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Monday, July 30, 2007

*Sweet Treats to Win*

Head on over to Crafty in Calgary to enter your name to win some crafty treats! Please let her know I sent you!!!

*I Love This Set*

It is so nice to be home. And it was nice to have a weekend with no real commitments or requirements. The only thing that had to be done was grocery shopping which I hate doing on weekends so instead of saving a few bucks, I paid a little extra and went to the Calgary Co-Op closest to our house that just opened a few months ago... it's in an area that is still being developed so it's never very busy.

The weather this weekend was absolutely beautiful but oh so hot! I spent a lot of time sitting on the swing in the backyard (one of those cushioned 3-person things) in the shade reading "Harry Potter". I started re-reading the series when I went to Regina at the beginning of July and finished book 5 last night. I won't read the new book (book 7) until after I am done #6

I borrowed the Baroque Motifs stamp set from my girlfriend Kelly before I went away at the beginning of the month.... and I now own it for myself. When I first saw this set, it didn't really appeal to me.... but then I saw what people were doing with it and I had to have it!

I gave this card with the wedding shower gift.

items used: (all items Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
*Cardstock: Whisper White
*Images: Baroque Motifs
*Ink: Wild Wasabi and Purely Pomegranate
*Embellishments: sheer white ribbon, Bling (not SU!), pop dots

Sunday, July 29, 2007

*A New Type of Tag*

Alison tagged me last night for a different game of tag. This one encourages me to "pay it forward" and send off a RAK (Random Act of Kindness) in the form of a card.

My RAK cards will go out in the mail tomorrow.... in the meantime, I get to tag a few others!

I tag....
*Charmaine
*Trina
*Louise
*Sarah
*Cindy

Have fun girls!

*We have a Winner!*

I used the Random Number Generator and it spit out #70 as the winner of my blog candy. Congratulations to JENNY HILL!!!!!
Jenny Hill said...

Happy Birthday Nancy! Have a great time on the rest of your holidays.

Jenny, please email me with your address and I'll get your prize off to you! I'll take a photo of the prize tomorrow so everyone can see what she's won!

Thanks for playing!

Saturday, July 28, 2007

*A Few Vacation Pictures*

Here are just a few vacation pictures for you all.... we took more than 300 photos so here are a few of my favourites!

This is our "let's get on the road photo"....
This is the family at Emerald Lake. Bruce and I spent our 15th Anniversary out here in June 2006. It's beautiful

We stopped at the "Natural Bridge".... the water has eroded the rock in the river and has created a channel to go through. Very cool.

A natural photo of Matthew near the Natural Bridge... throwing rocks into the river is one of his favourite things to do!

Waiting for the gondola down to the Hell's Gate stuff... yup, I was brave enough to go down there! Hell's Gate is where the Fraser Valley is at it's narrowest and the water rushing through is more than what goes through Niagra Falls.

Hells Gate

This is my cousin Shelley and Matthew during our wander around Lynn Valley Canyon. Matthew just loved Shelley and her husband Geoff.

Shelley took this photo of us in Lynn Valley Canyon

This amazing photo was taken during a Birds of Prey demonstration on Grouse Mountain. This barn own is trained to not fly away but loved to fly over the crowd. This photo was taken right over my head.

This is the family standing inside a huge hollowed-out tree in Stanley Park.... with just our faces showing

Matthew and his buddy Geoff shopping for dessert.

Yup, that's a Humpback Whale!!!

The wedding in Courtenay at Kitty Coleman Provincial Park. What a beautiful location for a wedding... it would have only been better had it stopped raining for a little!

My friend Mona and her new husband Chuck... it was such a beautiful wedding!

Alex showing just how much taller he is than Auntie Mo

We stopped at Qualicum after leaving Courtenay to see these Spheres that my father-in-laws friends' son makes. You can stay in these things! They are sphere shaped tree houses. Very cool.

My boys, taken at Little Qualicum Falls.

My guys on Long Beach.

Goats on the Roof Market in Coombs!

*Finally, Something New For You!!*

I can't believe how long it's been since I've been able to post something new for you! I feel bad for not being around, but not bad enough to tell you that it won't ever happen again LOL!

Now to get back into the habit of stamping and posting! Thankfully I have a couple of cards left to post that I made before I went away. I'll have to find some time to craft soon!

Inspiration for this card came from the card I received from Megan last month. At the time I made this card, I didn't have Baroque Motifs... I do now LOL


items used:
*Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Wild Wasabi, Purlely Pomegranate
*Ink: Pureply Pomegranate, Wild Wasabi
*Images: Stampin' Up! and Rhonna Farrer
*Tools: large and small oval punches, slot punch
*Embellishments: sheer ribbon coloured with my Wild Wasabi ink pad

*Cards Received*

Here are all of the cards I received while I was away on holidays.....
The cards are from (from top left to bottom right):
*Irene (CST)
*Laura
*Michelle
*Julie (CST)
*Charmaine
*Monika
*Carrie
*Beate
*Deb
*Karen (CST)

Thank you all so much for the beautiful cards!

Friday, July 27, 2007

*Flashback Friday*

I am home!!! We had a wonderful vacation out to Canada's west coast and back, but as always I am glad to be home again. We arrived home around suppertime and I employed the entire family to help me get unpacked, get the laundry sorted and everything put away. I haven't been home much this month and am looking forward to some days spent hanging around the house.

Thank you to everyone for their patience while I was away. I hope I haven't lost too many readers in the last two weeks!!!

Today's Flashback Friday card comes from my 2003 folder. So hard to tell the colours when looking at these old scans but I am pretty sure that the card base is a navy blue linen cardstock. The stamps are both by Hero Arts. I substituted some red flower brads for the flowers in the image and then filled the middles of them with small gold Beadz.

At the time, I was totally addicted to the idea of creating a frame around an image by using the notch corner punch and wrapping embroidery filament around the piece to create the frame. I did it a lot.

I will be drawing for my birthday blog candy tomorrow.... come back to see if you're a winner! If you haven't already entered, be sure to leave a comment in the post below!

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

*Blog Candy and An Update*

In honour of my birthday (July 25th), I'd like to offer up some blog candy!! Just leave a comment on this post and I'll draw for a lucky winner on July 28th.

We are now in Victoria BC... we had an OK time in Ucluelet.... woke up this morning to no water in our room thanks to a busted water main so there were no showers and no clean teeth this morning. The area is quite beautiful. We spent several hours at Combers Beach today wandering in the surf... beautiful day for it!

We got to Victoria around 7 tonight and walked from our downtown hotel to find dinner down near the Empress. Had a nice walk back to the hotel which included a Starbucks stop. On our last block we ran into people we know from Calgary... how strange is that???

Tomorrow we will wander around Victoria and I hope to hit Stamprs as my birthday present. A nice dinner and home to bed so that we can catch an early ferry on Thursday for the mainland.

I probably won't post again until we're home....

Sunday, July 22, 2007

*Little Update*

Hi All... sitting in my hotel room in Courtenay BC while the boys and Bruce are down in the pool... would kind of like to hit the hot tub too but would much rather enjoy an hour to myself.

Having a great time on our vacation. We left Calgary last Saturday and drove to Kamloops BC with lots of sightseeing stops along the way. Sunday we drove to Burnaby BC (just outside Vancouver) where we spent three days with my cousin Shelley and her husband Geoff. We did a lot of sightseeing there as well before hopping on the Ferry to Nanaimo (on Vancouver Island) on Wednesday afternoon.

The wedding of my childhood friend Mona (I've known her since grade 1 -- 1976) and her sweetie Chuck was a beautiful event yesterday despite the un-ending rain throughout the day. The wedding was overlooking the ocean at Kitty Coleman Provincial Park with a dinner under a big tent in their backyard here in Courtenay. They put on a wonderful party for all of us.

It's been great being here in Courtenay as there are 5 of us who are elementary school friends that are all together for the first time in a long long time. Two others were unable to make it and one other friend who came into the fold in high school is here as well. It has been great to chat and catch up and giggle!!

Tomorrow our family is packing up and heading to Ucluelet for a night... it's kind of a resort town on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Tuesday we will head down to Victoria for two nights before hopping on the ferry back to the mainland and starting our two day drive home on Thursday.

I am looking forward already to being home and sleeping in my own bed again... it's been a lot of travel all in a row for me.

Other updates:
Mom isn't doing all that great with her shingles. So bad in fact, my sister has traveled from her home down east to spend a week with Mom. Mom is in a lot of pain which is now being somewhat managed by morphine. She is sleeping a lot which is probably a good thing. I feel so bad for her... she seemed to be getting better when I left her on the 12th. Poor Mom

Alex finished Harry Potter a mere 27 hours after we picked up our copy. He wasn't allowed to read during the wedding ceremony or during dinner, but once the food was cleared we allowed the book to come to the table. He read all through the gift opening this morning and finished it. He has been sworn to secrecy, not allowed to talk about it with Bruce and I until we have read it for ourselves. I am so tempted to drop book 4 (I am re-reading the entire series) and pick up book 7 right away!!! But I will stick to my original plan.... I will enjoy it more this way!

So, I'll be home sometime next Friday and I promise to post a creation for you during next weekend!!!

Take Care!

Saturday, July 21, 2007

*Happy Harry Potter Day!!*

Today is the day so many fans have been waiting for.... the day the final Harry Potter book is released. I have read a few blogs already this morning of people who were able to get it at 12:01am. Had we not run off on vacation perhaps we could have done that. We had preordered the book to have it delivered to our house today but canceled that when we realized we'd be away. Sure, the person staying at out house would have gotten the delivery, but that's a whole week before any of us could start reading!

Instead we have preordered the book and will be picking it up this morning at a Coles Bookstore here in Courtenay BC. We have lots of time (we think) as the wedding isn't until 4pm!

And once that book is safely in our hands, I don't think we'll see our oldest son without the book until he's done!

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

*Falling Flowers*

One more sleep here in Regina and then it's time to head home to my husband and my Milo-pup. I sure miss them!

We've had a good relaxing time here with Mom. Just doing what we want when we want, eating too much, enjoying Mom's company. It's different this year without my sister and her daughter here for a visit at the same time. We miss them.

I am slowly but surely running out of the stash of cards I had made to post. There are only a few more. I hope to not be stamping too much when I first get home... I want to get out with the kids and enjoy this short summer that we have in Calgary. If the weather is great, I want to be outside doing something or reading a good book! You might want to subscribe or add me to your Google Reader to save you popping by to see if I've posted.

It might only last a little while though... I know I'm missing creating right now!

Did you notice the new item on the right side of my blog? It's under my photo... it says "Blogging Without Obligation". I just love this idea... I don't think we should feel obligated to post all of the time. Post when you have the time. Post when you have something to share. And if you read blogs, just enjoy it when there is something new to see!

So I won't feel guilty about not posting every day during the summer... instead I will post when I have things to share. I will stamp when the weather isn't perfect summer weather... because really, I should be outside with the kids enjoying the sunshine!

On to the card for today.

I saw something similar to this at Paper Pastimes a few weeks ago and thought I would give it a try. The blue flower on the right side of the card is actually on the inside of the card... I punched through the front of the card and put this flower on the inside.

Again, I have no idea who makes the patterned paper that I used. Dang notes....

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

*I'm All Choked Up!!*

I received an award today! Joy over at A Spot of Tea gave me the award below! I've never gotten a blogger award before!

Thanks so much Joy!!!

Monday, July 09, 2007

*Pieces of Me Sketch Challenge*

While crafting this afternoon I also made this card using Jen's sketch over at Pieces of Me. As with the card below, it was difficult to come up with the card without having my "stuff" around. Even when I pack stuff to use at someone else's house, I don't often end up crafting much. I need to be surrounded by all of my stuff apparently!

Again, I won't do my usual list of item used, but you'll find pearlized pink cardstock, a bunch of Prima flowers and some bling!

*Poetic Artistry Bingo Challenge*

Along with the Beach Blogger Bingo is a new card sketch at Poetic Artistry.

I created this card today while at my Mom's. I think I deserve some extra points for being creative with none of my stuff near me. Mom has a lot of stuff, and I know she doesn't mind me using her stuff, but I find it difficult to create when you don't know what is available to you. At least in my stamp space, I have a pretty good idea of what I have and what I don't.

I'm not going to do an "items used" section because I don't know who makes most of the stuff I used.

One thing I would like to point out though... you can sort of see some dots along the black oval... I did those along the black oval, on each of the black petals and across the other black accents using a Gelly Roll clear glaze pen. I had hoped to use a white gel pen, but Mom didn't have one. I love how you can see it in the right light... and it's raised too!

*Another Game of Tag*

I've been tagged by Beth to "toot my own horn".... that is, I need to list 7 things that are good about me and then tag 7 others...

1. I have eyes that are an awesome shade of blue... they are my favourite feature

2. I have a strange sense of humour. Things make me smile but it takes a lot to get a good laugh out of me. I think it makes people wonder about me LOL

3. I love to sing... I'm not all that great at it, but I love to sing. My kids (who are 12 and 10) don't think I'm that bad... I've trained them to like bad singing LOL

4. I am good about making sure I have time to myself. I need to get away from everyone else to be a good person... so I stamp, I read, I walk, I listen to my iPod... I escape

5. I have been published in rubberstamping magazines with my creations. I have been in The Rubberstamper and Stampers Sampler. One of these days I will submit some creations again.

6. My genuine smile lights up my entire face... you can see it in my eyes as well as my lips

7. I am getting more and more brave with trying new foods... I started out life as a very very very fussy eater and am slowly trying more and more foods. I don't like all of them, but many of them I do. I'd still consider myself a fussy eater, but it's not as bad as it once was. I read an article somewhere years ago that talked about a study done on tastebuds. It was apparently discovered that there are three types of tastebuds... normal, overactive and underactive. Underactive would be those who pile on the spice and taste nothing. Overactive are people like me who pick out the smallest hint of onion or pepper and that will ruin the meal for them.

I tag...
1. Cindy at imagine-dream-create
2. Tracy at Tracy's Happy Place
3. Shannon at Live Love Laugh and Stamp!
4. Trina at Trina's Timeless Treasures
5. Ila at Artfully Ila
6. Starr at ...the rest is still unwritten...
7. Louise at A Little House On The Prairie

*Same Layout, New Card*

I really like this card. I think it's mostly because I really liked the layout. I made one using this layout before and thought I would play with it some more.

Not much to tell about the card, really since I can't, with any confidence, tell you who made the floral image that I used! Sure wish I had brought along my notes! I can't even hazard a guess as to who makes it! This is one of those stamps that I saw at the store and had to have... got it home and hardly used it! Bad, eh??!!





Items Used:
*Colours: So Saffron, Regal Rose, Tempting Tuquoise and Always Artichoke

*Patterned Paper: Stampin' Up!
*Images: Stampin' Up! and ???
*Ink: Stampin' Up! Always Artichoke Classic and Document black
*Tools: Marvy Mega and Giga Scallop Square punches (trimmed to create the tag)
*Embellishments: pink and clear Swarovski Crystals

Saturday, July 07, 2007

*Simply Doodled*

Just getting ready to head off to bed but I thought I would post now while I had a few moments of time. I'm sharing the computer with my Mom and two sons so none of us really gets as much time as we are used to. Probably a good thing in my case in some ways. I can waste a lot of time in front of the computer.

Found out after a trip to the Drs office yesterday that Mom has Shingles. She started with a rash on Thursday but didn't tell me it hurt. Yesterday it was no better and I found at least area with a blister on it. Shingles can be contagious so there's no huggin' or kissin' Nana right now. It is also an extremely painful condition as it affects the nerve endings. Poor Mom. I feel so bad for her. While I'm glad I'm here to help out by cooking and to try to keep her a little distracted, I also feel bad because I know Mom feels like she should be cooking for us and doing more. I can't make her understand that I'm OK with stepping up.

We had another pretty hot day here... muggy too. Am happy to have air conditioning. I did sit outside for a little bit before it got too hot. I think the heat wave has broken as of tonight though... still warm, but not that hot hot weather. On Friday we hit a high of 37*C which is about 99*F. That was before you factored in the humidity.

Anyway... enough rambling and on to the card.

I love the simplicity of this card. It started out a lot more simple until I messed up stamping the sentiment on the bottom of the card... that's where the layers of cardstock come in. I used stamps from Stampin' Up! as well as an acrylic stamp from the Rhonna Farrer Swirls set. This swirl was the entire reason I bought this set!

The flower is stamped and cut out. I took a pen and sort of curled the petals a little to create some dimension.

items used:
*Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomegranate, Whisper White
*Ink: Stampin' Up! Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomegranate, Whisper White
*Images: Rhonna Farrer and Stampin' Up!
*Embellisments: Bling!

Friday, July 06, 2007

*Flashback Friday*

Another Friday. Another card from my past.

This was my favourite card for quite a while. This was during my "celestial phase" which lasted quite a while. I've fallen out of love with all things celestial. Guess it's a good thing I didn't get that sun moon and stars tattoo back then??!!

This card is done in all navy and gold... gold ink, gold paper, gold brad, gold gel pen.

And the sentiment was written by me.

If only my handwriting always looked that good. Of course, I write at a snails pace when writing like this so I guess I could do it on a regular basis... if I had nothing else to accomplish!!

Have a great Friday!

Thursday, July 05, 2007

*Another Baby Card*

This is another baby card that I made for that friend of mine. She needed one for a baby boy and one for an unknown gender. I coloured up the image with my markers, decided to do the scalloped accent piece, got it all figured out... and then managed to put the blue and yellow long layers on to the bottom of the card instead of the top. So the card was quickly reversed to have the main image on the bottom instead of the top.

I think I like it.

More importantly, I hope my friend liked it!

items used: All items Stampin' Up!
*Cardstock: Whisper White, Barely Banana, Bashful Blue
*Ink: Basic Black, Barely Banana, Bashful Blue, Pretty in Pink
*Tools: small corner rounder to create the scallop

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

*Baby Card*

I was asked to make a couple of baby cards for a friend of mine a few weeks ago. I am so getting tired of the baby images I own... might be time to buy something new! But of course, you know, that as soon as I buy new baby images, no one will be having babies!

Nancy's Law.

Anyway....

I think I liked this card more before I added the swipes of blue ink over the tops of the dry embossed swirls. Not that it looks really bad with the ink on it, I just liked it better before I did it.

I love that cute little baby bottom poking out of the diaper. I have a "thing" for little tooshies. So cute! I still remember when my now 17 year old niece first showed up without a diaper under her pants... those little leggings made her little butt look so cute!

Honest, I'm not dangerous! LOL

items used:
*Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Bashful Blue
*Images: I have no earthly idea... remember yesterday I told you I didn't bring my notes
*Ink: Stampin' Up! Basic Black, Bashful Blue, Blush Blossom
*Embellishments: polka dot ribbon from Paper Pastimes
*Tools: Marvy Giga Scallop Oval and Mega Oval punches, white gel pen, Provocraft Cuttlebug and D'vine Swirl Embossing Folder

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

*New Colours*

I made it to Mom's safe and sound last night... albeit a half hour late. But that's OK. Just cuz the boyz were making me nuts by the time we got here. I think I was simply on edge and tired but everything they said or did was getting on my nerves. Things are much better today.

We've already been to our favourite burger joint for lunch today and are all too full to even contemplate dinner! I am thinking I will run out to the post office in a few minutes to send off a schwack of SCS Blogger RAK cards as well as some CST July Birthday Cards.

Now, while I was smart enough to save some cards onto a memory stick, I didn't think enough to actually bring the card recipes for these cards with me. I guess I'll be doin' some guessin' on the stuff I've used to create the works of art. Sorry about that!

This was one of the first card I made using some of the new In Color Stampin' Up! Colours.

items used:
*Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Purely Pomegranate and Soft Sky
*Ink: Stampin' Up! Soft Sky, Purely Pomegranate and Wild Wasabi

*Images: Michael's $1.50 stamps (the acrylic)
*Tools: Provocraft Cuttlebug and the D'vine Swirl Embossing Folder

Monday, July 02, 2007

*A Complete and Total CASE*

It's the Canada Day Long Weekend here in Canada. And surprisingly enough, the weather in Calgary has been awesome!!! So often our long weekends are marked with cool wet weather. Instead we have had nothing but sunshine and warm temperatures!

We spent several hours out at an outdoor event near downtown yesterday, enjoying the sun and some great bands. We all took books and did a little reading, did some people watching and wandered around looking at whatever there was to see. It was a great day.

This morning I have spent packing as the kids and I are off to see Mom in Regina. We're leaving the husband and the dog behind. Sniff sniff. We are looking forward to some time with Mom. I have copied all of the cards I have made so far onto a memory stick and promise to update at least a few times while I'm away.

Todays card is a complete and total copy of a card I saw on Trisha's blog. There is nothing in this card that is my own creativity other than the fact I had to find another stamp set to use. Sad, I know... but I just so totally loved this card! My card is OK, but Trisha's is perfect!!!

items used:
*Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Basic Black, Certainly Celery, So Saffron
*Patterned Paper: Stampin' Up! in Almost Amethyst, So Saffron, Rose Red
*Ink: Stampin' Up! Rose Red, Certainly Celery, Basic Black
*Images: Stampin' Up!
*Tools: Marvy Mega Circle Punch and Giga Scallop Circle Punch, Paper Piercer

EDIT: Just to let you know, the black circle around the yellow is simply drawn on with a black marker. I attached the two circles together and then drew along the yellow on to the green.

Sunday, July 01, 2007

*New Widget*

On the right side of the screen you'll find a new section titled "Some of Nancy's Favourites". These are some of the projects I've found of particular interest and will be updated as I go through the blogs I read everyday. Take a peek and enjoy!

I may remove the list of "Blogs I Visit" list as I visit more than 200 blogs on a regular basis (thanks Google Reader!!!) and there's no way I can keep that list up to date. We'll see.

I hope everyone had a Happy Canada Day!

*Another Tag*

I've been tagged twice for the same reason.... Tracy, Julie and Jen have tagged me to tell you 7 things about myself....

1. I am a homebody. I have no problem spending time at home instead of in a crowd. Once I get out of the house and head down to a celebration (like Canada Day stuff at Prince's Island here in Calgary) I have a great time, but getting me there can be difficult. Being a shorter person in a crowd freaks me out.

2. Despite knowing the dangers of skin cancer, I love to sit out in the sun and prefer the way my body looks with a tan. I know I know... I'm bad.

3. I can't stand non-diet pop anymore. I started drinking Diet Coke during my first year of University and am no longer able to deal with the syrupy-ness of a regular pop. It almost makes me gag.

4. I hate hats. I don't wear hats. I won't wear one in the dead of winter. I don't wear one in the sun. Bruce loves the way I look in hats but I don't. I also hate how it wrecks my hair style. Hat head sucks.

5. I am coveting all of the peonies I am seeing this spring/summer. It's the one flower I really want to have growing in my yard but I am awaiting some work to be done in my back yard that will give me some flower beds. Peonies remind me of my Dad. Not to mention they are so big, bold and beautiful!!

6. I love french fries. I could eat them daily. You can tell I eat them too much these days as my weight has been creeping up during the last year. I like them with just salt, or sometimes salt and white vinegar. I also think they are awesome when dipped in Ranch dressing. YUM!

7. If I knew I was going to die and could have one final meal, I'd start with nachos. Then I'd have a BBQ steak with french fries and garlic bread for dinner. To finish it all off, a good chocolate cake with chocolate icing and vanilla ice cream. I'd probably throw up from eating all of that food, but that's OK.... I'm dying anyway!

So.... to tag a few others.... I haven't checked my blogs all out today cuz I've been down at Prince's Island enjoying some live music for the Canada Celebrations so I have no idea who has tagged whom....

Here are my tags....
Shannon, Flossy, Jen, Domenica, Cindy,