CAS Kissing!

Hello!  Happy Tuesday!  Can't believe it's Tuesday already!  :>  The weekend was a waste for me as I spent Saturday and Sunday not feeling well!  No fun but happy to report I am back at it!  :>  Currently as I type this post I am making turkey soup and working on cinnamon buns!  If your wondering how come I am making turkey soup it's because my mom called us up on Sunday and said "come for dinner I had to pull the turkey out of the freezer since I need the room!"  She sent me home with lots of leftovers!  And cinnamon buns?  Well I've never made them with yeast and I am needing a change from muffins and loafs!  Plus who doesn't love cinnamon buns?

I was quite excited about the current Lily Pad Kissing Challenge as well it's one of my favorite techniques!  So I had to play!  Here's my card:

I kissed a leaf from Leaf Clusters with Envelope Pattern Background stamp both by Hero Arts together.  I used shabby shutters distress ink with chocolate chip ink by SU.  I tied some matching twine by the twinery and added a button.  I made this card on Friday and left it sentiment less.  I didn't know where to put it so I put the card aside, I considered leaving it sentimentless but it didn't feel finished.  Today out of the blue it dawned on me to put a brown strip with the sentiment across.  So off I went embossing in white the sentiment while Carter played the piano next to me, maybe a bit with his feet (I told him not to!) And there you go a card that I am happy with using my favorite technique!

Life is pretty good over here lately.  Working on more wreaths since I figure if I am going to open up an etsy store I should have a decent inventory, no?  Also have to go to the other side of the city to get boxes for shipping!  :>  It's gotten cold here once again.  Been hearing a lot of people complain about wanting winter to end.  I don't.  I enjoy the excuse to stay home.  I enjoy the less busy life I lead in the winter.  I love being home making stuff and baking and cooking!  And all that without feeling guilty that it's beautiful outside and I should be out and about with the kids!  :>  Well I am off to feed the family and kneed some dough!

A Card Set!

Hello!  Happy Thursday!  Hope your day has been well!  I've enjoyed being home with Carter all day!  Hubby is off to the hockey game so it's just me and the kids tonight!  But that's okay when they go to bed I've got Grey's Anatomy to keep me company!  

Today I have a card set to share that I made for a friend.  I am trying to get back into making card sets to have on hand.  The end of the school year is coming up plus birthdays are always popping up!

I cut a panel out of white cardstock and attached three strips across, than heat embossed in white the wildflowers by Hero Arts. I used Hero Arts layering papers which made the color choices so much easier!  Each pack comes with three colors and there you go three strips!  I embellished the flowers with matching gems by HA but for the pool one I didn't have matching so I used pearls!  I also used the white part or the "inside" of the layering paper for the card so that inside:

I am entering these cards into the current Simon Says Stamp Challenge, it's use 3 different papers, I totally did!

I finished up a new wreath today.  I love this color combo!  I am working on opening an etsy store for my wreaths and I will be selling this one!  I get a lot of orders from friends too!  I love doing custom ones!

WREATH REMOVED FOR PUBLICATION!!!

I love this color combo as it's not expected!  But I love how it works together!  :>

Well I am off!  Have to practice spelling and piano with Ariel!  Than bedtime and feet up for mommy!

Best Wishes Tea Flower Card and a few Wreaths!

Hello!  Happy Tuesday! :> It's snowing here and is so beautiful outside!  We are coming off a long weekend!  Ariel actually had 4 days off school as Friday was a pd day and Monday here was Louis Riel Day. Many other provinces it was family day!  The province decided that a long weekend in February was needed and so came Louis Riel Day (a famous explorer!)

On Friday night my brother called and told me he needed a bridal shower card!  So I got to work and played with a new stamp:

I embossed Tea Flower by Hero Arts with chestnut zing embossing powder.  Than I colored it in with inks using perfect pearls mixed water and a paint brush.  I really enjoyed coloring it in this way!  I used some pp by My Mind's Eye and am entering this into the current Lily Pad challenge which is to use up your pp!  Here's a close up on the flower:

We had such a great long weekend.  On Friday Carter was so happy to have Ariel home with him and they enjoyed playing outside!  I gave them a bath afterwards and made some homemade bath paint and it worked so well.  Here is the recipe:

1/3 cup body, baby wash or dish soap (I used aveeno body wash)

1 tbspoon cornstarch

Mix together put into ice cube tray and add food coloring drops to make color.  Use fingers to paint the bath tub away!

On Friday night we went as a family to a friends for dinner and she had invited other friends to so I enjoyed some girl time as the guys watched the Jets game (NHL Hockey)  On Saturday we went to my parents for dinner and went sledding at the hill I sledded as a child!  Yesh walking up the hill is so much more tiring now as an adult!  On Sunday Chad's parents had the "little" grand children over for a sleepover so Chad and I went on a date!!!  We saw this  movie:

And we both really liked it!  Perfect date movie as there something you both will love!  Totally suggest it for date night!  We enjoyed sleeping in Monday morning.  Although I only slept till 8:30 but it was nice to wake up on your own not to a little one! Monday afternoon we took the kids to our church, they had an amazing family fun day!  A few bouncers, fun food and wagon rides outside!  It was fun to see so many people and the kids really had fun!  We finished the day with my brother and his fiance coming over for dinner, love her can't wait for her to join our family!  What a great long weekend!  :>

A few weeks ago I finished up an order for 3 wreaths from a friend.  She picked all the colors and I am really happy with how it came out.  

What do you think?  I really enjoy making them and have a cool idea up my sleeve!  Well I am off to get the kids ready for bed.  While I typed up this post they were downstairs playing a computer game (once Ariel does her piano and school work if there is time she can play a bit!)  Have a great week! 

Glitter Shaker Birthday Card

Hello!  Happy Thursday!  Not sure where the week has gone so far!  I am happy to share my voice is a lot better but still not yet 100%, it's taking a while to come back since I lost it on Saturday night!

Today I have a card to share that I made for the Play Date Challenge newest challenge which is color splash with hot pink!!  I saw the challenge last night before bed.  I love the color choices!  I sat down this morning and this card came together quickly.  I very much enjoyed making this card, don't you love it when that happens?  With not feeling all that well this was the first time I crafted this week!

Here is my card:

  

I wanted to play with my new zig zag stamp by Hero Arts.  And I was inspired by Julie Cambell's shaker card here.  I love shaker cards!  I used to make them all the time!  I love the idea of using a clear bag for the shaker!  You know how many clear bags I have?  Between the various clear envelopes and various size bags that I have for treats I am set!  Beyond an easier way to make a shaker card! Today my two ideas meshed and I came up with this card!  I used some glitter that I have had forever!  I added some twine by the Twinery, some jewels and a hot pink strip with the sentiment!  

Hope that you had a terrific Valentines Day!  On Monday night I went out with a bunch of girls friends and saw this movie:

We all loved it!  Such a fantastic movie!  Great story!  :>  I want to see it again with Chad!  You should go see it too!  Next up I want to read the book!

For Valentines Day I made treats for Ariel's class, I used my babycakes cake pop maker for the first time.  It really made it so much easier but it was a bit tricky to figure out how not to overfill it!  I wanted to make red velvet cake pops but didn't have enough red food coloring so I made pink velvet!  

Chad and I enjoyed celebrating Valentines Day as a family.  This weekend we are planning to go on a date!  :>

Well that's it for me!  Supper is in the slowcooker so I think I will spend the time I usually would making supper baking some banana bread!  I love baking! 

Aqua, Red and White You're The Best!

Hello!  Happy Sunday!  I hope that you have enjoyed your weekend!  We sure did!  Last night we had dinner with some friends, Ariel went to kindergarten last year with there daughter. Same school still diff classes, but that's okay they are still friends!  Today was a Valentine service at church and Ariel was asked to hand out chocolate kisses in between the two services! She had so much fun!  She was so cute and sweet!  :>  

This weekend continues to be wonderful with more crafty good news, yesterday I got an email that one of my cards was picked up for publication in the July issue of Cards!!!  Yay totally doing the happy dance!  Two publications in one weekend!  :>

I wanted to pop in and share a card inspired by one of my wreaths!  I loved the color so much that one day when I was sitting and creating I thought I would be inspired by it.  And use felt on a card since I find myself making felt flowers a lot!  Here is the card that I made:

Here is a close up on the flower:

This is wreath that I made that I was inspired by:

For the card I stamped the classic fabric background by Hero Arts with white pigment ink onto the teal cardstock.  Love how it looks.  I made the flower out of 5 circles, 4 of them folded and sewn onto one of the cirlces and I sewed a button by my mind's eye on top.  I am really pleased with how this card turned out!

I actually have another wreath to share too.  This one is inspired by the other one but slightly different.  This wreath I made just to make.  I am thinking of starting an etsy store to sell my wreaths!  If you have any tips on etsy let me know!

What do you think when I put the flowers in two places?  Better or you like both?

I have a super cute story to share with you.  On Saturday morning Chad woke up at 5:15 am to Carter wimpering loudly crying.  He thought Carter had an accident so he goes to see him.  (Oh I am super blessed Chad gets up with the kids at night, two reasons I sleep deeply and he can fall right back to sleep while I couldn't)  He asks Carter why he is crying and Carter tells him he wanted to go cuddle Ariel and he can't open her door!  I had put a door handle on her door so he would stop waking her up early!  How sweet is that?  Chad told him no your supposed to sleep in your bed please go back to sleep!  Ariel tells us in the morning "Oh he just wanted to cuddle!  He went right to sleep!"  WHAT?  Well Ariel hears the commotion and goes to see what's up with her door and she said he was right there and went to her bed and went right to sleep!  They slept together till morning!  So sweet!  They love each other so much!  I got these sweet photos on Saturday while the two of them were cuddling on the couch after Carter's nap:

Well I am off!  To make treats for Ariel's class!!  :>  Oh and I was on the mend.  But I lost my voice last night!  Not sure if it has to due to with  my previous vocal problems or to do with my slight cold.  Annoying none the less I enjoy talking!

Baby Ivy's Thank You Card Set!

Hello!  Happy Friday!  Hope you have fun weekend plans!  It's gotten really cold here again.  We are talking minus 40 with windchill!  We have some plans and I have to work on Valentine treats for Ariel's class!

I have some very exciting news to share with you.  Today I received an email from Paper Crafts Magazine!  I got a card picked up for publication from them for the Stamp It issue!  This is my first time I've gotten a card accepted by them!  I am so happy!  My heart was in my throat and I had tears in my eyes as I read the email!  Dreams do come true!

Today I have a baby thank you card set to share!  One of my friends just had a baby girl, this is there fourth child, the other 3 are boys!  Beyond excited for her!  I babysat two of her boys once in a while this past fall and got to love on her youngest.  It was wonderful and I look forward to loving on this new baby!  A friend hosted a shower for her and I asked if she would like a baby thank you card set and she said she would!

I was inspired by Cath's Moxie Fab's Tuesday Trigger of Fancy Schmancy!  I mean looking at this doesn't it scream out baby cards to you???  Oh you make it what you need right?  (PS that Cath has to pick something that looks beyond delicious and I just can't stop thinking of eating it!)

Here they are:

I made 20 cards,  two styles 10 of each:

I started by stamping Classic Fabric background  by Hero Arts in angel pink.  I did all the backgrounds first.  Than I embossed in Chestnut Brown Zing powder the elephants and giraffes from the Sweet Baby set by PTI.  Than stamped the thank you (from Year Round sentiments by HA) And than stamped all the hearts, to me the finishing touch and what  made me happy was stamping the heart by the thank you!  I added my favorite bakers twine by the twinery and than adhered the panel to a white card base.  I forgot to take a picture but I stamped the elephant or giraffe inside the card in the angel pink!  This set took me a bit (I worked on it for a few days) but I worked on it stage by stage which made it better.  I was finishing it just hours before the shower and tied twine bows in the car!  I threw together a gift bag and tag just before leaving:

Can you tell I made the tag fast I just noticed that I forgot to stamp the hearts on the bottom beside baby!  Oh well I made it to the shower on time and with a finished gift!  I love making thank you card sets when my friends have babies, I find that when they have a shower or a sip and see and I have a date I have to have it done I can do it!  :> 

Well I am off to make dinner!  I was feeling sick yesterday but am feeling so much better.  I could feel that my body was fighting the cold!  So happy to be on the mend!  Looking forward to a night at home!  It's too cold to go out!

Luscious Birthday

Hello!  Hope your having a great day!  Sorry it's been a bit since I last posted.  First up I want to send out a big thank you for all the kind words I received on my last post on my first publication!  You girls really made me smile and feel special!  

Today I have a card that I made for the current Lily Pad Patterned Paper challenge!  What a great challenge as I totally have pp that I have not used up.  Some is hoarding and not wanting to cut up the pretty paper, and with this one it was I didn't like this piece of paper! BUT I love it now!  I was thrown off by all the yellow, not that I don't like yellow it just threw me off, than I noticed the tiny teal flowers and an idea formed:

The paper is from Hello Luscious by Basic Grey, one of my favorites.  I stamped the flower and leaf from the Hero Arts matching set and the sentiment is Hero Arts too.  Really happy with how this card turned out, not my usual color combo and I am so happy that I gave a paper that I didn't like a chance!  LOL (by the way which picture do you like more?  I couldn't decide!)

I apologize for not updating my blog in a bit.  We enjoyed a busy weekend this past one and I have been playing catch up.  We got together with two families that we hadn't hung out one on one with before.  It's so great to get to know people better!  And this weekend was so special because Ariel sang a duet at church!  Her school had a children's choir sing a song at the service and Ariel sang a duet!  She loved it!  She sang the same part at the Christmas concert and she says she loves being on stage when can I do it again?  Hmmm I will admit this makes me quite happy, I loved to perform as a child!  Everyone says she is so comfortable on stage and that she sang so well!  Her music teacher said she is meant to be on stage!  We are thinking next year putting Ariel into musical theater (she takes piano already)  And oh I am one proud mommy I told everyone in the halls to watch for her, lol!  I couldn't help it!  This picture is dark but you can see her holding the mike and singing:

Than on Sunday night it was the superbowl.  I am not going to lie to you I am not really all that into it.  But my church was having a party and the guys decided that they would go and bring along there families!  And it was one of the best nights we all had!  The guys watched the game in the sanctuary, us girls sat in the lobby which had been set up as a cafe and enjoyed chatting and catching up.  And the kids played connect in one of the rooms, ran around, and enjoyed running, doing an obstacle course and playing football on the sides of the sanctuary!  It was fun for all!   I remember back when we all had one kid and it was easier for a bunch of us to get together but as our families have grown it has gotten much more difficult which made this so much fun!

Well I am off to work on dinner and I am working on a wreath!  :>

January Publication, My first!

Hello!  Happy Thursday!  I love Thursdays as it's a nice relaxing day at home.  No kids activities and no reason for me to leave the home!  I love catching up on house stuff, crafting and today I am focusing on my assignment.  Unless inspiration strikes!

I am beyond excited to share with you my FIRST ever published card!  It is in the January issue of CARDS magazine.  Back in August when I received my first email of having a card picked up I was beyond happy!  It really is a dream come true.  I know my crafty friends get it but I was surprised by how happy friends and family were too!  Running into people I got a lot of congratulations and questions about it!  Neat, huh?  

It was fantastic that this card was picked up because I love it:

I was very thankful for Vanessa emailing me a scanned photo of my card in the magazine as I had yet to see it.  Here is how it looks in the magazine:

I love how they took a photo of it!  So pretty!  I love what is in the background!  :>  So when the issue arrived here in Canada I had to check it out in print so I went to my LSS and they shared in my joy!  :>  Here you can see how happy I am:

I am a happy girl.  Who would have thought 5 years ago when I was a young mom to a sweet baby girl and thought I needed a hobby just for me and decided on cardmaking that one day one of my cards would be in a magazine never mind CARDS!  I've realized lately that I am the happiest that I've been since I've rediscovered my creativity.  It started 5 years go with card making.  I was creative as a child but with the demands of school and university I lost it.  So happy I've found it again.

Wishing you a fantastic day!

Valentine Wreath!

Hello!  Happy Wednesday!  It's been a great day!  The weather here has been amazing, only a short oh so cold spell but other than that it's been a fabulous winter!  I think most of North America has been quite lucky!

Today I have a new wreath to share with you. I love it!  I had seen it on a few crafty blogs and had to make it!  I was delighted that Chad found me a heart wreath!  I wrote about it on facebook and a friend said she was interested in it so I made it for her!  :>  

I followed the tutorial from the Idea Room here.  I won't lie to you, it took a long time to make.  I worked on it each evening for a bit and had to keep sending Chad back to Michaels to buy more felt.  I handcut more than 260  3 inch circles and pinned them on the wreath.  I was a bit apprehensive about just pinning it with a stick pin but when I tried it was very sturdy and I knew it would stay put.  I thoroughly enjoyed making this! 

I want to share a tip with you. I often use circles when I make flowers out of felt, lots start out as a circle!  Rather than using a paper circle as a guide or tracing circles on the felt I ink up a cup, or a vitamin lid and stamp it on the felt so much faster.  You can see it here:

It saves so much time and it's easier to cut a nice circle.  And the white ink wipes off easily!  

Oh and I have the sweetest photo to share with you:

This is a familiar site around here.  My two love each other so much!  Carter wakes up first in the morning and used to come to our bed and cuddle us but has moved on.  He now wakes Ariel up each morning with "Ariel I want to cuddle you!"  And she is more than willing!  I often find them cuddling together in either his or her bed!  It is the sweetest but the only problem is that he wakes up earlier than her when she would like to sleep about half an hour or so more.  On Saturday Chad caught him going to her at 6 am!  He put him back in his bed and they both slept for 2 hours more.  We are trying to convince Carter to come to us but that hasn't worked and I have been trying to convince him to go back to sleep when he wakes up and wait for Ariel to wake him up!  By the way like Carter's pj's?  He spotted the material at fabricland when my mom and me were there buying the fabric for Ariel's birthday skirts and she bought it and made those pjs for him!

Hope you have a great crafty day!  Thanks for visiting today!