Happy Birthday @ UnstampaBelles

Well, tomorrow it'll be the start of July so that means a brand new challenge at UnstampaBelles. This month, in honour of UnstampaBelle's 2nd birthday, the challenge is Happy Birthday. Easy-peasy. Just remember - no stamps (unless they are sentiment stamps with less than four words).

This is what I did.....



Okay, can I just say......why does the word birthday have to be so long? It totally bugs me that I had to split the word up to make it fit on the card.

Why not create your on card for the challenge and then head on over to UnstampaBelles and enter the challenge. You have until July 31 to do so and you'll have the chance to win a wonderful prize.

Red & White Only @ Little Red Wagon

This week at



in honour of Canada Day (which for those not in the know is July 1st) Mean Carolyn has decided to torture challenge us by choosing a red & white only theme this week.

Now, I'll readily admit, I love my country. It really is awesome. But when it comes to patriotic use-the-colours-of-your-flag challenges I honestly want to move somewhere else. I have a super-duper hard time coming up with something that's just red & white. If only we had some black in there. Then it would be easy! I'm tossing around the idea of starting a letter writing campaign to have our Maple Leaf outlined in black. I'm betting it'll make it pop, and I'd kill these challenges then.

But, until I'm successful with that, you're left looking at this.....

Meh. And this isn't even my first attempt. It's my third with at least three other ideas that never made it to the outta-my-head stage. I'm sure the other Girlfriends have come up some fabulous examples for you. But, if Carolyn has any black in hers, I'm gonna freak. ;-)

Use Cardstock Only @ Little Red Wagon

This week at



Jayne decided to go the exact opposite of last week's challenge and say "pooh pooh to you" to patterned papers 'cause she wants to see cardstock only.

This is what I did....

Got me some washi tape on there but no patterned paper.  And I also got me a sentiment made with my black glitter Silhouette sketch pen......*snort*  Now, you're probably wondering why I'm making a rude sound at the end of that sentence.  Well, it's 'cause I'm laughing at myself.  See, when I made this card the hole in the "e" didn't get sketched out and I really didn't like the way it looked so I went searching through my stash of pens to find one that would match the Glitter Sketch Pen.  Took me a ridiculously long time to figure out to take the Sketch Pen out of my Silhouette machine and just use it.  D'oh!

So, why not head on over to Little Red Wagon and enter the challenge? And be sure to check out the wonderful projects the other Girlfriends have done.

Happy Father's Day.....a day late.

(Hey all, let's just pretend that I didn't run out of time and I was able to post this post yesterday. Or we could just pretend it is yesterday which would make anyone with lunaediesophobia quite happy. Either one's fine with me, just so long as I don't have to totally rework this post.)

Though, really, since not one man will be reading this blog, I guess I'm wishing a Happy Father's Day to all those women out there who have spent the day busting their butts to make it a special day for the special men in their lives.

I made four Father's Day cards this year and this one was my fave.

Nothing out of this world or anything but I just love the digi, which was a freebie from Birdie Brown so I wanted to post it.

When I was making this card I had a big dilemma as whether to colour his toolbox orange or gray (I was leaning towards gray), and luckily I happened to be at a crop so I took a mini-vote on the subject.  I was voted down 3 - 1, and received assurance that the orange wouldn't pop too much, so orange it became.  So, (and I'm not too big to admit it) you ladies were right, and I was wrong.  Thank you for your sage advice.  :-)

For:

Charisma Cardz:  use a digi
The Sisterhood of Crafters:  man or boy
Perfect Sentiment:  Father's Day
Anything Goes:  Father's Day
Creative Craft 2:  We Love You, Dad
Scrap-Creations:  Father's Day
Top Tip Tuesday:  masculine
2 Sisters:  just for Dad
Digi Galore:  Father's Day
Catered Crop:  for the boys
365 Cards:  Day 163 - Word Wednesday "Father"

Three or More Patterned Papers @ Little Red Wagon

This week at



Rosanne wants to see three or more patterned papers. Super easy-peasy!

This is what I did......

That looks like....about five different pps on there. (And don't think with my completely unsophisticated low-brow sense of humour I wasn't snickering in my head when I typed that short form for patterned paper. 'Cause I so was.)

And when you're done rolling you eyes (or for those among you who are kindred spirits, snickering) why not head on over to Little Red Wagon and enter the challenge? And be sure to check out the wonderful projects the other Girlfriends have done.

Heavy Metal @ Little Red Wagon

This week at



Regan want us to rock out. J/K. She wants to see metal!

I did something a little differentish.....

I have to admit, I never did read Alice in Wonderland but I couldn't resist this Some Odd Girl digi. A Google search turned up a magnificent quote from the book, I added some metal clocks and there you have it.

So, why not head on over to Little Red Wagon and enter the challenge? And be sure to check out the wonderful projects the other Girlfriends have done.

CASE a DT Member @ UnstampaBelles

Well, it's June now so time for a new challenge at UnstampaBelles.  This month the challenge is to CASE a dt member. And, if you head over to the site, our fearless leader, Merry has made a college of a bunch of our past works so finding inspiration should be easy. Just remember - no stamps (unless they are sentiment stamps with less than four words).

I decided to CASE Merry's Christmas card from (I believe) 2011. So, this was her creation...

And this is what I did.....

I kept the basically layout and kinda the same colours but went in a totally different direction. It's great fun to see where CASEing might take you.

So, why not head on over to UnstampaBelles and enter the challenge. You have until June 30th to do so and you'll have a chance to win a great prize.

Wedding Season

Well, it's June now (and I'd really like to know where the heck May went) and we're into wedding season. Now, I don't get invited to too many weddings these days seeing as most of the people I know are already married. And, that's fine with me. Not a big fan of weddings. Getting dressed up (yeah, 'cause you all know that anything that looks good sure isn't comfortable) and having to sit still quietly, and do nothing, through a ceremony, supper, speeches and the reception is kinda like torture for me.  (I know that probably sounds horrible, but there it is.)

So, although I'm happy for the couple tying the knot, I'm not looking forward to the wedding I'm attending today. It's at 3:30pm on the local ball diamonds. Yes, you heard me right, the ceremony is actually taking place on a ball diamond. 'Cause that's how we do it here in rural Ontario. Okay, that's not how we usually do it. The bride and groom are both huge fastball/slo-pitch/3 pitch players and the bride is also an umpire as well as the President of our local softball association so it is quite fitting. When we first heard this is where they were having the ceremony, my husband suggested that instead of a veil (which no one really does anymore anyways) the bride could wear her umpire mask and then the groom could lift it up before he kissed her. That idea just about got him smacked by his aunt (mother-of-the-bride), mostly 'cause the bride-to-be was in earshot and she didn't want her to take the idea and go with it. tee hee

Because the wedding is today, I, of course, just got finished the card today. And, without further ado, here's the card I made.....

Digi image is from Tiddly Inks and the sentiment is from Create With Tlc.

I still have a ways to go with my pleats and sewing. But, if I don't do it I'll never (hopefully) get better at it so it's better I do it and have it look not so good than not do it at all.

Honestly, sometimes I wonder why I ever buy any embellishments, especially flowers.  Originally, I figured I'd pile this card with lots of flowers and other embellies (For an example of what I mean go check out Alyce's cards.  No one can add bits and bobs like her.) but, as you can see, it's pretty plain.  Sans décoration is just more "me", I guess.

Well, that's it for me.  Off to make sure my phone is charged for later.  I wonder if I could possibly fit my iPad in my clutch purse......hmmmmm.....

For:

Moving Along With the Times:  sketch
Use It Tuesday:  anything goes + hoarded supplies (patterned paper & ribbon)
Kaboodle Doodles:  anything goes
Crafty Sentiments:  show us stitching
Deep Ocean:  ribbon and/or lace
Scrap-Creations:  anniversary, wedding or graduation
Oldie But a Goodie:  weddings + old stash - patterned paper & ribbon
Craft-Room Challenge:  use your scraps (As a matter of fact, the flowered panel is shorter than I would have liked as it's the last scrap of that paper I have.)
The Stamping Chef:  metal
Crafts and Me:  shabby chic
Crafty Moments:  lots of layers
Divas By Design:  tie a ribbon
Crafting For All Seasons: wedding/anniversary 
Crafty Ribbons:  anything goes with ribbon