Friend to Friend

I was playing around tonight - trying to create some easily duplicated cards for Valentines Day. I used my new Big Shot from Stampin' Up (Merry Christmas to me! :-)) to make the scalloped inside and the new 3 heart punch to punch out the corner. I then stamped a larger heart and cut it out and adhered it with pop dots over the ribbon. I am happy with the outcome - cute and easy! I'm going to be sending this card off with several others that I'm making to send to Pat in Detroit to help her meet her 1000 cards request for kids at the Children's Hospital of Michigan. If you are interested in helping out with this cause, you can check out Pat's site here . I feel very lucky to have 2 very healthy children and am honoured to be able to help out in this capacity. I hope you will too - you have until February 7 to get your cards to her and as a thank you, she's also offering some sweet blog candy!

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Last week was my hubby's birthday - he is sure to take every opportunity to let people know that he is younger than me and on the day of his birthday was no different - lol! We had a nice dinner out with family and the kids and I bought him a reflective running jacket since he trains for his runs at night sometimes and I'm deathly afraid that he'll be hit by a car. Now everyone will see him!

I had a wonderful weekend - over at my friend Rebecca's for a class that she did. We made a fantastic organizer for cards for the year which I will share later this week. It was nice to sit and work for a few hours with ladies who enjoy the same addiction!

I'm posting a photo of the card that I made for DH for his birthday. I used a new stampt that I purchased at the Rubber Room - an adorable little store that I've discovered not far from my work - which could be good or bad depending on how you look at it! The stamp is actually a long one with 5 little mice called Cheesecake Parade by Penny Black. For this 5x5 card, I coloured 3 of the mice individually with my stamping markers so that they'd be individual instead of a group and cut them each out. The giant brads are something I've had for a long time in my stash but never knew what to use them for. I think they were perfect for this card!

I hope that this snow we've been getting is not bringing you down - maybe it's even giving you more time to stamp! Have a super week!

Shout Out to Sheetload!

You just have to check out this new site that I've stumbled across - thanks to some help from my friend Rebecca! The website is called Sheetload of Cards and is a mountain of great ideas for you to try. Each month these talented ladies compile an issue of fantastic sketches and cards made with that sketch for you to duplicate or use as inspiration for your own ideas! You can check out their January '09 issue here. You can even use the sketch ideas for scrapbook pages!

Another birthday card post

I'm totally in love with this 5x5 square card - I think it just might be my new favorite card type. You can just fit so much onto the front of these cards and nothing looks crowded which is a typical problem for me. This is another birthday card that I made last night for a coworker, using the same stamp set as the first one.

I'm sitting patiently waiting for my next Stampin' Up order to come from my friend Rebecca. It has a brand new punch in it that I'm excited to use - hearts! In the meantime, I think I'll take out my new cutting machine and cut some designs out of the heart die that I have in advance of the kids' Valentine's making extravaganza. I'll post pictures of that pile of fun!

Well, we're experiencing some nasty weather here in SW Ontario - and it seems to be going on forever. Freezing rain, snow....I'm tired of it. Can't wait until the first robin of spring! My husband and I are already talking about our trip to Mexico in April - I am so excited! I had best get my Costa Rica album done from our trip last year before April or I'll be so behind I won't know which end is up!

I hope that wherever you might be, that you're staying warm!

Happy New Year!

Wow - where does the time go? It doesn't seem like that long ago since my last post but when I take a look, I can't believe how long it's been! My family spent some really great quality time together for the week following Christmas which was fantastic. We went bowling with friends, out for dinner and one day, my hubby and I and another friend took the kids to the movies. Hubby and his friend took the little ones to see The Tale of Despereaux while my oldest and I went to see Twilight. What a fantastic movie! I highly recommend it and my daughter is a huge fan of the books!

Now that all the hustle and bustle of the season is over - it's time to start thinking of all the birthdays that I have to make cards for over the next little while. In fact, I do believe that between today and Valentine's Day, I have 6 birthdays and an anniversary. And what about Valentine's Day? My kids like to take special treats to their friends at school and luckily, I love to help them make their cards! I can't wait to get them started!

I did knock out a couple of birthday cards tonight for some work friends. I'm sharing one tonight - a case from Jenn Diercks on Splitcoast Stampers. I had a tough time with the colour scheme on this one but in the end, I think it turned out nicely.

I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas season and I wish you all the best in 2009!

Merry Christmas!

Well, we're almost there - only 4 more days and I'm not sad to say - 3 more working days until Christmas! I am very excited this year since my hubby and I and the kids get 8 whole days together over Christmas. I love that my time off is after Christmas so that I can enjoy my family and not worry about all the hustle and bustle of getting ready for the big day!

I have been very busy making cards over the past couple of weeks but not for myself. I have had a few people at work order sets of cards for Christmas and of course, my husband needs to bring homemade cards for his coworkers. How ironic is it that I was so busy making cards for everyone else that I didn't have time to make homemade ones for my own coworkers? Unfortunately, I had to give them store bought that I bought last year as back-up!

I made a bunch of these cute little cards that I cased from an idea on My Stamping Heaven. The card is so simple to make - 5 2x2 squares with inked edges, a scallop and a few circles, a cute Christmas sentiment and voila! A cute Christmas card! Hope you like it! This would be super cute with a birthday cake or cupcake in place of the reindeer - Stampin' Up makes so many different types of stamps that would be suitable for this sort of layout!

I hope that you all are blessed with health and happiness this Christmas season and on into the new year! Have a wonderful season!

It's been a while since I've posted anything but then again it's been a while since I've had time to craft. This past weekend, we had a family Christmas here at our house with family that we won't see at Christmas time. I always make way too much food and this time was no exception. Oh well - that meant no cooking on Sunday!

I got my Stampin' Up order this week which I am just thrilled about! I love my new Big Shot and hope I will get the time over the Christmas holidays to give it a real workout! In the meantime, I've been making a few cards here and there. I wanted to share my most recent card that I made (I'll be making these for my husband's coworkers). I got the brilliant pattern for the tree from Heather over at Stamp with Heather. I am fortunate to only live about a 15 minute drive away from Heather and have been to a couple of classes at her home. I just love all of her ideas and her infectious energy! The card is done all in SU cardstock and the brads on the tree are from Joanne Fabrics in the US. I think I'll do more tonight and try to incorporate some of my new SU chocolate chip ribbon - I'm so excited to use it!

I hope everyone's shopping list is getting shorter and that you won't have to hit the mall too much in the next couple of weeks. Take time for yourself! Cheers!