It's really true!!!

I've heard rumors of it happening, but I've never seen it happen. That is until today. I decided to go for a drive this morning and went to a new Michael's. Since it was my first time at that particular store I decided I'd just wander around and look at everything ... and boy am I glad I did. This location still had some of the Making Memories Vintage Findings and Autumn Splendor items. Some of them had the clearance price stickers on them, but most of them didn't. I had picked up a couple of things the other week when they were all 80% off, so I was surprised to see that they still had some left.

I ended up picking up the Autumn Splendor 12" x 12" page kit for $2.49 ... and I think it was marked $14.99 originally.

And then all of the other stuff I picked up all rang up for $0.01. That's right ... each item in that pile only cost a penny. I got two packs of the Vintage Findings Trims (one cool and one warm) ... they were originally marked $6.69 and I only paid a penny. I also go the Spook Alley Mixed Media Spiral Journaling Book, Vintage Findings Glassine Envelopes and two of the Vintage Findings Medium Kit - Love. And finally I picked up the Recollections Chipboard Album Kit ... original price was $11.69 and I only paid $0.01.

Anyways, I suppose I've procrastinated enough ... I have to get back to finishing off the boxes for Christmas. I'm almost done, so hopefully I'll be able to post a picture of the completed ones soon.

I hope everyone has a great day.

Project I'm working on

Just thought I'd share what I've been working on. I saw this treat box being made for Halloween and I thought I'd use the idea and adapt it for Christmas. I'm going to be going to two Christmas dinners ... one on Christmas eve and the other Christmas day ... and I wanted to make something to put at every one's place-setting. I've adapted the original idea just a bit ... I'm using a Papertrey Ink stamp set to create a tag that the ribbon will be tied to. I'm planning on adhering the tag to the box and then tying the ribbon around it to keep it closed. I have to make 30 and so far I've only got half of the pieces I need cut out. I'm hoping to get the rest cut out and ready to assemble soon.

Anyways, that's it for me for now. I'm hoping I'll be able to post more often, but things have been very busy lately ... fingers crossed that everything calms down before the holidays so I'll actually have time to enjoy them.

I don't want to brag ...

... but I finished my Christmas shopping today. Granted, I didn't have a lot of gifts to buy ... basically just for my nieces and nephews, but I'm done. Yay!!!

Just have a quick card to share ... hopefully I'll have some more time to get some crafting done, but work is super insane so I'm not sure how much free time I'll have in the next little while.

Two Peas in a Bucket challenge

I recently discovered a great site called Two Peas in a Bucket. They have an education section that has several different 'classes'. The one that caught my eye was 'A Year In Cards'. So, I decided to give their challenge a whirl. Here's what I came up with ...

I know it's a short post today, but I have to run and finish up some laundry and dusting ... fun. Hopefully I'll have some free time later in the week for some crafting.

white & kraft cardstock: PTI, patterned paper: Sandylion, New Fallen Snow stamp set: CTMH

Simple and elegant card

What a busy week. I knew I would be out of town for the weekend, so I had to get everything I normally do on the weekend finished during the week. Where did I go you ask? On my annual shopping trip across the border with 5 of my girlfriends. The trip started out like a fun thing to do when my best friend was turning 30 and we had so much fun that we made it into an annual event. I'd post some pictures of all the fun we had, but there was too much shopping going on. But I can tell you that on several occasions we were all doubled over with laughter.

I do have a quick card to share ... it's simple, but elegant (I think).

Hopefully I'll have more to share soon.

Kraft card stock: PTI, patterned paper: Sandylion, New Fallen Snow stamp set: CTMH, sparkles accents: CTMH

A relaxing Sunday - and my first sketch challenge

I've had very relaxing and productive weekend (just like I had hoped). I made some chicken chili, calzones, split pea soup and English onion soup. I know that may sound like an awful lot of food, but I'm freezing most of it. I'm finding that it's not only a time saver, but also a $$$ saver ... I'm only doing one major grocery shop a month (I pick up milk and fresh produce when needed) and when I come home from a long day of work I can just quickly get dinner ready. Plus, I can take it all to work for my lunches so that saves a lot of $$$ too.

Anyway, I saw a sketch challenge over at Paper Craft Planet and I thought I'd give it a try. So, here's what I came up with ...

I think it turned out pretty good.

stamp set: New Fallen Snow (CTMH); inks: outdoor denim & twilight (CTMH); white card stock (Papertrey Ink); patterned paper scraps

Happy Halloween

I've been a bit busy lately so I haven't really had any creative time, so unfortunately I don't have any projects to share with you today. I've decided to make this weekend a 'me weekend' which means I'll be cooking up a storm ... I'm planning on making some chili and two kinds of soup (spilt pea and English onion) and getting a lot of unfinished projects completed.

In the mean time I thought I'd share some pictures with you - but I do need to clarify something first - I'm not one of 'those people' that dresses up their pets on a regular basis ... I just think it makes a cute photo op on holidays.

my little bat & pumpkin

camera-shy Maizie

Smudge - lovin' every minute

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween!

It's Better in the Dark

Last night I went to dinner with a group of friends to a very unique restaurant ...

... it wasn't just a place to enjoy fine dining, but one that heightened all of our senses because we ate in the dark.

That's right ... in complete darkness. 'O Noir' is fairly new to my city, but it's concept can be found in other cities in Canada and throughout Europe. When you arrive you spend some time in a dimly lit lounge area where you make your dinner selections. Once you've placed your order you are escorted to your table by your guide who is blind. In fact, the entire waitstaff is blind.

Let me tell you, once that door closes behind you it is completely dark ... you can't even see your hand in front of your face. It is very disorienting when you first sit down ... we all had a 'dizzy' feeling from our eyes trying to get use to the absolute darkness. Then, when you are seated your guide explains the layout of your place setting. You are then brought your drink and a bun ... and it's up to you to find your knife and butter so you can eat. It is lot harder than you might think ... I ended up buttering my hand.

As the experience goes on we felt ourselves becoming a little more comfortable with our surroundings ... heck, drinking and eating a bun in the dark was easy. But, then came the main course. I had the steak with potatoes and vegetables. The steak was cut into managable sized strips, so it didn't have to be cut it with a knife ... I was just picking up things up with my fork and taking bites, which was harder than it sounds because I ended up sticking my piece of asparagus up my nose. But once I got the hang of it the food was really, really good. We all ended up using our fingers towards the end of the meal because it was the only way we could think of to know when we had eaten everything on our plate. The dessert course was next ... and that was just as hard and just as tasty as the main course.

the door to darkness


the view inside the dining room

Now I'm going to enjoy the rest of my Sunday ... I'm hoping to get a few cards made and a couple of layouts organized. I hope you're enjoying your weekend.

It's been a busy week

I can't wait for this week to be over. It seems like I was always on the go ... and the worst part about it is that the rest of the month is looking like it will be the same way.

I'll fill you in on what's been going on this week. First I got a new vacuum as my other one broke. I have two cats so there's fur everywhere. I had a gift card to Lowe's that I wanted to use so I went there to see what they had. I ended up getting a Bissell Lift Off Revolution Pet which is fantastic. It has special attachment to get pet fur off of the furniture.

my new vacuum =P

It came in this pretty big box that my cats are having a blast playing in ... they're having so much fun that I haven't had the heart to break it down for recycling. I'll give them 'til the weekend and then they'll have to find somewhere else to play.

Smudge in a box

I did find a little time to work on some cards. I wanted to try some new things to see if I liked the way turned out.

snowflake card

snowflake card - open

That's all for me for today. I hope everyone has a great rest of the week.

A nice fall day

Today was a beautiful day here in southern Ontario ... the sun was out,the air was crisp and the sky was clear and blue. I decided today would be a nice day to go for a drive, so I took my mom out for breakfast. We went to one of my favourite breakfast places ...

My mom had never been, so I thought it would be a nice treat. Everything looks so good on the menu, but I'm a sucker for eggs benedict. I had the asparagus and swiss cheese eggs benedict and my mom had their 'buckwheat blessings' which is buckwheat pancakes wrapped around sausage. All of the dishes come with a nice assortment of fresh fruit ... and it always comes to you looking exactly the same as it does in the picture on the menu. Here's what our brunch looked like ... I say brunch 'cause we had to wait in line for a little while so by the time we sat down to eat it was officially 'brunch time'.

buckwheat blessings

eggs benedict

Well, now I think I'm going to enjoy the last few hours of the weekend watching one of my all time favourite shows ... Gilmore Girls. I've seen them all a bunch of times, but I do enjoy just putting the DVDs in and just watching the series from the beginning. I've just started season 3, so we'll see how long it takes me to finish them off this time.

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend.

An early start to Christmas

I'm still struggling to get rid of my cold ... it just doesn't seem to want to leave. Since I have been sick I've had a lot of time to blog surf and start working on some projects. The first project I'm going to share with you is a boxed set of Christmas cards. I've been thinking about making a set of cards to give away as a gift, but I couldn't really think of a nice way to package them up. That is until I saw this great video tutorial on how to make a card box.

I started by making the set of cards ... I didn't want them all to be the same so I changed up the colours and the layout. I made a set of 6 cards and then used the same design to decorate the front of the card box. I think it's absolutely fabulous. And so did the person I gave the set to ... my mom. She's always liked the cards I've made, so I thought this would be a nice little surprise 'no occasion' gift for her. And the fact that it came with a surprise dinner of fish and chips from our favourite place didn't hurt either.

card set

box with cards inside

close up of box

I'm definately going to make more card sets ... I'm thinking a birthday set and then an all occasion set would be a good place to start.

Now I'm off to finish making my 'famous' tomato sauce.

Happy crafting!

(sorry, but I can't remember the name of the stamp set I used - it was one I got from Michael's and I threw out the packaging. The next time I'm there I'll make a note of which one it is.)

Oh, Smudge!

Yesterday was our Thanksgiving holiday. I planned on spending the entire day working on some projects. I live in a one bedroom condo, so space is at a premium. I do have a desk in my den space (it's a nook outside my bedroom), but when I get in a 'crafting mood' I like to spread out. So, I often find myself taking over the dinning room table. Well, I don't know if any one else has the problem I was having yesterday, but my littlest kitty (Smudge) wanted to get in on the crafting too. I didn't mind him sitting in the middle of the table too much ...

... it was when he decided to stick his paw on the open stamp pad that I had a problem with.

After I washed the cranberry ink off his paw I was able to get a few more things done, so I'll post them soon for you to see.

It's been far too long!

Happy Thanksgiving weekend to everyone in Canada!!!

It's been too long since my last post ... things kept coming up which would keep me away from home and then I got sick. I still have a nasty cough, but I've been able to make the most of my 'recovery' time to work on some projects.

The first one I'll share with you is a gift-card holder. I had made one before, but this time I took some inspiration from a very creative lady, Dawn, because instead of using ribbon to tie the gift card holder shut she made a paper band. I must admit I do like this a lot ... it gave it a much cleaner look. Here's the one I made ...

front

inside

I have a feeling I'll be making a lot of these this Christmas as my mom and I like to give gift cards to the local coffee shop to our neighbours.

That's it for me today ... I have to get ready to go to another Thanksgiving gathering today.


(sorry, but I can't remember the name of the stamp set I used - it was one I got from Michael's and I threw out the packaging. The next time I'm there I'll make a note of which one it is.)

thank you card

I've been having a very relaxing weekend ... it all started Friday night when a friend and I went and had our first (of many) pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks. That kind of got me in the 'autumn' spirit, so I made a batch of soft ginger-apple cookies (but I didn't add the icing the recipe calls for.

I also wanted to try making this clever gift-card holder I saw on on the Chic'n Scratch Live website ... I just love this site 'cause it has so many great ideas. My card isn't quite finished as I haven't added anything to the inside, but I'm happy with the way it's turned out so far ...

front of card

inside of card

I'm off to clean up my kitchen ... I love baking and cooking, but I don't really like the cleaning-up part.

Thanks for stopping by.

all stamps used were from CTMH ... solo T & adorning corners

I'm back ...

And boy have things changed ... I swear the counter was under 100 when I last posted!!!

Anyways, it's been so long since my last post as we've had a friend over from Scotland visiting us so I was busy with that. I had everyone over for brunch on Saturday ... I love to cook so it was a great opportunity for me to try out a new recipe. I recommend anyone that's planning on having people over for brunch to make this strata ... it's super easy and it's made the night before, so all it has to do is bake in the oven while your guests are over. Actually, everything I made was prepared the night before ... all I had to do was fry the potatoes.

strata

fruit salad

home fries

I did find some time to make the cutest little treat holder for Halloween. I did make some changes from the design I found by Angie Kennedy Juda ... I added some sides, used a different punch to make the opening for the chocolate and I used google eyes instead of just paper.

I've been working on some other projects so I hope to have them ready to post soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

A challenge ...

I'm still a rookie when it comes to this 'blog thing', but I think I'm catching on. I came across this great challenge over on the Moxie Fab blog. You should all check it out ... seems like a lot of fun. Here's what I've made for the challenge (stampset used is 'All Decked Out' from CTMH).

I hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend ... thanks for stopping by.

Another baby card

I had made a card for the arrival of my cousin's baby, but after my mom went out searching for just the right card to give she came home empty-handed. So, I decided I'd give her the one that I had already made. This gave me an opportunity to create a cute 'onsie' card that I saw on Lauren Meader's blog. It was quite easy to do ... the hardest part was figuring out how to embellish it. After I made this one I've had quite a few requests for more ... I can't wait to see how I can make them all different.

Thanks for stopping by.

I'm back

It's been a while since my last post ... I was in Vegas and LA for the past week and a half. Boy was the weather completely different down there. The day I arrived in Vegas it as 48'C ... when I left home the temperature was barely in the high 20s ... what a difference. I had a fabulous time seeing all of the casinos and entertainment Vegas has to offer. The trip down to LA was great too. Here are some of the highlights from my trip ...

Bellagio fountain

view of Hollywood sign

Grauman's Chinese Theatre

view from Santa Monica Pier

Now that I'm back from vacation I'm hoping to get some projects started ... I have a lot of ideas and now it's just a matter of sitting down and getting them started. Unfortunately, I'm still in 'vacation mode' so it may take a little while for me to get going.

Thanks for stopping by.

Just a couple of cards

I went to my friends wedding this weekend and decided it would be nicer to make them a card to wish them well with their new life together than just picking one up at the store. I took my cue from the invitation ... there was burgundy and pinks on the velum overlay. Using a pretty rose petal paper I found at Michael's, ribbon from the dollar store and CTMH's Sparkles here's what I came up with ...

I also needed to come up with another birthday card for a friend of mine who's birthday is tomorrow. I found these 'Simply Easy' blank card pack at Michael's on clearance and decided to use the CTMH Rustic Flowers stamp set with sweet leaf ink to create a pretty inlaid pattern. I also used that stamp set with smokey plum ink to create a background pattern on the tag (I used the 2nd generation stamping technique I learned when I attended a card workshop with Krista) along with the Say It In Style to add the sentiment. I hope my friend likes it.

Thanks for stopping by.

My First Challenge

I came across this challenge on Krista's blog the other day and figured it was the perfect one for me to try this whole 'blog challenge' thing out. The challenge is to make a card with a card base and stamped images only, no additional paper. If you're a scrapbooker, only stamps and your photos. So, here's what I came up with (I used CTMH Rustic Flowers stamp set and smokey plum and sweet leaf stamps).

Thanks for stopping by.

Birthday card

It's been a while since my last post, but with with us actually having sunny weather on a long weekend and the arrival of my cousin's baby life has been a little busy. Anyways, my friend's birthday is just around the corner and I decided to make her a waterfall card (since I liked the way the card I made for cousin turned out). I'm not sure where the papers came from (since all of my stuff is mixed together, but it probably came from Michael's) but the stickers came from the Sandylion sticker outlet.

Thanks for stopping by.

Patiently Awaiting ...

My cousin's first baby is due any day now ... actually he's 2 days overdue. All of our fingers are crossed that the ultrasounds were correct and that he is, indeed, a 'he'. Whenever he does decide to make his way into the world I've made a card to welcome his arrival.

Thanks for stopping by.