Love those Boots!!!

I am off to work all day at the library today......booooo, hisssss!! Actually I love my job, but it cuts into my stamping/scrapping/shopping time.....I KNOW, you know what I mean!! But I will be able to hop on over to the sb store behind the library to do their free make and take ...... and see what new stuffs they got!!!

So here is my card for today. It was the first one I made for my Secret Bunny (you know who you are) and I think she liked it. I used one of my fave SU sets, Flower Filled. Those little boots are just too cute, don'tcha think??

Anyway, I used Close to Cocoa for the base of the card then I took a Whisper White piece and stamped it with the Antique bg stamp. I ran it through my Cuttlebug using the Script embossing folder and then I sponged some Close to Cocoa to make it 'dirty'. I stamped my booties in Close to Cocoa and added my flowers and stems with Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink and Regal Rose!! I popped the main image up, added some grosgrain ribbon and put in three bronzey SU eyelets. They aren't too straight but it was my first time using my Crop-a-dile!!

Anyway.....have a wonderful weekend! Hope the weather is great where you are, 'cause here....it sucks!!! *giggle*

Oh and go over and check out Sarah and the Stampstars blog.....she is having an awesome giveaway contest!! See if you can name all 7!! I did!!!

Bella Swaps!!!

This morning the last of the Bella Swap I organized, went postal!! Whew!! So now we are all able to post our lovely girls for all to see!! (I requested that none of the participants show their Bellas ahead of time, so that we could all be surprised!!) So I can show you the two that I created for the groups that I was a part of!!

This first one is done using Emmybella which I stamped in black Stazon on Whisper White cardstock and coloured in using SU markers. I also paper pieced her pants out of the same patterned paper that I used on the bottom portion of the card. The pp is from Michael's but I can't remember the company, sorry! I used Chocolate Chip for the card base and Cuttlebugged the Whisper White part with the D'vine Swirl embossing folder. I also used Cuttlebugged tags with a Stampingbella sentiment stamped on it and sponged around the edges. I used light pink grosgrain ribbon, a prima and brad and pop dotted the main image!!



For the second one I used Flowahbella, stamped her the same way and coloured her in with SU markers as well. I made my own oval(sort of) shaped stamp to ground her by using some leftover rubbah from my SU stamps. So I masked her legs and stamped the ground in Pale Plum. I Cuttlebugged the Ruby Red card base with the Blooms and Dots embossing folder and put a triangle of more unknown patterned paper on the front. I matted her image in So Saffron and pop dotted it and then added the happiness sentiment from Warm Words punched out with the Word Window punch.

Online Tutorial!!!

Last night I did my first online class with a group of ladies in the Scrapbooking forum at Splitcoaststampers! You may remember the Clock that I made last week at a local scrapbooking store....well, my pals at SCS loved it so much that they asked me to teach them how to make one too!!

So I posted the items that they would need to create their own clock and we all met on this thread last night. I posted directions along with pictures of each step and we had a great time working together!!

If you would like to make one too, just check out the thread!! When you make one and upload it to the SCS gallery, feel free to put a link to it here in the comments portion of this post!! I would LOVE to see everyone's creations!!

This is the one I made last night during the tutorial and I will be giving it to my sister-in-law for Mother's Day!!

Happy New Year!???

"Happy New Year Kim??"...you say. "Um...you're a few months behind, girlfriend!" Yeah, yeah, I know. We're well into 2007...in fact, it's a quarter over....ack!! Well since I have shared quite a few cards with you this week, I wanted to change it up and post one of my fave scrapbook pages! That's just how I roll!! *snort*

This is a page I did at the beginning of the year for the SBTS2007 challenge on Splitcoaststampers. I hadn't done any personal scrapping for a couple of months leading up to the holidays, because you KNOW how busy that time of year is! And this challenge totally got me revved up!! We were given the sketch, which I LOVE, and had to do something that had to do with the New Year or NY traditions...something like that.

I used my Basic Grey Blush patterned papers (do I use anything else?? I think they should pay me royalties everytime I mention them...don't you?) and Rose Red and Pretty in Pink cardstock. I used this great pic of the three of us that a friend took on Christmas Eve and blew it up to a 5x7. Ain't we cute?? The pic doesn't show it well, but the pink pocket is dry embossed with a Fiskars template ('cause I didn't have a Cuttlebug....YET!!) and then dirtied up a bit with sponging. I added some BG tags, some American Crafts ribbon and .....Bob's your uncle!!

Elizabella!!

Since my not-so-secret sister, Julee, let me know that she received my latest Bella creation in the mail, I can now share it with y'all!! I LOVE my Bellas.....I mean, who wouldn't?? But I think Elizabella is my favourite........this week!! Bahahaaaa!

For this card, I stamped the image on Whisper White with black Stazon ink and coloured her in with SU markers which match the awesome patterned paper from the DCWV Spring Stack. I Cuttlebugged the pp with the Bloom Dots embossing folder and used Pixie Pink and Chocolate Chip cardstock to mat it on. I used the word 'friends' from Everyday Flexible Phrases on the main image, matted it and pop dotted it, added some Prima flowers and some wide organdy ribbon and there she is!! I think this is my fave Bella card so far.....this week!!!

Oh and by the way, if you love Bellas, like I love Bellas there is a new Yahoo group called Bellaholics Anonymous that you can join to hang out with all the other Addictabellas around the world!!!

More VSN stuff!!

I did two other cards for Virtual Stamping Night over the weekend. This first one is going to be Emileigh's birthday card. Can you believe that she will be 15 years old tomorrow?? Aaack!! It's not right I tell ya! Wasn't it just yesterday that I was that age? Sure feels like it!!

The challenge was to create a French card using either French stamps, French words, a stamp like French Flair or something like that. I have the set Paris in the Spring and decided to use that. I stamped the girl on the scooter on Pearlized white paper by Paper Accents (it is similar to the shimmer paper by SU) and coloured her in using my SU markers (love those things). I used some DCWV patterned paper to draw the colours from and ran it through my Cuttlebug and the D'vine Swirls embossing folder. I used the ticket corner punch and added small brads, put some fabric ribbon from the $ store on the bottom, added some Prima flowers and pop-dotted the main image! Ooh, la, la!! A pretty French birthday card for ma chere!!



The last card I was able to do for VSN was to use the Emboss Resist technique. I stamped the flowers from Doodle This in versamark on my last piece of glossy cardstock (note to self - order more glossy cardstock) and clear embossed it. Then I brayered over it with Pixie Pink, then stamped more flowers in Basic Black. I ticket corner punched the corners and drew in some faux brads, stamped the image agan on Whisper White, coloured it in and added the sentiment 'bloom' with my Karen Foster Snap Stamps and punched it in a circle. Then I used my Giga Scalloped Circle to punch a black piece and used my white gel pen on it and pop dotted the whole image. I added some black grosgrain and Prima flowers again. I'm really happed with everything I made for VSN!

Oh and for those of you checking in for the blog candy..........the winner is:
tyrymom29 who said...
WOW congrats on all the hits !!!!
Two things about MOi!!
1.I live in a small town in Ontario Canada .(where SHANIA comes from)
2.I love being outdoors , Gardening ,fishing ,camping ,but I am PETRIFIED of spiders just the big crunchy ones ....lol and I HATE mosquitos .

Congrats tyrymom29, and email me with your snail mail address and I'll get your goodies out to you !!

I have to say, it was so much fun learning things about all of you!! And I have so many things in common with you!! Like....I like the smell of Stazon too...and I am a terribly fussy eater....I'm terrified of snakes....and I'm addicted to blogs too!! Haha! We'll have to do this again soon!!!

Happy Stampin'!!!

What a Weekend!!!

This weekend was a busy one for this household!! Emileigh celebrated her 15th birthday on Saturday (even though it's not technically until Tuesday) and we had a bit of a par-tay! My parents came down to visit and have supper with us. We ordered yummy pizza from a new place and it was great! Then she had three of her girlfriends over for a slumber party.....only there wasn't a lot of slumbering going on!! Hahaha! Really though, they were VERY good. They were giggling and laughing and being silly but......they let me takes pictures of them, so that was good!!

We had the Strawberry Shortcake birthday cake and then the girls changed into their jammies and watched several movies!! They had chips and pop and later on, polished off the rest of the cake!!! I was able to sneak upstairs to my craft room -- what am I saying, sneak?? they didn't want me down there, hangin' out with them!! -- and I got to do a little crafting.

This weekend was Virtual Stamping weekend with lots of challenges going on at Splitcoaststampers!! I was able to do a few of the challenges which was fun. The first picture is the last one I did for the Fly Away challenge. You had to create a card using an image of something that flies, so I used my Hero Arts butterfly and used my Prismacolour penicls and odorless mineral spirits to colour it in. I also used my slit punch to make the border at the bottom and I doodled the scallops as well as the border around the card base.



This one is the Survivor challenge posted by Julee, Cindy and Jennifer (she doesn't have a blog, so no link there, sorry!). I couldn't wait to do this challenge because as you may know, I LOVE Survivor!! You had to alter a container and make a Vacation Survival Kit out of it. This is mine which contains everything needed for a relaxing holiday...in Barbie sizes of course!! It contains magazines, sunblock, flip flops, scuba gear, a hairbrush, a sunvisor and a bikini!!



This challenge was to make a card using an Easter egg shape. I cut it using my Creative Memories cutting system, put it through my Cuttlebug, added some ribbon and Primas and a tag saying 'Hoppy Bunny Day' that I made using my Karen Foster Snap Stamps!!

I'll post the other two I made tomorrow!! One is for Emileigh's birthday and I don't want her to see it ahead of time!! Might ruin the surprise!! And hey!! Don't forget, this is your last chance to win some blog candy as I will be posting the winner in the morning!!! Go here to enter!!!

Scrappin' Friday!!!

Today was my day off and I had a good day!! I did, like 46 loads of laundry, but I had time to do two layouts. I also picked up Emileigh from school and took her to get stuff for her sleepover party tomorrow night. We got streamers and balloons, chips and dip and pop, pancake mix and ordered a birthday cake! She chose Strawberry Shortcake if you can believe it!!

Anyway, this page is the final one in a chronological album. I am up to about 3 years ago when she was 12 and in these photos she is modeling a new outfit that she received for her birthday. It also had a purse which matched the hat and was so cute!!

I started out with Basic Grey Phresh and Phunky papers and matched Not Quite Navy and Old Olive Stampin' Up cardstock to use for the matting. I sponged the edge of the circular piece and cut two strips out of some coordinating P&P paper and put two folksy heart brads on the ends. I staggered the strips for interest and also smooshed the chipboard photo corner with NQN craft ink and then sanded the edges after it was dry. I added a couple of Prima flowers with a sanded button, some wide organdy ribbon with a metal circle slider with hearts on it and a rubon that says 'that's my girl!' My favourite part though is the title 'Fashionista' which I cut out with my Hippie Chick Cuttlebug Alphabet!!

Oh and don't forget to go here to win some blog candy!!!!

My Friends are SO Talented!!!!

Well today was a GREAT mail day!! No bills! Only good stuff!! I got a lovely package from my pal Cindy Lou and she sent me some treats!! I ordered a couple of fun things from her and she threw in some extras, just 'cause she loves me!! I got a couple of punches, some pearlized papers, some stickles etc. Then she sent me some of those Karen Foster Snap Stamps I've been dying for!!! I got some pretty Doodlebug ribbon and some blingy jewels! Thanks Cindy! You're da best!!! I'm SO ready to do your VSN challenge!!

She also made me this cute Starfish card in my fave colours -- pink and brown! And she used her KF Snap Stamps to make her sentiment which says: 'best friends forever'!! How sweet is that?? Thanks my little starfish!!! *giggle*

So as if that mail wasn't fantastic enough, I also got my third card from my Secret Bunny!!! Cindy assigned each of us a Secret Bunny and neither of you knew who you were gettin'! Well, since we've been chattin' and getting to know each other......we've kind of figured each other out....right Julee?? Heehee! So since she knows it's me and I know it's her, we can dispense with the James Bond intrigue and spy stuff and just have fun!!! So now I can post her lovely creations and show you what a great artist she is!!

Here are the lovely cards she made me. The first one features a cute little bunny stamp and he's playing in the flowers and the sentiment says 'take some time....to stamp some flowers' and she sent me a Rhona Farrar clear stamp with 3 flowers!! Isn't she just too smart!



The second one is a gaw-jus fairy card....who told her I love fairies??!! It is done using Basic Grey paper and this beautiful fairy stamp which she painstakingly coloured with prismas and stardust pens (I think). Even Emileigh said to me when she saw it, "Do you know how long it would have taken her to do that??" It is just too much. Don't you love the blingy jeweled brads she uses in the middle of her flowers?? And in that card she sent me a beautiful single bloom flower by Rhona Farrar!



The third card, which I just received today, is this little cutie!! Such gorgeous colours and what an adorable stamp!! Emileigh loves this one!! Julee has such attention to detail on all her creations. I just love all the dimensions to her cards and those flowers and the rhinestone flower in the middle!! So talented!! And this card had a Rhona Farrar butterfly stamp in it!!!!! I am so spoiled and she is the best Secret Pal ever!! I feel oh so special!! Thank you Julee!!!



Okay, now that I am done gushing over my fabulously creative friends........don't forget to post here to win some bloggin' treats!!!

A Sweet Little Treat!!!

YAY!!!!! You have visited me over 5000 times!!! Well, not YOU personally, but YOU collectively!! So much fun!! I'm so glad that you enjoy my ramblings and my stampin's!! It wouldn't be much fun talking to myself!!



So to celebrate and to give back a little, I'm giving away a Sweet Little Treat!! Here's a pic of the goodies the lucky winner will get in the mail!! To get in on the draw, just leave a comment on this posting and tell me two interesting facts about YOU!! I want to get to know YOU!! I will leave this open until midnight EST on Sunday, March 25th!! You can only enter once!!! Bonne chance!!

Shhhhhhhhhhh!!!

**Whisper!** Let's keep this on the 'down-low' okay, so don't tell Al I put this page on my blog, 'cause he'll kill me!! But isn't he cute??? I did this page for a challenge during January Virtual Scrapbooking Night on Splitcoast, and I won the Gold Medal!! Cool huh?? (He thought it was pretty cool too!)

The challenge was to create a scrapbook layout about your partner and can you believe that I had never done a page about my honey?? *Gasp!* Shame on me!! I also had to use the mirror image or reverse image technique somewhere.

So I chose this picture of Al with our old dog Mandy, who has since gone to doggie heaven. He loved her so much and they both look so happy in this shot! I get teary just thinkin' about good ol' Mandy! Then I used Basic Grey Dasher paper, because I thought it looked manly!! I used different sized pieces of the matching patterned papers and used the direct to paper inking technique on all the edges, to make them stand out. I did the mirror image on the tag of his name, using a window sheet, added some ribbon, a sanded distressed button and the metal slider. The bullets at the bottom say: - husband, - animal lover, -brother, - joker, - computer nerd, - son, - father, - friend.

I love him! *sigh*

Okay, snap out of it!! Back to our regularly scheduled stamping!!! Has anyone noticed that I am close to 5000 visitors on my blog??? Well, I sure have!! Keep yer eyes peeled for something special tomorrow!!! Maybe a little treat??!!! Heehee!

Look What I Made!!!!

That should be the title of my blog, 'cause that's what I feel like I'm doin' all the time!! "Look what I made, look what I made!!" But hey, that's what a blog is, right??

Tonight was a very enjoyable and relaxing evening for me. I actually got to go out and do something for myself!! Usually I'm the one preparing for and teaching the workshops but this time, I was the student!!! I went to the new local scrapbooking store and took a class and I made this gorgeous (if I may toot my own horn) clock for my stampin' room wall!!! I'm so thrilled with the way it turned out!!

We just took an 8x10 artist's canvas, painted it with acrylic paint and a foam brush, chose some fancy schmancy patterned paper (I chose....what else, Basic Grey Pheobe) and did a double mat, layered on my 5x7 photo, added the clock mechanism and embellished!! Easy peasy!! I will admit that I have a bit of a problem with commitment, so I brought mine home and finished it here because I knew that I had some other things that I wanted to add to it out of my own stash. I added the Prima flowers, the rubons that say "Daughter of Mine" and "Precious Child" and also I added some Diamond stickles here and there for a little bling!!

I'm totally ecstatic over my creation and it was a wonderful evening for me!! I just may have to do this again sometime!!

Giant Paper Clippies!!!

So you know that I work in the local library right?? Well, that should tell you what another one of my passions is......I'll give ya three guesses and the first two don't count!!! BOOKS!! I love to read...and read...and read. Every night when I climb into bed, I read until my eyes can't stay open any longer!!

Right now I am reading Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich in preparation for the 13th book in the series. Lean Mean Thirteen comes out this spring, so I have to be up on what's going on with Stephanie Plum, don'tcha know!! There are some other fantastic authors releasing some new books in the next few months including Charlaine Harris, Mary Higgins Clark, Dean Koontz, MaryJanice Davidson, Mary Jane Clark and of course, J.K. Rowling! And the BEST part about working in the library is that I know when all of the new books are coming out, so I can put my name on the list to get the books first!! Bwahahahahaaaaaaaaa! *evil laugh*

Anyway, the point is....and I do have one (and it's not on the top of my head, Mom!), that I am always in need of a bookmark, how about you?? I'm always using a card pulled out of a magazine or my shopping list or a receipt, or heaven forbid....a kleenex!!! So I wanted to make some cool bookmarks that I have seen on Splitcoast!!



You can buy these giant paperclips at the dollar stores in packages of 8 I think. You need some chipboard, some cardstock and patterned paper, some really good glue and some stuff to embellish them with. Oh! And you need a Cuttlebug or another diecutting machine!!



First, I cut out different sized flowers from my chipboard, which was just the thin cardboard on the back of a pad of paper or something similar. Then cut out matching sized flowers from cardstock or patterned paper or a mixture of both.



I adhered my flowers to the chipboard and then sanded the edges a bit. Then I used Gloo by KIMemories which is a really strong glue to put the flowers on the paper clips and let them sit for a few hours. Then when they are stuck real good like, you can embellish them with buttons, brads, ribbon etc.

Here is the tutorial on SCS in case you would like really detailed instructions on how to make this cool project!!!

Now you have some pretty things to keep your place instead of a ratty old snotrag!! **snort** Aren't they bee-u-tiful?? I made these ones for some special peeps!! Oh and myself too....but I'm special too. My mommy said so.

Rainy Day Bella!

I was part of an image swap recently and I pulled out one of the images I received to play with the other day! Can you believe I don't have Billybootabella?? Isn't she too cute? Well, now I really want her!!

I knew exactly what I wanted to make this card with!! I got the Spring Stack from DCWV when I was in Florida and it has some awesome patterned paper including this 'sky' paper! I ran it through my Cuttlebug using the D'vine Swirl embossing folder. I got my colour inspiration from the American Crafts ribbon which I used on the side there. I coloured my image in using SU markers in Cameo Coral, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Barely Banana and Blush Blossom. I stamped 'spring' from Everyday Flexible Phrases along the side and used the coordinating cardstock to mat her, then pop dotted it. I then used my Cuttlebug diecuts to make the flower and used an SU brad in the middle!!

Those colours together just make me feel happy and springy (even though I had to clear a couple of inches of snow off my car yesterday morning....ugh!!)!

Like Mother, Like Daughter!!

What a creative day I had!! I had the whole day off from work and I used it wisely!! While the dishwasher and washing machine and dryer were a goin', I was a stampin' and a scrappin'!!

My scrapbooking goal for this week was to do both the Sketch Challenge on SCS and also to do the Theme Challenge!! Two in one week!! That can sometimes be a stretch for me!! But I finished and posted the first one a couple of days ago and today I had the time and inspiration to do the Theme Challenge too!!!

The trick for this week's challenge was to have some fun with borders on your layout. Not only did Sheri post this great challenge but she included an awesome sketch from Creating Keepsakes to go with it! Well the sketch, which you can see here, was right up my alley! I love layering my different patterned papers lately, so I had a great time doing this page!



I chose to use a closeup shot of myself and Emileigh that Al took of us on our holiday a couple of weeks ago. This was taken driving up a mountain on the edge of the Daniel Boone National Forest. I used patterned papers from the Basic Grey Blush line, also a tag and some of the cardstock lettering. I doodled in the top right hand corner using the SU white gel pen and I used the Doodle Genie template to make it look decent!! I'm still learning how to doodle properly! I also stamped the bloom from the Doodle This stamp set in the Spring Mini in chocolate chip and punched out some squares to mount in the lower right hand corner. I topped it all off with some of my new Prima blooms!!

Lotsa Stuff!!

I've got lotsa stuff to share today!! If you know me at all, you know I NEVER run out of things to talk about!! Hahaha!! And today is no different!!

I mentioned this a couple of posts ago, but last Saturday was the grand opening of a new scrapbook store in town and of course, you KNOW I was there!! Did I mention that it is located a stone's throw away from the library, where I work!! How convenient is THAT?? My lunch breaks are going to be a lot more fun now!!! My husband doesn't think so......bwahahahahaaaaa!! Anyway, I went in there on Tuesday afternoon (to see if there was anything I may have missed on Saturday *wink*) and when I walked in, not only did the owner remember my name, but she told me that I had won a door prize from the day of the grand opening!! I won a 6x6 All My Memories album which is totally gorgeous AND it is PINK AND BROWN!!! Perfect for moi!! Wanna see??



Today I had the day off from work and Emileigh is off on March Break, so we went to London shopping and then I took her to meet with my Mom and she is staying with Nana and Grandpa for a couple of days!! (HI EMMY!!! I MISS YOU!!!) Well, some of you may have seen the latest $1.50 stamps at Michael's. I keep seeing them online because other people have been lucky enough to find them before they are sold out but I haven't been one of those people!! I have stopped in at Michael's a couple of times and they didn't know what I was talking about (obviously they are not 'in the know' hahah!). So today, since we were in London, I decided to stop in and check again just in case. Of course, I didn't see them anywhere and was ready to leave again when I thought, it wouldn't hurt to ask someone. So I asked a girl in that section and she hadn't heard of them but said she would call another girl! And would you believe that they just got a box and the girl was going to bring them right out for me!!!??? Woohoo!!!

Well the box was only tiny, because the stamps are unmounted clear acrylic stamps, so the are thin and not bulky in size because there is no wood. So they handed me the box and said, go to it. There were only about 5 or 6 of each set in the box, so I knew I had to get them or they'd be gone!! There were 16 different sets and I got all of them except the one that was for doing party invitations as I didn't think I'd use it (see, I have some self-restraint). Plus I got one of each of the two sizes of acrylic blocks and they were only $1.50 each too!!!! Here is a pic of my loot!!!! Total score!!



And now I can also show you a card that I made a couple of days ago!! It was my parents' anniversary and I made them a card but I couldn't show it to you all because my Mom checks my blog every day (at least I think she does) and I didn't want her to see it!!

I got some inspiration for this card from Jen del Muro on SCS here. But I changed it up a bit to suit my style and added a few of my own elements. I used the Doodle This set from the Spring Mini and coloured in the flowers with SU markers and cut them out. Then I layered them on the base and pop-dotted them, then doodled freehand around the edge (my personal touch). I also cuttlebugged the Elegant Eggplant base 'cause that is my favourite tool right now!! Hope ya like it!

Watercolour Doodles!!

Mr. Brown came today with my shipment from Stampin' Up and I got the new Doodle This stamp set!! So I immediately mounted it and began to play!!

Doodling and doodle-ish stamps are all the rage right now and I have been trying my hand at the freestyle thing on some of my sb pages. This is the first stamp set of this style that I have stamped with though and I'm lovin' the look!!

I stamped the blooms and the stems on watercolour paper (and oh, when watercolouring, this paper makes SUCH a difference) and then chose my colours. The way I do this is by grabbing my stamp pads which have the colours on the outside of course, and putting different combinations together. For this card I chose Marigold Morning, Always Artichoke, Bravo Burgundy and Not Quite Navy.

I start off doing the whole area I want to colour with a light shade of that colour and then I go in afterward to shade with a darker splash of that same colour. After painting the flowers, I then shaded around them using Bordering Blue. I pop-dotted the main image, added some stitched grosgrain ribbon from the Prep School Ribbon Originals, stamped the bottom of the card base using the sketchy stamp from Like it a Latte and added a little tag. I'm totally thrilled with the final card!!! Especially since this is only like the third time I've watercoloured!! Don'tcha love it when it all comes together???

Party at Nana and Grandpa's House!!

I've told you that I get a lot of inspiration from the wonderfully, creative people at Splitcoaststampers, right?? Well, each week in the Scrapbooking forum there is a new Sketch Challenge posted on Fridays. This week I used the SBSC82 sketch that Darcy posted for this layout!!!





I always take a TON of photos at every event, so it's always hard narrowing it down, but I liked this layout because it gave me the opportunity to use so many photos. These were taken at Emileigh's 12th birthday at my parent's house. I always start out by choosing my papers first, finding the patterns and colours that fit best with my pics. This time I went with the Tickled Pink line from Three Bugs in a Rug. I used Certainly Celery, Regal Rose and Basic Black SU cardstock to mat and embellish.

I got to play with my Olivia alphabet and my Cuttlebug for the first time. I was completely impressed with how crisp and clean the cuts are and the letters really just fell out of the paper after I ran them through the 'Bug with the dies. The letters were a bit fiddly to get glued onto the page, but my good pal Mama T, another crafty lady, told me that I NEED a xyron to make them into little stickers and stick 'em all down!! One more tool to get....hahhahaa!

I used one of my new Prima flowers with a black Making Memories shimmer brad in the middle and pop dotted the big main picture on the bottom left. I added the white grosgrain ribbon and hung a little crown charm that says 'princess' on it. I also cut out some layers of flowers with my Cuttlebug and mounted them on the bottom left of the right hand page and also pop dotted the tag which has a metal present on it!!

Those sketches truly inspire me and give me a spot to start when I am not feelin' the scrappin' mojo, know what I mean??? Stop in at the Scrapbooking Forum and say hi!! They're very friendly there and check out our challenges and inspiration!!

Here Comes Peter Cottontail!!!

This morning I woke up to a yucky, dreary looking day outside. Finally the temperature was above freezing, but it was raining and bleak. Well poo! But I had the day off, YAY, and I knew exactly what I was going to do!!

Today a new scrapbook store in town opened up!!!! Hip, hip, hooray!! It was their grand opening and of course, you KNOW I went there first thing this morning!! I told Al all about it and his comment was, "How come you aren't camping outside in the parking lot until it opens??" Bahahahaaaaa! He's such a funny guy! He knows my addiction and loves me just the same!!

Well, it was already packed when I got there, how exciting!! The new store is such a BIG space with a large cropping area and lots of tools to use. There were beautiful Primas in all sizes (you know I can't resist them) and patterned paper galore!! There were the new Phoebe and Perhaps papers by Basic Grey and this is the first I have seen them in Canada, so I had to stock up on those!!! There were stamps and ink, brads and ribbon, rubons and adhesives and so much more!! It was heaven!! Aaahhhh, there's nothin' like a fully stocked scrapbook store in the mornin', wouldn't you agree??

I did a lovely make and take using the new Phoebe papers which I will definitely use on a page soon! Often times a make and take never gets used, don't you find? But this one is goin' on a page for sure! Anyway, it was a great way to start the weekend!!

So when I came home, I was feeling very creative and ready to play. I got out my Giga Scalloped Circle Punch, which I have had since before Christmas and hadn't used yet. **GASP** I know, right?? I was feeling like I wanted to rebel against the weather outside, so I decided to used my new Easter Bunny stamp by Inkadinkadoo. I made two cutsie Easter cards and I hope you like 'em!!



With the first one, I started out with a Certainly Celery base for my card and ran the front half through my Cuttlebug with the D'vine Swirls embossing folder. Then I used some Easter egg patterned paper out of the DCVW Spring Stack and sponged the edges. I added pink grosgrain ribbon and used the Happy Easter stamp from All Year Cheer I and added a couple of Prima flowers using an SU brad. I stamped the bunny on watercolour paper and used my watercolour brush and reinkers to colour the bunny and shade him. I sponged the edges and punched the scalloped circle out of Almost Amethyst, dotting the scallops with my white gel pen. I pop dotted the main image and....all done!



With the second card, I used Bashful Blue for the card base and the same patterned paper to mat. I used the ticket corner punch and gel pen. I did no sponging on this one for a cleaner look and also used Whisper White instead of watercolour paper to make it look crisper. I used Barely Banana for the scalloped piece and pop dotted it! I like this version too!!!

Let me know which one you like best!!!

Emmybella!!!!

I have a super new friend (I feel like I'm in kindergarten, saying that) and she is not only an extremely talented and creative soul, but she is as nice as a gal can be!! AND she has the same cheesy, warped, lame-o sense of humour as me!! I know, trouble, right?? Her name is Emily and she is the creator of the Stamping Bellas!! If you don't know what a Bella is.........come out from that rock you're hiding under!!! They are the cutest new stamps and I love them!!

You may have seen several of her images on a few of my cards recently!! I have several of them including Tinkerbella, Flowahbella, Emmybella (of course, for my Emmy), Beachabella, Javabellas....the list goes on!! There are also some fabulous sentiments to go along with your Bellas and a shnazzy new scalloped oval frame to sit your Bellas in!! Anyway, I just wanted to show my appreciation for Emily and her Bellas, for her customer service and for her friendship!!!

You're Bella-fabulous Emily and we love you!!! Mwah!!

P.S. Here is the link to her website....but fair warning: Visiting this site may cause uncontrollable need to pull out your wallet!! Proceed at your own risk!! *snort*

Picture Time!!!

It has taken me a couple of days to recover from my vacation!!! How silly does that sound?? Oh well! You all know what I mean! We had a wonderful time and did a lot of fun things, but it's nice to get home again. But when you get home there is so much to catch up on!!

We uploaded the digital photos we took while we were away and there are 800+, if you can believe it!!! And you know what?? We've been through the lot of them several times, and I wouldn't delete a one of them!! Al has a fabulous camera and it takes amazing pictures. But now we are back from holidays and broke so I could only afford to print a few at a time!! Haha! I uploaded the absolute best ones to the Walmart website and had them printed (ended up being about 150, yikes, plus a few enlargements), just so that I had some to show people.

I'm going to share a few with you, if you don't mind.........and even if you do!!!






What a sleepy girl!! That was on the long trip down to Florida in the truck after driving all through the first night!!
The next ones were taken at St. Pete Beach on the gulf coast at almost sunset. And can you believe that a school of dolpins came and played in the water not 100 or so yards from us??? It was the most amazing thing......I just wanted to run right out in the surf and play with them!!
Emileigh and Al were doing their 'sailor looking out to sea' thing (we have several pics like this on different days of our trip) at the Pier in St. Petersburg. Aren't they a hoot! Such hams!
And the last is Emileigh's favourite! She loves Marylin Monroe and wants to get this picture enlarged and framed!! We had so much fun at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.
Okay, that's it for the mandatory family vacation slideshow for today.....but I can't promise that I won't make you look at some more another day!!! Heehee!

Two Peas in a Pod!!

A good friend of mine......you know her as Cindy Lou, flattered me to no end by asking me to be the first-ever Featured Scrapbooker on her blog, My Inky Fingers!!! How exciting is that?? I was really humbled that she likes my creations enough to want to feature my work on her blog, which has a LOT of readers!!

So I had to do a little writeup about myself (how embarassing) and I did a special scrapbook page to be 'unveiled' (*eyes rolling here*) on her blog!! Well, I did this page for her and now that it has been a few weeks since she debuted it, I guess I can share it on here!!!

This page was made using Basic Grey Lilykate patterned papers, layered on top of each other and using Chocolate Chip cardstock by Stampin' Up. I used a 5x7 enlargement of one of my favourite pictures of myself and Emileigh, taken on a true Snow Day here in Southwestern Ontario. No, literally the whole town shut down!! The Library even called to tell me not to come in to work because they were closing for the day!!! Now THAT'S a Snow Day!!! Can you tell we are a little stoked about that development??? I also used the chipboard alphabet by Basic Grey to trace out some letters for the title on some of the patterned paper and the brackets too! I used the cardstock stickers that come with the Lilykate kit along with some alphabet stamps from Stampin' Up to complete the title and I added some ribbon, a large Prima flower with a small one in the center and a brad, and also some metal flowers. I also like to sponge the edges of my letters and the edges of the papers to make them stand out and give them a little more dimension. And waalah!!! Hope ya like my page!! If you do LET ME KNOW!! Leave me a comment!! I love to hear from you gals!!!

Have a Stamperiffic Day!!!