Jenna had a sick day

Jenna had a sick day today. Coughing, sore throat and generally not feeling well. She was not sick enough however to require my constant attention so I spent the day reorganizing our craft room. Hopefully things will be at hand so we can use them instead of having to hunt for them.

Lullaby

Its time to put my laptop to bed so I can get some sleep before they come home from skating. This working overnights is for the birds!

I'll never look at cookies the same way again

Paula who did the polymer clay scene in my last post has done some fabulous things with cookies too. I will never look at sugar cookies the same way ever again. These are far too pretty to eat.

Is it spring yet?

I don't know about you but I'm really tired of driving through snow storms. I know its only February but come on, enough is enough.
Anyway when I did a Google image search for Is It Spring Yet? I stumbled upon this interesting artist who uses polymer clay.
I sure can't wait until we can sit outside and see more than just white snow and bare branches.
http://polymerpaula.blogspot.com/2009/02/is-it-spring-yet-ii.html

Car troubles

Aren't cars wonderful when they work! But Oh such a pain when they don't.

On Monday as I was trying to leave for work the car wouldn't start. I ended up having a $35 car ride to work hoping my husband would be able to work magic, get the car started and come and pick me up after my shift. No such luck. He did have the car on a battery charger all evening and a neighbour helped him try to jump start it. It was uncooperative.

A co-worker generously offered to take me home which was way out of her way. Then to make matters worse I had to call her to come back after she dropped me off because I ironically had a set of work van keys in my pocket (although I hadn't even driven the van).

Yesterday morning CAA came to my rescue and towed the car to the dealership. I was all prepared to rent a car for the day because I had to be at work for noon. At 10:30 the mechanic from the dealership called and said the only thing they could find wrong was a loose battery connection. $38.00 later and my car is on the road again.

Fortunately it did not cost me very much except inconvenience and a good nights sleep.

The Heaven Shop

My daughter Jenna, a grade 5 student has chosen the Heaven Shop as a book to use for her book report. She has to compare and contrast life here and the a small town in Africa. I am also reading it so that I can help her with her work.

Malawi is a small, long narrow African country that surrounds Lake Malawi. It is bordered by Mozambique, Zambia and Tanzania. It has been ravaged by HIV/AIDS like the other Sub-Saharan countries where 15 million people live with AIDS and 13 million children are AIDS orphans. Deborah Ellis's novel The Heaven Shop was written to dispel myths about this awful disease and to celebrate the courage of children who are coping with the tragic circumstances in which HIV/AIDS has placed them.

Happy Valentines Day

Hope this finds you being able to spend time with those you love.

Creature comforts

Jenna left her housecoat in the living room this morning before she left for school. Kally thought it was the perfect place for a morning nap. Its especially good when the sun is shining.

Last 2 Valentines Cards

These are the last 2 Valentines cards I'm going to make this year. Again using the stamps, paper and punches from the Stampin' Up Love You Much Bundle

Love You Much!

I know I'm leaving this to the last minute but got a couple of Valentine's cards done this afternoon. I had hoped to have had them all done weeks ago but that didn't happen.

The middle picture is the inside of the cards.
I'm really glad I got my Martha Stewart eyelet lace punch. Can't wait til my Stampin' Up one arrives

Scrapbook friends

I went on a Scrapbook road trip today with a couple of very good friends. It had been way too long since we last spent time together so it was great to do so today. Thanks girls, you recharged my batteries. Working full time sure gets in the way of my social life.

I have been involved in the scrapbook business for a number of years and have met a multitude of wonderful people. Whenever I run into them it is nice to see so many familiar faces, I consider friends. Scrapbookers/stampers have their own community and I am fortunate to be part of it. This hobby of mine has done more than keep me sane on numerous occassions.

So as Valentines' Day approaches I just wanted to say thank you to those of you who share this part of my life with me, whether it be online friends, those I have helped match papers or those of you I have scrapbooked or stamped with. I appreciate you all.

Dusted off my Wishblade for Valentine's Treat bags

I dusted off my Wishblade and took out my new Pillow Box Sizzix Die from Stampin' Up. We were busy making little treat bags to hold candy bracelets for the girls and candy hearts for the boys in Jenna's class. The stamp set we used is the Love You Much set from this year's Love You Much bundle.

Ribbon was bought at Dollarama.

Jenna was really pleased with the result and I was happy she changed her mind about being too big to take Valentines to school. Aaron on the other hand agreed to take a bag of Hershey kisses to share with his friends just to humour me.

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

Sale-a-bration

Stampin Up's Sale-A-Bration promotion gives everyone a reason to celebrate!

Customers : Receive a free Sale-A-Bration product for every $60 purchase.

Hostesses: Receive a free Sale-A-Bration product with a $350 or more workshop, in addition to the normal hostess benefits.

Recruits: Choose any retail stamp set (a value up to $56.95) from the current catalogue when signing up during the promotion. Plus, get 15% off the regular $249 price of the Starter Kit--that's $410 worth of products for only $209.

To order product or book a party contact me

My son, a budding rock star?

My son met a dear friend of mine who is going to teach him how to play guitar. Aaron was taken by surprise when Mike showed him a couple of videos done by some of his students. He doesn't have any aspirations right now to make money playing music but was intrigued by the following video. Start practicing Aaron.

This is Tyler Edwards singing Carrie Underwoods Wasted

Lots o layers

I've been doing more blog surfing than creating lately but when I analyzed the photos of cards I saved to my hard drive, I discovered the ones I was particularly drawn to all had lots of layers. I always knew the difference between an amateur looking card and one I'd be proud to give was the fact that there were layers but now this has been taken to a new level. Most of them had 6 or more layers including cardstock, textured or punched elements, ribbon and embellishments.

This guy has glitter water and bead eyes.

Jenna's birthday party craft

I found these great 6X6" scalloped chipboard books at Micheals. Not in the scrapbook section but I guess you could call it in the party favour section near the back. The had coordinating papers, chipboard buttons, gems and glitter shapes to match. I added a little ribbon, rick rack and s ome photos soeach girl when home with a scrapbook of Jenna's 11th birthaday party. They were so much fun!

They are Keepers!

Jenna was arranging her many webkins on her bed and a couple of real life ones joined her.

Jenna was really pleased with her watch from us. She also really enjoyed her stylish rainboots too.

We're celebrating Jenna's birthday a day early

We are celebrating Jenna's birthday a day early with a family party this afternoon.

My 11 year old didn't have many things on her birthday list so its really hard to decide what to get her. I went with a gift I received on my 11th birthday so I hope she likes it. {She's reading over my shoulder and checks my blog daily so I can't tell you what it is.}

Dust bunnies are found

After 2 days of searching, the dust bunnies in my house have all been accounted for. They have moved on to warmer climates for the time being anyway. Now maybe I can start my weekend.

I have a problem!

I'm stuck! Its been so long since I have made a card, yes, I've been blog surfing everyday and saving pictures of cards I want to case. I have a dozen or so new stamp sets ,lots of pretty new papers. a ton of new ribbons and some pretty cool doodads (embellishements).. Our craft room is almost fully organized. So now? The problem is I have to make a birthday card for my daughter, Jenna's 11th birthday. She is such as special girl but I can't think of what kind of card I want to make.

New Stampin' Up Catalogue released today!

Check out the new catalogue at Stampin' Up. Lots of great new stamps, ideas and accessories.

Stampin' Up Love You Much Bundle

Stampin' Up's Valentine bundle is just what you need to tell those around you that "I love you" Through January 31, 2009 you can purchase this collection at 20% off the individual price.

It includes a stamp set, 3 heart punch and some yummy designer paper. Contact me for details.

I received the new Stampin Up Catalogue today!

Late this afternoon I received my very own copy of the new Stampin Up Catalogue. So guess what I'll be doing while Jenna watches the first episode of American Idol. I'll be browsing the catalogue and starting my wish list. I'll let you know what I think will be my favourites tomorrow.

Digging out again!

Can't find my camera at the moment to take a shot of Arthur digging out the snow yet again so this one taken from the web will have to do.

Aaron and Jenna are not happy that we live close enough to their school so they don't have to take the school bus. They missed out on a snow day again.

Ugh Winter, Is it done yet? Bundle up warm. I hear its going to be a frosty one tonight.

Under the weather

I know its been forever since I have posted and eons since I have posted a creation. I'm feeling a bit under the weather with a sinus and ear infection. My world seems a little cloudy right now. I'll be back when the sun emerges.

2008 in review

I was playing around with some images taken over the last year and decided to try the mosaic format that I have been seeing on a lot of blogs lately. This one was made using
http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php. Sure looks like we had lots of fun with family and friends and lots of birthdays too!

Sure is nice to relax

After the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, it sure feels nice to stay home and relax.

Tomorrow I have a list of things to do but high on that list is to put away some things in our craft room to make way for new projects but in the meantime I'm just going rest a while longer.

We are spending New Year's Eve at home with the kids. Hope you all get to spend the evening with some of the people you love.

Annual Christmas Portrait

When we sit at the kitchen table at my Mom and Dad's our eyes are always drawn to the numerous family portraits that are displayed there. Many of them are before my children's time but we always check them out and remember. Here is this year's version

My Wish by Rascal Flatts

Originally I was supposed to work this evening but because of the snow storm yesterday I had to work an overnight shift. They called me around noon to tell me I still needed to come in after 11 hours off but then fortunately they were able to find someone to cover my shift so I tried to sleep today.

I'll be able to spend Christmas Eve getting ready for Santa's arrival. That magic reindeer food will glisten on the snow and invite Santa's reindeer to stop at our house. We always leave cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer too.

Wishing you all sweet dreams tonight.

Helping Out

I don't know if she thought she was helping out or not but Kally, our cat, did want to be where the action was. I had stored the gifts to wrap in Staples bags.

She crawled inside one and went to sleep.

Christmas tradition

I was able to share one of my favourite Christmas traditions with the girls I work with. We walked through the winter wonderland of Pinafore Park in St. Thomas Ontario. It was cold but worth the trip.

A new Christmas Tradition

Maybe I'm a little sentimental because I have to work on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day so will not be able to do some of our own Christmas traditions but I was introduced to a wonderful new tradition by the teachers at the school at work. The class has been reading Glenn Beck's The Christmas Sweater and I have decided to share it with my own children.

The grandfather in the book reminds me of my father and Aaron & Jenna see some of Opa's tricks in the book too.

In any event I'm wishing you and yours lots of happy memories this holiday season.

Stampin Up Retiring Stamp List

Where do Stampin Up Stamps go when they retire?
The same places we do. Dozens of stamps from the Fall/Winter 2008 Idea book are dusting off their golf clubs in anticipation of their retirement. Now is the last chance to get them--they are only available until January 19, 2008.
Why wait? Order them now and get 10% off the retiring sets while quantities last.
Save even more with free shipping on orders over $100.00 between December 9 & 23, 2008. Check out the list by clicking on the photo. Contact me for more information.

the beauty of winter

After making 2 trips in storming conditions I had a few moments at home with my family.

I looked out the kitchen window and saw this beautiful spider web coated in snow. I was only able to enjoy it for a few moments as I had to go to work, making this the 3rd trip through storming conditions.

Light mixup

I asked my husband to put up the Christmas lights outside a few weeks ago before the snow fell.

He put some lights up and I was sure they were the indoor lights. Well he took them down yesterday because I wanted to decorate the tree today and they could warm up. We put them on the tree and discovered that they actually were the outside lights. He had just taken them out of the garland when he put them away last January.

Now I am left with the dilema of whether to leave those lights indoors and buy new outdoor lights or take the tree down and start from scratch again. The kids like the tree the way it is so I guess I'll go out and price new outdoor lights.

Note to self. Make sure I put the decorations away this January so I know where to find them.

New PageMap Sketches are online

New Page Map sketches for layouts and cards by Becky Fleck are now online

This card is a treasure

We received our first Christmas card today! This one is a keeper. It was made by the lady I look up to most in this world. My mom! She hand emboidered all her Christmas cards again this year.