Hats Off to a 50th Anniversary

Hello everyone!  First I must apologize for not posting in quite a while.  Sometimes we go through a busy period in our lives and just do not have time to do the things we love.  I have been working full time, but mostly spending time with my family.  My husband and son are avid curlers – so we have been going to a few curling bonspiels.  Also, trying to spend some time with Carter – he is growing so quickly.  I actually got to see him smile the other day – it was the best feeling.  I also can’t forget to mention Stef – as she has been awesome in bringing Carter to these curling events – who knows maybe some day Carter will take up curling like his Dad, Grandpa and Great Grandpa.  Here Carter is posing with Dad at the Sydenham Curling Club.

My MIL needed a card for a friend of hers who will be celebrating her 50th Wedding Anniversary.  She had requested that it have a Red Hat Ladies theme to the card.  I have a little shine showing on the LH side of the card, but I did not have time to take another picture.  I wanted to try and incorporate the golden wedding colours, which is gold, so I used it for one of the mats and then added the ribbon and gold brads to snazzz it up a little.  My MIL has belonged to the Red Hat Society for quite a few years now and she absolutely loves it – they do a lot of great stuff for the community, but of course the main idea is for them to have fun dressing up in the red and purple colours.

• Stamps:   Ooh-La0La Red Hat – Stampabilities   and   Happy Anniversary – Endless Creations Inc.
• Paper:  Real Red, Brushed Gold, Purple – Michaels, Whisper White
• Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark with Black Embossing Powder
• Copics:  V17, BV08, R29, Blender 0
• Other:  Script Cuttlebug Folder, Gold Ribbon – Michaels, Gold Brads, Nestabilities:  Classic Square Small S4-128 and Classic Scalloped Square Large S4-127

Hope you are having a great day!  Life is like a game of cards – the hand that is dealt you represents determinism; the way you play it is free will – Jawaharal Nehru.

One for Carter, One for Charity

This is a baby blanket that I made for my grandson, Carter.  At the time that I made it, I did not know if we were going to have a  grandson or a granddaughter – so I chose this yarn, because I thought it would work for either.  I just love this yarn.  It is a variegated blend of blue, green and white.  It is so easy to work with and so soft.  Just perfect for a baby.  This is a pattern that I use over and over again.  The pattern is called Crocheted Baby Chevron Afghan from Bernat.  After I had finished Carter’s blanket, I had enough yarn left over to make another one for the charity I donate to.

I Still Find Each Day Too Short …..

I love this quote by John Burroughs – I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books that I want to read, and all the friends I want to see.  My family had planned a very nice surprise birthday for me.  We went for an awesome supper to the Chilled Cork and then back home for birthday cake and beverages.  It was nice to have a small family get-together with my MIL & FIL and my sister and her family, and of course, my daughter Jenn and her boyfriend Josh and my son Randy and his wife Stef and of course, our grandson Carter and last but not least my husband, Jerry.  Each birthday reminds you that life is short and you need to enjoy each day – so that is why I wanted to spend my 50th with my family.

They surprised with me with this awesome cake.

This was the most unbelievable cake I have ever seen!   The cake was decorated with a scrapbooking/cardmaking theme.  It was just WOW!!!  The details were so intricate.  The cake was made by Kempenfelt Cakes  in Barrie, Ontario and I would highly recommend her services.    I was also surprised with a gift to Cynthia Moore Photography in London, Ontario for a family portrait.  I am the luckiest Mom/Wife/Grandma.

Here is another picture I couldn’t resist posting.  Randy & Stef bought a onesie that is similar to the T-shirt that Jerry loves to wear.  It was so cute – we had to take a picture.

Happy New Year everyone!

Thank You to the Stars

I read somewhere on a fellow stamper’s blog that the best form of flattery is to have someone copy your creation.  I agree because that is where I get most of my cards from – is someone else’s idea.  I do try to change it up somehow, but not always, because sometimes it is perfect just the way they created it.  Why mess with perfection?

This card was cased from Shannan Teubner here.  She has such an awesome blog that I love to read (even though she has taken some time off from blogging) - she creates such awesome cards using Stamping Bella stamps.  Even though this card did not used the Bella line – I thought it was perfect for a thank you card.  So if you look at her original creation – really all I changed was the sentiment and a little change to the colour scheme.  Thanks to Shannan for sharing this idea.

• Stamps:  Seeing Stars – Verve; Many Thanks – Hero Arts
• Paper:  Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Kraft, Very Vanilla, Dark Orange (Michaels), Dots DP (Costco Paper Pak)
• Ink:  Chocolate Chip
• Accessories:  D’Vine Swirl and Swiss Dots Cuttlebug Folders, Large Star Punch

Hope you enjoy the card and best wishes to everyone for an awesome 2010.

Thank You – Somewhat Masculine

Sometimes you need a thank you card for your guy friend.  So you sit down and try to come up with something that does not have flowers or bows on it.  For this card, I kept it really simple – used the striped paper to give it a more masculine feel and used the more earthy tones for the paper.  I did sneak in a little bit of ribbon, but he probably won’t notice that.  I found this ribbon at the Paper Pickle  and have used it alot – love the brown and blue combination.

• Stamps: Thank You – Spring Solitude (SU)
• Paper: Green – Earthtones – AC Cardstock, River Rock, Chocolate Chip, Blue Bayou, DP – Silly Stripes – My Minds Eye
• Accessories: Brown Ribbon with blue – Paper Pickle, Nestabilities
• Ink: Chocolate Chip

Best wishes to everyone for an awesome 2010.

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

I love my title for today’s cards.  As I was trying to come up with something catchy – this one popped in to my head.  No, today’s cards have nothing to do with a wedding. 

• Something Old:  Well, I made these cards a couple of months ago, but just never took the time to post them.
• Something New:  I tried a new technique – I bought a piece of circular canvas for needlepoint and used it to pierce the dots around the  circular designer paper
• Something Borrowed:  I borrowed/cased this design sketch from Julie at Stampin with Julie
• Something Blue:  In my first sample, I used blue for the punched square and there is also blue in the DP

These were such fun cards to make – will definitely put this sketch in my keeper binder.  Hope everyone has a great day!

Gifts for the Grandparents – Thank You

 We are so fortunate to have such great friends – not only are we receiving many congratulatory phone calls, but we have also received a Grandparent’s Brag Book – which I am pretty sure won’t be very hard to fill with pictures of Carter and family.  Jerry’s co-worker gave us a beautiful picture frame entitled – Our Grandchild – Grandkids are gifts from above, to cherish and to love.   We hope to get a special picture of Carter to fill this beautiful frame.

So I figured I better get on it and make a special thank you card for these great friends.

• Stamps:  Spring Pictograms – SU, Diaper Pin – Stampabilities
• Paper:  Whisper White, Textured Green
• Ink:  Bashful Blue, Yo Yo Yellow, Pretty in Pink, Versafine Black
• Accessories:  Scor-Pal to make gridlines, 1-1/4 & 1-3/8 punches, Eucalyptus Stickles
• Comments:  There is a gridline on the white and also on the green papers (difficult to see in the picture)

Santa visits Carter :)

Isn’t Santa awesome!  He took time out from his busy schedule to visit Carter on Christmas morning.  Santa’s helper (Randy’s car-pooling partner-Karen B) stopped by to see if Carter had had a visit from Santa – well as it turned out Santa (Karen’s husband) was waiting patiently to get a glimpse of Carter.  AND of course, Carter, being the smart little guy that he is, got a lot of presents from Santa.  He knew enough to come early and get those extra gifts.

As for the grandparents, we believe in Santa too —– as he brought us the best Christmas present of all.  Thank you Santa!

Happy Birthday for a Red Hat Lady

I got a new camera for Christmas!   Yeah – now I just have to learn how to use it properly    So this is my first shot using my the camera.  My mother-in-law belongs to a Red Hat group and I thought I would make a card for her to give to one of her Red Hat friends.      This card was fairly quick to make and I added some Purple Stickles to give it that little extra glitter that it needed.  I used my nestabilities to add the extra indented lines – love that look!

• Stamp:  Ooh-La-La Red Hat – Stampabilities
• Paper:  Real Red, Lovely Lilac, Whisper White, Confetti White for the base
• Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
• Accessories:  Square Nestabilities, Prismacolor Pencil Crayons, Gamsol, Purple Stickles

It’s A Boy – How Great Is That!!

I have not posted in the last two weeks, as it has been a busy, busy time.  Now that I am working full-time again with somewhat of a commute, I do not have as much time to spend on my crafting and my blog.  But the best reason I can give you for not blogging is the birth of Carter.  Our son, Randy, and our daughter-in-law, Stef, were expecting the birth of their first child on January 1, 2010.  However, little Carter decided he didn’t want to wait that long.  He let his mommy finish her last day of teaching before the Christmas break, and decided on Friday night that she had had enough time to rest from teaching and that it was time to make his arrival in this world.  Stef started having contractions and they made their way to the hospital and about 11 hours later, Carter arrived.   We are thrilled with our first grandchild – as you can see above Grandpa is having his one on one time.