Happy Canada Day!!!

So here we are, another beautiful, wet glorious day in our beloved country, Canada.  Yes, it may be a little soggy, but I don't mind, I love this land I live in!  We are so fortunate.  Sure, we have some pitfalls, like the icky new HST, for one, but don't let that bring you down.

I decided to make a sweet treat for my kids on Canada Day.  Just waiting for the sunshine to appear, but even if it does not, they won't care.  It certainly won't stop them from enjoying these:

I chopped up mini peanut butter cups and malted milk balls (not pictured) and mixed them into the ice cream.

...then filled the waffle cones half full with the candied ice cream, and added a big dollop of fudge sauce...mmm, yummy fudge sauce...

...and finally made a homemade chocolaty sauce which I dipped the cones into.  When they're set, the chocolate is hard and crunchy!

So here's hoping the Canada will have the sun shine down at least later this afternoon!  Have a wonderful day everyone, and celebrate safely!

I'm still here!

...and working to get some new classes on the go here.  I've had some requests lately for layouts, so I'm working on a couple classes, which I'll be posting soon!  Thanks so much everyone for your interest and support of my work, it really means so much to me!

Here's a card I whipped up tonight, a thank you for the very generous man who sent me to the spa a couple weeks ago.  I know its girly, but I think he'll "get it":

I've been waiting a long time to use this stamp from Stamping Bella Rubber Stamps.  I've had it for a few years now and it just goes to prove, one day you WILL use stuff in your stash that you just can't part with, even though its never been out of the package, have faith in that!

I've completed a challenge...

...posted at The Inspired Scrapper!  What a great site this is - it really does inspire me and gets the creative mojo going!  The challenge this week was animals.  Could be your pet, a trip to the zoo, a bear in your backyard, or, as Cari showed, you can think outside the box.  Her page was about some of her kids' favourite stuffies - what a great idea!  So this prompted me to think outside the box as well, and here's what I came up with:

I've been meaning to do a page about Dawson joining Beavers, and how much fun he has there, and I finally got the inspiration to do so.  Sometimes you just have to be patient, and the right ideas will come.  That is exactly why I personally prefer not to scrap in chronological order.  I find if I have an idea or come across a photo that sparks my creativity, I have much more fun with it.  Now that's certainly not to say that scrapping chronologically is wrong...I envy those of you who do, and are up to date with your scrapbooks, but my brain doesn't work that way, unfortunately!

Anyways, I'm very happy with how this one turned out!  I love the colours.  I was looking in my stash for the right paper and I found these patterned papers by Doodlebug Design.  Yes, I know, they're so last year, but I loved them, and their coordinating brads (notice the frog on the log and the dragonfly!).  The beaver and log came from my new Cricut Cartridge, Create-A-Critter (soooo cute, and thank you so much Jessie!)  I used my beloved Stampin' Up ink and cardstock (I really do like it best, especially when using it with my Cricut).  I embossed the letters (cut from the Cricut Robotz cartridge) with the Argyle Cuttlebug folder, and some miscellaneous ribbon and journaling around the photo (yes, I know there's a spelling mistake, I wasn't paying attention!!) finished off the project nicely!

Yes, it has been a while...

...but I'm still here!  Just been swamped with other things, but you bet I'm eager to get back at it!  So its Mom's Day tomorrow - I'm sure you've all remembered...lol!  Have you made your Mom a card?  A gift maybe?  Well, I sat down last night and made my card. I got inspired by a challenge posted at The Inspired Scrapper.  Check out their blog for lots of great ideas.  Here's what I came up with:

I usually don't do a lot of vintage-style stuff, but for my mom, this seemed fitting, and I am happy with how it turned out.  Its simple, yet elegant.  I think she'll like it!

So as you may know, I was up at Whistler last weekend with my good friends, Lori and Christina.  We had a great time scrapping, hot tubbing and just having some much needed girl time!  I got a few lay outs done:

The two layouts above were inspired by two different Basic Grey maps from Page Maps.

This one was the result of a challenge at the crop.

And here's some of us in action:

Christina and her family are so cute, they send pictures to each other of what they're doing right at that moment, so this self portrait was taken for them!  Love ya Christina!!

Here's Lori hard at work.  Man, she and Christina sure pumped them out!!  Very impressive!  Love ya too Lori, Happy Birthday!!!

...and here I am, slowly plugging away, right ladies?!  LOL!!

So it was a great weekend!  Thanks so much girls, for a fabulous time!  Can't wait till the next one...The BC Crop For Kids, here I come!!  Whoo Hoo!!

Look What I Made...

I was inspired by my BFF, Erica, to make this Easter banner.  She had made one and posted it as a challenge on The Inspired Scrapper.  I used my Easter Cricut Cartridge to cut the cut shapes, then simply sewed them all together.  How easy is that?  And super cute!

Don't you just love the little lamb??  And can you see the chocolate bunny whose had a bite taken out of his ears?  Too cute!

The coolest part of this project is that its made all from scraps!  You gotta love that!!  So this project can be adapted to any holiday, obviously.  Its quick, easy and fabulous!  Thanks for your idea, Erica!!

Finally, A New Class!!!

Okay, kids, here it is!  Wow, this mini book has really had me pulling my hair out!  I've put it together, torn it apart, re-designed and re-assembled it many times over, but I'm finally happy with it, so I hope you like it too.  If you're like me, you've got lots of pictures from your Olympic experiences, and this little book is designed to showcase your faves. 

Having the Olympics in our backyard was such an amazing experince, there was so much to see and do, even if you didn't have tickets to any of the events.  We just wandered around down town and had a great ime.  Luckily, the weather for us was gorgeous, though it didn't seem to matter, once you got downtown, the fever spread rapidly!

So this class will be held in the beginning of April, more specifically, April 3rd.  There are a couple reasons behind this.  First, the IA meeting is scheduled for Saturday, March the 20th, and the next weekend is out because my awesome baby crumper, Chloe, is in a competition that Saturday night (whoo hoo, go Chloe!!!)  Plus, I need to order the paper for this project, so I'll need to have sign up complete by the 20th, so I know how much I'll have to order, and to make sure it gets here on time.  Please keep in mind, I don't think you'll be able to whip this book off in a couple hours - you can count on a full evening, but I'm sure you'll be happy with the end product!  Cost of the class is $25, and there are only eight spots available, so if you're interested, please let me know right away, either by email (cnhird@shaw.ca) or post a comment.

I've also had a couple request for a crop night here, at my place.  I'm totally open to this, and thought we'd give it a try.  I'll run it just the same as any other crop night the LSS offer.  The Crop Fee will be $7, which will give you access to all my tools (Big Shot, Revolution, Cricut, etc.), in addition to consumables, such as ink pads, cricut mats, embossing powders, etc., and a door prize ticket.  I can accomodate 12 comfortably, so we'll cap it there.  If you bring something to share (an appy, dessert, etc.) you'll receive an extra doorprize ticket.  Our first Crop Night will be on Saturday, April 10th, 7pm - 12am.  Again, just email or post to sign up!

So now that the Olympic book is completed and off the table, I am starting to work on a beautiful spring project, I'm very excited about it.  And hopefully, it'll be completed before the summer (LOL!!  Joking!!!) 

Have a great day everyone!!

Ink-A-Holics Annonymous...

...is the official name of our club!!  Yay, I'm so glad we finally have a name!!  And ain't it the truth - do you consider yourself an addict to paper crafting of some description or another?!  Here's how you know if you're a scrap addict:

1. Seriously, you DON'T need any more paper, but it's sooooo pretty/cute/stunning...
2. You're so glad you bought all that new stuff.  Now you can go home, organize it, look at it, re-organize it...but don't you dare make a project out of it - that may ruin it!
3. You have more stickers than your kids/grandkids/kids you babysit.
4. You think Kraft Dinner, or maybe even popcorn, is nutritious enough for the kids'/husband's/your own dinner.  Who has time to make dinner - you've got to re-organize your stash incase you may want to find something one day!  Just for the purpose of showing it off though...
5. You make your family/friends pose for those "candid" shots.

So I think Ink-A-Holics Annonymous is very fitting!  Thanks to all who submitted a name, and to everyone who exercised their right to vote!!  By the way, the creative brain that thought up this title belongs to Christine!  Yay Chris!  I'll have your prize for you at the next I.A meeting!!

Next up, I owe an apology to Lujza.  Due to some switching around of Hostess Months, I got mixed up.  Technically, it should have been Lujza's month this past time around, as she was originally slated for February and was not involved in the swapping of months.  And yet she ever so gracefully accepted my mistake and did not make me feel bad about it.  I do feel bad about it, but she didn't make me feel worse - thanks Lujza!  To make up for my mistake, I'l have a little extra something for you when our order comes in, Lujza.  Thanks again.

Speaking of which, here is the order in which we are Hostessing:

January - Mary Lou  Complete
February - Erica   Complete
March - Lujza
April - Rosemarie
May - Laura
June - Karen
July - Lori
August - Christina
September - Christine

The months were assigned on a first come, first serve basis.  If you are wanting to switch, please contact the person you want to switch with.  If you both agree, then just let me know, I'll confirm it with the other person involved and we'll go ahead from there.  This should cut out any further confusion.  Thanks for you understanding with this.

Last, I just wanted to thank you for you continued patience.  February has been a very hectic month, personally.  I'm currently working on two classes, a canvas and an Olympic mini album, both of which I'm very excited about!!  Pictures will be posted the moment I have the projects complete.  There was also some interest expressed in having a couple kids classes during Spring Break.  This is also in the works, though its currently last in line.  But if I get off this computer and start working on projects, it'll quickly move up the scale!  So off I go!  Have a great rest of the week everyone!