Bubble Fun continued...

Bubble Fun

Oh Rebecca.... I have some photos for you!  Okay, seriously.  We need to do an on-location photo shoot with this girl.  She is just gorgeous in front of the camera!  A couple change of outfits, and a great location and we'll have some awesome photos.  What do you think?  I have decided I am going to get better at this photography thing.  I am SO excited about this photo, you really have no idea.  It's just.... (sigh....) I love it.

April Blog Hop Challenge

ETA:  I won!  Out of all the Blog Hop Extras, Nichole did a draw for a free stamp set, and I won!! I'm SO excited, now to figure out which stamp set I'm going to pick.. Thank you Nichole and PTI, the Blog Hop was a blast!  And thanks everyone for your kind comments on my blocks.  :)

Although I didn't make the list of 25 to be included in the original Blog Hop challenge, I'll still be participating as an extra in the "Blog Hop Extras" thread on the Papertrey Forum tonight.  This is the first time I've ever joined something like this, so it should be fun!

I'm just SO excited about my little project!  I've included a photo tutorial to show you just how perfectly everything worked together.

First of all, Nichole at PaperTrey gave us a pdf file of her "Father Knows Best" patterned paper arranged in squares to work with.  I printed it off on good quality cardstock, and quickly discovered that my Creative Memories punch (1 1/2") would punch out these squares perfectly!
Next, I remembered I had bought some wood blocks awhile ago from Creative Imaginations, and found that the punched out squares fit those perfectly too!  I adhered the punched squares of patterned paper to the blocks, which also worked out nicely because there are six sides to each square, and six different styles of patterned paper.

The color in the Father Knows Best patterned paper is a beautiful soft orange, which would be suitable for baby boys or girls!  I adhered Heidi Swapp's white "Lemonade Stand" chipboard letters,  and Voila!  It's a very simple and perfect baby gift!

I also really like how they look stacked on top of eachother, very cute.  Thanks for stopping by!

Spring has Sprung.

And it's wonderful!  Yesterday I went and filled the trailer full of a yard of garden soil and I've been busy shovelling and hauling the wheelbarrow ever since.  It is just so nice to be working outside again.  It gives me that totally bushed, exhausted, full of fresh air kind of tired.  I just love it.
 
Last night we went to Laura's and spent the night crafting.. I'm lovin' these Tuesday night get-together's!  It's definitely boosting my productivity, lol.  Here's the Mother's Day card I came up with, I used my PaperTrey "Women of Life" stamp set, combined with the Boho Blossoms punch and coordinating "One of a Kind" stamps.  Simple, colorful and suitable for Mother's Day.

And, I also worked on my project for the PaperTrey Blog Hop Challenge.   I just LOVE how it turned out.  I think you will too!  But I can't show you until Friday after 2pm PST/5pm EST, that is if I even get selected as one of the 25 participants in the challenge.  You can read more about the challenge here on the PaperTrey website.  I'm just crossing my fingers I'm one of the 25!  That's it for now, I'm heading back out to the garden! ;-)

Isn't she beautiful?

My niece, one gorgeous baby.  Shot this photo on Sunday afternoon.  I just love this angelic face.  I'm looking forward to scrapbooking tonight with my girlfriends, so I'll have some more crafty projects to show soon.  If you're on the West Coast like I am, enjoy this beautiful weather!  Flip-flops are officially coming out of storage. ;-)

2007 Memories

As you know, 2007 was a big year for us, we were blessed with a new son and brother enjoyed many mini vacations among other things.  I wanted a place to hold all of our memorable family photos from our 2007 year.  Here's the little accordion mini book I came up with.
The front cover of the Spring/Summer Stampin Up! catalogue inspired me for the cover of my little album.  I used some Basic Grey "Urban Couture" papers for the backdrop, and punched a scalloped edge from white cardstock using my Stampin Up! slit punch.  I stamped the word "memories" (Heidi Grace, "Wild Daisy" stamp set) and heat set with white embossing powder.  The numbers 2007 are Basic Grey numbers, painted white.  I used some gold edged cream ribbon for the enclosure.
The white dotted background throughout is white cardstock embossed with the "Swedish Dots" Cuttlebug embossing folder.  I also made paper flowers from the Stampin Up! flower punch and stamped over with a design from the Heidi Grace, Wild Daisy stamp set.  I added a green and red button as the center for each flower.

Growing up all too fast.

Yesterday I walked into Nathan's room after he woke up from his nap, to find him standing in his crib!  Just in the last month he has started doing all kinds of new tricks.  Now that he is crawling he gets everywhere - fast.  Two nights ago at dinner he also started clapping his hands out of nowhere, I grabbed the video recorder right away, and we caught him on tape.  It's so cute.  I'll upload the video and put it on my blog as soon as I figure out how to do that.  Still no teeth, but I think gumming the crib railing is providing some relief for him as those new baby teeth are likely coming soon.
 

Treats for Two

special ladies!  Thanks for your very kind comment yesterday Lynne!  Scrapbooking and cardmaking is definitely more than just a past-time for me, it's a passion!  As for teaching classes, I didn't know that anyone would want to take a class from little 'ol me?  It's definitely something I'll look into... who wouldn't want to teach their favorite hobby?  Thanks again, you are too kind.  And Jaco said the muffins were great Karen, thanks for your sweetness.

Huh?

Here's the newest symbol weather reporters in British Columbia are using.  I think it definitely covers their bases well:

Owl Card

I had a great time last night crafting with some friends.  Here's one of the things I made.  I think this is my favorite stamp of the moment, he is just so cute, who could resist? :)

Scrap and Craft

The Scrap and Craft was a lot of fun, I got quite a bit accomplished and had a great time hanging out with my girlfriends.  It was really nice to see some ladies I haven't seen for awhile.  It was very well organized, especially the lunch and dinner - it was absolutely amazing!  For lunch we had a buffet of salad with ALL the toppings, and dressings to choose from.  And fresh buns with garlic butter.  For dinner it was salad, buns and lasagna.  Just awesome.  Anyway, enough about the food - on to the scrappin'.

The above carousel notecard was created from the Hebrews verse left over from the mini book I made in Debby Visser's class.  Here's my mini book from her "Captured Moments" class.
I also took Debby's "Lil box of cards" class as well:

Thanks Debby, your classes were great, as always!  It was also great to win the door prize from the Captured Moments class. :)

I also (almost) completed two double layouts on Saturday, I say (almost) because I'd still like to add some computer journalling to the Horse Lake layout, and a title and journalling to the Fishing layout.  I'll hopefully get around to doing that in the next couple days.

TFL, Have a great week!

All packed up.

Tomorrow  = 12 uninterrupted hours of scrapbooking.  Ahhh.... Pure bliss.
I'll be sure to post creations from my all day scrapbooking extravaganza.

Carousel Note

I whipped this little carousel note up last night after cleaning my parents Travel Agency.  The pearlized, embossed black cardstock is actually from the cover of a Holland America Cruise Line brochure.  While I was cleaning office and organizing brochures I came across this brochure and I was totally inspired.  (Sorry Mom, I hope you won't be short the Grand Voyage Holland America cruise brochures any time soon... forgive me?)
I used the second largest circle on my Coluzzle to cut out the brochure cover.  I white embossed the butterfly, and attached May Arts black polka dotted ribbon.  Then I printed the bible verse on white cardstock, and adhered after cutting it into strips.  I attached another piece of teal ribbon to the black & white polka dot ribbon, and used a teal clothes-pin to keep the white prima flower in place over the knot.  I also cut out a heart from grungeboard, inked it up and used a 2 way glue pen to adhere glitter.  I also hole-punched each scallop around the edge.  I think that about covers it.  It was a fun little project, not sure who will get this one yet, I have tons more ideas for these little scalloped notecards. 

(Disclaimer: Although they very much resemble the carousel notecards you buy from Stampin Up!, these are not the same ones.  I found these in the form of a AccuCut diecut at my local scrapbook store.)  Have a great day!

Totally Random

This is not my usual style... then again, what is style?  I gain inspiration from lots of things, and I try to create all the million different ideas that float through my head.  Sometimes I'm happy with the outcome, other times the finished product doesn't meet my expectations.  Whatever.  My style I guess is just what comes of my attempt to create something I have in mind.  Okay, and if you actually followed that, you get a gold star.
Here it is, finally a masculine card.  I played with Ranger's alcohol inks and grunged up some glossy cardstock, then dry embossed a piece of Basic Grey pp, and inked it up.  The letter stickers are from Heidi Swapp, and the heart and crown are my very favorite new thing: Grungeboard!!  I can't get enough of it.  You can do so much with it, I'm officially hooked.  It's like chipboard, but it's flexible, and won't tear.  Here's a little video explaining what it is, Tim Holtz describes things really well, so I won't attempt to explain it.  I inked up the heart with barn red ink from CTMH, then drew in the lines with a metallic marker.  The crown is inked up with black distress ink, and I colored all over it with my metallic marker.  I also stamped a flourish and added a bit of bling on the right side.  That's it for today, have a good one!

The beginning of another week

Monday.  I always like Monday so we can get back on some kind of schedule here.  The weekends are great, but I'm a person who likes routine.  Now that the birthday fesitivities are done, we can get back into some normalcy.  Well, for now anyway.  We're not celebrating Lucas' birthday with the DH's until April 26, and then it will be a combined birthday celebration for my Dad and my birthdays as well.  Lucas told me this morning that he had 3 birthdays this year.  One at Opa and Oma's house, one at our house, and one at the church.  I think he has had enough cake to last him for awhile now.  ;-)
Here are a couple more cards I made recently.  The first one is using the "So Many Scallops" set from Stampin Up!, and some patterned paper from American Crafts.  The second one I tried a technique I saw from my Stampin Up! demonstrator Jacqui.  First you stamp a background stamp on vellum, emboss it in white, and then paint colors on the back side of it.  I used chalk and blender pen for this so the vellum wrinkled from the moisture.  I don't actually own any markers, so I had to improvise.  Hopefully I'll get my hands on some soon, and then I'll try the technique again.  I really like the effect.  I used the Thinking of You sentiment from the "So Many Sayings" SU! set.  TFL, have a good week!

Birthday Card from Great Opa & Oma

Lucas LOVES opening cards, and when a card came in the mailbox last week from my grandparents, he was very excited to open it.  He opened it on the afternoon of his birthday.  Thanks Great Opa & Oma!

Butterfly Card

Here is the card I created yesterday afternoon while things were nice and quiet around here.  I used plain white cardstock for the base, then matted with black cardstock and pale blush cardstock.  I chose dark pink bazzill cardstock as the top cardstock layer.  The vellum was embossed with my Cuttlebug, and the ribbon was from my stash (not sure who makes it).  The butterfly is from Hero Arts stamps, I stamped her (him?) on black cardstock with Versamark, then heat set with white embossing powder.  I then used my two way glue pen from Stampin Up! and applied glitter to the butterfly and a few centers of the flowers on the vellum.  I then matted the butterfly on a punched piece of pale blush cardstock, and applied it to the card with pop dots.  TFL,  Have a great weekend!  :)

Lucas' Birthday

I can't believe my Lucas is 3 today!  Wow, three years ago today our lives changed immensely when Lucas was born at 8:32 am.  I still remember holding him and saying "I can't believe this is real, my very own baby!"  Now I just can't imagine life without him.  He is the sweetest little guy, a gentle soul, with a whole lot of love.  He's my little buddy.  This morning we had some fun at the church with some of his little friends to celebrate.  It was great, we kept with the whole pirate theme and had a pirate cupcake cake from Safeway.  The cake was supposed to have "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Movie" on it, but I removed the movie figurines and put my own cute pirate figurines on it from the dollar store.  We also handed out little "pirate treasure" favors.  His buddy Joshua even dressed up like a pirate!  Way to go Josh, you looked great!  It was great fun, and I totally recommend having a kids birthday party in a big open space such as a gym where the kids can burn energy.  The kids had a great time running around with the balls and going down the slide.   My boys were very tuckered out by the end of it.  Which led to a beautifully peaceful afternoon in which I could do a little card-making.  ;-)  You can slide your mouse over the following pictures to read the captions.