Teacher gift

I have a new friend who is returning to teaching this year after a break. I saw this idea on the 2peas board and modified it slightly to make it work. I love that line in the movie "You've got Mail" where they're talking about the fall and sending bouquets of freshly sharpened pencils. I remember feeling that way about school supplies too. Anyhow, this is what I made for her to go on her desk.

It's just a container from the dollar store which I glued floral foam into. I covered the 4 sides with paper and ribbon and added some Prima flowers. Then I stuck the pencils in, some tip up, some eraser up, then used the leaves to cover the foam. I think it turned out pretty cute. It cost me about $4 to make. I'm planning to make another for Riley's kindergarten teacher.

This is the card I made to go with it. Meet Changito - isn't he cute? I cuttlebugged the background with my spots and dots folder (still using my rolling pin!). I sewed the paper to the choc. chip cardstock and added eyelets around the sentiment. I thought the sentiment was appropriate for referring to back to school!

Happy Anniversary!

To me! I can't believe it's been 9 years! We went out to dinner last night at a schwanky restaurant and it was awesome! We were supposed to be just exchanging cards, but my doorbell rang this afternoon, and this is what I found!

This is my anniversary card. I was severely blocked and didn't know what the heck I was going to do for a card. I don't have any "love" images and somehow flowers just didn't seem like they were going to cut it for the main image either. Then this morning I heard Sarah McLaughlin's song "Your love is better than chocolate" on the radio and this idea popped in my head. Hubby always jokes that I'd choose chocolate/dessert over him - so this is the card to prove that it's no contest - he always wins.

I love this image by Stampendous called "Tiers of Treats" and I was really happy about how the watercolouring turned out. I also love that it's a really good size image - I can see myself using it lots!

Thanks a Latte

Finally a card without a scallop punch and white gel pen! But I couldn't resist sewing on it! This is one of my new sets from My Favorite Things. It's called Hot Stuff and is so cute! The main image is popped up on dimensionals and there are stickles in the middle of the flowers. Thanks for looking!

Kitchen Before and After Pics

The Before Pictures (minus the big ugly faux hinges that I took off right after we moved in)

The After Pictures

I'm not sure if I'm in love with the colour on the upper cabinets - but I'm giving it time to grow on me. I think it will look better once we do the floors in a couple of months too.

Baby card

I forgot that I needed to whip up a baby card for tomorrow. This is what I came up with. Seems like I'm really liking my scallop punch and white pen these days! Oooh and I forgot that I coloured the onesie with my prismacolour pencil and Gamsol (odourless mineral spirits). You can get awesome shading with this method.

Finally! A card!

Urgh! I've been struggling with a huge case of stamper's block even though I've spent the last two nights stamping! I'm kind of frustrated because I have a tons to get done and new stamps to play with. It really is true that it's easier to keep going and stay in the groove. It's taking me quite a while to get my groove back.

Anyway, needed to make a sympathy card for Paul's grandmother who lost her husband. Here's what I came up with. I used My Favorite Things Bundles of Bouquet for this card. I really need to expand my sentiments as I have no sympathy ones.

Hopefully I'll be back later with another card and pics of our kitchen!

Back from camping!

Yeesh - it's been a while. I actually tried to post on Wed. before we left for camping but blogger was down (of course!). We finished painting our kitchen cabinets and I think it looks pretty good! I hope to get some pics up today or tomorrow. Camping was a blast! The kids did awesome and we're already talking about going again next year.

I got some new stamps on Wednesday too! It was good timing so they didn't sit out for days on our front step, but bad timing cause I was dying to play with them and couldn't! I hope to get a chance today but am still unpacking and doing laundry from camping. Here's a pic of what I got from Eclectic Paperie. They have awesome stuff and shipping was cheap (around $5 US) and fast!

Hopefully I'll be back later with some cards! I desperately need to get those samples done for my business opportunity!

Starbucks Oracle

This link is too funny! If you ever go to Starbucks - go see the Starbucks Oracle to see what your drink order says about you!

Our kitchen is all torn apart but it is primed! I am getting a little tired of going to get something I need from the living room though (that's where all the contents of our kitchen are currently residing until we're finished painting the cabinets).

Threes....

So they say bad things happen in threes, but these days good things are happening in threes for me. Yesterday I got a call from my friend's sister's boss (keeping up still? lol) who is interested in commissioning some thank you cards for her business. She runs a home party business where they sell handbags and jewelry - it looks really cool! She also is looking for some boxed assorted cards to sell. I had called her a couple weeks ago but hadn't heard back and so had basically written it off. Well she called yesterday and now I need to drop off some samples for her to look at! How exciting! I also won blog candy!! I was the lucky winner of Kirsten's naptime nuggets. Kirsten has an amazing blog and it provides me with tons of inspiration - how lucky am I? And then this morning I found out that Sydney (my daughter) and I got into the program we wanted at the Early Years centre. These are free programs and are in high demand. The one for her age is only offered at one of the 4 centres and they do registration by a lottery.

I will likely be a bit absent for the next couple of days. We're painting the kitchen cabinets this weekend so I won't get a chance to make many cards. I will be trying to plan some out for the samples I need to drop off though! Hopefully I'll be back soon with some pics of our beautifully re-done kitchen!

Sketch Challenge

I decided to play along with Beate's sketch challenge on her blog. I stamped the old olive cardstock with my linen background stamp. The patterned paper is Basic Grey and I used my computer for the sentiment. I hand drew the toast and inserted it into the toaster (got that idea from Julie Ebersole's card). I think I maybe need to sponge the edges of the sentiment - it just seems so white! But on the whole, I think it turned out o.k.

Flip Flop Challenge Card

I made this for SCS's Limited Supply Challenge. You had to create a card that said summer to you. To me, summer is not summer without flip flops. I think I'd wear them all year round if I didn't live in Canada. I stamped the sentiment directly onto the ribbon because I didn't want to cover the ribbon up (it's too pretty!). And I sewed around the edges!! I'm quickly becoming a sewing addict - it's such a pretty addition to a card!

Oh and by the way - have you seen the new croc flip flops? I've never been a fan of the original croc flip flops, but I think these ones are to die for (and they are super comfy too!)!

Life Friend

I made this because I wanted to play with my winobella stamp some more - she's been badly neglected. I threaded the white Queen & Co. flower sequins through some silver cord for the bottom and added some stickles to the prima flowers for a little bling. I used my snap stamps for the "cheers" and went over the bottle and glasses with my clear glaze pen for a little dimension.

I think the shadow on the bottom should maybe have been a different colour, but at least it's not offensive, just not quite right. Thanks for looking!

The coffee was lonely...

and needed something to keep it company....if not ever so briefly (before I ate it!). I first tried this recipe last year (from the Kraft Magazine) and have been making it quite consistently ever since. They are super easy, no bake, and super yummy!

Peanut Butter Ice Box Squares

Wafer Mixture
18 HONEY MAID Graham Wafers, divided
3/4 cup butter
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1-1/4 cups HONEY MAID Graham Crumbs
1/2 cup KRAFT Smooth Peanut Butter

Icing
2 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. KRAFT Smooth Peanut Butter
1-1/2 cups icing sugar
2 Tbsp. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla

WAFER MIXTURE: Line ungreased 8-inch pan with 9 of the wafers. Combine butter, sugar, milk and vanilla in large saucepan. Bring to boil on medium-high heat; cook 5 min. Remove from heat.
ADD crumbs and peanut butter. Pour mixture over wafers in pan. Cover with remaining 9 wafers. Set aside to cool.
ICING: Meanwhile, beat butter and peanut butter in large bowl until well blended. Add icing sugar, milk and vanilla; mix well. Spread over cooled wafer mixture in pan. Cut into 36 squares to serve.

Something Fishy...

My hubby went fishing yesterday with one of his vendors from work on Lake Erie. They ended up catching this pickerel - and even better - they caught it without a net! Talk about talent!! Just had to share! (oh and it tasted yummy too!)

Zig Zag Stitching + Liquid Applique

= such a cute card!! (if I do say so myself)

So I bravely decided to "really" try out my new toy - I mean sewing machine. After experimenting with some scrap paper, I took a deep breath and sewed. And it turned out pretty good. Now granted it took me two corners to figure out I needed to go beyond the corner before I turned the cardstock (I catch on quick eh?), but it's all in the learning curve right? And then I seriously needed to play with my new liquid applique. I applied it as the frosting on top of the cupcakes and it's puffy in real life - so cool! The cupcakes are up on dimensionals and I added stickles to the candles to make them glittery. Mmmmm looks good enough to eat!

Tractor Tipping and Machine Stitching

So my new sewing machine came today and I gave it a test drive. I need more practice on sewing straight. Not so bad with a straight stitch, but a little dodgy on the zig zag stitch over two pieces of paper. Anyway, I added a little bit of my stitching to this card. I CASE'd this from laurakj on SCS, here is her card. This is a birthday card for a party that Riley is going to on Saturday - Adin loves the Cars movie, so this is perfect. See the stitching? On the green part? What a good way to use up scraps of paper! Off to practice some more.....

Can't Wait!!

Tomorrow my new toy should be here! Cambria Turnbow has been raving on her blog about her Janome Sew Mini sewing machine. She claims she can't sew a stitch but that the machine is easy to operate - and she shows us the results - her beautiful sewn cards! Well it went on sale last week at Hancock Fabrics and my wonderful mother in law bought me one as a really early birthday present! It should be here tomorrow and I'm so excited to play!

Tea Bag Holders

These are the tea bag holders I made for a friend. I hope she likes them as she left the details up to me! The bella holders are using some DCWV paper I bought at Michaels (oh the shame!). It's so pretty and sparkly! I mounted the bellas on Bazzill Bling and it is also sparkly - I love that paper.

The mug is from Sunshine Designs and is on the same cube as the refrigerator and the cutlery from previous cards. I stamped it on watercolour paper (my first foray with wc paper) and used my aquabrush and inkpads to colour it. I think I did o.k. for one of my first tries. The paper is from the My Mind's Eye stack that my Mother in law brought me from Costco in the States.

Kitchen In Progress

BEFORE PICS

Here's pics of our kitchen in progress. We've finished painting the walls and are now beginning to prep the cabinets for the melamine paint. We're going to paint from the 18-21st while hubby is on holiday. Painting made such a huge difference, I can't wait till the cabinets are done and the hardware is replaced!

IN PROGRESS PICS

Altered Journal

Here's a journal that I made for a friend. I used the Basic Grey Oh Baby line which I absolutely love. This started as a $3 Princess Journal from Zellers so I think it turned out just fine! My favorite part is the inside which I lined with the cutie elephant paper from the line (my favorite paper!). I made a matching pen and then a matching card. The card is simple and the sentiment on the front is actually a fuzzy rub on from Heidi Swapp. I had a couple seams to hide on the inside of the card so I used some ribbon and velvet ric rac. Hope I left enough room for writing! Thanks for looking!