Little Angel

Happy Wednesday!

I love Wednesday's for the sole reason that it's MFT Stamp Club Challenge Day!!

This is the first challenge of the month which means it's a SKETCH! YIPPEE!

My fave :)

Here I've used the adorable PI girl Little Angel along with some scraps of October Afternoon dp.

My little flower was created with some MFT felt and the Rolled Flower Die.

Stamps: Little Angel; Cardstock: Cream, Prism Yellow, October Afternoon DP; Inks: Memento Black; Accessories: Copics, MFT felt, MFT Rolled Flower Die, Sparkly Yellow Candy Dot, Dimensionals, Circle Nesties

Stop by the MFT blog after 11 am Eastern to see a full line up of who is playing today!

We hope that you will join us and upload your creation to SCS gallery using the keyword MFTWSC12012010. Remember you'll have a chance to win a gift certificate to the MFT store!

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a GREAT day!

Paper Playtime, and a WINNER or two...

I am a little late with this post, as Paper Playtime day is Monday... oops... I have no excuse, I completely forgot :) This week's challenge is "Inspired by a Christmas Carol" I was inspired by Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Here is my card:



I just love this stamp! I bought it at my LSS a few years ago, but have not used it much yet. I think it is by the Artful Stamper. I stamped it with Versa Mark, and embossed it in gold. The paper is from a K and Co stack, and the Merry Christmas stamp is from Cornish Farm stamps.

You should all go over and check out what all the other queens came up with this week, and the prize this week is prett fab!! So come and play with us!

One final thing before I announce the winners of my blog candy. Any of you who saw my post from the Advent Calendar Blog Hop, will know that I was having a pity party that day. Nothing seemed to be working out the way I had imagined it. I owe all you wonderful, crafty women, who told me you loved my project, and who made me feel better about my work a HUGE THANK YOU!! My children loved the calendar, and I felt much better about ti by the next morning. I am grateful that you could see the beauty in it, even when I wasn`t sure I could. I wish I could give each of you a prize.

Now, on to my winners! I have 2 give aways today. The first is from the advent calendar blog hop this past weekend. The second give away, comes from the So Many Minis blog hop. The winner never contacted me and left no way for me to contact her except her blog, so I am redrawing for the CTMH background stamps.

So the winner of the Winter Wonderland stamp set is:

Heather said...
Love your ornaments! They are so cute!
ra6352 (at) gmail (dot) com

The winner of the CTMH stamps set is:

Sharon said...
This is just awesome Michelle! Love all those robots!! The Grandsons would love this! :)


Congrats Heather and Sharon! Please contact me by this coming Sunday, or I will have to redraw. I will contact you both and let you know you have won :)

I'll be back tomorrow with 2 more cards. Hope to see you all then!

A la prochaine...

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Christmas Countdown

Christmas is just around the corner. Am I ready? No.
Shopping just about done.
Did more on line shopping as I could find what family wanted easier that way then wandering for miles in the malls going from store to store and getting frustrated.
Christmas cards to be made, they are cut out and planned just have to put together and have Xmas gift tags to make . Tags are more relaxing to make.
Baking yet to do, tho not as much as other years. Have a couple of new recipes I will be trying and some old favourites that I just have to make. Christmas decorating has started.
Swag is on the front door and a tall wooden snowman greets visitors there too. Dickens Village is up and some other Christmas touches are sprinkled throughout the house . Have decided to put up a small tree this year instead of the big one .......

Don't really want snow but think a sprinkling would put me more into the Chrstmas mode, feeling rather Grinchy this season so far..

All is Calm All is Bright Featured Stamper

Early Sunday morning while everyone else in the house was sound asleep I was busy stamping! I really enjoy mornings like that!

This is another new stamp set that needed to be inked up. It's called Inspired By-Winter from MFT.

This card was created for the Featured Stamper on SCS. The card I CASED is HERE. I changed it to a winter theme. A little glitter, rhinestone and a snowflake made with the MFT Die-namic finish it off.

Stamps: Inspired By - Winter; Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Pacific Point, White; Inks: Black, Bashful Blue; Accessories: Sponges, Glitter, Rhinestone, MFT Snowflake Die-namic, Dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!

Puddle Jumpers Emma

Here's another new stamp that came last week. It's called Puddle Jumpers Emma and I ordered it from All That Scraps. I used some fun and bright papers for this one! The layout comes from last week's SCS sketch 308.

Isn't she a cutie?!

Stamps: Puddle Jumper Emma; Cardstock: White, Prism Green, DP; Inks: Memento Black; Accessories: Copics, Buttons, Thread, Dimensionals

Tonight we are heading to the Calgary Flames game. I'll be cheering for them since they aren't playing the Oilers ;)

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a GREAT day!

Merry Kissmass SFYTT

I had a little time yesterday, while Brian pulled out all the Christmas decorations, to stamp!

I still have several uninked new stamps sitting on my table downstairs....fun times!

Jen had a wonderful Sketch For You To Try (SFYTT) on her blog.

Merry KISSmass is an adorble PI girl that I had to have ;)

Stamps: Merry KISSmass; Cardstock: White Bermuda Bay, Aqua Mist, Crate Paper DP; Inks: Memento Black; Accessories: Copics, Nesties, MFT Snowflake Die-namics, Silver Pearls, Dimensionals

On a personal note....we got the house decorated yesterday and I'm soooooo in the holiday spirit this year!!! Karen was over and helped get all my snowmen displayed throughout our house. Less than ONE month until Christmas....hooray!

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a wonderful Sunday!

Advent Blog Hop

Welcome to Ruthie's Advent Calender Blog Hop. Ruthie has assembled 16 crafters, and challenged each of us to come up with an advent calender. I was so thrilled and honored ot be asked - Thanks Ruthie :) If you came here from Melissa's beautiful blog, then you are in the right spot. If you just happened upon my blog, then you should start back with Angelica's, and feast your eyes on all the wonderful advent calenders we have for you.

So, confession time: I almost emailed Ruthie at 2 o'clock this morning to back out... Do you ever have an idea that seems amazing but when you come down to executing it - not so amazing. When Ruthie first asked me to be a part of this hop, I was so excited. I LOVE Christmas. When my sisters and I were little girls, my mum used to make an advent tree. She would get a branch and set it in plaster of paris, and wrap 24 little wooden ornaments. Each day, we would open an ornament and hang it on the tree. I decided to try to recreate that idea with paper. I thought it would look so cute. Here is what it looks like:



I made 2 seperate parts. One has 24 little numbered envelopes on it, and it houses the little ornaments before they are hung up. The other is the actual tree.



The tree is cut from Winter Frolic at 18 inches, which is as big as I could make it - which I thought would be big enough. I don't have a 12x24 mat, so the tree is actually cut in 2 pieces, on my 12x12 mat. I just changed the mat size on my Gypsy, and then cut out half of the tree at a time.



Each of my little ornaments were cut at 2.5 inches. I initially tried to make my ornaments smaller, but the pieces were so miniscule, I couldn't get them to cut properly. This was the size that worked best - unfortunately they are a bit too big for the tree...



The idea is, that each day the kids will take a decoration out of the envelope for that day, and hang it on the tree, counting down till Christmas. Santa and Baby Jesus are saved for last.



The envelopes completely filled... which is how my children will see it in the morning when they wake up. Hmm... I had better put the dot on the I before they wake up. My son will notice that immediately :)



You can see the blank tree here. I used mini brads as ornament hangers. They are only pushed in half way to the paper and then opened. I taped down the back of the brad, so that it stuck out from the paper a little and wouldn't move, making it much easier hange the ornaments off it.

It looks a bit like how I imagined, just more cluttered. Tree to small - ornaments too big - strings to long, or too short - you get the idea. I had my little pity party, after hours of trying to get the ornaments to hang right, and look the way I had envisioned. Like I said, I first considered backing out of the hop, and then thought about taking the pictures and throwing it all in the garbage. During said pity party, my husband came up and asked how it was going. I told him I was really unhappy, that it didn't look at all how it had in my head. My husband looked at it, and said to me "Well the kids will love it". He's right. They will, and that is all that really matters :)

So on to my blog candy... I am giving away this cute little winter stamp set:



How do you win this adorable stamp set? It is so easy!

1) Follow my blog (if you don't already)
2) Leave me a comment on this post - You have until midnight on Monday November 29th to leave a comment.
3) Check back on Tuesday to see if you have won! My last blog hop, a winner did not contact me, so I will be redrawing that on Tuesday too!

I had a really pretty "next blog button", but my computer skills leave something to be desired, and I could NOT get the the button to work, so NICOLE is the next stop along the way. Thanks for visiting today!

Here is a list of all the participants in today's hop, just in case you get lost:

Angelica http://handmadebyangelica.com/
Dawnica http://dawnicakorner.blogspot.com/
Gale http://www.thehappystamper.com/
Janie http://www.typicalscrapbooker.blogspot.com/
Joanna http://scrap-making.blogspot.com/
Joy http://joyslife.com/
Mary http://cardztv.blogspot.com/
Melissa http://www.apaperjourney.blogspot.com/
Michelle http://www.mumoftwoblog.blogspot.com/ - you are here
Nicole http://primpedinpaper.wordpress.com/
Raven http://love4stamps.blogspot.com/
Theresa http://www.thescrapbookingqueen.com/
Tracy http://www.craftjunkietoo.com/
Yolie http://yoliebean.blogspot.com/
Denise http://cricutmyway.blogspot.com/
Ruthie http://septemberninth.blogspot.com/

** Edited to add** I forgot to list my supplies - sorry :) I am not home right now, but here is what I remember, I will update later:
Gypsy
Alphalicious
Winter Frolic
Christmas Cheer
Joys of the Season
Doodle Charms
Lots of paper, including K and Co, Stampin Up, and various tings from my scrap box.

A la prochaine...

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Seed Catalogues

With the coming of winter wonderful seed catalogues come in the mail... So even tho spring is a long way off I dream of all the new flowers to plant....the bright blue skies......... the warm sweet smelling spring air...
Here are 2 of my favourite Canadian catalogues.


Do you have favs?

Layouts

Here are some layouts I gave my MIL yesterday for her birthday. She can take these and pop them into the 12 X 12 album I gave her previously.

For this layout, I tried to follow a challenge at Mission to Create but I only managed 3 of the 5 possible elements on the layout. I included a fruit or vegetable, paper-ribbon and zig-zag stitching. The other elements are an overlay and red, brown and white kraft paper.

I loved using the Gypsy for this layout. First I welded the shadow of all the elements I wanted to include with the title. All the cuts are either Gypsy Font or Gypsy Wanderings. I then cut out the pumpkin, leaf, year and title in the corresponding size (to the shadow) and in a colour I wanted. It was then super easy just to glue the two layers.




I just couldn't cover up this beautiful DCWV paper! I cut out embellishments and ended up not using them...





All of these cuts are from the H2O cartridge. I bought this specifically to scrap our kids in the pool.




Thanks for looking!

Funny Bunny SC308

Earlier this week I received a few packages that contained some new stamps! Yeah for new stamps, right?

This one is from The Cat's Pajama's that I ordered from All That Scraps. It's called Deep Breath.

I stamped him on white cardstock and coloured with copics to match my Aqua Mist and Lavender Lace cardstock. I found a piece of Cosmo Cricket Mitten Weather designer paper that went well with it. It looks a little more green in the picture....not sure why...lol

The sketch comes from Wednesday's SCS SC308.

It's FRIDAY! I'm looking forward to the weekend!! Thanks for stopping by today!

LRW # 56 Basic Grey

This week's Challenge at LRW , use Basic Grey paper.
Last summer I bought some of these lovely papers a set called Cappella.
With Christmas just around the corner I have been making gift card holders.
Here is my Xmas one using Anne Griffin paper .

Outside view with band.

Here is my Basic Grey one using Cappella more of a year round gift card holder. Inside

Outside with band
The tutorial for this card holder is at Stamp Tv.

Wishing You All The Wonder

Here is another quick card I made using Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch from last Sunday.

It's sort of out of my comfort zone with the colours and ribbon but I'm pleased with how it came out.

The stamp set is from SU! but can't think of it off the top of my head...sorry.

Stamp: SU!; Cardstock: Bravo Burgundy, Old Olive, White, MME DP; Inks: Bravo Burgundy; Accessories: Nesties, Ribbon, Dimensionals

The weather has FINALLY turned around for us and we'll be close to the freezing mark! YEAH!

Have a GREAT day!

A Winter Poem for Canadians

Fall is just about over in this part of the country. Had a couple of weeks of mild temps days of 15 C and nights above 0. We have seen some snow in the air but no accumulation. The western province's have been freezing, British Columbia has had lots of snow already, so rare for them, the east coast has been mild as has Ontario..
Still Winter is just around the corner and we certainly need to keep a sense of humour about it.

WINTER POEM
It's winter in Canada!
And the gentle breezes blow
Seventy miles an hour
At thirty-five below.
Oh, how I love Canada
When the snow's up to your butt
You take a breath of winter
And your nose gets frozen shut.
Yes, the weather here is wonderful
So I guess I'll hang around
I could never leave Canada
I'm frozen to the ground

Did I bring a smile?

Advent Blog Hop and Awards!

What an exciting day! I am in another blog hop this weekend, and I got an blog award from some wonderful and talented ladies! First, the blog hop. It is an Advent Calendar Blog Hop, put together by the amazing Ruthie. She has inspired a group of wonderfully talented crafters to make a unique advent calendar to celebrate the season. There will be lots of inspiration and blog candy to be had along the way. It starts this Saturday, and I can hardly wait!!



Now on to my surprise awards!! Four wonderfully talented ladies sent me this award, so my deepest thanks to Sharon, Jenny, Tara and Gigi! Thank you so much ladies :) You should all hop over and vist these special, talented ladies if you have the time!



Here are the rules to this award
1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award
2. Share 8 things about yourself
3. Pay it forward to 8 blogs you have recently discovered
4. Contact those bloggers and tell them about the award

So eight things about me:

1. I love to cook and try new recipes. Some day I want to take cooking classes.
2. I could happily spend aal day, every day crafting - making cards and scrapbooking (which I am SO behind on!!) Forget the job! I just want to craft.
3. I have never been west of Toronto, even though my sisters both live in Vancouver, and I have only been to the US three times in my whole life.
4. I adore movies. My favorite movie ever is Anne of Green Gables - I but Sound of Music and Love Actually would be close behind on the list. I am a huge sucker for romance.
5. My favorite color now is pink, but I used to hate it. I thought it was too girlie.. funny what having a little girl will do for you :)
6. White Point Beach and our family cottage are my 2 favorite places in the whole world. We feel so at peace there.
7. Christmas is my very favorite day in the whole year. I love the music (sacred music, not so much the Santa Clause is coming to town stuff), the time with family, making cards, and getting presents for every one, but most of all the excitement in my children on that day.
8. I grew up surrounded by music - my father and mother are both classical musicians. I sang in tons of choirs and played the cello in a symphony orchestra.

And the 8 amazing bloggers I am passing this forward to - These are all women I have recently discovered, they all inspire me!

Gale - The Happy Stamper
Michelle - Scrappin With My Bug
Paula - More Thank Favors
Kassidy - Inking It Up Crazy
Brigitte - Bricolage de Brigitte
Corri - Bug Lover Cards
Jennie - Earthy Scrap
Liz - Liz's Paper Loft

I have to get off the computer and get started on my Advent Calendar! She is created on my Gypsy girl, but not cut out at all :) I must get cracking...


A la prochaine...

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Thankful MFT Wednesday Stamp Club

This week the MFT Wednesday Stamp Club Challange is all about being Thankful.
What are you thankful for?
Thanksgiving has long past here in Canada so I went a different direction.
I'm thankful for my best friend and the Macbook she gave me last weekend!
I haven't given her a thank you card yet so here it is :)
The Who's That E-Girl was perfect for my thank you card. The sentiment comes from Teacher's Pet.
My layout for both cards comes from Mercy's sketch this week.

Stamps: Who's That E-Girl; Cardstock: White, Choc Chip, MME Fine & Dandy True Blue DP; Inks: Memento Black; Accessories: Copics, Twill, Button, Thread, Dimensionals
My next card was created for Chloe to give to one of her new teachers. I think maybe we'll save it for report card time ;) Luckily my MFT package arrived yesterday! Teacher's Pet will be a set used often by me!

Stamps: Teacher's Pet; Cardstock: White, Aqua Mist, Pumpkin Pie, MME Fine & Dandy True Blue dp; Inks: Memento Black; Accessories: Copics, Brads, Dimensionals

We hope that you will play along with us and upload your creation to SCS using keyword MFTWSC11242010. Remember you will have a chance to win a MFT gift certificate ;)
Thanks for stopping by today!
Have a GREAT day!

Floral TESC134

Sunday morning while watching the Nascar race I created this quick card using Taylor's sketch from last Friday. The stamp set was a favourite of mine when I was on the Baker's Dozen. It's called Discover Your Wings. I did change the placement of the pearls. They were supposed to be on the right side of the image panel.

Stamps: Discover Your Wings; Cardstock: Kraft, Choc chip, Old Olive, October Afternoon dp; Inks: Choc Chip; Accessories: Nesties, Twill, Pearls, Mat pack and Paper piercer, Dimensionals, 2 way glue and glitter

Our weather should be improving soon....thank goodness! I can't wait to get outdoors and decorate for the holidays!

Thanks for stopping by and have a GREAT day!

Cricut train - How it works

Our Cricut cut train works like this:

We all sent a few die cuts to the organizer Carina. We agreed to not embellish too much with heavy bling such as eyelets and brads because that could quickly bump up the postage. She assembled all the cuts into 2 envelopes. One envelope travelling west to east across Canada and one travelling east to west. We decided to keep this one in Canada to avoid all customs issues.

When you get the package you can choose as many cuts as you want but you have to replace them with something you have made. I like this idea because you get the choice based on your taste and needs.

Cons : You are at the mercy of others participation and we have already experienced one "derailment".

Pros : It's wonderful to get an envelope chock full of cuts!

Paper Playtime Thanks

It feels like a month of Sundays since I posted, but it has really only been 5 days. Time flies!! Today over at Paper Playtime the challenge is to create a Thank You project, which you can interpret however you want. We have a great sponsor this week too! Digital Delights is offering a $10 gift certificate! I thought this little elf was so cute, that I decided to try my hand at a digital stamp. My second time ever... here it is:



Isn't she adorable?? I colored her in with my Prismacolor Pencils, using the baby oil technique. I also used a stamp from Stampin Up, and the paper is all Stampin Up. I am really pleased with how she turns out!

I hope you all hop over to Paper Playtime, to play along with us, and see what all the other queens came up with this week. I am working 12 hour evenings today, and tomorrow, so I will probably not be back till Wednesday. See you all then :)


A la prochaine...

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Snowmen Make the Bestest Friends

I'm so excited to be posting from my new Macbook Pro!!!

My best friend spoils me way too much! Thank you Karen!

She came by on Saturday and surprised me with it. Then she helped me set up my craft area....lol She was tired of seeing a mess down there I guess ;)

Sunday afternoon I stamped a bit while watching the last Nascar race of the season :(

I used the Sweet Sunday Sketch for my layout.

The image comes from last season's All That Scraps CC Designs set called Winter Bear(I think).

Stamps: Winter Bear; Cardstock: White, Pink Pirouette, MME dp; Inks: Memento Black; Accessories: Copics, Nesties, Brad, Dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a great start to the work week!

You're One of a Kind

Just another quick card I made when I was supposed to be setting up my stamp area ;)
This one uses a new to me...MFT stamp called Snowflake Flopsey. The Let It Snowflake Die-namic was also used. The layout is also from Jen's SFYTT.

Stamps: Snowflake Flopsey; Cardstock: Aqua Mist, White, MME Fine & Dandy DP; Inks: Memento Black; Accessories: Copics, Die-namics, Ribbon, Dimensionals
Thanks for stopping by today! Enjoy your day!

Cricut Train Engine #2

The Cricut cut train has come to my house. I have chosen some beautiful cuts and am off to the post office with some added in exchange. Here are my add ins. The penguins scarves are something called Sticky Stitches. The penguin background is sanded Core'dinations.

I hid the tongue on the gingerbread man. It looked like he was eating himself to me. I wanted to cut him just because he is from the new Gypsy download of Smiley Cards.



Here is the original train. This one is thinner than the last but I still found some lovely cuts! Thank you Carina and Sharla.

LRW #55 Banners

The challenge this week is banners at Little Red Wagon.
Here is the Joy seasonal banner I have made.

I followed a tutorial at Splitcoast stampers.
This is the close up of one of the banners.
Used Martha Stewart glitter on the alphabet letters.
Cording is attached to the top of the banners. Accented with gold white and silver ribbon between the banners, not 100% happy with the ribbon accents and may find nicer ribbon; little glittered stars from Michael's hang from the bottom of each banner...The paper I used is some Anne Griffin Xmas cardstock pack from last year. .

Warm Tidings

Ok so once again I attempted to go down and finish setting up my stamp area BUT stamping seemed more important ;)
I found Jen's SFYTT and a MFT PI girl called Flurry of Love(currently out of stock) that hasn't seen ink. This is a quick card created with both!

Thanks for stopping by!
Have a FABULOUS weekend!

Latte Thanks

Happy Thursday!
Only one more day until the weekend....I cannot wait!!
Tonight I was going to finish organizing my stamp area now that Brian brought in my shelves from the garage but the stamps, paper and ink were calling my name ;)
I used Mercy's MTSC100.

This card was made using one of my most favourite new MFT images from the A la Modes called
Miss You A Latte. I am loving this new My Mind's Eye Fine and Dandy designer paper. This is from the boys collection but it can be used for anything...love that!
Thanks for stopping by today! I do hope to stamp this weekend but I also want to decorate for Christmas outside...lol

Cold Apple Soup

For the November Red Hats outing we were entertained at Abigail's B and B, a Victorian home. We played whist an old fashioned card game similar to euchre or bridge. The hostess then served us a High Tea. Lovely little ham sandwiches, hickory smoked cheddar cheese, carrot cake, spice cake, chocolate tea cakes and a wonderful cold apple soup. This soup has a wonderful appley taste, rich and creamy. Would make a delightful brunch soup or ladies who lunch treat. The hostess shared the recipe and I had to pass it on.
Perhaps some would say Waiter my soup is cold!
I say try it...

Four large apples, peeled, cored, and cut into a large dice.
3/4 cup good white wine(used a chardonnay)
1/4 cup apple juice
1/4 cup sugar
Half a cinnamon stick
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup heavy cream
Fresh Lemon juice 2 TBSP.
Bring the apples, wine, apple juice, sugar and cinnamon stick to a boil. Immediately reduce the heat and simmer until the apples are soft, about 20 minutes.
Discard the cinnamon.
Puree the soup in a blender, whisk the sour cream and heavy cream together .
Check for consistency and sweetness. If the soup is too thick, thin it with a little more apple juice . If soup seems too sweet add tiny bit of water.
Chill to blend flavours.
Serves 4-6
This soup is a nice appetizer to start a meal...or ending as a dessert.

Look What's At My Walmart!!

Yesterday, my daughter and I went to pick up a couple of things, and you will never guess what they had!! NEW CRICUT STUFF!! 6 new lite cartirdges, and beautiful new expressions in pretty colors! I whipped out my cell phone and took a few picks, I am sure the Walmart worker thought I was insane! The pics are not the best, I apologize in advance, but I was so excited!! Nova Scotia NEVER gets anything early...





This one was in my cart to buy, but I didn't, not yet. I will though, it's on my must have list. The little girls are SO cute, and there are dancing animals too. Adorable!!


















Sorry, this one is terribly blurry! They look a bit like stained glass windows. The layer is a phrase.



I apparently forgot to take a picture of the front of Holly Jolly, but it has REALLY cute christmas pictures. It was in my cart too. But I came home with nothing.



These all look so pretty in real life! I especially like the purple colored one, however a new Expression is not in my budget.

A la prochaine...

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