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Sunday, September 28, 2008

*A Sample For The Store*

It's been a fun day trying to coax Miikka into hanging out with the family more. Her favourite place to be is on one of the fabric covered dining room chairs (that is pushed up to the table). I guess she feels secure there. She is also enjoying getting off on her own once in a while to explore this strange new place. Kinda makes me wish we were in a small apartment or something so that she had fewer places to go and would be with us more.

I'm sure that will come with time.

I created this card a few weeks ago to put on display at the Scrapbook Pantry. Crystal purchased some neat card starter ideas so I picked out a few and went home to play. The background paper is one of them. The words and the feet are from another piece. These sheets are 6" X 6" and I trimmed the background one down to fit onto a 6" square card. I love these swirled sheer ribbons....

I'm off to watch the premiere of "The Amazing Race" with my hubby and boyz... enjoy your Sunday evening!!
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*I'd Like To Take A Moment....*

... to introduce you all to the newest member of our family!!

This is Miikka (pronounced MEE-ka). She is a four month old tortoise shell short hair kitten that we picked up yesterday. Matthew and I discovered her at the pet store (Petland) on Friday and fell in love. We took Alex back with us on Friday night and then the entire family went to see her yesterday afternoon.

We have been back and forth about getting a cat for several months now. Bruce and I got two cats when we first moved in together back in 1990 and we had to put them down in 2005 and 2006. We both said we'd never get cats again as we are both allergic and no one around here likes to scoop the litter box.

Ya right....

I know that there are lots of cats in shelters looking for good homes.... but in our defense, this was a cat that was surendered to this pet store.... this cat comes from a litter that a family couldn't find homes for. I don't often "believe" in buying animals from pet stores, but we really like that Petland not only guarantees their animals (a one year "warranty" for genetic issues) but part of the purchase price goes to their Pets for Life foundation that helps rescue animals.

So far, Milo and Miikka are getting along OK. Everywhere Miikka goes, Milo follows. There has been no biting or scratching or hissing which is a good thing. Milo is jealous, of course, as he is used to being the only furry thing getting attention in this house. He'll get used to it I'm sure.

Finally.... another girl in my house!

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Friday, September 26, 2008

*Lottsa Yellow*

I don't know if anyone has noticed, but I don't do much with the colour yellow. I'm just not a fan of the colour. You'd never catch me wearing it. I can't imagine painting a room in it. And I don't use it much in my cardmaking either.

But, when you have limited colours of Copic Markers and you're dying to play with them, you use yellow.

I created this card quite a while ago, when I had Shannon over to stamp one Saturday that my husband was working and her husband was golfing.

I just love this Fluffles stamp (by Stampendous). Such a cute little critter.

The cardstock I used was all Bazill. The flowers on the bottom corner are the shimmer flowers found at Michael's in the wedding aisle. I used two colours of Copics to colour them...and the shimmer still shows through! I added some micro-brads to the centres of the flowers before attaching them to the card.

Yellow sure makes a card bright a cheery!

Have an awesome Friday, everyone!
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*Thank You Lexiss*

Another beautiful creation from one of my favourite customers at the Scrapbook Pantry. Merlie often comes into the store with one or the other or both of her beautiful daughters. On Tuesday she showed up with Lexiss while Madison was at school. While Merlie shopped, Lexiss was busy in the classroom creating.... and she gave her beautiful card creation (complete with a Riley) to me!!!

I am a lucky lady!!

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Thursday, September 25, 2008

*Enjoy This Short Break From Christmas Cards*

I don't know what's up with me this week. It all started on Sunday as I pulled the beautiful prime rib roast out of the oven. Suddenly this wave of nausea hit and hit hard. I was green for about 18 hours. Monday I was nauseated and had a headache. Tuesday, just headache. Today, a nasty headache again.

And the scale jumped up 3 pounds and has stayed there. I know I deserved a pound or so of it after a not-so-great week with my food choices, but 3 pounds that won't leave?

And before you jump up and say "Are you pregnant???" I can tell you that I definitely am not (see the video I posted HERE).

I am very tempted crawl back into bed this morning but I figure I should go to work since I had yesterday off (we had Alex's consultation with the periodontist to talk about how they are going to get his rogue adult eye teeth into position (they are currently impacted in the roof of his mouth!!!!). And I have to teach tonight and would hate to disappoint the students who already had to switch their schedules once to accommodate a change in dates I had to make.

On to the reason why you are here!!!

I created this card to send to one of my "stalkers" for her birthday. I have known Sandra for a while now through the Canadian Rubberstampers YahooGroup I own/moderate (called CST) and I've gotten to know her better as she is a regular customer at the Scrapbook Pantry.

I took inspiration for the colours for this card from a gift card holder I received from Nicole this past summer. It was sitting on my desk when I was thinking of an idea for Sandra's card.

The colours are Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango and Elegant Eggplant. The flowers are from the Beautiful Blooms set by PaperTrey and the sentiment is from Birthday Blooms by Stampendous.

So, that's my story today..... hope you all have a good day!!


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Wednesday, September 24, 2008

*Gotta Love Mother Nature*

The following talks about feminine protection.... apparently it's on tv, but I haven't seen it.... a friend told me about it and I found it on YouTube...



Go to YouTube and search for "Tampax"... there are some great commercials!!
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*Last Card From Class #1*

I am so thrilled with the response I've had from the customers at the Scrapbook Pantry with my Christmas Card classes. I taught my daytime class last Tuesday and will teach the same class again tomorrow evening. With class #1, I have had a total of 18 students register for the class as well as 6 people buy just the kit to make all of the cards! I probably could have run another class!!

Class #2 (another 5 designs for Christmas) is on October 8th in the daytime and October 9th in the evening. So far the daytime class is already full!!! Absolutely crazy I tell ya!

I have designed one of five cards for the November installment of my Christmas card class.... I should get busy I suppose!

The card I am sharing today is the final card from Class #1. For this card, I cut out the trees from a piece of Imaginisce paper. I ran them each through my Xyron Sticker Maker and then stuck them on my card. I tied the bow (LOVE that ribbon!) and then put Glossy Accents on each of the trees. I have made a slight change to the card after my class last week... we cut off the stars on each of the trees as they were close to impossible to cut out well.... and I tried a small gold star brad on the top of the centre tree... it was perfect!

So there you have it.... my first five Christmas cards of 2008!
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*I Received An Award*

Thank you to Charly for giving me this very pretty award!! I love the graphic and love that someone out there likes my blog enough to give me an award (next time could it be cash??? LOL!!)

The rules to this game of tag are...

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog.
3. Tag 7 people by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

My Seven facts....
1. I am a fussy eater... nothing spicy, nothing with a heavy sauce, nothing with an odd texture, nothing with pepper... and I'm sure there's more. I am getting better as I get older, but it's still not good
2. I am currently a blue belt in Tae Kwon Do.... I started with my kids in the fall of 2006 and am kind of surprised I am still doing it.
3. I have a "thing" for Christmas stamps, papers and embellishments. You won't see me part with these items in a garage sale
4. I love to watch TV. It is how I relax.
5. I love my job.... and that's a good thing!
6. I am very often willing to go that extra mile for someone... but only if I know it will be appreciated.
7. My husband and I met on a Friday the 13th (October 1989) and got engaged on a Friday the 13th (April 1990). Our oldest son was born on the anniversary of our engagement, but it was a Thursday.

Now to tag 7 more people... some of those that I would want to tag have already been tagged.... so I had to dig a little deeper...
1. Shannon at Live Love Laugh Stamp
2. Merlie at Cherish My Fetish
3. Julie at Mutch To Stamp
4. Simone at As My World Turns
5. Eulanda at Card Cards and More Cards
6. Diane at D'Savagely Created Designz
7. Kim at Kraftin' Kimmies' Korner

Please take a few minutes to visit these talented ladies!

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Saturday, September 20, 2008

*Another Christmas Card*

I had a great time, as always, with the CalGals last night. We do a lot of laughing and a little stamping too. I managed to make three cards last night! Go me!! The first one I had to make was my challenge card. We rotate who issues the challenge each month and Allison was "it" this month. She took pity on me and chose "snowmen".... easy peasy, right? Totally easy unless you don't have time to stamp! So I made mine last night while the girls were here. I managed to kill two birds with one stone.... it's also a card I will use for my third Christmas Card class at the Scrapbook Pantry.

But you'll have to wait to see that card.... I tend to post my cards in the order in which I make them, so you have a bit of time to wait to see Mr. Snowman...

Today I bring you a tent-topper card using more of the Snowy Jo papers by Imaginisce. I used my Cuttlebug to cut the circle and scalloped circles. This is another of the cards the ladies are making in the September Christmas Card class I am teaching.

Looks like a quiet weekend for our family. Bruce is working from home today so I think I will try to spend some more time in my creative space today.

Have an awesome day!

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*Congratulations Merlie!!*

I decided to do my draw for my blog candy a little different. I closed my eyes and chose a spot on my computer screen with my finger and then used the up and down arrows to scroll the screen... when I stopped, the winner was the one where my finger was... and for this blog candy, it was Merlie!!!

Congratulations Merlie.... please get in touch with me so I can get you candy to you!

If only I had done my draw yesterday afternoon as planned so that I could have given the prize to Merlie when she was here last night to play with the CalGals!

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Friday, September 19, 2008

*Too Busy*

Sigh.... life just seems so busy these days. I work 20 hours a week plus I have been putting in some hours at home updating the website and trying to design cards for classes at the Scrapbook Pantry. And then there's family stuff... TaeKwon Do twice a week, music lessons for the boys one night a week, helping with homework. And the Welcome Back BBQ was last night at Matthew's school and I was in charge of organizing that. I haven't had much of a chance to blurf, blog or stamp.

Tonight is the next CalGals gathering at my house and I have yet to create my challenge card! I hope to get to it today. I really should have gone to the gym first thing this morning instead of putting it off until my gym buddy gets off work. It's not like I wasn't up at 7am. So much for sleeping in on my day off! So far this morning I have done some work to try to finish up the BBQ stuff, spent more than an hour updating the classes on the work website. And now I need to head to the school to drop off money from last night and go to the chiropractor. After lunch I'm meeting my girlfriend at the gym (and we'll drop the kids off at the pool for an hour). And then I hope to create that darn card for tonight!

I taught my Christmas Card class on Tuesday morning (and will teach the same class again on Thursday evening). I think that the class went really well... the ladies there were all rockstars and finished the five cards in record time! I was SO impressed!

This card uses more of the Imaginisce Snowy Jo papers as well as some of the glittered brads and one of the stamps from that line. Each student in the class received this stamp as part of their class kit.

Sorry for venting on my life today.... just feeling tired and behind on life....

I hope to catch up soon!
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Tuesday, September 16, 2008

*Happy Blogaversary To Me!!*

A big thank you to Teena in Toronto who took the time this morning to post a Happy Blogaversary in the comments section of my last message. I had completely forgotten that the big day would be coming up!!!! What a blonde!

To celebrate, I have an unopened Fresh Cuts stamp set (SU) and set of notecards up for BLOG CANDY! All you have to do is leave a comment on this post. I will draw a winner on Friday afternoon.

Thanks again to everyone who pops by to visit me here!!!!! I hope you enjoy seeing my creations as much as I enjoy sharing them with you!!!

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Sunday, September 14, 2008

*Thanks!!!*

I wanted to do a quick post today to thank the 80 Members at the Scrapbook Pantry who came to our Members Only Night last night. Your patience, enthusiasm and support are appreciated so much more than you can imagine! I think that although the staff was tired when it was all over, we all had a great time last night. Michelle and Michelle were especially tired after working their regular shifts all day so I send them huge kudos for keeping their cool last night. My only stress of the evening was using that darn laptop as a cash register. First, it was SOOOOO s l o w... second, it kept crashing on me!!! What a pain!

Also, a big thank you to the Member last night who stopped to thank me for my blog. I don't remember who it was, but I want you to know how much I appreciated you telling me that. I know I called you a stalker, but I meant it out of love LOL!

I have been busy all afternoon cutting kits for my first Christmas card class. I teach on Tuesday morning and need to have 9 kits done by then (each kit has 5 cards). I have to have a total of 23 kits done by the 25th of September so I am attempting to get them all done now. I have cute 3 out of the five so far and decided to take a little break before starting on card #4. It's been a long afternoon with my paper trimmer, Scor-Pal and iTunes.

This is one of the cards I've cut for class today.... it uses all Bazill Bling cardstock as well as some great snowflake brads.

I'm not sure if I like the card better this way, or turned on one end.... tilt your head to see the difference, the let me know what you think!

Back to the paper trimmer I go.....
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Saturday, September 13, 2008

*Happy Saturday!*

I have had a great weekend so far. I had a lot of fun yesterday afternoon with my boss Crystal and her granddaughter Victoria. We went out shopping for food for the Members Only Event happening at the Scrapbook Pantry tonight. Victoria was a lot of fun and I totally loved that she liked me enough to want to hold my hand! I don't get to hold little hands much anymore.

Bruce got home around dinner time last night and surprised me with a new iPhone!! I did a little research on it on my own on Tuesday but couldn't get one on my own as the account is in his name. On Thursday he made excuses as to why I wouldn't be getting one... and then he surprised me last night. He got each of us one. What a neat phone! I have so much to learn.

Last night we spent the evening with some of our closest friends playing cards. We got a late start and then didn't get home until about 1:30am. And then of course I wanted to play with my iPhone some more so I didn't turn out my light until closer to 2am! What on earth was I thinking?

So far today has been pretty light with a trip to the mall to find a case for our iPhones. I am now just chillin' before I get changed, head off to get some photocopies made, and then head to the store for 5pm to start preparing for the festivities tonight.

Tomorrow will be a little less fun as I need to start cutting paper for a Christmas Card class I am teaching at the store on Tuesday morning (and again on the evening of the 25th). This is the first in a series of 3 Christmas Card classes I am doing at the store... in each class we will do 5 different Christmas cards. If customers take all three classes, they will have 15 completed Christmas cards when all is said and down. I have to do up a total of 22 kits for this first class, 5 cards each... for a total of 110 kits. I'm going to have one heck of a sore back I think! I might have to move operations to the kitchen counter.

The card I am sharing with you today is one of the cards from the upcoming class. I found it a little tough to start making Christmas cards in August, but once I got going I did OK. I currently have October's class designed and need to start thinking about cards for November.

All of the patterned papers are by Imaginisce as is the beautiful rub-on sentiment. It's hard to see but there is a beautiful sheer patterned ribbon on the left side of the card.

I am off as the boss just called and wants me early to help out.... have a great evening!
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Friday, September 12, 2008

*One More Halloween*

Ahhhh, Friday..... day off from work.... no need to make lunch in the morning for Matthew to take to school as he gets off at noon. And I don't cook on Fridays for dinner.

The only downside to Fridays is now I have to get out of bed first thing in the morning and go to the gym. Not really a downside as I enjoy the gym once I'm there, but it sure would be nice to have a jammie morning alone in the house.

Working tomorrow night.... we are hosting an event at the store for the people who have bought a membership at the Scrapbook Pantry. I'll be working at the cash til all night. We have, at last count, 298 members. I seriously doubt the majority will come, but there could still be a serious number of people in the store! Going to be a little crazy I think (and hopefully a lot of fun!).

This is my last Halloween card to share with you. I have looked at my storage of my Stampin' Up cardstock daily for years and the colours Green Galore, Lovely Lilac and Only Orange have always sat in the same section of my literature organizer. And I look at it every time and think "Halloween". So I matched those three colours to the Bazzil cardstock we carry at the store and came up with this card.

Thanks again for stopping by.... hope you enjoy your Friday!
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Thursday, September 11, 2008

*Another Card from my Boss*

I feel so bad... I keep forgetting to post this card from Crystal.

I received this as a little thank you from Crystal and her husband Doug. I think she did a fabulous job colouring the roses.... and I love that she's not afraid to tear her cardstock!

Thanks so much Doug and Crystal! You know I love my job (at the Scrapbook Pantry, in case others didn't know where I worked)!!!!!!!
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Tuesday, September 09, 2008

*Another Spooky One*

I've been busy creating today and this evening. I had a day off thanks to a trip with Alex to the orthodontist for a consultation before we begin the next phase of his treatment. It was cold and rainy today so I spent some time this afternoon in my stamping space and then I came down again tonight after the kids were in bed while Bruce watched a movie I wasn't interested in.

I managed to design four more cards for the Christmas Card class I am teaching at the Scrapbook Pantry in November. I had already done one a few weeks ago and was struggling to come up with some more ideas. I spent some time in my Google Reader favourites and found a few ideas I could use. This will be class #2 for Christmas Cards... I am doing one class per month for September, October and November -- five cards per class.

This card today is another I designed for that Halloween Class I decided against teaching. All of the items are from Imaginisce. The top skull is actually the top of a book mark that pulls out of the card.

The cardstock is all Bazzil.
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Monday, September 08, 2008

*oooooo Scary!*

I'm so sorry for the lack of posts in the last few days. When I had the time to post a blog entry, I wasn't able to get to my computer... and when I was at my computer I seemed to have no time to post!

I have recovered from my sore muscles from the gym last week. My thighs haven't hurt that much before. I could barely move on Thursday and Friday I was still pretty slow. We went to the gym again on Friday and I did a good workout, a little slower and without squats! I was back at the gym with my friend Denise this morning and we both did squats again. And so far, I feel pretty good!

And tonight the family starts back to TaeKwon do. The kids and I started it in the fall of 2006 and Bruce joined us last fall. I am a blue belt, the boys are blue stripes and Bruce is a green belt. It's a tough workout (90 minutes twice a week) but we enjoy it.

I created this card (along with the next two I will show you) for a class I was going to teach at the Scrapbook Pantry in October, however, other than this card, I am not overly thrilled with the cards I designed and have decided to not teach the class. Besides, Halloween isn't so big up here in Canada and I can't imagine a lot of people would have signed up for a Halloween card class.

The patterned papers and the skeleton image are by Imaginisce. I added some Bazzill cardstock and some Stickles to the stamped and embossed image to add some interest. The "please come" was hand written.

Thanks for popping by!!!
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Thursday, September 04, 2008

*Oh, the Pain!*

So, I was a good girl yesterday and went back to the gym. I haven't been in months. I have motivation in a few forms now... a trip to Mexico in the planning stages and a friend who is keen to start working out who is going with me. Our plan is to work out together Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

But of course, this being the "day after" I am not so keen on ever working out again LOL! My thighs are killing me thanks to the 20 squats and 40 lunges we did. I was doing OK at work yesterday. My legs felt a little weak in the morning but otherwise I was good... until I got home and relaxed for the evening. I had a heck of a time climbing the stairs to bed... and don't even get me started on how hard it is to get to a sitting position.

There is a little pain in my arms and chest, but nothing compared to my legs and butt.

But it's for a good cause!

I am also trying to get my eating back on track so I can lose some of the pounds I have gained over the last 2 years or so. I don't think I'll go back to where I was when I lost all my weight on Weight Watchers 6 years ago, but I'd definitely like to lose some and get myself healthy again.

Wish me well!

I created this card while trying to play with some of the challenges on Splitcoast. I had so much fun keeping up with the challenges for the AnniVERVEsary that I was thinking I should try to keep up with the colour and sketch challenges on Splitcoast.

I ran in to one small problem while making this card.... I own no Kraft coloured cardstock. Instead, I got creative and used a portion of a government issue envelope to get the Kraft colour. Not sure that it's exactly the colour that the SU Kraft cardstock is, but it worked

This card uses colour challenge #181, sketch challenge #191. I used Rose Red, Basic Black and Kraft as my colours. The stamp is by Hero Arts. I also used the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder.

Thanks so much for popping by today!
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Tuesday, September 02, 2008

*Blog candy Winner*

Thanks to everyone who posted a comment for the ribbon blog candy! I decided to choose my favourite number to decide on the winner.... and my favourite number is 13!

Lucky #13 is Mudmaven who said....

What gorgeous ribbon! I think that my favorite embellishment is glitter/glimmer stuff. Whether it's glitter glue, glimmer mist, shimmerz paints, pearl ex. Anything that makes it shine!

Mudmaven, please email me at nancy at elrick dot ca with your address and I'll get your ribbon and a few goodies off to you!
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*First Day of School*

Well, considering the start we had this morning, the first day back to routine didn't go so badly.

This is not how you want to start the first day of school.... My alarm didn't go off this morning, Matthew's went off and he turned it off and went back to sleep and Alex didn't hear his alarm at all. Bruce woke up at 7:13, a half hour later than my alarm should have gone off and we rushed like you wouldn't believe! We even had time for the annual photos on the front step!

So here you go.... my boys....

This is Alex, heading off to his first day of grade 8. Sigh... he's so big!!!

And this is Matthew, going off to grade 6 for the first time.... he's growing, just not as fast as Alex LOL!

If you want, you can compare these photos to last year...

And here is them on the first day of school in 2002... Matthew was heading off to kindergarten, Alex to grade 2!

Have a good day all!
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Monday, September 01, 2008

*Mojo Monday Challenge*

I was just totally having fun with challenges on Sunday! I didn't do too much, I did manage 3 cards using four challenges!! I guess that is one good reason to be happy that it's cold and wet in August!

September the 1st today.... school starts in the morning. I can't believe my babies will be in grades 8 and 6!! Matthew starts drum lessons tomorrow afternoon and then the rest of our activities (piano for Alex and Tae Kwon Do for the whole family) start next week. I am going to miss the lazy days of summer....

This card was created for Julee's Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge #50. Julee's sketches are by far my favourites. I used the new Verve set that I ordered with my winnings from the AnniVERVEsary challenge at the beginning of August.

I used Certainly Celery, So Saffron and Whisper White for my colours, Verve's Floral Whimsy and SU So Many Saying stamp sets. I also threw in some white grosgrain ribbon and Stickles and used my Nestabilities to do all of the circles and ovals.

Hope you like it!!


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