*Coaster Frame*

Ahhhh, Spring Break.... if only the weather would cooperate and be Spring-Like for more than a day or two! Yesterday was 16*C (61F) and today we're back to the freezing mark and no sunshine. We had looked at trying to go away for Spring Break... you know.... somewhere hot with a beach and drinks with umbrellas in them... but the prices were higher than we had hoped to pay. So, I am stuck at home where it looks like it will be chilly all week.

Of course, if you know Calgary, you know that the forecast could change at any time.

You know, I think I spend too much time complaining about the weather LOL

Had some good news yesterday... My Mom is coming for a visit. She lives a 7 hour drive from here and we don't see her as much as we'd all like. We had two hours with her at the airport earlier this month when she was heading home from her trip to Arizona. Mom has decided that she's going to travel for a month... she'll be with my sister in Toronto for 2 weeks and then here with us for 2 weeks and will then head home. The important part is that she won't be alone for the first annivesary of my Dad's death. And my sister and I are both happy to have her come to see us!

On to today's project.

As you know, I am totally loving these chipboard coasters! I have so many ideas, but am having trouble making them look the way I want. If you are in the Calgary area, I still have 500 coasters up for grab.... $5.50 per hundred. Email me if you're interested! SORRY... all of the coasters are spoken for!

I had the idea for this hinged frame before I even had the coasters. Now all I need are the photos so I can embellish it.

My thought for this frame is to put the photos of my 6 close friends (there's a group of 7 of us), one per panel. I will then decorate each panel with ribbons and flowers etc as needed to make it totally beautiful.

Problem with my design... I didn't buy enough hinges from Home Depot so there is only one between each pair of coasters. Doesn't make it the most stable. I also find them to be kinda loose. I also ended up punching my covered coasters in the wrong order... the panel second to the end should have been on the end (alternating solid florals with florals with a patterned stripe), but I punched two sets of holes in the wrong panel.

The paper for this is all from The Angel Company... not available in Canada but I found someone who was willing to ship it to me.

So sorry for the pretty view of the kitchen chair... I need a better set up for my photographs!

Now, to get my girlfriends to give me photos of themselves!

*Cindy's Watermark Blog*

Cindy has created a blog just for her Watermark Business. Go check out some of the beautiful designs she has come up with and enter to win a "Bella" watermark for your Stampingbella cards!

*Interested in Chip Board Coasters? Calgary and Area Only*

Hi Calgary Gals.... I want to place an order for Chip Board Coasters. I have to order 2500 of them and I don't need 2500... so I want to offer them in groups of 100 to other Calgarians. The cost would be $5.50 per 100 coasters.... and you'd need to be able to get to my house in the NW to pick them up. I am only offering this to people who can come by to pick them up... I don't want to be mailing them.

If you are interested, please email me privately with your name and how many coasters you want (in groups of 100 please)

EDIT: Sorry everyone... all of the coasters are now spoken for!

*My First SCS Blogger RAK*

I joined a RAK Group (RAK = Random Act of Kindness) at Splitcoast Stampers that is only for those people who have blogs. I was very excited when my mail arrived yesterday and I had a card from Natasha over at Palmtrees and Pogosticks. I really enjoy her blog a lot... go on over and have a peek!

What a great card from Natasha.... certainly brightened my mailbox.

Of course, my mail yesterday was ALL GOOD! Not only was there a RAK from Natasha, but I also got my Primas from Janet's Prima Share, a box of stuff I had ordered from The Frantic Stamper, the tickets I ordered from Ticketmaster to go see Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood in May (they were on "Who's Line Is It Anyway"), AND a letter from the school board informing us that our oldest son was accepted into the Gifted and Talented Education program for the fall.

Let's hear it for awesome mail days!!!!

Spring Break officially began today... and of course I was wide awake at 7:20am. That totally sucks! I should have spent that extra time at my stamp table being inspired by an entire mason jar full of Primas.... instead I caught up on my blog reading. Oh well... have several more days of downtime to spend with my stamps!

Have a great Friday!

*Paper Bag Book*

I am not a scrapbooker. I never will be. But that doesn't stop me from liking some of the books and albums that others make. I can make them, but I can't make them beautiful like others do.

There is a group of Stampin' Up! Demonstrators that get together on a monthly basis here where I live. When I can swing it, I go, however the last several gatherings have landed on days I haven't been able to make it.

At the beginning of March I was very disappointed to find out I'd be missing the Paper Bag Books. I've been wanting to learn how to do these for a long time now!

Thankfully, I was able to buy a kit and my friend Jen (hi Jen!!) lent me the book she made that night so that I could follow it. I finally got the book and kit from my friend Glenna (hi Glenna!!) on the weekend and I got to play to put mine together.

I didn't have any instructions but was able to take measurements off of Jen's book.

I can't take any credit for the design of the book as I just kinda copied what Jen had done. I definitely need to play some more.

All items used (except the ribbon) are Stampin' Up!

I don't have much more to share that's already created... but today is the last day of school before spring break so I should be able to find some play in the next 10 days since I won't be at work and most of life's activities will be put on hold!

There is one new project on my stamp table waiting for photographing... will do that today to share tomorrow and will hopefully have some more good stuff to share soon!

*Doodle This*

So.... yesterday the forecast for Calgary was a Heavy Snowfall Warning... 5-15cms of heavy wet snow overnight.... we woke up this morning to absolutely no snow. Ten minutes after the kids left, these huge flakes started to fall... and we already have accumulation on the ground less than an hour later! Yuck.

When the Spring Mini came out, the only set that screamed at me to buy it was Doodle This. I got the set and you know what? I love the images but never know what to do with them! It sucks that it just sits there when I know that beautiful things could happen with it!

So I decided yesterday morning to play with the rounded flower in the set... and this is the card I came up with. It was tough for me. I picked the set first, then the multicoloured ribbon and went from there. Took me about an hour to put this one together. I wish cards came together more quickly for me sometimes.... weren't such a struggle when I use images I love.

items used:
Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Sage Shadow, Bashful Blue, Whisper White and Close to Cocoa
Ink: Stampin' Up! Basic Black Classic and Whisper White Craft
Images: Stampin' Up!
Ribbons: Stampin' Up!
Tools: hole punch, Marvy Square Giga Scallop Punch, Stampin' Up! Markers
Embellishments: Stickles, brad

*A Note About the Coasters*

I didn't get the cardboard/chipboard coasters through Stampin' Up. I'm sorry for the confusion. I am on an email list for Canadian SU Demos and one of the gals there ordered 2500 coasters and took orders from others on the list and shared her 2500. They are not an SU product.

*Love My Coasters!*

Several weeks ago I went "in" on an order for blank coasters with some Canadian Stampin' Up! Demonstrators. My coasters seemed to take some sort of detour after they left Alli's house but Canada Post came through for us on Friday afternoon. What a relief.

My only disappointment is that I only ordered 100!!

I played on Friday afternoon and made this great box with my coasters. I decided that it was finally time to retire the 9 year old yogurt container we've been using for pens on our computer desk. This beautiful box is now in it's place.

The paper I used is a great double sided cardstock thickness patterned paper from Scrapbookers Paradise. I used double sided tape to adhere the paper to the coaster and then cut it out with my craft knife. I used the other side of the two papers for the inside of the box. What you can't see is that I put bling in the centres of several of the flowers on the two sides.

I need to find a source for cheap coasters... I can see doing a lot of neat things with them!

items used:
Coasters: source unknown but I know you can get them at StarLit Studio
Patterned Paper: Imaginisce
Ribbon: grosgrain ribbon from Jodi's Ribbon Share
Flower: Prima
Embellishments: brad from unknown source, bling
Tools: Crop-A-Dile (sure makes making those holes easy!)

*Copied Myself (and Tracy) Again*

What a great weekend we've had so far. It's been a little busy, but not nearly as bad as last weekend with all of the birthday celebrations.

Friday night the four of us went to see "Wild Hogs". It isn't the best movie I have ever seen, but you sure do laugh a lot. I'm not the kind of person who laughs out loud very often, but I did quite a bit during this movie. William H. Macy is hilarious in this role. Not sure that it's totally a family movie, but I think my kids have probably seen and heard worse (no nudity, some swearing and questionnable dialogue, but they survived).

Saturday was a most beautifully warm day.... +18C (64*F) which is totally uncharacteristic for March in Calgary. We were out running errands most of the day unfortunately... but that's OK. I was in shirt sleeves and sandals so I was happy! Last night Bruce and I went out with our good friends Jeff and Denise to our favourite hole in the wall for wings! I love going out for wings. YUMMMMM If you live in Calgary, you gotta check out the wings at Juliet's Castle... 16th Ave near Peter's Drive In. The place is a dive, but the wings are awesome... cheap on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays!

So, on to my copied card. I absolutely loved the card that Tracy did. So I made one very similar to it. And I loved it so much that I had to make another... similar but different.

I changed the pink from Pink Passion to Pixie Pink and of course changed a few other items... otherwise the card is so much the same LOL!

I bought the flower brad in the left corner at Scrapbookers Paradise on Wednesday in a package of brads (all flowers, some are pink, some are blue, some are patterned, some are plain) and my girlfriend Kelly told me I had to be sure to use them... not put them aside and not use them because they are too pretty. So I pulled them out and made a card to go with the brads. Maybe the rest will sit in the package unused LOL!

items used:
Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Pixie Pink, Certainly Celery, Basic Black
Ink: Stampin' Up! Whisper White Craft Ink, Basic Black Classic Ink
Images: Stampin Up!
Ribbon: Dots, Dashes and Checks from Michaels
Embellishments: flower shaped brad by Deja Views, Sakura Stardust Gel Pen
Tools: various sized circle punches and a pop dot

*Silver and Whilte Wedding Card*

Two weeks ago I was asked if I could make a wedding card for someone I know who was heading to a wedding. I said sure. I finished it off this week, called her and she said she'd be here either Thursday night or Friday morning to come pick it up. Very strange that it's still here, then eh?

I had a vision of a pretty simple care in my mind for this... and I knew I wanted it to be mostly neturals... so I used only silver and white.

The Prima flowers were a last minute addition.. I just felt that the card needed something. I'm not sure that the flowers are right with this... perhaps I should have used cream coloured cardstock instead of the stark white.

In other news around our house.... there isn't much! LOL! The weather is absolutely beautiful. Bruce and I made the kids go bike riding this morning and he and I took the dog and went for a 40 minute walk. Supposed to hit somewhere near 18*C today.... about 648F. Love it!

items used:
*cardstock: Stampin' Up! in Whisper White and Brushed Silver
*image: Stampin' Up!
*ink: Versamark
*ribbon: Michaels
*tools: Marvy Giga Oval Scallop Punch, Embossing Tool, Cuttlebug and D'vine Swirl embossing folder, paper piercing tool
*embellishments: silver brads, Prima flowers, silver embossing powder

*Black and Pink Bella*

Spring has sprung again in Calgary. It's above 0 already this morning and getting warmer as we speak. The snow we got on Wednesday has mostly melted and the kids are on their bikes on their way to school this morning. The forecast looks good for the next few days so let's keep our fingers crossed that the sunshine will stay and the snow will not show up again, at least for a little bit. I'm sure we'll get more!

My card today was totally inspired and somewhat CASEd after seeing a card on Tracy's blog. Tracy is a great gal. I met her through my friend Natalie as their husbands are brothers. Natalie brought Tracy along when we were talking about starting a stamp club almost two years ago. Tracy joined, had a great time and then signed up to sell Stampin' Up as a member of my downline. She makes some great stuff so please be sure to check out her blog!

Tracy got the layout for this card from Amy's Blog ... Amy does Super Sketch Sunday's and this was her layout this past week. And I, of course got not only the layout for Amy (via Tracy) but the colour combination from Tracy as well! It just totally stuck in my head. And then I had this great ribbon to use... and voila.... a card just like Tracy's! LOL!

I just love the way the pink pops out on that black cardstock! I realized after I uploaded the photo that I forgot to give my pretty little Bella some floor to stand on.... sorry pretty little Bella! I've become totally addicted to adding Stickles to my Prima Flowers... good thing Fran has a box with more Stickles headed my way!

Speaking of Bellas.... do you love them? If yes, there's a support group for you! A YahooGroup has been started for Bella Lovers. Check it out if you want! A YahooGroup is an email list... you send an email to one address and it is distributed to all members of the group via their personal email. It's a neat way to make new friends!

items used:
*image: StampingBella
*cardstock: Stampin' Up! Basic Black, Certainly Celery, Pink Passion, Whisper White
*Markers: Stampin' Up! Blush Blossom, Certainly Celery, Pixie Pink
*Ribbon: Michaels (the ones on the wooden spools)
*Embellishments: silver brad from Making Memories, Stickles, Prima Flower, Sakura Stardust Gel Pen

*Michelle's Blog Candy*

Head on over to Michelle's Blog and enter her candy post... and please let her know that I sent ya!

*Triangle Trifold*

I've seen this style of card on several blogs lately and decided I would go print off Beate's tutorial and give it a shot. Much like my friend Tracy, I wasn't sure how difficult it might be so I was more doing a trial run before using stuff I really love. But, much like Tracy, I love the card I came up with!

This card is super easy with such amazing results. I did discover that I made a little mistake.... i attached my ribbon to the back of the card with double sided tape and also stuck it down under the bottom left corner of my focal image, which then does not allow the card to open up fully. But it's still OK.









It's hard to see, but the inside of the card is stamped with the flourish from Doodle This and then with the sentiment Thinking of You in Almost Amethyst Ink.

I'll be playing with this card design some more I think as it went together a lot more easily than I thought it would. Thanks so much, Beate, for posting the tutorial for the rest of us!

items used:
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Almost Amethyst and Always Artichoke from Stampin' Up!
Ink: Almost Amethyst Classic and Whisper White Classic from Stampin' Up!
Patterned Paper: Heidi Swapp
Ribbon: Texas JodiLynn's Ribbon Share
Images: Stampin' Up! and Impress Rubberstamps
Flowers: Primas
Bling: self stick gems (come as a word) from Michaels

*Card from Bonnie*

As I wrote yesterday, I received a most beautiful card from my friend Bonnie last week.

A few weeks ago Bonnie mentioned that they needed a flute for their daughter Mary who is in the school band. Back in my youth, I was a flute player. I loved my flute. I never had to be bugged to practice because I just loved to play. But alas, my flute has been sitting in a drawer in this house for almost 11 years... and probably sat unplayed in previous dwellings adding on another 4 years or so.

So I offered it to Bonnie for Mary, with the warning that it would need some TLC and a trip to get cleaned up and checked out.

Bonnie took the flute in and found out it needed some polishing and bit of TLC but was still going to be less money than buying a new flute.

As a thank you, Bonnie made me this beautiful card and she and Mary signed it. They also gave me some money to go shopping for stamp stuff. How cool is that!

Can't tell you for sure all of the materials she used, but I can tell you that the card base is black, the silver layer was put through the Cuttlebug, the flower is a beauty of a Prima and the ribbon is a white sheer. No idea on the decorative centre of the Prima nor the clear acrylic tag that says "special".

Bonnie reads my blog faithfully so you can leave messages here for her if you want!

Thanks so much Bonnie (and Mary!)

*Jeanna's Blog Candy*

Check out Jeanna's Blog for your chance to win some candy!

*Amethyst Floral*

I'm not sure what's up, but my creativity isn't flowing... it's coming out in a slow dribble. I started this card yesterday. Got the patterned paper layered onto the Artichoke cardstock and then onto the Amethyst cardstock and then nothing! I couldn't come up with an idea of how to finish the card to save my life. I sat there for like an hour... pulling out different stamps and embellishments. Nothing. No ideas. One idea was to try chipboard but the flower shapes I had were all wrong... and then the ink choices were all wrong too.

So, I did the only thing I could do. No, I didn't throw it in the garbage. I walked away. And continued to think about it.

I went back down to craft this morning before heading off to work and decided I needed to finish it.

And this is what I came up with.

Like yesterday's card, I am still not sure I am in love with this card. But then again, I like the simplicity of it.

You can give advice on how you'd change it up, but honestly, I think I tried pretty much everything I own and there are no shopping trips in my immediate future!

Did I tell you I was give $50 last week? I gave my old old old flute to my girlfriend Bonnie for her daughter Mary. It needed a tune up and a good polishing but was in otherwise good conditions. Bonnie made me a lovely card (which I should take a photo of to share!) and some money as a thank you.

I went shopping the day I was given this wonderful (and unexpected gift) and I couldn't find anything to spend it on! How sad is that? I guess I will just have to try again LOL!

items used:
*cardstock: Stampin' Up! Always Artichoke and Almost Amethyst
*patterned paper: Heidi Swapp
*tools: Cuttlebug and D'vine Swirl Embossing Folder, Marvy Giga Scallop Circle Punch
*embellishments: sticky back gem stone (I cut apart one of the words you can buy at Michaels), silver brads, Prima flowers

*Sping Inside -- Snowy Outside*

Yup, the weather has changed again. Yesterday it was warm enough for shirt sleeves and no sweater. The sun was shinging. It was a beautiful day. Today it is just below freezing, cloudy and it's trying to snow.

What better time to sit in my basement with a good chick flick on the TV and some stamps in my hands?

This card inspiration came from some patterned paper I have. I cut out one of the large flowers and curled up the edges a bit for some dimension. The colours I used all came from the paper.

My vision for this card was "more" but I just couldn't seem to make anything else work... so I left it a little more plain.

What do you do when your vision is better than what you create? How do you make it more like your vision?

items used:
*cardstock: Stampin' Up! Blush Blossom and Certainly Celery
*stamp: Stampin' Up!
*ink: Stampin' Up! Basic Black Classic Ink
*patterned paper: Three Bugs in a Rug
*tools and embellishments: Cuttlebug and D'vine Swirl Embossing Folder, Crystal Effects, microbeads

*Happy Birthday Matthew*

Today my baby turns 10!!! Just wanted to take a minute to wish him a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! He was a St. Patrick's Day Baby back in 1997... he showed up a few days early. He's a sweet and wonderful boy.... love him!

He is a complete and total monkey, always getting into some sort of mess. He's very strong willed and it gets frustrating for us to get him to do things he doesn't want to do.

He is a wonderfully huggable child who is still OK with Mom giving him hugs. And he even likes to hold my hand once in a while.

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

*Spring Dreams*

It seems like the spring-like weather is making a come-back here... above freezing right now and will be for the next few days. So long as all this snow melts again! I don't like the brown of a winter without snow, but I am ready for the spring and for the grass to start turning green. I guess I'm probably a little premature in my hopefulness, but a girl can dream, can't she?

My card today was inspired by a card I saw on It's My Life. I don't have the stamp set she used and I changed up the colours, but the original card is hers. I made it my own. I stamped the flower from Polka Dots and Paisley randomly on the coloured cardstock and then added the little dots by hand with a marker. I coloured the small centres of the flowers with my white gel pen. To make the Prima flower sparkle, I applied some Stickles Glitter Glue. The card is a 5" square with a side fold. To wrap the ribbon around the card, I used a 1/2" circle punch on the fold, just barely nipping off a piece of the fold to allow the ribbons to pass through.

I'm also showing off a new watermark made by Cindy. Cindy and I have been friends for years and years now (internet friends... have only seen her face to face twice). I was her guinea pig when she started her watermark business. I'm also the one who turned her on to GIMP (a free photo editing software) and I wrote her directions for her website for using GIMP. To thank me for all the little things I help her with, she makes me watermarks when the mood strikes her. Good deal for me, eh? If you want a watermark, get in touch with Cindy... her prices are reasonable!

items used:
*cardstock: Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Almost Amethyst, Certainly Celery, Cool Caribbean, Regal Rose
*ink: Stampin' Up Basic Black Classic ink
*images: Stampin' Up Polka Dots and Paisley; PSX
*embellishments: grosgrain ribbon (from Jodi's ribbon share), Prima flower, silver brad, Stickles
*tools: Stampin' Up Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker, Stampin' Up Signo White Gel Pen, 1/2" circle punch

*Catherine's Candy*

Check out Catherine's Blog and her Candy today... tell her I sent ya please!

*Which Do You Prefer?*

Which style of post do you prefer....

My original style with all of the card information written in paragraph form OR the style I've tried the last few days with a recipe at the end of the post?

Please post a comment and let me know!

*Kelly's Bella*

I promised that I would be playing with my Cosmobella again... I needed to make just the perfect birthday card for my friend Kelly.

I saw this image at Stamping Bella and had to have her. I'm not a big fan of unmounted stamps so I added some foam to the back of the rubber and put her on a block... makes it easier for me to use her.

So, here she is.... Kelly Cosmobella. It looks like her. She'd totally dress like this and have a pretty girlie drink in her hand LOL!

I gave her the card last night and she loved it. Made me feel good that I took the time to make it just the way I needed to.

To colour her, I used my Stampin' Up Stampin' Write Markers. For the bluejeans, I used Bashful Blue and simply kept layering more and more colour on to create the shading. There are Swarovski Crystals on the hem of her capris. To create the "floor" I scribbled some Going Grey ink from my marker onto a plastic lid and picked it up with my Blender Pen to create a lighter shade. Easier than masking for sure!

Happy (belated) Birthday Kell!!

items used:
*cardstock: Stampin' Up Whisper White, Certainly Celery, Cool Caribbean, Rose Red
*image: Stamping Bella
*ink: Stampin' Up Basic Black Classic Ink
*ribbon: American Crafts (Michaels)
*tools: Cuttlebug, Happy Birthday Embossing Folder, Stampin' Up Stampin' Write Markers, blender pen
*embellishments: Swarovski Crystals (from Outlines Rubberstamps)

*Copied Myself!*

OK... welcome to Calgary.... sigh.... we've been having some amazing temperatures here and our snow has been melting quite quickly. But being a Calgarian, we all know that this isn't the end of the winter weather. We all know that there will be more snow.

And more snow there is. It started around 4 yesterday afternoon and so far there is approximately 11cm on the ground (just over 4"). At least it's not too cold (just below 0) and at least the forecast is calling for above freezing temperatues in the afternoon all week. But really... just when the kids had gotten out their bikes and put away their mitts!

Today's card is a copy of myself. I loved this Retro Christmas Card I made back in December so I used it as inspiration with some new papers I bought last week.

Things of note: There is bling in the centre of the flower as well as the four corners of the chocolate square. The flower is two layers of die cut cardboard covered in the decorative papers. I also coloured the flower with my Sakura Stardust clear gel pen for some sparkle

items used:
*papers: My Mind's Eye, Fontworks
*cardstock: Stampin' Up! Whisper White Cardstock and Chocolate Chip
*ink: Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip Classic
*ribbon: Michaels
*etc: bling, Sakura Stardust Clear Gel Pen
*tools used: Cuttlebug with flower die cut, small corner rounder

*Blog Candy Sites*

Take a few minutes to check out KJs Stamp Pad and enter her contest for some great Blog Candy... and please tell her that I sent her your way!

Also check out Laura's blog and enter to win her candy!

And Julia has some great candy to give away!

*Birthday Present*

What a beautiful weekend we had here.... lots of sun, warmer temperatures... the snow is melting melting melting! The back yard still has a snowbank along the back fence as the sun doesn't spend much time warming that area up, but it will all be gone soon. Living in Calgary I'm not delusional... I know that there will more than likely be another big dump of snow before spring is here for real.

I spent some time stamping this weekend... Friday night while Alex and Bruce were off skiing and again Sunday night since there was nothing good on TV and Bruce was watching shows he'd recorded that I don't enjoy.

I made this card on Friday. My colour combination came from the ribbon I bought at Michaels. I also bought some $1.50 stamps at Michaels and decided to use one on this card as well. I used two Only Orange ovals to create the matting for the main image. I punched the orange rectangle with my Marvy Giga Scalloped Square punch.... turned it around and chopped off the bottom to create a smaller rectangle. There are three little gems along the bottom of the orange scalloped piece. I also pressed the edges of the rectangular piece into my white ink pad... after it was dry I coloured around the edges of the scallops with my Sakura Stardust clear Gel Pen.

items used:
*Ribbon: Michaels
*Images: Michaels and Stampin' Up
*Cardstock: Stampin' Up in Whisper White, Pink Passion and Only Orange
*Ink: Stampin' Up Basic Black Classic and White Craft
*Accessories: Sakura Stardust Clear Gel Pen, Swarovski Crystals from Outlines Rubberstamps
*Tools: Cuttlebug and Bloomin' Dots Embossing Folder, Marvy Giga Scalloped Oval Punch, Marvy Giga Scalloped Square Punch, Paper Piercing Tool

*Pink and Brown Paisley*

A beautiful weekend here.... supposed to hit somewhere between 10*C and 20*C (depends on which weather forecast you read) tomorrow. Of course, we're expecting high winds with that warm temperature so it won't be nearly as nice... but the snow is melting and that makes me happy!

I got to have a small visit with my Mom on Thursday afternoon... she was heading home from her trip to Mesa Arizona where she spent 10 days with her brother. She had a 3 hour layover here so we met her at the airport for an early dinner. She looked so good with the colour on her face (although really... what grown woman goes to a ball game in shorts and a tank top in Arizona with no tan to speak of without wearing sunscreen???). This was the trip my sister and I gave Mom for Christmas.... and I think it was a hit! Welcome Home Mom!

So, on to the card. Those of you who know me, know a couple of things about my cardmaking... 1. I don't have a thing for paisley (I think I'm one of the minority here) and 2. I don't know that I like pink and brown together. So hold on to your hats because this card may come as a shock!!

There you have it.... that dark colour is *not* black, it Chocolate Chip. And yes, that is Pretty in Pink that is paired with it. I started with the scrapbooking paper... not sure why I bought it since i don't like pink and brown, but I bought it. I added some Certainly Celery to my paisley to tie in the rest of the colours in the paper.

There are bling gems in the centres of the flowers on the paisley images. Not sure if you can really see it or not, but the word "friendship" is stamped in white ink along the bottom. I added some pink and brown grosgrain ribbon along the side.

Now, don't fall over... but I think I might actually kinda sorta maybe like this card. I know... real definitive on that one. I might even maybe play with pink and brown again. And I think I will more than likely use my Polka Dots and Paisley set again.

Yup, I'm decisive! Don't want to get your hopes up in case I never do it again!!

Have a fantabulous Saturday!

*We have WINNERS!!*

A very big thank you to everyone who has come to visit my blog in the last couple of days and another big thank you to the 20o+ people who left comments on my Blog Yum Post!!!

I put all the numbers on to slips of paper and then had each of my sons (who are off school today) to draw a number.

Winner of the large Blog Yum prize, shown in the post below is comment #142....

leenda (LINDA): "Congrats on your blog success!! My name is Linda & my favorite show is 24!"

And the winner of the 2nd Blog Yum prize, shown here....


is comment #175....
Terry Molineux: "My name is Terry Molineux and my favorite show is: do I really have a one favorite.....I am a soap opera queen....so this is hard but of all the story lines.....I think right now I love YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS."







CONGRATULATIONS ladies! Please email me at nancy at elrick dot ca with your addresses and I'll pop these into the mail asap!

Thanks to everyone for playing!

*Blog Yum*

I just noticed that I have bypassed the 25,000 hits marks! WOO HOO!! Who knew a number could make someone so happy?

To celebrate, I've decided to give away some Blog Yum!

There are some floral die cuts, some Primas, ribbons, stickers, buttons and brads, and some Cuttlebugged cardstock!

To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment to this post and tell me your name and what your favourite TV show is!

Please feel free to spread the word about the contest! If I have more than 200 comments, I'll draw for another prize!

I will be leaving this post tacked to the top until the contest closes on Friday, March 9th so be sure to scroll down for new posts for the rest of the week!

*Melissa's Blog Candy*

Let's help Melissa give away her Scallop Circle Punch!!! Go take a peek at her contest and then spend some time looking around her blog!

*Stephanie's Blog Candy*

Check out the candy she's giving away! Please let her know I sent ya!

*Modified "Joy Fold" Card*

While I love living in Calgary and love that in the middle of winter we can get beautifully warm temperatures, the longer I live here, the more my body reacts to these Chinooks. I was almost totally laid out yesterday with a massive headache with some migraine features. I never had a migraine until I moved to Calgary. The headache is still there, but not nearly as bad as yesterday. I hope it doesn't get worse.

Thankfully I made a handful of cards last Friday so I am able to use those in my blog posts to keep you guys coming back for more LOL!

This card is a slightly modified Joy Fold Card (see more info here). I used more of my Primas from my shopping trip last week with Bonnie. Hard tos ee, but there is a yellow flower under the white and green flower on the front of the card. I attached the flowers to the Marvy Gigi Scalloped Circle punch with a brad. I punched holes in the scallops for some interested. I then attached it to a folded long piece of white cardstock. The card has two flaps that open... the white flap and then the Certainly Celery flap. I stamped the flourish from Doodle This on the Celery in white craft ink. What you can't see is that I then traced over it with my Sakura Stardust Gel Pen. I then added some Swarovski Crystals to some different areas of the flourish. I put the layers onto a white base (not a full card).

But then, I thought that the card still needed something... so I used my Stickles glitter glue and covered the top flower to add some more sparkle.

Thanks for popping by!

*Paper Punch Carnival*

I found out this morning that my scallop edge ideas were chosen for the Paper Punch Carnival over at Craft Critique. Check it out!

*Pastel Flowers*

I went shopping last Thursday to Scrapbookers Paradise with my friend Bonnie. We took a road trip down to the store in the south end of Calgary because it is just so much bigger than the one close to our house. In addition to lots of great treats in this store, Thursday is double stamp day.... you earn TWO stamps on your frequent buyer card for every $10 you spend in the store. Gotta like that!

Bonnie and I each fell in love with two of the containers of Prima flowers... so we each bought one and we split them. These flowers are totally beautiful! I wasn't sure I'd be able to actually use them. It's so hard for me to use such beautiful things.

But I took the plunge on Friday and came up with a few cards using those flowers!

The colour inspiration for this card came from the patterned ribbon. I ended up with Cool Caribbean, Certainly Celery and Pink Passion. I started with a Whisper White card. I put a piece of Certainly Celery through my Cuttlebug with the D'vine Swirl embossing folder (I love these embossing folders!). I cut a piece of Whisper White and sponged the edges with the Pink ink. I put it on to a Cool Caribbean piece cut just slightly bigger than the White. I put a gem brad through the flower and attached it to the two layers. I wrapped the ribbon around these two smaller layer and then put the card together.

This card came together really quickly and easily. And I love it!

*Pretty in Purple*

Let me start out by apologizing for not being around this past weekend. We packed up the kids and the car on Saturday afternoon and drove down to Sparwood BC (about 2.5 hours from Calgary... in the Crowsnest Pass) for a Tae Kwon Do Tournament.

The boys and I started Tae Kwon Do in September. There were two of my girlfriends and their boys plus a bunch of other people we knew when we started. My one girlfriend dropped out pretty quickly and her kids stopped coming in the last month or so. We have a lot of laughs, a good workout twice a week, and some fun. I also love that I am doing something with my boys. We are all yellow belts currently... and are hoping for our green stripe or green belts next month.

So, this weekend was a mini-tournament for our "club". Our Club is the Kootenay Region... Calgary is not part of the Kootenay region geographically but we are a member of this Club as our instructor (master) is a part of it (his Master is the head of the Kootenay Region Club). There were 10 competitors that made the trip from Calgary to compete on Sunday. I was too chicken to do it and Matthew was totally uninterested, but my oldest son Alex was keen. He competed both with his pattern (there is a routine for each colour of belt) and in sparring (non-contact). He didn't place with his pattern, but I didn't expect him to since it was all of the yellow belts in the mix.... adults and children. Sparring is broken down into belt -> gender -> age group. Alex was in a group with two other boys (one other from our Calgary Club) and he placed 2nd in the fights. I was so proud of him. He lost to the other boy from our Club. Out of 10 competitors from our group, we had 3 first place winners and 4 second place. Everyone else got 3rd place (or tied for 3rd) as everyone went home with a trophy. We are very proud of Alex (who will be 12 next month, btw)!

So, on to the card....

Once again I designed my card around ribbon! I received this ribbon from Gina in a blog candy package I won awhile back. I decided to do a tone on tone card with a little white thrown in for good measure. I used Almost Amethyst and Lovely Lilac. I started with an Amethyst card. I sent a piece of Lilac through my Cuttlebug with the Bloomin' Dots embossing folder. I then took a paper towel and dabbed it into my white Craft ink pad and lightly swiped it over the raised areas of my embossed piece. I set it aside to dry while I stamped my images from Big Pieces and Little Pieces. I cut my circles using a variety of tools... two circle punches from Stampin' Up, my Marvy Giga Scalloped Circle punch, and finally my Fiskars Shape Cutter. I poked holes in each of the scallops and added purple dots to decorate the stamped pieces using my SU Markers. I put together the layers of circled, wrapped the ribbon around the Lilac piece and put it all together. To add a little something more, I added a little gem in the centre of the Small Pieces image for some "bling".

Thanks for stopping by!

*Island Vacation*

Ya, I'm dreaming of an Island Vacation. I'd love to be planning a trip for Spring Break... somewhere with a beautiful white sand beach, a beautiful strip of ocean, lots of sunshine, and some wonderfully warm temperatures. But alas.... we will be in Calgary for Spring Break, where we will be happy if the temperatures are above freezing, where I will be the one offering the maid service. Sigh...

Instead, I will have to enjoy looking at photos and making cards that inspire that tropical feel.

Island Blossoms... one of my very favourite and most unused sets. Not sure about the logic or the reasoning behind that, but it's the truth.

I started with this beautiful patterned paper. I tried to match colours as best as I could.... came up with Apricot Appeal, Certainly Celery and Cameo Coral. I think now that the Cameo Coral was the wrong choice. I stamped different elements of the Island Blossoms set together on Whisper White cardstock and punched it out with my Marvy Giga Scalloped Circle Punch. I used my Fiskars Shape Cutter to create a larger circle in Celery to layer behind it. I poked holes in the scallops to add some more interest and then put the entire card together, finishing it off with some Certainly Celery grosgrain ribbon.

Thanks for popping by! I am in a rush today as I need to head to Matthew's class to paint fingernails... all the kids in the class need to have painted fingernails (same colour) to earn points for the Scavenger Hunt that ends today. I don't think they have much of a chance as they didn't produce a horse in the back field, but at least they're going out fighting!

*Inspiration Turned Challenge*

I get inspriation from all sorts of places lately. Especially for colour combinations. I was watching the TV Show "What I Like About You" the other day while crafting and the older sister (her name is Val) was wearing the colour combination I decided to use. Creamy Caramel (her pants), Cameo Coral and Whisper White (her striped sweater).

Here's the card I came up with.

This card has been sitting on my crafting table for days as it needed something. I just wasn't pleased with it. I finally decided to add the white sheer ribbon with some silver cord. That right side was just so empty. Nothing else looked even close to "right" for this card. Not that this is "right" but it is as close as I could get.

I cut out a tonne of these flowers from Doodle This. My idea for this card was so much more than what it actually turned out as... I thought I'd make 10 of them. I made 2.

Perhaps I should have made it a smaller square card instead.

I added some bling to the card with clear Stickles.... in the centres of the flowers, the centres of each of the petals and the dots of the flourish.

Not a card I'm overly proud of... but I thought I'd share anyway!