Happy Dance News!

Guess where I am right now???  The MOUNTAINS!  One of my favourite places to be.  My husband took me here as a birthday present (love him :)  ).

But I also have some exciting news!  

I have been asked to join the Friends of Flourishes Blog Team!  I have loved the classy and elegant feel to Flourishes stamps, and feel privileged to  be joining the team along with my friend and fellow Dirty Dozen Alumnus the very talented Betty Wright!  

You'll want to also congratulate Laura Fredrickson and Cindy Lawrence who've moved up to the full Design Team.  Such talented and beautiful women!  I'm blessed to work alongside of them. 

So here is my debut creation with the team.  

My mom's birthday is the day after mine and we'll be celebrating together after our trip this weekend.  She is a woman with a huge heart (even taking the kids this weekend).  So I created this special card for her.  I used the set Spring Ephemerals and stamped it in Basic Black and also in Riding Hood Red.  I cut out all those little hearts (yes it took a while), and added them to the focal piece, added Crystal Effects and a touch of Dazzling Diamonds glitter for some dimension and shimmer.  I also used the flourish stamp from another Flourishes set (sorry because I'm in the mountains I'm not positive it was either the Lilac set or the Iris set :(  ....when I get home I'll correct it!), but it made a lovely over-stamping background for the patterned paper.  There's something so crisp and classy about Red and Black and White.  

For an extra special effect I added rhinestones to the scalloped sections to really showcase it.  

I think she'll like it :)  

Thanks for stopping by today!  

Stamps:  Spring Ephemerals, Flourish stamp       Ink:  Basic Black, Riding Hood Red      Paper:  Whisper White, Basic Black, Riding Hood Red, Ski Slope DSP     Accessories:  Word Window Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, Crystal Effects, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon, Dimensionals, Adhesive Rhinestones     

I have left the 3's!

Well on Tuesday I had to get my Driver's License renewed. We have to renew them every 5 years here. So I was thinking about how much life has changed for me in the past 5 years.


Five years ago:

...........I was 35 years old, here's my last DL picture (I know it's a crummy picture but see my short hair?)

...........I had a newborn baby. Our youngest was just 2 months old (thus the pudgy face in the above picture...!

...........I was on mat leave, but both my husband and I were in a very difficult working environment, it was in a lot of ways a toxic working situation organizationally and relationally.

...........We left said employer, it was not a happy exit - in fact pretty ugly; then we were asked to come on staff with our church working as Youth Pastors with students. It was a renewed calling that we both love and threw ourselves into passionately - as we serve God and kids and families we love.

............I became an SU Demo and built a wealth of great relationships and a chance to express my creativity

............I started posting cards on Splitcoast in June of 2007 after my husband's cancer treatment. Life's too short to wonder if you are *creative enough*. I just wanted to enjoy creating!

..........JulieHRR asked me to be a part of the Dirty Dozen Design Team and my creative world grew a happy garden! I built some wonderful friendships in the sisterhood of the DD

.........In the time span of 3 years I became very ill and had to have 2 surgeries and a month of recovery; the next year my husband was diagnosed with a rare form of Cancer, but it was treatable and he had chemotherapy, about 6 weeks of isolation and is in remission! Then last spring my husband tore his quad muscle tendon separating his knee joint from his quad muscle, this meant surgery, 1 week in the hospital and then 6 weeks with no weight on his RIGHT leg (no lifting it, driving etc...guess who became the family chauffeur?).

It's been quite a five years. Some wonderful beautiful things that I'm incredibly grateful for...some rather painful ones I would not have chosen. A lot of people dread turning 40. In fact my husband asked me on Tuesday morning how it felt to be on my last day of my 30's. I replied "well, 39 wasn't always so good to me, so I'm ready for the 4's!"

Beth (MyPrecious) had a great post on her blog of 40 things she wanted to do before she was 40. Well, I wasn't that organized, but I have been thinking about that idea and I think I'd like to make a list of 40 things I'd like to do now that I'm 40.

Here are some (not 40 things yet) that I've come up with:

1. Build and continue to discover deeper depths in my walk with Christ. God has a lot of work to do in me in the year ahead, a lot of places of healing, a lot of places of deepening. I have always desired to be fully His, and I think He's taking me to places in these next month's that are making that more real. I think for me...these are years ahead of rebuilding.

2. See my children thrive in their growing up years...help them become more of themselves, more of who God is calling them to be.

3. Love my husband - deeper, wiser, with a more sacrificial heart. Time is so precious. We've learned that in so many ways in 5 years. I don't want to take it - or him for granted.

4. Carve out more space for me that includes stillness, silence, places of restoration from our busy world.

5. Healthier patterns...I'm not gettin' any younger! So, healthier eating, and more exercise and to finally lose ALL those baby pounds!

Well, that's a start! What about you? If you look back on the last 5 years of your life, what are some common themes? What about your next 5 years...who are you becoming and who do you want to be? There's a great song by Switchfoot called "This is Your Life" that I love. Some of the lyrics are:

This is your life, are you who you want to be?

This is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be?

When the world was younger and you had everything to lose.

Don't close your eyes

The idea for me is that you don't get a second chance, don't miss it because this is it, are you who you want to be? That really challenges me.

OK...enough preaching. Here IS a creative project I haven't shown you yet...I am privelaged to be a part of the Product Review Team over at Splitcoast and we review different products each month. Yesterday another review was unveiled for JustRite stamps of their new line of creative products. The review is HERE: and the creative projects by the team are really great and are HERE:

Here is one of mine projects using the Baking Ensemble from Just Rite. I created a sleeve for a mini Banana Bread loaf so it could be given as a gift. We really love Banana bread at our house (especially with Chocolate Chips :)) Whenever bananas are getting a little brown I throw them in the freezer for future banana bread.

The sleeve is 3 inches wide and 11 inches in length. I scored the sections in order to make a little *tote* for my bread. I wrapped the bread in waxed paper (I'd also wrap it in saran wrap too for giving to someone). I added ribbon around the bread and fed it though the word window hole in the top of my tote so my bread won't fall out.

I used the outside rim of the Just Rite Baking Ensemble stamp on my circle stamper to decorate the sections of the tote and added marker.

I LOVE the tag, it's my favourite part. I stamped the sugar label a second time on Kraft and trimmed it out, and added it on top, then I gave the spilled sugar some crystal effects and Dazzling Diamonds to make it more real. So CUTE! Some embellishments and it's a really cute gift!

Ok....nuff' for now. I still have lots to show you hopefully this week. And some exciting news too!

Recipe: Stamps: Just Rite Baking Ensemble Ink: Chocolate Chip, Real Red Paper: Real Red, Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White Accessories: Just Rite Round Circle Stamper, Striped Ribbon, Chocolate Chip Grossgrain, Gold Cording, Brads, Word Window Punch, Dazzling Diamonds, Scallop Circle Punch, SW Marker

Half of Toonie Tuesday

Well, I'm a little early with my first sample for Toonie Tuesday...and I'll be back tomorrow with the 2nd half of my two cards.

Sample One: Vibrant Prayers

Here is a vibrant card full of rich color. I really want it to be a card of encouragement. One of our *kids* (a former HS student in our youth ministry) found out her Grandpa died this morning. She knew it was any day, but her heart is hurting. She is an artist and loves to paint, so I wanted to create something that was full of warm color and watercolored.

What is important about using vibrant colors like this that almost have a contrasting quality? For me it's the use of white to balance the colors.

Here I've masked the largest blooms from Embrace Life and the stem. I stamped the smaller blossom separately and watercolored them all and then cut out the smaller flower and added it onto the *stems* with glue dots.

I've given it some color wash on the corners and as well on the sentiment. Some piercing and elegant ribbon. I really love how it came together and hope it will be an encouragement to her. These are night photos...so they are never quite as accurate, but you can see the depth of color here particularly in the closeup.

12 hours later.....

Sample Two: Well...it's Tuesday and I'm back with my second half of Toonie Tuesday.

I really love the look of this background set, yet I rarely use it. To me, it has a bold feel to it and it works well in ribbons of color like this. These colors to me are so Jenn Balcer . She is the best at vibrant and bold colors. But when you're using colors like this, I think you have to work it a little. If you mix them too much you get a muddy result. So, here I've paired the ribbons of color from the background set with borders of white, white gel pen accents and white ribbon. It seems to balance out the colors, and make them pop.

The cute little sentiment is from Lovely Labels...and it's not in the catalogue...but one the dormant list. Which makes me happy because you can still order it, it really has the cutest stamps.

Did you notice what I did with the flower brad? I added a little white gel pen on it too for accent to match the rest of the card. It's all in the little details! I've also *striped* the sentiment in opposite order of the colors on the main card. Sweet, simple. Joyfully happy! Gotta run...I need to get my Driver's License renewed today! Last day of my 30's!

Stamps: Sample ONE Embrace Life, So Many Sayings Ink: Black Stazon Paper: Pixie Pink, Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White, Watercolor, Urban Garden DP Accessories: Reinkers, SW Markers, Aqua Painter, Glue Dots, Dimensionals, Piercer, Kiwi Satin Ribbon

Sample TWO: Stamps: Happiness Background, Lovely Labels; Paper: Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss, Pixie Pink, Whisper White, Haiku DSP Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango, Pixie Pink Accessories: White GG Ribbon, Glue Dots, Dimensionals, Flower Brads, White Gel Pen

My Birthday Present to ME!

It's so rare for me to make something for myself. Are you that way? I'm so busy all the time making creative things for others that despite all my good intentions for creating things for myself - it just doesn't happen often.


In March of this year when I was on the Dirty Dozen Design Team over at Splitcoast the theme for the month was the Daily Grind, coffee related...office related creations. I designed a special ensemble for our Administrative Assistant at that time Amy. One of the pieces in the ensemble was a Personalized Stationery set. I really loved that piece, and in fact of all the things I designed in my six months on the Dirty Dozen it remains one of my favourite creations. If you're a Fan Club Member you can see the whole ensemble here: and the Stationery Set pictures here and here and here. If not....it might be enough to entice you to join...well worth EVERY penny, you receive access to all the DD galleries in the past! Here is a link if you want to check it out.





So, 7 months later, I finally created a Stationery Set for me. I'll pretend it's in honor of turning 40 this week! This set is something that is very me. It's useful, it's beautiful, it's GREEN, and chocolate, it has a simple elegance...all things I appreciate! Above you'll see the folder closed up...all it's wonderful potential inside :)


These are made with the JustRite selection of stamps and fonts. They are FABULOUS! And they works perfectly for something like this where you want to make it very personal.


The stationery folder is a 12 x 12 sheet of either naturals Ivory - or confetti, I can't remember anymore! A 3/4 inch piece is cut off on the right hand side for the file folder tab, and 2 1/4 inches folded up for the inside flaps. I also added extra creases in the middle of the center-fold to give it greater depth when closed (much like a real file folder). I added brads to the outside of the folder strategically placed to give reinforcement to the top inner pocket. Satin ribbon is attached to the back of the folder with sticky strip and hangs loosely but then can tie in a pretty bow to hold the folder together. Very clean design.




Inside, I created 2 pockets for the 3 x 3 cards and envelopes. The top left pocket is 3 1/4 wide, and about 2 1/2 inches long, with a pocket depth of 1/2 inch. I punched the scallop circle out so you can see more of the 3 x 3 cards (cute :)). The lower right pocket is just attached to the flap with some sticky strip and 2 brads and holds the 3 x 3 envelopes.






The cards are just simply monogramed and given classic details, a little rich ribbon and some piercing. I also used an Olive SW Marker on parts of Browns monograms to give them extra color. I added a little more text to the 4 1/4 cards, and also used the outside ring of the monogram stamp to create a background on the chocolate layer. The small 3 x 3 cards also have Crystal Effects on the Monogram to give it a pretty shine.







The stationery (oh my I LOVE this part). I took resume paper with a rich texture, cut it in half to make 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 sheets, and rounded the top corners. Then I stamped the monogram in the center and then masked off a section about an inch long and sponged Kiwi Kiss ink over it. Then I took my Rectangle Stamper and the tiny Brayton Font and used my Stamp-a-majig to align the *from the desk of * words on each side of the monogram.




I so look forward to using it...and re-plenishing it when I use it up. All so easy with these tools!




Thanks for stopping by today!




Recipe: Stamps: JustRite Monogram Font Brayton, JustRite Harmony Classic Stamps

Paper: Confetti Natural, Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip, Vanilla, Kiwi Kiss DSP, Chocolate Chip DSP

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss

Accessories: Harmony Rectangle Stampers, Harmony Classic Circle Stamper II, Scallop Circle and Edge Punch, Corner Rounder Punch, Scorit, Gold Brads, Chocolate Satin Ribbon, Chocolate Grosgrain Ribbon, Kiwi Satin Ribbon, Sticky Strip, Dimensionals, Piercer, Crystal Effects, Sponge, Stamp-a-Majig

Be-Leaf It's Your Birthday!

Today's Limited Supply Challenge was to use leaves in some fashion as our focal point, and to use pink...well, one of our daughter's good friend's birthday party is tomorrow and I thought this would be a fun way to incorporate leaves...pink and the season of her birthday together.

AND I just received my very first JustRite products! I was SO excited, so once I thought about the sentiment I wanted for the card, I knew these would be great for creating it. Really the possibilities are endless with these stamps. Especially for someone like me who often hand writes sentiments because I don't have what I'm looking for.

So here I've used the new Harmony Rectangle Stamper and the Curlz font to create the words. So fun! I've given it a good round of sponging on the edges too to warm up the color. I mixed last years In Colors with this years In Colors and it looks pretty good!

On the main card I stamped various leaves from Autumn Fest set using masking and the Rock and Roll technique. It really creates more of a background here. I actually dug out my sewing machine and sewed the pieces together.

I added a few gems from K & C Company and some Satin ribbon because it is for an almost teen girl...you do need a little bling and richness :)

Recipe: Stamps: Autumn Fest, Canvas Background (SU), Curlz Font (JustRite stampers) Ink: Purely Pomegranate, Tangerine Tango, Groovy Guava Paper: Purely Pomegranate, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White Accessories: Harmony Rectangle Stamper (JustRite), Sewing Machine, Sponge, Piercer, Gems, Dimensionals, Pomegrante Satin Ribbon

Golden Christmas

It's been my plan for the past two years to keep making Christmas cards little by little...and then when December rolls around I have lots on hand...and hopefully don't have to panic :)

I looked at the sketch challenge today over at SCS and there were two options, a portrait style (vertical feel), and a landscape sketch (horizontal). Our other challenge was to use pink on our card in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month.

I chose the vertical portrait sketch. I must have this thing for white/vanilla right now, it's so unlike me! But it's so crisp paired with the Pink Pirouette. I added some interest by curving parts of the sketch - and I think it goes nicely with the curves of the design. I embossed the tree from Scandinavian Season in Gold, stamped the bottom corner again and watercolored it very lightly and cut it out, added it on the tree at a slight tilt with a dimensional.

See my beautiful brad? Recognize it? It's one of our new SU Filagree brads! You say "but Christine...they don't come in gold!" "Ah yes" I respond....but a little magical touch of a Zig Painty (oil based gold/silver marker - SU used to sell it), set it out on paper to dry...and you have a lovely gold brad!

The sentiment is an old SU set...I wish I could remember which one, because I separated it out from it's box...I just couldn't part with it's lovely font.

Recipe: Stamps: Scandinavian Season & wheel Paper: Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Bella DSP Ink: VersaMark Accessories: Gold EP, scrap organdy ribbon, Gold cording, Filagree Brads, Dimensionals, Zig Painty

Designer Christmas Toonie Tuesday

I haven't had time to watercolor for so long! So today, despite the fact that I had a doctors appointment that took WAY too long this morning, and helping on the Pumpkin Clay masks in our middle son's classroom this afternoon. I squeezed in my projects!

Sample One: Designer Christmas Cottage

When I saw Emily's color challenge today of Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip and Kiwi Kiss I sort of had this idea of the designer Christmas displays you see with pink accessories ....so here is a designer cottage. Can you imagine a pink door on your cottage? hee hee :)

I stamped the image with Brown Stazon on watercolor paper, and then used reinkers and SW markers and my NEW aquapainter (what a difference!). I know that pink skis, and pink stones are NOT realistic, but they're designer ok?

I added Dazzling Diamonds with my Mono Multi glue to give the feeling of sparkling snow on the trees and the ground.

I mounted my image on Chocolate Chip DSP and the Kiwi Kiss strip from the Ski Slope DSP pack. And added taffeta ribbon (it was vanilla - but I colored it with my SW Marker). And cut one of my Pink Pirouette felt flowers in half for accent.

On the main card I added score lines with my Scor-it...a great tool!

Sample Two: Designer Wreath

Along with our theme of a designer colored Christmas I thought I'd bring out some Flourishes sets and create a non-traditional Christmas wreath. Here made from Magnolia blossoms. Ok, I'm from the North...really the north. I've never seen Magnolias, I have no idea if they make them into wreaths. But I did. Blame it on being Canadian :)

I watercolored all the blossoms, cut each of them out and then arranged them on the Vanilla cardstock in a wreath feel. I added a great big section of beautiful Chocolate satin ribbon, glitter on the blossoms, added the tag with some gold cording, and then used my piercing template (oh I wish I had one of the Ornare ones!)...and pierced some swirls. This is as close to a one layer card as I'll ever get :) It has a simple elegance to it I think.

Recipes: Sample One: Designer Christmas Cottage Stamps: Home for Christmas Ink: Brown Stazon Paper: Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip DSP, Ski Slope DSP, Watercolor Paper Accessories: Aqua Painter, Reinkers, SW Markers, Felt Fusion Too, Taffeta Ribbon, Dimensionals, Mono Multi, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Scorit

Sample Two: Designer Wreath Stamps: Flourishes Siberian Iris and Lilac sets Ink: Brown Stazon Paper: Very Vanilla, Watercolor, Kiwi Kiss Accessories: Reinkers, Aqua Painter, Piercing Template, Chocolate Satin Ribbon, Mono Multi, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Oval Punch, Gold Cording, 1/16th punch

12 Cupcake Special!

Well, it's a special day in our house. Our daughter started her 12th year at 6:20 am this morning. How quickly the time goes! I can still vividly remember that instant she was finally born...our firstborn, and we all made it through ok!

I was thinking about how grateful I am to see her begin this 12th year doing so well. She started Junior High and we put a lot of prayer into that transition for her, we've seen lots of kids have a tough time with the adjustment of school and pressures and new friendships. So to see her having so much fun with the new independence, her friends, the challenge of school and getting to be in Youth Group has been so joyful for us. There will be a lot of bumps in the road ahead I know, but she's a great girl, we're very proud of her, and so grateful she is ours!

This year the theme seemed to be cupcakes with her. She really loves baking and is getting to the point where I can leave it to her to do most of the preparing herself. So for her friend birthday party on Saturday she made the cupcakes, and today she wanted to take cupcakes to school,, so she made those as well. And they were all yummy!

I can't take all the credit for all the ideas with these cupcakes. I saw a great card that one of my sidelines had created with some similar components when I was with my upline, so I remembered what I loved about it and created it on my own. So Susan...send me her name and I'll credit her here! :)

These fun cupcakes have paper pieced cups, cherry *beads* on top and chunky sprinkles for icing (how CUTE hey?). Then I added another paper pieced cupcake all decked out with the

sentiment and popped it up. How did I do the cherries you ask? Well, I didn't have any red beads on me, I had white, so I put them on with a little 2 Way Glue then went over the top outline with a Red Copic. I'm giddy with my resourcefulness!

Some piercing, some ribbon, some scallops, sponging and distressing, and a few extra polka dots for all girl adorable! I know she'll love it.

Recipe: Stamps; Crazy for Cupcakes Ink: Basic Black, Riding Hood Red Paper: Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip, Bella Rose DSP, Whisper White Accessories: Wide RHR Striped Grossgrain, Scallop Circle Punch, Circle Punch, Piercer, Dimensionals, Chuiky Glitter, White Beads, SW Marker, Scallop Edge Punch

Thanksgiving Wedding Gifts

Well, Monday (Thanksgiving for us) found us a part of our first *kids'* wedding (no not our children....please give me a good 10 years ;) ). You see, my husband and I are Youth Pastor's and we work with students from Junior High up through College age to us they are our *kids*. And though we've married some of our leaders who were college age....this was the first wedding of some of our former High School students. I will probably be this effected by all of these kids getting married - but these two being first ...are also very precious to us. We have walked through a lot of *life* together, and they are like an extension of our own family. Our youngest son said *Adam* before he said *Mama* ! (ask me how I felt about THAT! :) )

So, it was a 3 Kleenex ceremony for me. Really it's so powerful and touching to see these 2 and their hearts for each other, and their hearts for serving God together. They are just remarkable people, and we've felt very blessed to be a part of their lives. They leave in a few weeks to go to Scotland for a year to serve at a ministry there (what a first year of marriage hey?). I'll miss them so much! So I bawled like a baby! It was such a beautiful wedding! They looked beautiful and so very happy.

The groom's Dad performed the ceremony (his Dad is our Senior Pastor - can you imagine performing the wedding ceremony of your son? He did a very beautiful and touching job too), and we were blessed to be the emcee's at the reception. They were married at our camp, a very special place to them because they met there for the first time, and serve there every summer. The above picture is of the little chapel they were married in at the camp with the sunlight streaming through the trees (isn't it gorgeous?), there's a creek running in front of it and a rounded bridge off to the left. It's a really wonderful location...and God does amazing things in so many lives through this camp's ministry. I grew up going to this camp too and know what a special place it is first hand.

All that to say, my heart really wanted to create something special for these two students that would commemerate this day...and their faith in God and their future with such hope....

So, I made this framed piece of art for them. I started by stamping all of these leaves on watercolor paper with VersaMark and embossing with Gold EP. Then I took many hours and watercolored each of them in fall colors.

I really like a font that my husband has on his Mac so he printed a template of the words I wanted, and then painstakingly cut out the letters on paper and traced out all the larger words (the smaller words are handwritten). This really took a while and you have to be patient to then go back and re-sketch the letters to get it all to look right. The verse is from 2 Corinthians 9:15 and reads "Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift"

I added a wash of More Mustard and Ruby Red on the main layer of watercolor paper....though the wash is really washed out by the pictures.

Then I colored in my letters using my Aqua Painter and SW Markers, then added the leaves with adhesive in a layout I thought would be most pleasing. The project probably took me about 10 - 12 hours, and I really love how it turned out.

These two pictures are out of the frame so you can see it without the glass. And here is a closer picture within the frame under the glass.

I also made a matching card using the same leaf technique. I used my Coluzzle to cut out the ovals in the 2 main layers, sponged and stamped the leaves on the Mustard layer, and added retired DP underneath with the Mr. & Mrs. stamped on it. I like how the & in both the card and artwork have that same flourished feel.
More of the leaves close up.
Recipe: Stamps: With Gratitude, Together Forever Ink: VersaMark (Card: More Mustard) Paper: Watercolor (Card: Bravo Burgundy, More Mustard, Retired DP), Accessories: Aqua Painter, SW Markers, Reinkers, Gold EP, (Card: Gold Brads, Chocolate Satin Ribbon, Gold Pen, Burgundy SW Marker, Dimensionals, Colluzzle Oval Cutter, Sponge)

Club Swap

No Toonie Tuesday today everyone.... normally I would have 2 samples for you today, but today it's just one. We returned from a wedding last night, and honestly I'm just plain worn out. I'll post more on that tomorrow and what I created as a wedding gift for them.

But I have our monthly club tonight with my upline and I had to get swaps ready, though I couldn't get to it till this afternoon. So I combined the need for swaps with the Color Challenge today. Because October is Breast Cancer Awareness month Emily is using some type of Pink in all the color challenges in October.

So...here's my Pink Pirouette, Basic Black and White swap for tonight (I don't know why I though Pirouette had an h in it. I think I was getting it mixed up with Silhouette).

I seem to be stuck on using this one stamp from the Pocket Silhouettes set, but it really does match with this border stamp in Beautiful Borders don't you think?

Once I had the patterned paper the sizes I wanted them to be I stamped the border stamp in Craft White on the Basic Black layer, then added ribbon and scallops to my patterned layers trying to match the line up of the scallops in each row for consistency.

The main image is stamped in Pink Pirouette and then I used my Basic Black SW Marker on the stamp stems for a dual colored image. I think I'd be lost without my markers. I use them almost every day.

I layered the focal piece with different punches for some interest and added brads two different ways I'm not sure which I like better! Sweet and simple.

Back tomorrow with Wedding gift pictures!

Recipe: Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes, Beautiful Borders Ink: White Craft, Pink Pirouette, Basic Black Paper: Bella DSP, Pink Pirouette, Basic Black, Whisper White Access: Large Oval Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, Piercer, Pink Brads, Pink Gingham Ribbon

Thanksgiving Placecards

Seriously...are these not the most adorable paper pumpkins placecards you have ever seen???

Monday is Thanksgiving in Canada but we are going to a wedding on Sunday/Monday so we're celebrating on Saturday evening with my family. I wanted to have a family project of creating placecards for the table. I saw this amazing idea by BrownEyedbby at Splitcoast that I thought was so creative and perfect for a Thanksgiving table. So I modified it for me. She also has a link to a tutorial in her posting too. It's great.

So the three most precious men in my life went to town creating these tonight while I was working on a Wedding Gift and my daughter was working on her Birthday Invites. So everyone was stamping! (Aren't they handsome....I just cut my baldy sweetheart's hair, he likes it very short...and the boys go for haircuts tomorrow). Mommy does NOT cut their hair.

Love that pic :)

Essentially I gathered all my Pumpkin Pie scraps, had my husband stamp Paisley Bk on them (which I wish showed up better in the picture, but it's night...), then our middle son punched out 10 Round Tab Punches per pumpkin and the little guy counted and grouped them then scored them at their half with my Scor-It tool, and then the three of them put it together with stronger glue tab to tab (10 per pumpkin). I added the pumpkin vine with tiny strips of Garden Green curled up by the boys to the very last glued section. Then after they were all done I cut out tags from scrap, wrote the names on the tags, and added them to the vines with a 1/16 punch and gold brads.

Adorable. Happy Thanksgiving Canadians!

Recipe Stamps: Paisley Background Ink: Pumpkin Pie Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Garden Green Accessories: Round Tab Punch, Small Tag Punch, 1/16 punch, Gold Brads, SW Marker.

Totally Random

Well my friend and fellow DD girl Joan Ervin over at Stamping with A Passion tagged me a while ago. So here are 7 Fun and Random thing about me...


1. I have a keen sense of smell - that can be both good and bad! (ha ha) My brother and Sister-in-Law went to Texas last week and he called me and asked "Want anything from the States?"...it was so random, and he'd be fundamentally lost in a Craft Store so I couldn't tell him anything stamping related. But he persistently said, "Didn't you like something at Williams-Sonoma?" (I honestly think this was my SIL remembering this). I said "Oh yeah! They have wonderful pine smelling pump soap!" ....so look what they brought me! Seriously, it's so yummy and warm smelling that I'm not sharing it with my family. If I could make a scratch and sniff blog post I would so you could share in it's wonderfulness. And look at the cute holder!!

I love the smell of pine. And along with the theme of pine.....


2. Somewhat under protest we bought this 2 days ago.

All my life I grew up with an artificial Christmas Tree that was - well, frankly, ugly. You know the one where the branches look maimed and you stick them into holes in the pole...ewww, it ends up looking like a skinny plastic green monster. As a child - outside of the presents underneath it I wasn't ever a big fan of it. I always begged to have a REAL tree. So I said to myself that one day when I could choose - we have real trees in our home. And for the 14 years we've been married we have, I love the look, that you never know what you'll be getting each year...and the PINE smell :) I'm not a big fan of the daily watering and vacuuming of the needles however . But see then last year my parents bought a NEW artificial tree, pre-lit too...and it was actually so pretty! It looked like a real tree! So I gave in. They were at Costco and my husband bought one. My compromise is that we'll have a pine wreath for the smell.

3. We took our kids to a CFL (Canadian Football League) football game last weekend. For 2 of the kids (oldest and youngest) it was their first professional live game. They had SO much fun. Especially our daughter! She LOVED all of it. Our 5 year old also said in awe "It's SO BIG!" (The stadium holds 60 000 fans I believe and we were up pretty high). We had a great night - even if I'm not a huge football fan. Here's a funny pic of my daughter and I there. She took it with her arms out in front of us. She really doesn't have a double chin...so funny. Even funnier...I'm wearing her hat....her vest....and her shoes. Talk about reverse parenting!
4. I have been on a cleaning/organizing binge lately. I have cleaned my bathroom and kitchen from top to bottom and organized all my cupboards. Seriously, I was appalled by how much outdated...STUFF we had. Medicines, ingredients, things that said "refrigerate after opening" that I never noticed (oops!). In 14 years of marriage you accumulate a lot of stuff. I am now beginning to realize what I really need, what I really use and have TOSSED the rest! I had bags of garbage for the curb from these ventures. It feels so good to have clean cupboards again, very freeing! :) ...so much more stuff to go...like my desk and craft cupboard.


5. I made Thai Chicken Drumsticks for supper last night. We got a new spice packet sample in the mail, isn't that random? All you add is vegetable oil, lemon juice and soy sauce. Marinate, and bake or grill. It was good too. I love Thai food. It's my very favourite ethnic food. They have recipes for Pad Thai (my personal favourite Thai food), and some other yummy things too! I'll be buying this.


6. I read in both my boys' classrooms this week. It's Read-In-Week here, focusing on Literacy and guest readers in the classroom. In our Kindergartner's class I read Elliott Gets Stuck and in our 4th Grader's class I read 2 chapters of Prince Caspian. :) I really LOVE to read, and so do the kids. Today is "Bear Book and Blanket Day" at their school. They can come to school in their PJ's bring a stuffed animal and a book, and we have they all gather in the gym to read. It's SO cute. This is a silly picture of them getting ready for PJ Day. One has a stuffed Shark ...the other a stuffed Penguin.


7. And last but not least, I am turning 40 in exactly 20 days!


Now I'm supposed to Tag 7 other bloggers, ok, well I won't have 7 but you'll all enjoy these....some are new to blogging so go give them a visit!

• My fun and talented friend Betty Wright at Stamping to the Wright

• Julie's new blog at The Write Stuff...who I know was tagged recently too, but you can go and visit her :)
• A blog I just discovered the other day Leanne's Wee Inklings
• Someone so sweet who often makes kind comments on my blog Shannon over at Hoppy Creations
• And just to give her an extra nudge because I know that Joan also tagged her at the same time as me....you know who you are Jerri....:) My dear friend, ultra-talented DD Team-mate Jerri Kay at A Touch of Grace

Punchy October Club Cards

Well I have a bunch of fun things to show you today. This was the post I had intended to do last week, but just couldn't get it done because I knew I wanted to add a little bit of a tutorial.

Tuesday was my monthly 11 for 11 Club and I taught the girls a bunch of Punch/Thanksgiving style cards with Autumn themes etc. Thanksgiving for us here in Canada is ....Monday, October the 13th!



Here is a look at all 4 projects.

Project One: All Dressed Turkey!

This sample idea was in the most recent edition of the magazine that SU demonstrators receive each month. I just loved the cute little turkey and knew I could achieve my own version of it with the supplies I had. He is made from various punches.






I've listed the punches I used to make him here:



Sorry...the writing is so small.... From top l - r punches needed:

1 " Circle Punch (More Mustard), 1 3/8" Circle Punch (Close to Cocoa), 3/4 " Square Punch (Basic Black), 1 1/4" strip (Basic Black), Partial Scallop (More Mustard), Patterned Paper Scallop Circle x 3 (in different or the same colors).


To make the folds for the Turkey Tailfeathers, first take a scalloped circle and punch out from your choice of patterned paper (here I've used the Level One Hostess Pack of paper). Count out 5 bumps and fold down toward you (you decide how you want to use the sides of pattern).

Then fold that in half to give you a center line.

Unfold and then take the first folded side scalloped section and fold in toward the center line (like paper airplane sides). Then you have a petal type image. You could use this for a folded flower on your cards too. Do this 3 times for the Turkey Tailfeathers.

Then take your 3 sections and piece them together for the tail feathers and adhere on your card where you'd like it to be, (upper center in this case).

For the feet and beak I used a partial Scalloped Circle in Mustard (you just don't need a whole circle) and cut out the feet (one scallop bump in the middle and 2 halves on each side) and beak (one scallop bump cut upwards in a triangle shape). I added More Mustard with my Stampin' Write Marker on the beak because my daughter told me it didn't stand out enough otherwise! :) At almost 12, she's getting a very good eye of a designer!

Layer over top the smaller circle for the head attached to the larger circle for the body with Dimensionals. Put together your 3/4 inch square and strip for the dapper hat. Add eyes with the SW Marker.

The sentiment I thought was kind of cute...from Fun and Fast Notes, it says "All Spruced Up" hee hee. Not for long...soon he'll be DRESSED up! Inside and out! Yum, I love stuffing! We're responsible for dessert this year. I might make a Chocolate Pecan Pie....another YUM!


I think these would be really cute used as Thanksgiving place cards too.



Sample Two: Autumn Blooms

My upline showed us this style of card last month, so I recreated it in autumn colors. For the stamped image you start here with inking up your Upsy Daisy flower stamp in Summer Sun. Then take your Sponge daubers inked in Tangerine Tango, and Riding Hood Red and dauber then directly on the stamp (already inked with Summer Sun). Huff on it to give it more moisture, then stamp on the paper. This gives you that gorgeous variation of color. I also used the daubers to give some sponged color to the edges of the main image piece. The punches are layered together to give a different look to the sentiment.

Sample Three: Grateful Blooms

I love the fall feel to the new Haiku papers, and love the Eastern Blooms style. Here the vine image is stamped toward the center from each corner in Mustard on Vanilla. The two blooms are stamped in Saffron and Mustard from each end of the 3 Bloom stamp and cut out. The background is created with one of the stamps from the set in Saffron.

The sentiment is from By Definition and the ribbon is added with a knot for a nice simple feel.

I didn't do this in the class (but would have if I would have thought of it), but later I added some Microbeads on the flower centers with some 2 Way glue. I think it gives it some pretty texture.

Sample Four: Spidey Senses Tingling

And last but not least....I totally cased this cutie patootie spider from CaseGJ over at Splitcoast. Seriously I think it was brilliant. She has a really nice gallery of creative 3D things too. I'll be honest, I'm not much of a Halloween person...but these I just couldn't resist, and they fit in our theme. I've simplified parts of mine here for the class. Scallop Punches for bodies, and the Photo Corner Punch in 2 colors for the legs, 1/8 " punch for eyes and nose, SW Marker for the pupils. In the middle are Peppermint Patties :) NO stamping! ....a great way to use up scraps... they would be cute classroom treats too.

Thanks for popping by!

Recipes: All Dressed Turkey Stamps: Fun and Fast Notes Paper: Always Artichoke, Whisper White, Close to Cocoa, More Mustard, Prints DSP Ink: Basic Black Accessories: Punches (see above + Word Window), Brad, Chocolate GG Ribbon, Dimensionals

Autumn Blooms: Stamps: Upsy Daisy, Canvas Paper: Summer Sun, Tangerine Tango, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White Ink: Summer Sun, Tangerine Tango, Riding Hood Red, VersaMark (on the Canvas Bk), Accessories: Scalloped Square, Oval, Square Punches Sponge Daubers, Rhinestone Brads, Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon

Eastern Blooms: Eastern Blooms Paper: So Saffron, Very Vanilla, More Mustard, Haiku DSP Ink: So Saffron, More Mustard, Old Olive Accessories: Olive GG Ribbon, Key Tab Punch, Brads, Piercer, Microbeads, 2 Way Glue

Spidey Senses: Stamps: NONE Paper: Basic Black, Lovely Lilac, Real Red, Whisper White Accessories: Scallop Punch, 1/8 " Circle Punch, Photo Corner Punch, SW Marker, 2 Way Glue, Peppermint Patties