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Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Priscilla's Year End Celebration!!!

It's here, it's here...it's finally here! Priscilla at Priscilla Styles is having a year end celebration! So grab your party hats and put on your best duds cause the party is going to be happening from 4 p.m. to 8 pm PST...and things will be hopping! You don't want to miss this...a little birdie says that there will be dancing, games, entertainment and prizes! And if you are part of Priscilla's group you had the chance to get a wonderful New Years Gem of an image...to be used for the party! So keep your eyes open for some fabulous works of art! Hope to see you all there!

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Christmas Kitty

So my dd needed a card for one of her best friends for Christmas. As her mom was running really far behind, my dd colored the image for me. I think she did a wonderful job...and she let her mom design the rest of the card. The image is from Sliekje Digital Stamps and you can find it here. So I started out with a wonderful teal colored base...it's SU paper, but I can't remember the actual color name of it. On top of that I used a designer paper from Bartell's that has little dry embossed dots on it to look like snow falling. I used my Nestibillies Scallop die in the two largest sizes for the image and the designer paper under the image. The designer paper under the image is a bunch of Christmas sayings and is paper I had in my stash.
The corners were punched with a Friska's corner punch from Michaels The snowflakes and sentiment were from my stash. I used Star Dust stickles on the trim of the hat and the white fur on the cat. The eyes were done with a green metallic pen from Michaels. The hat and scarf were outlined with a red glitter pen from Michaels.


Christmas Bird

Hi all...wow...it's really been a long time since I posted anything on here. I was so busy trying to get things finished in time for Christmas and didn't have the time for posting extra stuff. I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and was able to spend it with their loved one's. We had a very nice Christmas with my MIL and FIL...and my dh's niece and her husband. So I did some work on a couple of cards...actually I made 30 some odd cards, but they were a variation of some that I have already posted so I won't be posting them. But I did do a card using a wonderful image called Christmas Bird by Priscilla Styles. You can find the image here. It is such a wonderful image to work with and I hope that I did it justice. I started out with a shimmering red paper that I got from my local craft store Bartell's,  as my base. I used a deep purple paper from Michael's underneath the image.
I colored the image with SU water color pencils and used gold glitter pen from Michaels to color in the sentiment. I also used the gold glitter pen to color the bells and the middle of the ribbon.

I used a red glitter pen (from Michael's) for coloring in the holly berries and a green metallic pen (also from Michael's) for coloring the holly leaves. I used Star Dust stickles for the snow on the tree branch and since I wanted the image to be the focus of the card, I only added a small red pearl in each corner.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Winter Wonderland

So today I realized that I had to have a Christmas card for an open house that we were invited to. Ooops...I had forgotten about it. So what to do when you don't have a lot of time? Then I remembered that I had this gorgeous image from Gingerloft. It is a snow laden wilderness scene.


The trees are draped with lots of snow and it is truly a winter wonderland. So the first thing that I did was to decide what colors I wanted to use with it. The image itself looks beautiful without coloring, but I figured I would heat emboss Christmas Tinsel on the main tree. I love this particular embossing powder as it makes the snow not only look like snow, but it also has little bits of glitter in it so when the light shines just right on it, the snow looks like it has little twinkling lights on it. I used a snowflake stamp with Versa mark to stamp the base of the card...and used that same stamp with Stampin Up's Brocade Blue ink on the white background paper. The corner punch used on the corners was a 3 in 1 bought at Michaels.

I used my Stampin Up watercolor pencils to color the sky and added Star Dust stickels, bought at Micheals, underneath the tree. I then added a white ribbon with Merry Christmas written on it in silver with blue ribbon (both bought at Michaels) to match the paper.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

What a wonderful thing


Can you believe it? A wonderful friend, Theresa from Crafts/Friends/Angels gave me this award! Well, I don't know if I deserve this, but it was sure nice of her to send this to me. Thanks so much Theresa (hugs).

So, the first thing I have to do is to answer 8 questions about myself.

1) I grew up in Calgary, Alberta Canada
2) I moved to Abbotsford when I was 12...moved back to Calgary for a short period...and then back to Abbotsford.
3) My favorite foods are Greek (my ultimate favorite) and potatoe chips are my weakness...can't have them in the house or I eat them. lol
4) I am not working at this time...but am looking for a job. The last job that I had was as a lunch truck driver...until a back injury made it so that I could no longer get in and out of the truck.
5) I have had my day in setting records and then breaking them in nothing! lol I've never set a record or broken one!
6) My drink of preference is coffee or pop...I know...bad combination lol Both will rot your gut out ;)
7) My favorite color is green...especially sage green
8) I drive a Ford Focus

Now pay it forward in no particular order.
1) Guylou - Guylou's Inimitability Digistamps
2) Ruby - Ruby's Impressions
3)Nettie - Nettie's Canvas's and Creations
4) Chris - Chris' Scrappin Fun
5) Gina - Gina Speak
6) Leigh - Happileigh Scrappin
7) Linda - Lovely Linda's Craft Central
8) JenLee - ABC - Art, Bellydancing & Crafting

Ladies, herre's what you have to do:

1  Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this
2. Share 8 things about yourself
3. Pay it forward to 8 bloggers that you have recently discovered
4. Contact those bloggers and tell them about their awards
Thanks again Theresa! :D

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

It's the most wonderful time of the year...With the kids jingle belling and everyone telling you "Be of good cheer"...It's the most wonderful time of the year.
And to celebrate Guylou's Inimitability is having a Christmas Card Challenge...and you could be the one receiving the gift! To enter all you have to do is  enter any newly made Christmas cards or projects, but in order to qualify to win, you will need to use a Guylou's Inimitability digistamp. If you don’t have any GI images, you can visit Guylou's Inimitability Store or you can have a look for a freebie in her group on Crafters Digital Art Center!

The winner will be awarded a digistamp of her choice from Guylou's Inimitability Store and will also be invited to be a Guest Designer on an upcoming challenge and will get another GI digistamp to make a card or project along the DT. Now who wouldn't want that? So go on over and check things out...you have nothing to loose and the possibility of something to win!

So to give you an idea of one of her marvelous stamps, this is the image and card that I am entering into the challenge. Her name is Louise with a candycane and she is just the most wondeful image. Makes you think of cold winter days as soon as you see her! You can find her in Guylou's store here . I decided that she really needed something a little different. So I went with a Double slider card. I found the directions for this style of card on the Stampin Up site. When you first look at it, it looks like any other card....

But instead of opening this card up like a regular card, it has a double slider!

The red cardstock is from SU and is called Cherry Cobbler. The designer paper is by Momenta and I got it at Zellers. I used Cuttlebugs Vintage dies for the corners and I used a candycane stamp from a Michael's set, and stamped it with Versa mark on the base of the card. Stickles have become my new best friend and I used my Star Dust stickles on the trim of her hat, sleeves, boots, collar and pompoms hanging from her jacket. She is colored using SU water colors. The candy cane is colored with atyouSpica glitter pen from Michaels, as well as her mittens and the ties for her pompoms. I sponged around Louise with my Cherry Cobbler ink pad. The first slider is stamped with a Santa's hat, with SU basic black ink,  from a kit I got from Micheal's and then is sponged around the edges with Cherry Cobbler. The Merry Christmas stamp is from the SU Cardinal Christmas set. On the back slider I used the candycane stamp again, but this time I used Cherry Cobbler for the ink, and stamped the whole page with it. And I did the edges of it with the Cherry Cobbler ink pad.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Happi Scrappin Doodles

  • Hi all...now some of you are probably wondering...what is a Happi Scrappin Doodles? It is a brand new group on Crafters Digital Art Center. It is run by a wonderful lady named Leigh Grady. And she has got some of the cutest little images you ever did see. She is having her first challenge and so I have made a card using her image Tatter's Stocking! He was so wonderful to work with. So to start with I made what's called a Hinged Card...on the outside I put part of The Night Before Christmas story...and when you open the door...there's Tatter's!
  • I made the card using Stamping Up almost Olive and Cherry Cobbler cardstock. I added pearls for from Stampin Up and little white glittery snowflakes from Michael's in the upper left and lower right hand corners. I outlined the "door" with Star Dust stickles. The holly and candycane are rub ons from Michaels. Inside I used Designer Christmas paper from my stash and Cherry Cobbler cardstock from Stampin Up. I stamped the oval with a holly stamp with versa mark to give it a water mark look. Tatters is colored grey with Stampin Up water color pencils. The inside of his ears and his nose are done with a pink Metalic pen from Michaels and the red on the stocking is done with a Red glitter Gelly roller pen also from Michaels. The green is done with a green water color pencil from Stampin Up. Although you can't tell from my picture, the top of the stocking is done with the Star Dust stickles also, so that it's nice and glittery!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Nana Vic's Vickie Quickies

So if any of you have ever gone to Nana Vic's blog you will know that she does what's called the Vickie Quickie every Friday...Thursday night if you live in North America...it is an event that is looked forward to by one and all. Well, over the last little while there have been a few of us that have started having little gatherings "in front of Vickie's place". And I guess between Vickie and Tracy, they decided that Vickie should be allowed to attend these parties instead of coming in from work at the end (great idea ladies :D). So this week Vickie has decided to host the party and for the last few days there have been games, and questions on what to have at the party...who's bringing what...or what they are wearing...the theme is blue. Vickie has rented a tent and there is lots of food...so if you would like to join us you can find us here. But there is a catch...this time we all must bring a birthday card for a boy/guy, using one of Vickie's images, as our admittance fee. So this is mine. It is entitled only Newspaper. I have made it for a sister to give to her brother.
I used SU Olive paper and an designer paper from the local Dollar Giant. The white paper is from Michaels. It was colored with SU watercolors and Crayola pencil crayons. The sentiment I found on Splitcoast Stampers. The brads are ornage brads I got from Michael's.

I got the sentiment for the inside also from Splitcoast Stampers...it reads And I'm laughing cuz there's nothing you can do about it!
Hope to see you all at the party!


Guylou's Blog Hop

Well all, hope you all managed to make it over to Guylou's Inimitability for her Christmas release blog hop. If not you should still go over and check out all the wonderful creations that her DT came up with for inspiration. And...yours truly was incredibly lucky and I won myself one of her new Christmas Images!!! Whoo Hoo! I had such a hard time picking exactly which one I wanted...they are all so great, but I did finally decide on her Louise with a candy cane that you can find her and the rest of the Christmas line up here. She is such a fun image to work with...but I can't post anything I've done with her yet...cause it's a secret! Hopefully I'll be able to do another card with her that I will be able to post soon.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

The Reason for the Season

O.K. all...I am going to get on my soap box and hope that I don't offend anyone. But I think that I and many others like me have been quiet for too long. I am a Christian...and proud of it...and I am so tired of being Politically Correct! Now don't get me wrong...I believe that everyone is welcome to their belief's...if you are athiest and don't believe in God...that is your choice...if you are Jewish and celebrate Hanukka I will wish you a Happy Hanukka back...or if you celebrate Ramada or Kwanzaa...and wish me a Happy Ramada or Happy Kwanzaa I will return the greating! I am not offended by the greeting, in fact I am happy to be included in your celebrations.  But I am Christian and I celebrate Christmas...and in the same respect that I will not try to stop you from celebrating your religious belief's I would appreciate not being told that I cannot celebrate mine! Jesus is the reason for this holiday...it is not a "winter holiday" it is a Christmas holiday and  I will always refer to this as the Christmas season...I will always wish you a Merry Christmas and if you have a problem with this then maybe you had better think about it the next time you go to celebrate one of your religious celebrations...what if you are told that it is no longer acceptable to celebrate them! We are told that we live in a free society...that we are all able to have our own religious beliefs or none at all if that is your choice...so why is it that the Christians are now being told that they are no longer able to have our religious celebrations? If we went to your countries how would you like it if we told you that you were no longer allowed to have your religion. There is so much more that I would like to say...but should probably stop before my soap box turns over.  I was sent this email today and I just had to post it. Now I will get down off my soap box and again hope that I have not offended anyone...but I am tired of being offended by others.

Twas the month before Christmas*
*When all through our land,*
*Not a Christian was praying*
*Nor taking a stand.*
*See the PC Police had taken away,*
*The reason for Christmas - no one could say.*
*The children were told by their schools not to sing,*
*About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.*
*It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say*
* December 25th is just a ' Holiday '.*
*Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit*
*Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!*
*CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod*
*Something was changing, something quite odd! *
*Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa*
*In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda..*
*As Targets were hanging their trees upside down*
* At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.*
*At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears*
*You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.*
*Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-is-ty*
*Are words that were used to intimidate me.*
*Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen*
*On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton !*
*At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter*
*To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.*
*And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith*
* Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace*
*The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded*
*The reason for the season, stopped before it started.*
*So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'*
*Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.*
*Choose your words carefully, choose what you say*
*Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS ,
Not Happy Holiday !*
Please, all Christians join together and
Wish everyone you meet during the
Holidays a
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Christ is The Reason for the Christ-mas Season!

Monday, November 29, 2010

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

Have yourself a merry little Christmas, make the Yule tide gay....from now on our troubles will be miles away...through the years we all will be together, if the faits allow....hang a shinning star upon the highest bough. It's that time of year again...and inevitable I think of this song and the wonderful friend that it reminds me of. This time of year really reminds you of what's important...the love of family and friends...how much they mean to you and how you should never take them for granted...because one day they may no longer be there.

But enough of that...hope all of you were able to make it to Guylou's bloghop...was a great time! And her new Christmas images are incredible. If you have the chance take a look. You can get to them here .  So I have been busy over the last little bit trying to get an order done for a friend. I have no idea how some of you manage to do 50 cards or more for someone else and still manage to get your own Christmas cards done! lol

The first card I'm going to show you is a card with a poinsetta. My client really wanted a card with a poinsetta and I didn't have one...so I went to talk to Maureen at DigiDrawn and she drew a beautiful poinsetta that my client loved. But she wanted the card done like one I had done previously...so I changed the ribbon to make it more Christmasy...added gold heat embossed poinsetta stamped cs to the back of the larger poinsetta image.
The cardstock is from Stampin Up and the ribbon was bought last year at Michael's. The small poinsetta stamp used for the embossing was part of a kit I got from Michael's 3 years ago.

The next card that she wanted was one with a Nativity. I had won a really cute Nativity image from Ellephantastic when I entered a challenge hosted by Helen. So I designed a card that had doors that had two little doors that opened. On the outside of one door is the Star of David, and on the other door is the verse "Beneath a shining star, Upon a silent night, Within a lowly stable

I used Brocade Blue cardstock from Stampin Up as the base. On top of that I put a shimmery gold cardstock from my stock...then Cappacino cs also from Stampin Up and then more brocade blue. The last color is white cs from Michaels. The gold ribbon is from the Dollar Giant Dollar store. At the upper left and lower right hand corners I added 3 small white pearls made by Kaiser Craft and bought at my local Scrapbooking store.
When you open the little doors you reveal the manger complete with Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus.
I colored the image with Stampin Up water color pencils and added a gold halo on the baby Jesus and gold hay in the manger. The swaddle is done with Metalic blue Gelly Roll. The Gold and Blue Gelly Roll pens are from Michaels. The edges are sponged in a gold pigment ink from a kit bought at Michaels 3 years ago.

Then she wanted a shaker card with a Christmas ball stamp and the words Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas on it. This I took and heat embossed in gold on Stampin Up Cherry Cobbler card stock. I used a paper cd/dvd holder and decorated it with small ornaments in each corner using Stamping Up Cherry Cobbler ink pad. I used gold string to connect the ornaments. and the gold pen from Michaels to color the tops of the ornaments. I will be posting a tutorial at a later date to show how to make the "Shaker card without the shake" lol.
Thank you for coming and seeing my pictures...and I hope you all Have a Merry Little Christmas.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Guylou's Blog Hop

Hey all...don't forget that Guylou's Inimitability is having a blog hop this Saturday November 27th, starting at 7 a.m. EST and ending on November 28th at 9 pm EST. We will be getting a chance to see her wonderful new Christmas images, as well as a chance to win some prizes. So hop on over there and see what she has to offer...you won't be disappointed! You can get to the blog hop by clicking here  Hope to see you there!

Sneak Peak

Stamp Fairy is giving a sneak peak of a new image that will be released soon...and they are also giving a cute little freebie! How great is that! If you would like to see the "peak" and pick up your freebie, just click here

Monday, November 22, 2010

Merry Christmas Fairy




Anita Be Stampin has a sketch challenge going on using the sketch above...so I just had to join in.  If you're interested in checking
 out her site you can find her hereI used her freebie fairy. She's such a wonderful image and so much fun to work with! She is done with SU cs from my stash and ribbon from Michael's. The fairly is colored with SU water color pencils, crayola pencil crayons(the face). Her dress, shoes and hat are colored with Blue Metallic Gelly roll pen  and her wings are done with Silver Metalic Jelly Roll pen. Her pompoms, and neck piece are heat embossed with Blue Tinsel embossing powder from Michaels.

Guylou's is having a Blog Hop!!!!

Guylou's Inimitability is having a Christmas Release Blog Hop starting November 27 at 7:00 am to November 28th, 9:00pm.

You will see the five new Guylou's Inimitability digistamps and get to participate in a blog hop with prizes... lots of them.

Each blogs participating in the blog hop will draw randomly a winner from the comments left on their blog post and the winner will receive one digistamp of her choice from Guylou’s new releases. A grand winner will be selected on Guylou’s Inimitability Blog to win all five new releases. You must comment on all the blogs participating in this blog hop in order to qualify to win the grand prize.

Eight designers are participating in the blog hop, so this is going to be a whole lot of fun.

So come on down to Guylou's Inimitability starting November 27 at 7:00am and join the fun.

You can find her blog by clicking here or click on her direct link button on the left side.

Shaker card...minus the shake lol

O.K...so I promised a good friend that I would post a picture of one of the shaker cards that I've done. I love doing the shaker cards...they're pretty easy and they look good. The only problem that I seem to have is getting the shaker stuff to actually shake...it usually sticks in around the bottom and won't move around lol. So this one I did for a group of cards I made for my sister a couple of years ago.
To do this card you use a paper dvd cover which is 5.5 x 5.5. Cut your inside paper to 5.25 x 5.25. Use your embossing buddy on the inside paper and then stamp image using versa mark. Add your embossing powder onto it and heat with heating tool. Once you're done your inside, decorate the outside as wanted. I stamped little ornaments in red and then used a gold glitter pen to color in the snowflakes and tops on the ornaments. I connected the ornaments with gold string and sponged red around the edges.

Here's some other samples of things you could do.



Thursday, November 18, 2010

Thanks for always being there for me


Guylou, of Guylou's Inimitability,  has a Thanksgiving/Thanks Challenge that is ending today and this is my entry. The requirements of the challenge are to use one of her wonderful images along with the words Happy Thanksgiving, Thank you or Thanks. I went with a thanks card and used Guylou's Jessica Image. She is a freebie when you join Guylou's site. If you'd like to check out Guylou's and all the wonderful images that she has created, just click on her "button" on the left and it will bring you straight to her site. The problem for me, with this challenge, was how to make a girl with an umbrella fit in with a Thanks card. Luckily late last night inspiration hit and this is what I came up with. The outside says: Through sunshine and rain good friends we'll  remain. The  inside says: Thanks for always being there for me.
The pink and blue cardstock is from SU, the patterned one is from my stash and the white is from Michaels.
The flowers are from my stash and the image was colored with SU water color pencils, except for the metal parts of the umbrella which are colored with a silver gel pen from Michaels. The light pink ribbon and the jewel brad in the middle of the flower is pink and are from Michaels. Thanks for coming and looking at my card.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Baby Cards and Window Cards

So I was talking to friends on CDAC...and I told them that I would post some pics of some Baby Shower invitations that I had done up. So here they are.
I did this one so that it looks like you are inside looking out the window on a nice summer's day.

These are the three sample cards I did for a lady that was wanting Invitations for a baby shower.
The first one is a "traditional" type of card with the baby booties.

Since we didn't know the sex of the baby at this time I just went with a pastel green and yellow cs with some embossing for emellishments.
This card has a little onesie that pulls out, with Tigger and Pooh stamped and colored on it.

The baby came early...so for the last one I actually knew the sex of the baby. This last card is the one that my customer went for.

I loved the idea of the onesie, so I made this one big enough to put the information in. And since I didn't like my own writing on the first onesie card, I decided to just stamp "It's a Boy" on it instead. And since we knew he was a boy, I was able to taylor the colors more. I used blue, yellow and orange cs to tie in with the colors of Tigger and Pooh. At the shoulder I used yellow and orange eyelets to mimic the snaps on a onesie. The images were stamped on and heat embossed and then colored in.

Monday, November 15, 2010

So Far Behind

Yup...you read it right...I am so far behind! I have 3 cards to post and 1 card to post the front of it (Gabrielle). But I have very little time right now so I am going to post the 3 cards and then come back and fill in the details for everyone.

The first one is a Birthday card that I did for a friend of mine. The  image is from Guylou's Inimitibility...you can find her link in the left hand column. The image is called Manager Brenda and was a real joy to work with.
The caption on the front reads: Happy Birthday to the Girl who's still got it...
The inside reads: Now if you can only remember where you put it!

The next card is a card using a Priscilla Styles image. She calls this one fruit and she gave it to the members of her blog to celebrate having 400 members! As soon as I saw this image I knew what I wanted to do with it. I could see reds, and dark purples and lots of gold. So that is what I did.


The leaves are colored with 2 different types of gold pen...a mat gold and a glitter gold. The vines are done with the glitter gold and the branch is done with the mat gold on the end and a third gold. I wanted to make this a Christmas card so I figured using the deep reds and purples and golds would help to give it that festive look.
The last image that I'm going to post is a card that I did for a young lady that I know. She asked me to make a Sleeping Beauty card for a friend of her's daughter. And thanks to a wonderful friend, I was able to find the perfect image and make a card that I hope she'll like as much as I do.

Sleeping Beauty's dress is done in Red on the top, with a red glitter collar and red glitter at the waist. There is a pink shimmer underlay (on top). The bottom of the dress is pink with pink shimmer details...and a red underdress with red glitter accent. Her head is topped by a glittering gold crown. The top cs is a red shimmer paper, with white paper that I used a SU Holly stampin wheel to decorate, underneath. The main part of the card is made with SU Cherry Cobbler cs.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

"If I Die Before You Wake" Tribute to Armed Forces

Let Us Remember

                                 


THE FINAL INSPECTION

The soldier stood and faced God, 
Which must always come to pass.
He hoped his shoes were shining,
Just as brightly as his brass.

'Step forward now, you soldier,
How shall I deal with you ?
Have you always turned the other cheek ?
To My Church have you been true?'

The soldier squared his shoulders and said,
'No, Lord, I guess I ain't.
Because those of us who carry guns,
Can't always be a saint.

I've had to work most Sundays,
And at times my talk was tough.
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.

But, I never took a penny,
That wasn't mine to keep...
Though I worked a lot of overtime,
When the bills got just too steep.

And I never passed a cry for help,
Though at times I shook with fear.
And sometimes, God, forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.

I know I don't deserve a place,
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around,
Except to calm their fears.

If you've a place for me here, Lord,
It needn't be so grand.
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand.

There was a silence all around the throne,
Where the saints had often trod.
As the soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.

'Step forward now, you soldier,
You've borne your burdens well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell.'

Author Unknown~

Please take the time to stop, remember and say a prayer for our brave service men and women and their families on November 11th.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Hodge Podge Shop Blog Hop

Hey everyone, the Hodge Podge Shop is having their first ever Blog Hop. There are 6 hops along the way and there is a winner at every stop. Each DT will have a random winner of one of the beautiful Hodge Podge Shop Images. Plus some of them are offering BLOG CANDYso keep your eyes open for it!  So why don't you go on over and check them out...you can find them here . Or maybe you'd like to join in their challenge...the challenge is to make a fall or Thanksgiving card and add some leaves.  And don't forget to leave some love for Linda's daughter Jessica...she's made an incredible card that you can check out on the link page!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Glad Tidings

Glad Tidings...that is what I have chosen to call my new card. I decided on this name because of the beautiful angel that is the centerpiece for my card. The angel is called Gabrielle and she can be found at Guylou's Inimitability. If you'd like to check out some of her images you can find her here. If you are interested in checking out any of the other designers that I have on here you can find them all here . Hope you go have a look...it is well worth the time. Anyways, so I started out with Gabrielle from Guylou. As soon as I saw Gabrielle I knew that I wanted to do a card on when the angel showed up to the sheppards on the night that Jesus was born.

I used SU Night of Navy cs as my base. The inside cs is blue and gold shimmer paper that I bought at Bartell's Scrapbooking.  Gabrielle is printed on white cs bought at Michaels. She is colored using SU water color pencils. The bottom of her dress was done with a gold metalic marker that I got at Michaels. I used a  gold Gelly Roll pen, also bought at Michaels, to give some gold accents in her hair and a gold accent at her waist. I used the metalic gold to outline the star and my SU pastels for adding color to Gabrielle's face and hands. The SU pastels were also used to give the gold "halo" around Gabrielle and fill in the night sky. The silouette images of the sheppards and their sheep were gotten at an LDS clip art site. I used my gold gelly roll pen to add highlights to the sheppards and sheep where the glow from Gabrielle would hit them. Blue buttons with white swirls and tiny flowers on them are from Fabricland. The gold and white cording used for the bow was from the local Dollar Giant dollar store. Gabrielle's wings are covered with a thin layer of Aileen's craft glue with fine white glitter on top to give them some sparkle.

I will download the front of the card hopefully tomorrow.

Sunshine makes me Happy!!!

So it was sunny today...and blue skies! Didn't get as much accomplished today (because of the sunshine) or over the weekend (lots going on with Halloween) as I would have liked. Now that Halloween is over it's time to start looking towards Christmas. To that end I'm working on a new card that I am hoping to have finished by tomorrow. Not going to say what it is in case it doesn't work out lol. It's proving to be interesting to say the least. If you all are wondering where I'm getting the great blog templates it's a place called LeeLou Blogs. She has some wonderful templates and backgrounds (among other things) and they're for free. Speaking of free, if you're looking for some great digi stamps head on over to Crafter's Digital Art Center...they have some great people over there and some incredible images! They have digi's for sale in their stores, but if you'd like to try them out there are some freebee's and lots of challenges where you have the chance to win more. Give them a look...you have nothing to loose but a little time! You can find them here Just click on the "here" and it will bring you right to them.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Halloween

Hey all...well it's the night before Halloween (actually technically it's Halloween Day) and we've just gotten back from the Halloween Party we went to. Was at my best friend's house...we had a blast! Anyways, thought that I would post a picture of my wonderful husband, Mr. Whoopie Cushion...my beautiful daughter, Miss Goth...and me The Sourceress.


It was also my furbaby Molly's first birthday today. So my MIL and FIL brought Molly's sister Heidi over and we had a little bit of a birthday party for them. And a good time was had by all her guests...although they all had too much cake and treats! lol
Molly with her sisters Heidi and Lady (Lady is the sister from another mother lol), and her girl Kat

Here's the Birthday "Cake"

Molly licking the "icing" off of her cake

Heidi enjoying her cake

Lady waiting to see if Molly has any left overs...yeah right! Better luck next time Lady!

I WISH YOU ALL A SAFE AND HAUNTINGLY HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Friday, October 29, 2010

Christmas Wishes

Hey everyone...woke up this morning and guess what...it was cloudy out! I know you're all thinking that there's nothing new about that...and you're right, but I gotta work with what I've got! lol I was asked by someone this morning...and you know who you are...when doesn't it rain here? In the dead middle of summer when we need it of course! So I was up really late trying to finish off my newest creation. I call it Christmas Wishes because of the song that I used in the background.
Originally I was looking for Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, but apparently there is still a copy write on that song so I couldn't get it. But I figured that We wish you a Merry Christmas wouldn't be a bad second...at least it gets the message across! I started out with my wonderful image of Rudy from the Ellephantastic shop. If you get a chance, check her out, she's got some great images...and while you're at it check out the Crafter's Digital Art Centre...you'll find a whole wack load of wonderful digi's (to buy and some freebies, and some really fun challenges to get the juices flowing) and you'll meet some really great people. Anyways, to get back to the card...I found the wonderful sheet music online at ChristmasCarolMusic.org They have a whole bunch of freebie sheet music to download. The paper is Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive from SU. The specialty paper used on the top and bottom of my card is by BoBunny. The green paper behind Rudy is the other side of the BoBunny holly paper. I colored Rudy in using SU water color pencil crayons and added a red nose using a red gel glitter pen I found at Micheals. All the emellishement, including the ribbon, were bought at Michaels.

Thanks for coming and visiting me here at my blog.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Video

If you have a chance, check out the video in my side bar to the left. Was cruzin around Christmas sites last night looking for free Christmas sheet music and I came across these guys...They are incredible! The first song I listened to was their Christmas Medley...it's hilarious. When I went to download it I couldn't figure out how to download just the one video...so I got 4! That's o.k...they're really good. Hope you have the time to check them out.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

I'm Sorry....

So I finally managed to finish my sister's anniversary card...unfortunately for me it is very late...I thought her anniversary was near the end of the month...it's at the beginning. Hence the reason this one is titled "I'm Sorry...". I found this little gem at Nana Vics and thought that it was just perfect for a very late card.

I used Nana Vics wonderful little Crying Owl Image
Paper is SU - Close to Cocoa and Night of Navy
I also used White paper from Michaels
Ink - SU Chocolate Chip, River Rock, Mellow Moss, Wild Wasabi, Soft Sky, and Brocade Blue
Ribbon from Michaels
Patterned Paper from Dollar Giant.
Image colored with SU Water Color Pencils and Crayola Crayon Pencil Crayons

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

My Newest Card

So I decided that no matter what I was going to finish the birthday card for my sister today. And what do you know...I actually mnaged to do it! So here's my creation. The uncolored Wagon with pumpkins and corn image is by Karen's Doodle's.
 I used SU Chocolate Chip, Daffodil Delight and Elegant Eggplant paper. Then I used So Safron and More Mustard ink for the sky.  I used a SU Lg roller wheel covered with More Mustard ink to make the design on the Daffodil Delight paper.  The ribbon (brown and yellow that matched the paper almost perfect) was from Michaels.

Monday, October 25, 2010

The rare Parrot Flower from Thailand

Hey everyone,
I got an email based on this very rare flower from Thailand. I thought that it was so unique and decided to post it in case anyone wanted to try and draw it. And even if no one wants to draw it, it is a beautiful flower! I have more pics of it if anyone is interested. ~ Charlene

Thursday, October 14, 2010

My cards from card class

Ooops...I goofed when I posted how I did the Charles Dickens card (which is from a SU set). I have that I inked it in black first and then added the versa mark...wrong! I versa marked it first then inked with the black ink. Any of you have actually done this technique know what I'm talking about, but I didn't want to confuse those that hadn't. Sorry for any confusion this may have caused.

Card Class

So I had my card class last night. It went really well considering I had only had about 5 hours sleep! lol It's really unfortunate that I do my best work late at night. But we had a great time...my friend was really nice and brought some wine. And my own little Betty Crocker (my daughter Kat) made chocolate cookies and 2 different kinds of tarts (all of it from scratch). My friends asked if they could rent her out for Christmas. Of course I said no...otherwise we'll have no Christmas goodies! lol
I came up with 2 different cards for the night and the ladies really loved them. And they all did very well with making them. A few of them were even interested in the CDAC...so hopefully they'll check it out.  So if any of you are interested I have posted the new pics that I did below.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Our men and women in Afghanistan

I was just looking through some of my old emails and came across this one. With Remembrance Day coming and Christmas too, I just thought it was something that I would like to share with all of you. Please say a prayer for all of our men and women that are not able to be home because of this war...and for the families that stand behind them in their decision to do so. I know that I will be for all our allied forces. Please remember the sacrifices that they are all so willing to make. Thanks ~ Charlene

A Christmas Poem



 The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
 I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
 My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
 My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
 Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
 Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

 The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
 Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
 My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
 Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
 In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
 So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

 The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
 But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
 Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the
 sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
 My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
 And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

 Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
 A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
 A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
 Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
 Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
 Standing watch o ver me, and my wife and my child.

 'What are you doing?' I asked without fear,
 'Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
 Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
 You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!'
 For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
 Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts.

 To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
 Then he sighed and he said 'Its really all right,
 I'm out here by choice. I'm here e ver y night.'
 'It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
 That separates you from the darkest of times.

 No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
 I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
 My Gramps died at ' Pearl on a day in December,'
 Then he sighed, 'That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers.'
 My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ' Nam ',
 And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

 I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
 But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.
 Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
 The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
 I can live through the cold and the being alone,
 Away from my family, my house and my home.

 I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
 I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
 I can carry the weight of killing another,
 Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
 Who stand at the front against any and all,
 To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall.'

 '  So go back inside,' he said, 'harbor no fright,
 Your family is waiting and I'll be all right.'
 'But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
 'Give you money,' I asked, 'or prepare you a feast?
 It seems all too little for all that you've done,
 For being away from your wife and your son.'

 Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
 'Just tell us you love us, and ne ver forget.
 To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
 To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
 For when we come home, either standing or dead,
 To know you remember we fought and we bled.
 Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
 That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.'

 PLEASE, would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as many
 people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our
 U.S service men and women for our being able to celebrate these
 festivities. Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people
 stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us.


  LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN
 30th Naval Construction Regiment
 OIC, Logistics Cell One
 Al Taqqadum, Iraq

Help name this wonderful little monkey

Hey everyone,
This little monkey is looking for a name. If you would like to try and name him/her and have a chance at winning the prize then just follow the link bellow. Good luck!

<a href="http://www.someoddgirl.com/index.php?option=com_jumi&fileid=3&Itemid=60" mce_href="../../undefined/" title="digital stamps"><img alt="Who is I... Someoddgirl.com" src="http://i704.photobucket.com/albums/ww43/kitten91303/monkey-blinkie-1.gif" mce_src="http://i704.photobucket.com/albums/ww43/kitten91303/monkey-blinkie-1.gif%22/%3E%3C/a>

I Did It!!!

Well I can't believe it...I finally made a card using a digi stamp. It's not perfect...but then neither am I. It's for a friend's son who's girlfriend just had a baby. Beautiful little baby girl :D. The stamp is by Baby Bud Designs. As soon as I saw it I thought it would be perfect for the Congratulations card. First down....more to go lol

Card Class

O.K...I'm going to try this again. I am so totally new at all of this so I hope that you all will have patience with me. I am trying to let designers know that I am hosting a casual get together of some friends to make some cards. These are ladies that already make cards or are interested in learning how that have been asking me for months to hold a class. I would like to make a list of all the different blog addresses/store addresses of anyone that would be interested in having me advertise their sites to these women. If you are interested please send me a message to my email address: charlenebell2@hotmail.com with your name and addresses that you want on the list and I will add them. Thanks.