Home safe and sound

Here are some of the make and takes. When we registered we received a 6X6 album. The make and takes were all designed to fit inside the album. They also had to be quick projects that would each take less than 5 minutes.
The companies represented in this set of make and takes are
Heidi Swapp, Xyron, Around the Block, Making Memories, We R Memory Keepers, Marvy Ulida, Gelatins (Hockey Stamps)SEI, and Cosmo Cricket. Most of the cardstock used was Prism. We made more before dinner but I haven't taken a photo yet.

Lots of projects

Yesterday was a great day at Open Page's Wholesale Retailer's education program! I did 6 classes and at least as many make and takes. After dinner I went back to my room and finished off 2 projects I hadn't totally completed in class and did another class kit project. Lots of chipboard, and minibooks. I'm glad I spent the time scrapbooking to unwind or I wouldn't have been able to sleep.
You should have seen all the door prizes the scrapbook manufacturers provided. Unfortunately I wasn't one of the many lucky winners but still received lots of products to take back to the store.
Today I'm off to the mini trade show and more make and takes.

Added some photos to old posts

Now that I have recharged batteries I have added some promised photos to a couple of last week's posts. They are also added to my slideshow at the side of this blog. Hope you enjoy them

Used some new Basic Grey Papers

Used the new Basic Grey Phoebe, Scarlet Letter and Stella Ruby papers for layouts I scraplifted from our store samples. Thanks Barb and Bri for your inspiration.

Magic Money Wallet

I was destined to make this magic money wallet. Eliz gave me a copy of the directions on Thursday. Saturday Aaron won a Good Sportsmanship Award at Cub Car Rally and received a calculator in a case that works on the same principals. That evening we were talking and Arthur said he saw them out of leather but the straps were crossed on one of them. Of course I had the directions so here is my attempt. I'll try to cross the ribbons on the next one I do.

Kathy at work helped with how to open it. If you open from the right the money is on one side. Close it up again and open it from the left and the money is on the other side. Cool Magic Trick!

Gadgets only as good as the power source.

It seems the more gadgets we have the more we rely on them.
We are at a loss when something doesn't go the way it usually does. Its so easy to take photos with a digital camera and upload them but the gadgets are only as good as the power source. My batteries don't have enough power to turn the camera on let alone take a photo. I had to use my scanner and its been so long I almost forgot what to do. Not to mention I had to turn on 2 computers to scan the photo and to make this post.
In any event, here is the frame we did in Lucan using alcholol inks on glossy cardstock. I used a Peel off sticker on a square of transperancy to hide the people in the photo we didn't know.I coloured the sticker with Sakura Gel Pens. Add a bit of wire, some Prima flowers and beads and it all came together.

Had a fun stamping day yesterday

Thanks Lizz for hosting our stamping day. Did a few new techniques. The cracked glass was fun. I had seen it demonstrated but never done it. Also the cool mitre technique and the photo corners using the 2 sizes of square punches. Thanks so much for hosting and coming up with the ideas. Can't wait for our next get together at Eliz's.

ps my kids are getting confused as to where I am going so they decided I have to call Eliz,
Elizabeth so they can keep it straight.

pps: Aaron really liked the cracked glass. I have many more cracks in the glass covering the rose. Will have to do it again to use it for a card.

Spring is officially here!

Spring officially arrived yesterday. I always leave my Dickens Village set up on top of the living room wall unit but its time to put my snowman collection away. Not sure if the weather will cooperate or not but I'm done with winter.

As promised I did a little something with the metal pail and one of the jumbo paper clips I found last week. Food Basics had small plants on and it fits perfectly in one of the pails. I removed the handle, put it through the plant and then put it back on. The Crop-O-Dile punches holes in the metal like it was butter so I could thread ribbon and fibres through the holes. Couldn't determine which stamp to use so just glued a couple of Petaloo apple blossoms on it. I added a die cut flower and some fibre to the paper clip to add a little colour to the plant. Happy Spring!

I think I finally have it!

I think I finally have my Wishblade figured out. Designing still takes me a while to do but I have been able to come up with a few things. I downloaded some of the new free files from the Wishblade Designs and with the help of the ladies at the Yahoo Wishblade group figured out how to use them. I have also collected tons of cool files on my computer and have spent the afternoon cutting some out. I'm not sure now where I found them so cannot give credit due to some talented people. I must say its been a learning curve but I am much more comfortable with the machine now and can see a multitude of applications.

Easter card using some of my Papershapers punches

I've been wanting to do a card using punches for a while and this is the first opportunity I have had. I turned the card over to punch the bunnies facing the other way so that it was symmetrical.

Fibre I found at No Frills was a perfect addition. I still need to add a greeting but don't have an Easter greeting stamp so I'll have to use some letter stamps. In any case here is the card in progress.

Happy Birthday Wyatt & James

We had a belated birthday party for Wyatt (5) and James (11)
at Granny's. Its been a busy March Break with lots of activities. Thanks Aunt Carol, and Granny for making it so much fun.
Jenna gave Wyatt her fishy card she made at the card class last week so I only had to make a card for James.
I typed his name in Pokemon font and then again in a Pokemon dingbat font. Mounted both strips on navy and placed on a dark red card front. The card impressed all our Pokemon fans.

March Break Photos

Oma and Opa took Aaron and Jenna to the Fanshawe Sugar Bush on Wednesday while I was at work. They had a great time. Its always fun spending time with them.

More super finds.

1} This morning while in search of birthday presents for my nephews I just happened to find those cute metal pails, (which incidentally I had to have in each colour available.) I read somewhere that the Crop O Dile punch goes through the metal like it was butter and it does.
2} Then after supper, I went to Dollar Giant in Argyle Mall London (to get something for my bored little girl to do while we were visiting Granny's.) I got some card kits for her and some jumbo paper clips for me.
3} Found chipboard coasters on ebay from a Canadian source. Hopefully they will arrive soon so I can play with them.
So when the kids are back in school and hubby is on day shift I'm going to make something to celebrate spring.

My version of a Basic Grey Layout

Several people were scraplifting a Basic Grey Blush layout on Sunday so here is my version.

I used Gel-a-tins build a flourish with kalidescope embossing powder to add some shine around the photo. Stickles and glitter gel pen to add some bling to the pattern in the paper. Assorted flowers and rhinestone accents to top it off. Title is stamped font cut out by the Cricut machine.

The paper was too pretty to cover up so I added 2 hidden journalling tags by cutting around part of the images and tucking the red cardstock with the journalling under. A few flowers, gems and ribbon complete the look

Finally some photos

Its taken me a few days to get these photos up.

They are a couple of the layouts I worked on on Sunday. The first one is the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. I used the surprise package from my friend Lizz. I still want to do some stamping with versa mark to finish it off. I'm not quite sure what I want to do to the Florida one. Looking for the perfect embellishment.

Card classes I'm teaching

Some card classes I'm teaching at Scrapaholics in Mt. Brydges.
over the next couple of weeks
Kid's card class. We will use bubble wrap, crayons, pop dots, glitter brads and ribbon with your stamps to create 4 fun cards.
Card Frenzy
We will use the Split negative technique to make a stunning black and white card, use punches to create an interesting thinking ofyou card., the Retiform technique to create a birthday card and use embossing ink/powder to change the colour of brads for an all purpose card.

Oh happy day!

Eliz delivered my other Stamping Up order to work today and we played with the slot punch. Love the way it makes a scalloped edge. After she left I took it a step further. The inspiration for the left side of this layout is a direct scraplift from the current issue of Canadian Scrapbooker using the white blue and green Chatterbox floral print. So I won't post it here. To complete the layout, I cut out a circle from a square of the patterned paper and positioned the punch along the edge of the opening. I continued around the circle to make a nice flower. Had to play with the placement a bit to get the petals even. When I got home I used one of my new stamp sets, white craft ink and white embossing powder to finish it off. I will add some journalling with a hidden tag.

Ps. Thanks Lizz so much for the extra goodies. It was a nice surprise! See you our next stamp day.

Completed my class registrations

That's it. I have now finished registering for all the classes I am going to take in Missisauga, Novi, Michigan and Buffalo. I think I have a good cross section projects from the latest and greatest scrapbook companies. We are going to be busy at all 3 of the events but still have time to shop til we drop. Anyone want to join us?
Here are the links if anyone is interested Creating Keepsakes Convention Buffalo2007 beginning of June
Great Lakes Mega Meet, Novi Michigan 2007
beginning of May

So glad my family is so supportive of my scrapbooking habit. Thanks guys! I couldn't do it without you.

Update to my reverse image stamping troubles

For those of you who know my reverse image stamping troubles, I bought a reverse image stamp with my 40% off coupon but shouldn't have. The transparency works better than the flat rubber stamp. Not a wasted trip though because I bought some pretty ribbon, picked up some stamps I had ordered and visited Cherie at Primarily Paper in Lambeth on the way home.
I spent the rest of the afternoon altering some of the cards for upcoming card classes.

Aaron and I made a welded title using the Robo Master Software

Aaron has been a Pokemon fan since he was little. I remember making a Pokeman birthday cake for him when we lived in Windsor and that was almost 8 years ago. I was playing with my Wishblade today and made the Pokemon part of the title when he was at school. Not quite right so we tweaked it when he got home. He typed in Maniac and welded the letters together. Couldn't figure out how to mat it yet so we cut it out of yellow and blue and offset them a bit. I have some Pokemon dingbats I want to play with next and soon he will have a Pokemon scrapbook page for his book. Don't know who was more excited.

UHU Product Test Report

Upon Heather's suggestion, I took part in UHU Adhesive Product Test.
Within a week I received a sample UHU Creative Scrapbookers glue pen and a UHU Original glue stick that goes on purple and dries clear. They asked that I post my review on my blog and send them the link. So here goes.
I am not a fan of glue sticks but decided to give it a try first. It worked fine for attaching paper to paper but I haven't used it on photos yet. As for the UHU Creative Scrapbooker's glue pen, I found the flow of adhesive a little difficult to regulate. If I touched it to the paper the little glue that came out did not stick. Squeezed it a little bit and too much glue would stick everything together. (I was making a magic card and didn't want everything to stick) or that the glue would ooze out from under the layers of paper and dry shiny as in the spotlighted rose card. Just like with any new tool, you have to experiment and get used to it before you can recommend it or not. I will update this post when I have had a chance to pass final judgement.
If you are interested in seeing what others have to say about UHU Adhesives check out
Maria Filosa's Blog

If you blog and are interested in participating you can e-mail
UHU Samples
Be sure to put “UHU Samples” in the subject line. And remember, due to the limited number of samples they can only samples to crafters who blog. So be sure to include a link to your blog in your e-mail.

Received Belated Birthday Wishes

My birthday this year just keeps going on. Today I received a beautiful sunny arrangement and card from my friend Eliz. Belated gifts are nice to receive because you are not expecting them. Thanks so much!
It was nice to have Eliz and Lizz here for an afternoon of Stamping too. Now they both know the magic behind Magic Cards.

Found a treasure trove of metal embellishments

I went into Dollarama this morning after going to the bank and found a treasure trove of metal embellishments. New ribbon slides, charms for a mulitude of occasions {including baby, family, birthday, princess, diva, best friends}, coloured safety pins in assorted sizes {pink, blue, cream, green) and the cutest jewel links. Had to buy more of the stacking round containers to keep them all in. I'm sure I'll have fun with them. They are now organized into themes and labelled so I know what I have.

Used some of my new punches

See. I did use my new punches. I stamped 3 teddy bear images and layered them. Used the scalloped square to punch a hole in patterned paper. Placed the bear so that he appears to be climbing out of the hole. I finished it by making a double ended layered tag for the greeting using the tag punches. For the 2nd baby card, I used the scalloped square to make a frame for my baby image.

Trouble with reverse image stamping

Ok this should not be so difficult. I want to use a baby shoe stamp to create a pair of shoes. I have stamped first on one side of vellum. let it dry, turned it over and then stamped on the other side. Because vellum is translucent both images show on both side. I used this technique last year for a Valentine's card for the kids. That was not the look I was after now though. I tried using a brayer with no luck at all. Then I tried using a transparency to transfer the image from the plastic to paper. No matter what ink I used the reverse image always looks like a 2nd generation image and even if I used the 2nd generation image for the other image, it still looks darker than the reverse one. I also tried a teddy bear stamp from a different set with the same results. It would be ok if I was using a tree stamp and wanted a reflection in the water.
I checked on Splitcoaststamper to see if there was another way. Wax paper or a stamp designed for reverse imaging were suggested. I'll just have to go get the reverse image stamp when I get a chance.

I can't help myself

This has got to stop but I just can't help myself. With all the ideas I have been seeing on Splitcoaststamper and the blogs I have been frequenting, I can't stop looking for paper punches. {There are so many cool things to do with them.}
My son was no help either. Aaron didn't have anything to read so we just had to go to the book store. He also needed yellow model paint to add a lightning bolt to his Cub Car so we had to stop at a craft store. The sale on cardstock and selected ribbon was too good to pass up. The square scallop punch was calling my name. {Even Jenna heard it, although she now denies it.} I was able to use my 40% off coupon to minimize the damage.
I must say in my defense though, that I dusted off my paper shapers border punches. I'm sure I can come up with something using them.

Treated myself a new paper trimmer

I have worn out both my Fiskars and Zision trimmers and needed something better to cut those straight lines. I took my husband shopping this morning and ended up at Staples. I bought a combination rotary/guillotine style cutter made by Staples. I was surprised by the amount of choice I had. This one was reasonably priced and came with an extra blade and a scoring blade.
Its not as portable as the smaller ones but I think I'll be much happier with the results.

Pretending I'm out of the ice and snow

I'm pretending to get out of the ice and snow by working on our Disney vacation album. The autograph book is almost done but Jenna keeps asking me when I'm going to work on the big one. She is proud to tell anyone who will listen that she has more pages done in her Disney album than I have. Here is a scraplift of Bri's layout. Using one of Basic Grey's Phoebe line. Cut the title myself using my Wishblade. Cut out some of the flowers from the paper. Added Crystal Laquer and some glitter. Voila! A little bit of paradise.