Christamas Greetings!

Wow - It's been a while! To say I've been run off my feet wouldn't be far off from how I feel, but it also wouldn't be totally true. I've been lacking some crafting mojo in a big way (and now it's left me in a bind with the Christmas season upon us). Anyways, I'm hosting the Christmas Card with a Stamped Background Challenge over at The Sisterhood of Crafters and figured it would at least get me motivated to start stamping. :)

 

I used the Mojo Sketch 271 as my starting point for the Merry and bright card. The color combination is the current CR84FN Color Challenge #68 of Burgundy, Grey and Cream. The second card, Christmas Greetings, uses the Sweet Sunday Sketch #173 and the Dynamic Duos Challenge #32 of Rose Red and Pretty in Pink.

 

 

Both of the cards feature Verve stamps - Bright Spirits and Poinsettia Christmas.

I hope your holidays have been merry and bright. I just got back from a weekend spent as my Grandma's Christmas present, which I think she quite enjoyed. Last night, MrP and I took our winter sporting gear over to a local ski hill for the second trip to the hill this season. I must say, being back on my snowboard has been a blast! I can't wait to get out to Jasper in January with some friends.

Other than that, I've been beat down with a cold for a while now, hosted the Sixth Annual Treat Exchange to some fabulously delicious results, and have been trying to figure out how Christmas managed to yet again sneak up on me :)

Sweet Sunday Sketch : Spread Your Wings & Fly

Inspired to use the Sweet Sunday Sketch 148 as the layout for a little congratulations creation (my friend just got a promotion), I pulled out some of my favorite retired designer series paper and whipped up this card for her.

This was the first time I'd ever inked up tis butterfly. How did that even happen?! I'd used the smaller one, but apparently not the larger one. Bizarre!

This last week has been a little crazy around our place, as I'm sure it has been for many others. Swillsey and I did some Santa's Anonymous deliveries on Saturday last weekend and then wrapped gifts for donations to the Youth Emergency Shelter Society on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Add in a Cyclefit class on Wednesday to rock my world and it's been a great, busy, but rewarding week. Even with the 'wrapping Nazi' that we worked for. We did determine, however, that we're going to have our own "Rapping Wrappers" evening next year where we'll wrap the gifts for each other while listening to some good rap tunes. Might even put it out there for our friends & family - we'll wrap for a donation to YESS (but then we don't have to deal with cranky little elves!)

I do, however, know that Chelsey unwrapped one of her gifts, so I'll share that soon. Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a wonderfully healthy, happy and crafty New Year!



Jingle Bells : Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #147

Well it's a Christmas Challenge over at the Sisterhood of Crafters this week and I was in need of some hand crafted holiday creations, so I pulled up Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 147 and got to work. I loved the simple layers that gave me a chance to use some of my much hoarded designer series paper (I believe these are from Ski Slope).

Some more love for my newest Verve in the form of Bright Spirits. I sure do love these images and sentiments. Julee outdid herself once again! I finally found some use for the bundle of bells I bought, too. I love how Maureen & Marissa have been pumping out fabulous creations with them, but I haven't been able to swing it. Another hoarding experiment?! This card weighs (an almost) metric ton, but I love all the layers and hope the recipient does, too.

Check back with The Sisterhood for all of the fabulous Christmas creations this week. I'll be posting more of mine as the week goes on!

Sparkle it up with a Thank You!

This week, Karen had a fabulous sketch (SSSC116) and a beautiful sample, so I couldn't help but be inspired. If I had some of those bling swirls, it would have perfectly finished this card. Alas, it was too late to pick some up by the time I got around to finishing this card up.

Using up some old DP and colors (Blue Bayou), I absolutely love the color combination from Spring Break (it has the Blue Bayou, Old Olive and some zingy Pumpkin Pie), so I did up this card with that in my mind. Also, I blinged it up because this week's challenge at the Sisterhood of Crafters was Sparkle!

Now this is where that bling-dazzle would've really come in handy! Instead, I added the rhinestones, highlighted the middle "Thank You" in sakura gel pen and outlined the nestie with some glitter gel from Close to My Heart that I ordered recently. That lovely font? It's from Inside & Out : Thank You from my fabulous friend Karin but with the size of this card (5.5x5.5), it's being hand delivered locally =)

Be sure to try your hand at the Sketch and the Sparkle Challenge and let me know when you do so I can see your creation!

Happy Anniversary!

This week's challenge at the Sisterhood of Crafters, Teri's cooked up a Recipe Challenge! The ingredients: one ribbon, two patterned papers and three flowers!

I combined the challenge with this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 84 and used my newest Verve set Love Story, which I just adore. Don't tell MrP...I did the "I want it all"  when I placed my latest Verve order...but there's Anniversary, Birthday, Love and many more sentiments....all combined with the single greatest release of awesome flower images. I couldn't help myself. Besides, the money for New York was already saved =)

Tomorrow is my Horsey Aunt's birthday. If I wasn't in New York (and my Grandma wasn't on an Alaskan cruise), the three of us would be enjoying some Calgary sunshine (or rain/snow...whatever we got) and whooping it up at Spruce Meadows this weekend. But alas, I finally got my New York vacation and my Grandma went away with her friend, so my uncle actually gets his wife around for the weekend of their anniversary. HAHA!

The best part is I know I can post it because even if it hasn't arrived (and with the holiday, there's a good chance it hasn't), that Aunt is completely computer illiterate...I'm talking utterly hopeless that she'd EVER find porn, let alone her card, online. And I think that's saying something =)

A Card before a Crazy Week!

I had a chance late last night to whip up a card for my father in law's birthday on Thursday. Actually, I didn't really have a chance, so I made one - late. I had a great, busy weekend volunteering for the Underwear Affair on Saturday afternoon after a whole bunch of errands in the morning (including getting my cell back and returning the horrendous thing they loaned me while mine was away. Note to self - I will never own a soft keyboard phone!)

Sunday I finally slept in for the first time in about a month, got some yardwork done and a 34km bike ride with the girls. I've now gotten myself involved with a 60K ride on July 3rd (two days after a 15K walk/jog for Canada Day) and a 100K ride on July 25th.  Really have to work on saying "No!" =)

This week is my last week of bootcamp for this session, a horse jumping lesson, a 5K walk, and ends with my Financial Accounting final exam (thank goodness!!).

Anyways, this card used Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch 74 and I tried to use manly colors - black, white, grey & olive. I used my favorite birthday stamp from Verve for the sentiment and kept it clean & simple. MrP liked it, so I hope his Pa does, too!

Have a wonderful Monday! I'm participating in the TE Blast from the Past Blog Hop tomorrow - hope you can check 'em out!

It's Your Birthday!

This card started out as a birthday card for MrP, but turned into something far too girly =) I just love the scarlett jewel & wild wasabi combination.
I used Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 71 for the layout and it was my first attempt at the 'valance' look that my friend Andrea has mastered so well with the buttons on the loops.

Stamps: Verve One Person, Verve Big Wish

Paper: PTI Scarlett Jewel, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White

Ink: Bravo Burgundy, Wild Wasabi

Accessories: Scallop Punch, White Buttons, Wild Wasabi Ribbon, Nestabilities

Another night of bootcamp tonight! Yahoo! Had a fabulous first riding lesson back last night and I'm looking forward to getting my butt kicked tonight.

Oh yeah - and we added another adventure to our NYC trip in September - we purchased tickets for Saturday, September 11th's 11:00 tennis match. We're thinking it'll be the men's semi finals, but whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be entertaining from the cheap seats! =)

I'm Crazy for Emeralds

Can you tell? For some explanation, check out my post over at The Sisterhood of Crafters! Today's card is part of my challenge there - to created a wedding/anniversary/congratulations card with Emerald as the feature color! Green's my favorite, so I hope you'll play along and give it a try. And if you have it in by Friday, I'll give you an extra entry for my blog candy!

Plus, there very generous Heather from Digisparkle has put up a voucher for this week's winner!

I used Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch #67 for the layout and while you can't see much of the shimmer in the shimmer white paper, I know it's there ;) This was the first time inking up either the Verve Floral Symphony or SU! Well Scripted stamps and I do like the way they turned out. I used the Rock N Roll technique on the tulips and just love the saffron & pomegranate and the added dimension of the extra layers.

Stamps: Verve Floral Symphony, SU! Well Scripted

Paper: Garden Green, Purely Pomegranate, Whisper White, Shimmer White

Ink: Garden Green, Purely Pomegranate, So Saffron, Basic Black

Accessories: Buttons, Green Ribbon, Purely Pomegranate Satin Ribbon, Dimensionals

Some people make the world special

What a true statement - and it's just like Verve to have made it into a stamp!

I created this card using Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #65 and my latest Verve stamps Feel the Sun. Some retired SU! designer paper and a little sakura gel pen, plus a button and paper piecing....easy peasy.

Today is the day my NYC schedule falls into place - the NFL schedule is out at 7pm Eastern and I cannot wait. That means we'll be able to hopefully get some tickets to the Jets home opener and depending on how ridiculous those tickets are, we'll decide how far up the cheap seats we choose for the Yankees game. Yahooooooo!

MrP is off enjoying Vegas, so I'm enjoying a whole lot of bike riding while he's away (since he sold his last bicycle to purchase my engagment ring and hasn't bought a new one yet). I always feel a little guilty about it, but it was far too much bike for what he really needed anyways =) Plus, yesterday my 15K ride was to get home after dropping his car off at the dealership, so really....nothing to feel bad about other than I finished my horseback riding lesson and sleeping like a log from the exhaustion. I doubt he's sleeping as well since he's up early for conference and late to bed because he and the other attendees are enjoying the Vegas nightlife. I'd much rather be home than there, but apparently I'm a bit of a weirdo for not loving Vegas. I blame the 7 days we spent there as part of our honeymoon when I grew sick of it....and now I have zero interest in returning.

Hope you have a wonderful Tuesday!

Stamps: Verve Feel the Sun

Paper: River Rock, Ginger Blossom DSP, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, Old Olive, Cameo Coral

Ink: Basic Black, Riding Hood Read

Accessories: Dimensionals, Button, Sakura Gel Pen

Sweet Sunday-Tuesday?!

It's Sweet Sunday Sketch 60! Or at least my interpretation of it. Pretty simple and speedy card to make - and just a touch of sparkle with some Dazzling Diamonds on the embossing.

Paper: Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, DSP

Accessories: Gold Brads, SU! Five Petal Flower Punch, Dazzling Diamonds, Glue

My last jumping lesson before a three week break was a good one and to make it over the top, MrP came out & watched. He could barely breath by the time I was encouraging him to head home, but I was so happy he came. Talk about feeling loved & supported - especially after a relatively crappy day otherwise - really made my night! I don't know what I'm going to do without him for a week. Probably relax, I suppose =)

Have a great Tuesday! I've got a library study date night tonight...and I must remember to borrow a spanish book so I might be able to say a few things at the resort. The countdown is ON!

For My Valentine

Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #55 looked like a perfect place to start with my anniversary card. Apparently I have no concept of sizing, but whatever - I needed the large circle for the image and I think it worked, so there =)

I used Wild Wasabi and Elegant Eggplant (although I can never get that darn eggplant to show up properly in photos - it always looks really dark - or brown!)

Anyways, I think I managed to get it done without MrP seeing it, so here's hoping it's a nice surprise for our night out.

Key Ingredients Come Together

Along with my newest TE stamps, of course, for Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 51! Discover Your Wings is one of newest TE Giving Tree sets - $7 from each set sold goes to Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep and once again, I love what Nancy has created for this Whimsical Wishes set (which apparently are some of my faves, since looking back, every set I have from TE is from this line.

I used supplies from my new Key Ingredients set from December 2009 and the sentiment is from another stamp set.

This card is being sent to my cousin, who's celebrating a birthday on Thursday and while I'm pretty sure this card will be late, at least I finally got around to sending it!  =)

It's been a busy month and I can't wait for another weekend to regain some semblance of order. Next Sunday, though, I fly out to Calgary for a couple of nights and then the following weekend I'll be celebrating with my aunt in Saskatoon. This sure is going to fly by!

Stop by tomorrow for the first online example of my sad looking Copic coloring! LOL 

I just realized I have yet to show anything from my six markers that I won quite a while back. Once you see it - you'll know why! HAHA! Have a fabulous Monday!

Sweet Sunday!

Tomorrow is my mother in law's birthday, so I had a choice...I could use a ready made card from my collection OR I could make one with Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 43 (which is what I chose to do).

So here's the sketch:

And here's my take on it:

Stamps: Verve Just For You
Paper: Bordering Blue, Rose Red, Tempting Turquoise, White
Ink: Bordering Blue, Rose Red, Tempting Turquoise, Versamark
Accessories: Dimensionals, White Ribbon, Nestabilities, Scallop Cutter

MrP will give it to his Mom tomorrow when they take her for birthday lunch. She's kept every card I've ever made for her (despite my best efforts to get her to recycle them!) and I hope she likes it.

I just realized that Wednesday is a Holiday and Friday was my regular scheduled day off, so I took Thursday off, as well....five whole days off! Hope that means I'll actually get something done around the house =)

Sweet Sunday drags into Thursday

I finally got a chance to play along with a sketch last night - and I did up this card using the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #41. Karen's always got some great inspiration on a Sunday (and every other day) and I was even able to ink up to stamps that hadn't seen the light of ink (if that makes any sense).

Stamps: Fresh Cuts, Verve Circular Sayings

Paper: White, Wild Wasabi, Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Delicate Dots DSP, Spring Silhouettes DSP
Ink: Wild Wasabi, Soft Sky
Accessories: Blue Bayou Ribbon

Tonight's my stamping night with Chelsey and I can't wait. Loads of wintery fun from the sounds of it =)

As a bonus, when I was uploading this card to SCS last night, I noticed that two of my Verve week cards were CAS favorites for the week ending Oct. 25th. Thanks to TrishG, who's blog I just discovered and hope you'll pop over there, too, for some great inspiration!

Here's my two cards that were nominated.

Tango Chip Blossom

Purely Sand Because of You

For My Favorite Monkey

I made this card for Taylored Expressions' World Card Making Day Challenge, using Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 38.

Stamps: TE Beary Special
Paper: White, Cameo Coral, Sage Shadow, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel DSP, Ski Slope DSP
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Cameo Coral, Sage Shadow, Kraft
Accessories: Paper Piercer, Brown Ribbon
Techniques: Paper Piecing, Fauz Stitching

I'm so pumped to be going to my first Oilers game tonight. Well, not quite the first, but I haven't been to a game since the 2006-2007 season, so it'll be a great time. I used to go to 10-20 games a year when I worked at my old company and besides the people, that's the one thing I really do miss.
It's against the Dallas stars, but here's hoping there's some magic in the rink tonight....I haven't seen us beat Dallas in the dozen games I've watched the match up.
I gave this card to my favorite monkey yesterday and he loved it. Always my biggest fan. I can't wait to celebrate our third anniversary in Banff at the end of the month!

One final note - don't forget to enter for your chance at a $10 Digital-Ink Co gift certificate and a rubber stamp set...draw ends on Thursday!

Have a fabulous Tuesday. I'm off to freshen up on my First Aid training. Ugh....two days of training. Thank goodness I have something to look forward to tonight because today is going to be LONG.

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #34

Stamps: Cause for Celebration

Paper: River Rock, Ginger Blossom DSP, Ruby Red, Cameo Coral, White
Ink: Ruby Red, Cameo Coral, Summer Sun
Accessories: Nestabilities, River Rock Stitched Ribbon, Dimensionals

I had already stamped the sentiment I wanted to use inside before I looked back at the sketch and realized it should've been on the front...but I'd look like a bit of a tool if I put it on both, so there's no sentiment on the front. =)

Head over to the sweetest thing & try it out for yourself.

Last night we took Shauna out to our local fave, Red Ox Inn, for her birthday supper. Again....yummeroo! If you're in the area, give it a try because it's a delicious event every time - and it's an independent restaurant, so I always figure no matter what I try, I'm sure they do it will or they wouldn't be around.

Don't you love berries?!

I know I do! And what I love even more is that they're so easy to download, color and cut out for any project. Because I found these sweet little morsels at Digital-Ink Co.

And wait for it....

I'm on their design team! I got accepted and I only hope I can do these great images justice because the other ladies on the team are phenomenal. Seriously!

Check out the Digital-Ink Co Challenge Blog for great weekly challenges.

The card I created above used Reeces Designs Strawberry Patch, which was one of the freebies last week - and a serious bargain at $1.50! I used Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #33 for the layout and Ruby Red, Going Gray and Basic Gray on White papers. Prismacolor pencils with gamsol colored my sweet little berries, then I painted on some Shimmerz on one berry and Sakura gel pen to highlight other areas (like the inside of the flower, which of course you can't see because the camera fails to pick up so much of the great glittery goodness we love to use!) I used a signo white gel pen to doodle around the circle and popped the berries on dimensionals. Pretty clean & simple...just my style.

But check out these other ladies, who are oozing with talent!

Boni, Darlene, Diane, Jackie, Jennifer, Kim, Micki, Raquel & Teri! My goal is to one day color and create like these amazing artists!