Note to self

Note to self:

When mailing a letter, postage is required.

 

Happy Tuesday.

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Champagne Sundays and Champagne Birthdays

Happy Sunday!  Are you one of those who likes Sunday? or dreads them because Mondays come next?  I enjoy my Sundays, and try not to make a habit of dreading Monday morning…although tomorrow for I will be spending 7 hours on the road. 

I had a co-worker to celebrated “Champagne Sundays”.  He and his fiancé would pop a bottle of champagne and celebrate the weekend they had just shared.  I think it’s a great way to keep a bit of perspective…although a bottle of Champagne each weekend? Yikes!   I think he said after a few weeks, they switched to sparkling wine, lol.

I was hopping around SCS yesterday and noticed this card;  I think it’s a great layout and since I needed a birthday card for my youngest cousin, I decided it was time for a CASE. My cousin will be celebrating her Champagne Birthday this year, 19 years old on the 19th of April.  (I think I got jipped…I was born on the 9th of July! Unless my parents swapped some 7-up for Champagne, I’m sure I missed out). 

I kept with the Champagne theme and chose some soft yellow Bazzil cardstock, which matched perfectly with the SU paper I got in Sale-A-Bration.  I used My Favorite Things stamp from the “Say Charge” set…I just love this one! I mounted everything on dimensionals. 

I found some great frosted silver brads in my stash (I really need to look there more often) and added some MS sparkle to the flower on the purse.  I’m satisfied with my colouring, but not thrilled.  I think I need to be more patient with watercolouring.

  Since I have no clue what to buy her for her 19th birthday, I’ll give her some cash so she can spend as she likes.  So I turned the card into a money holder (don’t worry I’m giving her more than $20, it’s all I had on me); I hadn’t made one for quite a while, and it shows in my less than clean cut.  I added the sentiment which is from GinaK.  I think it looks a little bland, so I might spice it up with some….well, something.

I also made some Easter tags today,

I just love this little bunny stamp! I added glitter to the tail, I tried some FunFlock, but I think the glitter looks better.

Well, that’s it for me~ off to celebrate the rest of my Champagne Sunday.  Cheers!

Ciao for now,

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Squirrel-capades Episode 1: And then there were two…

Anyone who knows me knows I love to garden.  If it weren’t for all the upkeep that I don’t really want right now (and the fact that I travel so much), I’d have a house, just so I could have a garden. 

 

 

I make do with container gardens on my balcony; flower boxes,  large potters,  and a trellis.  I love sweet peas, morning glories, hydrangeas and geraniums. 

 

Anyone who knows I love to garden knows I hate squirrels.  I mean HATE them.  London is rampant with squirrels all year round.  I hate the noise they make, I hate the trail of peanut shells they leave, I hate their beady little eyes and their bushy tails.  But most of all, I HATE how they destroy my garden.  I can’t even begin to add up the money that has been dug up by those damn squirrels.

I have a downstairs neighbor (I live on the 2nd floor), God bless her, but she feeds the birds and the squirrels and so they are always around. I’ve tried cayenne pepper on the soil, I’ve tried squirting them with water (only works when you catch them) and the only thing that seems to remotely work, sometimes, is blood meal.  The smell drives them away, but drives me away too, and attracts an awful amount of flies if you don’t mix it into the soil well enough.  You also have to keep applying it, or the smell comes back and so do the squirrels.  The thought of a paint gun or bb-gun has often come to mind….but I digress.

I decided to take advantage of the good weather and sweep the balcony before it rains tomorrow.  That’s when I was cleaning up my planting shelf and found this:

One of my garden tools.  Notice anything suspicious? Lets take a closer look, shall we:

 

 

 

That’s right.  Apparently all the bird seed and peanuts in the world does not compare to the tastiness that is plastic on a $3 garden tool.  WTF?? Seriously! This squirrel has taken it to a whole new level! Or so I thought…

I got back to sweeping, moved some giant pots and found this stack of leaves, and cardboard, and all this other stuff.  What in the world?? I started sweeping it out from the corner and then I heard it:

 

SQUEEK SQUEEK SQUEEK

 

 

Mother of Pearl please do not tell me….oh that’s right.

It’s a bloody squirrel nest!   Before I knew it, Mama had returned, who I chased off with a broom just to grab some composure.  I don’t want to have to the hospital on a Saturday night for a rabies shot!

Now, I am not completely cold hearted.  The baby squirrel is naked and tiny and so ugly it’s damn heartbreaking.  But the last thing I need is for them to think they can start building condo’s on my balcony.  I don’t want them posting a sign saying  “Home is where the Nest is” and completely destroy all flowers and seedlings I hope to plant this year.

I went back out to take these pictures for this post, and Mama had come back and I’m pretty sure was carrying the ugly naked baby in her mouth fleeing to the 3rd floor. 

I hope they find the view from the 3rd floor just spectacular, and start developing their condo up there. 

I know it’s not the end of my encounter with squirrels, it just seems to be starting earlier this year. 

Stay tuned my friends, there will be more stories to tell, you can bet your tulips there will be.

Ciao for now,

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Foto Friday # 11- a Calgary Thunderstorm

TGIF!!

I know I may say that every week, but today I really mean it…and you can tell because usually this post is up at 8am, but I didn’t even have time to write it earlier in the week and schedule it!

I was looking through my photos and found these from my trip out west last summer.  Alberta is famous for thunderstorms, they move in VERY quickly.

Although I LOVE thunderstorms, I was out there for 5 days, and witnessed 3 storms.  The first day I got there I had to drive through one,  on the way to a meeting…that wasn’t so much fun.  The second one I experienced from my hotel window, which is where these pics are from.  I had just returned from an evening of exploring the Foothills, and got back just in time!  (The 3rd storm I had to drive through again, on my way to Banff, that one was scary!)

So, here we go:

These first two, there’s a reflection of the lights from the hotel room, but I wanted you to see how light it still was at this point:

This is 2 minutes later:

another minute or so later:

Can you see the thunderhead clouds?

I was able to catch some lightning strikes on video, then took the still pics from the video, so it’s a bit grainy:

 

Happy Friday!!

Ciao for now,

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One Bella; Two Looks

I bet you clicked on this post thinking it was going to be about Bella Swan (it is Twilight Tuesday after all)…but not this time!

I’m talking about Stamping Bella!

I finally brought home my first Bella stamp; I had been eyeing them for a loooooooong time, but just never got around to ordering any.  They’re a wonderful Canadian company with great products, and I just love their style.  I found some Bella stamps on my trip to ScrappingGreatDeals, as I mentioned last week.  The Bella stamps were one of the things that just jumped into my basket!

Remember my rule? For every black and white card I make, I have to make one with colour.  This was one of the few times that a colour card came to me before a black and white one. Shocking, I know.

So without further ado, here is my colour card (sorry the pics are a bit dark):

I used my new favourite paper from Little Yellow Bicycle…isn’t it perfect!? I only bought one sheet of each, but good thing ScrappingGreatDeals is only a 5 minute drive!

I used my watercolour pen to colour; for the jeans I layered Bashful Blue, Bordering Blue and Not Quite Navy.  I am not very patient when it comes to watercolouring, so waiting for each colour to dry was somewhat painful.  For Bella’s top I used Pretty in Pink, Pixie Pink and Pink Passion (Bella Swan would hate all that pink!)

I coloured Bella’s belt orange and her flip flops too.  I used Crystal Effects on the Martini.

I also got to use my home-made dew drops.  Yes! Home-made! All you need is a hot glue gun, and a silicone mat, and glue away! These were made using glitter glue, it’s very subtle and doesn’t photograph very clearly, but if you click on the picture, you’ll be able to see it a bit better.

Now for the sentiment, which is the reason I picked up the stamps in the first place.  Oh wait, they jumped in my basket. Right.

Isn’t that saying fabulous!!??  I struggled with the inside of the card, I still think it’s a bit boring, but I’m not sure what else to do.

Ok, here’s the second look for this Bella stamp.  I love how a few different colours and different paper can give it a whole other look.  This is definately what I think of when I think of Chanel:

This is a BIG card- 5.5” by 5.5”.  It was really the only way I could fit the sentiment on the front, which I really wanted to do in the colour card, but it just wasn’t big enough.  I picked some paper from Me and My Big Ideas in my fav black and white and went to town!  There’s lots of bling, but it’s Chanel, after all!

I coloured Bella’s hair brown, and her pants are black, shaded with some grey ink, again all watercoloured.  I used my MS glitter in Hematite for her flip flops and her tank top.  It’s not quite black and not quite silver, the perfect glittery combination!

Again, I used Crystal Effects for the martini. Some satin ribbon, paper flowers and a rhinestone brad filled up the left corner, it was looking somewhat empty and I’m happy how it balances.

These cards demonstrate one of the reasons why I love stamping so much; all you need is some different paper and you can create an infinite number of designs with the same image.

I mentioned it is Twilight Tuesday, meaning there’s another challenge up at TwilightTuesday.com.  This week’s challenge is about Carlisle Cullen, Edward’s dad.  I’m going to have to think about this one for a little while, nothing has come to me as of yet; but make sure to check out what everyone else has done!  I’m going to take a little break and then start my blog hop and check out everyone’s entries.

Happy Tuesday!

Ciao for now,

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RAK- Pink Elephant

For the past few weeks, I’ve been participating in the challenges Natasha hosts on her blog Thursdaysweettreats.  Two weeks ago, I missed participating in the theme “Artists Safari”; but had to go check out the works of everyone else.  That is when I spotted this pink elephant :

It was created by Lorrie Veasey, of Our Our Name is Mud.  Let me tell you why it caught my eye.

When my sister and I were little, and we were sick, hurt, sad or upset, our Dad told us to think of Pink Elephants in the room to make us giggle.  It’s something that I, admittedly, have used in my babysitting days.  It works.

I emailed Lorrie telling her my story and asked if she was going to list it, because I couldn’t find it in her shop.  She said it was mine and she was putting it in the mail for me straight away, no arguments.  

I received my Pink Elephant on Friday, which I’ve named Ellie; 

I don’t know where Ellie will live right now, I tried to put her in the jungle that are my house plants, but she seems a little dwarfed. 

When I have kids, Ellie will live in their room, and my Dad’s Pink Elephant will make them giggle too.

You must go check out Lorrie’s store , she is a very talented artist, with a wonderful spirit and soul.  Please also check out her blog, you won’t regret it!  

Thank you Lorrie!

Happy Monday,

Ciao for now,

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A New Look and a TECC birthday card

You may have noticed…a new banner and blog look!

The background is from thecutestblogontheblock, I just picked another background instead of the other Madison Ave look.  But I’m most excited about my new banner.  If you have a peek at my Etsy store, you can see they match now.  The blog banner, Etsy banner and a few other things (business cards, labels and custom order Etsy shopholder) were designed by the wonderful Stacey at Pixel Cafe.  She is an absolute delight to work with, and incredibly patient with someone like me who knows NOTHING about graphic design.

I sent my new business card to the printer yesterday, they should be in this week, I can’t wait to get them back.  I feel like a real business owner now. Once they come in, I’ll share with you :)

I have a few things cookin’ here, but they’re not ready to share yet.

I did manage to finish a card for Taylor’s challenge this week.  I skipped last week, but when I saw this week’s sketch, I knew it would be perfect for some birthday cards I need to make. 

I had been putting off buying the oval Nesties, but after I saw Taylor’s sketch, I knew I couldn’t put it off any more.  Part of the reason I had waited so long was that Nesties are hard to find up here, I always had to order them from the U.S.  With the dollar being what it is…it’s pricey.  But then! my friend Andrea told me about this wonderful little place- ScrappinGreatDeals.  It’s a 5 minute drive from my house (and you can order online) and has all the Nesties I could ever dream of owning.  She’s got wonderful paper (also used in the card, I just couldn’t resist!) and lots of other fab stuff- which I’ll share later in the week.  So much stuff just hopped in my basket- don’t you hate when that happens? It was begging to come home with me, what could I do?

This was also the first card where I got to do some paper piercing, using my new Mat pack from SU.  What a difference the right template makes!  I had some other templates from another company, but they don’t hold a candle to the SU ones.  I’m pretty happy about the card, and used ribbon from Michaels that I bought nearly 3 years ago and hadn’t used yet!

Well, I have a few errands to do today and my plan is to clean the car-ick. But it’s a beautiful sunny Sunday and it’s got to be done!

Happy Sunday!

Ciao for now,

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Foto Friday # 10 : Hofbrauhaus, Munich, Germany

Here’s my tribute to St. Patty’s day…Munich style.  I didn’t get to have a green beer this year, but I did have some great beer while in Germany in September.

Hofbrauhaus is a very famous German beer hall and brewery.  I had been to a beer garden on my first trip to Germany when I was 16, and couldn’t wait to go back.  I dragged my parents there, but in the end, they loved it.   It was also hopping because it was two days before Oktoberfest.  And much to my dismay…we were leaving for Berlin the day before the opening of the famous fest.  I tried so hard to get our travel plans changed, but they were already set.  My mother kept asking me why I wanted to experience Oktoberfest so much (seriously?)…but after eating (and drinking) at the Hofbrauhaus, and seeing all the preparations in the city, she was a little sad we were leaving too, I could see it in her eyes. Next time…

Here’s one of the other breweries bringing beer in by horse drawn carriage, getting ready for Oktoberfest

 

But, the reason for this post was to share the Hofbrauhaus, so here is the beer I ordered.  Ein Mass:

I know what you’re thinking…nothing special. Another glass of beer….but it is called “ein Mass” for a reason:

It takes two hands to hold it!  Ein Mass is 1 Litre of beer.  It is the best darn beer I’ve ever had.  They don’t distribute in Canada, unfortunately.

The best part of the Hofbrauhaus (besides the beer) is when the Bavarian music starts to play by the live band.  It’s an incredible (and touristy-cheesy) experience, but when in Rome…err I mean Munich!

 

 

 

mmmmmm, Beer

 

 

 

 

 

 

I brought home a t-shirt and a mini beer stein for my Table of Travels (that will make a post eventually, and it’ll make more sense).  I wish I could’ve brought home the beer. 

Happy Friday!

Aufwiedersehen!

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Thursdaysweettreats theme: Vibrant Chaotic Rainbows

 

Rainbow at the lodge where we rent a cottage every year for a week in August.

I didn’t realize that the picture of my card for this challenge was cut off in my Tuesday’s post, here it is again,

Make sure to check out the Thursdaysweettreats blog to see everyone’s finished pieces!

Happy Thursday,

Ciao for now,

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Do you know Roy G. Biv?: TTIC 23 and a belated birthday card for Bella (TTIC22)

 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

 

 

I wasn’t sure if I would make today’s challenge, but I had a “good luck” stamp that needed to be inked, so here I am!  I actually combined two challenges for this card,  the TwilightTuesday.com challenge: to incorporate St. Patty’s Day and the Cullens.  Also, this week’s theme on Thursdaysweettreats is “Vibrant Chaotic Rainbows”, which I suspect may have been picked to coincide with St. Patty’s day.  I was trying to figure out how to incorporate a rainbow into a card and I remembered Mr. Roy G. Biv.  Do you know him?  I first heard about Mr. Roy G. Biv in grade school, and again in high school physics….ringing any bells?

Roy G. Biv is a way to remember the spectrum of light, or basically, the colours of the rainbow!

R-Red

O-Orange

Y- Yellow

G- Green

B-Blue

I-Indigo

V-Violet

I cut out some circles of all the above colours and then stacked them according to size and colour:

cut them in half…

and ta-da!!!! Rainbows! clever, eh?

So I had my rainbow, now I needed some luck o the Irish.  I found a good luck stamp, embossed the words, coloured in the lettering with SU Certainly Celery, added some sparkle to the shamrock and here it is:

On the inside I used a heart stamp to make a shamrock.

The comment portion asks how we celebrate St. Patty’s Day.  Well, I’m half Italian and then Polish/Ukrainian, so there’s no Irish in these bones.  St. Patty’s day was a big deal in University, but lately, it’s just another day.  I think it’s great to go out and have a green beer, but it’s more about spending time with your friends.  The past few years it’s been very inconvenient on a weekday to go out.  I was on the road today and have to travel early tomorrow morning, so no shenanigans for me tonight.

Now, for Bella’s belated birthday card, last week’s TwilightTuesday.com challenge.  I’m really happy how this one came out.  I knew immediately what stamp I wanted to use, but I had to split up the sentiment and I couldn’t figure out how it would work it onto a card.  I should’ve known my favourite card design EVAR would be the one to work- a double diagonal pocket card!

This card is for Bella from Emmett.  Emmett, you say? YES! Emmett.  I really liked Emmett after Breaking Dawn and really wish we knew more about him…then I read the yet-to-be-finished ‘Midnight Sun’ and fell in love with Emmett.  I would like Emmett to be my big brother.  He cracks me up but you can tell there’s more too him than teasing and joking around, he really cares for the people he loves.  So here is his card for Bella.

I used some SU paper and my SU stamps, all from Sale-a-bration.  We know that Bella hates the fact that she’s now older than Edward, so Emmett had to get a little cut in, “Congratulations….”

but then…

say it with me now…. "Awwwwwwwwwwwww”  See!! Emmett can be sweet!!

Both tags have a little flower on them, from a rub-on kit, the flowers are clear adhesive and then you sprinkle glitter on them, I used MS Aquamarine glitter. 

That’s it for me!

Make sure to check out TwilightTuesday.com for the other entries, and a scavenger hunt too!

And remember to check out Thursdaysweettreats on Thursday to see Vibrant Chaotic Rainbows:)

Ciao for now,

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Birthday, birthday and more birthday cards!

Ok, so I intended to make about 12, but only 3 birthday cards are making it to this post for two reasons, 1)  I don’t want to be posting at midnight and 2) I’m stuck!

I meant to sit down yesterday and make a truckload of cards, for some offline orders I have for my “Oh Shoot Card Kits” but I just wasn’t feeling it.  I felt a tickle in my throat and decided to rest, I cannot afford to get sick this week!

I ran my errands this morning and was inspired by a trip to Staples! of all places, isn’t it crazy? Unfortunately, that inspiration stopped as soon as I got home and now I’m stuck again.

I will share with you what I did manage to create today and maybe after a little break (to do laundry, very uninspiring if you ask me), I’ll have some more creative juices flowing.

Up first is my Dad’s birthday card, a belated one at that.  I was holding off on sending it because I had to go to Sears to get a gift card.  My Dad is very hard to shop for, but my Mom said he’s planning on buying a new riding lawn mower this spring, so the gift card is to be used towards that.

I printed a picture of  a tractor on cardstock and cut it out, mounted it on dimensionals and used my favourite grass paper for some dimension. 

Next is a card for Taylor’s Cupcake Challenge over at Taylored Expressions. I finally inked up SU’s Fifth Avenue, which I adore and created this card.  Be warned! there is LOTS of pink in this one!

I used my MS border punch, some new Bazzil pink paper (my Michaels finally started carrying some good paper packs, this is from the Tropical pack, I couldn’t pass it up on a sunny Sunday like today).  I stamped the Rose in Purely Pomegranate, and coloured with Blush Blossom, Pretty in Pink and then Purely Pomegranate.  I didn’t let the inks dry in between coats because I wanted it to look like a real flower, the shading is never even or perfect.  I cut out the rose and mounted it on dimensionals.  A few dew drops added some balance to the top, it was looking a bit empty to me.

And the last one I made using the Basic Grey paper I picked up today at Michaels, it’s called Euphoria and reminds me of fireworks on Canada Day.

The cupcake is from Inkadinkado and the inside reads “celebrate one cupcake at a time” from SU.  In hindsight I think I should’ve rounded the corners on the cupcake or used the ticket punch, it’s looking a little unfinished.  I may try to fix it if I can.

Hope your Sunday is going well, I’m hoping I’ll have a few more ideas and get a TTIC Bella’s Birthday card made, it’ll be Tuesday before you know it and I don’t want to be 2 challenges behind!

Have a great Sunday!

Ciao for now,

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A Special Edition of Foto Friday: ‘Matt’s Dance’

Please take 4 minutes out of your day to watch this video.

I saw this on Natasha’s Thursdaysweettreat blog, and I think it’s incredible.  She posted it in relation to inspiration and doing what makes you happy, and what makes you unique (take another 4 minutes out of your day and visit her blog, it’s amazing!).

Matt was traveling when his friend said “go over there and do that dance you do” or something like that.  He posted it on the internet on a site he used to keep in touch with his family while he was travelling.  Someone found it, passed it to someone else, who passed it alone, etc, etc. It caught the eye of the people at Stride gum and they helped him out.

Watch it. Smile. Dance. Laugh. Cry.

Where the Hell is Matt

You can learn more about Matt at his website

“Where the Hell is Matt?”

Happy Friday!

Have a great weekend, and do a little dance for yourself!

Ciao for now,

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Just popping in!

Just a quick note, this week has been super busy.   Work has picked up, had a few custom Etsy orders come in, and all this car shopping has had me running around!

I’m looking forward to the weekend, a friend is coming home  from B.C. for spring break and I will have time to sit down and create (and make something for this week’s TTIC challenge).

Make sure you go over and visit Thursdaysweettreats blog to see everyone’s work, I didn’t have time to submit anything this week, but I’m going over to take a peek right now!

 

Happy Thursday!

Ciao for now,

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Shakespeare in Love

Here is another card I’ve made with the sticker quotes; while most focus around friendship, there are a few that speak to love.

 

Put on your sunglasses, there’s lots of bling and sparkles on this one!

I used some paper and flowers from my blog candy win c/o TwilightTuesday.com.  Before I put the sticker on the paper, I stamped my Unity stamp swirl with Due Drop Memento Rhubarb Stalk; I love the way that stamp ties into the pattern on the red paper.  I picked some red paper and glittered the edges for the background of the sentiment.  A small rhinestone brad attaches the paper flowers to the satin ribbon. 

I’ll be adding this to my Etsy store later today. 

Today also means another TwilightTuesday.com challenge, I haven’t had a chance to go over and look yet, but I will and will likely post tomorrow.

Happy Tuesday!

Ciao for now,

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Happy Monday!

I was a bit absent online this weekend, which makes me laugh since I finally! got my computer back and *fingers crossed* it seems to be ok. 

I received my new SU! order on Thursday and was looking forward to playing and creating some new cards, but then Friday night I decided to go car shopping and start test driving, and well, it stressed me out.  I love cars, but the two that I’m comparing are so even on paper, it’s coming down to price and my liking of the vehicle, which is making it hard to pick.  I’m going for test drives round two this week, so maybe one will come ahead of the other after that.

I spent Saturday afternoon with my friend D, we went for Thai food and ran some errands, it was a good visit and we had such a laugh when I told her one of the test drives wasn’t allowed to include left hand turns (apparently it’s policy for the first test drive, they need to follow a specific route).   She thought it was hilarious that a dealership would actually think a customer would purchase a car without making a left hand turn.  It is really funny!

Now that we’re all caught up, I’ll share with you the cards I did make this weekend.  I mentioned last week I re-discovered some sticker quotes all about friendship and I'm determined to use them.  Some of them are wonderful quotes.  I made this card with my new SU! paper (yay for Sale-a-bration!)

I was really happy to see that my MS heart punch was THE perfect size for the hearts on the patterned paper.  This card is pretty simple. 

I did manage to use one of my new SU! sets “To have and to Hold”.  It’s a wonderful stamp sets for weddings, and as soon as I saw it in the catalogue, I had this card in my head.

I used some of the beautiful paper I won in the January TwilightTuesday.com blog candy, and found some red paper to match (it’s actually really hard with all the different shades of red, I must’ve tried 6 different red papers!)

I inked the stamp in VersaMark first, then inked with Dew Drop Memento ink in Rhubarb Stalk, then poured some clear embossing powder and used my heat gun to set it.  I added 3 adhesive pearls to the side and one tiny pearl to the flower in the Bride’s hair just to tie it all in

On the inside I used the frame stamp included in the set and stamped “to have and to hold”.  I’m really happy that this came out so well, I get nervous with stamping inside of frames.

I made a few others, but will wait to share them, I still need to take the photos.

Have a great afternoon!

Ciao for now,

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