Crafting this Moment

Trick or Treat

2011-10-21T07:11:00.000-04:00

This year I've been in the Halloween mood. I've been having fun playing with the Stampin Up set "Wicked Cool" and my punches. I wish I could take credit for the idea of having the witches feet sticking out of the cauldron but I can't. I've seen several different cards like this online so I really don't know who the original creator is. These are the cards that I made this week. I added a "skirt" to the witches feet making it different from the previous cards I made. I think I like this one better. I made 3 of these cards as I plan on sending them off to my 2 niece's children. I think the kids will enjoy them & get a kick out of the witch sticking out of the cauldron. lol
Here's the first 3 cards that I made:

This next one uses a printed background made by Sherry ? I've had this background for years. I also added a rosette to it.

This next card is a punch card. I made the candy corn by lining up the colors and cutting out a 1” piece, rounding the corners & hand printing the sentiment.

Recently I mentioned to my Mom that I was making cards to send to my “Greats”. Normally she doesn't send out Halloween cards but after mentioning that I was sending cards to the kids, that she couldn’t get out to get cards for the grand kids this year as she recently had a fall. Of course I volunteered to make some for her. So now I’m not only making cards for the grandkids, I’m making several other cards too. lol These 3 cards that I made to let mom chose from use the CTMH Wicked stamp set. It's a fun set too! I hope she likes them.

Well that's it for today! I hope you have a Spooktacular day. Thanks for stopping by.

More Cards for My Sister

2011-10-07T05:30:00.000-04:00

I’m trying to complete the Thank You cards that I promised to make for my sister. I hope to make at least 12 cards to give to her. So far I’ve posted 2 of the cards that I’ve made for her. I finished a few more yesterday and thought that I’d post them as well.

The first card I made uses a Magnolia image. I added 4 of my Paper Roses that I made in blue. I also added some Stickles to them to make them sparkle. They are so pretty & I love the sparkle. I used my Fiskars “Threading Waters” Border Punch, the SU Decorative Label Punch, SU Small Oval Punch & the EK Success Swirl Punch. I also used the SU “Four Frames” stamp set as well as the SU “Lots of Thoughts” Sale-a-Bration stamp set (discontinued) for the verse. The ribbon is also from Stampin Up. The designer paper is from MME “Tickled Pink” paper pad.

The next card uses the tree stamp from Stampin Up “Season of Friendship”. I stamped it in Soft Suede ink & cut it out. I then punched out the various Maple Leaves using an EK Success Maple Leaf punch. I added stickles to the edges of the leaves & popped them up using dimensionals. The verse is also from the Season of Friendship stamp set. The “thanks so much” verse was from the SU “Tiny Tags” stamp set and punched out with the SU “Jewelry Tag” punch. I added the gemstones using my new Imaginesce I-Rock. I’ve had it for several months and this is actually the first time I’ve used it & I love it!

I made another card using the tree stamp from Stampin Up “Season of Friendship”. I stamped it in Soft Suede ink & cut it out. I then stamped the various butterflies from my new Fiskars Butterfly stamp set that I won in the Liftoff Challenge. It was the smallest butterfly in the set. I then cut it out & applied Stickles to each butterfly. The verse & leaves were from the Season of Friendship set. The leaves were stamped in Soft Suede ink & cut it out. (Talk about a lot of cutting on this card). The “thanks so much” verse was from the SU “Tiny Tags” stamp set and punched out with the SU “Jewelry Tag” punch. The ribbon is from Stampin Up. I also added the gemstones using my new Imaginesce I-Rock.

The final card I made yesterday uses a Stampin Up set that I’ve had for some time now. A Hostess Level 3 set called “Time Well Spent”. I stamped the flower, cut it out & popped it up using dimensionals. I also used my I-Rock to add the gemstones again. I also used my Fiskars “Leave it to Weaver” Border Punch & the “Scalloped Daisy” Embossing Border Punch. I think I’ll add a Thank You verse inside this card & then I can add it to the collection I’m giving my sister.

Well so far I have completed 6 cards for my sister so it looks like I’ve better get busy if I plan on finishing her cards.

Enjoy your day & thanks for stopping by.

Everything’s Coming Up Roses

2011-10-06T05:10:00.000-04:00

It sure looks like everything is coming up roses around here.

Recently I’ve gotten hooked on making these wee little paper roses. They are so easy to make. They look great & when you add stickles to them, they are definitely a wow factor. They are inexpensive to make and a great way to use up all your scraps. It’s also nice that roses come in so many different colors. The great thing is, I can watch tv & make roses at the same time.

I've put my finished roses in a glass jar so that I can display them & find them easily when I need them. Can you tell I'm hooked on making them? lol

Thanks for looking & have a great day!

Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure

2011-10-06T05:05:00.000-04:00

I had wanted to post this on Sunday but unfortunately I didn't have my project finished in time to do post it. I'm posting it now after the event with a couple of pictures taken by my niece Natasha.

My sister Donna is a 3 times breast cancer survivor & more recently is recovering from Heart Valve Replacement Surgery. This year she decided to do the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure on Sunday along with her family. Her husband Rick who has been so amazing in supporting her with all of her cancer surgeries as well as her recent valve replacement surgery also walked along side her. Both of her girls Natasha & Chantale, their spouses & children along with Natasha’s in-law’s did the walk too.

(This first photo shows my sister along with her 7 grandchildren - you can barely see Andrew. I blocked out the face of one child as he isn't one of her grandchildren.)

(The second photo is of my sister Donna along with her beautiful daughters Chantale & Natasha. Both photo's were taken by Natasha.)

It was a cold & miserable day for walking but they completed the 5 km run. I’m so proud of her & her family for all the support they’ve given her. Natasha’s nephew made up their team name “The Heroic Hooters”. Regardless of the weather, they had a fun day & raised money for a great cause.

I recently made this fun Pink Paper Shoe that I thought was perfect for this event.

Enjoy your day & thanks for stopping by.

World Card Making Day

2011-10-03T08:19:00.000-04:00

I’ve never participated in any of the World Card Making Day challenges before. This year when I saw Tami’s Progressive Challenge posted on the Fiskateer Message Board, I decided to play along.

I promised my sister that I would make her a dozen Thank You cards that she can send out to those who were so helpful during her recouperation from her heart surgery. This challenge is perfect for helping me get started on making these cards for her.

I also plan on making my Mother who’s turning 87 this year a card box for Christmas. In this box I’ll put some birthday cards for both adults & children (there are a lot of grandchildren & great grandchildren that she sends cards too), sympathy cards, thinking of you, Valentine, Easter, etc. I plan on giving her a good assortment as she is always sending out cards. So some of the cards will be for her card box.

Tags aren’t really my thing but this one was fun. It doesn’t count as one of my WCMD challenge cards though. Here's the tag I made using mostly SU products.

The 1st card I made yesterday for Tami's World Card Making Challenge. I used the Fiskars Butterfly stamp set that I won in the Liftoff Crop. I also used the med Round n' Round to make the flowers & added Stickles to them and the butterfly. The butterfly border was done with a SU wheel. I’ll add a Thank You tag to this card.

This is my 2nd card for Tami's WCMD Challenge. The elephant is a free digital stamp that I found online some time ago. I can't remember who's it is though. The flowers were handmade using the Fiskars med round n' round squeeze punch. I'm addicted to making these flowers. They are so easy to make. Plus they are a great way to use up scraps.

This is my 3rd card for Tami's WCMD Progressive Challenge. I used the Stampin Up Snowman stamps, added stickles to them, used the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots & Snowflake Embossing Folders.

This next one is my 4th and final card that I made for Tami's WCMD Progressive Challenge. I used my circle punch to make the little roses. The Magnolia image is holding a rose which I originally colored with my Copic Markers. After making these roses I decided to add one of them over top of the colored rose. I also added some half pearls and a tiny tag that says Thanks (so much). This will be perfect for the cards I'm making for my sister. (2 done 10 to go lol)

It doesn't look to promising for us today. It's supposed to be cold & rainy. It did rain some during the night so hopefully that's our rainfall for today. At least they are saying the rest of the week will be nice. Well enjoy your day and thanks for stopping by!

2nd Annual Fiskateer’s Orange Blog Hop Finale Thanks

2011-10-03T06:50:00.002-04:00

Thank you all so much for stopping by during the 2nd Annual Fiskateer’s Orange Blog Hop & leaving such wonderful comments. I really do appreciate your stopping by & taking the time to view my projects for the Hop & leaving comments.

I’d also like to thank Debbie (Fiskateer #2852) for all her hard work in putting this blog hop together & all the ladies who participated. There were so many wonderful projects & so much inspiration.

Orange Blog Hop

2011-10-01T04:05:00.000-04:00

Hello, I hope that you are enjoying the Fiskateers Orange Blog Hop. If you have just come from Lisa's Scrap Site you are in the right place. This is a stop on the Orange Blog Hop where members of Fiskateers, a community sponsored by Fiskars, is sharing their passion for crafting.

If you get lost along the way or would like to start at the beginning of the hop or see the list of blogs participating in the hop, you can do so at the Fiskateers Blog.

After you are finished here, the next stop on the Orange Blog Hop is “the crafty neighbor”. I'm sure that you'll enjoy her creative ideas.

I am a huge fan of the Fiskateers and have been ever since discovering their blog/message board in April 2007. I really enjoy participating in their online crops, challenges as well as the day to day posts.

Last week I received the new Fiskars “Fall Gatherings” Border Punch that I won in the Liftateers Liftoff Online Crop. I thought that it would be perfect for a challenge that Cheryl (a Lead Fiskateer) recently posted on the blog. Her challenge was “to use one of your punches in a unique way . . . brand new to you.”

For Cheryl’s challenge, I used the “Fall Gatherings” Border Punch, Limited Edition “What a Nut” Squeeze Punch, Limited Edition “Strong as an Oak” and the Med Round n’ Round Squeeze Punch to make these two little “love nuts”. I saved the little pieces from the Fall Gatherings Border Punch & used them to decorate the “hats” and the border. The verse is part of a stamp (it also had a squirrel on it) that I got from Michael’s a few years ago. The faces were hand drawn. This is a new way of using my punches as normally I would toss the little pieces from the border punch away.

While I had my punches out, I also made another fall card using the “Fall Gatherings” Border Punch, Limited Edition “What a Nut” Squeeze Punch, Limited Edition “Strong as an Oak” and the Med Round n’ Round Squeeze Punch. I also used the same stamped verse.

Then I decided that I needed a card with a squirrel on it. I used the squirrel from my USX Shape Template “Woodland Trees” and cut it out of gray cardstock. I added a shimmer chalk to it to give it some additional color. The squirrel was mounted on the punched out mat from the Fiskars “Dancing Daisy” circle border punch. I also used the same punches used in the previous two cards.

I love how you can use the same punches and come up with so many different card ideas.

One of the challenges in the Liftoff Crop Sandy Fiskateer #1781 was “Lift a Lead”. Sandy chose a card that Tami made using an old map and page from an old math book. Instead of making a card, Sandy made a “Junque Journal”. I was inspired by Sandy’s idea of creating a junque journal for myself. Although I didn’t get it done for the challenge, I finally finished making one of my own. It’s definitely a neat idea & it is going to be a fun way to keep track of all my 2011 “junque”.

I used lots of bling on this junque journal. The letters are SU chipboard that I painted white & then went over top with a shimmery opal paint. I used Glossy Accents to glue them down. I also punched out the angel wings from the Fiskars Limited Edition "Love Takes Flight" Squeeze Punch and added them on either side of the letter "O". I also added some stickles to the edges of the wings as well as to the flowers. The flowers are a SU stamp that I watercolored & cut out. I also used the MS Butterfly punch & added some stickles to it.

I hope that you've enjoyed this stop on the Orange Blog Hop and have been inspired in some way. Don't forget, the next stop on the Orange Blog Hop is “the crafty neighbor”.

Enjoy your day & thanks for hopping with us. Thanks for stopping by.

Coming Soon The 2nd Annual Fiskateers Orange Blog Hop

2011-09-27T06:48:00.000-04:00

The 2nd Annual Fiskateers Orange Blog Hop is made up of Fiskateers. Fiskateers is a community of crafters (Fiskars Brand) that love to share the passion for crafting.

Saturday morning the event opens and will go through until Sunday at midnight. The starting blog is at the Fiskateers Blog. I hope to run into you Hopping!

Remembering September 11th

2011-09-11T06:55:00.000-04:00

It's so hard to believe that 10 years have passed since that tragic day. Even though I live in Canada, I still remember it as if it was yesterday.

My heart goes out to all those who lost loved one's that day, the many, many heroes of the day, firemen, police officers, citizens, etc. My thoughts and prayers are with you all.

Surgery Update

2011-06-21T06:48:00.000-04:00

Thank you all so very much for your thoughts & prayers. My sister Donna came through her surgery with flying colors & is doing well. They put in a small mechanical valve which will hopefully fix the problem. Thanks to God for hearing all of our prayers. I'm sure that Donna will have a speedy recovery as she hates to be cooped up for very long. Once again, thanks for all your thoughts & prayers. I really do appreciate them.

Please pray for my sister Donna who is having surgery today!

2011-06-20T06:23:00.000-04:00

Please pray for my sister Donna. She had a mild heart attack last Thursday and this afternoon she is having open heart surgery to replace her aeortic heart valve.

Could you also say a prayer for Donna’s husband & their two beautiful daughters (& their families) who are having a difficult time watching Donna having to go through all of this.

Thanks so much for your thoughts & prayers. They are appreciated.

Please Say A Prayer for my Sister

2011-06-17T06:33:00.000-04:00

My sister Donna had a heart attack early yesterday afternoon and her husband rushed her to the hospital. She’s ok and they are keeping her in the hospital for a few days to monitor her to make sure that she doesn’t have another one.

Donna recently found out that she is going to have to have heart surgery to repair the main heart valve that was destroyed by radiation that she underwent over 20 years ago to fight breast cancer. A couple of years ago she found out that she would have to have heart surgery at some point in the next few years to repair this valve. The surgeons were hoping that it she’d be ok for a few years & at the time surgery wasn’t necessary. After having a heart spell a few months ago & ending up in emergency she learnt that she’d have to have the heart surgery within the next few months.

Donna’s been undergoing various Pre-Op testing to determine what needs to be done to repair this heart valve. Hopefully this heart attack doesn’t slow down the surgeon setting a date for her surgery. I know how anxious she is to get this over & done with so that she can get on with her life.

Could you also say a prayer for Donna’s husband & their two beautiful daughters (& their families) who are having a really difficult time watching Donna having to go through all of this.

Thank you so much for your prayers. I know that prayers help and we need all the help we can get to help Donna get through this recent heart attack & her upcoming heart surgery.

Happy 5th Birthday Dakota (June 14th)

2011-06-14T17:15:00.000-04:00

It’s hard to believe that another of my adorable great nieces, Dakota is 5 years old today. I remember the year she was born. On the 13th of June, I underwent knee surgery to have a torn cartilage in my left knee removed as well as an arthroscopy done. The day after my knee surgery, Dakota was born and then on the 15th of June, my mother underwent knee replacement surgery.

Now 5 yrs later I’m waiting to see my surgeon next month to set the date for my total knee replacement surgery to be done. I’ve already been through all the pre-op testing and have been given the go ahead from the cardiologist. I’ll be so glad when this is over & done with. Not just my surgery but my sister, Dakota’s “Ga Ga” (Grandma) is awaiting a date to have heart surgery done. She has to undergo a valve replacement. Needless to say it’s been a busy spring with us both undergoing various Pre-Op testing, a surprise 60th birthday party for her husband Rick as well as all these other family birthdays. Looks like our summer or fall will be spent recuperating from our surgeries (and birthday's).

Well Dakota's is the last of the little one’s birthdays until December when Jaden’s birthday comes along. I couldn’t let my adorable little great niece’s birthday go by without wishing her a wonderful birthday.

Happy Birthday to you dear Dakota. Here’s wishing you a very happy 5th birthday. I hope that all your birthday wishes & dreams come true.

I love you
Aunt Diane

Happy 2nd Birthday Dallas (June 8th)

2011-06-08T04:38:00.000-04:00

Here’s wishing my sweet little great nephew Dallas a very Happy 2nd Birthday. It doesn’t seem possible that 2 years have gone by already. I hope that all your birthday wishes & dreams come true.

I love you
Aunt Diane

Happy 8th Birthday Jeremy (May 30th)

2011-05-30T17:51:00.000-04:00

Well we started off the month with Jeremy's youngest brother's birthday & end off the month with his birthday. Somehow my niece Natasha managed to have all 3 of her boy's birthdays in May along with her own. Her poor daughter Jaden has to wait until December for her birthday which is only 11 days before Christmas (December 14th).

Jeremy is the spitting image of my father who passed away when I was a young girl. I found a photo of my father at the age of 2 and it is amazing how much Jeremy resembled him right down to the curly blond hair. I wish my father was alive today so that he could have seen and know his grandchildren & great grandchildren. (as well as them being able to know him).

I just have to wish my adorable great nephew Jeremy a very happy 8th birthday. I hope that all your birthday wishes & dreams come true.
I love you. Aunt Diane

Happy 4th Birthday Andrew (May 20th)

2011-05-20T08:28:00.000-04:00

(This photo of my adorable Great Nephew Andrew was taken a couple of years ago when he was 2 yrs old. I really do need some updated photo's of all my "greats". Hint Hint). I've never seen a child change so much in looks as this little guy does. Every time I see him it's like they've gotten a new child. He changes in looks that much.

Happy 4th Birthday Andrew! I hope that all your birthday wishes come true.
I love you. Aunt Diane

Happy Birthday Natasha (May 8th)

2011-05-08T06:32:00.000-04:00

Today is my niece Natasha's birthday. I just couldn't let today go by without wishing her a very Happy Birthday!

Natasha is my sister’s oldest daughter. Growing up they lived around the corner from us for about 7 years. Natasha & her younger sister Chantale spent a lot of time at my house. Our families vacationed together & spent a lot of time together. Natasha & Chantale are like daughters to me and I love them both dearly.

So once again if you are reading this Natasha, I hope that you have a wonderful birthday & that your day is as special as you are.

I hope all your birthday wishes & dreams come true.
I love you! Aunt Diane

Happy Mother's Day! (May 8th)

2011-05-08T06:25:00.000-04:00

Happy Mother's Day! I just wanted to wish all the special mother's in my life a very Happy Mother's Day. My mother is always there for us when we need her and has taught us all how to be a good mother. Whenever my mother comments on how I've spoiled my son, I always tell her that I learnt it from her. I find myself doing the little things for my son that my mother always did (& would still do) for us. Everything I've learnt about being a good mother, I've learnt from her example. Even now that I'm grown up & a mother myself, my mother at 86 is still "mothering" me and my siblings. I wouldn't have it any other way. I am so blessed to have a mother who is as amazing as mine is. My mother is a very special person and I am truly blessed to have her as my mother. I know that because of her and the examples she set for us, we are all better parents to our own children.

Happy Mother's Day to my very special mother, my sister and my two beautiful nieces Natasha & Chantale.

Thanks mom for who you are and all that you do.
I love you! Diane

Happy 2nd Birthday Gavin (May 2nd)

2011-05-02T19:51:00.002-04:00

(I really do need some updated photo's of all my "greats". Hint Hint.) This picture of Gavin was taken when he was 6 months old. Isn't he a little cutie. He's the only one of my niece Natasha's 4 children that has brown eyes. I told her that he got them from me. lol

Happy Birthday Gavin! I just have to take a minute to wish my sweet little great nephew Gavin a very happy 2nd birthday. I hope that all your birthday wishes come true Gavin.
Love you Aunt Diane

Toadally Frogs Blog Hop (Day 2)

2011-04-23T23:25:00.000-04:00

Ribbett!! Ribbett!! "Welcome back to Day 2 of the Toadally Frogs Blog Hop! We have Toadally amazing crafters hopping along...and we hope to give the Easter Bunny a leap for his money! You should have come from Jamie at Glitter, Paper, Stamps, Oh My!'s blog http://jamieisacraftymomma.blogspot.com/--- wasn't that a fun place to visit? If you just happened to find us, and want to join in the fun, hop on back to Karelj's Blog at http://karelj.blogspot.com/ to start at the beginning."

Today’s project is these fun Boy’s Coveralls cards. I used a template that I found online to cut out the coveralls. I added a pocket and belt (they weren’t included on the template). The frog is the small frog from Magnolia. I cut off his crown & part of his body to fit him in the pocket. I think that the frog adds that little something to this cute little template.

Next, I took the same frog from the Magnolia stamps and used him on this binder clip stand. I used my Martha Stewart Fringe Scissors to cut the grass. The sign is a digital stamp that I found on line.

Thanks for stopping back. I hope that you’ve enjoyed today’s projects and that somehow I’ve inspired you to create something fun. Ribbett!! Ribbett!!

"Now that you've seen my blog, you should jump on over to Krista and Kori at 2 Crafty Chicks's blog, (http://2craftychics.blogspot.com/)and see if they have posted something new for Day 2."

1. Karelj at One By One The Flamingos Are Stealing My Sanity http://karelj.blogspot.com

2. Celeste at Touched By a Butterfly www.touchedbyabutterfly.blogspot.com

3. Michelle Petrovich at Peanut Butter and Jelly Designs http://peanutbutterandjellydesigns.blogspot.com

4. Belinda Kersey at Queen Bee’s Musings at http://www.queenbeesmusings.blogspot.com/

5. Cali Romero at Calie’s Creative Corner at www.Caliescreativecorner.blogspot.com

6. Nicolette Simpson at Beyond Scrapping www.beyondscrapin.blogspot.com

7. Bonnie Cantu at A Scrap Above at http://ascrapabove.blogspot.com/

8. Lisa Gorlewski at Lisa’s Paper Butterflies at http://lisaspaperbutterflies.blogspot.com

9. Jamie at Glitter, Paper, Stamps, Oh My! http://jamieisacraftymomma.blogspot.com/

10. Diane at Crafting This Moment at http://craftingthismoment.blogspot.com/ *YOU ARE HERE!!

11. Krista at scrapaleupagus.blogspot.com

12. Gina at Gina Thornton Stamping http://ginathorntonstamping.blogspot.com/

13. Stephenie at SS Crafter at http://www.sscrafter.blogspot.com/

14. Rebecca Maddux at Creations With Becka at www.creationswithbecka.blogspot.com

15. Kathryn at Creations By Kathryn at http://wamfamily.blogspot.com

16. Summer and Jennifer at The Cricut Diaries at www.cricutdiaries.blogspot.com

17. Mistyrose at Sweet Magnolia Rose at http://sweetmagnoliarose.blogspot.com/

18. Melissa Allore at Disney Dreamer Designs at www.disneydreamerdesigns.blogspot.com

19. Patti Hurlburt at Short ‘N Scrappy at www.shortnscrappy.com

20. Colleen McCauley at Col’s Creative Corner at http://scrappycol.blogspot.com/

21. Janice Anello at Cricut Confessions at www.cricutconfessions.com

22. Leah Pagliaroli at Leah’s Card Designs at http://leahscarddesigns.blogspot.com

23. Audrey Roseman at Life Is Beautiful at http://audreyscardsbydesign.blogspot.com

24. Ellen Jarvis at Card Monkey at www.cardmonkey-business.blogspot.com

25. Mallika Kejriwal at Miss Not So Good With Words at www.missnotsogoodwithwords.blogspot.com

26. Inga Klaus at Momma Hobbit Creations at http://mommahobbit.blogspot.com

27. Brynn Thornburgh at Flair and Frills Creativity http://www.flairandfrillscreativity.blogspot.com/

28. Kristal Andrews at Getting at http://www.gettingcricky.com

Toadally Frogs Blog Hop (Day 1)

2011-04-22T21:57:00.005-04:00

Ribbett!! Ribbett!! "Welcome to the Toadally Frogs Blog Hop! We have Toadally amazing crafters hopping along...and we hope to give the Easter Bunny a leap for his money! You should have come from Jamie at Glitter, Paper, Stamps, Oh My!'s blog at http://jamieisacraftymomma.blogspot.com/ wasn't that a fun place to visit? If you just happened to find us, and want to join in the fun, hop on back to Karelj's Blog at http://karelj.blogspot.com to start at the beginning."

I'm a couple hours early with my post but lately I've had a problem with blogger not publishing my posts when I set them up to post automatically. Since I'm usually up by 3 am, I don't very often stay up until midnight which is why I'm posting early. So please do come back at 12:01 EST to see the start of the Karel's Toadily Frogs Blop Hop.

When I was a little girl, I always wanted to own a pet of my own. My father wasn't too thrilled with having house pets so when he was alive we didn't have them. (Well, we weren't supposed to. lol) Somehow we always managed to have pets of some sort, from a raccoon, a huge painted turtle we rescued from the road, a series of outdoor cats as well as whatever else followed us home.

I remember one summer in particular, it was all about frogs and toads. My friend Elizabeth who lived across the road from me and I spent most of the late spring and early summer trying to find frogs and toads to bring home. We had found 2 toads and we had them in a huge wooden box that we kept outside covered up so that they wouldn't escape. Well, one day on our way home from school we spotted a huge fat toad that we knew we had to have for our pet. Since we didn't have anything to carry him in, we emptied out Elizabeth's lunch box & put him in there. We had given all our toad's names and we kept them as pets for several weeks. Eventually I guess we realized that they weren't happy in their new homes and returned them to the wild. Even today I have a soft spot for frogs and toads.

For today’s project I stumbled across a cute idea online on how to make a Frog Bank. I saved the template for the frog & later made some alterations to it in order for it to fit on my container. I used an empty yogurt container for the frog’s body. I covered it with green cardstock that was run through my Cuttlebug using the Mesh Embossing folder. After embossing the cardstock, I wrapped it around the container. I then cut out the shapes for the head and body and also ran that through the Cuttlebug. I punched out circles for the eyes. Cut a hole in the lid of the container to make a slot to put your money in. The tongue was then cut out & attached so that it can lift up to hide the money slot. This is a fun easy project that can be done with your children & that I’m sure they’d enjoy. How fun to have this frog sit on your desk to help you save your money.

Or if you’re like me….you’ll use it to store all those left over punched out spare pieces. I usually store up all my left over punchies and give them to my niece who run’s a Day Care out of her home. She always takes the time to do craft projects with her day care kids. Her kid’s always love to create things with all the left over punchies. I also have a new scrapping friend who also happens to be a long lost cousin that I met through Ancestry.ca(we have the same great grandmother), that I send the leftover punchies to. I have so many punches that it’s nice to be able to share these leftover pieces with someone. It’s also a great way to use up all my scraps.

Here’s a picture of my Frog (Punchie) Bank:

I hope that you’ll stop by tomorrow to see more of my Toadilly Frogs projects. Ribbett!! Ribbett!!

"Now that you've seen my blog, you should jump on over to Krista http://www.scrapaleupagus.blogspot.com/. Her project is so toadally fun---I know you're going to love it!"

If you get lost along the way, here's the list of the blogs and their order. Have fun hopping!! Ribbet!!

1. Karelj at One By One The Flamingos Are Stealing My Sanity http://karelj.blogspot.com

2. Celeste at Touched By a Butterfly www.touchedbyabutterfly.blogspot.com

3. Michelle Petrovich at Peanut Butter and Jelly Designs http://peanutbutterandjellydesigns.blogspot.com

4. Belinda Kersey at Queen Bee’s Musings at http://www.queenbeesmusings.blogspot.com/

5. Cali Romero at Calie’s Creative Corner at www.Caliescreativecorner.blogspot.com

6. Nicolette Simpson at Beyond Scrapping www.beyondscrapin.blogspot.com

7. Bonnie Cantu at A Scrap Above at http://ascrapabove.blogspot.com/

8. Lisa Gorlewski at Lisa’s Paper Butterflies at http://lisaspaperbutterflies.blogspot.com

9. Jamie at Glitter, Paper, Stamps, Oh My! http://jamieisacraftymomma.blogspot.com/

10. Diane Davison at Crafting This Moment at http://craftingthismoment.blogspot.com/ *YOU ARE HERE!!

11. Krista at http://www.scrapaleupagus.blogspot.com/NEXT STOP ON THE LIST!!
12. Gina at Gina Thornton Stamping http://ginathorntonstamping.blogspot.com/

13. Stephenie at SS Crafter at http://www.sscrafter.blogspot.com/

14. Rebecca Maddux at Creations With Becka at www.creationswithbecka.blogspot.com

15. Kathryn at Creations By Kathryn at http://wamfamily.blogspot.com

16. Summer and Jennifer at The Cricut Diaries at www.cricutdiaries.blogspot.com

17. Mistyrose at Sweet Magnolia Rose at http://sweetmagnoliarose.blogspot.com/

18. Melissa Allore at Disney Dreamer Designs at www.disneydreamerdesigns.blogspot.com

19. Patti Hurlburt at Short ‘N Scrappy at www.shortnscrappy.com

20. Colleen McCauley at Col’s Creative Corner at http://scrappycol.blogspot.com/

21. Janice Anello at Cricut Confessions at www.cricutconfessions.com

22. Leah Pagliaroli at Leah’s Card Designs at http://leahscarddesigns.blogspot.com

23. Audrey Roseman at Life Is Beautiful at http://audreyscardsbydesign.blogspot.com

24. Ellen Jarvis at Card Monkey at www.cardmonkey-business.blogspot.com

25. Mallika Kejriwal at Miss Not So Good With Words at www.missnotsogoodwithwords.blogspot.com

26. Inga Klaus at Momma Hobbit Creations at http://mommahobbit.blogspot.com

27. Brynn Thornburgh at Flair and Frills Creativity http://www.flairandfrillscreativity.blogspot.com/

28. Kristal Andrews at Getting at http://www.gettingcricky.com

Where Have I Been?

2011-04-21T05:34:00.000-04:00

It’s hard to believe that it’s been over 3 weeks since I’ve last posted to my blog. Where has the time gone? This month has been pretty hectic. I’ve been working on my projects for this weekends “Toadilly Frogs Blog Hop” as well as trying to catch up on other things around the house.

Lately I’ve been doing a lot of reading. April hasn’t been the greatest month weather wise & I’ve been suffering a lot with knee pain because of it. I don’t care what some of the doctor’s say, when you have arthritis, the weather plays a huge part of how you feel. At least it does for me. We haven’t had a lot of nice sunny days this month & for the most part, April has been rainy, cold, damp, etc. This week we’ve had snow (fortunately it hasn’t stayed on the ground), rain, hail, sleet, etc. On the day’s that my pain levels are really bad, I spend a good part of my day sleeping or reading. (It doesn’t help that I get up at 3 am most days).

Fortunately, I’ve found a new author to keep me occupied. I’ve been reading Joanne Fluke’s “Hannah Swensen’s Mystery novels” and what can I say….I’m hooked. There are 14 books plus 4 shorter novels in this series. I wish that I could have read them in order but unfortunately I haven’t been able to locate all of the books to do it that way. So far I’ve read 5 of these books and am currently reading one of the shorter novels “Candy Cane Murder” that’s at the back of “The Chocolate Chip Murder” book.

Hannah Swensen runs The Cookie Jar, Lake Eden’s most popular bakery in Minnesota. Along with baking cookies, she helps solve murders. Each of the books have recipes for the mouthwatering cookies, etc that she bakes for her bakery/coffee shop. What I love about these recipes is that for the most part they sound pretty easy to make plus the ingredients are all things that I have in my cupboards. I do plan on attempting to make some of these delicious sounding cookies. When I do, I’ll be sure to take a picture & post them on my blog.

If you are looking for a good, lighthearted read, be sure to check out Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swensen series. If you enjoy Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum series, I think you’ll like these books as they are along the same line. Even thought they are murder mysteries, they don’t go into a lot of details about the murder victim or the actual crime so the books are not what I call full of blood, guts & gore…nor are they scary. Just a fun, lighthearted, enjoyable read. Definitely addictive!!

Blog Candy Winner

2011-03-29T05:49:00.000-04:00

The winner of my blog candy from this weekends "Make Your Own Holiday" Blog Hop hosted by KarelJ, (which I am actually still rounding up & will post a picture of before sending it off) is ……

First, I contacted Karel’s friend “Randy” (Random.org) and asked him to help me draw a winner. He drew….

Drum roll please…..

Marianne Fiskateer #6708

Congratulations Marianne! I have sent you an email for you to send me your mailing information.

Thank you everyone for your wonderful comments & be sure to stop by again. Our next blog hop is KarelJ’s Toadily Frog Blog Hop on April 23rd & 24th.

Please stop by again. I appreciate your comments & your visits. Enjoy your day!

Copic Marker Journal

2011-03-28T05:58:00.000-04:00

Some time ago I found these pages online that have tips for Copic Markers, a chart where you can keep favorite coloring combo’s, hair combo’s, skin combo’s, as well as the Copic Marker chart. I decided to take all of this & make myself a Copic Marker Journal that I could carry in my purse so that when I am out on a buying trip or even an online shopping spree, I don’t replace or buy what I already have.

I used a cereal box to make the covers. Sized the pages to the size I wanted. Added binder rings, (I still have to add some ribbons) and viola… I have a Copic Marker Journal to carry in my purse. Surprising enough, I’m even using it. Lol

TFL! Have a wonderful day!

KarelJ’s “Make Your Own Holiday” Blog Hop Thanks

2011-03-28T05:55:00.000-04:00

Thanks Karel for all the hard work you do in putting together these fabulous blog hops & allowing me to participate. Your hard work doesn't go unnoticed. I really appreciate all the hard work you put into making these blog hops such a huge success.

I also want to thank all of you who stopped by, are now followers as well as left such wonderful, encouraging comments about my projects.

I’ll be back with the blog candy winner from the weekends comments as soon as I can. Thanks again to everyone who stopped by & I hope you’ll continue to visit. Have a great day!

Karel's Make Your Own Holiday Blog Hop Day 2

2011-03-27T00:02:00.015-04:00

My holiday is…..

“Who Do You Think You Are Day”

Welcome back to Day 2 of Karel’s “Make Your Own Holiday” Blog Hop. I don’t know about you but I was absolutely floored by yesterday’s projects posted for this hop. These girls really knocked themselves out and I was so impressed by the various projects. My holiday, “Who Do You Think You Are?” Day is all about discovering and sharing your roots. I believe that it’s important for our children to know their families history and to know the hardships that their ancestors went through so that they can live the lives that they have today.

If you arrived here from Bonnie's blog at A Scrap Above at http://ascrapabove.blogspot.com/, your on the right track. The next stop on this 2 day hop is Nicolette's blog at Beyond Scrapping at http://www.beyondscrapin.blogspot.com/. If you get lost along the way, please go back to Karel's blog at http://www.kareljcreations.com/ for a complete list of the blogs participating.

Ok…first I’ll tell you about the blog candy and then on to my holiday post.

“Karelj (http://www.kareljcreations.com) is offering an over-all blog candy for those who are hopping along with us. She thought it would be fun to have some holiday-themed candy for this hop--but, of course, made-up holiday items were hard to come by! She decided to do a whole bunch of *regular* holiday themed stamps for you to enjoy. From Fiskars, there is an assorted holiday set; there's an alphabet from All Night Media, a set of 100 plus clear stamps and a storage case from Family Memories, and 5 sets of clear stamps from various dollar bins in big box stores. How to win them? Follow along the blog trail, leaving a comment on each and every blog. On Monday, Karelj will ask her buddy Randy (random.org) to select a blog number (from the list), a day (Saturday is one, Sunday is two), and a comment number from that blog. Please make sure you have left a reliable way to contact you (email is best, in the safe format of **** at **** dot com) so you can be notified by her personally. If you don't, she’ll have to select another winner.”

I will also put together something for blog candy. I'm not sure what yet but I will pick one winner by random over the two day postings to win a prize. I'll try & get a picture posted soon.

If you get lost along the way, the list for the blog hop is on yesterdays post.
When I first started researching my family tree it was before I had a computer. I made several trips to the local cemeteries, the local museum where they have a genealogy department that had a fair bit of information on my mother’s father’s family (Doane/Doan/Decou/Lemon/Marr & Thomson’s of South Ronaldsay, Orkney Islands, UK) who for the most part remained in this area. I went as far as I could on this line and quit for a few years. When I got my first computer in the late 1990’s I started back at it & was amazed at the wealth of information. I started researching my Thomson’s of South Ronaldsay, Orkney Islands, UK and met a friend online who helped me connect my line back to the early 1700’s. Not only did I have the names & dates of my ancestors, I also had the documents to prove that these people were my family.

After putting together my family tree, I wanted a way to showcase this information for my son in a format that would appeal to him. I decided to combine my love of genealogy with my new love scrapbooking (a hobby I picked up after a 2003 auto accident left me unable to work again). I created a mini album with a “shadow box” type display to show it off. The first mini album I created was for my Thomson’s of the Orkney Islands. Inside the shadow box I have a photograph of my Great Grandfather who immigrated from the Orkney Islands, my Great Grandmother (who died of Tuberculosis in 1887 at the age of 29 in Denver, Colorado) along with my maternal grandfather & his sister. (This is the only photograph we have of them). Also included in my shadow box is a Parish Token from the Parish of St. Mary’s, South Ronaldsay, Orkney Islands, Scotland. My GF’s husband does metal dectecting and during a time when the town was tearing up our streets to put in new sewer lines he found this Parish Token. When I saw it & told them that it was from the Parish where my Great Grandfather was baptized, they gave it to me and it is now one of my cherished possessions.

Here is a picture of the paperbag mini album with shadowbox that I created for my son a few years ago. In my album I started off with the first generation that I was able to find and ended it with my son who was the 8th generation.

I also created a paperbag mini album of my father’s paternal side going back generations ending again at my son who is the generation.

This past summer I discovered Ancestry.com and thought that I would see if I could go any further on my mother’s maternal side that always stumped me as well as my father’s maternal side. I was amazed at the wealth of information that I found on both lines. I was able to go back 6 generations on my maternal grandmother’s side and 8 generations on my paternal grandmother’s side. (I ended at my son who is single and is the end of the line following me).

Now that I have discovered all this information on my mother’s maternal side of the family, I thought that I’d make her a mini album that she could show off. I plan on adding a shadow box as well before giving it to her.

My mother is 86 and has always been interested in learning more about her mother’s side of the family, relatives that she remembers and lost touch with over the years, etc. I know that she would love to have something to show off that tells the story of her mother’s side of the family. This is going to be her Mother’s Day gift this year from me. This is the album that I have created to give to her along with the journal/journal jar. I am sure that she will love them.

Thank you so much for all your wonderful comments and for taking the time to hop with us. I hope that you’ve enjoyed yourselves and that this might encourage some of you to want to discover your roots as well.

Karel’s Make Your Own Holiday Blog Hop

2011-03-26T00:01:00.007-04:00

Hmmm! When Karel posted that the March Blog Hop was going to be “Make Your Own Holiday” I thought that I knew immediately what I wanted to do. Trying to come up with a holiday either real or pretend was a tough one for me. I won’t say how many different holiday themes that I came up with & then over the course of a few days, changed my mind for one reason or another. One theme that I had thought of was a Princess Day but unfortunately my three little princesses weren’t available in time for me to do a project for this hop.

“You should have arrived here from Bonnie at A Scrap Above at http://ascrapabove.blogspot.com. If you just stumbled across the hop, and you’d like to start at the beginning, hop over to Karelj’s blog at www.kareljcreations.com to start at the beginning. After my stop, you should head over to Nicolette at Beyond Scrapping at www.beyondscrapin.blogspot.com to see what she has in store for you!”

Ok…first I’ll tell you about the blog candy and then on to my holiday post.

“Karelj (http://www.kareljcreations.com) is offering an over-all blog candy for those who are hopping along with us. She thought it would be fun to have some holiday-themed candy for this hop--but, of course, made-up holiday items were hard to come by! She decided to do a whole bunch of *regular* holiday themed stamps for you to enjoy. From Fiskars, there is an assorted holiday set; there's an alphabet from All Night Media, a set of 100 plus clear stamps and a storage case from Family Memories, and 5 sets of clear stamps from various dollar bins in big box stores. How to win them? Follow along the blog trail, leaving a comment on each and every blog. On Monday, Karelj will ask her buddy Randy (random.org) to select a blog number (from the list), a day (Saturday is one, Sunday is two), and a comment number from that blog. Please make sure you have left a reliable way to contact you (email is best, in the safe format of **** at **** dot com) so you can be notified by her personally. If you don't, she’ll have to select another winner.”

I will also put together something for blog candy. I'm not sure what yet but I will pick one winner by random over the two day postings to win a prize. I'll try & get a picture posted soon.

I finally decided on “Who Do You Think You Are” day. I borrowed the title from the new television show where they follow different stars while they trace their family trees. My holiday is more about remembering your roots, remembering those that came before us and celebrating them. Without them there wouldn’t be a you or I.

I’ve always been fascinated by my family history and have always wanted to learn more about my ancestors. I started back in the early 90’s tracing my mother’s paternal side of the family tree. My Great Grandfather came from the Orkney Islands in Scotland, UK and it wasn’t an easy job to tackle. With no one really knowing much about my Great Grandfather and his life in the Orknies, it was quite the difficult job. I am thrilled to say that after hundreds of hours, some help from online friends, a lot of research and quite the paper trail, I’ve been able to accurately trace my Great Grandfather’s side of the tree back to the mid 1700’s.

I also traced my mother’s paternal mother’s side (Doan/Doane) of the family tree and have accurately been able to trace them back to the late 1500’s on her side. My mother’s maternal side of the family tree has always been a mystery to her. It was always my “brick wall” and eventually I’d give up. Last summer I decided to play around on Ancestry.ca and try to see if I could trace her mother’s family tree. It was funny because I had sat down at the computer on Mother’s Day and started putting in names and before you knew it, I had found her family. I was thrilled because this has always been something that my mother has wanted to learn more about as did her older sister, my Aunt Elva, who sadly passed away in 2009. She would have been totally thrilled with my findings as over the years she was a huge help in my family tree research. Aunt Elva was 93 when she passed away from the C-Dif virus, she was an amazing woman and it’s so sad to think of all the stories we’ve lost now that she’s gone.

This got me to thinking of the stories that my mother has that haven’t been told yet. How at 86 years old it’s time for us to ask the questions and to hear the stories. Because I want to hear the stories of my families history, my mother’s childhood, her parents and siblings, I decided to make my mother a Journal Jar.

I took an old jar that I’ve been saving for just this purpose and decorated it to match the journal. I printed off over 100 questions about her family, her thoughts, memories, etc. Then I cut each question down to size, rolled them up & put them in the jar. The journal is a composition book that I picked up at our local dollar store. I decorated the front & back covers as well as the inside covers. On the front inside cover, I’ve added a pocket just in case she has a question she can’t answer right then she can place it in the pocket and answer it at a later date. I didn’t want any thick embellishments on the front cover as it would make writing on the back side of the pages too awkward. I'm still not quite finished with my jar and am still attempting to try different finishes for the top. I don't want to make it to bulky as my mother has arthritis in her hands and adding bulk to the top will make it difficult for her to remove the top.

The way that this Journal Jar works is that each day (or week) mom pulls a question out of the jar, then glues it to a page in her matching journal and writes down her memories to that question. I’ve also provided a matching glue stick for her. I also plan on adding a matching pen but unfortunately I ran out of time for this post. Then when she’s finished I’ll take her answers and put them in some sort of order in book form and pass it on to my siblings and nieces. This will be a way for my brother & sister and I to learn more about our parents and grandparents as well as our children to learn more about their roots. If we don’t ask the questions now, someday it will be too late.

One of the questions that I’ve put in the journal jar is “When and where did you meet our father. Tell us the story of how you met.” My father passed away when I was 11 ½ years old. I know bits & pieces of how they met but I’ve never asked her the question of how they met to get the story behind it. I’d love to more about their meeting, courtship and marriage.

Here are some pictures of the Journal and Journal Jar that I’ve made for my mother. I plan on giving this to her for Mother’s Day along with my project that I will be sharing tomorrow.

Come back tomorrow and celebrate more of “Who Do You Think You Are” Day and see part 2 of my Mother’s Day gift to my mom. I’m really excited about this gift for her. I just hope that I can hold off until Mother’s Day now. Lol

Thanks for stopping by and staying throughout this long post. Next stop on the list is Nicolette at Beyond Scrapping at www.beyondscrapin.blogspot.com where you can see the awesome project she has to share.

If you get lost along the way I’ve included the list of blogs participating in this hop. They are as follows:

1. Karelj at One By One The Flamingos Are Stealing My Sanity at http://www.kareljcreations.com

2. Janice at Cricut Confessions at http://www.cricutconfessions.com/

3. Summer and Jennifer at The Cricut Diaries at http://www.cricutdiaries.com/

4. Denine at Pumpkin and Spice at http://pumpkinspiceblog.blogspot.com/

5. Colleen at Col’s Creative Corner at http://www.scrappycol.blogspot.com

6. Mistyrose at Sweet Magnolia Rose at http://sweetmagnoliarose.blogspot.com

7. Ellen at Card Monkey at www.cardmonkey-business.blogspot.com

8. Rachel at Suburban Crafter http://www.rachelstampshappy.blogspot.com/

9. Monica at Scraps 2 Treasure at http://scraps2treasure.blogspot.com/

10. Jen at Young’s Scrapping at www.youngsscrapping.blogspot.com

11. Becka at Creations With Becka at www.creationswithbecka.blogspot.com

12. Jamie at Glitter, Paper, Stamps, Oh My! at http://www.jamieisacraftymomma.blogspot.com/

13. Michelle at Peanut Butter and jelly Designs at http://peanutbutterandjellydesigns.blogspot.com

14. Celeste at Touched By A Butterfly at http://touchedbyabutterfly.blogspot.com/

15. Leah at Leah’s Card Designs at http://leahscarddesigns.blogspot.com

16. Calie at Calie’s Creative Corner at www.Caliescreativecorner.blogspot.com

17. Audrey at It’s A Beautiful Life at www.audreyscardsbydesign.blogspot.com

18. Bonnie at A Scrap Above at http://ascrapabove.blogspot.com

19. YOU ARE HERE ***Diane at Crafting This Moment at http://www.craftingthismoment.blogspot.com YOU ARE HERE****

20. Nicolette at Beyond Scrapping at www.beyondscrapin.blogspot.com

21. Gina at Gina Thornton Stamping at http://ginathorntonstamping.blogspot.com

22. Kathryn at Creations With Kathryn at http://www.creationswithkathryn.com/

23. Yolie at Just Yolie, Just Create at http://justyolie.com

24. Patti at Short ‘N Scrappy at http://www.shortnscrappy.com/

25. Krista Orr at Scrapaleupagus at http://www.scrapaleupagus.blogspot.com/

26. Kay Craig at 100 Things at http://kopperhead100.blogspot.com

27. Jane Hollon at Sneezy’s Ramblings at http://sneezy1956.blogspot.com/

Happy Birthday to my Wonderful Son

2011-03-19T10:45:00.000-04:00

(This is an older scrapbook layout that I did of my son when he was younger. He still has my heart today!)

Today (March 19th) is a very special day. It’s my son’s 25th birthday. I have such a difficult time believing that he’s 25 years old. It seems like only yesterday he was a little boy. These years have certainly gone by fast. I was definitely blessed when he was born. Having been only able to have one child, he certainly made being a mother easy. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful son that I am so very proud of.

Happy Birthday DS! I hope that your day is as special as you are. I love you. Mom

Happy 9th Birthday Chloe (March 13th)

2011-03-13T11:31:00.000-04:00

(Photo from fall 2008)

Today is my beautiful Great Niece Chloe’s 9th birthday. I couldn’t let the day go by without wishing her a very happy birthday. I hope that her day is as special as she is.

Happy Birthday Chloe!! Enjoy your day!
I love you!
Aunt Diane

Ooops, I Did It Again

2011-03-13T11:13:00.002-04:00

I do this every time it’s Daylight Savings Time. I go to bed at night knowing that I should change my clocks ahead (or back) but never do. Then of course by the time morning comes, I’ve forgotten all about the time change.

Last night I went to bed a lot later than I normally do & finally shut my light off around 12:45 a.m. (actually 1:45 a.m. with the time change). Then of course I get up at my usual wake up time of 3 a.m., not realizing it was actually 4 a.m since we lost an hours sleep with the clocks going ahead. Since my pc clock automatically changes with the Daylight Savings Time it took me awhile to clue in. It wasn’t until the sun came up that I realized I was supposed to change the clocks ahead.

I have Fibromyalgia as well as Rheumatoid Arthritis. Part of my fibromyalgia is a sleep disorder. I can fall asleep no problem, I just can’t stay asleep. This past year it has gotten worse and I’m now starting to wake up between 2 – 4 am to start my day. It doesn’t matter if I go to bed after midnight, I’m still waking up at 3 or 4 am. I know that the arthritis doesn’t help as most nights now it’s the pain that wakes me up. I’m in the process now of having pre-op testing done & will be having knee replacement surgery in the next few months. I plan on having both knees replaced this year but will do them a few months apart as long as my surgeon agrees. I don’t think I’m up to doing both knees at the same time. I’ve had a long battle with this knee pain and finding a surgeon who’d operate. Because of my age the surgeon’s have wanted to put it off until I’m around 60 yrs old. This new surgeon finally gets that my quality of life sucks because of the pain I’m in and my limited ability to walk. I don’t even like going shopping anymore unless it’s online. That so isn’t me…lol Anyways, enough of that subject. I’ll keep my blog updated as to when I’m having the knee replacement surgery.

So now since I only had 2 hours sleep, I will be dragging my rear end all day today. Arghh!!

Punch Art Flowers

2011-03-06T08:16:00.001-05:00

Awhile back I stumbled across Valita’s Fresh Folds blog and watched her video where she used the SU Modern Label and the Scalloped Oval to create these beautiful flowers. I immediately got busy making flowers and then put together this card.

I love how it turned out and decided to make it a Sympathy card. I always find that Sympathy cards are the hardest to make and really don’t have any in my stash.

Pipe Cleaner Flower Tutorial

2011-03-05T03:59:00.000-05:00

Pipe Cleaner Flower

I found these cute Pipe Cleaner Flowers either on a blog or in a magazine. Unfortunately, I can't remember where. I thought that they were really cute & they go together pretty quickly. They look great on cards, layouts or even a 3D project.

Here's how you can make your own Pipe Cleaner Flowers.

Supplies:
Pipe Cleaner
Wire snips / scissors
Scor Pal Tape
1 ½ ” Fiskars Squeeze Circle punch
Brad

Using the wire snips or strong scissors, cut your pipe cleaner into 2” sections. Take each section & twist into a “U” shape. Punch out a circle using your 1 1/2" circle punch. Add scor pal tape or strong adhesive tape to the back of the circle. Stick each 2 inch section of the pipe cleaner to the adhesive side of the circle. Once you have all 5 sections attached, you can shape them to your preference. Attach a brad in the center of your flower. Trim excess circle so that it doesn’t show through.

Here’s my flower on a “Accordion File” that I made for myself to keep my extra stamped Magnolia images in.

I hope that you've enjoyed this tutorial and are on your way to making your own pipe cleaner flowers.

Thanks for stopping by & have a great day!

What Have I Been Doing Lately?

2011-03-04T04:32:00.000-05:00

What Have I Been Doing Lately? Well, I got started on making these different types of flowers and can't seem to stop.

My First Cricut Card

2011-03-03T06:32:00.001-05:00

Well, I finally did it. After months of having my Cricut sitting in the box, I finally took it out & decided to try it out. I’m embarrassed to admit that I have a “Die Cut Machine” phobia. I don’t know why I am so terrified of using them for the first time. Not only has my Cricut spent months in the box, the same thing happened with my Cuttlebug, Wizard & my Sizzix. Once I get over the initial fear of playing with them for the first time, I’m ok.

For my first Cricut card I decided to start out easy. I saw this cute card on a blog (unfortunately I can’t remember who’s blog it was) that had a teapot & cups along with this cute verse. (if this is your’s let me know & I’ll give you credit) The Teapot & Tea cups are off the “Everyday Paper Dolls” cartridge & can be found on page 43.

I created another Twisted Easel card for this and also used the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder & my Stampin Up Eyelet Border punch. I also added some blue buttons to help hold the card open. The background paper is from a pack I bought a long time ago.

Have a great day! TFL!

All Twisted

2011-03-02T04:00:00.000-05:00

Lately I’m hooked on making these Twisted Easel cards. I love how they look when they are displayed & they are a lot of fun making them. Plus they are really easy to make.

The first two cards that I made use a Sassy Cheryl image. I love this image & think that she is so adorable. The cards are both Twisted Easel cards (one of my new favorite card styles) and are just a little bit different. I colored her with my Copic Markers. I love the green & purple color combo together & it goes perfect with this background paper. The verse & the circle sentiment were digital stamps that I downloaded. I also used my EK Success Wave Flourish Paper Shaper punch, SU circle punch, SU Scallop Circle punch & a MS border punch. Then I added some Prima Flowers and of course some gemstone brads.

This next card is also a Twisted Easel card and again uses a Sassy Cheryl image. I colored her with my Copic Markers. Once again I used the green & purple color combo together & it goes perfect with this background paper. The verse & the circle sentiment were digital stamps that I downloaded. Her glasses & shoes have Glossy Accents on them. I also used a Glitter pen to outline some areas to give her some sparkle. I also used my EK Success Wave Flourish Paper Shaper punch, SU circle punch, SU Scallop Circle punch & a MS border punch. Then I added some Prima Flowers and of course some gemstone brads.

Then I found this cute little dancing bunny rabbit digital stamp & had to play with it too. I colored her with my Copic Markers, used a digital sentiment, some gemstones on her headband and my EK Success Wave Flourish Paper Shaper punch.

Have a great day & thanks for stopping by. I’ll try to put together a quick little tutorial on how to create these Twisted Easel cards. They are a lot easier than they look.

Pig Personality Test Answers

2011-03-02T03:57:00.000-05:00

Here are the answers to the pig personality test....

If the pig is at the top of the paper, you're an optimist. If the pig is in the center of the paper, you're a realist. If the pig is at the bottom of the paper, you're a pessimist.

If the pig faces left, you're fond of tradition and family. In addition, you're friendly and loving. And you never forget birthdays and anniversaries.

If the pig faces right, you're innovative and active, but you don't have a strong sense of family or tradition and you never remember dates.

If the pig faces the front (toward you), you're direct, and you enjoy playing devil's advocate. You neither fear nor avoid discussions or confrontations.

If the pig has many details, you're analytical, cautious, and distrustful.

If the pig has few details, you're emotional and possibly naive. You miss a lot going on around you, because you don't pay attention to details, and you have a tendency to take risks.

If the pig has less than 4 legs showing, you're insecure.

If the pig has 4 legs showing, you're secure and stubborn. You like to stick to your ideas.

The size of the pig's ears indicate how willing you are to listen. The bigger the ears, the better you are at listening.

The length of the pig's tail indicates the quality of your sex life.

Happy Birthday Ben (March 2nd)

2011-03-02T03:56:00.000-05:00

March 2nd is my nephew-in-law Ben’s birthday. Ben is married to my niece Chantale & they celebrate their birthday’s one day apart. Imagine having your husband having a birthday the day after yours. At least if he forgets Chantale's birthday she won't have to remember his. lol Ben wouldn't do that as he's a pretty special nephew & we're so happy to have him as part of our family.

Ben, I couldn't let the day go by without wishing you a very Happy Birthday! Hard to believe it's the BIG 30!! I hope that you have a great birthday.
Love you
Aunt Diane

March 1st is National Pig Day

2011-03-01T06:32:00.000-05:00

According to Wikipedia, National Pig Day is an event held annually on March 1 in the United States to celebrate the pig. The holiday celebration was started in 1972 by sisters Ellen Stanley, a teacher in Lubbock, Texas, and Mary Lynne Rave of Beaufort, North Carolina. According to Rave the purpose of National Pig Day is "to accord the pig its rightful, though generally unrecognized, place as one of man's most intellectual and domesticated animals." The holiday is most often celebrated in the Midwest.

A few years ago I stumbled across a blog where the lady had blogged about National Pig Day & how she had created some “Flying Pig” cards & mailed them out to some ladies who she called her “Pig Ladies”. The story behind it was that she sent cards out to ladies she knew who were survivors of serious disease or illness or who had overcome some stressful event. I really liked the idea of how she sent these cards off to encourage these women and have since adopted her tradition. (Due to health issues, I'm a bit late sending them out this year).

Currently I have 2 pig ladies that I send cards to. My sister who is a 3 times survivor of Breast Cancer and my niece’s MIL who is also a cancer survivor. Both are now cancer free.

This years Pig Card uses a digital image that I found online, colored with Copics. The verse is a digital stamp that I downloaded. I also used my EK Success Wave Flourish Paper Shaper punch, SU circle punch, SU Scallop Circle punch & a MS border punch. The DSP is from a paper pack I’ve had sitting around.

The sentiment inside the card reads:
A pig that has wings
Does impossible things!
Over clouds it can fly
In the wink of an eye!
She may tickle you pink
But she wants you to think
Of her message to each
"Nothing's out of your reach!"

I then found a new card style that I wanted to try called a Double Easel card. Again I used a digital pig image that I found online and colored with Copics. The verse is a digital stamp that I downloaded. I also used my EK Success Wave Flourish Paper Shaper punch, SU circle punch, SU Scallop Circle punch & a MS border punch. The DSP is from a paper pack I’ve had sitting around. My recommendation for this type of card is to use heavy cardstock as your base.

The next 2 pig cards that I created again use a digital image that I found online as well as a digital sentiment. I colored the pig with my Copics, used a MS border punch and some Cloud 9 paper.

Since I love pigs and was now on a roll with my piggy cards, I had to add another one. I found another cute digital pig that I just had to color with my Copics. I then found this adorable verse about the Easter Piggy and I just had to make a card. The bunny ears & basket are from the SU Sock Monkey Accessories stamp set. I didn't cut the ears off the pig, I just cut a slit over his ears & added the bunny ears. I wanted to keep his original ears intact. I also used my Stampin Up Eyelet Border punch as well as the DSP that I had stashed away.

Famous pigs: I didn’t know that there were so many famous pigs until I did a Google search. I had come up with 6 on this list without having to look them up. How many of these famous pigs do you remember.

Miss Piggy! Everybody knows the most famous of famous pigs - the feisty starlet girlfriend of Kermit the Frog from the Muppets!

Babe from “Charlotte’s Web” Who's heartstrings haven't been tugged by the courageous and honorable Babe, the sensitive-souled little pig who wanted to become a sheepdog!

Porky Pig The "Godfather" of famous pigs

Petunia Pig How could we forget Porky's girl Petunia, the first diva of famous pigs!

Piglet Winnie the Pooh's best friend

Toot and Puddle the delightful famous pigs duo from Woodcock Pocket whose lives are filled with everyday wonder, adventure and humor. These best-selling books by the famed illustrator Holly Hobbie are destined to become classics.

Pippo He is a cute little pig who's Hello Kitty's friend.

Pumbaa (Pumba) This distinguished icon of famous pigs is one of Disney's most beloved characters, admired for his comical antics and musical skills.

The Three Little Pigs Of all the world's famous pigs, these three must rank amongst the most reknown!

Wilbur How could you not fall in love with "Zuckerman's Famous Pig" after watching Charlotte's Web?

Hamm Hamm is a witty talking ceramic piggy bank with a "belly-ring" made of cork who keeps losing his change. He is one of the main characters in both Toy Story and Toy Story 2, and is friends with the famous Mr. Potato Head.

Arnold Ziffle Green Acres is definitely one of my favorite famous pigs. The show Green Acres ran from 1965 to 1971.

If you would like to see some more Famous Pigs, you can check out this site: http://www.colours-of-the-rainbow.com/famous-pigs.html

In searching online for info on National Pig Day I found this just for fun Pig Test on a blog and thought that I'd add it.

Here’s the pig test!

Get a piece of paper and draw a pig – Come back tomorrow & I'll post "how to analyze your pig drawing."

Happy Birthday Chantale (March 1st)

2011-03-01T06:20:00.000-05:00

Today (March 1st) is my niece Chantale’s birthday and I can’t let the day go by without wishing her a very Happy Birthday.

Chantale is my sister’s youngest daughter & growing up they lived around the corner from us for about 7 years. Growing up both her & her older sister Natasha spent a lot of time at my house. Our families vacationed together & spent a lot of time together. She and my son were so close growing up and still are to this day. Chantale & Natasha are like daughters to me and I love them both dearly.

So once again if you are reading this Chantale, I hope that you have a wonderful birthday & that your day is as special as you are.
I Love you
Aunt Diane

Blog Candy & Giveaways to check out!

2011-02-12T10:18:00.002-05:00

If your interested in visiting some great blogs as well as having a chance at a giveaway check out:

Pinky at http://blueyecicle.blogspot.com/ she has a draw for a Cricut cartridge right now.

Karel at http://karelj.blogspot.com/ is celebrating her birthday with a month long celebration full of prizes.

The Create & Craft team (me, Joe M., Carole, and Betty) are so excited to be launching our new site and blog during the Cricky Across the 50! Blog Hop, we wanted our blog candy to be extra special. So, on Monday 2/14 we’ll pick a winner at random who will be receiving our Your Story package (valued at $229). The winner will be able to create personalized books, albums and journals with ease! Your Story is a thermal book binder with unmatched versatility and is perfect for creating unique gifts, memory books, and a host of paper crafting projects. Go to www.createNcraft.com to get all the details & enter for your chance to win.

3 Days of Love at Imaginisce

2011-02-08T08:05:00.000-05:00

Stop on over at the Imaginisce blog for 3 days of Love. (http://www.imaginisceblog.com/). They are having a “Be Mine” feature showing creations made by the DT. These creations show how they’ve combined ANY and ALL of their Imaginisce products to create Valentine and love layouts, projects and cards! Check out the blog & you’ll definitely be inspired to create too. You also have a chance to win a great prize.

Never-Ending Card

2011-02-08T07:49:00.000-05:00

There is a group of five of us friends who meet twice a month to share ideas. We each take a turn teaching a new card, layout or 3D project of our choice. We supply all the materials for our “workshop” and make a kit for each of us.

Two weeks ago it was Cathy’s turn to host the workshop & she taught us all how to create a beautiful Never-Ending Card. I must admit that I am the worst procrastinator as I’ve had this card in my “To Do File” for a long time. I just never seemed to get around to doing one. Thankfully Cathy solved that dilemma for me and helped me to get one project checked off my To Do List.

I was actually surprised at how easily this card came together but then Cathy had the hardest part resolved for us. She had the folding, scoring, cutting, etc all figured out for us & we just followed along with her & put the card together. Sure there were a couple of slip ups as you really have to pay attention to the folds as well as front to back of the card. Fortunately these slip-ups were easily fixed without having to toss the card. In the end we all had a gorgeous Never-Ending Card that we can be proud to display. This one isn’t going to be one that I’d do a mass production of as there is a lot of work involved in it.

This is what the card looks like all tied up with this gorgeous satin ribbon.

Once you untie the ribbon, this is the next view of the card.

Then you flip the flaps back and this is the third view of the card.

The center piece is split and thats where you flip it again to get this next view

Once again along the center split, you fold the flaps back to get the final view of this gorgeous card.

This card is just stunning in real life. The colors are so rich & elegant.

Thank you Cathy for taking the time to teach us how to create such a beautiful card.

Thanks for stopping by & have a great day.

The House of Night

2011-02-07T05:51:00.000-05:00

Recently I purchased “Awakened”, volume 8 in the House of Night series by P.C. and Kristen Cast. Although this series is written for the young adult, I have really gotten hooked on this series. It definitely keeps you interested & I have enjoyed every book to date. I just wish that it took me longer to read them. lol Now that I’ve finished volume 8, I have to wait until November 2011 until the 9th book comes out. Ten months is just way too long to wait to see what happens next….

It’s Here!!

2011-02-04T06:29:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday morning I got a phone call from the Post Office to let me know that there was a parcel there for me that required my signature. Normally they deliver the parcels requiring a signature to your door but because of the snowstorm they weren’t doing it that day. The lady who called me said that I could come in & pick it up. As if! If they weren’t going out to deliver the mail to me in a snowstorm, then I wasn’t going to risk going out to pick up a parcel in the middle of a snowstorm. Not!!

Anyways, I went in yesterday after my Doctor’s appointment & guess what it was?? My new Gypsy!! I ordered it a few weeks ago from Custom Crops. I couldn’t resist their sale price. It also included the bag as well as 2 full pre-loaded cartridges; Gypsy Wanderings & Gypsy Font. Also when I register my Gypsy I get another 5 free cartridges that I can download.

These cartridges are:
Tags, Bags, Boxes and More (not available in retail)
Christmas (not available in retail)
Blackletter (not available in retail)
Printing Press
Indie Art

How could I turn down a deal like that? Basically it’s like getting the Gypsy free when you add up the cost of 7 cartridges. (Try the cost of the cartridges in Canada). I also ended up buying “The Best of Pixar” and “Disney Classics” as they were also on sale. They’ll be fun to use in creating pages for all my Great Nieces & Nephews. I can’t wait to play with these new toys.

Well, enjoy your day & TFL!

The Last of My Fiskateer Online Crop Challenges

2011-02-04T06:08:00.000-05:00

Well, yesterday was the last day to complete the challenges for the Fiskateer CHA Online Crop. Thursday’s aren’t really a good day for me. On Thursdays, I get a weekly needle that afterwards leaves me not feeling very well. Normally Thursdays are a wasted day for me & most often I end up sleeping the day away.

I managed to squeeze in a couple more challenges before I left to get my needle. I did try to work on some more last night before the deadline but unfortunately they didn’t get finished. I’ll work on those over the weekend. I also have some Valentine’s Day cards to work on over the weekend for my mother to send out.

Here are the challenges that I did manage to complete. This first card was for the Make & Take Challenge 3 - Leading Lady Feature 1 – the idea was to complete a card or project with a Picnic Theme. The inspiration for this was Chery’s (one of the Lead Fiskateers) Picnic Theme in the Fiskateer lounge at CHA. This was a tough one for me as I didn’t have any picnic type stamps so I created a version of Picnic using my punches. (I did case the idea). I ended up doing an Apron Card. The background was done with a Copic marker & ruler, (I didn’t know until after I completed this that I had a Plaid background stamp. I so need to get organized) the barbeque was done with punches & I also used my Fiskars Limited Edition Ant Squeeze Punch. In the end it turned out ok.

The last challenge that I was able to complete was the SWAG Challenge. Swag is the fun giveaways and promotional items that companies hand out to bring you to their booth or remind you of their company. This could be anything from a cute bag, t-shirt, nail file, funky sunglasses, bracelet or anything in between! For this challenge, we were to make some Fiskateer SWAG! Create an item that will remind you of Fiskateers.

Boy was this a tough one. Talk about having to think outside of the box. I ended up making a Fiskateer clip holder with a mini Fiskars Drill & Squeeze Punch on it. In the end, it turned out pretty cute. (It sure wasn’t fun making those tiny little tools lol). Here’s my take on the challenge:

Well, I'm off to see the surgeon this morning about having a knee replacement done. It's basically a matter of me telling him when I'm ready. If it wasn't for the pain, I'd never be ready as I'm terrified.

Have a great day & TFL!

Fiskateer CHA Online Crop 2.0 Challenges Completed

2011-02-03T04:51:00.000-05:00

I spent several hours yesterday working on completing some of the challenges for the Fiskateer Online Crop. So far I’ve managed to complete 8 of the challenges that required us to create something. Here are some more of the finished challenges.

This first card was for the Make and Take Challenge 1- The Creative Connection where we had to create a card for a fellow crafty friend. If we mail it we get an extra chance to win. This card is much prettier in real life but unfortunately you can’t see all the glitter since due to poor lighting, I had to scan it. Here’s my card:

The next card was for the Fiska-Fairy tweet tweet RAK. For this challenge we had to make something with a bird and/or a birdhouse on it. Here’s my card:

My third card was for the Make and Take Challenge 9 - Leading Ladies Feature 3 challenge. This challenge was based on Angela & Rebecca’s theme “Cocktail Party” in the Fiskateer Lounge at CHA. We had to create a project with the theme of “Cocktail Party” as your inspiration. Here’s my card:

My 4th card was for Nancy’s Fiska Fairy RAK where we had to create a card. It can be for a birthday, anniversary, holiday or any occasion that you need a card for. I had bought this car stamp some time ago & thought that it’d be a perfect “Get Well” card for a man. The verse inside says “Heard you are in the shop for repairs”. I don’t have many masculine cards on hand & thought that this would be the perfect opportunity. Here’s my card:

My 5th card was for the Make and Take Challenge 11 - Color My World. Each year Pantone picks color of the year. Our challenge to you is to create a project based on the 2011 color of the year. This year’s color is Honeysuckle. I had bought this embossing folder from Crafts Too called "Leafy Tree" and hadn't yet used it. When I was looking at it, I kept seeing hearts. So that's what I did. Added some hearts and glitter to it. A very simple card. Here’s my take on this challenge:

I also completed the Make & Take Challenge 4 Create a bank of any type to save money for all of those purchases you'll want to be making. I want to try & take another picture of this one before posting it. The lighting in my place is really poor at night & I couldn’t get a good picture of it. I’ll try again today.

Well there are still a few challenges open that I’d like to try to complete. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to do but I’d like to try.

Stay warm & have a great day. TFL!

Winter Storm Update

2011-02-03T04:16:00.000-05:00

Well, our winter storm didn’t turn out to be as bad as predicted. By the time my son got up for work the roads looked pretty good. It didn’t take him long to clear off his car & get out of the laneway (without shoveling I might add). He called me when he got to work & said that the roads were pretty good. (He has a 10 mile commute). It started snowing again later in the morning & it was pretty heavy at times. I felt sorry for my nephew when he came to shovel the snow as it was pretty heavy & there was a lot of it. Fortunately for him our neighbor had already gone by with his snow blower & did the front walkway. That alone saved him a lot of work as we live on a corner lot & own almost half the block. That’s a lot of walk way to have to shovel. Another neighbor came by last night & shoveled to my front door for me last night. I am so blessed to have neighbors who take care of the winter shoveling for us without wanting anything in return.

Happy Groundhog Day & Winter Storm

2011-02-02T05:23:00.000-05:00

It’s certainly been an interesting night. It was snowing & blowing like crazy last night when I went to bed. The wind was also blowing most of the night. I’m an early riser (Too early in my opinion. It’s part of my fibromyalgia that I can’t stay asleep for more than 2 or 3 hrs) and when I got up I could hear the ice pellets hitting the side of the house. We must have had at least 3 hrs of ice pellets/freezing rain. The snow is still coming down lightly and there is a bit of a wind but then I’m in a rather sheltered area. The snowplow went past my house a few minutes ago & I am sure that the roads are treacherous. I’m glad that I don’t have to go out today & hope that my son will be able to skip work too. I hate to think of him out on the roads driving to work.

It’ll be fun trying to clear all that ice from my vehicle. I’m going to have to sweet talk my son into doing it for me. These days I have difficulties even trying to clear the snow off my vehicle, let alone ice.

If that Groundhog is smart, he’ll stay inside today too. I plan on working on finishing up some of the challenges for the Fiskateer Online Crop.
It sounds like another round of ice pellets is starting up. Stay warm & safe.

CHA 2.0 Fiskateers Online Crop

2011-02-01T06:08:00.000-05:00

The past few days I have been taking part in the Fiskateer CHA 2.0 Online Crop. Each day there have been challenges & RAK’s to participate in. I’ve really been enjoying the challenges which have slowly been helping me to find my mojo again. I haven’t crafted for so long that it’s really been difficult for me to get back into it again. That’s what I love about the Fiskateer Online Crops as they give me the motivation that I need with the various challenges. I enjoy doing things that I probably never would have if I didn’t participate. I have a few things to show you that I have created for the challenges.

This first card was created for a challenge by Jeannie where we had to make a card or page with a fairy tale theme! I made the angel wings by using a Stampin Up stamp & inked it up with Stazon on a piece of acetate. My idea was to cover it with Flower Soft but I didn't like the looks of it so I just left the wings as they were & attached them with my glue gun.

The next challenge I did was The Leading Lady Feature 2 Challenge where we had to create a project with the theme of “Tea Time” as your inspiration. This challenge was created for Tami (one of the Lead Fiskateers) who's theme for the Fiskateer Lounge at CHA was “Tea Time.” Here's my card for that challenge:

I hope to get caught up on some of the other challenges as today is the last day of the online crop. Fortunately the deadline for most of the challenges is the 3rd of February so I still have time.

Join us on the Fiskateer Message Board from January 29, 2011 - February 1, 2011 for CHA 2.0 - Online Crop Edition.

Imaginisce Sneak Peaks

2011-01-26T17:08:00.000-05:00

Have you stopped by the Imaginisce blog & seen the sneak peeks of their new paper lines: Happy Camper, Berrylicious & Little Cutie. You can see them here: http://www.imaginisceblog.com

BRRR!!!

2011-01-24T08:44:00.000-05:00

Brrr! Boy is it cold outside this morning. At 7:30 am the temperature was 0 F (-17 Celsius). At least it’s finally starting to get light outside. (I've been up for hours already). Hopefully it’ll warm up a bit outside. For me though it’s a perfect day to stay inside & try to get organized.

This was the sky at 7:40 a.m. and then a few minutes later we had this to look at

(See the peak of the building in the bottom of the photo? That's our Tim Horton's. Just a hop, skip & a jump from my front door. I can almost smell the coffee & donuts. lol)

Now a little over an hour later, the sky is kind of overcast & it is suppose to snow later this afternoon. It's only January and I'm already tired of the snow and cold weather.

New Wave RAK I Won

2011-01-24T08:06:00.000-05:00

Before Christmas, a new type of RAK popped up on the Fiskateer Message Board. In order to enter the RAK, you had to say that if you won it, you would offer up a RAK and list the item that you would RAK if you won.

I was totally surprised to win Kelly’s RAK of a new Fiskars Limited Edition X-Large Gingerbread Man Squeeze Punch.. After learning that I won her RAK, I posted a RAK of my own that was won by Mary. What a neat idea for doing RAK’s. I love it how one RAK turned into many RAK’s with many winners.

Fiskars Sure Cuts Scissors & Shop Cut Scissors

2011-01-21T04:43:00.000-05:00

Just before Christmas I found these new Fiskars scissors advertised on sale in our local big box store. I thought that they’d be the perfect gift for my son (& myself too). I ended up buying a pair of each and figured that my son could keep a pair at work in his tool box and a pair at home for cutting all that packaging that is so hard to open. Since I also bought a pair of each for myself, we won’t be fighting over them. lol

For the past few years, my son has been hearing me talk of the Fiskateers, so as soon as he opened his present and saw the scissors the first thing he said was “What?? What’s this….Fiskateers?”. It was so funny to see the look of confusion on his face. I think that he was sure that I was trying to get him into scrapbooking too. No, not this time. I was just trying to pass on a good pair of scissors to him that also comes with the Fiskars Lifetime Warranty.

Colorbok Free Gift

2011-01-21T04:28:00.000-05:00

Awhile back I signed up for the Colorbok Bok Club. What is the Colorbok Bok Cl.ub? It’s a group of consumers (like me) who are active paper crafters & scrapbookers. From time to time we give them feedback on various topics related to papercrafting and other crafts including feedback on new products, designs and merchandising in exchange they offer tons of prizes and giveaways.

On Tuesday, January 18th, I was shocked to find a package stuck between my doors. I couldn’t figure out what it was as I knew I hadn’t ordered anything that would come by UPS. I was surprised to see that it was my free gift for signing up with the Colorbok Bok Club. I am in love with this gorgeous 12x12 paper pack that they sent me. It’s called Truffle and it has the paper, stickers and punchouts. You should see the gorgeous butterfly sparkly papers. I love the shades of browns and beige. As soon as I opened it I knew it would be the perfect papers to scrap my heritage photos that I have of my dad’s family.

Thanks so much Colorbok!

Sex & the City Fans

2011-01-19T08:00:00.000-05:00

I’m a huge Sex & the City fan. I have the entire series on dvd's as well as having the first movie. While out Christmas shopping, I happened to come across this boxed set of The Sex & the City Wedding. The pink padded box has a side pull out drawer that holds the “Wedding” pictures photo album, another album with 4 dvd’s in it (interviews, music & the wedding movie) as well as a certificate of authenticity. I knew that I had to buy one for my niece Chantale who is an even bigger Sex & the City fan than I am. Not only did I buy one for her for Christmas, I bought one for me too. How could I refuse when they were a steal at $9.99 each.

I wish that the store had have had more as I would have bought several at that price.

Karel’s Flamingo Challenge

2011-01-18T07:02:00.000-05:00

I’ve done three blog hops with Karel http://karelj.blogspot.com/ & enjoyed each one. So this time around I decided to enter Karel’s January Challenge. This month her challenge was to make a creation of any kind that features a Flamingo.

I’ve never created with Flamingo’s before nor did I have any flamingo stamps. I googled “flamingo coloring pages” and came up with a few images that I downloaded & colored with my Prismacolor Pencils. From there I layered them, rounded the corners with my Fiskars corner rounder, popped them up and added a ribbon and also used a Martha Stewart border punch.

After the card was finished, I scanned it & uploaded it to Karel’s Photobucket account. Here are the two cards that I entered for her challenge:
This first one is listed as "Bathing Flamingo"

The second card that I entered is listed as "Glamour Flamingo".

You can vote on my cards by going to Karel’s blog at http://karelj.blogspot.com/ and on the right hand side you’ll see the photo’s of the flamingo cards & the voting chart. Thanks for looking.

Vampire Academy comes to an end

2011-01-16T09:15:00.000-05:00

Lately I am hooked on vampires or at least it seems that way. Anymore the series that I seem to be hooked on are all about vampires. I read the Twilight series and although I enjoyed it, I must admit that I like The House of Night series by P.C. & Kristin Cast just as much. I also love the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Meade.

Just before Christmas I picked up the last book in the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Meade called “Last Sacrifice”. (I had previously borrowed volumes 1-5 in the series from my local library). Although this series is intended for Young Adults, I really enjoyed it. I think I almost liked it better than the Twilight series. After I started reading volume 6, I decided that I wanted to have the series for myself & bought the boxed set of 4 books, as well as volume 5 from Amazon.ca. This is definitely a series that I will read again.

Sadly volume 6, “Last Sacrifice” is the end of the series and from what I’ve read on line Richelle has a new 6 volume series that she is working on. I always hate when a series ends, you get so wrapped up in the characters that you miss them when it comes to an end. I’m so excited that Richelle is starting a new series Bloodlines that will carry over some of the characters from the Vampire Academy. I’m not sure which characters are coming back in this new series other than Sidney (the Alchemist) but I do know that I’ll be one of the first in line to buy it when it’s released this summer (August 2011).

You can visit the Vampire Academy series site here:
http://us.penguingroup.com/static/packages/us/yreaders/vampireacademy/index.html

Don't be sad that Vampire Academy is over! The spin-off series, Bloodlines, is coming in August 2011.

A New Toy for Christmas

2011-01-16T09:00:00.000-05:00

For awhile now, I have been talking about wanting a book reader. I am an avid reader and am finding that I am running out of room to store my library of collectible books. I have a few authors that I have collected over the years and hate to part with those books. Recently after completing my renovations, I have narrowed down my library and have decided to limit it to two bookcases. I don’t have room to put any new bookcases so I have to make due with what I have. Having come to this decision, I knew I had to come up with an alternate way to store books. This is where the Sony Book Reader comes in.

Well, this year for Christmas I got my new toy to play with from my son. He gave me a Sony Book Reader Touch Edition. I love it! I can download books from my local library for free as well as download free books from the internet. I can also buy books from Amazon. There are 100’s of free books out there to chose from. I have downloaded a few books to start with and now that I have finished with my latest read I am ready to start using it.

The Sony Book Reader Touch Edition has the built in dictionary that when you’re stuck on a word you just touch the word, the dictionary pops up & gives you a definition of that word. If you aren’t able to pronounce it, it also has sound & will pronounce it for you. I can download books from Amazon, my local library, etc as well as downloading PDF files. It’s lightweight, easy to hold & tuck into my purse to take with me.

The other day I finally got around to downloading the software I needed & spent some time on line trying to figure out how to download books from our local library. Well after awhile of going in circles on the site I was given, I ended up phoning the library & the lady there walked me through the correct site, downloading books and how the site works. Now I have some library books downloaded on my reader it is so much easier for me to do this from home then to go out to the library.

I feel so spoiled. Not only did he give me the book reader, which was at the top of my wish list, he also gave me a Blue Ray DVD player as well as a few other cool gadgets to play with.

Thank you DS, I love you as well as all of my gifts.

Happy New Year 2011

2011-01-02T05:31:00.000-05:00

I’m a little bit late in wishing you all a very Happy New Year but I didn’t want to start the new year off without doing so. I hope that 2011 brings you all great health, much happiness & financial security.

Here’s a pretty neat tip that I came across for those of you who had any leftover wine from your New Year’s Eve party.

Don't throw out all that leftover wine, freeze into ice cubes for future use in casseroles and sauces.

Happy 2011!!

Calendar Blog Hop Winner

2011-01-02T05:29:00.002-05:00

The winner of the grand prize, the Designer's Calendar Cartridge in Karel’s blog hop is Colleen, who said, "Karel, Your pages are fabulous! I have been having a blast on this blog hop!". Please contact Karel with your mailing information.

Congratulations & thank you to everyone for stopping by & leaving such nice comments. I really do appreciate them.

December Calendar Blog Hop

2010-12-28T07:08:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the December Calendar Blog Hop!

This month I’ve decided once again to join Karel at One By One The Flamingos Are Stealing My Sanity in another Blog Hop. This time around we are doing a Calendar Blog Hop from December 28 through 30. We have more than 12 bloggers, each with a gorgeous 12X12 Double Calendar Layout for you to re-create for your very own 2011 Calendar...just in the nick of time.

A bunch of wonderfully talented ladies have gotten together and we're each making a 12X12 double calendar layouts--at least one for every month of 2011. Every blogger will design a two page layout for a 2011 calendar. The first page will be a cute layout, to include the month and some mats for pictures. The second page will be the days and weeks, with cute embellishments for special days. Each blogger will post her (his?) creation for the hop---along with the detailed how-tos of making it. Every person who participates will then have all the instructions for making the entire year's calendar just as they need it!

*The Blog Candy for this hop is the fantastic Designer's Calendar Cricut Cartridge, donated by our own hostess, KarelJ. You need to leave some love, in the form of a comment, on Each and Every Blog along the way. Make sure you leave a way to contact you in each comment. On the 31st, KarelJ will use random.org to generate a blog number and then a comment number from that blog. She will announce the winner on her blog, and contact them by whatever means they left for this.*

1. January and April: Celeste at Touched by a Butterfly at http://touchedbyabutterfly.blogspot.com/
2. January and September: Jessica at Overjoyed Scrapper http://www.overjoyedscrapper.blogspot.com/
3. February: Christel at Scrappin' Sista http://onescrappinsista.blogspot.com/
4. February and March: Karelj at One By One The Flamingos Are Stealing My Sanity http://karelj.blogspot.com/
5. March and July: Diane at Crafting This Moment (You are here!) http://www.craftingthismoment.blogspot.com/
6. April: Bonnie at A Scrap Above http://ascrapabove.blogspot.com/
7. May: Michelle at Peanut Butter and Jelly Designs http://peanutbutterandjellydesigns.blogspot.com/
8. May: Natalie at Timeless Legacy Designs http://timelesslegacydesigns.blogspot.com/
9. June: Lisa at Lisa's Paper Butterflies http://lisaspaperbutterflies.blogspot.com/
10. June: Jamie at Glitter, Paper, Stamps, Oh My! http://jamieisacraftymomma.blogspot.com/
11. July: Summer and Jennifer at Cricut Diaries http://cricutdiaries.blogspot.com/
12. August: Denise at Starlight Scrapper http://starlightscrapper.blogspot.com/
13. August: Gina at Gina Thornton Stamping http://ginathorntonstamping.blogspot.com/
14. September: Deb at If It's Groovy http://ifitsgroovy.blogspot.com/
15. October: Rebecca at Creations with Becka http://www.creationswithbecka.blogspot.com/
16 . October: Lora at Notes From The Scrapbook Lady http://scrpbooklady.blogspot.com/
17. November: Belinda at Queen Bee's Musings http://www.queenbeesmusings.blogspot.com/
18. November and December: Col at Col's Creative Corner at http://www.scrappycol.blogspot.com/
19. December: Deb at Tidbit's Place http://tidbitsplace.blogspot.com/

When it came to creating my calendar pages I’ve had to change them up a bit because of some unseen events that kept me from having the energy to scrap. Therefore instead of doing 2 two page calendar layouts I was only able to create 2 one page layouts. I’ve managed to create these layouts with a place for your calendar, journaling as well as included photos and have the page not be cluttered.

I am so far behind on my calendar pages that this blog hop gave me motivation to work towards getting caught up. Now that my son is 24, it’s hard to get the photos & events to scrap with him in them. I find calendar pages are perfect for keeping up with our lives on a month to month basis.

I keep a purse sized calendar on the go at all times as well as a wall calendar to keep track of important events, birthdays, etc. By doing this I am able to take the information from them & create calendar layouts. Right now I am working on the year 2005. It’s scary to think that I am that far behind on my calendar layouts.

I chose the month of March & July for my months to do. For my layout I chose a background paper in green keeping with the color for St. Patrick’s Day. I also matted my calendar in green & made a little booklet on the left hand bottom corner to do my journaling in. The photo’s I printed off & fit them in little slides that I made. I then added the month & a couple of Shamrocks to finish off the page.

The month of July basically followed the same sketch idea (the sketch idea is my own). For this month I did in red & white keeping with our Canada Day colors. I added the fireworks, again the slide mounts were hand cut with photos in them and this time the journaling booklet is on the right hand side of the page. Again I’ve added the calendar which is filled in with monthly events.

I really like how they’ve turned out & how I’m still able to include pictures & journaling all on one page. I’ve covered the calendars for the pictures as to protect the names, etc on them.

I hope you’ve enjoyed another option of creating calendar pages without having to do two page layouts. These are fun pages & a great way to showcase those special events in your life.

Thanks for stopping by & enjoy the rest of the blog hop. The complete list is above and if a blogger did 2 calendar layouts both can be seen at the same post. Enjoy!

Editted to add: I've had a lot of comments about my "firecrackers". I bought a die cut a long time ago of a firecracker & saved it. I used it to trace my firecrackers & cut them out by hand.

Are you on Santa's Naughty or Nice List?

2010-12-21T06:09:00.000-05:00

Growing up my mother used to keep a calendar in the kitchen at Christmas where she’d mark down the days that my sister, brother & I were bad. Supposedly Santa would come in & check the calendar & if he saw our name or initials on it, he’d know that we were bad & would leave us presents accordingly. I remember how much it would scare me if I saw my name or initials on that calendar & how hard I’d work to not see my name there.

Now days you can check the online version of Santa’s Naughty or Nice list & see just where you stand. You can also go back again & check to see if you’ve moved up the naughty list. Well, with only a few days left until Christmas, I just had to check & see where I stood on Santa’s Naughty or Nice List. You can check here if you want to see how you’re doing. This is a fun site for young & old.
http://www.claus.com/naughtyornice/nn_hmpg2.php

Well, here’s what Santa had to say about me….

Nice, but has been naughty at times. Neatness and politeness have been very good over the last two weeks. Shows proper respect for others. Shares well, but could always be better. With a little more effort could be near top of "nice" list.

Sounds like I’ve been a good girl this year & just maybe Santa will be bringing me something special.

Fiskateer Holiday Cookie Recipes from the Past

2010-12-18T06:56:00.035-05:00

I love holiday sweets and cookies. The looks, smells and tastes of cookies this time of the year.I love trying new recipes and sharing them with my family during the holidays. When DS was young we use to make sugar cookies and cut them into Christmas shapes, decorate them and give them as gifts.

Over the past few years, one of the Fiskateer Leads or possible one of the Fiskateers would post to the Fiskateer blog a request for Holiday Cookie Recipes. Each year I have saved all the Holiday Cookie Recipes that were posted on the Fiskateer blog as a result of these requests. I copied & pasted each recipe to a word document, formatted it, corrected any spelling errors (I hope I got them all) and saved them to my computer.

Starting in 2008, one of the Leads or possible one of the Fiskateers posted to the blog requesting Holiday Cookie Recipes. That year there were 29 cookie recipes posted. Did you know that Santa has a favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie? Here you'll find the recipes for: Gingersnaps, Snickerdoodles, Monster Cookies, Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies, Whoopie Pie, Chocolate Macaroons, Sugar Cookies, Whipped Shortbread and many more favorite cookie recipes.

In 2009, again someone posted to the blog requesting Favorite Holiday Cookie Recipes and once again I saved them to a word file. This year there was a huge response and there are 52 fabulous cookie recipes such as: Monster Cookies, Sugar Cookies, Candy Cane Cookies, Oatmeal Gingersnap, Black Forrest Cookie, Oreo Bon Bons, Chinese Chews and many more delicious cookie recipes.

This year Tami (one of the Lead Fiskateers) posted on the message board a request for Holiday Cookies. I emailed Tami and told her about my saving the cookies recipes from the past couple of years and she asked if I'd be interested in sharing them. I had posted last year that I would email the file to anyone who was interested and was shocked at the response. It was a lot of work but I send anyone who requested it my document. Tami suggested that I covert the document to a pdf format and share it on my blog. I've also added the recent Fiskateers Gifts from the Kitchen recipes that I've saved to my files. I'm waiting patiently for some new 2010 Favorite Cookie Recipes to fill the current blog post by Tami. Hopefully there will be some new recipes that I can save and later post here.

After several days of trying to figure out how to add the Fiskateer Favorite Cookie Recipes from 2008, 2009 and Fiskateers Gifts from the Kitchen 2010 to my blog, I finally figured out how to add the links. I hope that you all enjoy these recipes. Here they are:

Fiskateer's Favorite Cookie Recipes 2008
http://www.scribd.com/doc/45150056/Favorite-Cookie-Recipes-of-the-Fiskateers-2008">

Fiskateer's Favorite Cookie Recipes 2009
http://www.scribd.com/doc/45150213/Fiskateer-Favorite-Cookie-Recipes-2009

Fiskateers Gifts from the Kitchen 2010
http://www.scribd.com/doc/45150303/Fiskateers-Gifts-From-the-Kitchen-2010

Back to School Luggage Tags

2010-12-07T06:52:00.001-05:00

Recently I’ve been working on these Back to School Luggage tags for 7 of my great nieces & nephews. I stumbled across these Back to School Emergency information luggage tags a few years ago on the web and they’ve been on my 2 Do List since then. I finally got around to making them & plan on giving them to my little great nieces & nephews for Christmas. I think that I’ll hang them on the Christmas tree first as a decoration. lol

Right now I have Chloe’s tag in a “Badge Holder” but I’m not too thrilled with it. I like the looks of the Luggage Tags better although now day’s they aren’t that easy to find where I live. I know I have some luggage tags around the house & have to dig them out. The tags for Jaden & Dakota are in ATC sleeves at the moment but I wanted to give you a sneak peek for now. I’ll show the finished one’s when I find my luggage tags as well as show you the boy’s tags I made for my Great Nephews Jeremy, Andrew, Gavin & Dallas to hang on their backpacks (& diaper bags). Jeremy is the only one of the boy’s who is in school right now. Andrew & Gavin (brothers of Jeremy & Jaden) go to day care so I thought that this would be perfect for Andrew’s backpack & Gavin’s diaper bag. Not wanting to leave Dallas out (Chloe & Dakota’s baby brother), I also made one for his diaper bag.

On the one side of the card it lists the students name (first name only for safety reasons), their school, teachers name and classroom. On the other side of the card lists the parents first name & phone number (a space for mom & one for dad), Pediatrician’s name & phone number, Poison Control Phone Number and a space to write in the child’s allergies. Everything you need to know is listed on these little cards that you attach to their backpacks for the caregivers to have at their fingertips. There is also a place to put the child’s photo so that it’s easy for the younger kids to identify their backpacks.

Here is a picture of the girls tags so far:These next two are in ATC sleeves until I can find the Luggage Tags to put them in.

Origami Flowers

2010-12-07T06:42:00.000-05:00

Twice a month five of us girls get together & take turns teaching a new project. A few weeks ago it was Kristy’s turn & she showed us how to make these cute origami flowers. Once you got the hang of the folds, they were pretty easy to make & went together pretty quickly. We each made 5 flowers. Since I didn’t have a small vase to show mine off in, I have them in a Mason jar. TFS!

First Snowfall

2010-12-07T06:33:00.000-05:00

Well we’ve managed to be lucky enough to avoid snow up until Sunday, December 5th. My son had called me from London around 4 pm asking if we had any snow here. At the time we had no snow & it had been a perfect day. He said that he was stuck in London (Ontario) & that they were having a big snowstorm. He’d been out earlier to check the road conditions before deciding whether to head home & said that they were really slippery. He’d slid through one of the intersections. I told him to stay where he was as at least he was warm & safe. He wasn’t overly thrilled as being warm & safe also meant that he wouldn’t be able to make it into work on Monday.

I took a drive uptown around 5:30 pm on Sunday to get some bread figuring that if we were going to have a snowstorm, I didn’t want to run out of bread. It was just starting to snow here. By 8 pm the ground was covered & we had about 2 or 3 inches of snow. It was still snowing yesterday morning & we were still under a snow squall warning. Thank goodness my son was able to drive home from London yesterday. I guess he thought that he'd get out while the going was good. They certainly had a lot of snow dumped on them.

Once again today we have a Snow Squall Watch in Effect. I’m so glad that I don’t have to leave the house. I do worry about my son driving into work but fortunately he only has about 15 miles to drive & they do tend to keep the main roads pretty clean. At least tomorrow the weather is looking better & they aren't calling for snow. Stay safe & warm!

Fiskateer’s Gift Making Extravaganza

2010-11-13T06:43:00.000-05:00

The Fiskateer’s Gift Making Extravaganza was in full swing this past weekend on the message board. Tami who is one of the Lead Fiskateers had posted 15+ challenges on the Fiskateer message board to inspire you to create some awesome gifts or even to get some ideas for gifts that you can give.

Challenge #1 is to create a Gift Card Holder – Tami also posted a great video tutorial showing you how to make one. I decided to go a different route & created two different gift card holders. The first one shown is a stocking gift cardholder. The top part is a flap that lifts up & under it you place the gift card. Then next one I made is a Santa Hat. In the bottom part of the hat there is an opening to put the gift card. (The gift card can be seen from the back of the holder). These were both fun, easy projects to make. I added some glitter to both of them as I felt that they needed some bling. The holly was cut with my new Sizzix die.

I wish that I could take credit for these cute gift card holders but unfortunately neither is my idea. I found both of them while surfing the net & thought that they were so cute. I did change the papers & embellishments on both.

Here is a picture of the Santa Hat Gift Card Holder:The next picture shows the outside of the stocking.This picture shows you the inside of the stocking where the gift card is stored.Challenge #2 was a 2 part challenge. The first part was to change your profile so that your Fiskateer number was displayed as your profile picture or in your signature (or both). This was an easy challenge. The second part was to create something to show off your number and unfortunately I didn’t get that part of the challenge done.

Challenge #3 was to post your favorite recipe & part two of the challenge was to do a gift wrapping for it. Unfortunately I only had time to post my favorite recipe.

Another challenge that I was able to finish was Challenge #5 Cards and Tags. I created 2 quick & easy Christmas cards that involved no stamping. That’s a rare one for me as 99% of my cards are stamped.Here's what I came up with: Next for Challenge #9 - Wrap it Up you had to come up with a creative way to wrap up a gift. I decided to do an envelope bag. Here’s mine:Challenge #12 - Deck the Halls was to create some type of holiday decoration for your home or as a hostess gift during the season. I created a triangle gift box that can be hung on your tree & then removed for easy gift giving. Here’s mine:I’ve jumped around on some of the challenges because of the deadlines. The next challenge that I did was Challenge #15 where we had to post our favorite Christmas movie & then make something that uses the colors or theme from the movie.

I have a difficult time picking just one movie. My favorite Christmas movie has to be Christmas Vacation. I just love it when Clark (Chevy Chase) is locked up in the attic watching old home movies. I also enjoy Prancer & of course it always makes me cry. Another good Christmas movie is The Night They Saved Christmas (with Art Carney & Jaclyn Smith). It’s a really good movie in my opinion & makes you really believe that there is a Santa. Then of course there is The Santa Clause with Tim Allen.

I decided to make ATC’s using the theme from these great Christmas movies. I did these up pretty quick as the deadline was approaching & I also had to watch Dancing with the Stars. lol Here’s what I did:Well that's it for now. I think I'll check the list and see what challenges are due today. Hopefully I can find some time & effort to be creative today. Thanks for looking & have a great day.

Winners of the Land of the Free Because of Brave Blog Hop are

2010-11-13T06:33:00.000-05:00

The winners of the Land of the Free, Because of the Brave Veteran’s Day Blog Hop are…

Drum roll, please!

The winner of the Scrap'nTote, generously donated by Marlo of ContainYaCrafts is from Deb's Blog, If It's Groovy - Josie, comment number 5. Josie said, "Wonderful! Cheryl is such a nice person too....she welcomed me when I joined the Fiskateers! I love the photo of the baby too!"

Our second big winner, of the Spellbinders Nesties, donated by Anne of Paper Patch Crafts is from Christel, at One Scrappin' Sista - number 41---Gina Thornton! Gina said, "Cristel, thanks so much for sharing your father's stories and family member's as well. Thanks for hopping along with us!"

Karel will be contacting the winners for their mailing information or you can contact her yourselves if you see this.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this hop your projects were amazing, to Karel for all her hard work & for all those who stopped to visit & hopped along with us.

Land Of The Free Because Of The Brave Blog Hop

2010-11-11T05:06:00.000-05:00

Welcome to our Veteran's Day Blog Hop! Veteran's Day is very important to me. My father fought in WWII as did his younger brother. My Paternal Grandfather had 2 brothers who fought in WWI as did my Paternal Grandmother's brother. My Grandfather's youngest brother was killed in action on May 14th, 1917 at the Battle of Somme, Vimy Ridge, France. He was 18 years old.

These amazing men and women put their lives on hold to go off and fight for us and our country. They leave their families behind and sacrifice so much for us. How do you thank someone for making such a sacrifice. Somehow, thank you just doesn't seem enough.

A few years ago I had come across these record albums at a yard sale and immediately scooped them up. I decided to alter one to use as a sort of memory album for my father. Although it's not complete at this time, I do have the album done and thought that I'd show you just what you can do with these old albums. I used Basic Grey paper and covered the album cover as well as all the inside pages. I cut out the hole using an exacto knife and intend to put a photo of my father at different stages of his life peeking through the holes. Now that the album is complete, I have the difficult task of figuring out just what photo's to use and embellishments. Since my father passed away when I was 11, I want this to be a book telling my son about the Grandfather that he never knew. (My son is also named after my father).

A few years back when it was the Year of the Veteran, I wrote & requested my father's war records from WWII and would like to include some of the information from them as well. The pockets in this album are large enough that I can also add layouts or even include his war records & tuck them inside it for safe keeping.

This first photo shows the before & after of what this record album looks like.This next photo shows the inside pages of this album now.This last photo shows the side by side of before and after. I just love how this has turned out so far & can't wait to start working on adding the photo's and journaling.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of the hop. There are 19 talented ladies waiting to show you their amazing work.

In order to be eligible for the Grand Prizes, don't forget to leave a comment on each & every blog. The winner will be announced tomorrow on Karel's blog at One By One The Flamingos Are Stealing My Sanity http://karelj.blogspot.comNow off to the hop.

If you've come to my blog from Jennifer at Young’s Scrappinghttp://youngsscrapping.blogspot.comyouare on the right track. Next on the list is Judy at Be Present Be Realhttp://bepresentbereal.blogspot.com

If you get lost, here's the list of blogs participitating in today's hop.
1. KarelJ at One By One The Flamingos Are Stealing My Sanityhttp://karelj.blogspot.com
2. Celeste at Touched By a Butterfly http://www.touchedbyabutterfly.blogspot.com
3. Deb at Tidbit’s Place http://tidbitsplace.blogspot.com
4. Michelle at Peanut Butter and Jelly Designs http://peanutbutterandjellydesigns.blogspot.com
5. Jennifer at Young’s Scrapping http://youngsscrapping.blogspot.com
6. Diane at Crafting This Moment http://craftingthismoment.blogspot.com
7. Judy at Be Present Be Real http://bepresentbereal.blogspot.com
8. Marianne at Life From Marianne’s Table http://number1aunt.blogspot.com
9. Deb at If It’s Groovy http://ifitsgroovy.blogspot.com
10.Christel at One Scrappin’ Sista http://onescrappinsista.blogspot.com
11.Belinda at Queen Bee’s Musings http://queenbeesmusings.blogspot.com
12.Colleen at Col’s Creative Corner http://scrappycol.blogspot.com
13.Summer and Jennifer at Cricut Diaries http://cricutdiaries.blogspot.com
14.Rachel at Suburban Crafter http://www.rachelstampshappy.blogspot.com/
15.Gina at Gina Thornton Stamping http://ginathorntonstamping.blogspot.com
16.Becky at Sew in Stitches http://sewinstitches.blogspot.com
17.Rebecca at Creations With Becca http://www.creationswithbecka.blogspot.com
18.Bobbi Jo at Sassy Sweet Diva http://sweetsassydiva-gspot.blogspot.com
19.Angie at Gypsy Paperie http://gypsypaperie.blogspot.com
20.Linda at The Tulip Collector http://thetulipcollector.blogspot.com

Land of the Free Because of the Brave Upcoming Blog Hop

2010-11-03T07:50:00.000-04:00

I am happy to announce our "Land of the Free Because of the Brave" Upcoming Veteran’s Day Blog Hop on November 11th. We are so excited to inform you that Marlo Letterle, of the wonderful Scrap'nTote has agreed to donate one of her fantastic Totes for our Grand Prize Blog Candy! If you aren't familiar with her product, please check her out here!: http://www.cricutcartridgestorage.com/
I can't believe how blessed we are to have her on board!

Important Note: In order to be eligible for the Grand Prize Blog Candy you must leave a post on EVERY blog in the hop and leave a way to be contacted. Winners will be chosen using random.org, and announced on Karel’s blog on the 12th. http://karelj.blogspot.com If she doesn't hear from the winner by the 15th, she'll choose another winner.)

Coming Soon - Veteran's Day Blog Hop on November 11th

2010-10-28T08:29:00.000-04:00

****Join 20 amazing crafters for a Blog Hop honoring our Veterans and Troops. Inspiring Projects, Interviews with Veterans, current Service Personnel, and family members who have sacrificed to keep us free will be all along the Hop. There is also some great blog candy offered by Marlo Letterle...and one of the last chances to win one of her amazing Scrap'n Totes! Other blog candy will be up for grabs, as well. So, on November 11th, grab a box of tissues and a cup of coffee and hop, hop, hop to Honor The Brave Who Have Kept Us Free!****

Nineteen Minutes

2010-10-18T07:51:00.000-04:00

In nineteen minutes, you can mow the front lawn, color your hair, watch a third of a hockey game. In nineteen minutes, you can bake scones or get a tooth filled by a dentist; you can fold laundry for a family of five....In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world, or you can just jump off it. In nineteen minutes, you can get revenge. (copied from the book)
I recently read best selling author Jodi Picoult's book “Nineteen Minutes”. I can’t seem to get it out of my head. This book should be on every parent’s must read list. In this book Jodi tackles bullying on so many different levels. She also makes you think how well do you really know your child/children. This book really makes you think and to realize how important it is to try to stop bullying all together.

Have you ever been bullied as a child or teenager? I know I was. Growing up, we lived about 10 blocks from our public school. My father had passed away when I was 11and my mother never drove or learned to drive. We had no choice but to walk to and from school each day as there were no buses for our route.

Growing up, a neighbor girl who lived across the street from my house for some reason chose to pick on me. I was smaller than her, two years younger than her and definitely not a fighter. I remember the fear I had walking home from school each day. I never knew when she’d jump out at me and start a fight. I never did anything to her but she took great pleasure in picking on me and seeing me cry. Even changing the route that I walked home didn't help as she'd end up finding me. My mother tried to step in and talk to her mother about the bullying and even that didn't help. Her mother just stood there & yelled at my mother. (You could see where she got it from). Even getting the school involved didn’t help as she never bullied me on school property. I had no choice but to put up with her bullying that finally stopped when they moved away. I was never so happy to see someone go.

If you want a good book to read, Nineteen Minutes is definately the one. But even if you don’t read it…. Talk to your children about how important it is not to be a bully and to help those who are being bullied.

Loving Fiskars Purple

2010-10-18T07:42:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago I received my Fiskars Tool Caddy in the mail from Shannon for entering her Fiskars Tool Garland Challenge. I love it & love the Fiskars Purple. I have wanted one of these Tool Caddy’s for a long time & had never been lucky enough to find one or to win one. (Where I live in Ontario, Canada, finding Fiskars tools isn’t easy). Thanks so much Shannon for a great challenge & a great prize!

You Never Know When Or Where Inspiration Will Strike

2010-10-18T07:33:00.000-04:00

October 3rd, I ended up in the emergency room of our local hospital. I had an abscess tooth and the entire left side of my jaw was swollen to almost 3 times it’s normal size. I looked like a hamster storing up food for the winter. The pain was horrible and I knew that I had to get on antibiotics right away.

While waiting for the doctor, I overheard him talking to the lady before me. (there is no privacy in the ER) She had a lot of medical conditions and diagnosis that he was unfamiliar with and she really couldn’t explain to him what they were. He advised her to carry a little journal in her purse listing her prescriptions as well as her medical conditions and a brief description of them. Then when it was my turn to be treated, once again he was confused by some of my medical conditions and prescriptions. He commented on his being a doctor for 31 years and how he had learned so much from the previous patient & myself that day. It goes to show that you are never too old to learn.

His comments had really got me to thinking about carrying a little journal in my purse containing my medical information so I decided to create a journal just for that purpose. I also made one for my mother & sister to carry in their purses.

I used 2 coasters for each Medical Information book(one for the front & one for the back) out of my huge stash of coasters. I designed & printed up the pages in Microsoft Word and the DSP is Yellow Bicycle. I used my Fiskars Trimmer to trim down the pages to 4x4, glued the DSP to the coasters, trimmed the excess with my Fiskars Fingertip Craft Knife as well as sanded the edges. I didn’t do a lot of fussing with these mini journals as if your purse is anything like mine, they’ll take a beating. Here is a picture of the finished journals:
Surprising enough when I gave my sister her medical journal at Thanksgiving, I ended up getting an order for my BIL’s sister to make one for her husband. I hadn’t thought of making them for men, but then again it’s us women who carry our loved one’s medical information in our purses too.

This definitely goes to show that you never know when or where inspiration will strike.

Orange and Pink Challenge (Long Post)

2010-10-18T06:51:00.000-04:00

At the end of September, Tami (one of the Lead Fiskateers) posted that she was looking for a few crafters willing to take on a color challenge on the Fiskateers Message Board.She had something planned that she wanted to highlight a few projects in a certain color theme. The only restriction was the color combo. I emailed her right away & was one of the lucky ones chosen to be in this color challenge. I can post this to my blog now as my projects are up on the Fiskateer Blog and can be seen here: http://www.fiskateers.com/blog/2010/10/17/pink-and-orange-go-together-in-gift-items/

I was a bit surprised when I got notice of the color combination that we were to work with. Pink & Fiskateer Orange!! I’ve never worked with that combination before & never would have thought that the two colors would look good together. It sure surprised me. Pink & Orange do go together.

Since this challenge was for Breast Cancer, I knew immediately what I wanted to do. For those of you who follow my blog, you know that my older sister Donna is a 3 times Breast Cancer survivor, so Breast Cancer Awareness is very dear to my heart. Pink and Orange are not normally colors that I work with so creating something with these colors was a challenge for me. The inspiration for this challenge came from items that I created for my sister at the time of her battle with Breast Cancer as well as a couple of items she would have used if I had of thought of making them at the time of her battle.

A year ago my sister was diagnosed with Breast Cancer (her 3rd time) after 20 yrs of being cancer free. Hearing of her diagnosis, I bought this cancer stamp set to create a card for her and hopefully give her some encouragement and strength to fight this horrible disease again. For the challenge, I have created 3 different card styles shown in the photo. I used Yellow Bicycle DSP which just so happened to have Pink & Orange in it as well as glitter on the page, my Fiskars Trimmer, Scissors and the Fiskars Threading Waters Border Punch.Next I created an altered journal for her. I wish that I had of thought of creating one for her at the time she was battling cancer. At the time I told her that she should write down her thoughts, etc as she has quite the story to tell about her fight with cancer. During her first battle with cancer 20 yrs ago, they over radiated her & now she is left with a heart condition that she is going to need open-heart surgery on in the near future. She never knew this until the results came back from her pre-op tests a year ago. Since I didn’t think at the time to create a journal for her, I did it for this challenge & gave it to her at Thanksgiving (our Canadian Thanksgiving was October 11th). I again used Yellow Bicycle DSP, my Fiskars Trimmer and Scissors. I also made little tabs for her to write on & set up dividers for her journal if she wishes. I also added an inside pocket at the front of the journal for her to keep any receipts, doctors cards, etc in. I covered the inside back of the journal and added the Survivor verse. I added a verse to the front cover as well as a Velcro closure and trimmed it with lace to finish it off. The lace is so pretty & has little hearts on it.The next item added to this gift is a medical information journal that I got the inspiration for while being a patient in our local Emergency Room. I used 2 coasters for the cover of each mini journal, the pages I printed up in Microsoft Word and the DSP is again Yellow Bicycle. I used my Fiskars Trimmer to trim down the pages to 4x4, glued the DSP to the coasters, trimmed the excess with my Fiskars Fingertip Craft Knife as well as sanded the edges. I didn’t do a lot of fussing with these mini journals as if your purse is anything like mine, they’ll take a beating. Lol I made 3 of these little medical journals and will be giving the other 2 to my sister & my mother.

Last on the list was Thank You cards. When my sister was recuperating from her surgery, her daughters arranged with family & friends to bring in meals to them for a couple of weeks. I thought it was an awesome idea. Donna’s husband was her rock & he was really good about cooking breakfast & lunch but he’s never been one to plan & cook supper. Having meals brought in gave her the time she needed to recuperate with out the stress of meal planning & being in the kitchen. Most meals that were brought in usually gave them leftovers for the next day. Living 45 miles away from them it wasn’t easy taking in a meal. My mother & I took a supper in for them as well as I left them some money to order take out food for another night. I decided to surprise Donna with a dozen Thank You Cards that she could send out to family, friends, etc for the meals, etc. This saved her the added stress of not having to go out & shop for cards. I know that she appreciated it.As you can see, my inspiration for the Pink & Orange Challenge is my sister & her fight against Breast Cancer. All the items I’ve created are items that someone fighting cancer could & would use. All are items that I gave my sister as well as a new journal & medical journal that I wish I had of given her at the time (she has them now). I’m so thankful that my sister won her fight against breast cancer & is a Survivor.My prayers go out to all of you who are fighting this horrible disease or who have family/friends fighting it.

Thanks for looking & have a great day!

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian Family & Friends

2010-10-12T06:28:00.001-04:00

I just wanted to wish all my family & friends a Happy Thanksgiving. With yesterday being our Thanksgiving holiday (Canadian), I went up to my sister and her husband’s home for supper. Since our family is very close knit, we try to spend all of our holiday’s together. Our 85 year old mother lives next door to me and came up with me to my sister’s house. Our family has grown a lot over the years and finding a place big enough to hold us all is getting difficult. I’d never fit them in my small apartment. lol

My sister has 2 daughters who are both married & have children. Their oldest daughter has 4 children (3 boys & 1 girl) and their youngest daughter has 3 children (2 girls & a boy). The ages of the kids is from 1 to 8 yrs old so it gets pretty noisy with that many active children running around the house. There is never a dull moment. My younger brother is married & has 2 children. His step-daughter is married and has 2 children (boy 10 & a girl 1). His son is a year younger than my son. My brother isn’t one who likes to get out & visit. Sadly he misses a lot of our family get-together’s unless they are at my mom’s. I also have an older brother who spends his winters in Costa Rica.

My son is finishing up his apprenticeship and after he completes this college session (he’s in college now), he’ll be able to write his exam for a mechanic. His GF is working towards her Masters in Nursing & wants to be an ER Nurse. He came for supper & then had plans to meet his friends at the Fair near our home to see the Demolition Derby.

There were 19 of us sitting around the table this Thanksgiving and we all have a lot to be thankful for. There was so much food & desserts. The dinner was so good. (Turkey is one of my favorite dinners).

The family also surprised me with a belated birthday too. This year with our mother being ill & my sister’s MIL being ill, getting together on my birthday was difficult so yesterday was a nice surprise. (Thanks everyone for the nice belated birthday!)

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Are You Looking for the Survivor Stamp Set?

2010-10-12T06:20:00.001-04:00

For those of you looking for the Paper Inspirations Survivor stamp set that I have, Darlene left a comment saying that it is still available at Addicted to Rubber Stamps. She said you can find it by doing a search by the company name. It is $17.89 now. (I don't remember paying that much for it). ATRS always has sales on so you may want to check them out. I used to shop there all the time & loved it. Unfortunately I no longer do so because of high International shipping fees. Other than that, they are a great company to deal with, fast service, great customer service and great products.

Thanks Darlene for checking this out & letting me know so that I can pass this information on to others who are looking for this stamp set.

Day 2 - I Have a Thing For Pink

2010-10-10T08:25:00.000-04:00

I have a thing for pink! I love how some companies help to sponsor Breast Cancer awareness & raise money for it by putting out unique products. Last year I found a neat pair of Fiskars scissors that I just had to have. I also bought a pair of scissors for my sister as well as gave her some cool pink pj’s to wear in the hospital. Then I ended up finding this adorable pink shoe scotch tape dispenser that I had to have too. The year before I bought all the women close to me pink umbrella’s.This year I spotted some new pink items to add to my collection…a pretty pink pen set by Paper Mate, an adorable purse pop up note dispenser by Post Its for my desk and a Pink Fire Safe by SentrySafe. I’ve been wanting to buy a fire safe for some time now to keep my valuable papers, insurance policies, photo’s, birth certificates, etc in. I spotted this one on Friday when I was out shopping & knew I had to have it. Not only was it PINK, the price was right and buying it also donated to Breast Cancer Research. Every penny helps when it comes to research. Not only am I helping a great cause, I’m also getting some cute items to inspire me & to add to my studio.On another note...I’ve had some enquiries about the stamp set that I used for my cards. I’ve scanned it & am posting a picture of it so that you can see it. It is such a beautiful stamp set & I couldn’t resist it. It’s acrylic & made by Paper Inspirations. I think that I bought it from Addicted to Rubber Stamps sometime last year or the year before, I really can’t remember. Here’s a photo of the stamp set & another card that I made for my sister when she was going through her battle with Breast Cancer using it.I also have a stamp set from Stampin Up that I use for cards for breast cancer called “Hope Is” (retired). It has the ribbon stamp, Believe, Love & a verse “Hope is…believing in a brighter tomorrow.” Here’s a card that I made using this stamp set.I hope that you’ve enjoyed today’s post. Have a great day & be sure to check out the other blogs as several will be posting something new for today. TFL!

Pink Blog Hop

2010-10-08T21:47:00.000-04:00

I signed up for Karel’s Pink Blog Hop as Breast Cancer Awareness is a subject very near to my heart. My older sister is a 3 times Breast Cancer Survivor. Over the years she has had some difficult times with the diagnosis especially when she was in her late 20’s when she was first diagnosed. She had 20 years of being cancer free only to have it come back a year ago. She went through a very difficult time with the last surgery and is still recuperating. I am doing this blog hop for her as a way of letting her know how thankful I am that she is now cancer free & to have her in my life as well as those who are battling this horrible disease.

Welcome to Karel’s Pink Blog Hop. If you arrived here from Gina’s Stamping Creations -- http://ginathorntonstamping.blogspot.com/, you are in the right location. If not you can pick up where you should be or left off from the following list of talented blog participants.

1. One By One The Flamingos Are Stealing My Sanity – http://karelj.blogspot.com
2. Gina’s Stamping Creations -- http://ginathorntonstamping.blogspot.com/
3. Crafting This Moment -- http://craftingthismoment.blogspot.com/ (YOU ARE HERE)
4. The Cricut Diaries – http://cricutdiaries.blogspot.com
5. Sweet Sassy Diva -- http://sweetsassydiva-gspot.blogspot.com/
6. Scrappin’ Sista -- http://onescrappinsista.blogspot.com
7. If It’s Groovy -- http://ifitsgroovy.blogspot.com
8. Oh, Snap! -- http://ohsnaplizzie.blogspot.com/
9. Crazy About Cricut – http://crazyaboutcricut.blogspot.com
10. Gen’s Den -- http://www.gensden.com/
11. Peanut Butter and Jelly Designs -- http://peanutbutterandjellydesigns.blogspot.com/
12. Heartfelt Creations --http://heartfeltdesigns.blogspot.com
13. Creations With Becka – http://creationswithbecka.blogspot.com
14. Calie’s Creative Corner – http://caliescreativecorner.blogspot.com
15. Tidbit’s Place – http://tidbitsplace.blogspot.com
16. Gypsy Paperie -- http://gypsypaperie.blogspot.com
17. Life From Marianne’s Table – http://number1aunt.blogspot.com
18. The Suburban Crafter-- http://www.rachelstampshappy.blogspot.com/

Special Giveaway Instructions - To win the $25 gift certificate that Sarah at Pink by Design Store so graciously donated, all you have to do is complete the hop and leave a comment on every blog. On Tuesday, utilizing random.org, a blog number, and then a comment number for that blog will be chosen. The winner will be notified by a posting on One By One The Flamingos Are Stealing My Sanity, by a posting on Karel's Facebook and Twitter Accounts, and every effort will be made to personally contact the winner. Be sure to also check out Sarah's store.

When my sister Donna was diagnosed with cancer a year ago, I found this cancer stamp set and had to buy it. I knew it would be perfect for creating cards of encouragement both for her and others fighting this horrible disease. I sent her a card back then using this stamp set and will again give her one as a celebration for being a survivor.My next project idea is something I’ve had for sitting around for a few years and thought that it’d be perfect for this Pink challenge. A few years ago I found these adorable boxes at our local dollar store. I bought them & they’ve been sitting around all this time waiting for me to put them together. The boxes are all made of a sturdy chipboard and the package came with 4 different box styles with instructions, ribbon, tags & clear buttons to decorate them. All you had to do was punch out the box shapes, fold on the score lines & add some sticky tape in places. So easy, yet so nice! Wouldn’t these be adorable filled with chocolates or something sweet and give to someone fighting cancer?The next stop on your blog hop is The Cricut Diaries – http://cricutdiaries.blogspot.com. Your going to love what she has to share. Thanks for stopping by & enjoy the blog hop.

Think Pink Blog Hop

2010-10-02T07:16:00.000-04:00

With October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I’ve signed up with Karel at http://karelj.blogspot.com/ to participate in the Think Pink Blog Hop. The hop will be over Columbus Day weekend (October 9-11) and Sarah of Pink Cricut is sponsoring it. She also generously donated a $25 dollar gift certificate!!

Currently there are 17 bloggers signed up for this fabulous event & you’ll have 3 days to visit the blogs. This will give all hoppers three full days to hop, learn new techniques, get project ideas and maybe claim some blog candy!

As a windup to the event Karel is featuring different bloggers who are participating in the event on her blog. Stop by Karel’s blog at http://karelj.blogspot.com/ to see the featured bloggers. The Think Pink Blog Hop will start at Karel’s blog on October 9th. See you at the Hop.

Shannon's Tool Garland Challenge

2010-09-19T06:37:00.000-04:00

Recently Shannon, the Fiskars Community Manager, posted a challenge on the Fiskateer blog to create a Tool Garland. I always enjoy these challenges and thought that this one would be fun. Unfortunately I didn't have a lot of time to do this so it wasn't as full as I would have liked it to be. I do plan on adding more tools to my garland.

I used to do a lot of paper piecing when I first started scrapping and I really enjoyed it. Not having a lot of money to buy embellishments when I first started scrapbooking, paper piecing became a great way for me to decorate my layouts. I really enjoyed it but over the last couple of years I have drifted away from it.

For this challenge, I thought that I would try to recreate some of my favorite Fiskars tools by paper piecing. I first traced out a template for each tool onto white cardstock, cut them out and then pieced it back together trying to keep in mind the right colors for each item. Here's what I ended up with:In the past I have done other challenges where I have paper pieced tools. Here's one that I did where we had the template for a girl & had to dress her and add some tools. This was what I came up with for that challenge.Check out her little drill, scissors & squeeze punch.

This last one is a layout that I did where I paper pieced my scissors that were given to me by Fiskars when I joined the Fiskateers. If you are interested in joining the Fiskateers and joining in on some of these fun challenges just go to http://www.fiskateers.com/, click on "How to join" and email Cheryl, Angela, Rebecca or Tami. Hope to see you on the message board. Have a great day!

Here's an Oldie...Twist Paper Basket

2010-09-17T08:19:00.000-04:00

During the Orange Blog Hop, I showed you a flower that I made by punching out scalloped circles from the Twist Paper.I have tons of it left over from when I used to make baskets using Twist Paper. Here's a side view of a basket that I made using twist paper.These baskets were made by weaving twist paper around a grocery bag that was lined with heavy cardboard, then batting with a material liner. They were really soft inside. The handle was braided twist paper & then it was finished off with a bow. I made quite a few of these and sold them.

Of course my cat (now deceased) loved to sleep in it. She would squish herself into it & all you'd see was her head & that's where she'd sleep.

Does anyone have any other uses for leftover twist paper besides a cat bed, I mean basket?? lol

Have a great day! TFL

Fiskateer Orange Blog Hop Winner

2010-09-15T05:29:00.000-04:00

Sorry it took me a little longer than planned but the winner of my Fiskateer Orange Blog Hop RAK is….

Drum Roll Please…….

Betsy said...
I love the bee hive basket so cute!!
Friday, September 10, 2010 1:09:00 PM

Please contact me Betsy & I’ll ship your prize out to you.

Thank you everyone for your kind comments & for a great Blog Hop.

Merlene's Craftateers Challenge.

2010-09-13T06:40:00.000-04:00

Merlene, Fiskateer #1166 posted a challenge on the Fiskateer Message Board for a Craft a teers Challenge. Her challenge is for the other things the Fiskateers like to do besides scrapbook pages, and cards. After all we are a crafting community of many diverse interests, and nationalities.

This challenge is open to any type of crafting that you like to do. It can be quilting, sewing, painting, weaving, mixed media, home decor, (we all love to try those cute home decor things for the holidays), basically anything that you love to do.

At one time I used to make baskets out of Twist Paper & sold them, then I got into Tole Painting and sold most of what I did. Now I'm pretty much stuck on card making, scrapbooking and creating mini albums. But when I saw this challenge, I thought that I'd try something new. Awhile ago, I saw this Pop Can Ring bracelet on an etsy site & it's supposed to be similiar to one that was worn by Kristen Stewart/Bella Swan (Twilight). Anyways I thought that I'd see if I could make one. I have to make the next one a bit longer as this one turned out smaller than I'd hoped.P.S. The "hand/wrist" modeling this bracelet is not a real hand, it's one that I'd bought for Halloween. Looks pretty real though.

Fiskateer Online Crop September 10th & 11th

2010-09-13T05:59:00.000-04:00

Not only did I participate in this past weekends Fiskateers Orange Blog Hop, I also took time to participate in the Online Crop hosted by Rebecca. As always, Rebecca put together an awesome online crop. She had 15 fun challenges for us to do. Unfortunately I didn’t get all of the challenges done as I was worn out from all the blog hopping I did too. lol Surprising enough, I did manage to do 12 of the 15 challenges.

Challenge #1 - Let's get warmed up!
For this challenge we were to create a card, a scrapbook page or a tag using a Fiskars tool. Post a pic in your gallery along with a description that tells us why you chose that tool!I chose my favorite Fiskars Border Punch “Threading Waters” to use on this card. I like the simplicity of this punch as well as the touch of elegance. You can't really see in the photo but her wings & the little hearts are covered in Dazzling Diamonds & boy do the glitter.

Challenge #2 - Git 'er done for the Holidays!
For this challenge we were to pick one of the upcoming holidays - Halloween (I know it's technically not a holiday), Thanksgiving, or Christmas. Make three or more cards for that holiday!I ended up picking both Halloween & Christmas and did 2 cards for each occasion. I used my CC Design stamps for both cards.

Challenge #3, 4 & 11 I didn’t have time to do.

Challenge #5, 6, 7, 10 & 12 did not require you to make anything. You just followed the instructions on the post to enter the draw.

Challenge #8 Turquoise & Brown
This challenge was to make a scrapbook page, a home decor item or a card using the colors turquoise and brown.I used my Magnolia stamp & made a card. I just love this color combo.

Challenge #9 Do you have a theme song? Craft it!
Do you have a song that you consider your own? Or is there one that you could listen to over and over and over again? Why not craft it? Make a scrapbook page about it, make a card that relates to it somehow, or even create a home decor piece that is somehow tied to the song.Here's the side view of the basket:I really don’t have a “theme” song but as I was making this Witch Hat Basket, the song Witchy Woman kept going through my head. I figured it would be perfect for this basket & challenge. lol

Challenge #13 UFP Completion!
Since the last one seemed to spark a lot of folks to get things done, I'm rolling out another UFP challenge! For those of you that don't know, a UFP is an UnFinished Project. You know, those projects that have been laying around half-done for weeks, months, even years maybe! Take a picture of your project in its unfinished state and post it in your gallery by 9/11/10 at 11 pm EDT. Then, you will have until 9/30/10 at 10 pm EDT to post a picture of the finished project in your gallery.I have so many UFP’s that need to be done but this one is one that caught my attention. I’ve been meaning to do this one since I cut the tree out some time ago. Now that it’s posted here I hope to finish it. I’ll have to dig out some more UFP’s for another time. You'll have to come back to see the finished layout now.

Challenge #14 - Get Scrap Happy
Use your scraps to create a card, layout or altered item!This one was pretty easy. I used my scraps from Challenge #2 and made another Halloween card.

Challenge #15 Me and My....(fill in the blank)
Show some Fiskars love! Post a picture of you and your very favorite Fiskars tool in your gallery.This was an easy one with the exception of my not having just one favorite Fiskars tool, I have several favorite Fiskars tools. See my new Fiskars “In Stitches” Border Punch…I won it during the July Online Crop.

This was definately a crafty weekend for me. I think I finally have my Mojo back. I'll be posting the winner to my blog RAK later today I hope.

Thanks for looking & have a great day!

RAK is now CLOSED

2010-09-13T05:56:00.000-04:00

My weekend Fiskateer Orange Blog Hop RAK is now closed & I will be drawing a winner as well as posting a picture of the prize later today I hope. Thanks for all who visited my blog during the blog hop & those who left comments. Thanks for making this first Fiskateer Orange Blog Hop such a huge success.

Fiskateers Orange Blog Hop

2010-09-10T06:13:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the Fiskateers Orange Blog Hop. If you came here from Stayce Dewid Fiskateer #2985 Blog (http://www.staycedewid.com) your in the right place. If you accidentally stumbled onto my blog and would like to start at the beginning, you can do so by going to http://fiskateers.com/blog/. (For some reason my links aren't working this morning but if you copy & paste them into your browser, they'll take you to the next blog. I apologise for the inconvenience.)

Let the fun begin….

Twist Paper FlowerI got to thinking that my post isn't very orange so I thought that I'd better add something "orange" to it. I'm into my "flower making" phase right now. I love creating different types of flowers & got to thinking that I have so much of this "twist paper" left over from my basket making days that I should be able to create something with it. So I untwisted some of this paper, flattened it out & inserted it into the scalloped circle punch. I punched out 4 flowers, added a button that I stitched on and viola...a twist paper flower. Now I know what to do with all my left over twist paper.

Accordion File Folder Deciding to get involved with the Fiskateer Orange Blog Hop has motivated me into trying some projects that I’ve wanted to do for sometime. My first project is an Accordion File Folder that Susan Dean had done on the Magnolia blog. I thought that it was such a cute project that I even taught this to my card group this week. I plan on using the little pockets to store my extra Magnolia images but they could also be used to insert gift cards, tags or even some little embellishments & then give it to a new scrapbooker. The little flower is made from pipe cleaners.

Memory KeeperThe next project on my list is a “Memory Keeper”. This idea came from GinaK. This envelope is for keeping your photo’s in until you are ready to scrap them. Also included is journaling cards to write all the important information on. Then when you’re ready to scrap the pictures you also have the journaling ready too. This Memory Keeper is for my son’s girlfriend who recently came back from a Mission trip to the Dominican Republic. According to my son, she’s been talking about getting into scrapbooking now (insert evil laugh). Since I gave her the Twilight Mini Album for her birthday she is now talking more & more about it. She showed me her photo’s when she came back & she has some beautiful pictures. I thought that this memory keeper would be perfect for her Dominican pictures. I hope that she likes it too.

I used the Fiskars “Boundry Waters” border punch on the bottom of the envelope. These colors remind me of summer & would be perfect for vacation photo’s. This envelope is also the perfect size for cards too. You could probably get 3 or 4 cards plus envelopes inside it & give as a gift.

Bee Hive BasketThe next project is one that I did just for fun. It’s a Bee Hive Basket. I used the Fiskars Apron Lace border punch to create the handle on it and the Oval & Oval Again Squeeze Punch to create the opening to the hive. The bee’s are Stampin Up that have been colored & glittered. You could fill this basket full of sweets & give it to your “Honey”.

Well I hope that you’ve enjoyed seeing these projects and if you leave me a comment I'm sure that I can put together some little RAK that you could win. (I'll post a picture of the prize that you could win later today). I’m off to do some blog hopping of my own now as well as take part in the Fiskateer Online Crop today & tomorrow. Stop by again as I'm sure that I'll have some new projects, etc to post from the Fiskateers Online Crop.

Since I am the last blog on the list, you can start over or catch up on any blogs you may have missed by going to http://fiskateers.com/blog/. While you’re there, why not join us in the Online Crop.

Fiskateers Orange Blog Hop

2010-09-04T05:57:00.000-04:00

Get ready to see orange & do some hopping with the Fiskateers. On September 10th & 11th the Fiskateers are having an Orange Blog Hop. The blog hop will start at the original Fiskateer blog (http://www.fiskateers.com/blog/) from there you will follow the links to other Fiskateer blogs from around the world. There will be so many interesting craft projects to see & inspire you. You might even find some giveaways along the way.

If your not already a Fiskateer, it's never too late to join. You can join the Fiskateers by following this link (http://www.fiskateers.com/). Rebecca one of our fabulous leads will also be hosting an Online Crop on September 10th & 11th that you won't want to miss. Great challenges, fun, prizes and maybe even on online chat.

Don't forget to mark your calendars for September 10th & 11th and remember the Blog Hop will start the morning of the 10th on the Fiskateers Blog. Hope to see you there.

Twilight Mini Album

2010-08-16T07:50:00.001-04:00

My son's girlfriend recently had a birthday. Since she’s a huge Twilight fan I decided to make her a Twilight Mini Album. It started out as a 12x12 sheet of chipboard that I cut down to 6x6 pages, painted them black & then adhered the Stampin Up Black & White DS papers to. This book has a lot of glitter & bling in it and I love how it turned out. The birthday girl loved it too.

The way I set this book up, one side of the page has a picture & quotes from the movie & the opposite facing page has a picture of my son & his GF. I ended up with 14 pages in the book, a couple of hidden pockets and I used all kinds of products & tools. The last page in the book has a picture of my son & a quote “Will You Be My Edward” underneath it. lol

The Front Cover is acrylic (not shown) and has small dots on it. It was included in the SU DSP that I used. On the cover I used Maya Road letters that I painted red & then covered in glitter. I also used a Fiskars punch to make the teardrops that I also glittered. Page 1 & 2 are quotes and a picture from the movie with some added bling.
Pages 3 & 7 are more movie pics & quotes. Pages 4,5 & 6 are photo's of my son & his girlfriend that I'm not showing here out of respect to them.There are 14 pages in this mini album. I'm not showing them all but the one's I've shown give an idea of what it looks like. I love how it turned out but more importantly my son's girlfriend loves it too. She's now talking about wanting to scrapbook some of her pictures. Watch out DS! Although he likes my work, he just doesn't like all the toys & all the clutter that goes along with it. He's certainly not going to be too happy that I've offered to corrupt, I mean help his GF learn to scrap. lol. Anyways, thanks for looking & have a great day!

Summer Fun Mini Album

2010-08-16T07:38:00.002-04:00

Awhile back I found this adorable summer mini album template online and decided that it would be perfect for the “Imaginisce Splash Dance” line. I’m sorry I can’t remember who to give credit to for the awesome mini album. I also used the CC Design Mermaid stamps that I fell in love with & colored with Copic Markers. I also used one of the Just Rite “By the Sea” stamp set as well as words from other acrylic stamp sets that I have.

The most difficult part was modifying the template so it would be a 12”x” mini album. Then came the fun job of cutting it all out by hand. This is definitely not something you’d want to do for a class project. Lol

In the end, I’m thrilled with how it turned out. There are lots of pictures to look at with this one. TFL!!
The cover of this mini album is acrylic and painted & glittered around the top edge of it. This also protects the main front cover.
Page 1 and 2 Pages 3 and 4 Pages 5 & 6 The Back Cover

Check out the Blog Candy at Scrappin Great Deals

2010-08-15T10:03:00.000-04:00

Scrappin' Great Deals of Kilworth, Ontario (5 minutes west of London, Ontario)is one of my favorite online places to shop. I've also been to the store as well and it is awesome too.

Check out the blog candy being offered by Sheila at Scrappin' Great Deals. Sheila appeared in last weeks Middlesex Banner in an article about SGD! She's actually in 2 articles and you can see them on her blog. To celebrate, Sheila wants to give away one of the new products to come to SGD - Scor Buddy. For a chance to win go to http://scrappingreatdealsblog.blogspot.com/

Another Fiskateers Online Crop

2010-08-09T07:13:00.000-04:00

It’s been quite awhile since I’ve done any crafting other than the get together’s with my card group. Now that we’ve taken a break for the summer, it’s seems like forever since I’ve done anything crafty. Now that my renovations are finally coming to an end, I have time to do other things without feeling guilty. I’ve been working on mini albums lately but took a break to participate in the recent Fiskateers Online Crop.

On July 28th & 31st, the Fiskateers had another online crop. Although I wasn’t able to participate during the crop on Wed or do any of those challenges, I did manage to do some of the crops posted on the 31st. Fortunately they had extended deadlines which made it perfect for me to participate. Surprising enough, I even won a prize for the Build Your Stash Challenge.

Here are my challenge cards:
Challenge #21-Build your card stash
Let's Build our Card Stash. Make 10 cards in all. This can all be birthday, or an assortment such as Birthday, Thank You, Get Well, Just Because, Thinking of You, Sympathy....what ever floats your boat.

Challenge # 23 Hide and Seek
What you need to do is go to your scraproom or where ever you keep your pattern paper. Then close your eyes and randomly select a sheet of patterned paper. That is the no cheating part. It takes the fun out of it if you cheat. Okay now that you have your pattern paper you are to create a layout or 2 cards using that piece of paper. To make it a little more difficult to cheat, you must take a picture of the pattern paper before you begin.

Challenge # 24 Stamp and punch card
For this challenge you are to use only 2 colors on your card, and also use one stamp and one Fiskars punch. You may use other items as well, but only two colors and you must have used at least one Fiskars punch and one stamp.

Challenge # 25 Punch me once, Punch me twice!
For this challenge you need to use two different Fiskars borders punches on either a layout or 2 cards. If you don't have two different punches, you may use a regular fiskars punch to make a border with.

Challenge # 26 (the last one) Going out with a bling, I mean a bang, I mean a Bling Bang!
Have your sunglasses ready for this one ladies~ For this challenge you are to make a layout or two cards using bling or glitter on it. You can use Stickles, glitter, glitter glue, any type of bling such as rhinestones etc. You be the judge of how much bling bang you can take.

Not bad, I managed to finish off 18 cards after such a long break. Next I'll be posting pictures of my recent mini albums when I finish them. TFL!!

Fiskateer NSD Online Crop Card

2010-05-04T06:00:00.000-04:00

Although I couldn't really participate in the Fiskateer NSD Online Crop this past weekend, I did take time out to participate in the Pre-NSD Challenge by making this card. The challenge was to make a quick card. I just used the paper, added googlie eyes & a sentiment and the card was finished. I think this had to have been my quickest card ever. lolI also took part in Rebecca's "Black, White & Pink Elegance" online class. I was a lucky winner of this class. She shipped up all the materials to us for the class. We had a black board book & box to decorate & the papers, rubons, etc are so pretty. I love the black & white papers. The class was done over Livestream and it was the first time I've taken part in a Fiskateer class. We managed to get 4 pages done during the class time & when I get mine finished, I'll post it here.

New Cards

2010-05-04T05:44:00.001-04:00

Lately I've been struggling to find time to craft without feeling guilty. I'm starting to get closer to my goal of finishing these renovations. Last week I had a new laminate floor installed in my kitchen. Today my new appliances delivered will be delivered. Soon I can start unpacking all the boxes that are currently stored in my livingroom. I can't wait to empty it out & get my new livingroom furniture delivered. With all the work I have to do around the house and having health issues that makes it difficult to keep at it for any length of time, sneaking away to craft leaves me with a guilty feeling. It's been a long time since I've spent my days crafting.

Twice a month 3 of my GF's & I get together and take turns showing a new project, card or technique. Last week was my turn and these are the two card ideas that I came up with. Neither of them were my original ideas.

This first card is perfect to celebrate those hot summer days or as an invite to an afternoon get together.Like a lot of other bloggers these days, I seem to be hooked on flower techniques. I came across this "Sweet Pea" flower using the SU Butterfly Punch and thought I'd give it a try. I liked how it turned out. I decided to do it for my second class card.Then just for fun I had to feed my punch addiction by trying out this cute poodle I came across on a blog. I love punches and really enjoy all the neat things that you can do with them.Thanks for looking & have a great day!

Fiskateer Online Crop Today!!

2010-04-24T09:16:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that there is a Fiskateer Online Crop today (April 24th) on the Fiskateer Message Board. I hope to see you all there. Lots of fun RAK's, challenges, etc. See you on the MB.

Almost Caught Up

2010-04-08T08:15:00.000-04:00

Well I'm almost caught up on the recent projects that I've done in the past few months. I can't believe how far behind I'd gotten on my blog posts. I guess it's easy to do when you aren't crafting on a regular basis.

Three of my girlfriends & I have started to get together twice a month and take turns teaching each other a new project. My turn was in February & I decided to teach some card techniques that I came across.

The first card uses the new Stampin Up Two Step Bird Punch that was introduced in the Occasions Mini Catalogue (Jan 5th - April 30th). Being a punch addict I knew that I had to have it.(I love it!). Not only can you use it to create the bird, it makes the coolest tulips and other flowers. This is one that I cased & taught.
The next card I taught uses the Stampin Up Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set. This is a gorgeous stamp set and there is so much that can be done with it. Another must have for me. I also cased this one.Thanks for looking!

Scissor Crazy

2010-04-08T08:12:00.000-04:00

One of the challenges on the Fiskateer site was to take a picture and post it to your gallery showing off all your scissors. Talk about scissor crazy. I even think I've added some new one's since this picture was taken.

Easel Card Case

2010-04-08T08:05:00.000-04:00

After seeing a card online that was done by a friend of mine Sherry H, I knew that I had to case it. I love these Easel Cards.

Punchies

2010-04-08T08:02:00.001-04:00

Now I certainly can't post to my blog without showing a new punch creation. I have so much fun doing punch creations. There are so many talented punch artists out there and this is one that I've cased. It uses mostly all Stampin Up punches.

More Past Fiskateer Challenges

2010-04-08T07:50:00.000-04:00

Here are a few more Fiskateer challenges from some of the online crops that I participated in.

This first layout is of my adorable Great Niece Dakota. She loves chapstick & will smother her lips with it until they are covered as well as most of the lower part of her face. She's just too cute!
These next 2 layouts are of me when I was about 10. I scanned old newspaper clippings that my mother saved of when I was in a walkathon as well as one of my brother & I with Smokey the Bear.

This is a "bronze" baby shoe that I did for one of the Olympic challenges on the Fiskateer site.