A Sunny Saturday!

What a beautiful sunny Saturday!

We have had such a great day today!

First we went to a special showing of Alice in Wonderland this morning! It was very good, the time just flew by! Johnny Depp was a fun Mad Hatter! And the 3-D effects were cool!

Then we spent this afternoon doing this:



Yes, that's me skiing! I haven't skiied in more years than I care to mention. But it came back to me pretty quickly and it was so nice to be out in the bright sunshine!

Speaking of sunshine, here's a pic of sun flare:



Here's Steve skiing:




And Brittany about to ski the moguls!

Going Dotty

Here's a card I created for today's challenge at Bloggabella:




Yes, you guessed it, we were to use Polka Dots! So I combined Ella Lollipop in her cute dotted dress with three other dotted papers. This was a fun card to create!

Mixology

This past weekend we hosted a Euchre party with part of the objective being to use up some of the liquor in our cabinet.

So in preparation I browsed around the internet and found a few different pitcher drinks to make. They were all pretty good.

So first up is Crockpot Mulled Cider, I liked this one!

Peel of 1/2 Orange,cut up
1 6-inch Cinnamon stick, broken
1 piece Ginger root , 1 inch, peeled and thinly sliced
1 tsp whole Allspice
8 cups Apple cider or apple juice
1 cup Apple brandy (optional) (I used regular brandy)
1/4 cup Honey

Tie orange peel, cinnamon, ginger root, and allspice in an 8-inch square of 100-percent-cotton cheesecloth. -- Combine apple cider or juice, apple brandy (if desired)and honey in crock pot. Add spice bag. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 5 to 6 hours or on high-heat setting for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Remove and discard spice bag. Ladle cider into cups. Makes 8 to 9 eight-ounce servings.

Next is a Cosmopolitan, I really liked this one!

1 cup vodka
1 cup Chambord
½ cup lime juice
2 cups cranberry juice
4 stalks mint leaves

Add all ingredients except mint to a pitcher and stir well to mix. Chill in fridge, or add ice cubes to chill quickly. Pour into Martini glasses and garnish each with a mint sprig.



Then there's Mojitos, I liked these, might sweeten them a tad more,
Ingredients:

9 oz. light rum
6 tsp. sugar
3 cups Club Soda
3 limes
3 cups mint leaves

Quarter limes and squeeze juice into large pitcher. Add mint leaves and sugar, and “muddle” (crush using a muddler, the end of a rolling pin or back of a sturdy wooden spoon) together to release the oils in the mint. Add rum, and half of the squeezed lime sections (the rind adds the right amount of bitterness to the drink). Chill mixture until ready to serve. At party time, add club soda and gently stir. Pour into chilled, ice-filled glasses.

And finally a White Wine Sangria, also very nice

Juice of 1/2 Orange
1 bottle dry White wine
2 tblsp Sugar
1 oz Brandy
1 oz Cointreau
1/2 Orange in thin slices
1 Lemon in thin slices
2 cups Ice cubes
1 cup Club soda

Combine orange juice, wine, sugar, brandy and Cointreau. Add lemon and orange slices. Chill. To serve, add ice and club soda, stir gently.

Hope you've seen something that appeals to you,enjoy!

Little Red Wagon Challenge #18 - Felt

Its Wednesday and time for another Little Red Wagon challenge!



This week Carolyn gave us the challenge of using felt in our creations. So I dug into my stash of felt flowers and created two cards!

The first is inspired by one of my favourite designers Dawn McVey.



And the second is based on CPS sketch 152.



As always we love to see you what you create so link up your creations over at Little Red Wagon. Check out what the rest of the girlfriends created too!

Pile It On Challenge # 8 - Lucky Me

This week the PIO challenge theme is "Lucky Me." This can be interpreted this any way you like! You can use green or a clover in your creation somewhere, maybe have the sentiment "Good Luck" on your card, or just create something that makes you feel lucky....anything really!

And we are also being sponsored by Whimsy Stamps who recently released some amazing new images and sentiments. Whimsy Stamps is giving away a $15 Gift Certificate to the lucky randomly picked winner of this challenge! The Gift Certificate can be used at the Whimsy Stamps Store. The winner will be posted next Sunday, March 7th along with the new Pile It On! Challenge.

I decided to create a good luck card using their cute Owl stamp teamed with glittered paper by My Minds Eye.

And it includes the following challenges

• Pile it On: Lucky Me!!


• Lexi's Creations - Anything Goes


• Tellen's Place - Anything Goes


• C.R.A.F.T. Challenge - Ribbons and Sparkle


• Cute Card Thursday - Ribbon-tastic


• Stamps,Scraps and Doodles: - Sparkle and Shine


• Practical scrappers: Stamps


• Our Creative Corner: Sketch


• Crafty Catz: A Fancy Edge and ribbon
  
  
  
  

Its Snowing Again

But at least its light, fluffy, pretty flakes of snow. Can you see the snowflakes in the photo below?

Snow, Olympics, Movies

Happy Friday!

We woke up to more snow this morning, we've had more snow this week than in the rest of the winter combined!



And Steve happened to stay in Toronto last night so I got the pleasure of shovelling this morning! Oh well, I figure that's my workout today instead of Curves.

Did you stay up to watch the ladies skate last night? I did, the last flight of women were so good and I was so glad to see Joannie win bronze, she showed so much courage. But thank goodness the Olympics are almost over, I need some sleep, lol! And I have to get caught up on Survivor(will watch it today), 24, Amazing Race and American Idol too(I know, such priorities I have!).

And soon it will be Oscar night! Do many of you follow the Oscars? I do but every year its about 2 weeks before they are to be awarded and I have a list of movies I still want to see.

Of the movies nominated in various categories, and that I've seen, here's my thoughts:

Up In The Air - liked it but best picture? I don't think so.
Avatar - again I liked it but I don't think its worthy of best picture, the effects are really good though
The Blind Side - love Sandra Bullock in this
Julie and Julia - liked this movie, Meryl Streep has such a way of making you forget she's Meryl Streep when you watch her
Nine - kind of an odd movie, I liked the musical numbers and, like Meryl, Daniel Day Lewis makes you forget he's Daniel Day Lewis
Up - such a sweet story, I liked it
Sherlock Holmes - who doesn't like Robert Downey and Jude Law?
Young Victoria - I've always had an interest in royalty, the manipulations and politics are so intriguing( I'm also thinking of the Tudors here.)
Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince - you just have to like these movies
Star Trek - loved it

So the list of nominated movies I haven't seen but sound intriguing is shorter than I thought:
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglorious Bastards-Steve(who has seen thi sone)says its is pretty farfetched
Precious - I know this is supposed to be good but the story line doesn't appeal to me

I think I'll try to watch The Hurt Locker before Oscar night, is there any other one you think is a must see?

Papertrey Ink Bloghop - Design Team Appreciation

Its Papertrey bloghop time! This month our challenge is to review the Design Team gallery or any of the Design Team Members' blogs and find a project that is especially inspirational.Then we are to recreate the project with our own spin.

So I browsed the gallery and found this card created by Dawn McVey that I particularly liked. It also uses one of my favourite stamp sets,Floral Button Bits.



And here's my version:




I stayed close to Dawn's design but added an extra layer of paper, different colours, a different border punch and inked the edges to make them pop. I loved her rhinestone placement so copied that right down to the size and placement.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Papertrey Design Team members for their inspiration every month. My cardmaking,stamping skills and creativity have increased tenfold in the past 6 months or so that I've been following Papertrey!

Little Red Wagon- Challenge 17 - Black and White

This week Joanne challenged us to use black and white in our creation.

I decided to keep things simple in the creation of this card.



I stamped white lace edging on a black background, added a white sentiment then some ribbon and a button.



As always we love to see you what you create so link up your creations over at Little Red Wagon. Check out what the rest of the girlfriends created too!

You're The Best!

I'm back with another card created with one of my favourite Bella stamps. I followed Laura's sketch at 2 Sketches 4 You and added a paper ruffle too!



The ruffle is a newly acquired technique that you may be seeing more of on future creations!

This card also qualifies for some other challenges:
Stamp Something - spring, my colours are 'springy'
Your Next Stamp - spring colours
Practical Stampers - use a stamp

I'm off to watch some Olympic skating! I'll be back tomorrow with my Little Red Wagon post.

Sending You Happy Thoughts

Since I was on a roll last night, I created this card based on this week's CPS sketch(previewed on facebook!) and added some machine sewing as suggested at Cuttlebug Challenges. I used one of my favourite Bella stamps that I then cut into an oval(using my Cuttlebug of course!).

You may see this stamp again in future cards since the sentiment can easily be changed! Off to watch the Olympics and do the laundry, enjoy the rest of you weekend!

Smiles Across the Miles

Happy sunny Sunday!

I decided to create a card based on this fun Trigger Tueday at Moxie Fab.



I picked up on the colours of red, white and yellow.



And also the scalloped edge the pompoms create is mirrored in the scalloped circle and bottom edge of my card. It is a cheerful combination isn't it?

Oh, and I used Zing embossing powder on this card, its now a new addiction(thanks Regan!).

I'll be back later with another card I created last night!

Special Mention

Well, after a rather grumpy start to my day, I found out I got a special mention here!

I'm feeling a bit better now!

Little Red Wagon Challenge # 16 - Ribbon

Wow, I can't believe we are at challenge 16 already! Where does the time go?

This week Deanna challenged us to use ribbon! I decided to use up my little ribbon scraps, glued them to a piece of chipboard then cut out flower shapes. This is actually a technique I learned a few years ago and hadn't retried it until now.



Once topped with a button and some twine I think they turned out pretty well and are a great way to use up ribbon bits.

As always we love to see you what you create so link up your creations over at Little Red Wagon. Check you what the rest of the girlfriends created too!

Cuttlebug Be Inspired # 70

Its been awhile but I managed to create a card for the Be Inspired challenge at Cuttlebug Challenges and am getting it in just under the wire!

The challenge is to use fabric so I decided to use felt in combination with the floral PTI button bits stamp set.



I think its kind of cute!And since I figured out how to cut felt with my cuttlebug and dies you may see more of it on my cards!

Valentine Treats!

Yesterday I decided to try my hand at making hearts using mini candy canes.

And here there are:



Since I had leftover chocolate I made a few moulded hearts too! Gotta love Merckens chocolate, simply melt and pour!

I used them to dress up pudding parfaits!



Sweet eh?

Happy Valentines Day!!

Pile It On Challenge 6 - Let Us See Flowers

This week its all about flowers at Pile It On! And we each received a gorgeous flower to add to our creation!

So I pulled out one of my favourite flower stamps, some flowered Basic Grey paper and added my gorgeous yellow layered flower from 62 Cards to create this card:



And I piled on these challenges;

Pile It On - Flowers

OCC Sketch - Sketch

Hand Full of Stamps - Open

Shirley's 2 Girls - Birthday

Paperplay - Birthday


Had over the Pile It On to see what everyone else has created and join in if you can, we love to see your creations!

Grey Owl Love

Happy Saturday!

Thought I'd share a valentine card I created in non-traditional colours. It features the Bella stamp Branching Out Owlies that I also used on yesterday's card.



And it fits the Have a Heart challenge at DCM, the love theme at Cute Card Thursday, the open challenge at Hand Full of Stamps, Valentines theme at Dutch Dare and the love theme at Pixie Cottage

Bellarific Friday - Owl Love

Happy Friday!!!

Thought I'd share a card I made using a Bella stamp that I'm calling Owl Love. The actual stamp name is Branching Out Owlies.



And its featured with lots of other terrific cards on Bloggabella today!