Happy Family Day

It's Family Day in Ontario and in some other provinces in Canada. I'm working overnights and got up after 4 hours of sleep to spend some time with my family. Will catch the rest of my 8 hours sleep after dinner.
If you are off enjoy your day and if not have a wonderful day anyway.

Oh my, its been a while

Oh my, its been a while. I've been working nights and Arthur is using the laptop when I am up so I had limited access to a computer. Well today I fixed that problem, I purchased an off lease computer and set it up to replace my original network hub because that computer was too slow.
This one is much faster so I may be able to post more often again.

Got my Funtime Scrapbooking software to work

I should be going to bed right now but I wanted to post that I finally got my Funtime Scrapbooking software to work with my blue Wishblade. It was so easy to weld letters and to add a shape all in one program. No more creating the file in Inkscape, saving it as a svg to open it in Inkscape, saving it as a dxf to import it into Robocraft, save it in Robocraft so that it can be opened up in Wishblade. Sound complicated, well it was? It was also complicated to install the Funtime Pro and to get it to work. I had to copy a .dll file from Wishblade and save it in Funtime scrapbooking folder. Somehow I lost the .dll file I was trying to copy so had to do a System Restore to get the file back I lost. I'll post the title I did later. Can't wait to have more time to play with Funtime, but if I start to play now I will have to work all night without any sleep and that wouldn't do

Kally likes parties

For Kally the best part of a birthday party is the tissue.

Happy Birthday Jenna

Happy birthday sweetie. Hope you had a great day!

Free digital cutting files including .gsd & .svg

What an incredible find! I keep saying I want to use my Wishblade more often but since I have the older blue one, I can't use the newer .gsd files. I need files in other formats that I can convert using the software I have.
In my blog hop this morning I found this site
http://digifree-cuts.blogspot.com/. It is a search engine for digital cutter files in various formats.
I downloaded a few .svd files and will try to convert them to .dxf using Inkscape and then import them to Robocraft and save them as .gsd files to use with my Wishblade software.

I haven't had a chance yet to try out my new Funtime Scrapbooking Software to try a hand at creating my own designs but hopefully will have some time to try soon. In the meantime I am eternally grateful to those designers who share their files.

One last post for today

I know I am running a little behind. I bought the Happy New Year stamp from Stamping Up and had intended to make New Year's cards to send to a few close friends. That didn't happen yet so I wanted to share the collapsible calendar template that I was going to put inside of the card, similar to the Sizzix POP Up Ball.

Funtime Scrapbooking software

I have had my Blue Wishblade for a couple of years and want to use it more for titles and embellishments. I had been using Inkscape and then Robocraft to transfer the files into the right format and then cutting using the Wishblade software. The blue Wishblade will only work with Windows XP and earlier. I finally ordered Funtime Scrapbooking software that should allow me to design and cut using only one program, thus saving time and aggrivation when other programs freeze in the middle of a project and won't let you save them. The software arrived a couple of days ago and I can't wait to use it but have other things I need to do first. That may be a weekend project.

Trifold Shutter Album

In my blog hop I saw Andrea's Tri-fold shutter album and knew that was what I had to do to hold our annual family Christmas photo. I found some instructions here but decided just to make 2 tri fold cards and attach them together. My finished album is 6X8" and holds a lot of photos.

{sorry about the glare in the cover photo. I have acetate over the photo to protect it.}

Christmas Scrapping

Thanks to a dear friend, Lizz, and her monthly scrapbook class I have 2 layouts almost finished of this year's Christmas. I do have one of my own partially completed on my craft table. Will share when finished.

No more working evenings and weekends

I just accepted an overnight position at work so no more 3-11's and no more weekends! That's the upside. My family is excited because they will see more of me. I will sleep while they are at school.

With a more regular schedule I hope to be able to schedule time to get healthier with our new Y membership and more time for friends and creative . In fact I have a box from Stamping Up sitting here just waiting to be opened.

Stamping Up Occassions Mini is available now.

The Occasions Mini Catalogue!
This is Stampin' Up!'s spring preview. You'll see tons of new and fabulous products listed in here including:

•Clear acrylic blocks
•Clear stamps
•Chipboard albums
•Great new stamp sets

•Fabulous Brads
•New Big Shot dies
•AND BRAND NEW PUNCH DESIGNS!!!!
You can start ordering from this catalogue today. You can place orders with me or online through my store. Any orders placed will qualify for the SAB bonuses listed above.

Sale-a-bration! What a time to save!

The Sale-a-Bration Mini Catalogue!

It's the greatest time of year to buy and save during Stamping Up's Sale-a-Bration

Spend $65 on any current Stampin' Up items and get a choice of 6 new products for free OR your choice from over 45 current stamp sets. {Email me and I will send you a copy of the stamps from the current sets} One free item with every $65 purchase and the sky is the limit. Shop with me on line @ http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/gerrierollins/promotions or email me.

Why not host a Stampin' Up workshop (or catalogue party) with me and get a free item from the Sale-a-bration mini for every $395 in orders collected (in addition to any you earn through your own purchase)- why not grab a few friends, place an order and you reap the rewards? Free stamping/scrapbooking items + time with friends = priceless

Great ideas for those sizzix pop up dies

In my blog hopping I stumbled on to Karen's blog. She has done amazing things with the pop up dies that Stampin up carries and other Sizzix pop up dies. Take a look and it will be time to dust the dies off.
http://www.karenburniston.typepad.com/

Happy New Year

We spent New Year's Day in Niagara Falls at the Fallsview Waterpark thoroughly enjoyed the change of pace. Finished the tripoff with a lovely dinner overlooking the Falls and a drive by the light display. Glad we drove home last night while the going was good. Today however is a different story

Wrapping help

Just finishing off the last minute touches for our family Christmas today and Kally decided the packages needed some adjustment. Hopefully she didn't leave teeth marks in the celophane

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas

These photos were taken by my Mom when she was over with my Dad on Christmas Eve. Dad helped Arthur install my Christmas present. A gorgeous glass insert with a Calla Lily on it for my front door. It sure lets the light shine in to the room.

I hope your Christmas was filled with bright moments spent with special people.

Olympic torch relay

My sister-in -law, April carried the Olympic torch in Chatham last night. We were there to cheer her on. It was so much fun. We even got to touch and hold the torch. On the way home the kids couldn't stop talking about how much fun it was and played with the thunder sticks, tamborine from RBC and the coke bottle lights that changed colours. Aaron took video with Oma's camera and I look forward to seeing that too. It was fun being a part of Olympic history!

Its a Wrap!

The shopping is all done and now all that's left to do with the Christmas gifts is to wrap them to get them ready for giving. Over the next few days I hope to show you some of the different gift wrapping ideas we have used.

Jenna wanted to give her teachers a little treat so we put some hot chocolates, one regular and one dark chocolate with a candy cane and some Hershey kisses in a mug. She wanted a pretty package so we made 3X3" box bottom and lid (Like she learned at a kid's class at Heather Summers) and used a copier overhead acetate sheet scored at just under 3" (this left an opening for the handle of the mug to come out of the package. We added ribbon, a gift tag and a fun large bell to finish it off. She made one for each of her teachers and an extra one for Aaron's teacher.

Thanks so much Jenna!

Had a tough day at work today and when I got home my not so little girl was waiting on the porch for me with a friendly "Hi mom". (I called earlier to let them know I was later than I expected.) That mean't the world to me and I want to let her know how much I appreciate her.

Thanks so much sweetie. Love Mom.

We miss you Braedon, Calum and MacKenzie

Our gingerbread house decorating was not the same without you guys. We decorated with our cousins Scott and Colin at Granny's house yesterday. Hope to be able to get together before Christmas. Love Aaron and Jenna

Look what's under the Christmas tree?

We put up our Christmas tree on the floor this year instead of on a coffee table and Kally has found an renewed interest in being under the tree and playing with the ornaments on the lower branches. She particularly likes the snowflake one with the bell on the bottom.

Secret Santa????

I am participating in a Secret Santa gift exchange for 2 weeks with teenage girls and am looking for a Secret Santa verse I can put with the gifts.
Anybody have any ideas?

Still Re-organizing my craft room

I am still in the process of re-organizing my craft room once again. I have my punches hanging on curtain rods on the wall behind my door and a lot of mess all over the place. Today a local craft store had modular storage units similar but not hte same as these on for 55% off so I purchased a couple of 6 cube units to replace the ugly brown desk that doubled as a storage unit, come containers to fit inside 4 of the cubes and a couple of wall ribbon holder racks. Now I have to find the time to get in there and move things so I can put my new cube units in and go from there. These units are not as deep as the desk is so should give me a little more floor space to move around in. Can't wait to get things put away so I can start crafting in there again.

My Christmas Swap Card

I cased the card (sorry, not sure from who) but added the spirelli ornament using Stampin'Up's scallop circle punch and gold cording.

Work, work, work & more work

Picked up an extra shift Monday from 3-12, worked 3-11 Tuesday and the from 11-7 sleep shift. Have today off and then work Thursday all day for training, Fri from 3-12 and then the weekend from 11-2230 hours. When do I have time to play?

Happy Monday

My family will attest to the fact that I've been grumpy lately so I have decided I'm going to try really hard to be more positive. Have a wonderful Monday, whatevcr you are doing today!
I work at 3 but have some time before then to do some errands and have lunch with my daughter. Aaron can't come home for lunch because of volleyball practice but maybe I'll be able to catch him for coffee on Wednesday.

Reorganzing my craft room

I am in the middle of reorganizing my craft room once again and wonder why I ever started. I would like to start from scratch but that is not possible. My room is the size of a small bedroom with one large window and a closet. All of the walls are covered almost to the ceiling with stuff. There is too much in there so I can't find anything. I'm going to have to purge. I think I may donate a lot of things I don't use to my son's teacher who wants to start a card making club at lunchtime with her grade 7 and 8's.

First I cleared the punches from the over the door rack and put them on curtain rods hung on my wall behind the door. Now I can close the door and no one will know what is behind it unless I want them to.

Next I have to relocate some of the shelving that is sitting on my table taking up valuable workspace and find a spot for it all.

Its all taking much longer than I first anticipated but that seems like it is my current reality. I will show you my changes when I am happy with them but for now,

Happy crafting.

Remembrance Day

I just attended the Remembrance Day Ceremony at my children's school and as always was very moved by the young voices. The following video was one they showed.

Visited by 2 witches

Jenna and her friend Gabby were Bewitched tonight. The girls had lots of fun and Aaron couldn't wait unitl they got home so he could raid his sister's bag.

Happy Hallowe'en

Have fun this perfect Hallowe'en evening.

Wishing Jenna's teacher the best

Jenna came home today with the news that her teacher will be undergoing surgery for breast cancer next week. We wish her the best and hope she'll be able to resume teaching soon.

Cool Hallowe'en suckers for card

Found these cool suckers and thought they would be perfect to use with the Hallowe'en stamp from the Sweet Centers set. Inked up the square stamp with 3 different colours for a fun look and I used a retired itty bitty Hallowee'en set from last year for the background of the card.

Today is the Annual GI Fundraiser

Jenna and I are off today for Heather and her Simply Starts team's GI Cancer fundraiser. Can't wait!

Wow its been a while

I can't believe its already the 21st of October. Been busy working and then came down with the flu on Monday evening. Will post when I'm feeling better.

Checking out the new car

Aaron and Jenna were almost as excited as I was to have the new car home. I'm a little scared though. Canada's Worst Driver tv show has taught them more than I want them to know about my driving habits.

Warm and snuggly

My afghan is not finished yet but Kally thinks its warm and snuggly

Happy Thanksgiving

Just wanted to wish all my fellow Canadians a Happy Thanksgiving weekend. Hope you are able to spend time with those you love.

Christmas Tag Box

I'm keeping true to my promise to myself to make some of the projects I download so here is my Christmas tag box using Christmas Punch level 2 Hostess set pictured on page 14 of the current Stampin Up Idea Book and Catalogue. I used chocolate chip cardstock for the box, and an overhead projector sheet for the lid.

There are several tutorials on the web and here is just one of them.

Tag box tutorial {Sorry the original link did not work. This one should}

Stampin Up Deal of the week

Now only $16.99 My way punch

$15.99- Trio blossom punch

$15.99- 5 petal punch

If you're Canadian and want to order at this special price email me at Email me

or click on my online shopping link in the sidebar.