Ice Cream Card

 Summer is definitely here! Joe kept saying that we had such a cold spring, once it gets hot it will be very hot and he was right. Close to 90F today but there is a lovely wind blowing so it was a delightful day to be outside. More weather in the 90F’s and higher coming up too. We actually need a full day rain. Its very dry here.

 It's definitely ice cream cone weather.

 I’ve decided to pull out some of my old, very old, stamps and reuse them. This is a very old Stamping Bella stamp that was stamped on white cardstock. The sky was very lightly brushed with light blue ink. The grass was sponged with green ink.

The focal image was coloured with pencils and blended with gamsol. The sentiment was stamped in black ink and it came from another set. The card was then adhered to a wine card base. The colouring took awhile but I enjoy doing that so I don’t mind one bit.

 That’s all for a lovely almost-summer day  on May 30, 2023.

 Cheers

Violet

Ps: To save a card to your Pinterest account, simply over over the image until the “Pin It” symbol appears and then click …. be patient, it sometimes takes a few seconds. This will take you to your own Pinterest account to save the card.

 

Shaker Card

     March has been, and will continue to be, a very rainy and windy month. Unfortunately my brain disorders do not like low atmospheric pressures or abrupt changes in weather so I haven’t been doing much for the last week or so. Well, I did get some cards made because I can’t sew when I’m having attacks - the noise of the sewing machine worsens the attacks. In a previous post, I did ask if anyone wanted me try a new or different card technique to put the request in the comments. One person did. Thanks Deb for the challenge to make a shaker card.

    I have only ever made one shaker card before it was very time consuming. However, when this challenge appeared I remembered that I had bought a package of double adhesive foam for shaker cards… which I bought and still hadn’t used. Time to pull it out. Here’s the card I made.

 

    I had to figure out how to die cut the circle in the foam and in the cardstock front so they match. I put the card front onto a piece of the foam that I had cut to A2 size, and ran it through the Big Shot. I didn’t think it would cut through all the pieces at one time, and it almost did, but not quite. But, it did leave a large imprint in the foam so I could easily line up the die again, and ran it through again.  

    Then I took an old clear plastic project cover - they had them on sale at Staples for 7 each - yes 7 cents - and I bought four of them. I simply cut them down to what ever size I need when I need clear plastic. I used some bits to store stamps on as well. Anyway, I taped the clear plastic to the back of the birthday paper; placed the die cut circle from the birthday paper behind it and lined it up so the pattern matched. Added some beads, stars, and other bits; removed the backing from the foam and glued it to the bright pink card base. But, then I didn’t like the circle being without a frame. So I die cut a scalloped edge circle from the same hot pink and glued it over top so it sort of hides the fact that the papers line up but I like it better. Then I die cut a banner from the same hot pink and stamped the sentiment. I’ve had that stamp for years and seldom remember to use it. I added some Stickles Pink Liquid Pearls for the frosting on the cupcake and the heart in the cupcake holder. I obviously made this one for a young girl and I think it turned out okay, just okay, but okay.

    I need to get more doodads for the centre of future shaker cards. Using these foam pieces are much quicker but much more expensive. They gave me the confidence to make the cards though so that’s a good start. I made one other one with more to come. I’ll post these at a later date. BUT, it did leave the centre cut out of the foam so I have to figure out what to use it for..... stay tuned!

That’s all for a rare non-rainy day, more coming tomorrow, on Tuesday, March 28, 2023.

Cheers

Violet

Ps: To save a card to your Pinterest account, simply over over the image until the “Pin It” symbol appears and then click …. be patient, it sometimes takes a few seconds. This will take you to your own Pinterest account to save the card.

 

 

 

 

 

Using Old Stamps

      Wow, its Thursday, March 24, 2022 already and it just occurred to me that I have not posted a card all week. It was warm enough for a few nights that I was able to get some work done in the lower studio (aka as the basement) where I make cards, scrapbook and paint.

     While I was down at my crafting area the other night I pulled out my folder with stamped, uncoloured and/or partly coloured, images and decided it was time to turn some of them into cards. This card was one I finished. The stamp is a very old Stamping Bella stamp.  This card will be fine for a pre-teen, teen or young adult birthday card.

                             
     The image was coloured with pencils and blended with gamsol. Wink of Stella was added to the dress, boxes, etc. But it does not show up much in the photo. I need a new WofS pen. Then it was hand cut  - no dies for these old stamps. The background paper is from the stash and it happens to match the card base. I pulled out the dark blue cardstock that was close in colour to her dress and used that to mat the designer paper and to die cut the tags - actually two tags glued together for extra dimension. The sentiment was stamped with VersaMark ink and heat embossed with white embossing powder.

The image was adhered by very thin dimensional strips which were a  pain to cut in half for the legs and arms. I need the really, really skinny strips but we don’t have an outlet here except Michael's which is not a card making/scrapbooking store at all anymore, so cutting the thinnest ones I have is the only option. It does make a difference when the image is popped up off the page though so I will continue to do so.

     That’s all for another cold and windy night.

Cheers

Violet

PS: To save a card to your Pinterest account, simply hover over the image until the ‘Pin It” symbol appears and then click…it sometimes takes a few seconds. This will take you to your own Pinterest account to save the card.

 

 

  

Shaker Cards

        We just had a beautiful weekend weather wise but once again, we are only allowed two nice days in a row. It was darn chilly this morning! Looks like May is going to be about as consistent as April was – which was no consistency whatsoever. Oh well, this too shall pass and summer is coming.        

Last week while out for a walk in a bush, there was a fallen log across a waterway and even though the log looked completely dead, a small tree was trying to grow up from it. I took a photo of it and added a saying in Photoshop. It was posted on Facebook and everyone seemed to really like it so I’m posting it here too.

 

         I’m continuing to make some cards using new-to-me techniques. Most all techniques have been around for a long time. I kind of chuckle when I watch some YouTube crafter channels and they don’t say they ‘invented’ the technique but it is certainly applied even though I watched one of the more famous crafters do the same thing a few days or weeks before. Oh well, to each their own. So this week I’m posting my very first shaker card – it did not go smoothly and hopefully the next one will be better…but here it is.

         For some odd reason I decided to use a diamond shape. I used the tried and true methods from several YouTube channels. I glued the designer paper to a piece of cardstock and die cut the diamond and added the piece of plastic behind it. Then the dimensional glue strip was added around the diamond. I did remember to use the anti-static bag to pounce around the plastic and the edge of the glue stick to remove the static from the plastic and some of the stickiness of the glue strip but as you can see – I should have used more. The inside pieces do move when you shake it but they also like to stick….grrrrr. When I assembled it I didn’t like the look of the die cut diamond on the designer paper – it looked unfinished. So I die cut a piece of red cardstock into a diamond frame and added that on top. But somehow there was a small tear by one corner of the diamond….another grrrrrr. How to fix it when the card was done – cover it up with a plastic pink flower. Then it was all glued to a pink card base. Okay, these are not as easy as those YouTubers make it look but I’ll continue to make some more until they are easy for me to make too. This one will have to go to someone who is not a card maker than can find all the faults!!!        

That’s all for a sunny but coolish Monday, May 4, 2020.

Cheers

Violet

PS: To save a card to your Pinterest account, simply hover over the image until the ‘Pin It” symbol appears and then click…it sometimes take a few seconds. This will take you to your own Pinterest account to save the card.

Spring...Thrift Store Haul....Two Cards

            Spring has sprung in Southern Ontario….further north they still have mounds of snow…poor people. To prove we have spring, here’s a photo of the daffodils I just picked from my garden. I know those in the southern states of the USA have had daffodils for weeks now, but this is Canada…the cold north! These cream coloured ones are always earlier than the others.

          Okay, today could be the last really nice day as temperatures are slipping down again and we are in for some rain…but hey, it’s April, so we can expect rain….but there could be a few snow showers as well but they don’t usually last long this time of the year.

Before I post the cards….posting two today…. I want to show you my thrift store haul. If you are not interested in the haul, feel free to skim down to the bottom of the post.

I’m nursing a torn hamstring….ouch…so it’s off to the chiropractor a couple times a week. Last week I popped into one of the thrift stores and was delighted to find these goodies….

 

I love putting flowers on my cards but these dimensional ones are way too much to buy from a craft store but these ones were only $3.00 for everything you see here. I’ve already used one of the yellow ones. The two packages on the left are not something I will likely use so they will be donated so others can enjoy them.

I also bought a package of scrapbook paper for $2.00. Turns out there were 32 sheets, some double sided, some fancy ones. Did I need more paper? NO! Could I turn down 32 scrapbook papers for $2.00? NO!

I also picked up this bag of Kaiser flowers that had some extra goodies in there as well - $4.00 for the bag....ignore the $3.00 on the photo. Turns out there were 29 individual bags of those small flowers and each one each flower is actually a stack of 5 …..I have a LOT of flowers to use up!

The extra goodies were those “our wedding” circles….I think I’ll just put another circle on top….and there are some small flower buttons…..I’m not sure if these are keepers or for donation…jury’s out on these.

        **********************************************

NOW FOR THE CARDS!

        Seeing as the spring weather has sprung, I made two cards that would be good for the spring and summer birthday girls. They are old Stamping Bella stamps…not sure if they are still available or not. You will have to check her site. I no longer buy from her since she moved her business stateside and the shipping charges were absolutely ridiculous….same rate as to Europe!

They were both stamped on white cardstock and coloured with pencils and blended with gamsol. The colours are different but the design is the same so that’s why I’m posting both of them. One was glued to a darker blue card base so I added the blue bow and gem. The other one was in softer shades so I mounted it on a white card base and added a white bow and clear heart gem.

        That’s all for a warm, but cloudy, Monday, April 8, 2019.

Cheers

Violet

PS: To save a card to your Pinterest account, simply hover over the image until the ‘Pin It” symbol appears and then click…it sometimes take a few seconds. This will take you to your own Pinterest account to save the card.

 

       

A Wild but Fun Background

I almost forgot to post a card today. It’s been another busy day. We are having our three youngest grandsons next week and I had a very complicated jigsaw puzzle out on the table in the rec room where they all put our extra laptops so they can play video games (only while waiting for or just after supper) so I had to get it finished – which I did tonight. Which reminds me to tell you that next week will be hit and miss with postings – and likely more misses than hits. We are not going away but will be busy with the boys.

  

Last night I hung the clothes on the clothesline even though there was a chance of rain…we were hoping it would miss us.....they were well rinsed this morning and almost dry after lunch when they were rinsed again – they have now been rinsed five times and we are not finished yet. We have been under severe thunderstorm and tornado watch since this afternoon and have had a couple thunderstorm cells pass through – and a possible tornado caused a lot of trouble in one area south east of us. It’s that time of the year!

Today’s card is a bit busy but a young girl or teen girl will love it.

I started out with a piece of white cardstock and stamped the Stamping Bella stamp with Archival ink. It was coloured with pencils; blended with gamsol. Mustard Seed Distress ink was sponged around her and Broken Chine Distress ink sponged lightly out to the edges. Then I covered up the image; wet a brush; picked up some water colour paint and splattered. Then sequins were glued on. The sentiment is from another stamp set but I really thought it suited this card. I stamped it; cut it out and glued it on with dimensional strips. The panel was then glued to a blue card base. The background ended up a bit wild but that's okay. Its a fun card.

That’s all for a wet and thunderstormy Friday August 11^th 2017.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Cheers

Violet

Last Card for 2016

Christmas is officially over for us – we took the tree down today – it sure is a lot more fun putting it up than taking it down. I’m in charge of un-decorating the tree….and for good reason! About 26 years ago (we had only been married a couple of years) I had to work between Christmas and New Years and Joe was off – and bored. He calls me at work and tells me he is bored and he wants to take down the tree. Back then I had enough decorations on the tree for about three trees…..and when I take them off they all get wrapped and back in original packages (yes, it’s a Virgo thing) so I asked, “Are you sure you want to do this? It’s a lot of work”. He assures me really wants to do it so I give him the okay. I get home from work and he is standing there just as proud as can be with the tree completely bare……and then I look at the chesterfield…..he simply took the ornaments off; left the hooks on; and piled everything together. AAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH! Let’s just say he didn’t get the praise he was looking for!!! It took me longer to un-hook and untangle everything than it would have if I had un-decorated the tree. ☹

Today’s card was made by two pieces of paper falling on my desk when I was looking for something else. Instead of putting them back in the stash, I made this card.

 

I liked these two brown papers together so I taped them at the back and wrapped a darker brown ribbon around them. The green, which matches the green vines perfectly, was die cut with the Spellbinder’s scalloped circle die and glued one. The cat stamp was a gift from someone and every time I use it, its one of the first cards my friends pick.  The cats were coloured with Prismacolor pencils. The sentiment is a peel-off.

That’s the last post for 2016 but I’ll be back next week with the new cards I’ve been making this week.

Have a safe and Happy New Year – we stay home where it’s safe and warm and no impaired drivers!

Cheers

Violet

A Crash and a Card

CRASH IS RIGHT! We had a rude awakening Sunday morning just after 7:00. A very intoxicated man was speeding and forgot to turn at the end of our street and went right up our neighbour’s driveway and smashed into their garage. He hit it so hard it was pulled from the house and he took down part of the fence between us. Most of those that heard the crash thought a train hit something. Yes, it was that loud. Here’s a photo I took of the truck stuck in the garage. Needless to say he has been charged with impaired driving. Idiot. I have no tolerance for those who drink and drive.

 

 And now for the card.

Today’s card is a little different. My daughter’s friend who is getting married will be getting a step-daughter, about 12 I think. They get along fine but I thought she might be a little left out at the wedding with the parents getting all the cards and gifts (although they requested no gifts you know some people are going to ignore that) so I made a card for her. The inside has something about she will always be the centre of her dad’s heart – thus three hearts on the front.

   

The background paper is a small tight wavy lined blue paper. The next layer came with the decorations on the bottom and top right corner in the mixed media style…but I added the broken honeycomb bit via stencil because it was too bare there. A doily was cut in half and added to the left side along with an ivory ribbon and bow and then a pearl. I hand cut 3 hearts – I don’t have any heart dies – and turned them over onto an old mouse pad and ran the rounded end of a paint brush over them to give them dimension – much like you do making flower petals. Then they were spritzed with red ink and yellow ink was splattered on – just for more interest. The edges were inked a little heavier with a sponge. The smallest heart was placed in the centre of the one big heart. A small banner was cut form the same paper as the background and a blue butterfly was glued on. I’m hoping a pre-teen will like the card.

It was a typical cool fall day here today but I spent the day over at the church making comfort quilts for those in our community who need some comforting. Oh, and then when I got home I found out that it was the neighbour’s son (who is still a bit traumatized from the accident) birthday today so I baked chocolate cupcakes for them all. It was a good day. Hope yours was too.

Cheers

Violet

An Oldie Card...and an Anniversary of sorts!

Late yesterday afternoon we had the cable guy here to add TIVO to our cable service. They called us a couple of weeks ago and offered us a free TIVO and no monthly charge so we decided to take it. With the old PVR system I could tape 2 shows at once but then I couldn’t watch a third show. With this system, I can tape up to 5 and watch one….not that there is ever 5 shows on at once that I want to tape but sometimes there are 2 and then I cannot watch my baseball or hockey games…..speaking of baseball, my Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles last night in a nail-biter of a game and it took them 11 innings to do so. The TIVO is going to be good to have but man is it complicated to learn – and they don’t have instruction booklets. The cable guy says most seniors really struggle learning it and I can believe that. I was just glad the fellow had it all installed before the game started!

The sort of anniversary story is at the end. Today’s card is an oldie that I made at a card making session but never got around to photographing or posting. I had quite a pile of them and kept moving them around because I was keeping them for inspiration but I finally decided to let them go. This one was made using an old Stamping Bella stamp but any similar stamp would do.

I showed this to a friend of mine and she instantly decided it was perfect for her niece. I wasn’t sure about the colours they chose to give us but in the end it was okay. The four squares were taped together and the ribbon was wrapped around them before they were glued to the card base. The rectangles were not cut even so they were just glued in on an angle….not my ‘too-fussy’ way of doing it but that’s the way the said to do it. Some brads were added to the top right. We coloured the image with Tombow markers and at home I sponged one some blue as it was too stark being plain white. The shadow is an oval stamp and we covered the image and then stamped it on plain paper a couple of times and then on the card so it wouldn’t be too dark. This is not my favourite card but once again, it was perfect for someone else.

That’s all for a lovely Wednesday, 2016-10-05

Cheers

Violet

Ps: Yesterday was a sort of anniversary for me…..16 years ago, October 4 2000; I underwent very risky, exploratory brain surgery. It was so risky I had to talk the neurosurgeon into doing the surgery as he was reluctant to do it (too great a chance I would have a major stroke be a vegetable) ….he said they seldom did exploratory brain surgery anymore as most of the time they know exactly what they are going to do but in my case..….. they had no clue in spite of all the tests they tried. I was in so much constant pain I told him I'd take my chances. Turns out the cause was so rare he had never, ever seen it before or even read about it. Leave it me! So I am left with two rare brain disorders; trigeminal neuralgia and hemi-facial paralyses and yes, I have some painful days...no longer constant or as painful.....and I’m alive and loving living. I hope you are doing the same! Remember – every day this side of the dirt is a good one!

A Card for a Teen Girl or Pre-Teen

Well we just had a pretty ‘iffy’ weather weekend. It kept calling for rain on Saturday so we ditched the BBQ idea and just went out to the park for a bike ride – 27.5 km. We did have a few raindrops hit us off and on but just drops – until we left at 5:30. It rained then and it poured rain on Sunday with wild winds….which flattened my peonies and knocked off the orange iris – now in a vase on my counter! Today was a lovely day which was really nice because my sister had a doctor’s appointment in London and I went with her. We made it an all day affair with a trip to Len Mills (discount fabric and everything else store) and to Fabricland and even a walk through Michaels but neither one of us bought anything there. It was a long day but a good day.

Today’s card is another Stamping Bella stamp – but an oldie so not sure it is still available as I don’t go to her site anymore……her shipping costs to Canada are the same as to Europe so I don’t even look at it anymore…..but I still love her stamps that I do have.

 

Once again the image was coloured with Prismacolor pencils and the background was sponged with pink and yellow chalk. It was die cut with a Spellbinder’s die and left in the die while I did the chalking which leave a white crisp border. Glossy Accents was added to the lollipop to make it look like candy. Wink of Stella was added to the dress to give it a bit of a shimmer. The sentiment was die cut with a very old Cuttlebug die. The background on the right was run through a Cuttlebug slim die. The paper on the right was hand stamped by a few different stamps I have. The light purple just needed a little something extra so the butterflies seemed to do the trick. The two pieces of cardstock was taped together at the back and then a piece of pale purple ribbon was glued down the seam. The teenage and pre-teen girls seem to really like the stamp.

That’s all for a lovely Monday……. but apparently the lovely weather is coming to an end again as we are under a severe thunderstorm watch…..and even funnel clouds are possible. Hopefully it won’t be too bad of a storm.

Cheers

Violet

A Kitten Card

A thunderstorm may be starting to brew so I thought I better get this posted in case the hydro goes out. There was no posting yesterday because we went to Point Pelee to go for a walk and do a little birding. Not many migratory birds have shown up yet so we didn’t see much but it was nice to be able to get outside for awhile. We were so tired when we got back home we pretty much collapsed on the couch after eating supper and showering. Today I’m working on another quilt top. I must get some of these finished completely instead of just making tops but the “lower studio” (aka the basement) is too cold and damp for me to sit down there for a couple of hours pinning the quilt layers together. Oh well, eventually it will warm up and I’ll get caught – well, I’ll get some done. I doubt if I’ll ever get caught up.

Today’s card was stamped with a stamp that is always a favourite with my cat-loving friends.

 

Either someone gifted me with this stamp or I picked it up at the thrift store because I don’t remember buying it new. The first couple times I stamped it, something seemed off but I couldn’t put my finger on it so I just set the stamped images aside. I didn’t figure out what was wrong until I started to colour it. The artist had forgotten to remove one sketch line and the cat’s legs were totally wrong. So, I took my exactor knife and did a quick clean up, removing the extra line and now I use the stamp all the time.

The image was once again coloured with Prismacolor pencils and blended with gamsol. I went back into the paper stash and found the background paper that looked great together and they were taped together, trimmed to size and the brown strip added over the seam. The image and the dark brown cardstock behind it was die cut with a Spellbinder’s square die and glued on. The leaves were die cut with a Die-Namites die and just glued down beside the square. The bow was tied and I ended up with one very long end so I glued it on an angle and then added the peel-off sentiment. I liked the jaunty look it gave the card.

That’s all for a nice (so far) Wednesday. We are very busy from May until fall so there may not be a posting every day. Don’t forget you can always go to “LABELS” and click on any type of posting you are interested in be it cards; quilts; scrapbook; painting or other crafts I do.

Cheers

Violet

 

A Rare Sunday Post

A rare Sunday post. I’m supposed to be sewing my grandson’s Halloween costume but so far, not happening. First we went to church; breakfast out; trip to the fruit stand (so happy having fresh strawberries and raspberries in Oct); a visit with the sister-in-law; and now strolling through the Internet. I need some motivation to get sewing but it’s just not coming right now.

This card is one of my favourite stamps from Stamping Bella and this card meets the requirements for two challenges.

 

http://seizethebirthday.blogspot.ca/

http://crazy4challenges.blogspot.ca/2015/09/crazy-4-challenges-c4c305.html

 

 

This image makes such a nice birthday card. It was stamped right on the white cardstock and then coloured with Prismacolor pencils and gamsol. Wink of Stella was added to her skirt to give it some shimmer. Glossy Accents was added to the balloons to make them shiny like real balloons. Blue chalk was sponged around the image. The image was then die cut with a Spellbinder die and added to the card base. Pearls were added for a little extra dimension. The butterfly border is a Memory Box die. One extra butterfly was die cut and added to the top with a pearl for its body.

That’s all for a cool Sunday, October-04-15

Cheers

Violet

 

 

A Bicycle Card and a Bird

We enjoyed more seasonal weather again today – almost 70F in town but a wee bit cooler at the lake. They were calling for rain this afternoon (and we got it) so we headed back to Rondeau Provincial Park for more birding this morning – another 9,596 steps today! We did a little more birding after the rain shower but didn’t see many more and called it a day. We saw more birds than other days but they were up so high in the trees it was impossible to get a good shot of them….except this one!

This was the only good photo of the day!

Today’s card is one that was quick to do but turned out quite nice.

The stamped image is from HOTP (Paper Wishes) and as you can see, very little colouring to do on it. The little flowers come with the stamp, as well as the handle bar streamers, and I had the flowers coming out of the basket and blowing away. The stamped image was mounted on a light green and then a darker green rectangle die cut with the Spellbinders Create-A-Card die set. The card base opens at the top and it is just a piece of the light green cardstock. I had that swirly paper in the stash and it was cut that size and it matched both greens. I didn’t have enough of the dark green to go underneath the swirly paper so I just cut two ¼” strips and taped them to each side and then glued the entire piece down. The lightest green bit was also in my stash so I just did a bit of a decorative edge on it, stamped the sentiment and heart and placed it under the rectangles. Quick and easy but I like it. This would be a good card for a teenage girl or pre-teen or even an adult.

That’s all for a Monday

Cheers

Violet

Brrrrr It's Cold

This is definitely the winter that will not end…..we even had a few snow flurries today! Seriously, we did. Right now it is only 3.5C or 38F and that must be if you are out of the wind because the wind is very cold. I went out this afternoon to fill up the bird feeders and that was enough fresh air for me.

I ordered one of the magnetic platforms for the Big Shot and I am so happy with that purchase. I’ve been on the fence about getting one for months and Stampin’ Up had them on sale so I went ahead and ordered it. Love it! I think it will get a lot of use.

It was way too cold and windy for me to be outside today so I spent the day getting some scrapbooking done. I’ve quit trying to make each page look like it belongs in a magazine and getting them done. No more fussing for HOURS about what to include, what to leave out, where to put embellishments and which ones to use…….and on and on and on. Now, I make myself decide on a layout and do it.

On with today’s card which I made from a stamp that I don’t think I’ve used before and yet I’ve owned it for quite awhile. I was looking for another stamp when I came across this one and decided to use it. It didn't photograph well and is much brighter and prettier in real life.

The bottom row of flowers is one stamp and then I used other stamps to stamp the butterflies. They were all stamped with Versamark and then embossed with white embossing powder. Once that was done I sponged on Distress Inks in layers, but blended together, across the panel. I was surprised at how pretty it turned out and I do believe I’ll be making some more now. I decided it needed a little bling so I crisscrossed shiny thread across the middle. This card could be used for several occasions.

That’s all for a cold April Wednesday,

Cheers

Violet

A Seize the Birthday Challenge Card

It’s just refusing to warm up to seasonal temperatures here in Ontario and the temperature is just above the freezing mark during the day, dips down to just below at night. The good news is that the maple syrup is running now and hopefully there will be no shortage of it this year. I cannot stand the imitation maple syrup so it’s just the real deal for us or nothing. One of my sons-in-law taps a few trees around his house but I think he gets enough syrup to coat a spoon or two and that’s about all. I remember one year my father tapped the maple trees on our farm and came in with enough sap to fill a HUGE pot that my mom had on the stove. Of course, it was pretty much up to my mom to stir and stir and stir it with us kids taking a few quick turns to relieve her…..and I still remember how little syrup we ended up! So disappointed. It was the only time I remember him doing that so I have a feeling my mother probably told him, “You tap, you stir” so that was the end of that.

Today’s card was made for the Seize the Birthday challenge which was to make the sentiment the focal point.

This Memory Box die fits the challenge just fine. The black cardstock was die cut and, I being my cheap self, kept the birthday letters that are cut out and set aside for another card. Then the bright yellow cardstock was run through an embossing folder just to where the black cardstock starts. Then it was glued to the white card base and then the black sentiment glued over top. To fill in the top right corner to balance the card a small butterfly was die cut in black and the top in the same yellow and glued on. I like that the butterfly belly and antennae are die cut at the same time. A simple but very striking card.

That’s all for a cool Friday, March-20-15

Cheers

Violet

Snowed In!

Snowed in we are…or were until just before noon today. We just had the 2^{nd or 3rd} most snow fall at one time in February since about 1964 I think, and only missed being the worst by less than an inch. It started snowing sometime overnight Saturday and didn’t stop until after 11:00 this morning – so about 30 hours of snow! My sister and I were supposed to go London today for her doctor’s appointment but that sure didn’t happen. Pretty much the entire city was shut down today, even some of the stores. This picture was in the local on-line newspaper this morning – I didn’t take it, but it does show how much snow we have.

We had to hire a fellow with a very big snow blower to clear the driveway out. It was far too deep for Joe do to. He actually had it shovelled out Sunday afternoon but it didn’t stay cleared for long. Unfortunately I had 5 sympathy cards that I really wanted to be in the mail today so I spent a couple hours after lunch making them and then wondered if I was going to make it to the mailbox…. which is only about 5 or 6 blocks from our house. As I was considering whether I should go or not, Joe looked out and said that the city’s sidewalk snow plow just went down King St. Hurrah! I would just follow it. Hmmm…not so fast - he quit after one block and he was just barely leaving a foot path as it was. There was so much snow that as he plowed it, it just fell back behind him. There were no sidewalks to be seen from then on. I’ve never encountered that before but the sidewalks had about 2 feet of snow over them. So, I had to walk on the road the rest of the way…but I stepped into people’s driveways if I saw a car coming. I trudged on down to the mail box and I was very happy to get back home! We are now under a cold weather alert and more snow is expected later this week. Hurry up spring!!! Enough already!!!

Today’s card reminds me of spring so I chose to share it.

This is a Stamping Bella stamp…. not sure if it’s still available or not, but it could be. I coloured it with Prismacolor pencils and gamsol. The fancy oval is a Spellbinder die and I sponged yellow chalk around her. The sentiment was die cut from a Cuttlebug die. I used some left over paper from the blue rectangle, folded it and glued it in half to make it thicker before cutting it out. Glossy accents was added to the giant lollipop to make it look like shiny candy. The blue rectangle paper is from Paper Wishes and the other is from my stash. 

I've entered this card into these card challenges: http://seizethebirthday.blogspot.com and http://craftingwhenwecanchallenges.blogspot.com

That’s all for a cold, snowy Monday.

Cheers

Violet

Long Weekend Ahead

Another Friday has rolled around and this one is the start to our Canadian Thanksgiving long weekend. I don’t think we’re going anywhere this year. We normally visit one of the daughters but one of our grandsons had the stomach flu earlier in the week which means one of the parents could be catching it this weekend…..and we are avoiding anyone and any place that is sick. Hopefully the weather will be nice enough to get a nice long hike in somewhere. Last Thanksgiving it was so warm we went for a bike ride but not sure about doing that this year. They are calling for even more rain starting Sunday so it may be crafty days at home. My sister has her roof on now so no more leaks so that’s good!

Seeing as this is Friday I have another Stamping Bella card to share based on her weekly challenge, which was a sketch. Sad news for Canadian supporters of Stamping Bella though. She just released her new website and new stamps – but she is now shipping from the United States and is in fact considered an American company and no longer a Canadian company…….which means we Canadians customers get smacked with double shipping costs and we have to pay the duty. Can you say “Goodbye Stamping Bella!” She is going to honour the credit I have so I’ll use that up but there will be no more Bella stamps bought after that and I’ll no longer contribute to her weekly challenges. Sorry Stamping Bella but goodbye!

So here is the last challenge card:

Pretty self explanatory really. The image was coloured with Prismacolor pencils and die cut using the Spellbinder’s deckle edge die. The pink strip is a ribbon and the next one is paper. I put silver strips on the edges (Dazzles from Paper Wishes). The sentiment is a stamp. Once I die cut the label I glued it to the pink paper and cut around it leaving an edge. The little flowers and the scroll at the top of the ribbon are also Dazzle stickers. Not sure if you can see it in the photo but I added mica powder, similar to Wink of Stella, on the presents and her dress to give it some sparkle.

So, Happy Thanksgiving weekend to my Canadian readers and just happy weekend to all the others.

Cheers

Violet

The Orphange and a Card

Before I post the card of the day I want to tell you about an orphanage in Mexico that a friend of my daughter tries to raise money for. Last year he raised enough money to buy every child a bike and helmet. Things were going well for the orphanage until the hurricane hit Sept 14^th and many of the buildings were destroyed. Adam is now trying to raise money to replace some of the buildings, including their sleeping arrangements.  Here is the link to read about the orphanage and the terrible damage the storm did. http://www.youcaring.com/other/rebuilding-the-orphanage-hurricane-relief-fund-la-paz-mx/237531

Even if you can’t spare a dime to help, could you please post this on your Facebook page in case others want to donate. Thanks.

And now the card. This card would be good for either a teenage boy or girl who is into music.

These are all Inkadinkado stamps which were embossed with black embossing powder and then Distress inks were sponged all around it. The stars in the four corners are brads which I attached first and then glued the card to the card base. Pretty quick card to put together actually.

This was another busy day and this lady is ready to flop down for the night so that’s it for a Tuesday!

Cheers

Violet

A Bellariffic Friday Card

Yesterday I posted that they were forecasting about a week of rain. This morning Joe turned on the radio to get the news and weather and the weather specialist (what he calls himself) says we are in for a "bank of sunshine for the next four or five days!" What? What happened to the rain that was forecasted? I guess it must have moved south of us because it was indeed a nice sunny day here – very hot and humid but typical for August. I know you can't count on the long range forecast but it doesn't normally change that quickly overnight!

I was busy this afternoon and got another quilt top put together. I had the blocks made but they needed to be finished into the quilt top. Done! Then I pulled out another set of completed blocks and I have them sorted for yet another quilt top. I’m on a quest to reduce the amount of fabric I have! The paper, beading, and scrapbooking embellishment stashes are also being deleted…but much more slowly….mainly because I keep buying more supplies!! Oh well, life is short, may as well do what you enjoy while you are here.

Today’s card is for the weekly challenge at Stamping Bella.

This stamp is just too darn cute. I love it! It was coloured with Prismacolor pencils and then glitter was sprinkled on her dress. It looks nicer in person than the photo shows. The die is a Spellbinders die that I bought on sale at the Paper Pickle. It was one of those sales that were too good to pass on but I wasn’t sure I would use it all that much. Turns out I use it a lot and I’m so glad I bought it. The background papers are from a very old paper set that I won and I just added the bow down the seam.

That’s all for another week. I finished another quilt this week and if I have time over the weekend I’ll post it.

Cheers

Violet