*Eat Dessert First -- There's Blog Candy Involved!*

My Dad had a cousin who would come to visit when Dad was growing up... and of course, he'd be there for dinner.  Before the food was passed around, this cousin would ask "what's for dessert?"  He would then decide how much dinner he would eat based on how much he liked the dessert being served.

What a smart man!

And I think that's what I like most about this stamp.... it says "Life is uncertain.... eat dessert first!".

One day, I think we're going to do that... start with dessert.... or hell, just have dessert for dinner and be done with it!

I have some blog candy to give away to one lucky winner who comments on this post... just tell me what your favourite dessert is!!  I will choose a winner on February 16th.

I have lots of favourite desserts and I honestly don't know if I could narrow it down to just one....
*chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream
*warm apple pie with vanilla ice cream (preferably home made pie as the pastry is flakier)
*warm apple crisp with vanilla ice cream
*my Mom's Angel Food Pie (nom nom nom)

Items Used:
*Cardstock: PTI White; Stampin' Up! Regal Rose
*Pattern Paper: Imaginisce
*Images: Stampendous; Impress
*Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Copics
*Tools:  Corner Chomper
*Embellishments: Michael's $1.50 button
*Challenges:  FTL127


This is the card for the current challenge over on the Clean and Simple blog....  you'll find the link to their blog to the right....  I hope you'll come play with us this week!

*Busy Busy Busy*

I truly don't feel like it's the weekend... we have been more busy the last couple days than we are used to.  I spent most of Saturday with a nasty headache thanks to late night on Friday, a bad sleep Friday night and a change in the weather that has brought us slightly warmer weather (still around freezing, but not soooooo cold!).

We continue our busy weekend today with a tanning appointment this morning, a mid-afternoon supper at my mother in law's house, and then our Sunday night bowling league.

And of course we'll stay up late enough tonight to watch the finale of "The Amazing Race".

Next weekend is looking somewhat similar in terms of how busy we will be.... but add to it the almost last minute running around in preparation for our trip!

Anyway.... I have a few minutes here to share a card with you... so I should get to it already LOL!

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Basic Black; PTI White
*Patterned Paper:  My Mind's Eye
*Images:  Inkadinkadoo Dot Flourishes; Gel-A-Tins Snowflakes; PTI Signature Christmas
*Ink:  Brilliance Starlight Silver; Blue Encore Ultimate Metallic
*Tools:  Stampin' Up! scallop border punch
*Embellishments:  unknown ribbon
*Challenges:  FTL77


The picture I had in my head when I was creating this card was a lot different than how it actually turned out... sadly, the picture in my head is a lot more beautiful than this!  The card is OK, just not what I had envisioned.

Enjoy your Sunday.... we'll enjoy ours!

*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.

*What To Pack?*

I need your help!!! As you all know, I am a card maker, but I work in a Scrapbook Store. We are having a Staff "Crop" on May 9th and I really would love to do more than just pack up a bunch of stuff and bring it home at the end of the night having done nothing.

I am not good at this though. This is why I have conveniently offered to host the Cal-Gals until the end of time. I like having all of my stuff around me. This way I don't have to make any decisions until the card leads me where I need to be.

But this won't work for the Staff Crop!!!

I want to be productive. I want to have fun.

I just have no earthly idea what to pack.

I mean, I know that there are basics... but how do I move on?

I would LOVE to know how you pack for a crop.... do you just take a bunch of stuff and some colours of ink and cardstock and go for it? Do you plan and take only things that go together? Do you work on a specific project? Do you show up and spend your time just staring at your lovely supplies?

Help me out??

Leave a comment on this post with some tips for me to try... and as a reward, I'll draw for some awesome blog candy on May 4th.

Wanna know what the blog candy is?? How about a brand new, unused set of Classic Square Scallop Nestabilities (large)????

Thanks in advance for your help!

EDIT: I should clarify a few things about my dilemma...
*I will be making cards, not layouts
*I can buy while I'm there but I'd rather not
*I know the basics to take (paper trimmer and other tools), but I'm wondering more about how to decide what out of my stash is important

*Would Love Your Input*

I would love to hear from some of you to find out what you think is "new and now" in terms of stamp companies. I am trying to help the shop owner at The Scrapbook Pantry here in Calgary grow her stamping section, but we'd both like to try to offer things that aren't found at all the other stores here.

Please let me a comment on this post telling me what you find to be the most popular companies out there that can be sold at a retail location.

To entice you, there will be a small BLOG CANDY prize awarded to one lucky commenter! The contest will end on Monday afternoon!

Thanks!!!

*100,000 Hits??!??!!*

I just took a look at my hit counter.... when I started typing this post, I was at 99,991 hits! WOW!!!!

So, to celebrate, let's get some blog candy going.... I will put together an awesome prize for one lucky winner.....

To enter, simply leave a comment on this post telling me what you have planned for New Years Eve. I will draw one name on January 1, 2008!!

***please be sure to include your email address for me to be able to contact you!***

Thanks to everyone who visits my Blog.... I love doing my blog and am so happy to have an audience!!

*Congratulations Jeanne!!*

A big congratulations to Jeanne who has won my Pay It Forward blog candy.

Her comment was...

chinamomxtwo said...

Love your blog and it would be great to win--I like your idea of doing something for my neighbors--I think we all get too busy and forget to do simple things like that.........
jeanne

Jeanne, email me with your snail mail address and I'll pop your prize in the mail!

I'll put together the prize and take a photo of it tomorrow when I have some sunshine... then I'll be back to post it.

*Paying It Forward, Again*

I was a lucky girl today... Amanda drew my name as one of three winners of some good lookin' candy on her blog. It's more than candy though... it's a Pay It Forward Challenge...

So, my winning means good things for my readers!

Just leave a comment on this post and I will choose one person at random to receive a little treat from me... the catch is, you have to be willing to "Pay It Forward" if you win. If you have a blog, you'll have to post some candy and continue the "Pay It Forward" game. If you don't have a blog, I'd love to see you do something nice for a friend or one of your neighbours... I saw someone post recently on their blog that they put together a little giftie (mostly candies and some handmade cards) and wrote up a note... they then left it all anonymously on a neighbours doorstep and encouraged that neighbour to do the same thing. So no blog? I challenge you do start this in your community.

Please enter your name before midnight on Monday (11/12)for a chance to win!

Have a great day!

*75K Blog Candy*

I can't believe I've surpassed 75,000 hits on my blog!!! WOO HOO! That's such a HUGE number!!

As a thank you to everyone who pops by to visit and leave comments, I'd like to offer up two pieces of Blog Candy!!
To win one of these two beautiful pieces of candy (there will be some small things thrown in with each of these as well), please simply leave a comment on this post. I will draw for a winner on Saturday, September 1st after lunch sometime.

Thanks again to everyone for your support of my Blog and for your kind words on my creative works. Having the blog and knowing that I have people who check in on a regular basis has inspired me to create more this year than I have in the last few years... and it feels GREAT!

**Please note that this draw is now closed**

*We have a Winner!*

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

Jenny Hill said...

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

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

Thanks for playing!

*Blog Candy and An Update*

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

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

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

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

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

*Blog Candy Win*

I won some "Dream Treats" over at Michelle's blog a few weeks ago.... It arrived last week. These are the amazing treats I won!

Thanks so much Michelle!

And you should take a few minutes to check out Michelle's blog.... she has some great stuff to share!

*Blog Candy WINNERS!!!

WOW! Thanks for all the great comments everyone!!! I'd say the most popular flowers are Gerbera Daisies, Roses, Lilacs and Peonies.... and all of those are my favourites too!!!

I decided to choose two winners from all of the comments.... I used the Random Number Generator to help me out.

The winners are:

MEGAN (olse0231) who said: Congrats on the 50K - much deserved! My favorite flower would have to be daisies. So springy and pretty. :)

and

SCRAPPINTRISH who said: Wow, I just joined last week, I hope that I can get more readers. Congrats on that! :) My favorite flower is a Daisy.

Ladies, please email me at nancy at elrick dot ca with your complete mailing address and I'll get some goodies off to you!

Thanks again for popping by! I hope you come to visit again soon!

*It's Time for BLOG CANDY*

****Contest is now closed.....****

Yup, you read it right! I was very surprised to check in this morning to find myself over the 50,000 visitor mark!! WOO HOO!!! To celebrate, I'm offering up some blog candy. I haven't thrown it together yet, but if you go back to take a look at old blog candy I've handed out, I think you'll agree I like to put together something pretty good.

To enter, please leave a comment on this post with your name and what your favourite flower is.

You can leave your comments until Friday, May 25th at noon. I will then use the random number generator to choose a winner (or perhaps even a few winners)! This post will remain at the top until the drawing so be sure to scroll down to see new posts

Thanks so much to everyone who comes by to see my creations and to those who leave comments on a regular basis! I'm glad you come by and like what you see!

*Thanks For The Input!!*

A big thank you to everyone who took the time to leave a comment to let me know what you think about the labels I can use to help you find more cards on my blog using the same items. The overwhelming response was to keep the labels, so I will. It does not add much work to my posting so it's not a big deal from my point of view

And now, on to our winners!

I used the random number generator and it chose the numbers 46 and 12..... I then went back and counted and came up with the following two winners:

#46 was Peggy Maier who said: "Very clever - I like clicking on the label & bringing up every post using that word. I think I'll be using this a lot - wish everyone had it."

#12 was Jan who said " I agree with Nancy, they are helpful tools"

Could you two ladies please email me with your snail mail addresses so I can get your packages of paper off to you!

*Starr's Blog Candy*

Head on over to Starr's blog for a chance to win her awesome blog candy! Please let her know that I sent you!

*Enter to Win*

Check out Catherine's Blog Candy! Please let her know I sent ya!

*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!

*Jeanna's Blog Candy*

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

*Catherine's Candy*

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