*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!!!

*OMG Take 30 Seconds*

This little video is only 30 seconds... and your jaw will drop like mine did...

*My Life Is Changing*

I mentioned in a post last week that there was other stuff going on in my world lately... and I think it's time to share. I have decided that it is time for me to take a break from the Scrapbook Pantry so I have quit my job. I have been there since before the store opened (January 2008) and have learned so much about the paper crafting industry and about the retail world. I have also met a lot of wonderful people through my job.

I am planning on spending more time creating as well as taking time to take care of myself... I'd really like to lose the weight I gained after my Dad died 3 years ago. It's time to get out walking the 'hood again, working out at the gym and keeping an eye on what I eat.

So, that's how my life is changing.... nothing too dramatic or crazy, but a change all the same.

For those who are wondering, my last day of work is April 2nd.

Cheers

*A Cricut Card*

Happy Monday Morning all... sunny day in Calgary and warming up a bit. Perhaps we'll get rid of some of the snow that fell before I woke up on Sunday morning. We got about 4"... that's three Saturday night/Sunday morning snow storms in four weeks

MAKE IT STOP!

I enjoyed my quiet weekend for the most part... I had a few times during the weekend that I was bored and missing my family, but for the most part I enjoyed having my own schedule and time to myself. I made a total of 7 cards this weekend... a lot for me these days. One of them was one I dreamed up all on my own without a challenge or seeing one like it somewhere else.

This was the last card I made for my class at the Scrapbook Pantry earlier this month. It's like the card I made here, but since the store doesn't sell the SU Word Windo Punch and didn't have any flowers in stock that would work, I decided to do it all with the Cricut. I used the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge that came with my Expressions.

We had some fun sanding our Core'dinations cardstock and making a bit of a mess. I changed the card up a bit for the class but don't have a photo... we added a smaller black flower on top of the flower and bling to the tops and bottoms of the red ovals.

I'm outta here.... enjoy your day!

*Longest Week in Recorded History*

Happy Friday morning everyone! I thought we were at Friday a few days ago, so I'm happy to announce it's finally here. I don't know what caused it, but this week seemed to crawl by. On Tuesday I was convinced it was Thursday.... felt like I had done so much and that it had to be Thursday already. The whole week felt like that!

Had some bad news on Wednesday... my Mom's best friend passed away. This is a family that I grew up with, knew well. Auntie Donna was a warm,vibrant, funny and fun woman, and she will be missed by all who knew her.

I'm playing the role of a single woman for the weekend... Bruce and the boyz left for the mountains yesterday to spend some time with my mother in law and her husband at their time share condo. I am enjoying a quiet (and clean) house.... although I will admit that it feels a little weird to wake up in a quiet house! I am looking forward to my stamping gals joining me to play tonight!

A few other things going on in my world as well... but we'll leave that for another day....

I created this card as part of my April class at the Scrapbook Pantry. We used a great clear stam set by Scenic Route that included these three candles. There were these two images on the sheet that I had no idea what they could be... one of the gals in one of the classes I taught pointed out that they were the candle flames. Well of course they were! Duh!

But, since I didn't know that when designing the class, I had to improvise with some bling for the candle flames. The gal who knew those images were the flames stamped them on, coloured them and added the bling as part of the flame. Hers looked awesome!

The card was all about the bling... Bazzill Bling cardstock, Copic Spica Atyou glitter pens... and bling, of course!

I hope to make a bunch of cards this weekend while the family is away... or at least to work on my colour combination book for my Copics (thanks Shannon!). I want to be crafty this weekend!

Enjoy your weekend, whatever it is you end up doing!

*Winter Storm Warning*

You've got to be kidding me. Yesterday, we had a high of +13*C (about 55*F), right now it's sunny and nice out... and apparently we're looking at 10-20 cms of snow tonight (4-8")

WTF??

Spring Break will be spent on sleds on the hill by the school instead of riding bikes!

Of course, I took the boots out of the entryway yesterday afternoon. I was actually thinking that flip flop season was almost upon us! I knew I was too early, but the winter has seemed so long...

I created this card as part of my April class at the Scrapbook Pantry. I wanted the ladies who take my classes to get their fingers a little dirty so we blended the VersaMagic Dew Drops directly on to white paper to create the background that we stamped the birthday hats on to. What you can't see is that I coloured some of the stripes of the hats with Copic Spica markers and added some Stickles to the hats as well. We added some Dew Drops in the corners to finish it off.

Off to the mall in a few... Matthew has three pairs of jeans and now all three have holes in the knees... need at least one pair without holes!

Enjoy your Saturday!

*It's Been A Week?*

So sorry to have not posted earlier. I got back from my Cruise vacation on Sunday night, spent Monday doing laundry and relaxing, then Tuesday running around as it was Matthew's 12th birthday and I went away on vacation totally unprepared for it. Wednesday I went back to work.

I was in bed last night before 10pm, which is something I *never* do. I've been nothing but tired since I got home.

I had a wonderful time cruising the Caribbean with my sister last week. It was so relaxing and fun. My favourite event was the excursion to the Dolphin Academy in Curacao. We were in a small group of 6 people with one trainer and three dolphins!! Basically, Heather and I had a dolphin between the two of us for about 45 minutes. It was *SO* cool! Our other three excursions were all snorkeling... I think my favourite of the three of them (Aruba, St Maarten and St Thomas) was the Bones tour in St Thomas. The snorkelling was fantastic with clear water and sea turtles and the crew on the pirate ship was a lot of fun.

One more trip away in a few more weeks, then I am done for a bit. My two sisters and I are taking our Mom to Vegas to celebrate her 70th birthday the first weekend in April. Should be a lot of fun!

I created this card after being inspired by a card on Tammy's blog. I loved the look of it!

I used all Bazill cardstock, added some flowers I got at the Scrapbook Pantry, some bling and a Doodlebug flocked brad. The sentiment is one of my favourites from A*Muse.

I really like how this card turned out... the design, the colours... it is truly one of my favourites!

Thanks for popping by!

*Warning... This One is Bright!*

I can only imagine that I am having a splendiferous day on my cruise... let's see... I'm posting this on Thursday, which means we are at sea for the day. We have already been to Aruba and Curacao and I'm sure they were beautiful LOL! (if you're confused, scroll down and read the next post).

That means I have already been swimming with dolphins! What an adventure (I'm sure).

See, I told you this was hard!!

LOL

Anyway... a card for today. I created this one using the Sketch Challenge #161 over at Splitcoast. I used some Basic Black and Pink Passion SU Cardstock as well as some green Bazill Bling cardstock. I added a few Prima flowers, a fuzzy pink brad, some black dots around the edge, a sentiment from A*Muse and of course, some bling!

Watch out, as there are more versions of pink and green cards in your future... I've made a few lately!

Have a splendiferous day!