A card from the archives and a wedding anniversary!

I have been dreaming of visiting this little hut in paradise ever since I got this set last year! It looks like the perfect place to get away from it all! Beautiful sandy beach, gorgeous tropical flowers, water as far as the eye can see...what's not to love? ;) It is the perfect scene to be dreaming about while looking at the cloudy weather that we have been having! It also reminds me of Maui...where I went this time last year for my brother's wedding and my anniversary celebration :)

This card was created for one of my past Dirty Dozen sketch challenges. I just flipped it and adjusted the side that the flowers are one. The hut and flowers have been watercoloured with Tombow Markers and the background was sponged on with various inks and a cloud stencil. I then secured some raffia to on of the background layers and stitched around it in coordinating thread to really hold it in place.



Yeppers! You heard right...today, Bill and I are celebrating our 8th wedding anniversary :) We have survived this long and haven't managed to kill each other yet so I'm thinking that we can last at least another 50 years, dontcha think *grin* I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he has an airline ticket in his pocket to wisk me away to this little hut on the beach...am I holding my breath? Um, no...but it's nice to have dreams :)

Happy Anniversary to the love of my life!

**Just a little reminder to any of you who are interested in learning how to make sponged ink backgrounds, the online class that I am teaching over at My Creative Classroom starts on Wednesday, October 21st**


Card Recipe:

Stamps: Artful Inkables - Paradise Island
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Watercolour, My Mind's Eye DP, Cosmo Cricket DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Soft Sky, Baja Breeze, Pacific Point, Not Quite Navy, Old Olive, Sahara Sand, Soft Suede
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug, Spellbinder's Nestabilities, Raffia, Sponges, Dimensionals, Clear Embossing Powder, Tombow Markers, Aqua Painter, Ribbon, Cloud Stencil

Butterfly Explosion Box

Oooh...Ahhhh...Isn't this beautiful? I won't have to tell you twice how impressed I was when I was able to create something that might come close to some of the amazing creations on the Magic Boxes website! I did this project way back in April for the Dirty Dozen Gallery - Going Green. The box was created for our inspiration piece because of the bright green grass and blue skies :) I found the tutorial for this box with different measurements here.




When I made the box from the tutorial it was a little small for what I needed it to be, so I ended up altering the measurements. This particular box stands finished at 3 3/4" x2 1/2".

Here are the measurements that I used to make this fun box:
Start with a 10" square for the base and score at 3 3/4" all the way around the out side. For the lid, I adjusted the measurements to a 4 5/8" Square scored at 1" all the way around.

The largest decorated panels are 3 1/2"x 1 1/4"
The base decorated square on the inside of the box is 2 1/4" square
The decorated panel on the top of the box is 2 3/8" square.
The rectangular panels of the edge of the lid are 3/4"x 2 1/8"

To decorate the panels I used a combination of stamps, sponges and inks. I love the bold statement that the Sponged Background adds to the box :) It truly adds a serene feel with colours that pop and draw attention to the 3D butterfly perched on top kind of like a bow *grin*
This kind of card is really a present in it's own but you could add a little treasure inside the box as well.

Speaking of treasures...guess who I finally got to meet the other day? If you read my blog last week, you would know that I was patiently waiting to me this sweet little girl :)




This beautiful baby made me an aunt for the second time on October 10th after being 11 days over due. She wasn't even an hour old when this picture was taken and I was the one snuggling her at the time :) Miss Makena Alexis was named for the beach that her parents got married at just a little under a year ago on Maui and for her own mama's middle name :) I'm so excited to be an auntie again so I wanted to share with you all too *wink*

**Just a little reminder to any of you who are interested in learning how to make sponged ink backgrounds, the online class that I am teaching over at My Creative Classroom starts on Wednesday, October 21st**

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps - Designer Garden, Antique Scrolls, Beautiful Butterflies
Paper: Black, Kiwi, Watercolour
Ink: Black, Versa Mark, Kiwi, Artichoke, Light Blue, Navy, Dark Navy
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Sponges, Pop Dots, Tombow Markers, Waterbrush, Clear Embossing Powder

And just what have I been up to?

Boy has this past week ever been a busy one! I thought that I would give a little peek into our last week with some quickly edited photos. Both of my kids attend the same preschool and it being the end of the year for the kids, of course there is a mini "graduation" ceremony to attend! Taiton is onto bigger things in September - Kindergarden and he can't wait to attend "the big school" now :)


Ashylnn will get to come back for another year of preschool and is so happy because she gets to take Taiton's spot in the Kinderprep Program because she will be 4 soon enough. She has been telling me all week that she is a big girl now and that she loves her teachers - SO cute!




After the ceremony we quickly packed up and headed up to my parent's vacation property on Quadra Island. The weather was wonderful with only one day of rain and when we got there Grandpa was waiting with his new toy. The kids practically ran me over to get a ride on the quad with Grandpa! Can you see the satellite dish in the background? Oh yes...we were definitely roughing it! lol


This is our home away from home :) - After many years of camping, I realized that me and tents don't get along too well! lol I even brought my craft stuff so that I could get ahead on some pending deadlines...if I only remembered to bring my inkpads...



Here is a photo taken from the beach. I have probably taken this exact photo 10 times and I never get tired of looking at this view! This is Granite Bay on a remote part of Quadra Island. They are working now to put through some power lines and this time next year I should have all the amenities needed to function in my world :)



This is one of my favourite photos of the trip! I love looking at the boat launch from the beach and I really have no idea why! lol I probably took over 100 photos while we were there of different things but I keep coming back to this one. Maybe because I have edited it and the others are still untouched? Could be...probably is *wink* I still have to edit the photos of the old Lucky Jim Gold Mine, Abandoned Fish Hatchery and Cabin, the 15lb Spring Salmon my Dad caught, a shipwreck and so many other goodies! It's amazing what you can see when you are off roading on overgrown parts of the island!




We had so much fun and plan to do a lot of camping this summer because the smiles above is really what summer is all about :)

May 15th and what it means to us...

I don't have a card to share with you today, but I wanted to share some of the photo's (click on the pictures and they will enlarge) that I took on the 15th. 2 years ago on May 15th Bill's mom passed away from a very long and brave battle with Breast Cancer. It was Linda's wish that her ashes were to be scattered at this amazing beach that held very special memories for her and it now does today for all of our family.



Every year since her passing we have gathered up some family and driven the 3 hours to spend the day at this very beach playing in the sand, having a picnic and ending it with a toast to Linda :)



We were lucky enough to have gorgeous, warm weather, great company, and lots of smiles...just see for yourself.... :)

Linda, we miss you everyday and we love you very much!

FS118 - Debbie's Calla Lilies for my Mom

I have been such a bad blogger lately! Sorry everyone! I actually didn't realize how long it had been since I had updated my blog until I received a very sweet email from one of my subscribers asking if I was OK :) My goodness what sweet people you all are!

Let me start by saying "Happy Mother's Day" to all of the mom's out there :) I hope that you all were treated like royalty for the day because we all know that you deserve it *wink* Me? I was treated to a feast in bed this morning, with my kids waving presents in my face before I actually had my eyes open (got to sleep in too). I know that they were waving presents because I got hit in the head with one of them and when I opened my eyes to see what it was I was immediately poked in the eye with the corner of a card! C'est la vie! I wouldn't have had it any other way *grin*




Ok, I know that you are all waiting to hear the deets on this card. I have been busy putting together this month's Dirty Dozen goodies together and prepping for card classes that I had left my mom's Mother's Day card to the very last minute....oh wait...I always end up doing that! Anyway, it just so happened to be the Featured Stamper Challenge (FS118 Debbie Corbari) and I found this wonderful card of hers to be my inspiration.

I stayed with the same theme of layout, flowers and a soft colour palette, but I did change up a few things. I paper tol'd the flowers (of course), added machine stitching, altered the ribbon treatment and left off the three brads that were on the top right hand side of the original card.

The oval behind the lilies actually happened by accident. It was started by sponging on the More Mustard ink and I wasn't paying too close attention when I inked up my sponge too much and left a big ink mark in the center of the oval *oops* I needed a darker ink to cover up my unsightly spot so out came the Close to Cocoa! I just used my Oval Nesabiltity as my mask and sponged on the inside of it to leave the very edge the Mustard colour. Easy peasey, lemon squeezy :)

The calla lilies were watercoloured with Tombow Markers and all of the edges of the designer papers were sponged with Creamy Caramel to give it an aged feel. I ran the My Mind's Eye designer paper through my cuttlebug in the D'Vine Swirls embossing folder for added texture and finished the card off with some 5/8" Ivory Grosgrain Ribbon.

Happy Mother's Day Mom and I hope that you like your card! Love always....Me!

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Unknown Calla Lily
Paper: Gina K, Watercolour, My Mind's Eye DP, Basic Grey DP, Sahara Sand
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Sahara Sand, More Mustard, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug, Aqua Painter, Tombow Markers, Nestabilities, Grosgrain Ribbon, Brads, Sponges, Dimensionals

Just a little holiday note

I'm just popping in to write a little note to all of you to wish you a very happy holiday season spent with your loved ones. No matter what holiday you celebrate, please make it a safe one filled with great memories, family and good friends!

From my family to yours, Happy Holidays everyone :)


Hugs from Bill, Taiton, Ashlynn and myself :)

First Snowfall

It's finally starting to feel like Christmas! We got our first snowfall of the year today in what started out as a miserable rain storm. Murphy's law suggests that when I need to go out and run the kids to school in the morning it rains...when I am in the warm comfort of my own home it snows and looks like a winter wonderland! I would rather be out in the snow than in the rain storms any day! lol

To honor the occasion of snow here on Vancouver Island, I wanted to show you a sweet little 4 1/4" square Christmas card that I made with my Joy to the World set from Our Daily Bread Designs. I just used the sentiment from the set to make a shrink plastic charm for my ribbon.


I was playing around with trying to get the charm to look not quite like shrink plastic, but I don't think it worked to well *grin* Before heated it I sponged some chocolate chip ink around the outside and then ended up wiping some off afterwards...I forgot that colours enhance through the heating process!


I used some of my new nestabilities to create the funky shape under the snowflake. The only problem being with these ones is that they don't offer a smaller set so that you can have a smaller "matting" for lack of a better term. I cut out my blue layer with my cuttlebug and then glued it onto the robin hood red cardstock. I then took my scissors and eyeballed it to cut an even edge all the way around. It looks OK I think! *wink*

I love the look of snowflakes. Everything from cartoon, to drawings, to the microscopic photographs of all the intricate details. I especially love when they begin to fall and I get to witness the joy on my kids faces when they look out the window to see the snow start to settle on the ground. That brings me to this...


They patiently waited for more snow to settle and then ambushed their daddy when he pulled into the driveway after a long day at work. They already had dressed themselves up and made sure that they had their bathroom call and even ventured into the deep dark depths of the garage to retrieve their sled. Wow! I have amazing children that plan ahead! My three and four year olds are pure genius! lol

Daddy was already dressed ready to go and so were they...but alas...I couldn't find my snow gear anywhere...darn...I...am...so...sad... *snort*

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Our Daily Bread Designs - Joy to the World
Paper: PTI White, Riding Hood Red, Very Vanilla, My Mind's Eye DP
Ink: Stazon, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Martha Stewart Snowflake Punch, Nestabilities, Dew Drop, Embossing Folder, Cuttlebug, Sponges, Shrink Plastic, Corner Rounder Punch, Taffeta Ribbon, Dimensionals, Linen Thread, Circle Punch

Card Gift Set for Gram

Here it is in all it's glory...Gram's Birthday Gift Card Set. It's my Gram's Birthday today and I have been working on this for the last few days :) I promised up some photos for your viewing pleasure so here they are *wink* Would you believe that the main images are stickers? I know! I didn't believe it at first that a sticker could look this good on a card until I was shopping at Crafty Capers. One of the card class instructors was putting together some cards for a display board and I wanted one of the stamps that she was showcasing. She laughed and told me that they were Penny Black Stickers coated with a sticky strip and then covered in Glitter Ritz Warm Translucent Glitter! I nearly fell over! I was so excited that I immediately bought some to create this lovely gift set.



Let me start off by showing you the cool box that holds this gift set. I purchased one of Lauren Meader's (My Time) All Boxed Up Downloadable Templates from Papertrey Ink. and printed it off right onto my cardstock. Lauren and Nichole are pure genius marketing these templates!! I have purchased all of them so far and I just love the possibilities of them :) I included an altered RSVP Pen in the set so that Gram could sign her cards.



Here is the grouping of 4 coordinating cards that belong inside the fun gift packaging. Pardon my really crummy photo editing! I was in a hurry to get these edited before my husband left for work. For this entire set I only used 3 colours plus the sheet of stickers. I pulled these colours out of the images and paired them up with some K&Co. DP that I already had on hand. Some of the elements that I tried to keep the same on every card were: Kaiser Pearls, Organdy Ribbon, Martha Stewart Scallop Punch and the colours.



It is very hard to tell in these photos, but the images are completely covered in glitter and really shine! Each card has a different layout and I left them blank so that they could be used for any occasion. My Gram is always asking me about my cards and she used to buy them from a local gift shop without telling me so that she could send them out to family and friends. I no longer sell them locally so I wanted to make a set of cards just for her.


All of these cards have been machine stitched, sponged and some what dimensional. I popped up some of the layers so that they didn't look so flat. I cuttlebugged all of the very vanilla card stock and each card has a piece of designer paper on it. I love how the blues look warm next to the vanilla.



Here is a picture of my Gram cutting a rug at my brother's wedding reception last month. At almost 80 years old, she still has more energy than I do! Happy Birthday Gram and I hope that you enjoy your gift set :) Love you!

Gift Set Recipe:

Stamps: Baroque Motifs for the inside of the card
Paper: Papertrey White, Bordering Blue, Very Vanilla, Night of Navy, K&Co DP
Ink: Bordering Blue, Night of Navy, Sahara Sand
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Penny Black Stickers, Sticky Strip, Glitter, Dimensionals, MyTime Template, Grosgrain Ribbon, Organdy Ribbon, Kaiser Pearls, Pretties Kit, Martha Stewart Scallop Punch, RSVP Pen, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Sponges

Think Pink with Our Daily Bread Designs

When Our Daily Bread Designs released the set called Hope, I was very thankful. This set can be used for many different causes, but I chose to stick with the "Think Pink" theme. Breast cancer has unfortunately affected our family for years.


Shortly after Bill and I got engaged, my mother in law found a lump in breast. 10 long months later, she finished the last of her radiation treatments one week before our wedding - we were so thankful to have her there for our big day! Linda was back to work in no time and feeling like she was in remission and on top of the world until our son was a year old.

She started going for more tests and had found that the cancer had silently crept into her bones. Through this, Linda tried to keep working, looking after her dogs and the family all while refusing to be a victim (she could be a little stubborn :)

After being diagnosed with terminal cancer Linda made the most that she could with the little time that she had and helped us to welcome our daughter into the world and celebrate her first birthday, Christmas and Easter before passing away in her sleep. My children were young at the time and will only remember her by a few memories and the abundance of shared stories and family photos. May 15th, 2008 marked the one year anniversary of Linda's passing.



When I got the Hope set into my hands, the first thing I thought about creating was something that I would see daily - every time I see a pink ribbon, I can't help but think of Linda. I made a desk note pad because I forever have sticky notes stuck all over the house and also made a coordinating journal with the papers that Kelley sent me to keep by my computer. I am always in need of scraps of paper and this way I will have organization and memories all in the same place :)


This set is a wonderfully versatile as you can change the colour of the ribbon for many different causes and the scriptures still match. The scriptures are incredibly inspirational and comforting, perfect for positive thinking!

Kelley has put together a "Hope" package that is free when you purchase the Hope stamp set (package is a $10 value and while quantities last) Here are the goodies that you will receive with your purchase :)


Project Recipe:

Stamps: Our Daily Bread Designs - Hope
Paper: Papertrey White, Rose Red, Prism DP, Watercolour
Ink: Basic Black, Versa Mark, Rose Red, SU Markers
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Composition Book, Bind It All (Clear Dollar Stamps), O-Wires, RSVP Pens, Our Daily Bread Designs Hope Pack, Taffeta Ribbon, Pink Ribbon Brads, Cuttlebug, Nestabilities, SU Scallop Edge Punch, Sponges, Acrylic Picture Frame, Post-it's, RSVP Pen

Sweet three and blog candy winner...

My sweet baby girl turned three today and to celebrate we took the kids over to the Vancouver Aquarium. Ashlynn really wanted to see 'Nemo' and she got to see a whole lot more! These are some pictures that I took earlier today....she's looks so grown up now....Whaaaa!!!!

Ashlynn wouldn't look at the camera long enough for me to snap a picture because she was already plotting to run off somewhere else!

This is one of my very first baby, Taiton! He's 4 1/2 now and he's a little firecracker with a sweet baby face :)


Both of my children LOVE Thomas the Tank Engine so of course we had to ride the miniature train at Stanley park! I just thought that I would share a few pictures of my little one's while they are still little (they grow up too fast for my liking!)

As promised, I will now announce the winner of my Peace on Earth Blog Candy....Congratulations
Annelies!!! She was the random comment generator #29 :)

Happy Birthday! The life experience I learned a lot from is my trip to Uganda. Since I came back I know my problems are only small. Here's my link: http://scrapannelies.blogspot.com/2008/09/kims-blog-candy.html
Greetings from Belgium, Annelies

Annelies, I will be contacting you to find out where in Belgium to mail your stamps! Thank you everyone for participating in my Blog candy and sharing your very moving life experiences with me whether they were good or bad...

I read all of the comments and was touched that so many of you could open up and share with me something that has made you who you are today - I wish that I had a blog candy for everyone! I am off to bed in a few minutes as it was a really long day and my bed is calling for me ;)

Goodnight Everyone!

A Seagull's Sanctuary...

I bought this beautiful stamp because it reminds me so much of my parent's vacation property and where we go to relax :) The property is waterfront and located about 3 hours from where I live. After a long drive it is lovely to pull up a lawn chair and look out at the view. Ahh, just looking at the picture below makes me wish that I was there right now....wait...maybe not (there aren't any stamps on my holidays...aack!) lol - Doesn't this just bring out the calm in you? :)


I saw this stamp come up one eBay and bought it because it reminds me of the garden path guides that my dad created. My dad likes to beach comb, and these were some of his finds that line the path headed towards the water.


Because of the beautiful details on this stamp, it was very easy to determine where to add the extra layers to create the paper tole. The life preserver has 3 layers and the starfish has 2. These both have been heat embossed to create the "wet" look via clear embossing power.



This image went particularly well with some left over Christmas Basic Grey (Figgy Pudding) designer paper - the rich colours really lent itself towards a masculine card. I added eyelets to the corners and some of my well loved twine. It's all in the details for me :)


Just before I finish off this post, I thought that I would leave you with another of my favourite vacation photos. Meet Bill (my husband )and Taiton my 3 year old little boy at the time. This photo was taken after an evening of throwing rocks in the water for the neighbours dog to catch. Dirty, wet and smelly....meet the men in my life! lol


Card Recipe:

Stamps: PSX
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Sage Shadow, Basic Grey DP, K&Co DP, Papertrey White, Watercolour
Ink: Basic Black, Versa Mark, Bravo Burgundy, SU Markers
Accessories: Aqua Painter, Eyelets, Cropadile, Twine, Sewing Machine, Brads, Mat Pack, Paper Piercer, Embossing Powder, Craft Knife, Cuttlebug, Nestabilities and Dimensionals