Bellarific Friday - Happy Birthday!

Well, it is a gorgeous friday today, warm and sunny, love it!

I feel like I've been such a blog slacker lately, have posted my cards and that's it.....hope you haven't minded, I'll get back to posting about other things soon!

Speaking of slacking, I haven't participated in the last few Bellarific Fridays but did get myself motivated to do so this week. We were to use a Bella stamp that hasn't seen ink yet. This was fairly easy for me since I have a few.

I ended up picking the hanging sign stamp and creating this card:



I like that this stamp has interchangeable sentiments that make it very versatile. And can you tell that I used pencils and Copics to colour it in? And I broke into my new October Afternoon paper, Thrift Shop, that I got at Stamping Bella when they were at Scrapfest a couple of weeks ago, love it!

And before I go, here's wishing Kathryn a very happy birthday today!

Little Red Wagon Challenge #26 Sympathy

Happy Hump Day! Time for another Little Red Wagon challenge!

This week Regan challenged us to create a sympathy card. I decided to use my Unity stamp for the first time along with some Zing embossing powder to create this card:




As always we love to see what you create so if you have a chance please play along at Little Red Wagon.

And this card also meets the challenge over at Paperplay to use no patterned paper.

Papertrey Blog Hop - Tissue Paper

Its time for another PTI blog hop and this month the theme is tissue paper!



I used my second Melissa Frances cameo and created this card with the cameo accented by a base of ruffled tissue paper. I added lace and pearls to continue with the shabbby feel and used a PTI sentiment to complete this Mother's Day card. I also based this card on this week's Card Patterns sketch 61.

I'm looking forward to seeing all the great tissue creations and inspiration on the blog hop! And to those who stop by my blog, thanks for all your sweet comments!

Pile It On Challenge # 16 - Make It Sweet

Hi everyone! I hope you have been having a wonderful weekend. Things have been busy with me but I hope to get back into a more usual routine soon.

Its time for another Pile It On challenge and this week it is to make it sweet. So I used Lulu's Birthday Cake stamp from Stamping Bella that I purchased at Scrapfest. I think this cake is really sweet!



In addition to the Pile It On challenge, it incorporates a few other challenges:
Our Creative Corner Sketches - sketch
Our Creative Corner - blossoms
Secret Crafter - distress, used distress ink
Daring Cardmakers - use die cuts, used circle die cuts
Hand Full Of Stamps - use more than 2 patterned papers, used 3

We'd love to see you play along at Pile It On too!

Hope you have a sweet Sunday!

Earth Day 2010

On this Earth Day I thought I'd share an eco-friendly product that I found at Home Depot and have been incredibly impressed with. It is Eco Mist Granite and countertop cleaner:



This product leaves my granite so shiny and clean with absolutely no streaks. I'm not really sure what makes it so effective, it contains water, corn,coconut extract and sugarcane.

I've also tried the all purpose cleaner made up of corn, tree sap, grass, potatoes and sugarcane. It also seems to do a good job, just spray and wipe.

Now this is not the most inexpensive cleaner out there but its all-natural, non-toxic and totally safe for people,pets and our planet. I think it may be worth the extra cost.

What earth friendly things do you do?

Little Red Wagon Challenge # 25 - Ruffles

Happy Wednesday everyone!

I'm back today with my Little Red Wagon Card featuring ruffles. And I found the sketch at 2 Sketches 4 You perfect for featuring a ruffle.



I created the paper ruffle by distressing, crinkling and then gluing it down. The ribbon and Melissa Frances cameo I've had for some time and finally decided to use them. Along with the Melissa Frances paper, this card definitely has a 'shabby' feel.


I wonder what the rest of the girlfriends at Little Red Wagon have created? Do stop by to check them out and as always we'd love it if you would play along.

Let's Hang Out!

Well after another terrific weekend of scrapbooking I have some cards to share.
This first one uses some new Jolee stickers I picked up at Archivers, aren't they cute?
And I picked up the cute ruffled ribbon at Scrapfest!



And it qualifies for the challenge to use stickers over at Paperplay.

This second card uses a cute Stamping Bella stamp!



And this third card also features a Stamping Bella stamp called Springtini. I followed the sketch at Our Creative Corner Sketches, love their sketches!



Be back later this week with some layouts!

Little Red Wagon Challenge # 24 - Dry Embossing

Happy Wednesday! I had an awesome weekend away this past weekend and created lots of layouts that I'll feature in future posts. And I've already booked a return trip for August!

Anyway, you know the drill, its time for another Little Red Wagon challenge!



This weekend Carolyn challenged us to use dry embossing. So I pulled out my trusty cuttlebug, embossing folders, Papertrey paper, ink, die and stamps, a Prima flower and some lace to create this card:




I love the simplicity of cardstock on cardstock.What about you?

As always we love to see what you create so be sure to link up your project over at Little Red Wagon. And check out all the other creations too!

Pile It On Challenge # 14 - No Image

Time for another Pile It On Challenge!
This week we were challenged to create a card with no stamped image.
So I created this card using some paper my Mom gave me this past weekend.



It of course meets the Pile It On challenge and is also based on the sketch at Our Creative Corner.And as it has a butterfly,it also incorporates the 'Things with Wings' challenge at Pixie Dust.

Have a great Sunday and thanks for all your sweet comments!

2009 Carribean Cruise Layouts

Well as you read this, I am away for a weekend in Michigan scrapbooking and shopping here.

But in the meantime I thought I'd share a few layouts I've created recently. They all feature photos from our Carribean cruise last winter.

Beaded Necklaces

I've posted previously about how important I think a creative outlet is.

So far neither of my daughters seems inclined to take up scrapbooking but my oldest daughter has recently taken an interest in beading.

In fact she has created both of these necklaces:



Pretty aren't they?

Little Red Wagon Challenge # 23 - Joanne's Sketch

Happy Wednesday! Its the last day of the work-week for me,yea! I'm away shopping and scrapbooking this weekend and decided to make it an extra long one!

Anyway, its also time for another Little Red Wagon challenge!



This week Joanne challenged us to create a card based on her sketch. So I used my new Stamping Bella stamp,Heritage Tree, coloured it with Prisma pencils then added a bit of Flowersoft to create this card:



I love this tree so here's a closer look:




As always we love to see what you create so be sure to link up your card over at Little Red Wagon. And check out all the other creations too!

Another Yummy Salad with Roasted Asparagus

We celebrated Easter Sunday with a dinner at my Mom and Dad's house. As is tradition, we all bring a dish to help complete the dinner. And, as also happens quite frequently, I brought the salad.

I had decided I wanted to bring a salad with asparagus in it and found the perfect recipe here. And everyone really liked it! So I made it again tonight for dinner, along with some hardboiled eggs it was very satisfying.



The lemon in the dressing gives it a nice tang and the mint a surprising freshness.

Since there wasn't any spinach left at the store I used a mix of baby greens but I'm sure spinach would be yummy too!

Here's my slightly altered version of the recipe:


1 bunch asparagus, trimmed
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh mint
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tbsp dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 cups mixed greens or spinach
1/2 cup thinly slivered red onion
2 cooked and crumbled bacon
1/4 cup shaved Parmesan


Lightly brush asparagus with oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Barbecue over medium heat until tender, 3 to 6 minutes(I roasted the asparagus in oven until tender crisp). Let cool and slice into 2-inch pieces.

In small bowl, whisk together 1/4 cup oil, mint, lemon juice, mustard, garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. Place spinach, asparagus, onion and bacon in large bowl. Toss with just enough dressing to coat. Sprinkle with Parmesan.

Enjoy!

Happy Easter!

Got Eggs?

Last night I spent some time in my scrap space and created these:



They are based on instructions I found at Splitcoast Stampers here and they all worked up so quickly.



I decorated them with Papertrey Egg Hunt Paper and think they'll make a perfect Easter treat!

Spring Blooms

Well its been a beautiful spring day here today, more like summer really. Our windows were wide open, we cleaned up the garden a bit and brought out our patio furniture too.

I thought I'd share some pics of our early spring flowers:



These were the mini-daffodils about 3 days ago:



Here they are today:




Tonight I think I'm going to spend some time crafting.

Hope you enjoyed this lovely Good Friday.