*I Just Whipped This Up*

Julee Tilman, the owner of Verve Stamps (and the creator behind the MojoMonday sketches) has a sketch challenge for the Verve release party up on her blog today. You should go whip up a card using this sketch tonight too... you can have a chance at winning a Verve set of your choice... but the deadline for entries is tomorrow at dinnertime!

I find I'm more productive when I have a task to do... a challenge with a deadline, a card I need to mail right away... I haven't stamped just because for a while. I sit down here at my stamp table and just nothing. Maybe tomorrow. LOL

My card for the challenge uses Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss and Baja Breeze (would you believe, I just took the wrapper off my Baja Breeze ink today... I've had it since it was released last summer!). I used the Floral Whimsy set by Verve and added a few Dew Drops to finish it off.

What are you waiting for? Go do your interpretation of the sketch and post it with Mr. Linky on the Poetic Artistry blog.... we all have a shot at winning!

*I've Been Tagged*

I've been tagged for the same game, by two different people! First, Jennie tagged me (and let me know in a comment on my blog but there was no way to figure out who Jennie was... and while I follow her blog, I must not have been in a reading mood that day cuz I missed it completely) and then Mary-Jane tagged me...

8 Things I Look Forward To.
1. warm weather
2. seeing my children grow and become men
3. time with my family
4. time with my friends
5. lazy summer weekends
6. planning another tropical vacation
7. two weekends of camping with friends
8. a magical fairy coming and decluttering my house!

8 Things I Did Yesterday.
1. went to WalMart
2. read my book
3. took Matthew to drums
4. crocheted
5. watched tv
6. went to Weight Watchers
7. waited for the phone to ring (and it didn't)
8. snuggled my dog!

8 Things I wish I could Do.
1. sing and not sound like a cat is dying
2. change my bad habits
3. fly
4. win the lottery to make life comfortable for those I love
5. become an adventurous eater (instead of a fussy one)
6. be creative more often (by that, I mean to find that elusive mojo more often)
7. understand why people do what they do
8. open myself to love more fully

8 Things Or Shows I've Watched Lately.
1. The Waltons (teehee)
2. Ellen
3. "Baby Mama"
4. Medium
5. Numb3rs
6. Ugly Betty
7. Grey's Anatomy
8. Good Eats

8 Great Blogs
1. Tracy
2. Shannon (but we need to encourage her to get back to crafting and blogging!)
3. Merlie
4. Dianne
5. Mom
6. Wendy
7. MojoMonday
8. Clean and Simple

*Another Chilly Day*

I am really really tired of the crappy weather we've been having in Calgary. We get a few nice sunny and warm days and then it turns cold again. It is just not right for the temperature to be hovering around freezing on the 20th of May.

My beautiful flowers are still living in the shed. I hope to get them planted in the next week or so. And then I just pray that the weather stays warm enough that I won't have to worry about them.

I really love how this card turned out. It's my submission for MojoMonday Challenge #87. I sent this card off to my sister and brother in law who celebrated their 19th wedding anniversary on the 19th. (today would have been my parents 49th wedding anniversary!)

I used patterned paper from Sonburn Designs along with some Basic Black and Whisper White cardstock. The heart is a chipboard button embellishment also from Sonburn. It's hard to see, but the white panel on the left was embossed with the Stylized Flower Cuttlebug Embossing Folder (in my Big Shot). I used the Blossom Spellbinders die for the flower. The sentiment says "Follow Your Heart" and is a Stampin' Up! rub-on. I used the Stampin' Up scallop border punch for the scallop border and finally, a little ribbon from Michaels on the heart.

I love the colour combination of the light blue and celery green together.... and the sketch was a lot of fun! You should give it a shot too!!

*My First Cupcake Challenge*

Happy Victoria Day Long Weekend to my Canadian friends... we've had an awesome long weekend, that started early for everyone in our house except Alex (the poor kid was the only one in our house who didn't have Friday off). Bruce is taking Fridays off now until the fall and Matthew's school had a Professional Development day for the staff.

The weather was pretty awesome, until today... Saturday and Sunday we had temperatures over 20C (around 70-75F). I spent some time on my lounge chair with a good book and my sunglasses. The weather started to change around 8 last night when the temperature started to drop off dramatically... it is now just barely above freezing!! WTF?? Not cool, Mother Nature... not cool.

I had to do a little stamping this weekend as I needed to make a card to take with us to a 25th Wedding Anniversary party on Saturday night. Nope, not an anniversary card. The anniversary was for the oldest son and daughter-in-law of my mother-in-law's second husband (does that make sense?). And I needed to make a baby card for the youngest son and daughter-in-law who have a little baby girl who is about 5 weeks old. This was the first time I'd be seeing her and I understand that there will be no baby shower, so I wanted to get their gift to them. And, I needed a card.

To create this card, I decided to play along with Taylor's Cupcake Challenge (#68) for the first time. I had visited many blogs that had used this layout and I fell in love with it... so I decided to try my hand with it.

I used patterned paper from Upsy Daisy Designs (a Canadian company!) and paired it with some Bazill Bling green cardstock and some white cardstock. The baby image is by Stampa Rosa and I coloured that little cutie with my Copics. I also coloured up two of those great bridal flowers from Michaels with my Copics and added a little bling to the centres of the flowers. Other tools used were my Big Shot and my Nestabilities as well as one of the EK Success border punches.

Wasn't thrilled with how the cardstock matched the patterened paper, but it was the best I could do with what I had on hand.

This was a fun sketch to play with... you should give it a try!

*New Challenge Blog Set To Launch*

I had a comment in my last post from Dawn about a new Challenge Blog she and a woman named Ann are putting together. There will be blog candy and challenges and all sorts of fun... at least that is the plan. Head on over to The Next Level to check out their plans for their launch on June 1st.

I don't know these ladies at all, but am looking forward to another excuse to stamp LOL!

*It's a Beautiful Day*

The sun is shining, there is a light breeze blowing... and it's almost 20* outside (that's 68*F). It's not quite the daytime high they forecast, but it's close... and I'll take it!

Bruce had to drop Alex and his girlfriend Mary as well as Mary's Dad and brother off at Otafest at the UofC this morning (it's an Anime Convention). I will have to post a photo later of Alex in the costumer that Mary and her Grandma made for Alex of Ike. After Bruce got home, we packed the other kid and the dog into the car and we went off to the off-leash dog park for a walk. This is a great park with a trail that takes about 40 minutes to walk. Lots of dogs and a relaxing location. We came home around noon and made some lunch, and then I found my book and my sunglasses and sat on my chaise in the sun for a few hours reading.

Bruce has left to pick up Alex (unfortunately, he has to miss a good chunk of today's events) and we will all be scrambling in a bit to get all prettied up for a 25th Anniversary Party we are going to this later this afternoon and this evening. It's been a good day so far and we are looking forward to some fun tonight as well!

As I mentioned in my post a few days ago, Tracy came up with the idea of the CalGals challenging each other each month... and this month it was my turn. I promised them it would be easy, and when I chose the sketch, I really thought it would be... instead we all struggled with the damn thing! Even me... sigh!

I found the sketch on Kerin's Blog... it's her week #8 challenge

I think everyone else who played along last weekend put together a better card than I did... but that's OK... it's not like mine is terrible... just not quite what I had envisioned. I think I should have cut my strips a little smaller and layered black underneath them for contrast...

I used patterned paper from Stampin' Up (from a few years ago), Basic Black and Whisper White cardstock. I added in my Nesties (used with my fabulous Big Shot!), the bridal flowers from Michaels and an image from Stampin' Up.

I love how these shimmer flowers from Michael's take the colour from my Copics so nicely! Not only do they colour up well, but you can still see the shimmer from the paper under the colour. Beautiful!

I decided the flowers needed "something" so I used my 1/8" hole punch and punched out some little circles in black and added them to the flower centres. Yup, just what they needed!

*Tee Hee*

I saw this on a blog I read and had to share.... Fitting since I just started back to Weight Watchers this past week (I lost 60+ pounds with them starting in the summer of 2000 and went on to work for them for almost a year.... some of that weight has crept back over time)

I need to find me a skinny person LOL!

*Request for Cards*

Hi Everyone.... I am here to ask for you to help me help a friend...

I met Domenica through blogging and while we have never met face to face (even though we live only about 15 minutes away from each other in the same city!), I do consider her a friend. Amazing how stamping and the internet can do that for people.

Anway, I knew that Domenica's Mom had been ill for a period of time, but I had no idea.... Domenica tells me this morning that her Mom is terminal. Debbie is unable to get out and about these days. Domenica thought that getting some cards in the mail would help to brighten some of the days ahead... maybe make each day a little easier.

If you are able and would like to help out with this project, please EMAIL ME and I will email you back with Debbie's address. I think just bright and cheery "thinking of you" cards would be perfect.

Thanks so much, in advance, for helping me to put a smile on a stampers face!

*Cal Gals Challenge*

Another crappy weather day in Calgary. Will we ever get spring? Probably will get spring for the summer and then go straight into winter again. Looking at the 14 day extended forecast on AccuWeather, I see the crappy weather continues with the daytime highs way below seasonl averages. It's just not fair!!! Today it's chilly and raining. I just want sunshine and warmth!!

When the CalGals met in April, Tracy suggested that we take turns bringing a challenge of some sort for all of us to try that night. For some of us (like Merlie), this was the first time a card had been completed at my house on a Friday night.

That Friday, Tracy brought us a sketch to try.... and this is what I came up with!

I used Kiwi Kiss and Tangerine Tango (love this colour combination) along with Whisper White for my card. The images are from Inkadinkadoo -- Dot Flourishes and Doodle Flowers. I used the two sizes of oval punch from Stampin' Up as well. To add a little more interest I put the orange layer through my BigShot with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug Embossing Folder and added a little bling to the ovals.

I like this one... thanks for the challenge Trace!

*Check Out This Blog Candy*

Debbie is giving away some awesome blog candy to celebrate her birthday.... talk about generous! There are stamps, Spellbinders dies, Copics, ribbon, paper.... WOW

Click HERE to see how you can enter to win!

*Monday Mojo*

I was sitting here at my stamp table, surfing the internet and reading email and playing games online on my laptop (which was my Mothers Day present last year), and I was lamenting how little I have stamped this year. There are a whopping 42 cards in my 2009 cards folder on my computer. 42. At this time last year, I was posting card #53, and two years ago I was posting card #78! That's double where I am now.

I was starting to feel down.... I sit here a lot and think about making cards but don't do it. I don't know whether it's just that I'm lazy, or afraid to play again, or if I've lost my mojo. I find that more often than not I am using sketches and ideas from others instead of coming up with my own ideas. And perhaps that is bothering me. In fact, I know that is bothering me. It's like I don't have much for my own ideas anymore.

So today... I decided to just do it. I loved the MojoMonday sketch for today so I just started cutting papers. The last thing that came together for this card was the image panels.

The patterned paper is from Black River Designs and the image is by Amuse. I coloured the flowers with my Copics. I also used one of the EK Success border punches on the one black layer.

I am really pleased with my card for this week... very simple and clean....

What a great sketch Julee had for us this week! I didn't bother playing last week, but maybe I'll do that sketch tomorrow after I go to the dentist to get prepped for a crown.

*Happy Mother's Day*

I am a bad daughter. No, I don't really believe that, but I wasn't a good daughter today. My Mom, my oldest sister and my niece are all in Amsterdam right now and while I thought I should make a call to my Mom at her friends' house, I didn't get around to doing it... and since the time difference is 7 or 8 hours, I can't cal now.

I know Mom knows I was thinking about her today... but I still feel a little bad. I just hope she is having an absolutely amazing time visiting with papercrafting friends that she met online. She and my sister went out there this fall but Mom just spent the day with her online friends.... this time Heather dropped Mom off to stay with the friends for a week. I am sure they are having a fantastic time!

I have had a very nice Mother's Day weekend... Friday night the CalGals were over to play. Saturday night Bruce and I and 9 of our friends went to our favourite hole in the wall for wings and then back to visit at a friends' house. This morning I got to sleep in while Bruce and the boys got up and started preparing our annual Mother's Day Brunch. We had Bruce's Mom and her husband over as well as Bruce's brother and his wife and the other brother. Bruce and the boyz put out an amazing spread that included scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs, toast, hashbrowns, bacon, waffles and fresh fruit. The food was delicious and the company enjoyable! After visiting for a while, our company left and we enjoyed "Marley and Me" which was one of the DVDs I got as gifts today. We went to The Keg for dinner and even enjoyed a Billy Miner Pie for desert (my favourite!). We are now sitting back and watching "The Amazing Race"

The only ways today could have been better would have been to have my Mom here and to have not been fighting a nasty headache all day. I am hoping to get in for a massage tomorrow.

I created this card for a "mingle" on a YahooGroup I am on called CreativeCuttleBuggers. The group is for people who love their Cuttlebug... please don't tell them that I've switched to a Big Shot LOL!!

The April theme was a Mother's Day card. I pulled out the trusty pink and green Bazzill Bling cardstock and had some fun with my Nestabilities. I even used my border embossing folders for the first time (despite having had them for months).

The card needed a little something more so I added some glittered brads that I had in my stash that matched the colours almost perfectly.

I didn't actually send this card to my Mom... I bought her a card because I wanted a card that said something "perfect"... Heather was a doll and took my card and gift to Amsterdam to give them to Mom on Mother's Day for me.

I am going to go back to paying attention to the TV show... of the three teams still in the race, there is one team I don't want to win... I'd be happy with either of the other two teams winning.

I'm kind of disappointed that all of the TV Season Finales are this week... I am a total TV addict and miss my shows over the summer!

Thanks for coming by to visit!

*For The Moms....*

...and anyone with a Mom!

*May Showers Bring June Flowers*

We didn't get much for April showers here in Calgary... it was all April snow. Sigh. I am looking forward to lots of days of sunshine and warmth, green grass and flowers. But for today, we have rain.

I went to Costco with my girlfriend Kelly on Tuesday and bought some flowers to add to my yard. I won't be planting them until later in May as things are still to "iffy" in Calgary for planting. I'd had to have the plants touched by frost and ruined. Kelly will be coming by in a few weeks to help me plant. I just hope I can keep everything alive all summer! I'm not the best at yard work.

I created this card after playing around with my Copics several weeks ago. I found a sketch challenge card I liked at Our Creative Corner (the week of February 28th) so I cut out one of the images I was colouring with my Nestabilities and off I went. The papers are SU Bashful Blue and Certainly Celery and I matched my Copics as best as I could on the Stampendous image. I added some patterned paper from Black River Designs (they're Canadian!!) and trimmed the blue piece with one of my EK Success border punches. I added some bling to the flowers with my Sakura Stardust Gel pen and then a glittered brad by Imaginisce to finish it off. I was going to incorporate pink in to the design but decided that there was just enough pink in the patterned paper.

I'm looking forward to the girls coming by to stamp tomorrow... Allison (who's joining us again for the first time since before Avery was born!), Dianne, Merlie, Shannon and Tracy. Last time we got together, Tracy brought us a sketch to try... I made a card and will post it one of these days (it's in the rotation LOL). Tomorrow night it's my turn to challenge them with a sketch.

Thanks again for popping by! I appreciate you coming to visit!

*A Little Mojo*

It feels like spring in Calgary again.... gotta love that! It's truly about time!! I don't want to get my hopes up though... with my luck we'll still get more snow!!!

Thank you to everyone for your kind words on my tattoo. It still stings a bit but seems to be healing well. I'm really pleased with how the design turned out, especially since it is so close to what I had stamped up a week or two ago. Kind of cool that I could incorporate my love of stamping into a tattoo!

I created this card this week for the MojoMonday Challenge #84. Instead of choosing my patterned paper first, I coloured my image first and then tried to find papers that went with it. I'm actually very pleased with how it turned out!!

The main image is from the Sweet Stems set from Stampin' Up and the sentiment is from the Cupcakes set from Hero Arts. I coloured the flower with my Copic Spica glitter pens and then found this paper from Stampin' Up. I used my Nestibilities for the circles and some ribbon that I got from I don't know where. I added three Pebbles Candy Dots as well.

Quick and easy, really... looking forward to tomorrow's challenge!

*I Did It Again*

Well, not even a year later and I've done it again. On May 23, 2008, I did THIS.... and on May 1, 2009... I did this... (and yes... there is stamping in this post!)

Yup, another tattoo! I knew I would get another after I got the first one last year... and I always knew it would be on the top of my foot. A bunch of us went to get inked yesterday (including my Mother-In-Law... I gave her her first tattoo as a belated birthday present!). I more or less designed this one myself, with STAMPS!! And you thought this was going to be a non-stamping post!

The swirl is a simpler version of one of the images in the Inkadinkadoo Dot Flourishes set. The snowflakes started out as stamps from SU but the images were too detailed so I went to a computer font instead and had each family member pick their favourites. There is one snowflake for each member of our family... the one on the top right symbolizes Matthew, the one on the top left is Alex, the one on the bottom right is Bruce and the one in the middle is me. They aren't exactly like the ones we chose, but as close as could be done in a tattoo of this size

This tattoo hurt a lot more than my first, due to the placement of it. It was a completely uncomfortable process. Bruce took some video and after I've prescreened it, perhaps I will post it for a laugh. I mouthed a lot of bad bad words (couldn't say them outloud with my mother in law there!)

Despite the pain, I am thrilled with the design.... I think it's a beauty!

*One More Christmas Card*

Hi Everyone... a sunny day in Calgary today, but still not much above the freezing mark. I had to wear sandals today though as I went to get a pedicure... and I hate messing up my toes by putting on socks and shoes. I understand things will be a little warmer by Friday, with a sunny weekend ahead. I'm really tired of wearing my polar fleece sweater.

I am submitting my challenge cards to Tracy, just under the wire. At least this months are on time. I did the other the months way late! I wonder if I'll pull off the May challenge in May??

For April, Tracy challenged us to make cards using a snowman as the main image. We don't have to make all 5 cards the same, but since I'm finding it tough to be in the Christmas card mood, it's easier to make five the same.

For this card, I used a portion of a stamp by Stamps Happen. I coloured the image with my Stampin' Up markers since I couldn't colour match Certainly Celery and Bashful Blue with the Copics I own. I used the Stampin' Up scallop border punch to create the mats for my main image. The sentiment is from Unity.

I just LOVE the idea with the Scallop Border Punch... such a neat idea! To created it, I cut the blue layer to 2 3/4" and centred the paper in the punch on each of the four sides. The green layer was cut to 2 1/2" square.

Enjoy the rest of your day!

*So Strange*

It is so strange to me to be making Christmas cards in April! But it's also nice to know that I have a bunch of Christmas cards already made for this year. That will take some stress off my life come November.

Unless, of course, I decide I hate all of them and start over again LOL!

This was another of Tracy's challenges... this one from March. The challenge was to use black and white plus one other colour and to use a button on your design. As always, we had to make five cards all using the same main image.

I was going to do black, white and red but saw that most of the participants in the challenge had done that... so I did black, white and gold.

You'll notice that there is no button on my design, but a Candy Dot by Pebbles instead. I would have used buttons had I had any...

What you can't see so well is that I added a gold line to the top and bottom edges of my cards with my gold Krylon pen. The reindeer image is by Old Island Stamp Company and is embossed with gold embossing powder.

Again, not totally thrilled with this card... I feel like it needs *something*... I'm just not sure what that is.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today!

*More Christmas Cards in Winter Like Weather*

Another cold and wet (yes, some snow!) weather day here... someone, please make it stop! I've had enough of winter this year!

Just a quickie post from me as we are expecting friends over any minute now to watch the Flames game... never thought I'd be a hockey fan, but here I am!

These cards are for the February Christmas card challenge that Tracy hosted... Only a few months behind!! For February you had to make a square card and use ribbon.

I used an image by Stampendous coloured with my Copics. My colours are Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze and Whisper White. I used my Nestabilities and my Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder in my brand new Big Shot (my Cuttlebug wasn't working as well as it was and I was impressed with the Big Shot when I was using it for classes at the Scrapbook Pantry). I finished the card off with some Kiwi Kiss ribbon and added some bling bling to the swirls with my Sakura Stardust gel pen.

I'm really pleased with how these turned out!!

Off to watch the game... go FLAMES go!!!

*My Mistake*

Eryn emailed and asked what key I used with the Wild Card cartridge in my post below... I went to look and remembered that it wasn't Wild Card at all... I used Joys of the Season.

Cheers

*These Are For Tracy!*

This post and the three to follow are for my friend Tracy. Tracy has been doing a challenge on her blog each month... each month you have to make 5 Christmas cards using the same main image and following the criteria for the challenge that month. I thought it was a great idea back in January but never bothered to do anything with the challenge.

For some reason, last Friday, I decided that it was time for me to try the challenge.

I created these five cards using the Wild Card cartridge with my Cricut. I'm not thrilled with the card, but it's OK. It's not easy to make Christmas cards in April (although with the new snow on the ground and cold temperatures in Calgary it should be a little easier than it was a few days ago!).

In addition to my Cricut, I used some ribbon that I bought years ago for making Christmas tags, Bazzill Bling cardstock and a Dew Drop on each card.

I have actually completed ALL FOUR challenges that Tracy has issued since she started this in January... and I'll be posting them over the next few days. Yup, I have 20 Christmas cards done already!

This is what it looked like outside my door around 4 yesterday afternoon. We woke up to snow covered streets as the temperature dropped. We were 23* on Tuesday afternoon, which is warmer than it should be at this time of year. This morning it was -8* (-18* with the windchill). 23* is 73*F, -8* is 18*F and -18* is about 0*F

Sigh

Enjoy the rest of your day!

*Canadian Scrappers Blog Carnival*

I'm not a scrapbooker, but I thought some of you might be interested in this link... they post links to Canadian scrapbooking blogs on a regular basis... Check them out!

*I Promise, The Last of This Series*

I'm so sorry for the third in a row using the same colour combination. I had them in order of how I made them but I guess I could have moved them around a little bit.

Again, a card I created two months ago. Such a long time ago... surprised I remember anything about it LOL!

I used Memory Box papers with some Stampin' Up! Very Vanilla cardstock and Bazzill Bling cardstock in pink and green. I added some of those beautiful bridal flowers from Michaels and added some Candy Dots to the centres of the flowers. The layout was taken from Sketch Challene 217 on Splitcoast Stampers. I made the card as a tall card, but like how it looks as a wide card instead.

I have created again today... am almost done the last of a little something and then I'll share the cards I've made over the last few days. I just know that there is someone out there who reads my blog who will be surprised!

Our beautiful weather didn't show up today... "they" were calling for +22*C (that's about 72F) but the sun never broke through the clouds. While it's still not cold out (it's 15*C), it's not 22*! And tomorrow's forecast says rain changing to snow!! No no no no no!!!

I've decided that on these beautiful days I will walk the dog in the mornings... get some exercise. It helps that some of my girlfriends and their dogs are interested in doing it so we get exercise and chat time. On the crappy days, I will head to the gym instead. I've spent 5 days making better choices for myself, focussing on myself again... and I hope to see a small drop on the scale on Thursday morning!

Enjoy the rest of your day!

*WOW!!* Check This Out!*

You gotta see this YUMMY blog candy that Debbie has up for grabs... Seriously, it's more than worth the minute it will take you to click on the link and enter!

*Tulips Make Me Smile*

One of my favourite flowers is the tulip. I love the colours, the shape... I love them in the garden and I love them in a vase in my family room. Just so pretty.

Other favourite flowers are Gerber Daisies (truly my absolute favourite) and lilacs (although I'm not at all a fan of a lilac scented *anything*).

After our big back yard re-do last spring/summer, I am looking forward to some beautiful flowers in my back yard. Being hopeless at choosing what to plant, I am hoping one of my friends will help me out! I have some time to make those decisions though... here in Calgary it's dangerous to plant anything before the long weekend in May!

I created this card at the same time as the card from yesterday, at the Pantry two months ago. Another card using Bazzill Bling cardstock, papers from Memory Box and some Michael's ribbon. I added an image from Inkadinkadoo (Doodle Flowers) and some Candy Dots by Pebbles. I coloured the tulip with my Copics. And then I threw it all together into the SCS Sketch Challenge #209.

There will be one more card with this colour combination coming later this week.

Alex arrived home safe and sound last night. It sounds like he had a great time on the band trip. He learned that two of his friends like to stay up too late at night. And those two friends learned that putting salt water taffy on the glass tray in the microwave ends up in a big mess... a big hot mess... and when carrying that big hot mess to the bathroom to try to clean it up you can drop it and the glass will break. A $20 lesson that needed to be learned. But they were good... they went down to the front desk the next morning and told them what had happened and offered to pay for the damage instead of trying to say they didn't do anything. I'm impressed by that.

I've been off work for more than 2 weeks now and have been crafty a grand total of once. And that was Friday night while Bruce was watching TV. I have spent some required time outside in the yard on this beautiful sunny day (19C right now) and I think I will attempt some more crafty time now before I head of in an hour to get Alex from school... I want to take him to some government office to apply for his Social Insurance Number (for those in the US, it's like your Social Security card). I might as well take Matthew with us and get his done at the same time to save another trip!

Thanks for visiting!!

From WebHosting

*A Favour to Ask!*

Hey everyone.... I am writing today to ask a favour on behalf of a friend. She is busy collecting cards for two ladies who are reading milestone birthdays in the next few months.... first there is Bea who will be turning 100, and second there is Mary who is turning 90.

She is looking for people to help her out... to send more cards to these ladies... the goals are 100 cards for Bea and 90 for Mary. I, personally, would love to see a lot more than that for each of them! What wonderful milestones for these women! Think of all that they have seen, done and experienced in their lives.

If you are willing to ship off a couple of your beautiful hand made creations, please email Amy (click her name for the link). She is collecting the cards so what I did was I put the cards with a greeting in each in their own envelopes with the ladies' names on them... and then into a larger envelope addressed to Amy.

I know what a generous and caring group stampers and paper crafters are... so I know that many of you will help Amy out!

Please direct any questions to Amy as she's in charge... I'm just trying to help.

*Happy Saturday*

A beautiful sunny Saturday here in Calgary. I was just outside on my favourite lounge chair with my book, however the breeze is just enough to make it too cool to enjoy sitting out there to read. So I decided to come down to my stamp space instead. I took a photo of what I created last night, tidied up my space and am now here to share a card with you.

I realize just how little creating I've been doing as I know when I made this card... it was when the CalGals got together not in March, but in February! I took the pad of patterned paper from Memory Box as well as cardstocks and ribbon and inks that would go with it. I also went armed with a few sketches that I wanted to try out.

This card was inspired by an idea I saw by Natasha Trupp that was on her Clean and Simple blog. Be sure to check out both of those links as she does some great stuff on both!

I added some Bazzill Bling cardstock and some Stampin' Up Very Vanilla cardstock to the Memory Box paper, some ribbon from Michaels and the sentiment stamped in black Memento (also Stampin' Up).

I absolutely LOVE the simplicity of this card... and it went together so quickly and easily!

Matthew (the 12 year old) had a wonderful time at Outdoor School this past week. All of the grade 6 kids at his school went out to Silvercreek Ranch and spent 2 nights and almost 3 full days learning in nature. They tailor the games etc out there to the curriculum so the kids are just learning what they'd be learning in school, but in a different (and fun) way. They left here on Tuesday morning and got home on Thursday afternoon.

Alex (the newly 14 year old) will be heading home from his band trip tomorrow. They left at 5:30am Tuesday and made the long bus ride to Vancouver where they boarded the ferry to Victoria. Thursday they were back on the ferry to return to Vancouver. They have played at 4 or 5 schools, had a few different clinics with other instructors, been to the Royal BC Museum, seen A Chorus Line... and today they are wandering around Granville Island, taking a tour of Vancouver and then off to the symphony tonight. I have heard from my friend Bonnie who went as a chaperone that everyone is having a great time. Alex almost lost his wallet but realized it just before they pulled out of the parking lot at the school he left it in when they changed their clothes. Lucky kid!

The house was really quiet with both kids gone... but with only one kid home, it's surprisingly quiet as well... no fighting!! LOL!

We're heading out tonight to watch the Flames.... hope they can win this one!

*A Little Monkey Business*

I will admit, I have a thing for the monkey. Not a big thing (like my love for snowflakes and snowman), but a thing all the same. I think it's because my Grama called me Little Monkey all my life. There's a part of me that would love a monkey tattoo, but I haven't found that perfect artwork for it yet.

I just love love love many of the Changito stamps from Stampendous... the monkeys are so darn cute!!

This card was inspired by at card I saw on Eulanda's blog... the layout was a Whiff of Joy challenge back in February.

I had fun with some Stampin' Up! patterned paper, one of my new border punches (EK Success), some beautiful chocolate satin ribbon, Nestabilities and my Copic markers.

I hope you all had an awesome long weekend.... the weather here in Calgary has been awesome and I spent a good chunk of time out on the back patio reading. Gotta love that!

Enjoy your day!

*I Was Away Again*

I know, you hardly noticed I was away! I haven't been updating my blog often enough for you to realize that I was actually away for a long weekend.... sigh, that is sad!

My sisters (Heather and Sandra) and I teamed up and surprised Mom at Christmas with tickets to Vegas. We flew met up in Sin City on Friday and spent the weekend together, celebrating Mom's 70th birthday (which was on the 5th) at every opportunity. We had a wonderful time and all came home exhausted!! The highlights of the trip for me were Mom posing with the two Chippendale dancers outside of Harrah's (I haven't laughed that hard in a long time!) and seeing Cirque du Soliel "O" on Sunday night.

We all came home on Monday... I arrived at 11pm and crawled in to bed when I got home. Yesterday I had to get groceries and do laundry, but otherwise I took it easy. Of course, now that I am not working, I don't honestly know what a typical day in the life of Nancy will be like, so who knows if what I did on Tuesday was taking it easy or normal LOL!!

I love the simplicity of this card... made with one of my favourite colour combinations... Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango and Elegant Eggplant. The flowers are by PaperTrey (Beautiful Blooms) and the sentiment is from A*Muse.

I added some of that great Kiwi Kiss SU ribbon to finish it off.

A very quick and easy card... and yes, only one layer plus the ribbon!

And shockers.... no bling!!!