It Never Fails.....

Each week at the end of our driveway, rolled up neatly and shoved in a plastic sleeve are the flyer's sent out by all the competing grocery and electronic stores as well as the local newspaper and real estate news.  As soon as I see it, I run out and grab it!  I love to pour myself a cup of coffee and peruse through all the houses for sale, local news and see what stores have my favourite groceries and household supplies on sale.  The paper lands on the driveway usually Thursdays and all the specials start on Friday. 

From this point on, toilet paper will be referred to as TP, I believe I've just set the tone of my post.

It gets better, honestly! 

Reading one of the many flyer's, I noticed that TP was on sale for less than half price with a limit of 4.  Now, we all know how expensive this necessary item is, right?  Why it's so expensive is beyond me.  It's paper for goodness sakes.  Can someone explain to me why you can get packages of 200 ruled sheets of paper right now for your kids for school for 59 cents each and they want $16.99 for 24 two ply rolls of TP?  What's the difference between rolling it and adding perforations versus printing lines, using ink two colours of ink no less and punching 3 holes?  That's probably something for another post or a TV show like "How's It Made".  Anyways, getting back to my TP story.  So here I am in the store picking up my limit of 4 packages and waddling to the cashier.  When I say waddling, I'm not lying!  Have you seen a penguin walk?  Ya, that was me.  Have you ever tried to carry 4 packages each containing 24 rolls of TP?  No, most people wouldn't.  Only I would.  Who's the fool here?  ME...hello!  I didn't use a buggy either because you can't take them out of this particular store.  I figured walking to the cashier with all four packages would allow me to be able to figure out a way to carry them once I leave the store and waddle make my way to the car.  I could have easily purchased two packages and then gone back in to get two more.  But why would I?  That would be too easy.  I would walk much easier carrying two and not like a penguin carrying four but being the stubborn type of person I am, I figured I could do it.  Picture this will you.  A mature (let's just go with that, K?)woman with two packages of (24 rolls) TP under each arm and carrying another 2 packages (24 rolls) fingers punched through the top of each of the remaining packages waddling walking up to the cashier.  FYI, the TP is in the far back corner of the store.  I'm laughing in embarrassment just telling you all this.  Man, what the hell was I thinking?  Obviously I wasn't!  What a sale will do, eh?  So ...... I waddle walk to the cashier with TP in tow and I'm second in line, perfect.  I chose the short line because that's always the quickest right?  Nope!  Not this day or any other %&#@ day for that matter.   Murphy's Law!  Believe it, please!  The shorter the line, the longer the wait!  I'm standing in line making sure I had a smile on my face, like it even mattered.  The reason for the smile was the quantity of TP I was balancing holding strategically.  The smile was part of the balancing technique (that's my story and I'm sticking to it).  In front of me cashing out was this cute young girl who just happened to know the male cashier and they were discussing their classes for their first semester of University.  For the most part, I'm kind and considerate but after I heard all the classes she was taking and he replied with his classes and the days of the week and times, I was loosing my patience.  Not to mention my strategically balanced TP.  During their what seemed to be 10 minute conversation, probably only 5 minutes really, I was trying to figure how to set all my TP down, pay, gather and balance my purchases once again without incident.  The line behind me was building.  Which meant there were more people to watch (me). While standing there I felt like I should be in a three ring circus (you really had to see me to believe it) I noticed people staring at me.  Were they wondering why I was purchasing so much TP?  Did this lady have issues?  I began to feel embarrassed for the volume.  I'm not sure why really.  Don't people know a good deal when they see it?  The man behind me had 4 - 1 litre containers of milk.  Why was he buying so much milk I was thinking?  A sale of course.  Why didn't he want the TP too?  He was smiling at me and I had to wonder if he was thinking either - she's good carrying all that TP or is she going to need that TP before she gets home?  Either way....... I saved a ton of money!  It was worth it - I think.  Not sure I would handle it the same the next time but .....I'm not worrying about that now, I've got quite a bit of TP to last me a while! 

If you can believe this, I have a stamp, sentiment and challenge to work with my shopping experience.  It's a sketch challenge over at CPS-Card Sketches and here is this weeks sketch.

Sketch # 234

 Here is my card for the challenge

What a great sketch!  All cardstock on this card was from scraps with a little help from some flower embellishments.  The sentiment and image are from Stampalicious and coloured with Copics.

Wherever you are in your day, I hope you're enjoying it!

Wishing you many wonderful creations

Things .....

......that move is the challenge over at Less Is More this week. 

Here is what Chrissie and Mandi, the authors, of Less Is More have to say about the challenge and it's a good one!

This could be interpreted in a variety of ways...an actual moving component on your card, so a pop up, a shaker, a spinner, a charm, a tag... we could go on...

On the other hand your card could have an image of something capable of movement, so the scope for that is almost infinitesimal!

My little birdie friend here is the thing that moves on my card.  I played around a bit with the image on a piece of paper before actually making this card.   I had to figure out how to get the colours and the branches just the way I wanted them before making my card.  I used a Hero Arts stamp Big Pine Bough.  I love this stamp because I think it's so versatile.  For this particular look I stamped the image 3 different times using different mixes of colours from the Memento Dew Drops inks each time.  The first was stamped using a mix of Black and Cottage Ivy, stamping the image straight.  The second time I stamped the image using a mix of Cottage Ivy again and Bamboo Leaves stamping just slightly lower than the first image and on a bit of a downward angle.  The third and final time I stamped the image I used a mix of  Bamboo Leaves again and New Sprout stamping the image a little farther out than the first time.  The image of the bird and the sentiment are from Inkadinkado and stamped using Stampin Up Cherry Cobbler.

Do pop over to Less Is More and join in the movement.

Wherever you are in your day, I hope you're enjoying it!

Wishing you many wonderful creations.

A Thank You....

...challenge!

Thursday already?  Where has the week gone?  I can't believe we are already in the final weeks of summer? ((sigh))
Two months is just not long enough, I want warm sunny weather for at least .... Ummmm, 6 months!  Is that asking too much?  To get that, I think we would have to move or I'm thinking maybe we do the one home here (warm months), one home there (cold months).  Should I tell him?  He'll love the idea I'm sure of it, maybe just not now.  It's always nice to dream though isn't it? 

I'm entering the lili of the valley challenge #109 and the theme is "Thank You".  The challenge runs until August 31 so there's still plenty of time to enter. 

For LOTV challenges you must use one of their products and there are plenty cute ones to choose from, trust me!  I've sent the You're To Blame badge (again) to Toni for last nights purchase of a few more "new images", Thanks Toni!!!!  (pick it up on my sidebar and send it to someone you want to blame for their inspiration - to cause you to purchase more craft tools.  It's a good thing!) My image is Teddy Flower and he is coloured with Copic markers.  The designer paper is from K & Co., Berry Sweet and I've also used pink, yellow and green cardstock.  To cut the flourish I've used a Tim Holtz flourish die and as well for the large circle, a Spellbinders die and tan mats to emboss.  You'll see yellow Prima flowers embellished with glittery brads attached to leaves and branches punched with Martha Stewart punches.  I stamped and coloured a couple extra butterflies and added them to the main image to give it a bit of dimension then finished the card off with some glitter from a Gelly Roll pen and a bit of yellow grosgrain ribbon.  If you follow my blog or see the cards I usually make, they are fairly simple.  I don't normally add a lot of flowers, ribbon and die cuts. I seem to struggle a bit putting lots of "embellishments" so to speak, all over my card.  I feel my cards look too busy yet when I see other cards all done up, they look great!  I need to work on this a bit more and become better at, that's all.  Oh dear, I'll probably have to spend more money and plump up my embellishment stash ....oh goody, someone else to blame!!

Wherever you are in your day, I hope you're enjoying it!

Wishing you many wonderful creations.

Frame It....

...Up
is the challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers but before I get to that I'd just like to say Good Morning to everyone.   Actually, it's afternoon and my morning didn't go quite as planned.

Our Internet was down until about 20 minutes ago, apparently it was a "major cable repair" according to the gentleman from the cable company.  You don't realize just how much you depend on your computer until there's no Internet.  Kinda scary!  I did get quite a few things accomplished, that was good however what normally would have gotten done in the morning had to wait and that has thrown off my LITTLE SCHEDULE!  Sorry for yelling, I can handle 5 minutes without the Internet, 10 minutes, even 20 minutes maybe ....but half a day?  Breath in, breath out and relax.

What I found irritating funny, was that I actually had to go get the telephone book and look up the (making quotation signs with fingers using both hands/fake smile ) Cable Company's (done making quotation signs/not fake smiling anymore either) phone number, in the phone book!  Why do I have to call them, they should be notifying me.  Not my issue (actually it became my issue) - it's theirs!  Looking up a phone number in the phonebook anymore is so yesterday! Not to mention, who can read the phonebook anyways?!!  The printing is so stinkin small.   I think a Smurf wrote it? 

I believe this guy wrote the phonebook

Not all that long ago, I would have had to go get the phone book, sit on the chair beside the phone - that was plugged into the wall, look up the phone number and dial whomever I was calling and actually sit there until the conversation was over!  We were fine with that, weren't we?   I remember talking for hours on end with friends, trying to stay comfortable changing positions a kabillion times, on the same chair during the phone call.  Don't know why I just wrote about this but I did.   I'm leaving it, because it's true!

Today, I google the phone number, use a remote phone, dial the number and I'm free to move about and do as I please.  Now that makes me happy!  Happy wife (and Mom), happy life!  LOL

I've decided technology is only good, when it works.  Oh...so this was what I was talking about in the first place!

Fewf.....

Over at Splitcoast Stampers on Friday there was a Free For All challenge called Frame It Up.  Dawn was the hostess this week and here is what she had to say.  "Lately, I've been enjoying making frames out of nesties and using them as an element on my cards. Let's see what you frame up in this week's challenge! Your images can be inside the frame or outside of the frame."
If you haven't joined Splitcoast Stampers you might want to, it's awesome!  There are so many wonderfully talented people there and the creations are phenomenal (my big word of the day).  Thanks for a great challenge Dawn!

I really had a lot of fun creating this card.  It's such a girl thing! 
I used two Labels 15 dies to frame both the image and the sentiment.  I ran the card through my big shot layered as follows,

Multipurpose platform
Card
Inside card - Large and small Labels 15 Nestabilities placed as shown on the card
Card closed - On top of the card, two tan mats and two thicker pieces of cardstock
Clear cutting pad

Both the image and sentiment are from Stampalicious.  The sentiment is stamped using Memento Tuxedo Black ink, directly on the card, centered in the middle of the smaller frame.  I took Copic marker friendly paper, chose a Labels 14 die just slightly larger than the image and embossed using the tan mats to finish the edges.  I stamped the image in the centre using a Stamp-a-ma-jig and coloured same with Copic markers.  To pop up the image I used six dimensionals to give the card a bit more dimension.  Three white embossed flowers with green rhinestone were used to embellish.  Crystal effects was used on the Martini glass and a green rhinestone added to the purse.

If you got this far?  Thank you, you are amazing and I truly appreciate you taking the time to visit.

Wherever you are in your day, I hope you're enjoying it!

Wishing you many wonderful creations.

I Love The Look Of ....

...white on white. 

As mentioned in yesterdays post I had planned on making a white on white card for the
Bah Humbug challenge.   I got it started yesterday but not quite finished unfortunately.  I had one of those days that was really busy but nothing really seemed to get done, including my card.  Ever have one of those?  It began with the dog needing to go out and while doing so I realized the plants needed watering.  While watering, I saw some weeds that needed to be pulled.  The phone rang and while talking, noticed some dust on a table.  I went to get my dust cloth in the laundry room and saw clothes in the dryer that needed folding.  After folding the laundry and while putting it away I ....you see the pattern here?  It didn't stop - all day!  I was flitting. 

flit  (flt)

intr.v. flit·ted, flit·ting, flits

1. To move about rapidly and nimbly.

2. To move quickly from one condition or location to another.

n.

1. A fluttering or darting movement.

2. Informal An empty-headed, silly, often erratic person.

Well, I don't consider myself erratic, I'm usually very organized.  My entire day was just so weird and I can't explain it.  Notice I left out the empty - headed and silly!  I'll save those two for special days as needed.  LOL

I did get my card done this morning thank goodness and for those wondering, I'm having a much more productive day!  The camera didn't do this card much justice as it's much prettier and more sparkle than shown. 

Wherever you are in your day, I hope you're enjoying it!

Wishing you many wonderful creations.

Someone Special .....

It's raining plenty outside today but that's good because we sure as heck need it.  It also gives me a good excuse to stay inside and get crafty!  I actually look forward to days like this.

Before I get to today's challenge,
I want to remind everyone to enter my August Giveaway, it's my first Blog Candy and I'm super excited. 
As well, (Update) Stampin Up have been so wonderful about helping me find a new demonstrator (read posts below) and if you should ever have any problems, you can get in touch with Pam Morgan who has been amazing.  She can be reached at
PamM@stampinup.com.  I'm very happy with the way they have helped me and I now feel that each and every customer is extremely important to them and their hugely successful company.  Yay Stampin Up!

I've joined another Christmas card challenge.  Poor Di is worried about my extreme Christmas card making but as I said before the Holiday Season is a really busy time for me.  There will be more on that in the months to come.  Thanks for caring Di!

Over at Winter Wonderland the challenge this week is to create a White on White card with only the image to have colour.  For this card I've used a House Mouse image and gone buck wild with embossing and border punching.  Once I was done making my card though, I was looking at it and all these other ideas came into my head of what else I should have or could have done.  ((sigh))  I may just have to make another card for this challenge as white on white cards have to be among my favourites.

Card 6 1/2" X 5"
Paper - White cardstock
Ink - Memento Black Tuxedo
Stamps - House Mouse for image and sentiment
Accessories, Peppermint swirls and Polka Dot embossing folders, Martha Stewart and Stampin Up border punches, Labels 14 die and embossing tan matts and faux pearls

Wherever you are in your day, I hope you're enjoying it!

Wishing you many wonderful creations.

The Weather Outside ....

....is frightful! 

No...not really, actually it's very warm and sunny.  I'm playing along with Just Us Girls sketch challenge this week, here's the sketch.



I thought I would continue with a Christmas theme today, I figure the more Christmas cards I can get done now, the better off I'll be later. 

Here is my card

Card - Kraft card
Paper - K & Co. designer paper, Stampin Up Crumb Cake, Real Red and Black cardstock
Ink - Memento Black Tuxedo
Stamps - The Old Island Stamp Co, let it snow
Accessories - K & Co. Embellishments, Recollections chipboard stickers and Stampin Up scallop border punch

Wherever you are in your day, I hope you're enjoying it!

Wishing you many wonderful creations.

Christmas Cookies

Over at Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge,  it's all about the food this week.  The challenge is to feature on your card, any kind of food that might be eaten at Christmas.  Food such as Christmas cake, Christmas pudding, turkey, candy canes, etc.  Oh what a yummy challenge this is going to be. 

Once again this is a perfect opportunity for me to use another one of my new House Mouse stamps, surprised?  Didn't think so....me neither.  I thought I might try and score the edge of my card today after seeing a couple of pretty cards over at Di's blog.  The stamp I chose is quite large and not wanting to take away from the image, I kept the card simple.

Click on image for larger view

Looks like Mudpie and Mussy are pretty full after filling their tummy's with Christmas cookies.  I just can't get enough of these adorable mice.  It's a good thing the postman is going to be bringing me some new stamps soon but I'll leave that for another post.

The stamp I used is from House Mouse and it's called Christmas Cookies Eaters (Mudpie and Muzzy).  I used my Fiskars trimmer, slipped in a scoring blade and scored the front of the card on all four sides.  I matted the image with Cherry Cobbler cardstock and used a Stampin Up, Very Merry stamp from the Short and Sweet stamp set for the sentiment.  The ink used on the sentiment stamp was also Cherry Cobbler.  The image was coloured with Copic markers and Crystal effects was applied to the decorations on the cookies.

Don't forget to check out my Blog Candy Giveaway below!!!!

Wherever you are in your day, I hope you're enjoying it!

Wishing you many wonderful creations.

Santa's Claus's Reindeer

We're enjoying another warm Monday and it's the beginning of the final week of July. Where has the time gone?!!! Temperatures are still hovering around 30 degrees with lots of humidity which makes for one interesting hair day after another. LOL To keep my mind off the heat I thought I would stay inside where there is air conditioning and play along with some really cool challenges (no pun intended). The first challenge is over at Splitcoast Stampers with the challenge being a free for all. What they're looking for is two by two. You are supposed to do things in twos ... two of the same image, two bows, two buttons, two brads ... as long as there are TWO of the SAME thing somewhere on your creation, then you're good to go - says Wendy!! The second challenge is over at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas. The challenge is to have at least one reindeer on your card but other than that, anything goes.

Well, we all know that Santa's sleigh is pulled by reindeer and they are hooked up to the sleigh in 4 rows of two. This will work out perfectly for both challenges and I kinda thought it would be fun to add a little information about our four legged friends that pull the famous sleigh.

Santa Claus's Reindeer are a team of flying reindeer traditionally held to pull the sleigh of Santa Claus and help him deliver Christmas gifts. The commonly cited names of the reindeer are Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner (or Donder), and Blitzen. They are based on those used in the 1823 poem A Visit from St. Nicholas, arguably the basis of reindeer's popularity as Christmas symbols, where Donder/Donner and Blitzen were originally called Dunder and Blixem respectively.  The subsequent popularity of the Christmas song Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer has led to Rudolph often joining the list.

Dasher 

Dancer 

Prancer 

Vixen 

Comet 

Cupid 

Donner (originally Dunder, then Donder) 

Blitzen (originally Blixem, then Blixen) 

Rudolph (as used in the song Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer)

Here is my card for the challenges,

I've got my reindeer which covers the one challenge. For the second challenge I've used two colours, red and white (I know white isn't a colour but for my card and today's challenge I'm going to pretend it is). I've used two buttons, two brads and two stamps. So that pretty much takes care of the second challenge.

The paper used for this card is from Stampin Up's Designer Pak III and Real Red. The stamps are Inkadinkado for the image and The Old Island Stamp Company for the sentiment which is stamped using Cherry Cobbler ink. The sentiment was punched out using EK Success Real Estate punch.

Wherever you are in your day, I hope you're enjoying it!

Wishing you many wonderful creations.

A Winter Wonderland

I love that phrase! 

But today, the phrase is more than just a phrase .... it's a challenge.  A Winter Wonderland challenge.  I learned of this great challenge from My world...sort of.

Every Friday at Winter Wonderland a different challenge is posted.   Your creation doesn't have to be a card,  you can make a decoration, a tag, a scrap layout - whatever you wish.  Last Friday, the challenge posted was  Give it a Little Lift, wet or dry embossing.  If you want to get a head start on your Christmas cards or Holiday crafts, why not pop over and join in the fun?

Here is my entry, I chose dry embossing and to make a card.

Paper - Designer Paper is from K & Co, solid colours are Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Real Red and Brocade Blue from Stampin Up.
Stamps - House Mouse Winter toboggan and Lili Of The Valley sentiment
Ink - Stampin Up Cherry Cobbler for the sentiment and Memento Black Tuxedo for the image
Accessories - Copic Markers, Piercing tool, White Flower Soft for fur on hat and snow, Stampin Up Scallop Border Punch, 2" scallop circle punch, 1 3/4" circle punch. polka dot embossing folder and blue buttons for embellishments.

Wherever you are in your day, I hope you're enjoying it!

Wishing you many wonderful creations.
Thanks for visiting

Piercing Sentiments

Wow, that title is loaded.  Nothing better than a catchy title to get your attention.  I chose it because I felt it covered the two challenges that I'm working with today.  The first challenge I'm playing along with today is with Splitcoast Stampers and it's about Piercing.  Why not poke some holes in your craft?  It's actually kinda fun and almost as therapeutic as popping that bubble wrap stuff.  If you've never tried it, I highly recommend it.  Here's what you do.  The next time you come across some bubble wrap, just grab one of those bubbles and squeeze it ....until it pops.  Don't say I didn't warn you though, it's addicting.  There's just something about the pop, the sound and the feeling...ahhhhhh!  The other challenge I'm playing along with today is with 365 Cards and it's all about the sentiment.  The challenge is to use a Sentiment that inspires or makes your day brighter.  The sentiment used today I feel helps to put things into perspective.

I've used another flower today, that's one every day this week like I promised I would. Look at me!

I did a little homework on piercing and I couldn't believe what I learned.  I didn't realize that you can actually purchase templates to pierce your papers.  Some of those templates were truly amazing and so detailed.  If you are interested in having a look at some of the templates I saw, click here.  

I also found this information from Tammy. She says she ran across a PhotoBucket account with a ton of templates - FREE! Here is a link to the PB album:
http://s143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/madjara/embroidery-ornare/
She also found that if you use PhotoBucket, you can subscribe to that album and when/if she adds more templates, you can have them sent to your email.

Wherever you are in your day, I hope you're enjoying it!

Wishing you many wonderful creations.
Thanks for visiting

Pink Florals

This is my second post today (look at me).  I'm feeling a little under the weather and what better way to cure a sore throat and stuffy nose, participate in a challenge.  On Wednesday's,  Splitcoast Stampers has a Sketch challenge which really is a lot of fun.  You follow their guidelines and then put your take on the sketch.

Here is the sketch

Here is my card

Card is 5" X 6 1/2"
Paper - K&Company, Stampin Up Old Olive and Certainly Celery, Two shades of Pink cardstock
Accessories - EK Success Flower punch, Faux adhesive pearls and dimensionals

Wherever you are in your day, I hope you're enjoying it
Wishing you many wonderful creations.
Thanks for visiting

Flourish Blossom

Another sketch challenge. 

I've created a card this week for CPS (Card Positioning Systems) #219 sketch challenge.

Here is my take on this weeks sketch.



Card 5" X 6 1/2"
Paper - DCWV designer papers Nursery Baby Boy and Linen Closet
Ink - Sage Shadow
Stamps - Hero Arts Flourish Blossom
Accessories - Spellbinders Nestabilites Mega Scalloped Ovals

Wherever you are in your day, I hope your enjoying it!
Wishing you many wonderful creations.
Thanks for visiting.

Accordion Card

The Challenge I found to take part in today has so many possibilities I didn't know where to start.  Well, actually I did.... at the beginning.  This is a card style I've not tried before and this is exactly why I've enjoyed these challenges so much this past week and a half.  You'll try things you've not necessarily done before and that's a good thing.  Nothing wrong with that at all and actually it's quite fun.  This challenge can be found at 365 Cards A New Card Challenge Everyday .  This particular challenge is a Fancy Folds Accordion Card.  After searching all the different ways an accordion card could be made, I decided to start pretty simple.   Let me tell you, there are some pretty neat ways you can make one of these cards.

I needed to make a card for a baby shower so I thought why not make it an accordion card?  So I gave it a whirl.  The completed card is an A2 size card which is 4 1/4 X 5 1/2.  

 

This is one interesting card to make with so many options - loved it!

I started with a piece of cream cardstock 5 1/2" X 11"

I scored it at 1 1/2", 3", 5 1/2" and 8"

I then folded it in accordion fashion and embellished

Very easy and fun!

Thanks again for stopping by and have an awesome day!