Make the Most of Yourself

Good afternoon!! Here I sit in the studio with the t.v. on, watching the overtime of the Canada/USA gold medal game...let's see who wins by the end of this post!! I hope the colours on my card aren't jinxing our team!! LOL (that's a nervous LOL, btw). Today's card is for the Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge. The movie is Sp.........WE WON!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG...we just scored in overtime!!!!! The whole country is screaming....I can feel it in my body!!! AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! Luongo, our goalie, looks very relieved...LOL Our star, Sidney Crosby, scored it along with Jerome Iginla (who played junior hockey here in the WHL). I've never seen so many guys hugging at one time!! LOL

Okay, that was the biggest digression I've taken!! haha!! Back to the card. The movie this week is Spiderman and the challenge was to use acetate or transparency. The card started forming in my head last night...I saw this red background on cream and thought this silver webbing would be very cool to mimic a spider's web. I was going to go with a "You're my hero" sentiment...but I've been dying to use this one from Verve since I got it in January. I think it fits the theme of Peter's struggle with his powers and destiny. I punched out stars from an acetate sheet and layered them under the silver stars. I think this would be a great graduation card...I need to find a school that has blue, red and silver as their colours!! LOL Well, that's all for me. I'm off to start report cards and watch the closing ceremonies...have a lovely Sunday evening :)

What's in it?
Stamps: Verve Seeing Stars, PTI everyday classics, background basics retro
Ink: SU real red, black, basic grey
Paper: PTI cream, SU navy; silver cardstock
Accessories: brads, large and medium star punches, satin ribbon, silver webbing, SU ticket corner punch

I'm a Viva La Verve Guest Sample Diva!!

Hey everyone!! Today's card comes with exciting news....I was the lucky winner of the Viva La Verve contest this month!! What does that mean? It means I win the WHOLE next Verve release and I get to be the guest sample diva with Amber who creates the challenges!! I'm hoping to do it all justice with reports starting and being away for a few days during Spring Break :) I hope you'll follow along and even join in this month. There will be 5 sketches. This month's room is the kitchen so all the inspiration photos will be about kitchens. I chose the shabby chic kitchen as I love cream and kraft with pink and aqua...love all the distressing too and you have to have stitching if you want it really shabby!! You also need something French so I dug out my fleur de lis border punch. Okay, that's all...I'm off to my sister's to watch the Olympic gold curling match...go team Canada!! Have a wonderful evening :)

What's in it?
Stamps: Verve Plain Jane
Ink: SU choc chip
Paper: PTI cream, kraft, lavender moon, pink paisely and basic grey dps
Accessories: stitching, PTI buttons, satin ribbon, cuttlebug if, ek success border punch,

My First Papertrey Blog Hop!!

Good afternoon!! Welcome to my first Papertrey Blog Hop!! After a couple of years of seeing the monthly Hops, I decided it was time to jump in and play with the Big Girls (all you talented card makers out there :) The challenge this month was to go through the Design Team Gallery and find a project that inspires us....hard and easy at the same time...so much inspiration!! I narrowed it down at first to my first favourite designer, Dawn McVey. I've been following her blog for a couple of years now and have seen her grow and get more famous :) Then I had to pick a favourite project!! A challenge in itself!! I decided on Dawn's tag set from last December.

I love the way she chose a colour palette and a few stamp sets and then played with paper, stamps and embellishments. So that's what I did. I chose aquamist, scarlet jewel, kraft, vintage cream and then various papers from Autumn Abundance. Since I live in Canada, I don't have any of the latest release stamps so I used a mixture of past sets for the sentiments along with my latest sets of Polka Dot Basics 2 and Top Ten. I also don't have a Cricut so I used this trick from Michelle Woerner to make tags with the Nestabilities Labels 4 dies.

I used an old embellishment tin to house the tag set and created a tag for the top that could be reused as I attached it with a thin piece of magnet :) Here are a few closeups of the tags and tin...

Dawn had attached her tag to a bag, so I did too (I recycle my Starbucks bags for gifts!!). To put my own spin on it, though, I then attached it to a card to show how versatile tags can be :)

So there you have it!! My first official PTI project!! It was so much fun playing with tags...a smaller canvas than an A2 card...it felt the same as scrapbooking an 8x8 album instead of a 12x12 one...those of you who've done that will relate :) On a last note, I'd like to thank ALL the lovely Design Members for their constant inspiration with the fabulous PTI products. I am in awe of you everyday :) Thanks for visiting today...enjoy the rest of the Hop!!

{Gift Tag Set Supplies}

Stamps: PTI Top Ten Additions, Signature Greetings, Birthday Basics, Star Prints, Mega Mixed Messages, Polka Dot Basics 2
Ink: SU choc chip, Baroque Burgundy
Paper: PTI aquamist, vintage cream, kraft, scarlet jewel, Autumn Abundance & Polka Dots dp; Making Memories Lovestruck dp
Accessories: Ek Success and Fiskars border punches; PTI satin ribbon, SU double stitch, Michaels satin ribbon, Basic Grey chipboard letters, twine, PTI buttons, gemstones, half pearls, SU slot punch, nestabilities Labels 4

{Thoughtful Card} Additional supplies...Paper: PTI vintage cream, Cosmo Cricket Early Bird dp

5 Things I Like {Love} About You

Good hump day morning!! Today's card is an experiment with some new (to me) paper and my new Top Ten stamp set from PTI (designed by Dawn Mc.). I wanted to use some notepaper styled dp because of the type-like font of the stamp. When I think of Mercy, I think of these colours...especially that bright happy orange :) This card is a little homage to Mercy who brings us these lovely sketches each week :) Well, once you say 5 things I like about you...you'd better finish the statement and not leave everyone hanging. Now, just let me warn you that it's late Tuesday night as I prepost this and I've just come off of a long work day, gym class, and watching our ladies curling team beat Russia on the internet (no, it wasn't televised...don't even get me started that 2 of our channels were covering the SAME event and I had to watch curling on a tiny box on the computer screen...) The inside is a little messy and there was no time to restamp...sorry!! This is a big no-no for me and will be fixed tonight. But the message is still the same...I like the way Mercy is genuine, creative, sassy!, sincere and fun-loving...of course the list goes on, but you get the idea :) Have a wonderful Wednesday...my baby is home this afternoon for some MOM-loving :)

What's in it?
Stamps: PTI top ten & top ten additions
Ink: SU choc chip, pumpkin pie, cool caribbean, rose red
Paper: PTI aquamist, cream, SU choc chip; cosmo cricket dp
Accessories: circle nestabilities, slot punch, ek success border punch, satin ribbon, prima flower, button

Go Green Go!!

Good morning!! How do you like my green cheer? We've been shouting, "Eh, O Canada, Go!" in class so I thought I'd put a St. Patrick's Day spin on it :) It's 21 more days until the BIG day (3 weeks exactly!) and this card makes me smile...much like yesterday's card :D It's for Mojo Monday...yay, a circle sketch. I channeled Michelle and my shamrock angels and here we are. The stamp is my new Stampin' Up single. I should've maybe stamped it in green ink, but there was a whole lotta green going on, so I wanted to break it up with some chocolate :) YUM!! Thanks for coming by...I'm getting ready for my son's visit on Wednesday...he's on an extra long reading break as the Olympic women's hockey is being held at his university :) Have a lovely day.



What's in it?
Stamps: SU going green
Ink: SU choc chip
Paper: bazzill basics, PTI gold shimmer, vintage cream, it takes two dp, DCWV dp
Accessories: circle, square, rectange nestabilities, gemstones, sheer ribbon, SU thin grosgrain

Make a Wish!!

Good morning!! Ah, this card brings a smile to my face!! Christmas is over, Valentine's is done and now onto my favourite day of the year...St. Patrick's Day. If my blog count down is correct, it's 22 days until I drink green beer and blow out the candles on my birthday cake. I love, love, love my birthday :) It's a no pressure, no stress, everyone can celebrate kind of day :) And it also means Spring is right around the corner :) So Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch is the first St. Patty's card of the year for me (and not the last!!). I've always appreciated receiving cards that mention a St. Patrick's Day birthday and this would fit the bill nicely...maybe I'll give it to my son to give me!! LOL I wanted to add a big bow with that delicious SU wide ribbon, but it didn't look quite right and covered up the fun shamrock paper (see photo below). That wide ribbon is tricky to tie and I didn't like the way the knot in the middle looked. It also takes away from the fun shamrock made from 3 little PTI Heart Prints hearts. I will be making more of those for sure!! Well, I am all curling-ed out!! Our women's team lost their first game but hopefully can still make it to a final game. They still have Sweden to play, though...eek!! Is it just me or does it feel like the Olympics have been on for a month? LOL Anyways, have a wonderful Monday :)

What's in it?
Stamps: PTI heart prints, mega mixed messages
Ink: SU choc chip, kiwi kiss
Paper: PTI cream, springmoss, gold shimmer; SU kiwi kiss; various dp
Accessories: circle nestabilities, heart punch, gemstones, stitching, button, linen thread, SU wide ribbon

Fabulous {Just the Way You Are}

Good afternoon, dear friends!! It was such a treat to sit down this afternoon and make a card with the sun pouring into the studio :) It really feels like Spring here...which is very unusual for where I live. February is usually very cold. Unfortunately, it has not been cold or snowy enough for the Olympics...just our luck!! LOL I've been amazed at how they can keep most of it going without the snow!! EEK! Today's card is for the last February Viva La Verve challenge. It is a different sketch than I usually do so I had to think about it for a while and check out the inspiration of others who are playing along. I used the inspiration photo below for the colours :) Aren't those fun napkins? They are from this Etsy shop. I used sahara sand for the background panel and a MS border punch to mimic the pinking edged border. Did I say that right? LOL

Okay, that's it for me today! I'm off to get groceries before the Canadian curling men step onto the ice at 7:00. I hope you are having a lovely Saturday :)

What's in it?
Stamps: Verve Love's Flower, PTI background basics retro
Ink: SU choc chip, PTI aquamist
Paper: SU blush, sahara sand, kiwi, melon mambo, PTI cream, aqua mist; Cosmo Cricket dp
Accessories: oval and labels 4 nestabilities, prima flower, SU felt flower, gemstones, MS border punch, Michaels ribbon

All That We Love Deeply

Good morning!! I am feeling so chipper this morning :) My card today, for Mercy's sketch challenge, is not the one I set out to make last night. The main image panel was to have a tree image, but it didn't quite go with the rest of the card, even the wood grain square panels. So I changed it to this fabulous sentiment I received in the mail today from sweet blog buddy, Winter!! I won one of the prizes for her St. Jude card drive and it just arrived today. The stamp set is from Close to My Heart and I must say I only have one stamp set from them that is wood mounted and about 6 years old. I love this sentiment...it made me think of my mom and how someone so close to us lives within us even after they're gone from this Earth. I added the butterfly to emphasize that :) I'm really happy with the way it turned out...love the text background...the other side is some bright cherry paper from October Afternoon. If I were more capable with my tea dye ink, I would've inked the edges...but I need to practise more :) LOL Have a wonderful day and "Eh, O Canada, let's go!!" for curling today...we've won every game so far!! Although, we've only played two each so far...LOL Smiles to wherever you are and thanks for stopping by :)

What's in it?
Stamps: Close to My Heart
Ink: SU choc chip
Paper: PTI ocean tide, springmoss, avocado, cream, kraft; SU really rust, choc chip,October Afternoon and Cosmo Cricket dp, Michaels dp
Accessories: SU corner rounder and square punches; oval nestabilities, PTI ribbon, MS butterfly punch, gemstones

Wishing You a Very Happy Birthday

Good morning!! Wow! It's Wednesday already :) This sketch has been bouncing around in my head since Friday. The circles and ribbon were throwing me off! LOL I was inspired by the photo below. The artwork reminded me of my Amy Butler dp and the lilac walls are a perfect match to PTI's lavender moon :) I wanted to try something different from ribbon this time, so I wrapped twine around the card and attached a bow with 3 strands of twine. I like the different look of it. Hope you all have a terrific day :)

What's in it?
Stamps: Verve Wishing You
Ink: SU choc chip
Paper: PTI vintage cream, lavender moon, ocean tides; SU more mustard, old olive, dp; Amy Butler dp, purple dp (craft supply)
Accessories: circle nestabilities; SU birds and blooms dies; gemstones, twine, fiskars dotted scallop punch (hidden behind circle panel;

To Thine Own Self Be True

Good afternoon, my dear friends. It's a great day in B.C., Canada...we won our second gold medal in women's snowboarding cross and both Canadian curling teams won their first games :) (I'm a huge curling fan!). Today's card is for the Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge. The movie is Clueless and the challenge is to add plaid in honour of 90's fashion. After seeing that my own personal mantra was one of the suggested themes, I printed it out from a Word document and then picked some of my favourite PTI plaid dp as the required element. I had hot pink on the brain to contrast against the orange plaid and made one end a scalloped curve. The ribbon was originally going to be bright green, but that wasn't one of the challenge colours so I opted for blue. Another crumpled blossom filled the empty sentiment panel. Mmmmm, love that sentiment. It's from Shakespeare's Hamlet. I have it on a tile plaque in my kitchen so I can see it everyday. It's also my New Year's resolution each year :) Are you watching the Olympics? Do you love the beautiful scenery of B.C.? Come visit!! Have a wonderful evening. Thanks for stopping by :)

What's in it?
Stamps: Verve bountiful backgrounds
Ink: PTI raspberry fizz
Paper: PTI raspberry fizz, white, raspberry fizz and autumn abundance dp; SU really rust, pumpkin pie, Making Memories Lovestruck
Accessories: nestabilities circle dies; fiskars apron lace punch, SU scallop and corner rounder punches, corduroy brad, satin ribbon,

You're Never More than a Thought Away

Good morning! I can't believe the weekend is over...I've been watching the Olympics all weekend...well, the t.v. has been on all weekend while I did other things. Today's card is for Karen's Sweet sketch. It's a square card so I thought I would try an easel card for the first time, inspired by the one my blog buddy, Amy, made a few months ago. I finally sat down and made one...it took about 2 hours!! It wasn't so much the easel part (that was easy...two score lines, two folds...done!), but the papers and sentiment panel. I used some new to me Cosmo Cricket paper along with a new SU sentiment stamp and bird punch :)

I love the way the card stands up...so fun to decorate the band that allows the card front to stand up :) I hope you like it too and try one out...the tutorial is here over at Splitcoast Stampers. I love the way they have pictures as well as a video. Have a wonderful day :)

What's in it?
Stamps: SU whimsical words
Ink: SU choc chip
Paper: PTI vintage cream, summer sunrise, SU bayou bay, choc chip, pomegranate, kiwi kiss; Cosmo Cricket dp
Accessories: PTI ribbon, circle nestabilities; stitching; fiskars apron lace punch; SU two step bird punch

Go Big or Go Home!!

LOL!! How's that for a post title? Inspired by the Olympics and this birthday card's Big and Bold stamp!! When I saw the colours for the Embellish birthday colour challenge, all that popped into my head was this PTI raspberry fizz paper and blue buttons. It evolved into this card. Played around with the sentiment...not sure I like it on white, but none of the other challenge colours worked better so I layered it onto brown so it would stand out from the white card base.

Just something fun to show you from tonight's Valentine's dinner :) We went out to a great restaurant last night so tonight I made a special "Two Hearts" salad for a quiet dinner at home. The two hearts come from roasted beets cut into hearts with a cookie cutter and hearts of palm pieces. How adorable is this? It was very yummy too :) I found the easy recipe in the Canadian Living magazine that I found at the gym. I hope your day was filled with love...whatever form it may come in...family, friends, pets, faith, hobby, peace, self-love.

What's in it?
Stamps: PTI big and bold wishes
Ink: SU ballet blue, choc chip
Paper: PTI white, raspberry fizz dp; SU choc chip, wasabi
Accessories: SU scallop border and corner rounder punches; stitching, buttons, satin ribbon, gemstones

Hope This Year is Your Best One Yet!

Good evening, everyone!! I'm frantically posting this as we just got home from seeing Avatar (finally!!) and I'm recovering from a bit of nausea...from the movie!! Either I didn't eat enough before we went or the special 3D effects were a little too special. I think I had my eyes closed for 1/3 of the movie!! EEK!! All I could think of was "I wish I had a popsicle!" And now we are getting ready to go to one of our favourite restaurants for dinner...a late dinner as that's all we could get for reservations on the Saturday night before Valentines :) But I digress again...this card is for the Papertrey Ink embellishment challenge. I think it's the last one and I don't know about any of you PTI fans, but I'm exhausted!! This challenge was a fun one, make a sheet of floral embellishments and use one on a card. Well, I snuck a butterfly on there too as they go hand in hand with flowers :) Got a new large dotted scallop border punch yesterday and tonight was the maiden punch:) As well, I thought I would try my favourite Background Basics Retro stamp on a diagonal...love the different visual texture it gives. Okay, I'm outta here!! Oh, and how about our Olympics? I keep forgetting that every country is cheering for their OWN team and not necessarily Canada!! LOL I loved the Opening Ceremoniey for the most part, although they could've toned down the new version of O Canada. k.d. lang did a fabulous job of Hallelujah and I loved the man who spoke about our identity :) Those were the two highlights for me :) Oh, and Mrs. Fox carrying the flag and Rick Hansen as one of the torch bearers (although, for me, he should've been the one to light the cauldron). But I digress again!! Have a wonderful night and we'll catch up more about the Olympics in the next few days :)

What's in it?
{hope this day is your best one}
Stamps: PTI signature greetings, background basics retro, floral frenzy
Ink: SU choc chip; PTI raspberry fizz
Paper: PTI kraft, hibiscus burst, vintage cream
Accessories: canvas, button, linen thread, gemstones, ek success border punch, PTI ribbon, SU corner rounder, cuttlebug flower dies

{embellishments}
Stamps: SU french script; PTI floral frenzy
Ink: PTI raspberry fizz; SU choc chip
Paper: PTI raspberry fizz, holiday cheer
Accessories: PTI buttons, twine, SU butterfly die; cuttlebug flower dies; floss, linen thread