A Kit and Two Cards

I've received some special mail recently.

First I won a scrapbook kit from Kenner Road at My Life in Lower Case. It contains some wonderful new papers/chipboard including some by Cosmo Cricket, buttons, ribbon, a stamp and a great piece of vintage ledger paper. I can't wait to create with it, thanks so much Celeste!



Then I've received a couple of birthday cards.

The first is from Liz of East Haven Connecticut, the cupcakes are so cute.



The second is from Birgit of Austria, isn't the stamped and coloured image pretty?



Thanks so much ladies!

Garden Pics

I've been meaning to share these garden pics for awhile. The garden has changed again since these were taken and I hope to share some more recent pics next week.

Hydrangea

Buddelia

A Day Lily

Darling Deception Day Lily

A David Austin Rose

Updated - 20 Things Brittany Wants To Do This Summer

I've updated Brittany's summer to do list and reminded her that summer doesn't officially end until Sept 21st. Time does seem to get away from you, lol.


[x] Have lunch out with Mom. Done! We went to Applebees in Cambridge.
[x] Go to Starbucks for a frappucino.Done!
[x] Go camping with Dad.
[ ] Go to Grand Bend.
[ ] Go shopping in Buffalo.
[ ] Go to Toronto.
[x] Go to the movies.Done! Went to see the new Harry Potter movie.
[ ] Go fishing.
[ ] Make homemade pizza.
[x] Go to Chapters. Done! Brittany bought herself 4 great books to read.
[ ] Make applesauce.
[ ] Go to Wonderland.
[ ] Play board games.
[ ] Go to a baseball game.
[x] Make rhubarb/strawberry dessert . Done, we made a crisp!
[ ] Visit Gramma.
[ ] Go to the zoo.
[x] Pick strawberries. Done, on Canada day!
[x] Go shopping.Done! We went shopping in Cambridge and bought some shorts and tops on sale!
[ ] Go to a play in Stratford.


Hmmm, we still have a fair bit to do but I think we have a couple more things planned that may happen fairly soon!

I've Been Knitting....

.........just a bit,lol!




Seriously though, these dishclothes work up so quickly and are the best for washing dishes!

One of my favourite new patterns is a checkered one that I think looks best on solid yarn although I've also done it in a varigated yarn.



What do you think?




And in case you're a knitter, here's the pattern:

Checkered Dishcloth

Materials: 1 ball of cotton yarn, Size 4.5 MM knitting needles.

Instructions:

Cast on 40 stitches

Rows 1 - 5: P5, K5 across

Rows 6 - 10: K5, P5 across

Repeat rows 1 -10 four times, then repeat rows 1-9 once, bind off in pattern.

Celebrate Celebrate Celebrate

While watching Gene Simmons Family Jewels I created a card for this week's Use It challenge, no. 22 by June.

We were to try a new technique...... I used a rub-on on twill, it actually worked quite well!I wasn't sure what would happen.
Then we were to use a virgin stamp....... I used another one of my new button bits stamps by PTI to create the balloons.
And finally use papers you have never used before..... I broke into my new PTI kraft paper, love it!

And here's my card:

The Easiest Dessert Ever!

This truly is an easy dessert to make and yet so elegant. In fact I'm almost reluctant to share it, if I serve it to you sometime, you'll know how little time I really spent on it.......but what the heck, you're all worth sharing it with!!

Presenting...... Chocolat Pots De Creme!



I scooped this recipe from Pioneer Woman here.

The secret to this recipe is to let the eggs come to room temperature and be sure the coffee you use is hot. As a result the texture of my pots was extremely smooth. PW shows what happens if you don't follow these steps as intended.



And see the little dessert dishes I used? This recipe fills about 8 of them. Top with whip cream and fresh berries and voila! An easy, yet elegant dessert that your guests will be sure you slaved over!

You R the Best

This week's Be Inspired #43 at Cuttlebug Challenges is to use digital stamps created by Mlamarre Designs.

I decided to create a candle sleeve for some colourful candles from the dollar store. The papers I selected were inspired from the candle colours of green, yellow, red and orange. I then finished it off with the digital stamp, ribbon and a button charm.

I'm a Winner!!!

Thank you so much to Cuttlebug Challenges! This is a blog I have followed and participated in almost since it was created, it has really encouraged me to use my Cuttlebug! This past month we had the opportunity to win the new Cuttlebug embossing folders releases by participating in each of their weekly Be Inspired challenges through the month of July!

I was thrilled when I found out yesterday I won! I have won 11 folders with a few highlighted below.

Love this owl!



This is called Victoria and is so me!



Isn't this one pretty?



And love the Fleur De Lis!



I can't wait to play with them! Thanks again Cuttlebug Challenges!

Kin Kamp 2009

This past weekend we made the trek north for the 49th Annual Kin Kamp in Meaford. It starts Friday and goes to Monday morning with lots of fun and little sleep in between!

I've created a slideshow with just a few pics below. It shows some of the people there, all enjoying traditional camp activities. Activities like eating, sleeping, playing horsehoes, laughing, making pie irons, sitting around the campfire and even beating the new puppy?!(Dave how could you?) Then there were walks for ice cream, to the beach and to minigolf too.

And best of all, we had only one brief rain shower on Saturday night pretty good considering our weather so far this summer!

Giving Myself Permission

Well, I've been skimpy in my blogging lately haven't I?

I haven't meant to be but cardmaking and blogging have taken a backseat to other things like work, housekeeping, preparing for camping, going camping(post coming later today) and then the clean up from going camping. My house is a bit of disaster right now!

As much as I like to think I can (and want) to do it all, it just isn't realistic. So something has to give.....unfortunately it is my blog and creating. Work has been much busier than usual for me the past couple of weeks, so when I get home, I've been a bit wrung out and really just want to veg on the couch.

I do like to blog daily but for me it just isn't possible given all the things (in addition to work)I am responsible for like cooking, cleaning, laundry,grocery shopping, raising my teenage daughters(why is 14 such a tough age to deal with?),other errands, watching So You Think You Can Dance, True Blood..........ok its not all work and no play, lol!

You may be wondering why am I writing this...well its because I don't often talk about the real,day to day grind that life can be sometimes. My blog focuses primarily on my hobbies of cooking, cardmaking,scrapbooking and fun stuff but occasionally hobbies have to take a backseat to the demands of day to day life and other events(some fun, some not). I guess this post is a reminder to myself that blogging when I am able is Ok(and it doesn't have to be daily)!

Hi!

I'm back!

We were away at Kin Kamp this weekend( I'll show some pics in another post) and now I'm doing mounds of laundry.

I didn't realize its been almost a week since my last post! And although I'm tired I couldn't let two of my favourite challenges go by without doing them!

This week for CBC, we were to make a gatefold card.

Then at Use It, in addition to taking inspiration from the following picture, we were to use a tool we haven't used in over six months and some sticker letters.



So while working on decreasing the size of the mounds of laundry, I snuck down to my scrapbook room to create a card. I used a piece of scalloped bazzill, folded in three then dug through my scraps to find some blues and yellows. I layered yellow cardstock then blue embossed cardstock on both sides of the card front, then added another piece of distressed and embossed paper to the left of the card. I created a flower from a heart punch and a circle punch. The circle punch I know I haven't used in ages! Of course, I had to emboss each of the pieces I used to create the flower! I then dug into my Making Memories glitter letter stickers to add the sentiment to the centre of the flower. Finally I added some ribbon to tie it closed.




Well,I can hear the dryer beeping at me, so back to tackling those mounds of laundry.

Enjoy your Sunday evening!

Enjoy The Ride

Well, I dug into my Everyday Button Bits stamps by Papertrey again to create this card for the Use It challenge and I followed sketch 126 at CPS.



The challenge at Use It is to use a stamp, one embellishment or diecut and an unusual item. Actually, the unusual item had me stumped until tonight when I was at Curves and thinking about it. I remembered I had a piece of patterned overlay from which I decided to create the card base. I then used another piece of the overlay on the card front. Another unusual thing about this card are its colours I don't often use yellow let alone combine it with royal blue but I took my cue from the bit of patterned paper I layered on. My embellishment is the buttons to create the bike wheels.

And you know what, I like the finished product but how could I not with such a cute stamp and sentiment!

My Latest Addiction Is

......Papertrey stamps! For a chance to win some stamps, check out A Passion for Papertrey here!

House Mouse Cards

Finally! The last two house mouse cards from my class last weekend.





I'm still lovin' these stamps!

Sweet Treats

This week the Be Inspired challenge(no.41) at CBC is to create altered projects using items from your recycle bin as well as the textile folder.

I happened to have a few containers I had been keeping with the intention of altering and this challenge gave me the incentive to actually do it!

So first up is this container that originally contained chocolates.

I decorated it with scraps of Basic Grey paper and chipboard as well as felt letters by Thickers. I embossed using the swirl folder(don't have the textile folder) and added a bit of bling I found at the dollar store. I filled it with salt water taffy, yum!


Next is a Prima flower container I decorated also using Basic Grey scraps and chipboard as well as felt letters and more bling.

I used the swiss dot folder on this one. Then I filled it with strawberry creme jelly beans!


The question now is, who will I give these sweet treats too?

You're So Sweet

I created my very first card using Papertrey stamps today and I love them.



This card features their newly released Everyday Button Bits stamps, you stamp and then finish off with a button! So fun!

I decided to use the stem and leaves to create button apples(buttons from my stash) then used a sentiment from the same stamp set. Inks used were CTMH chocolate and topiary. And as this month's Papertrey Bloghop challenge was to incorporate not only a Papertrey product but also text, I used the script embossing folder along with paper by October Afternoon to create the background.




Ovals were created with Quickutz and Spellbinders with all edges inked in Ranger Tea Dye. I finished it up with ribbon from Inque Boutique and some Papertrey twine. I also popped up the oval on pop dots for a bit of a 3D effect.

And I'm dedicating this card to Regan and Dee who included me in their monthly Papertrey order, thank you so much ladies, you are so sweet!