*Flashback Friday*

Happy Friday everyone.... I am enjoying a day off work (I don't work Fridays) and had planned to do nothing but craft... but then I had to run out to buy milk so I thought I'd stop at Starbucks too. Got home, started to craft and then my phone rang... Spence Diamonds to say that my ring is back from the shop. And since it's snowing pretty good and we're expecting up to 20cm by tomorrow afternoon, I figured I shouldn't waste time so I hopped in the car and drove to the south end to get my ring. Then I stopped at work (The Scrapbook Pantry) to pick up some stuff to use on the birth announcements I'm working on for a friend of mine. Then a quick stop to pick up take-out for Matthew, a traffic jam and now I am home. My plan for the rest of the afternoon is to craft, but my headache is turning into a migraine as we speak so I might be laying down instead. Sigh

And then, I look at the date and realize what today is.... and thus the reason for this card. Two years ago today was the last time I saw my Dad before the stroke that took his life. Mom and Dad had been here in Calgary for Easter and they flew home on April 18, 2006. I think I knew something was going to happen as I cried and cried and cried after they left. Dad had a stroke eight days later and we let him go 8 days after that.

I created this card in 2002 I think... and sent it to Dad for Father's Day. The cardstock is all shades of blue... I added some lines on the front of the bottom layer for some interest. I coloured the geckos (an image by Magenta) using my Radiant Pearls (can you still buy those???). I took a lot of time and care trying to blend my colours... I remember wanting the card to be great for my Dad.

I was, and still am I suppose, a Daddy's Girl... and while the pain has gotten easier with time, I miss him every day.

Here's a card for you, Daddy.... I love you and miss you...

*Flashback Friday*

Good afternoon all.... bright and sunny here in Calgary... far away from spring flowers here, but it doesn't stop me from thinking about them!

I think I may be getting close to the end of my "Flashback Friday" posts. Sure, there are still a lot of cards I could share, but honestly, a lot of them aren't cards I really want to share with anyone now. Not that they're bad cards, just that my style has changed and grown and I don't think that the cards reflect me very well any longer.

We'll see, but this might be the last "Flashback Friday" for a while.....

I created this card in 2004. I had a vision of this card in my head, and unfortunately it didn't turn out the way it looked in my head. It's not a bad card in any way, but in my head it looked different... better... which means I was disappointed with it.

I look it at now, about 4 years later, and I think it needs "something". And I should have torn the edges instead of using the deckled edged scissors that I was addicted to during that part of my stamping life.

C'est La Vie!

The Cal Gals are coming over tonight to play... I think Shannon, Tracy and I will spend some time trying to sort our mess of Dew Drops... if that gets too tedious, there will be lots and lots of stamping! Maybe Allison will even remember to show up tonight!

*Flashback Friday*

Life is getting back to a normal routine around here now that all of my family has left. I sure do miss them when they're gone though! The kids have been on Spring Break all week so life will really be back to "normal" on Monday.

The card for today is probably one of my first one layer cards. I really loved this card when I first created it. I still like it but think that it could have been done better. For example, that little flower brad in the bottom right corner looks lost among all those big bold blooms.

This is one of my cards that I made at the beginning of my Stampin' Up! Demonstrator career. It was such a challenge for me to use only SU stuff. As you can tell with the flower brad, I failed with this card. That challenge is one of the reasons I'm now only a hobby demo, in it for the discount. I love my SU products, but I love all the other products available out there too.... too much so to limit myself to only one company.

A big thanks to Allison for teaching us how to imbed our signature into our posts... maybe one day I'll scan my actual signature and use it instead of this one!

Enjoy your Friday!

*Flashback Friday*

Happy Friday everyone!

So strange that it's already the Easter Weekend. Mom told me the other day that this is the earliest that Easter has been in like 200+ years.... and that none of us will ever see it this early again in our lifetime. It seems like there is just so much time to wait now until the May Long Weekend here in Calgary.

But hey, at least it is now spring and we are all looking forward to warmer and longer days.

Todays card comes from the "Older Cards" folder, which means it dates back before 2003 sometime. Probably about 2002 honestly. I stamped the image on white cardstock with black ink and had a great time playing with my Radiant Pearls (made by the company who now makes Twinkling H2Os), getting the colours to blend and shade. Took a long time, but I loved it. Can see there is room for improvement though!

I hope you all have a fantastic Friday!

*Flashback Friday*

Today feels like spring is in the air. We've had several days of warmer than average temperatures and the sun is nice and bright. I'm not in a fog... I'm sure we'll get another huge dump of snow before spring is here to pave the way for summer, but for now, I'll take this beautiful weather!

The card today is from 2005 and is one of the first cards I made when I started as a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator. I guess this could be called "early colour blocking" or something.

I sure loved this Shapes and Shadows set. So much so that I used it too often and grew tired of it. Silly me.

Along the top you can see just a few beads, strung onto beading wire and put through the blue and green pieces.

You might notice that I added some glitter to the one full butterfly on the card.

Thanks for popping by!

*Flashback Friday*

I am amazed... I had someone unsubscribe from my blog today... their reason is that I don't update often enough. Ummmmm, several posts a week isn't enough? Sorry about that LOL!

I'm not offended, just surprised. I thought I was doing pretty good posting at least 3 or 4 times a week.

Oh well... I hope you at least enjoy what I post when you come to visit.

I made this card many moons ago... back in my beaded creature phase. He's hard to see on the black and green marbled background, but he's a little Gecko made out of green, black and yellow seed beads and some gold beading wire.

I was absolutely IN LOVE with this marbled glossy cardstock. Had it in a few colours, but I think that the green was always my favourite.

Thanks for popping by!

*Flashback Friday*

Happy Friday everyone. I've had a rough day... don't really want to get into details, but suffice it to say I've had better. Nothing earth shattering. Nothing to worry about. Just something really got to me.

So, instead of chatter, just an old card for you...

This one is from the 2003 file... the star image is by Moote Point stamps I believe. I stamped and embossed it in gold on navy blue cardstock and then coloured one of the stars in. I cut it out and layered it onto some gold tissue, and then onto a navy blue card. The word "dream" was handwritten with a gold gel pen.

Thanks for looking!

*Flashback Friday*

Happy Friday everyone!!! Gotta love Fridays. They're good for me as I don't work. My plan for the morning is to craft craft and craft. I might also go to the chiropractor and maybe Costco. We'll see. It's gotten cold here again so I'm not sure I actually I want to venture out!

My youngest gets Friday afternoons off, so he'll be hanging with me this afternoon.

Tonight the Cal-Gals are coming over... that's Allison, Shannon and Tracy. We have been getting together monthly at my house to eat, gossip, share images and create. We always have a great time... I look forward to it every month!

Today we find ourselves traveling back to 2003. And, unfortunately for you, it's back in the day that I was convinced that scanning my cards was better than taking digital photographs of them. So it's not the best quality image.

The card is white, the strips (which I cut on the diagonal) are navy blue, burgundy and silver. I stamped the greeting on vellum and embossed it with silver embossing powder. I added two silver eyelets to attach the vellum to the card.

Quick and easy.

*Flashback Friday*

Thank you to the 63 people who took the time to vote in my Flashback Friday poll on the right side of my blog. Last Friday I wasn't honestly sure if I should keep up with Flashback Fridays or not. Instead of posting a card, I posted the poll to get feedback.

The results of the poll....
38 people said "Yes, keep Flashback Friday"
19 people said "Nah, get rid of it"
6 people said "I honestly don't care"

So, "my people" have spoken (teehee) and Flashback Friday will remain.

Todays card comes from my "older cards" file, but I know it comes from 2002 as it was the birth announcements I made for a friend of mine.

This was my first attemped at watercolouring with real watercolour paints. Each card turned out a little different as I learned more how the paints worked. I used a natural cardstock with some flecks in it as the base of the watercoloured image. I believe the quilt blocks stamp and the "Our New Arrival" were DeNami stamps. The base of the card was this wonderful textured cardstock with almost a two-toned blue look to it.... I was totally in love with this cardstock for a while!

Have a great weekend everyone!

*Flashback Friday*

I was all set to post one of my new cards today when it dawned on me that it is Friday. This has been a strange week for me... It honestly feels like Thursday (and yes, yesterday felt like Wednesday) and I feel like we've been back at the routine for two weeks, not just this week. Maybe because I've been sick? Maybe because I've been busy? Who knows!

Yesterday was the first day that The Scrapbook Pantry was open here in Calgary. There were a few glitches in the system (like no debit/credit card machine) but when I was there I thought it was going well. I'm hoping to pop in today to see how the whole first day went.

This card is from that "older cards" file, so it's pre-2003 sometime.... I loved this DeNami Dragonfly. And, apparently I loved gold embossing too. LOL Well, to tell the truth, I go through phases for embossing .... I haven't done a lot of it lately other than Iridescent Ice to gives things a shimmer. There was a time, though, that I embossed everything.

This card was a navy blue card with white, navy and gold layers and an accent with gold gel pen lines. I still like the layout.... might have to tweak it one of these days!

Have a spectacular Friday!!

*Flashback Friday*

edit: I just realized I hit save instead of publish on this post yesterday... sorry about that!!!

I haven't done a lot of crafting so far in 2008. I've been down to my craft space two times, each for an entire afternoon.... and I've managed to create one card per day. I'm having a tough time easing out of Christmas card mode I think. Either that or there are just too many new things in my room that I want to play with. Such a hardship, I know!

Good thing that today is Friday so I can post an old card for you to see!

This card was created sometime before I started organizing my cards by year.... so pre-2003. It was done during my "iris folding" phase. I still have a huge basket full of pretty papers, all cut and folded, waiting for me to get into iris folding again.

Iris folding is the process of filling a cut out (in this case, the vase) with folded strips of paper to create a look that is similar to the lens of a camera closing.

I decided to try creating an iris folded card using a stamped image instead of an iris folding pattern. Works well for standard shapes, at least for me. I know my Mom could make any shape into a pattern. She rocks that way!

Have a great day all!

*Flashback Friday*

One last old Christmas card to share with you all today. I don't know what I will do next year as there are still Christmas cards to share, but nothing I really like. Who knows if I'll still be doing "Flashback Friday" by then!

This card doesn't look as good in a scan as it might have in a digital photo, but such is life.

The stamps that I used for the JOY are actually stamps I carved myself! I found a font I liked on the computer, printed them in a large size inversed and then used this transfer pen I got as a gift many moons ago to transfer the image onto a large white eraser. I then used the carving tools I got from Michaels to carve out the images.

Pretty easy, although time consuming as I can't go fast.

The pattern on the vellum was printed on it when I got it... sure wish I could find more!

Enjoy!

*Flashback Friday*

One more week of work left... one more week of work left... one more week of school left... one more week of school left

And then, two full weeks of no alarm clocks!! WOO HOO!!

And next week at work will be noisy but not too awful since we all know what's coming.

In case you didn't know, I work 4 days a week at Matthew's school in the lunchroom program. Not a cook, just a supervisor. It's a fun job and I enjoy the kids most of the time. Sometimes they honestly drive me up the wall! The last week before Christmas is always nutty for the kids!

This is a card I made back in 2003, using a medallion stamp from Outlines Rubberstamps.

I stamped it on a few different shades of blue shimmer cardstock and cut out different areas of it on each colour and then layered it all together with foam tape. I put it all on a white background that I cut with my deckle edged scissors and trimmed the edges with a silver paint pen. It's then layered onto a tall navy blue card.

*Flashback Friday*

Two weeks from today is the last day of school before the Christmas Holidays! Two weeks???? OMG! There is still stuff to do! I need to find time to get to the mall and finish my shopping. Heck, before that, I need to find some ideas for the last few people on my list. I love giving gifts, but I sure hate coming up with the ideas... I put a lot of pressure on myself I think, to find the "perfect" gift.... I just don't want people to be disappointed with the gifts I've purchased for them. That's a lot of pressure!

But it's all good.... despite that pressure and stress, I still love Christmas... the sights, the sounds, the smells, the traditions.... ahhhhh

I love the card I am sharing with you today. It is festive and yet it showcases my twisted sense of humour just a bit.

I sent this card out to everyone on my Christmas Card list in 2004... the only problem was that the little bell didn't make it to every destination. Of course, that detail "made" the card and was one of the more difficult parts to pull off.

Unfortunately, I went to look at the stamp to see who makes it and the information is all rubbed off (well used stamp!). I can tell you that the patterned paper was part of a stack from Michaels, the colours are Whisper White, Real Red, Glorious Green and Chocolate Chip. The bell was attached with some gold ribbon from WalMart. I also used a gold gel pen on the bells around his neck as well as the stars in the background of the image.

*Flashback Friday*

Tonight marks the start of the holiday season for Bruce and I... we have our first Christmas party to go to. Seems a little early, but then again, I feel like I'm behind. Does that make sense?

Here is another older Christmas card. Not as far back in the past as others I've been posting. This one comes from the first winter after I started as a demonstrator with Stampin' Up! Not sure I love the colour combination, but I really like how it turned out. I used a Stampin' Around Wheel to create the background. Quick and easy!

The hardest part was figuring out where to use the punches to create the tabs!

*Flashback Friday*

Can you believe there are only 39 days until Christmas?? I don't have nearly enough Christmas cards made! Usually I make a bunch trying to come up with the perfect design for the 100+ cards I make each year. This year I think I will make 10 or 12 of 10 different designs just to keep me from getting too bored with the process. I have a few that I love so far that I should work on making a dozen of just to say I've started. I'd really like to be able to start addressing my cards around December 1st so that I know they get out on time.

The card today features my most prized snowman.

I think that this is probably one of the best snowman images ever made. He's just so round and jolly! He makes my heart happy for sure!

The image is by JudiKins and I got it many years ago. I stamped him on white cardstock and did a quick colouring of the red with a marker. I then used Radiant Pearls to colour him. I put the red marker under the red Radiant Pearls to ensure a deep dark colour.

The hard part of this card was cutting the snowman image out. I did not inherit my Mom's patience when it comes to finicky work.

I mounted the snowman onto some snowflake scrapbooking paper and mounted it all onto a square white card.

*Flashback Friday*

Another November Friday means another flashback Christmas card.

This was the card I made and sent out back in 2001. The card itself was a great light blue cardstock with white speckles in it. It made me think of snow. The reindeer panel was fun to create... I used a Hero Arts shadow stamp and inked it up with blue pigment ink. I then took the Hero Arts snowflake stamps and stamped the clean dry stamps into the ink on the shadow stamp. This removed most of the ink in the snowflake shapes from the shadow stamp. I then stamped the shadow stamp onto white cardstock.

I then stamped the reindeer (Old Island Stamp Company) in blue Ultimate Metallic ink on top of the shadow image and when it was all dry, added just a little red glitter glue to make my reindeer into a Rudolph.

Happy Holidays (Hero Arts I think), was stamped in the Ultimate Metallic blue ink as well.

Thanks for stopping by!

*Flashback Friday*

I think I've discovered what is causing at least part of the headaches I've been getting lately. Well, two reasons for two different spots in my head.

First, I think I now need my reading glasses (which I got a year ago) to work on the computer and when I crochet. I will try this for a bit. I might even try them with my stamping. The computer screen just looks a little more clear with the glasses on. Yes, I see my eye doctor later this morning... maybe I too will need full time glasses.

The glasses story is kind of funny... I come from a family of 5... I am the youngest of 3 sisters. The oldest sister and I were the only ones without glasses. And we were proud of that. Out of the 5 grandchildren on my side of the family, my oldest son is the only one without glasses. Last November, I got my eyes checked and mentioned the headaches I was getting from reading. Sure enough, I needed reading glasses. It was so close to Christmas and my Mom and oldest sister were heading out here, so I decided to leave it as a surprise... until my oldest sisters' daughter let it slip that they were going out to pick out "mom's new glasses". Sure enough... within a week of each other, we both needed reading glasses! Neither of us wanted to tell the other because we didn't want the other to be gloating that they didn't need glasses. My sister (btw, her name is Heather) went back to the eye doctor last month and she's now in full time glasses... bi-focals to boot. I wonder if I'm close behind???

Today you get a treat. You get to see a card made with the most beautiful Santa face ever made. But this story has a sad ending.... first, I decided I didn't use him enough so I sold him and sent him across the country to his new home. Second, you can no longer get this stamp other than by paying a tonne of money on Ebay as the company has gone out of business.

Yes, I know there are other great Santa faces out there, but there isn't one that compares to this one.

The Santa face is by Gumball Graphics. I stamped him in black Memories ink on glossy cardstock. The background (which says, "Life is too short NOT to believe in Santa") was computer generated and printed onto paper not cardstock. I layered it all up on red cardstock and voila.

I just love him....

*Flashback Friday*

As you probably saw on Allison's blog Thursday morning, we woke up to snow in Calgary. Wednesday afternoon we had a high around 72F and then a cold front blew in and voila, snow! Thankfully it wasn't cold enough for the snow to stay on the streets and sidewalks, but there is still snow in my back yard where the sun doesn't hit at this time of year. Not a lot of snow, but enough.

Blech

I sure hope it warms up a bit before Wednesday... a cold Halloween makes for cold trick-or-treaters, which isn't any fun!

Another Flashback Friday card for you to enjoy today.

This is actually one of my favourite cards. I saw this Stampendous image and had to have it back in 2003. In fact, if my memory serves me correctly, I begged the shop owner to sell me the stamp that she had in the classroom as she was all sold out of this image! I'm so glad she agreed!

This is the card I sent out to all of our family and friends for Christmas that year. They were a lot of work, but totally worth it!

The card base is white, with a navy blue layer on top. The top layer is shimmer white cardstock. I did paper piercing using a paper template to create the frame. The snow faeire was stamped with blue Encore Metallic ink and embossed with blue pearl embossing powder.

Like I said, the cards were a lot of work. Usually when I'm doing a bunch of cards the same, I won't do any embossing on them. Takes too much time and there's always a good chance of screwing something up.

Thanks for popping by to see me today... I hope to find some creative time today... wish me luck!

*Yet Another Flashback Friday*

Just a quickie post from me... I've already spent too much time on the computer this morning and if I don't get my butt off this chair soon, I might be planted her permanently!

This card comes from 2005, the year I started with Stampin' Up! as a Demonstrator. Before this, I think I had two Stampin' Up! sets.

What can I tell you... hmmmmm, stamp set is Heartfelt Thanks. Colours are Ruby Red and Garden Green with a touch of Creamy Caramel. The tabs on the side are the slit punch.

I still think that the green part of the card needs something....

I hope you all have an awesome FRIDAY!!!!