soaked!

Love him in this hardhat!!!

There you go!  I hope you have a great rest of your week!  The weekend is almost here!  :>

You Rock!

Happy 2012!  Wishing you a Happy, healthy, joyful, prosperous, blessed New Year!  I hope that you started the New Year better than I did!  Chad and I had a lovely time at the New Years Party that we went to and stayed quite late.  It was fun to hang out with friends with no kids around!  Much quieter and more easier conversation!  By the end I started to feel bad and spent the rest of the night sick with the stomach flu!  I don't think I've ever had such a bad stomach flu with how bad the stomach cramps were!  Thankfully my parents kept the kids until almost bedtime New Years day so I spent the day on the couch watching tv, relaxing and dozing on and off.  Chad was so very good to me and took good care of me!  I am feeling much better but not yet 100%. 

Today I have a fun card to share that I made for my MIL to give to my niece who just turned 12!  When I got this stamp I knew I wanted to make her a card with it!

I love this stamp You Rock by Hero Arts!  Perfect for tween or teenage girls!  :>   I colored her with my prisma and derwent pencils.  Stamped the background with Life of the Party dots by HA in frost white pigment ink.  Used some paper from Lime Twist by My Mind's Eye!  I love starting the new year with a fun cute card!

With it being the new year I thought I would share some of my crafty goals with you:

-That my crafting never comes before being a mom and the best mom I can be

-Be a better blog friend and better commenter.  Life has been busy lately but I miss ya!

-Not just pin things to make on Pintrest actually make them!  I've actually been pretty good at this so far!

-try playing with challenges more!  Not just check them out actually play!

-Send out birthday cards especially!!!  And other things in life, celebrate those around you!

-Be a better poster.  I am always working on something and often have cards waiting to be posted!  I need to post more! 

There you go!  :>  Do you have any crafty goals for 2012?  I would love to hear them!  I better be off I can feel that I need to go and relax a bit!  :>  Next time I post wait till you see the wreath I working on!