December 30, 2012

I can't believe I've done it again...let far too long go between blog entries...
It's not like I don't think about posting,  just a couple days ago, I was thinking about an entry I could write while I washing dishes, but didn't get over to the computer. I guess that's the thing, life is busy and this month busier than most in an attempt to accomplish so much.
Cedmeber has come and nearly over, I didn't get it all done (whatever the definition of 'it all' is!) but I was really happy with how content I was with what I did do
...the gingerbread houses, advent calendar, Cary's 12 Beers of Christmas found, gifts wrapped and  under the tree as a surprise a few different mornings to be shaken and squeezed in anticipation, Christmas movies and popcorn nights, baking, Christmas plays attended, concerts, recitals, we even slept under the Christmas tree on the 21st. Sure, there are still some decorations that never came out of their boxes, some baking not completed, and Christmas cards not written (okay, so this, I'm a bit sad about, as I actually have about 20 made from classes I could have addressed and sent off. My excuse there, sadly, was the family photo that needed to be found and printed to enclose...I even purposely posed us in front of a fabulous landscape in Salzburg..but the lighting was all off. I'm planning on writing the letter in the coming week and getting things ready to send off for Valentine's ...or maybe Groundhogs Day! haha)
I wish I'd have shared this song by Amy Grant earlier for you all to enjoy...it's a real favourite of mine. Our piano teacher has 3 beautiful Girls. Sometimes at her Recitals she asks them to sing, as a special treat. They sang this a couple years ago...maybe it's more special to me because of this. Tag it somehow and save it for next year!

I'm busily finishing off Swaps for Stampin'Up! 's Leadership in Florida. I joined 4 different organized swaps. Be sure to pop back by to see all the gorgeous examples I'll have to share!

I do hope you enjoyed your Christmas and the Holidays! Wishing you a very Happy New Year!

smiles,
Laurie



    

Gingerbread Creations

Just a quick little note with a few photos of the Gingerbread houses decorated.

 

A couple villages and this sweet Reindeer Farm made by my Littlest. Missing from the photos is the unusual Weasley House my Oldest made from several pieces of 'house'.  Difficult to do it any justice in a photo! The Weasley's from the Harry Potter series are a wonderful family, when Harry first visited their home he's quoted as saying something such as 'the house looked like it was held together with magic' .

The Gingerbread Weasley House defies some laws of gravity as well. Royal Icing is amazing! Quite fun!

 

Tomorrow is 12.12.12. What are you up to to celebrate?!

 

 

 

Purse Die Does Double Duty

After tussling with Gingerbread dough to cut out the sweetest little houses for decorating with the Girls, I thought I'd do something I'm a bit more happy with at the moment...I'll post the completed and wonderfully decorated houses when the Girls get done.

I'd seen this box idea on Michelle Hamilton's blog and knew I had to give it a try, even without directions. It's made from the Petite Purse Die and with a little snipping away of some extra pieces, it makes quite a sweet box.

It takes 4 cut outs of the purse. I ran them through the Big Shot  once more with the Delicate Designs embossing folder and added some pearls. A little double bow and brad closure for the top finished this simple project. I made it with the next season in mind to share with my Gals in an upcoming class...but it turned out so sweet, I think I'll have to make up a few more in a Christmas theme to give away with a little something inside (bath salts or chocolate, maybe!).
Off for a fun weekend in the Mountains with a group of friends...running to finish packing.
enjoy your weekend. Happy Crafting!

smiles,
Laurie

Very Vanilla~ Plain or Good?

Just like Icecream flavours...when you go for Vanilla, is it boring? or just exactly right? And why do we always say plain vanilla, like it's automatically a bad thing? Mind you, even the tastiest Vanilla cone tastes better with Sprinkles.
Tonight, I got a chance to make a few more Christmas cards for a class I'm doing tomorrow. We are using Very Vanilla as a base and I really like how bright and clean they look. This first card, I loved when I saw it online with a different base and papers but liked the sketch they had used with the skates.

 

I had to add the little red laces again, because it adds the right touch, and everyone has agreed over the past few weeks of working with this set.
To add a little pizzazz to the class, I decided to show them this simple Fancy fold. I came up with this card. Using the sled from the same set, Winter Memories, I coupled it another piece from the Festival of Prints Designer Series Paper Stack. This little pad of paper is well priced with the variety of these wonderful 2-sided papers!

Enjoy your weekend!

smiles,
Laurie

Extravaganza!

Visit www.lauriel.stampinup.net to see all the great sale stuff. And/or you can touch base with for all the details!
When the flyer was released the other day, I was so excited.
There are a few sets that at half price just cannot NOT be bought!
You can order online or I'll be putting orders in Monday and throughout the week, so let me know what you'd like.
As a special surprise and to get a jump on some of my Birthday Celebrations..I will choose a Mystery Hostess, or two, to share the Hostess Benefits. Exciting days ahead!


smiles,
Laurie

Simply Sent ~FREE iPhone app

This is such a cool thing! Stampin'Up! just released a new FREE iPhone app. You'll be able to
send a quick e-card to friends and family! Create an e-card-from a template, add a photo and send it via e-mail or post it on Facebook. Great for sending a quick "Thinking of You", a love note, or Birthday wishes! You can even customize your cards, click here to get Simply Sent for FREE

Have fun and start letting others know they are in your thoughts!

smiles,
Laurie

Bold Blossom Blue Blend

 

 

Say that five times!

 

 

 

I created this card to use as a Make'n Take at upcoming Workshops. It is simple enough to break down into steps that a beginner can do, has room for a bit of creativity with placement of pieces. It plays with punches, the Big Shot and our new Single Stamp Bold Snowflake, which has a matching punch. A spritz of Vanilla Shimmer Smooch spray to make it all twinkle put a smile on all our faces as the Gals from the last party completed these!

I totally adore this new stamp, I love the way it utilizes one of my favourite punches, the Blossom flower punch..how cool to be able to use it throughout the year. (I love using it to make 3-D blossoms, too). What's your favourite punch?

smiles,
Laurie

Good Times with the Gals

We drove up to Edmonton this weekend to attend the Canadian Finals Rodeo. Amazing horsemanship! I was thinking to post a card that I'd made this summer, and wondered if I had posted it already. I had, to celebrate 100 years of Stampede back in July...evidently, time to make another horse card!
While we were in Edmonton, a  lovely lady I met this summer, from Edmonton, invited some guests over for us to get together and share Stampin'Up! with them. The bad weather roads kept most of them away, but we enjoyed ourselves talking stampin' and planning our Christmas card projects!
I decided to use the new Bold Snowflake to create the Make 'n Take for the party...and we were all happy with how the card came together. There was a brand new stamper there and I love watching and being part of the feeling of "wow, look what I made" that happens with the magic of stamps and paper! It was such a nice afternoon.
I thought I'd share a shot of a couple of my friends with their cards from Wednesday's afternoon class and one of the adaptions of my cards!

 

 

 

smiles,

Laurie

Rememberance Day

I thought this was such a lovely card and wonderful tribute to our Veterans and Troops...I thought I'd share it with you from Melissa's blog www.porchswingcreations.blogspot.ca

Twelve Cards of Christmas ~ Card 5

I had the loveliest day with 2 groups of ladies arriving for the Stamp-a-Stack classes, this afternoon and evening, and making their cards! The weather has turned snowy again today, so it was perfect for heating up some apple juice with mulling spices from Epicure and serving it up with some Stamped sugar cookies. From this set of Christmas cards, probably one of my favourite cards is still the little steaming cup of something yummy...what's yours?

smiles,
Laurie

Work in Progress

So I've been busy crafting. I'm in the midst of building a new Christmas banner to hang in our entryway. I thought I'd share some of the pieces I've gotten completed.

 

Last night, I completed the letters and banner bases. I chose to use the Big Shot Oval die that's new in this years catalogue. I used up a few pieces of paper from the Be of Good Cheer DSP that I had left over from making the cards for the class, and embossed a few pieces of cardstock for the others. I used one of the sheets of paper from the gorgeous paper pack with embossed images on Kraft for the BG for the letters.

This morning I was playing with several embellishing ideas. Patty Bennett had a wonderful tutorial for placing the tulle behind rosettes and garnishing with the exqusite Vintage Faceted Buttons with a pearl for a finishing touch.

 

Next I sewed a Fabric flower and used a bigger button to finish off the middle. I love the way it turned out, I completed the flower by sewing some tulle behind it.



I made my first 'rose' from the Ornament punch. It turned out quite pretty, but not as tight as I'd like, looking a bit more like a magnolia, don't you think? So I may use it, or make a couple others.

Funny thing, all the embellishments may end up larger than I'd like for the banner... We'll see.

Thanks for stopping by,


smiles,
Laurie

 

Twelve Cards Of Christmas ~ Card 4

Although I've made enough card samples for my classes, it seems I am enjoying working with this paper and all the possibilities...I was just creating another little Christmas tree one using the pennant punch. I'll share that in a couple days.

Today's card idea was from a stunning card I saw done all in white and using all sorts of Embossing folders, I adapted it with the Be of Good Cheer Designer Series Paper.

 

I loved the way the scallop from the new Delicate Doilies Sizzlits fits into this Window Frame Collection Framelit. I embossed the skate image in Silver and fussy cut around that popping them up on dimensionals.
Hope you're enjoying a sunny day!

smiles,
Laurie

Twelve Cards of Christmas ~ Card 3

I've been posting cards I created from sketches for Christmas Stamp-A-Stack classes I have organized. We will be using the Be of Good Cheer Designer Series Paper. I love the classic blend of   Cherry Cobbler with Gumball Green and Very Vanilla!

 

 I used a variety of sets to design the cards, including this one from the Holiday Catalogue, Winter Memories , available in wood or clear mount. The Skates are included in this set, too...my favourite image.

smiles,
Laurie

Ink-redible!

As a Canadian, there are actually 2 ways you can get a stack of these inkpads for FREE! During the following promotions running from November1, 2012 - December 16, 2012:

1)  Hostesses who hold a minimum $575 party during the promotion period will receive a FREE collection of Classic Stampin Pads--they can choose from Brights, Subtles, or Regals--a $64.95 value! Plus, the free ink is in addition to the regular hostess benefits--at least $90 worth of product for FREE!  INK-redible!

I love FREE, don't you?

2)  Sign up to become a Demonstrator, and you get to choose a FREE Collection of ink pads in ADDITION to your new demonstrator kit!  INK-redible!

I'd love to talk to you more about becoming part of our team.

Thinking the Hostess idea sounds good?  I have some available dates to help you earn the rewards, or we can talk about holding a Book Party!


smiles,
Laurie

Twelve Cards of Christmas ~ Card 2

Without further ado, here is card number two!

Enjoy your weekend!

smiles,
Laurie

Twelve Cards for Christmas- Card 1

I'm having a lovely visit with a Girlfriend from  Calgary, so no chitchat at all..
just a post of one of my cards I made for my upcoming Stamp-A-Stack.

My first class is Saturday morning. I've made yummy stamped cookies for part of the Treats and setting out the tables in the morning in preparation for my Gals coming over! It's snowy and blowing here, so I may even be able to play Christmas music already!

I made Halloween cookies couple days ago for the nice people that work at the store I pick up my Stampin'Up! parcels from. We live out of town so I have no home delivery. These guys are like the UPS drivers I used to have in the city...that we all love when they are bringing us parcels with new stuff!

 

smiles,

Laurie

 

Trip Talk

Well, you know it's been too long if your computer doesn't even recognize your Blog name!
I've got some good excuses though... well, I'd like to think so.
Our Family went to Europe to see some sights.
I LOVE Germany! It has never been on my List of places I needed to see, so I was so super happy by what greeted us when we arrived in this beautiful, hospitable country. Heading over I was afraid of the autobahns, but they were, at least the parts we travelled, some of the prettiest highways I have travelled. Rolling hills along the roadway, pastureland as far as you could see. The language difference gave us a bit of a giggle each time we went past an exit where it was signed "Ausfart". We'd hear it ring out from the back seat from my Oldest each time and there were quite a few. (Surprisingly, it made us all giggle each time. Okay, so not so surprisingly...we're so mature!) The towns we visited were postcard perfect. The castles magnificent.
We spent 5 days in Paris and the rest of the time going through a couple countries to get from Germany and back. We saw all the famous sites in Paris, of course and walked along the Seine.
One of days in Paris was spent at the Palace of Versailles. I loved the Gardens. You can almost hear the titter of the people from the Kings' Courts wandering the Grounds.... We were very lucky as it was a day the fountains were on for a few hours! Dancing fountains, and beautiful sprays from several all over the estate.

We had such a fabulous trip. We weren't gone this whole time, but we left just after school had started and when we returned for Canadian Thanksgiving, it took a bit of time to get into the routines of the new school year for me, in addition to dealing with jetlag (which hit me more than ever before. Is that age? ) Then it seemed like one thing after another, not the least of which: cattle to get to market,  and my Stampin'Up! business to get rolling again after my absence. Card classes held and planned and crafted for...Look at one of the gorgeous cards the Girls made. I found this incredible video tutorial from RaeDeen on creating leaves with paper and the newest Autumn Leaves Accents die...I knew I was going to be thrilled with that die being a Bigz die! I could cut out multiple sheets at a time. I made several cards and also decorated several branches in my entryway for some home decor.

My next class has had me creating a Stack of cards for Christmas. Stay tuned over the coming days as I share them with you! The entries may not be "wordy" but I'll post the cards over the coming week.
thanks for stopping by,

smiles,
Laurie

Olympic Birthday Party

What a fun day! We celebrated my Littlest's Birthday with a party for some of her friends. She wanted an Olympic theme. The party was a collaborative effort between my husband, my Oldest and myself...each taking on a part to make it all come together. We were rewarded by her exclamation at the end of it all that it was the "Best Party, EVER!!"
We started the party by having them decorate their own flags to carry in the Opening Ceremony. I tore up an old bed sheet for them to use, then stitched them onto bamboo garden stakes.

The Olympics began with a torch relay, lighting of the Olympic cauldron in the centre of the chalked Olympic rings on our driveway, and much waving of their flags. We even had the Anthem for them to march to.
Then the first of the Games started. Cary and A did a great job of putting them through 10 events and charting their progress. There was running, cycling, long jump, 'discus', 'shot put', gymnastics and we finished off with an obstacle course.
We enjoyed chocolate cupcakes decorated with Olympic rings before holding the Closing Ceremonies and Medal Presentations.
Some of the shots I captured of them receiving their Gold Medals ~ cut out with the Scallop Circle Die and our Maple Leaf embossed with gold on Gold paper~ has me thinking they were all pretty proud of their efforts and pleased with themselves!

I'd had this banner up for her Birthday...so I just added a few rows of streamers back and forth across the room around it to liven it up a bit more.

I used the Perfect Pennants Big Shot Die to punch out the pennants and the fun scalloped circles.
 I added buttons, cupcakes and balloons to add a little interest along with the letters.
I used the Colour Coach to choose the combination of River Rock and Melon Mambo to go with Elegant Eggplant .

 

Thanks for stopping by,

 

smiles,

Laurie

Peek-a-Boo

My Littlest had her birthday the other day! I was busy making a banner and her card. I thought I'd share the card with you. It is a pretty simple version.
I have the Peek-a-boo Die for the Big Shot and I thought: who better than my Girlie to do a lift-the-flap type idea for! She was thrilled, even her older sister was keen to peek behind the flaps...

The card is 8 1/2 x 5 1/2. I used Pink Pirouette as the layer panel so I could just stamp directly behind the doors. My timing wasn't allowing for a lot of fiddling. I did texture a couple doors instead of stamping on them, I like the bit of variety...
What could be more important than a card for my baby girl?!  Nothing really...Sadly my creativity doesn't become active until the final hours before a 'due' date and by the time I'd finished the banner it was getting pretty late.

Isn't there a saying something like: If it wasn't for the last minute, I'd never get anything done!

(Hence, I'm up late tonight making a few 'batches' of different items to sell at the Harvest Fair the day after tomorrow...ideas are just tumbling around now, despite trying to put some of it together about a month ago...)

Wish me luck pulling that together!

smiles,
Laurie

Hello

We had such a fun summer, but it's made me a bit off posting some of the projects I got done.
I made a couple of these to send to friends. The sketch was from a swap I'd received last Spring...I liked the clean lines. I think I had some of this Twitterpated Designer paper lying about, so worked the colours from that. I really love Postage Due! The 'Hello' is a new favourite stamp, too, from Lacy and Lovely.

 

I'm off to work on some projects for an upcoming Harvest Fair this weekend. I have a few different ideas, I'm hoping they materialize! LOL.

thanks for stopping by,

smiles,
Laurie

A Twist on Joseph's Coat

I started a class for mid-August with the idea of trying a new stamping technique I'd seen on Splitcoaststampers. The Ladies were lined up for attending, but I still hadn't given it a try myself. I'd read over the idea of Water Stamping and the tutorial looks wonderful. I knew I wanted to use the great set Postage Due...I wasn't sure if I was suppose to use glossy paper or plain...the class was approaching, I gave the technique a try...ack! it didn't work the way I thought it would...panic surfaces. LOL. I scrambled to the inspiration sites.When I laid eyes on a colourful version of Joseph's Technicolour Dreamcoat, I knew the course the class would take! Between this idea and a wonderful swap from Desiree for a versamark resist card using this great set...I was set.
 The original version of Jospeph's Coat is to use black ink, but after playing with this a number of years ago and staining my brayers more than I'd like..I've adapted it to Night of Navy, or Chocolate, even Cherry Cobbler last year for Christmas..but never used such a bright fun colour as Island Indigo. I essentially CASE'd this from a fellow demo. I highlighted the Daffodil Delight and Melon Mambo for the card accents and base instead of Tangerine Tango.

Isn't it fun!? Created by sponging ink over a panel of glossy paper. Heat emboss your image (this one says summer to me, I love the bike.) with clear powder, then brayer over the entire panel with Island Indigo.
I ended up mounting my waterstamped image and we all gave our hand at it during the class, it seemed to turn out better than at first thought. It turned out to be the favourite technique of a couple of the gals. I think they had fun sponging all the colours onto the Whisper White panel.

A couple of them used one of the flower swirls from Flowering Flourishes and accented with a few pearls. Gorgeous. I wish I'd taken a photo to share. I love watching what the women create during the evening. I served yummy Red Velvet Cupcakes, made from fresh beets. They were a hit! (I had an extra made to share with my vegetable farmers at the Market the next night...)

smiles,
Laurie

A Bloomin' Sketch

I needed a third card for an upcoming class and when I saw this sketch, I thought it might be just perfect, with the front panel being just the right size for the Dahlia from Bloomin' with Kindness.
I paired Lucky Limeade with Razzleberry and the fun chevron from Summer Smooches. I'm not sure about the woodgrain embossed piece paired with chevron, but wanted some texture..what do you think?

I think my new favourite sentiment stamp is from Petite Pairs:

                       so many smiles...begin with you!

enjoy your day!

smiles,
Laurie

London Calling

Here's a British flavoured card in honour of the Olympics.
 My daughter and I were in England this spring for a Band trip. We had a fabulous time together. In Oxford, our last place to visit, I browsed the Magazine stands and bought a CraftsBeautiful magazine with this great stamp in it and it included the papers, too! So I pulled them out to play with finally!

We're continuing to watch all the Olympics. My oldest loves Synchro so we were up this morning to watch the duet finals. Our Canadians routine was so dynamic!

smiles,

Laurie

Inspiring Olympics

We are loving watching the Olympics. The Girls have been inspired to work on their gymnastic moves and pedalling their hearts out up and down the road, now! I have yet to see any of the equestrian, but we've been out riding.

Had to delay it a bit this morning to watch our Canadian win GOLD on the trampoline this morning!!!! Wahoo, Rosie!

Last night I decided to make a card inspired by the colours of the Olympic rings! It's pretty simple but I love the colours! These new stamp pads are Fantastic, the image is so rich!

Sail Away!

Oh my goodness, where have I been! I finally started on facebook and I haven't quite got the hang of bouncing back and forth between these 2 social spectra's (is that even a word!?) Hope you're patient as I'm learning.
  I'm sort of on track for the 100 cards in 100 days, making 25 cards over the past week for a swap, but for my own personal goal I'm not including those in my numbers, since I want the inspiration to be creating daily, something that I'm still working on. I'll keep you 'posted' ~haha...pun intended : P  ~on how I make out with that over these coming weeks.

I made this card for a girlfriend's birthday this past week. I love this paper: Summer Smooches...not to mention the set Up, Up and Away. Great classic colours: Real Red and Tempting Turquoise are pulled from the smaller piece of Designer Series paper for the balloons.

100 Years Old

Well, the 100th Year of the Calgary Stampede is over. It started with Parade day and wrapped up with the Rodeo and Chuckwagon finals this Sunday. It's said that it has never rained on the parade and this was another year to boast banner weather for the parade again. It was the first time for my Girls seeing the parade! They loved it! We had a traditional pancake Stampede breakfast downtown and then settled in to watch several hours of pre parade and then all the marching bands and horse troops. My cousin was a clown entertaining in the pre-parade, she looked wonderful. The bands came from all over, the farthest away was New South Wales, Australia...imagine. We headed down to the Stampede Grounds and Midway on Tuesday...the hottest of our hot days. The Log ride was never more appreciated! We all really enjoyed the new Roller Coaster named after one of the Stampede's best bulls ~ Outlaw! I dragged the kids off the rides, just shy of the midway actually closing down for the day!...we're a bit nuts for rides and fun! We have a couple things we do each year, okay, eat, each year: Fresh Lemonades and Weadickvilles Sausage rolls. A favourite tradition of ours is visiting the barn area, we like all the animals and displays but really like to see the piglets and grab an ice cold milk and cookie, a nice break in the long day.
I made this card with the new set, Horse Frontier. With inspiration from the Stampede, I tried to mimic a bandana with the red paper and was really happy when I spied this stamp in the Lacy & Lovely set. I added some white gel pen to highlight a bit. I used the new Midnight Muse blue for layering and ran Espresso paper through the Big Shot with the new Wood Grain embossing folder to create the fence. I wanted a fence post to loop my 'rope' over... The brads were dipped in Espresso embossing powder to accent.

July...Starting again!

Okay, I fell off that train of 100 cards hard...and I really loved the idea and how it felt being creative each night! ...but I'm back at it...I'm participating in a swap with some great gals so I will have some of those to add to the count, but really I like the idea of doing something every day...so that's my back on track goal for the coming weeks! I've been doing some embroidery,  I'm loving that..., so I'll share some of those squares from the sampler. I've also signed up for another class at Big Picture Classes with Nic Howard! and this is the first assignment. Plus I need to work on a couple more layouts over the next couple days. (IRL you can see the words on a piece of acetate saying my life)

It's been a busy few past days. We headed into the city to see Jersey Boys with my Mom and Dad. We all were tapping our toes and have been singing the songs since!  : D
We stayed to watch the Calgary Centennial Parade with the Girls (their first time at the parade.)
Our cousin was in the pre-parade, and some of the Wranglers from Rocky rode their horses, winning an entry award! We have friends in New South Wales, Australia, so it was of special interest to see a marching band from that far away in the parade! We enjoyed it all.
Cary and I celebrated our 15th Anniversary with dinner at East Side Mario's with the kids and our cousins. Reminiscing about our wedding celebrations as it approached and we were visiting with Cary's folks on their visit to the house earlier in the week. We'd had people camping over the Wedding weekend and served breakfast and buffalo burgers for Sunday lunch after the wedding...good memories of great times!

Blog Entries...

Do you ever make up blog entries while you're at the sink doing dishes, or maybe while out weeding...and when you come back to your blog, you realize you never posted any of these?
Life has been a whirl of activities.I had a class with a dear friend and her sister visiting from Holland. Danielle let me take a shot of her version of the double cascade card, she liked the way I`d used the tea cups from this card, so incorporated that on hers, instead of a big flower accent. Her card turned out beautifully don`t you think?!

On Thursday, in my mind, I wrote about the excitement of getting ready for our Town's first Market on Mainstreet. The evening's weather was spectacular and in Rocky that does need to be mentioned, as nights like this are rare. The Town turned out in full force and the activity on the street was exciting and such fun. A local band played up near where I was and I'm hoping I can have a similar spot when I attend again in a few weeks. I was tapping my toes to many of their songs if I got the chance. Thanks to everyone that stopped by to see my little stand (promises to make it a bit more eye appealing next time...between thinking the rain would wreck everything and the wind playing a factor in a paper product line, the display was minimal, wasn't it?!) But I sure enjoyed meeting some new people and catching up with old friends, which is what everyone was doing up and down the street. Just an extraordinary night!

   On Saturday we were up bright and early to a lovely sunrise, on such a different part of the horizon this time of year. My photo doesn`t transfer well onto the blog,  I was rushing to get ready but had to try to capture some part of it.

Our oldest Girlie was participating in her first Triathalon in Red Deer. Woody`s RV runs a wonderful event called KidsofSteel. She finished well and was thrilled by the achievement. It was an exciting atmosphere and all the effort by the kids doing their best and crossing the finish line was pretty emotional for me. (no surprise there, I suppose!)

I hope to get back on track with my own 100 cards (I was having such fun with that challenge) It`s looking good for today, anyway!

enjoy your sunny day!

smiles,
Laurie

A late night of Stampin'!

On Splitcoaststampers ~ my fav site for great card ideas, Stampin'Up! news and a wonderful communtiy of ladies ~ I enjoy playing along with Virtual Stamp Nights periodically. I missed the last one as it fell on the Father's Day Campout weekend, however I was checking out a few of the challenges they issued, and one for sure caught my eye! To find a technique new to me and make a card. The idea of finding a new technique was really a good idea as I knew I had ladies arriving to learn something new and play with the stamps and ink ...I found a simple and easy to follow way to do up a Background called Faux Patina! And I love the way the panels turned out, I have a really tough time covering them up with things, LOL.
These are the 3 cards I put together.

They start out with a piece of Whisper White card stock and then layer on the colours with sponge, before adding just a bit of versmark and gold embossing powder to come up with this really unique panel. Watching the piece of paper evolve into this finished piece is pretty neat.
 I'm loving the stamp set, Forever Young. The tree and this Cuckoo clock are my 2 favourites!
The idea to cut the panel into 1 1/4 inch squares came from the galleries at SCS...and I played around with different focal point, but ended up using a flower just like the original card I'd seen...and a yellow one at that...although pink looked very pretty as well as an option. I used my new to me set Build a Blossom and the punch to create this fun flower...I can't believe I took so long to buy this set!

I was having such fun putting these cards together last night...but part way through the third, I thought: it must be getting late...knowing I'm not a very fast worker...and discovered it was just after 1am...YIKES...so I glued down the last couple things and headed to bed.

I'm pretty sure the Gals loved their panels as much as me. They all turned out so pretty, I'll share a couple photos in the next couple days.

smiles,
Laurie

Back in the Saddle

I got home from the weekend camping and quickly stamped up this card for my Dad for Father's Day. I had just made him a card with a buffalo on it for his birthday, so thought I could go different and simpler this time.

After going for a quick visit with him, I set about making another card to get me back on track...I'll post it tomorrow as I am going to do it for a class for my Gals tomorrow and want it to be a surprise to them, I need to work on another example tonight of the technique.
While I was over visiting, a terrific Hailstorm blasted our place...it was spectacular! It had so much velocity, then would slack off only to pound down again, the stones were bouncing like crazy on the lawn. I love Nature in all it's forms! I do hope everyone's garrdens and roofs were okay.

off to go riding and on with the day,

enjoy your sunny day!

smiles,
Laurie

4 of 100

Good morning!
I'm off to a Field Trip with my youngest Girl. We're releasing their Fish into a local lake today!

Last night, I had a few different ideas running through my head while I was sorting through a few piles of accumulated scraps...they might come to light over the weekend. I pulled out this paper and Love It! It's called Floral District and a few of the sheets are really fabulous! (I must remember to order the Poppies on my next order). I wanted to use this saying, one of my favourite, and create a feeling of 'visiting over tea'...I ended up just using the cups as little charms in a very simple and easy card, but I love how the colours work together.

Driving back from dropping the kids to the bus, I paused a bit to watch the little orange bison babies galloping around the field back and forth, one was kicking up so much water (we've had alot of rain) and the spray looked so cool in the early morning light...I was wishing for my camera, but also just glad to see it!

Enjoy your sunny day!

smiles,
Laurie

Ottawa Tulips

I remembered my friends birthday yesterday, while looking out at my tulips. She lives in Ottawa now and  tulips often make me think of Ottawa, the massive beds of them all over the city. They have a Tulip Festival each year. The tulip bulbs, originally, at least, were given to Canada from Holland to thank us. 
from Wikipedia:
In 1945, the Dutch Royal Family sent 100,000 tulip bulbs to Ottawa in gratitude for Canadians having sheltered Princess Juliana and her daughters for the preceding three years during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, in the Second World War.
The most noteworthy event during their time in Canada was the birth in 1943 of Princess Margriet to Princess Julianna at the Ottawa Civic Hospital. The maternity ward was declared to be officially a temporary part of international territory, so that she would be born in no country and would inherit only her Dutch citizenship from her mother. In 1946, Juliana sent another 20,500 bulbs requesting that a display be created for the hospital, and promised to send 10,000 more bulbs each year.

We went on a school trip to Ottawa and Quebec and I remember being amazed by all the tulips. Between the tulips and the Fall leaves, Ottawa became my University town...pretty good reasons to pick a university, don't you think? LOL.
But I digress tremendously, even adding in proper facts...as I was trying to type out the story as I recalled, it was not nearly as succinct. Last night I made a card for her.

Trying to use current stuff, I perused the galleries and found this variation of a tulip, made with the Owl punch of all things! I hand cut the leaves from Garden Green and guess what! I used the Twitterpated paper again...LOL. Wish Big is from Word Play. I used the Big Shot to cut out the Label Collections framelits and  texturize the Pretty in Pink and Rose Red paper and stamped with the Creative Elements swirl on the Celery piece.

This one has even had a letter written inside it and I'll send it off in the mail today!

Three cards ~ three days!

smiles,

Laurie