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Monday, June 30, 2008

*Happy Canada Day!*

My apologies for a lack of posts this weekend. I didn't even think to schedule some posts to appear while we were off camping.

We had a wonderful time camping at Red Lodge Provincial Park near Bowden Alberta this weekend. We went with three other couples for a total of 8 adults, 8 children and 4 dogs. The weather was absolutely perfect... sunny and hot without a cloud in the sky! The first night was a little cool and required sweaters while sitting around the campfire, but the other two nights were beautiful. It's not always possible to sit outside in the summer here in Calgary in the evenings without at least a sweater on. It makes it great for sleeping since the house cools down, but it makes for less than wonderful evenings outside.

We had a great time floating down the Little Red Deer River on blow up dingies, a wonderful way to cool off. Ice cream and s'mores added to our wonderful days.

We packed up our stuff (we were staying in our friends' trailer for the three days) and were home before 2pm... the others left the campsite around 2pm and apparently it had started raining by then. Perfect time to be pulling out.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) is Canada Day here in Canada... our national celebration. It's a time we all think "It's great to be Canadian!".

In honour of the holiday, a Canadian Coloured card for you...

I entered a mingle on the Canadian Cuttlebug Crew YahooGroup. The June theme was Red and White. I had seen a card on Renee's blog (Stamping for Sanity) and had saved it to my favourites. It was the perfect card to adapt to my Cuttlebug for this mingle.

I used my D'vine Swirl Cuttlebug folder as well as a flower die plate from Spellbinders. The sentiment is from Stampabilities.

I hope all of my Canadian readers have an awesome Canada Day!
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Wednesday, June 25, 2008

*Bring On Summer Vacation*

Today is the last day of school for Matthew... it's a blessing as he is hard to wake up in the mornings. On days without school, he is up by 7 without an alarm. Set his alarm for 6:45 and the kid will stay in bed until 8 or later. Wouldn't be a big deal if school didn't start at 8.

Alex has one last exam to write today (grade 7 Math, his favourite subject) and then has a half day tomorrow for his awards ceremony and to get his report card.

And then summer vacation is in full swing for both of the kids.

And for the first summer in 13 years, I will be working at least some of the time... I'm kind of sad about that, but I'm sure it will be OK. Although I only work 20 hours a week (10 for the summer) I sure miss having my "me time" while the kids are at school!

I created this card for the last CalGals challenge. Tracy challenged us to make a sand and surf card.

I had to use the little Imaginisce penguin stamp cuz he's just so dark cute! I coloured him with Certainly Celery and Bashful Blue. The blue line behind him is an Imaginisce rubon. I then coloured with Creamy Caramel to create the sand, covered it with Crystal Effects and then a bunch of clear micro beads. The sun is done with my Nestabilities and some Stickles, the sentiment is by A*Muse.

Enjoy your day!
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Monday, June 23, 2008

*Last Monday of the School Year*

From my blog surfing, it would appear that most Canadians get out of school later in June than most Americans. In fact, I remember seeing a few posts by at the end of May about the last day of school.

But, here we are.... the final few days of School. Alex is writing an exam a day until Wednesday and the bus brings him home by noon. Thursday he has a half day to get his report card and attend an awards ceremony. Matthew has full days of school and is done school on Wednesday afternoon.

I find that this year has just flown by!

Update on the yard progress.... the deck is done, the fence is in. We still need 2 gates installed and all of the planting done. But it's close!!

I created this card using a colour combination from a class I taught at the Scrapbook Pantry earlier this month. For the last few months I have been teaching a class or two a month that is designed by someone else. With the cards I came up with for July I've been told I can only teach classes I design now. That was a nice boost to my ego. I was feeling a little stressed trying to come up with ideas using the product we sell in the store...it's so much easier now that I am influencing some of the buying.

The stamp set is by Hero Arts, the papers are Bazzill, the bling is assorted gems from my stash.

Thanks for stopping by today.... enjoy your final week of June!
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Saturday, June 21, 2008

*It's SUMMER!!*

According to the calendar, it's officially summer. The kids aren't on summer vacation until later this coming week. At least the weather is cooperating and giving us summer-like weather on this first weekend of summer. It's positively beautiful outside... sunny, blue skies, going up to 27*C (81*F).

Unfortunately, work is continuing in the back yard. They are working on finishing the deck this morning and they aren't able to stay for a full days work. They still have to finish the fence and do all the planting. The bushes were just being ordered yesterday so it will be a bit before they are in the ground.

I had really hoped they'd finish yesterday so we could be out there enjoying our yard. I'm not upset, just really want to start enjoying the yard!

I promise that there will be some before and after photos soon... or at least some before and almost done photos LOL! Maybe even this weekend if I can figure out where Bruce downloaded the before pictures to.

I created this card for Kelly's birthday last month. I didn't want to post it until I knew she had it, but I haven't heard that it's arrived... so I'm hoping it didn't get lost in the mail. She hasn't updated her blog in a few weeks so I'm guessing life has just gotten a little too busy.

I used Blue Bayou, Purely Pomegranate and Whisper White along with a Bella, some Stickles and a black ribbon. The squares were cut with my Cuttlebug and Nestabilities.

This is one of my favourite Bella images.... my other favourite is JammieBella.

I'm off to figure out what to do with my afternoon... have a great day!
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Friday, June 20, 2008

*Hello Sunshine!*

Another simply beautiful day here in Calgary... the sun is bright and warm... gotta love it!

Work is nearing completion in our back yard... hopefully everything but the planting will be done tomorrow. They'll be back later next week to do the planting.

I created this card a few weeks ago because I wanted to use this beautiful Wild Asparagus paper that I bought at The Scrapbook Pantry. It was a bit of a struggle to find colours to match it in my stash, but I am pleased with the results.

The image is a great flourish with words by Technique Tuesdays (set is called Whirly Words).

Sorry to be short and sweet but apparently there is a scheduled outage for Blogger in about 10 minutes and I want to make sure this gets posted before the outage.

Have a great Friday!
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*Tattoo Photo*

Now that my tattoo has had a chance to heal (it's 4 weeks old today) I thought it was time to share a better photo of it... sorry about the background that is my ugly ugly kitchen floor, but the light was best at that window.

The tattoo is on the inside of my right ankle... it is a pretty reddish/pink flower with a vine...and the vine turns into the word "babe", the name my Dad used for his three daughters and three granddaughters.
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Wednesday, June 18, 2008

*Happy Hump Day*

Yup, Wednesday already! A week from today my youngest will be done school. The oldest is done classes tomorrow and then writes an exam a day Friday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. He has to go back on Thursday for his report card.

And starting next week I'll be down to working only 2 days a week at The Scrapbook Pantry. I'm looking forward to some lazy days this summer!

The yard work is really coming along... these guys work such long days. I'm impressed! The brickwork is looking great.... I am SO hoping that they will finish tomorrow or Friday, then we can get the guys over to help get the stuff back in the backyard and we can spend the weekend on the back deck, and finally BBQ again! It's supposed to be a beautiful weekend!

I created this card for my friend Bonnie. Our sons were in Cubs together and she often bailed us out by taking Matthew to meetings, to camp and other Cub events. Her daughter goes to school with my older son and she drives them both home from school on Mondays. I thought she deserved a little present for always helping her out. So I made her this card and included the first ever gift card sold at the Scrapbook Pantry. We got the gift cards in the store and we wanted to see how it worked, so I bought the first one to give to Bonnie. Good thing she's a paper crafter eh???

I took one of the 3" squares from a 12" sheet of that beautiful Stamp It Australia paper and cut it into four equal squares. I then layered it onto the black to create a window look.

Items Used:
*Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Basic Black
*Patterned Paper: Stamp It Australia
*Embellishments: Prima Flowers; Dew Drops, bling brad

Thanks so much, Bonnie, for all you've done for us the last year.... and I'm sorry my son is dating your daughter LOL! I know it stresses you out!

Have a great day, everyone!
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Tuesday, June 17, 2008

*Lots of RAKs*

I love getting fun mail.... and today there were two cards in my mailbox! I joined a group on Splitcoast Stampers for Blogging Pen Pals. There are 7 of us in the group. For the next 12 weeks, I will send each person (other than myself) a card in the mail.

Today, two cards arrived for me!!

This first card is from Deb Albright who organized this group for us. Click on her name to visit her blog.

This second card is from Lynn Mercurio. You can click on her name as well to visit her blog.

And last, but certainly not least.... the challenge for our June CalGals gathering was sand and surf. Shannon was gracious and made each of us a similar but different card and gave them to as as RAKs. You can click on her name to visit her blog too!

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*Oh Wow, Time Flies*

I am so sorry!! I feel bad that it has been so many days since I last posted on my blog! I kept thinking I should do it but either had desire to write a post or thought of it when I had no time to actually get it done.

So here I am today... finally.... And sadly, the card isn't all that great LOL! It's OK, but certainly not spectacular!

What you can't really see in this picture is the amazing glitter in the patterned paper. Many of the dots are sparkly. Best Creations makes some beautiful paper!!

Items Used:
*Cardstock: Stampin' Up Soft Sky
and Basic Black
*Patterned Paper: Best Creations
*Images: Stampin' Up! Time Well Spent
*Ink: Palette Noir; Stampin' Up! Marker in Tempting Turquoise; Blender Pen with Soft Sky reinker; VersaMark
*Embellishments: Iridescent Ice embossing powder; black ribbon
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Thursday, June 12, 2008

*Make It Sparkle Challenge*

In May, I thought it wold be a neat idea to challenge the CalGals to create something each month for our get-togethers. Since it was my idea, I got to choose the first challenge... and I challenged all of us to make cards with BLING! Shannon and her Mom didn't participate cuz they didn't get around to creating anything, but Tracy, Allison and I did.

This is the card I created for the challenge. The flowers are covered in Iridescent Ice embossing powder and there are bling gems along the words.

I got inspiration from a store-bought card that my mother in law gave me for Mother's Day.

Items Used:
*Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Soft Sky, Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Tempting Turquoise
*Images: Stampin' Up! Fundamental Phrases; Autumn Leaves Mindy's Flowers
*Ink: Palette Noir; Versa Magic Sea Breeze, Aloe Vera and Thatched Straw
*Tools: Word Window Punch
*Embellishments: Maya Road chipboard, Iridescent Ice embossing powder, bling, grosgrain ribbon, Doodlebug Sugar Coated brads
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*The Scrapbook Pantry*

As most of you already know, I work at the newest scrapbooking store in Calgary. The store has been open since January 11th and is called The Scrapbook Pantry. It's a great little shop up on Country Hills Blvd (in Coventry Hills). I am loving working in a store that carries so many different and wonderful items... talk about inspiration!

Anyway, I wanted to let you know that the store website is finally up and running. There are still a few kinks we are working out and there will be more information added as we get to it. But at least it's no longer a page that tells you it's the future home of The Scrapbook Pantry.

Eventually you will be able to see scrapbook pages of each of the staff members (including a short bio), see our class samples online, view a gallery for inspiration...

If you have a few minutes, pop on over to the WEBSITE!! We're very excited about it!Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

*Just A Quickie*

Morning all... won't bore you with a weather forecast as it's the same as it was yesterday, and the day before that and the day before that and the day before that....

I woke up with a migraine this morning... I am hoping that th drugs will kick in in the next half hour before I head off to work. I will go in and see if I can cope with the day... if not, hopefully I can come home a little early.

This was a really quick and easy card to put together.... no stamping at all.... the sentiment is a rubon by Creative Imaginations... and the patterned paper is from the same line by the same company. I added some Whisper White and Taken with Teal cardstaock, a little American Crafts ribbon and voila!

Thanks for popping by...
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Monday, June 09, 2008

*A Bit of Sun.... and then more rain*

Yup, we started out the day with this large yellow glowing ball in the eastern skies... I was scared at first... but did a little research. Turns out.... it was the sun.

The sun? Wow. What a treat

And the sun shone the entire time I was driving to the Drs office. And the sun shone the entire time I drove to work. And the sun shone the entire time I was at work. And a half hour after I got home from work? Rain.

Sigh

I am sitting here, in my house, wanting to turn the heat on again... but instead I am in my sweater and slippers thinking that a comfy spot on the couch with a blanket sounds like a great way to spend the evening.

I finally put ink to some of my The Angel Company stamps... there were a bunch of "must have" images that I ordered a few months ago and I've looked at them and looked at them and then done nothing with them. What a dork, eh? I need to use them more often!!! The new catalogue comes out in a few weeks I think... I can't wait to see what is new!

Items Used:
*Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery
*Patterned Paper: SEI
*Images: TAC Flower Doodles
*Ink: Palette Noir: SU Markers in Regal Rose, Tempting Turquoise, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue
*Embellishments: Dew Drops; Crystal Effects (on all the dots around the petals)
*Tools: Cuttlebug and Nestabilities
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Saturday, June 07, 2008

*That's It... I'm Building an Ark!!*

I am so done with the rain this spring. It is 8pm, raining cats and dogs (has been raining since sometime yesterday), is a whopping 7*C (45*F) and there are puddles forming in any low-lying areas. We have had a lot of rain in the last few weeks and the ground is truly saturated. Driving home this evening we saw huge puddles forming in ball fields.

This weather is doing nothing for the landscaping that's getting done in our yard. They were only able to work a half day yesterday before things were too wet for them to continue... and I doubt they even bothered to get out of bed this morning (not that I blame them!!).

Believe it or not, we had to turn the thermostat up and have the furnace kick it. Hello??!! It's June 7th!!!

Let's hear it for Mother Nature...

Sure hope she is kinder to us in summer.... watch, it will be unbearably hot for those of us without air conditioning (don't really need it in Calgary as our average summer temperatures are around 22-26*C (72-80*F).

So I think I will try to spend tomorrow in the basement crafting....

I created this card one day, just playing around to see how it looked. It is a one layer card, which aren't always easy to do. Of course, this one is very busy which made it a little easier to not get carried away with layers.

Items Used:
*Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Whisper White
*Images: Rhonna Farrer Swirls; Paper Trey Ink Beautiful Blooms
*Ink: VersaMagic in Key Lime; Brilliance Pearlescent Orchid; grey SU marker
*Embellishments: SU Sheer Ribbon
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Thursday, June 05, 2008

*It's My Friday*

WOW, what a busy few days at the store... lots and lots of customers, lots of sales, some new products (today we had an order of baby and birthday papers and accessories from Imaginisce). It's been great that we've had some of our "repeat customers" as well as a bunch of people who have never been in to the store before.

Have I told you lately that I really like my job? My forte is the computer stuff so I currently do things like customer maintenance, customer emails, inventory, adding product to inventory... and apparently I will be handling website stuff once it is up and running.

Of course, no matter how much any of us like our jobs, it's also nice to not go to work. I like my Fridays off... a chance to catch up with a girlfriend, or run errands, or do nothing, or craft. So Thursday is my Friday. Gotta love it!

I created this card a few weeks ago using some stuff from the store as well as some Stampin' Up! stuff. This was my first attempt at using my Nestabilities to create an embossed frame on a card.

Items Used:
*Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Almost Amethyst
*Images: Stampin' Up! Merci
*Ink: Palette Noir; Stampin' Up! markers in Almost Amethyst, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery
*Tools: Cuttlebug; Nestabilities; tan embossing mat; waterbrush
*Embellishments: ribbons bought at The Scrapbook Pantry


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Tuesday, June 03, 2008

*Sparkly Lizzie*

Yup, yet another post from me today. That's three in one day! Heck, three in one sitting! But this one is crafty, and perhaps more of what you're coming here to see!

Another card using those great black and white papers by Imaginisce. Once the stock we currently have is gone at The Scrapbook Pantry, we won't be getting in any more... unless of course the new release from Imaginisce includes some new ones. I am resisting the urge to "stock up" LOL!!

Again, I coloured the white parts of the papers with glitter markers. This time I tried the Twinklette markers by Marvy that we sell at the store. They are very very similar to the Copic Spica glitter markers

Items Used:
*Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Green Galore, Yoyo Yellow
*Patterned Paper: Imaginisce
*Images: Lizzie Anne Jolies Fleurs; Stampin' Up!
*Ink: Palette Noir; Marvy Twinklette pens
*Tools: Cuttlebug and Nestabilities
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*While At Work, Go Shopping*

Now, this is could become a bit of a problem for me... I took yesterday off as I had a sick kid, so today I was back at work at The Scrapbook Pantry. And wouldn't you know it, new products arrived yesterday and today and so I had to go shopping... sigh...

This is what I bought today... great stamps from Stampendous and a wonderful new Spellbinders template to use in my Cuttlebug.

The mail yesterday brought me my order from Stampers Dream... I didn't get a photo before I played with and put my new Hero Arts Cupcake clear set into it's own CD case. I also got a package of 6"X6" Memory Box Sugar Collection patterned paper and a new white gel pen.

Lots of great new things to play with!! Now, to find the time!!!
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*RAKs In My Mailbox*

I have been the lucky recipient of some good looking mail the last two days. What a lucky girl!

The first to arrive was from a newer member of the online stamping group I moderate for Canadian Stampers (called CST). Joanna H sent me this card as a thank you for the card I sent her a few weeks ago.

Second, I received this beautiful RAK back from Yvette, a fellow member of the Splitcoast Stampers Blogger RAK Club.

Thanks so much ladies... there is nothing better than getting good mail!!!
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Monday, June 02, 2008

*Bright and Colourful Tulips*

I got an unexpected day off work today... my 11 year old woke up with some sort of rash covering his arms, legs and neck. I decided to keep him home and to keep an eye on him. I have given him Benadryl and if things aren't looking better early this afternoon I will call the Pediatrician. I didn't want him to be home alone with the Benadryl in his system as I know it makes some people drowsy.

So, a day off for the two of us.

This is another card using that great Stamp It Australia paper. I just love the colous and shimmer in these papers.

I'm not a huge fan of the cheap Walmart ribbon I used to hold the sentiment on the front... might have to play around to see if I can come up with something different

Enjoy your day!
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Sunday, June 01, 2008

*Happy 17th Anniversary Sweetie*

So hard to believe how quickly the years can fly by. I remember my wedding day like it was yesterday... not like it was 17 years ago!!

We've done a lot in 17 years:
*lived in two different cities more than 3400kms apart (2100 miles)
*made good friends, moved, made more good friends
*had two wonderful sons who are now 13 and 11
*traveled within Canada to visit family and friends
*one awesome trip to the Dominican
*survived living with all sorts of family without killing anyone
*bought a house
*done some remodeling of the house
*started a business
*became chief cooks and bottle washers, taxi drivers, medical personnel, problem solvers, stand in teachers

There is probably so much more I am missing.... but the years have just sort of all fallen in on each other to create just a wonderful life together instead of thousands of different specific memories.

Seventeen years ago I married the man I loved. We were very young, we were a little nuts. But it was a good solid decision and I have never spent a day wishing we had waited. We were meant to be together and we will be together for many many more years to come.

It's not always easy, we're not always smiling at each other... but it's always worth it.

I love you, Bruce... with all of my heart and soul. I promise today, as I did 17 years ago, to love you forever, for better or for worse...
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*So Quick, So Easy, So Pretty*

Happy Sunday everyone! I hope that you are all enjoying a great weekend. The weather here has been pretty good and we are hoping that the forecast of more rain this coming week is wrong! The more wet it is, the less work the landscaping crew can get done.

I created this card in a matter of minutes. This is part of a piece of paper by Stamp It Australia. On this 12X12 sheet there are 9 different images of this white lily (The Scrapbook Pantry also carries gerber daisies, plumeria, roses.... all so pretty). The sheets of paper have this wonderful shimmer to them that you can't see in the photo. I simply cut out the one square, layered it a few times and put it on to a white card. I tied some chocolate ribbon down the side of the card.

I didn't have the stamp set when I photographed the card, but I needed a sympathy card last week. So I picked up a set of sympathy sayings from the shop I work at (by Boxer) and added, "With Sympathy" to the bottom right of the card in chocolate ink.

I am completely and totally in love with these papers....
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