Halloween Invite...BOO!

I used many of my Halloween sets to make this simple invite.  We will be hosting our first party for some of my son's school friends.  I really like the simplicity of them.

One of the games will be BINGO, so check back to see our cards soon. 

My wall mural...

There is not a whole lot of paper crafting involved in this but this is by far my fave place in my house.  Strange to have a wall be it, but I just love the way it all turned out when I hung it up.  The only part frustrating to me is that the photos of my younger son are form when he was a bit older than the yummy newborn phase like the ones of his brother.....mum guilt, such a tough thing!  Unfortunately, we never got great photos done of when my second was born.  Being too particular about what went up is of course what gave me the mum guilt :o(

A little off season...

After using some Woodland Walk paper I looked at this card and co-ordinating purse and thought they may be 'off season'.  But I shared them all the same.  My coworker was just in awe and never even commented on the color combo. 

Next year I will use some more spring or summer type shades....a little more in season for a May birthday!

A wh-owl lot of Love

I came across these ever so cute owls on Heather Summers' blog. Unfortunately, I did not have the same sized punches and all the same paper choices. And so I made due with what I had on hand. The only issue was that the smaller circle punches did not make my paper piece quite big enough to fit over the chocolate heart you see beneath their feet. But I did not want to go smaller on chocolate....that is just not fair!

CSI Party!

My son just turned 8 over the weekend, and we went to the Vancouver Police Museum to solve a crime for his party. He has really been taken with Tin Tin so asked if he could have that for his cake. Could not find anything related to him except for a fondant figure online. I have never played with fondant but it turned out pretty well! His card was detective themed using the spinning piece I learned a while back and adding fingerprints with the letters of his name as it turned. Nothing like impressing your kid :o)

He Has Arrived!

I saw these adorable Santa's on Patty Bennet's blog. Could not resist giving them a try. They made a perfect gift topper when adhered to a peppermint candy stick!

Happy Holidays to you all; wishing you the very best....

A Small Token...

I shared with you at Halloween how I have finally mastered the candy wrapper die for the Big Shot and so it was used again to make a lil' something for all the extended family in Calgary. My hubby's family is huge (and still growing) and without knowing them well I always struggle with what can be sent. For years, we donated to a charity in the family name and this year I decided to send a little something to let each of them know we think of them. I used up some retired holiday paper and stuffed these wrappers with kisses~the chocolate kind ;o)

*not sure why this photo keeps turning sideways...technology!-but I love the look of them all together so just tilt your head a little :o)

Trick or Treat

I finally figured out this candy wrapper die. It was becoming so frustrating, I was ready to put it in the 'sell' pile of items I am gathering. There is just way too much awesome stamping stuff and I have way too much that barely gets used :o( Anyhow, thanks to Dawn Olchefske and her video ( check her blog at http://www.dostamping.typepad.com/) that I found through Google, I no longer wasted much paper trying to turn the ends!! Simple co-worker treats for Halloween day and I will soon start on some Christmas crackers :o)

Yummy Cupcakes :o)

The last two posts had the birthday cards for my mum's 60th and sisters 40th. In addition to making cards, I love to bake!! And if you live in the lower mainland, or even if you wish to pay shipping, you should visit Scoop'n Save in Langley for amazing cake decorations and ideas. I could spend as much time in their store as I do looking in the SU catalogue.

My little baker and I made strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese icing and added these toppers..my sister loves shoes and my mum loves her wine :o)

Of course, I used some punches and paper to add little birthday wishes!

Goodbye Grade One :o(

With the end of the school year, we always give the teacher a little thank you. My son's class has his teacher and an aid...so this makes 2. But as he thought about gifts he thought that he also has his music and library teacher who do work with him....that makes 4. With further thought he wanted something for his vice-principal, who also teaches, and is also retiring..so this completes 5! I could not argue with his sense of giving :o) These are simple coaster planter boxes covered with DSP; the 'sticks' are skewers with scalloped punched circles. Using the Pun Fun stamped skunk.

It was only after a couple of hours all of a sudden Riley was giggling. When I asked what was funny..."I get why it says 'I stink you're sweet'..skunks stink!"

My Other Passion

Thought I'd share my son's first birthday cupcakes. I love doing the cake as much as the invites/cards. These penguins, I made 10 of them (but only got this photo of the 'king' with his catch!) are from a book called "Hello, Cupcake" and the nice thing is it is pretty easy to follow. In the fall I may be taking a class for decorating cakes and can not wait to learn new stuff there. But for now enjoy, I am off to finish some layouts and will get them posted soon :o)

Sunny Garden Box

Having tons of these little coasters on hand, my son and I thought to make these little planter boxes for his teachers end of year gifts. Nope, school is not finished but I wanted to practice and make sure I could do them properly. This one will be our dinner centre piece on Sunday-so cute, right??

Easter Grab-Bags

Since we will be hosting Easter dinner, I thought it would be nice to have a little something for everyone to enjoy. Not knowing what may be everyone's fave Easter candy-with so much good chocolate out there!-these grab-bags were an easy solution. I have few more to make but with DSP, sticky tape and your paper crimper they are easy to put together.

Ahead of the Game!

With Easter falling so late this year, I have plenty of time to try out a few treat ideas. I had made these 'snowy trees' quite some time ago. It is saved in my computer files from a resource on Splitcoast. I apologize for not giving credit :o( and I will need to research them to do so. But while I had the chance I wanted to put this up. It is printable on to whatever cardstock you may wish to use (mine is Certainly Celery). I then ran it through my Big Shot for texture to make it look like a basket. A simple daffodil and tag to finish it off. Tucked inside is a gold Lindt bunny.

The hardest part of the project was getting the chocolate in the gift rather than my mouth :o)

**Send me an email and I can try to send off the printable file if you want to try!

I Love The Face

Each year I allow my son to pick a theme for his cake. This year, with no surprise, he wanted something Star Wars. We started with wanting the Death Star-a planet!! When I thought about it, I knew it may be quite the task while chasing a baby. This is what we came up with and he did not see it until the morning of his party....

Seven Years Have Flown By

Usually, I would be posting my son's birthday invites just now. But this year I did not make any. This was his card from us.

It was a little sad for me, but at 4Cats Art Studio-where we held the party-they give you cards to use. It was a great time, so thought I'd share a few party pics. We are all about Star Wars the Clone Wars just now....the Star Force party theme was perfect.

These are the projects all the guests made.

A Delayed Gift :o)

My school age son had made this Rudolph ornament for us at school. He carried it home so carefully-I was informed some friends had broken theirs in transit :o(

But then he put it away so we could not 'peek' before Christmas. He hid it so well we all forgot about it! Just discovered it last weekend. Can't wait to add it to my tree next year.

My Usual....Cute Card

For some friends and family, I made another type of cute card using snowflakes and the snowman from the stampset "Jolliest Time of the Year". My son adored this one, so we made treats for his classmates using the same set. Inside we tucked a Hersheys kiss,the cookies 'n cream flavor-it's amazing they made it to school....so YUMMY!! One of the comments from a little boy in class was-"this is the cutest bag I've ever seen I do not want to ruin it". I showed him how to pop out the candy from the side so the wrapping would be saved :o) His mom now told me it sits on their tree as an ornament. The best compliment ever!

A Gift of Thanks

If you have never been to Charlies Chocolates in Burnaby, then you really must go. They make all kinds of goodies for everything you may need. Most in chocolate and some other candies. We were picking up treats for Thanksgiving, and Riley wanted to get these apples for his teachers at school. The cute card was so simple to make and it was given a bit more life in the neat package. Simply done by using a cellophane bag and some designer paper. This was one of the first projects I made at one of our stamping meetings with Kristina Koch-my upline's upline.

Screen Bugs

My aunt had made these little bugs to attach to your screen door-hopefully, preventing someone from walking through it :0) Riley loved them and asked for the pattern so we have made a few and these went to his teacher and the teacher's aid. We wrapped them up using the Top Not die and attached them to his hand written note.