The Joy of Using Friends Stamps!

Well, it seems my ability to continue posting has dwindled a wee bit lately! Between painting our home and dealing with some lingering issues from last years knee injury I've not been crafting much!

On a personal note, I went to see my surgeon this morning and ended up in the hospital to have some emergency ultrasounds. After 30 minutes of bruising my leg from my hip, down my inner thigh to my ankle, they were able to conclude that I did not have any blood clots!!! Well, as great as that is, I still don't know why my leg and foot are swelling like a watermelon, with my foot turning purple by the evening. Sooo, back to the doctors tomorrow and hopefully we will figure something else out!

Anyway, I made this card while a friend was over. Pollen dust, and a couple of Paper Tray sets and my mind was spinning with what I could come up with quickly while I had access to them! Thanks Sherrie!

Swap's - Look what I got!!!

I joined a little swap group and this is the first card I received!!! It is such a cool idea! You pull the ribbon on the top and it slides up. It is all Tres Jolie cardstock, paper piecing on the Bella and primas!!!

All the cards I've received are wonderful but I wanted to show you this one because it is such a cool way to make a card. I'm tempted to pull it apart just to be able to put it back together!!! (Don't worry Sarah! In case you read this, I promise I won't!!!)

I've started pasting the cards I receive on the walls and shelves of my craft space. I love them so much! Thanks to all who have sent me creative beauties!!!

Completed!

Here is the final look! What a change from dark brown! Now, we have to paint the crown molding, replace the baseboards, find a new fan, save more money for wood blinds and save even more money for new carpets!!! It never ends!

It feels great for now and we will see how long it takes to save more $$$!

Our BIG project!!!

This has been my life for the last week or so! I've not been a very good blogger due to the fact the when my DH & I get an idea we are all consumed with it sometimes!!!

This is all our living room contents piled up in the middle of the room. All our walls were 5 different shades of browns. To make a long story short, we bought a new piece of furniture that looked COMPLETLY different in our home than in the store and made the browns look more pukey green than chocolate!

This is our poor dog Allie banned from the space, sleeping on the top stair. The closest she was allowed to get to us while the walls were still wet!

My daughter having a blast being able to help!

And my sister wishing she didn't offer to help! hehehe (Really, Pam you were amazing! And thanks for bringing Laura too!!!)

As I am typing this I realized I never took an after shot! It's too dark to get a nice photo now but I will tomorrow and add it! I LOVE IT!

From numerous shades of brown/green to buttery/creamy soft yellow & brick red! It even makes the space look so much larger being a light color! So, if you have to itch to paint, GO FOR IT! It is a bit of work but so worth it in the end!

Bella Class tonight!

Paper piecing!!! Wow! Does that ever take patience, BUT it sure looks fabulous! I've really stayed with easy layouts to be able to focus our time on cutting. Added a few tips on shadow stamping, primas, glitter pens & ribbons and hopefully they will be happy with the results.

All the papers are Polar Bear Press & Prism cardstock!

Looking forward to a fun night!

Joy

I've been playing with stamping on pp more these days. Have enjoyed the simplicity of it yet sometimes you do have to think through what stamps work with the paper a bit.

This is another Basic Grey 6x6 pack cut to make a 3x6 card. Used a couple SU! stamps, a little coloring, glaze and ribbon. Both stamps are embossed so they pop out and shine a bit IRL.

Hope you enjoy it!

Happy Mother's Day

Last weekend I found out my mom had just bought herself exactly what I had already purchased for her!!! Yikes! I didn't have much time to come up with something else. There isn't really anything she needs, so it can be a little tricky sometimes.

Thankfully, the owner at Urban Trends had a great idea for me! Using 8 sheets of 12 x 12, double sided patterned cardstock and 4 matching solid sheets, 2 pieces of cardboard, a few embellies, some elastic cord and voila!

(If you are interested in her class please give her a call. 604.855.7757)

It is a wonderful little photo album! Finished size is 6 X 6. Each page is a pocket to hold a trimed 4x6 photo with a little tab to pull it up!

This is one of the pages, to show you how I also took all the photos. I just couldn't find enough photos that I thought would work, so I took my girls out to our backyard... 40 shots later we had 12 AMAZING photos! 4 together and 4 each on their own!

I took many of them offside, like this, so even when just flipping through the book you could see who it is. (Their faces aren't always hidding in the pocket)

This last is just to show you how the photo pulls out of the pocket! This really is a fabulous, fairly easy project. I've gotta make more of these!

Stamping on PP!

This is another sheet from my 6 x 6 Scarlet's Letter (Basic Grey) pad. I stamped the flourish, sentiment, red flower & butterfly.

I used am exacto knife to cut around the butterfly wings to give a wee bit of dimention, then glazed them to hold the curl.

A little jewel and dragonfly brad to balance the space.

Also, it is an odd size, 3 x 6. This way I could use the pp to its fullest!

Sending you happiness today!

Birds, birds, birds!

I gave into tempation and bought something Martha. I really wasn't much of a fan, by first glance, as the prices scarred me off a bit, but the more I look, I'm finding a few little nuggets. I wanted one bird, but thanks to strategic packaging I was forced to buy and 2-pack!

I used a soft pink and cool caribbean. Stamped the background stamp "weathered" on the pink, cuttlebugged the cc with the textile and sponged close to cocoa ink over top. I didn't feel like coloring the bird so I just glazed it!

Hope you find some JOY in your day today!

Sketch Inspiration

I found a sketch challenge yesterday on Two Peas In A Bucket, it was my day off work and I needed some inspiration (other than Kleenex boxes on my shelf! lol!!!)

So, I wanted to start with a Basic Grey, Scarlet's Letter, 6 X 6 paper pack. Added the flowers, as per the sketch, and just stamped the sentiment directly on the paper!

Way tooo easy! But nice for something quick!

Where is your inspiration from today?

Ya, you know you don't get out enough when you are inspired by the Kleenex box on your shelf!?!?!?! Found a ribbon with the color and flower shape the same as the box, matched up some paper, stamps and always add a flourish (right Sherrie?) and there you go: a kleenex box in the shape of a card!

Edited to add: Great idea Sherrie! I didn't think of adding the kleenex box, or should I say Puff's box! hehehe

It's pretty simple and flat but nice to have something different once in a while!

Hmmm, I promise to find "cooler" inspiration to share next time!

(SU! & Rhonna Ferrar stamps, versa mark & white craft ink, Marvy punch, misc brads, jewels & ribbon)

My cheerful daughter Kassandra :)

My dear, sweet daughter Kassandra (aka Kassie) has crossed one of those moments of maturity that is soooo cool to see as a parent! She has been a kid to keep most things inside and burried and we have really been working at pulling her out her feelings and learning how to manage them rather than mask them.

Well, this last week or so she has had a light go on and realized that it does feel so much better to be cheerful on the outside and make positive choices in her attitude!

You have no idea how this has changed our household atmosphere! She is so wonderful, we always knew it but just didn't get to see it all the time!!!

I decided to make a post in honor of her today and share a couple of the things I've made for her the last while. Someone gave me a wonderful idea to give my girls cards! Who would have thought!?!??! So, I've giving giving them notes/cards in the lunches for some love while I can't be with them. They LOVE it!!!

This first card was one of those just because kind of cards and the second was encouraging her on her birthday, you can't really see all the stamps, but they are words describing her like sweet etc.

Here's to finding ways to encourage our kids!