*OK... I Lied*

It is cold and wet in Calgary today.... it's a whopping 5*C right now (41*F) and it's raining. Let me tell you, this is not the weather I imagined for the last weekend of summer vacation!!! There should be more sunshine at the end of August... not to mention a lot more heat!!

I am enjoying some "me" time alone in the house this afternoon. I ran a few errands this morning and now Bruce and the boyz (plus four extra kids) are at the rec centre in the pool. My laundry is now done and I am sitting in front of "PS I Love You", surfing blogs and stamping. The perfect way to spend such a yucky day!

I decided to participate in Beate's current Weekend Sketch Challenge today so I've lied to you.... today you will not start seeing Halloween cards! Instead, it's a butterfly.

The patterened paper is by Time Flies Designs and I added Whisper White and Night of Navy cardstock. The butterly (The Angel Company, Butterfly Swirls) and the sentiment (Amuse) are stamped in Night of Navy Ink. The sentiment is stamped on to the other side of the patterned paper. I also added some green and blue Dew Drops along the seam for a little interest.

Now that I have this posted (and before the deadline too!) I'm going back to see if there is still creativity in me!!

Happy Sunday all!

*Half a Big-Ass Flower*

Happy Weekend everyone! It's late Saturday afternoon and we'll be heading off in a little bit to a friends' house for a birthday BBQ. Pretty lowkey as the birthday boy isn't much for his own birthday celebrations, but we can't let his day pass without friends and cupcakes!!

Bruce dragged me out with him and kids for a bike ride just before noon today. We packed the bikes onto the bike rack and headed off to Nose Hill which is only a short drive from the house. The paths where we were are on the top of the hill, on a big huge plateau. For the most part, you don't even realize that you're in the middle of the city. There were some little hills that I had to endure, but nothing too bad. At least not until the last 150 yards before we reached the car... I thought I was going to throw up. I really resisted going and while it wasn't as awful as I thought it would be, I'm not honestly sure I had good time. I wouldn't be adverse to trying it again though, so I guess that is progress.

I haven't ridden my bike much at all in the last 15 years or so.... I rode a lot as a kid/teenager in Regina, but there are no hills there. We rode a bit when we lived in Toronto but when I got stuck in a streetcar rail and fell into traffic, I pretty much stopped riding. And now, here in Calgary, there isn't far you can go that doesn't require climbing hills. It's hard work for me!!!

Anyway.... on to the reason you are here.... a creation!

I sent this card off to a friend of mine earlier this summer. As soon as I saw the Mojo Monday week 46 sketch over on Julee's Blog, I had the idea of using half of a large flower in a card.

For this card I used an Imaginisce flower and brad... some white and black and a bit of Bazzill Bling cardstock. The sentiment is a PaperTrey image. And of course, as you can see, I used my Nestabilities. I just love those!!

This will be my final non-holiday themed card for a little bit. The next cards in my stash are some Halloween cards I have made for a class I'm teaching in October at the Scrapbook Pantry. And then there are the first 5 Christmas Cards I've created for part one of three of a Christmas class I'm doing at the Pantry. This is the first time I've ever made Halloween cards and the earliest I've ever made Christmas cards!

Thanks for popping in to visit... remember to enter for my blog candy a few posts down!!!

*Another Thank You Card*

The day I was making those thank you cards for my Sister in Law, I thought I would make her two sets instead of one. The first set, which I showed you yesterday, were a little more elegant... probably a little more my sister in law, however I wanted to give her a fun set of cards to use too. So I looked around my room and my eyes fell on the peek-a-boo cards I had made a year ago.

I went looking for items to use with that layout and decided on a circular theme for the cards. I used paper from a box of papers by K&Co from Costco along with a Stampin' Up stamp and my Nestabilities.

I really think she'll get more use out of the other set of cards, but these weren't too awful LOL!

Have a great day!

*Blog Candy!*

Good afternoon all... the final Friday before school starts... if only the weather would have cooperated to make it a weekend you'd want to be outside. Instead it will be cool and wet.

Yesterday morning I popped into work and talked myself into buying the Clip It Up Ribbon Holder. I've been hemming and hawing about it for more than a week now and decided what the hell...

My darling wonderful and sweet husband put it up for me this morning and I immediately went to work filling it up. I will need to purchase another bag of clips as I have a few more ribbons I need to hang up.
Isn't it pretty????????

Now, for the fun.... while I was going through my overstuffed vase of ribbon bits, I found a bunch of ribbon that was the same as others I'd already put on clips as well as a few that are no longer my taste. So I am going to share it with you....

If you'd like to enter to win this pile o' ribbon, please leave a comment on this post telling me your most favourite embellishment. I will also be throwing in a few surprise goodies with the ribbon, so you take your chances as to what you might miss out on if you don't enter the draw!

This blog candy contest will close on Tuesday afternoon, September 2nd.

*Totally Not Stamping Related*

I thought that I would do a public service for anyone who missed out on some shows from last season on TV.... or shows you want to start watching now. Shannon turned me on to a website called Surf the Channel. They have classic TV shows there as well as current TV shows. I have been spending time in the last week or two watching "Army Wives", a show on Lifetime in the US that we don't get in Canada. Season 2 just finished in the States and I've just starting watching episode 1 from season 2. It's an AWESOME show! I also tried to watch Lost, but found myself overwhelmed by having so many to get through to get caught up.

So, if you want to get caught up, watch a new to you show, or watch an episode you missed, head on over to Surf the Channel. You don't have to download anything or sign up for anything... you just watch it on your computer like a YouTube video.

Very cool!

*Quick and Easy Thank You Card*

Back in July I decided to make some thank you cards for my sister in law. She is the only person I know who still sends a thank you card each and every time. Someone taught this girl well!

The funny part was that she sent us a thank you card for her (late) birthday present, and the card was a folded piece of paper. I decided at that moment that she needed some thank you cards.

This was the first design I came up with... I've done it before but this was my first time actually using the Kiwi Kiss and Tangerine Tango colour combination. I was thrilled with the colours together and very very happy with the outcome of the card. Simple, easy and somewhat elegant.

I sure hope my SIL liked them too!

Hey, it's gotta be better than a folded piece of paper LOL!

*I Made This Card...*

....but you know what, I can't remember what the occasion was!!! Hmmmm... Oh wait!! I remember now. Duh. It was the card we gave to our good friends Jeff and Denise for their 20th wedding anniversary, earlier in July. I knew I made it for a reason, but it took a while for that reason to come to me again!

We'll call it a blonde moment LOL!

This is a one layer card... sometimes harder to make than a totally intricate and busy card! It's a white card base and I used Purely Pomegranate ink on my Rhonna Farrer flourish stamp and the Stampin' Up! sentiment. I added an embossed square around my sentiment with my Nestabilities in my Cuttlebug and then some Purely Pomegranate ribbon finished it off!

My only complaint is that my sentiment somehow ended up crooked, even with using my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig! Sigh

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

*A Cal-Gals Challenge*

Each time the Cal-Gals get together one of us issues a challenge to the others for our next gathering. This last challenge was issued by Shannon ... we had to use Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink and Certainly Celery. For anyone who knows me, you know that this was definitely a challenge for me.

I am not thrilled with how the card turned out but at least I completed the challenge!

The images are TAC.

Thanks for stopping by!

*A Neat Little Project*

I had fun creating this awesome box last night.... it's made from CD Cases. Check out Julie's blog for a video tutorial on how to make the box. It took me a few tries to get the CD Cases worked the way they needed to as well as a bit of time and patience to get the base on, but OH so totally worth it!!!

Instead of photos, I used this awesome paper from StampIt Australia and stamped a nice phrase on each of the four images. I added a little bling to each side of the cube as well. All of the cardstock is Bazzill.

*Last AnniVERVEsary Sketch*

I know.... it's taken forever, but here is the last card I created for the AnniVERVEsary celebrations at the beginning of the month. I still can't believe that I did 12 different sketches over the 12 days!! This is a first for me!

I took inspiration for this card from my new bathing suit top.... it is a white top with flowers that are two shades of blue with brown accents. Really really pretty!

Items Used:
*Colours: Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue, Pacific Point
*Images: Stampin' Up! Reason to Smile
*Tools: Cuttlebug with D'vine Swirl embossing folder and Nestabilities
*Embellishments: micro brads

*I Need A Cold Drink*

Maybe not yet this morning but I sure could have used some margaritas on my back deck last night!! It was a hot one yesterday and promises to be up close to there again today. Calgary doesn't typically get all that hot in the summer (it's warm, but not hot hot hot) except for maybe a few days each year so very few houses have air conditioning. In fact, a store I worked at about 10 years ago didn't even have a/c!! Trying to sleep last night I was sure wishing for some a/c! Our bedroom is above the garage and is always the hottest room in the house. Not great for sleeping when the day had been 35*!!!

This card is perfect for today as I am heading out with my girlfriends tonight. We are going to see "Mama Mia" and then we might head off for drinks and nibbles afterwards. I've already seen the movie but I totally enjoyed it and am looking forward to seeing it again with my friends. I always love our girls' nights!

Yes, another anniVERVEsary sketch.... only one more after this! This is #11. I took my colour inspiration from the American Crafts ribbon that I pulled out of my stash. My colours are Tangerine Tango, Riding Hood Red, Pacific Point and Whiper White. The stamp is by A*muse (actually, one glass that I stamped 3 times). I also added a little interest with my Cuttlebug and the D'vine Swirl embossing folder.

Thanks for stopping in to say "HI" today....

*Thanks For Your Help Tracy!*

The evening I was going to work on this sketch, I was having a hard time deciding what to do with it. I was chatting on MSN with Tracy and I asked her to please give me a colour combination. She said "Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue and Basic Black.".

And this is the card that resulted from the collaboration.

It's not a beautiful card by any stretch of the imagination, but I like it. It's AnniVERVEsary sketch #10 (of 12). In addition to Tracy's colours, I added some Whisper White to the card. On it I stamped the sentiment by Stampabilities. I also added some interest with my D'vine Swirl Cuttlebug folder.

Thanks again for stopping by...

I've been in my basement a lot over the last few days as it has been really really hot here (and we don't have air conditioning.... this 34* weather isn't something we get a lot of here). Unfortunately (for you I suppose) I haven't been doing too much crafting.... Shannon got me hooked on watching a Lifetime show called "Army Wives" on SurfTheChannel so I've been watching that. We don't get Lifetime here in Canada so this is the only way I can watch it.

I really like the show... and love the opportunity to watch TV online!

Cheers!

*My Favourite Card of the AnniVERVEsary Sketches*

Happy Sunday everyone!! I enjoyed an afternoon stamping with my good friend Shannon yesterday. Neither one of us got much accomplished, but we enjoyed each others' company for the afternoon. It worked out well as Shannon's husband was at a golf tournament all day and my husband ended up at work for more than 12 hours yesterday.

Shannon will be back on Thursday evening to play with the CalGals.

Another card for you from the AnniVERVEsary sketch challenges. There were 12 in total and this is number 9. This is the card that turned out to be my favourite after all of the challenges were done... which is kinda funny since I am so not an orange fan. I hardly use the colour orange at all. But let me tell you, I am loving Tangerine Tango with Kiwi Kiss!!! I used another of my new Unity Stamps on this card as well as some bling and some Prima flowers. And what's up with me using Chocolate Chip so much lately?? Another colour I don't usually gravitate towards!

Another neat side note about this card -- I won a random draw for having done this sketch and was able to order a set from Verve during the AnniVERVEsary celebrations. Cool that I won the draw for my favourite card that I created during the 12 days of challenges!!

Thanks for popping by to visit..... there will be blog candy coming up soon so be sure to keep checking back!

*Another Birthday Card*

On Wednesday I taught a Sympathy Card class at the Scrapbook Pantry. I knew many of the ladies in the two classes as they have taken classes from me before. In my morning class were two ladies that I've known for a few years outside of my classes at the store (Hi Brenda and Jen!)

Jen was very sweet and brought me this beautiful birthday card. Thank you so much Jen!!!

*Ahhhhh, Thursday*

Have I mentioned that I like Thursdays?? I love my job at the Scrapbook Pantry, but I also enjoy having my Fridays off. Unfortunately I don't get to sleep in tomorrow as a friend is flying home from visiting another friend in Yellowknife and she has a 5 hour layover in Calgary.... I'll be at the airport at 8 tomorrow morning!! I'm glad to go see her, but not thrilled about the time! Granted, it's worse for her... her flight leaves Yellowknife at 6am so she'll have to be there for 5am!! Blech!!!

Late last week I received a package in the mail from my friend Cindy. I paid for the fabric and she made me this fabulous bag. My original thought was a purse, but once I saw the size of the bag, I decided it was a little too big for that. I taught a class at the store yesterday and I was able to fit everything I needed into my bag for two classes with a total of 14 students!!! Talk about cool! Check out Cindy's blog to see the bag (linked above).

Today's card is another I made during the AnniVERVEsary challenge. This was sketch #8. As it turned out, the day I was making this card a friend asked if I would make her a card for a wedding she was going to. So I used the sketch to make the wedding card.

Items Used:
*colours: Basic Black, Whisper White, Purely Pomegranate, Silver
*stamps: The Stamp Barn; Stampin' Up! Small Script
*tool: Nestabilities; corner rounder; Cuttlebug; Swiss Dots embossing folder
*embellishments: Purely Pomegranate Ribbon; bling

*A Fresh Colour Combination*

Not much to chat about today... was a beautiful sunny day so I took a half hour this morning and went for a nice walk with the dog. I was walking the dog almost daily before our trip to visit my Mom and then I fell out of the habit. It was nice to be out there and moving. I need to do it more often.

Went to a Farmers' Market today to get the kids some jams and jelliles from our favourite stand at this particular market.... but they weren't there. I haven't been to the market since last year so I don't know if they just missed today or if they are no longer involved. Total bummer!

Today's card is the 7th sketch for the AnniVERVEsary. Such a simple but wonderful layout.

I just love the colour combination that I used for this card. I did a few cards with this combination last year as well but then moved away from it before it was overkill.

Items Used:
*Cardstock: Stampin' Up Whisper White, Almost Amethyst, Certainly Celery, Rose Red
*Images: PaperTreyInk Beautiful Blooms; Amuse
*Ink: Almost Amethyst, Certainly Celery, Rose Red
*Embellishments: Certainly Celery ribbon

*Another AnniVERVEsary Sketch*

I had a lot of fun doing all of the AnniVERVEsary sketches. This is the first time in a very long time that I've stamped this much in one week... and the first time I've ever completed this many challenges before the deadline expired. Some of the sketches were harder for me to put together, but I enjoyed the challenge.

Todays card is Sketch #6. Half way through the set of 12 sketches.

Items Used:
*Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Basic Black, Purely Pomegranate
*Image: Stampendous
*Ink: Palette Noir; SU Purely Pomegranate (with a blender pen) and Creamy Caramel
*Tools: Cuttlebug with Swiss Dots embossing folder and Nestabilities
*Embellishments: Purely Pomegranate stitched ribbon

Now that I am done playing with the sketches, I suppose I should get busy designing the first 5 (of 15) Christmas Cards for a series of three classes I'll be teaching at the Scrapbook Pantry. My first class is in September!!!

*Tall and Skinny*

No, not me... I'm anything but tall at a whopping 5'2", and skinny is a state of mind... I'm not in that state at the moment. I don't think I'll ever be skinny.... I'd just like to not be quite so un-skinny by the time my cruise comes along in March LOL!

The tall and skinny is sketch #5 for the AnniVERVEsary.... and thus, so is my card!

I used some beautiful My Mind's Eye papers and added Certainly Celery and Chocolate Chip. Once I knew what I wanted to do, this card came together pretty quickly. Not sure I am thrilled with the results, but I like it enough.

Going to be another hot and sunny day for the most part here in Calgary. I finished my other book last night so I plan on spending at least part of my day out in the yard reading "Breaking Dawn".

And I have three more Verve Sketches to do to finish the 12... I sat and stared at them last night and I couldn't decided what to do with them... I will work on them today and maybe tomorrow. I can't believe I've kept up!!!! I've made it a point to come down stamp each day.

It helps that I've put my laptop on my stamp table all week...

Have a great Saturday!

*It's FRIDAY*

Yup, I like Fridays. This summer Bruce and I have both been off most Fridays. We were looking forward to sleeping in this morning and enjoying a quiet house as the kids are off at Grandma's for a sleepover... unfortunately Bruce was up at 6:30 this morning to head in to work to try to do some troubleshooting. And by 7am I was awake. I tried to fall back asleep but, just my luck, my brain was wide awake so I gave up and got out of bed at 7:30. I am now down in my stamping space and will work on today's AnniVERVEsary challenge. I can't believe I've been able to keep up with them!

The card for today is sketch #4 for the AnniVERVEsary challenges. Please see previous posts for links to Julee's blog as well as the Verve site. You'll love what you see there!

For this card, I used all Stampin' Up products... patterned paper, Baroque Motifs stamp set, Chocolate Chip, Pretty In Pink and Purely Pomegranate inks and papers.

I am off now to work on the latest challenge.... hopefully it isn't a difficult one for me to come up with an idea for.

Thanks for popping by.... maybe leave me a comment to say "hi"!

*A Day Off*

I am enjoying a day off today. Just can't decide what to do with it. Instead of being productive for the last 90 minutes I've been blog surfing and watching Top Chef. I could have gone out to run my errands, been stamping or been reading. I need to finish the book I am reading as our "Breaking Dawn" will arrive today and I want to start it as soon as Alex is finished reading it.

We went to see Cirque du Soleil Corteo last night.... and I loved it. We saw Cirque Niagra in Niagra Falls two years ago which was awesome (but not a Cirque du Soleil show). Bruce and I went to see Zumanity in Vegas but it wasn't a traditional Cirque du Soleil show. It was good, but there wasn't a lot of that draw-dropping wonder that I expected.

But Corteo.... wow.... there were several times that I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. What a wonderful performance. If you have the opportunity, please go!!

I created this card on the weekend using another AnniVERVEsary sketch. This is sketch #3. I used Imaginisce patterned paper and added some Taken With Teal cardstock to make it all pop. The flower is by Prima and the brads are black flocked brads. I didn't have any ribbon that was even close to Taken With Teal so I took a length of white grosgrain ribbon and ran my Stampin' Up! marker along it to create the coloured ribbon. I set it aside for a bit to dry and then ran it through a paper towel to remove the excess colour. Again, I used a corner rounder (without the corner guide) to create the scalloped border. Yes, the new Stampin' Up! Scallop Border punch is on my list of what to buy with my first order out of the new catalogue!

Thanks for popping by!!!

*Just a Quickie This Morning*

Good morning everyone.... just a quick post from me cuz I wanted to get this off before I left for work.... I still wanna grab some yogurt and I have to be on the road in 15 minutes. That'll teach me to sleep for an extra half hour LOL!

I created this card using the AnniVERVEsary Sketch Challenge #2 sketch. Julee has put together some awesome sketches to use! I have done the first four and will hopefully have a chance to work on #5 after work today.

This card uses Blue Bayou and Chocolate Chip cardstock (although it looks black in the photo), as well as papers by Wild Asparagus. The image is one I chose from Unity Stamp Co that I got as a blog candy win over at Lisa Moore's blog. I won a $10 gift certificate and ended up own more money after I chose all of the stamps I liked (I got four). The ribbon is a lovely chocolate brown satin ribbon that I didn't throw out after my daling husband had picked up some cupcakes from Crave. The tie up the plastic container with this gorgeous ribbon!

I really love this layout and am very pleased with how the card turned out.

Thanks for popping by!!!

*AnniVERVEsary Cards*

I had a great time crafting last night, working on the first three sketches that Julee put together for the 12 days of celebrating for the Verve anniversary. I just *love* Julee's sketches!!

It took me a while to put the three cards together... I hope to be able to do all 12 sketches... anyone can play, Verve stamp not required... and if you do all 12 and upload them to the Splitcoast Stampers gallery, you will be entered in a draw to win all of their new releases.

Items Used:
*Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Rose Red, Ballet Blue, Old Olive
*Images: Stampendous
*Ink: Stampin' Write Markers in Rose Red, Ballet Blue, Old Olive, Basic Black
*Embellishments: Imaginisce black flocked brad
*Tools: Corner Rounder punch, square punch

I am off to work on sketch #4.......

*Mojo Monday On A Sunday*

For the first time in months I have created a card using a current challenge! I love many of the sketches over on Julee's blog and I thought I'd start on the current one last night. I still have time to submit it for her slideshow! Go me!

So I spent Saturday night taking care of my Monday Mojo!

There is no stamping on this card at all.... the patterned papers are by Stampin' Up!, the flower is one I got from the bulk bin of flowers at the Scrapbook Pantry, the brad was a glittered pink brad from the birthday line by Imaginisce, but I covered it with Crystal Effects and dropped it in my ultra fine clear glitter to make it a little less pink looking and more sparkly. I added some ribbon from my stash and some white dots with the gel pen on the Pretty in Pink cardstock. Since I haven't yet ordered the scallop border punch, I did my scallop border using a corner rounder.

And that is my Mojo Monday #48 submision!

*Happy Saturday Night*

I had to work all day today (9:30 until 5:30) which is strange for me as I don't normally work Saturdays (this was my second Saturday shift at the Scrapbook Pantry in more than 6 months). Shannon and I had a good day... really busy in the middle of the day which helped to make the day go by faster.

I got home around 6pm, after Bruce and Matthew had left to join our friends Sam and Kevin at the Rider vs Stampeders football game. Being a girl from Saskatchewan, I am still a Rider fan despite living in Stamps territory. The Riders are now 6 and 0 after a tight game tonight. And it sounds like Matthew learned a lot about football and had a great time at the game tonight.

While they were out, Alex took advantage of the computer and I decided to spend some time in my stamp room. I watched "The Nanny Diaries" and an old episode of "Ugly Betty" while I created a couple of cards using Mojo Monday sketches. I will share one with you tomorrow.

Tonight I have the 3rd in the series of cards for the Sympathy Card Class I am teaching at the Pantry.

This card came together really really easily using these great papers that we carry from Stamp It Australia. There are 9 of these squares on each 12X12 piece of paper and they come with the most amazing photos of flowers. I thought that the lily page was subdued enough to make a simple and elegant sympathy card. I paired it with some chocolate brown and sage green cardstocks and voila.

Quick, easy and elegant.

I hope you've all had a great Saturday night!!!