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 Few Valentine's treats

I had an extra owl that I showed in an earlier post and used it to make this very simple card. Not much here, but I still luv it. And check the inside....framed chocolates from Charlie's. I think I have mentioned that his chocolates are the best and so worth paying a little more for. They truly do stop the craving, but if I could only buy one piece!! We sent this Valentine to my nieces and nephews in cowtown...hopefully they will enjoy :o)

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)

Girls Night In

As manager of a daycare centre, I struggle sometimes with getting all the girls out to team build. We are a very diverse group but it is important that we can make connections to keep up quality care. They always love the treats and cards I leave them, so it seemed like a great idea to get us all together and make our holiday cards for the other departments & agencies we deal with all year. Add some food & sangria and a good night was had by all!

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)

My Current Mess

Even though I have my space downstairs pretty tidy. My son is always invading and I have a terrible time keeping my tables clear. Nine times out of ten I am working off the floor. I can not wait to get these snow buddies finished...my assembly line has paused momentarily as life is making other things a priority just now :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!

Last Wedding ♥

Again, I used the invite colors for inspiration of this card. It makes picking through color schemes relatively simple. And you are sure to have a hit because obviously the couple (or at least the bride) loved those colors to begin with. With this photo, you can see their invite underneath. I had all the background elements done and needed a greeting long enough for the front. Heard From the Heart is another great set of stamps and fit the card perfectly.

Tis' the Season

When it rains it pours! In 2004, when my eldest was a baby we had three weddings to attend. There have been none since but we now have had 2 invites and one of my co-workers is tying the knot this summer. I do not have many wedding stamps, and since one wedding is for a gay couple, I could not use my Mr&Mrs or To Have and Hold set image. This is what I created with the Word Play set. Still some bling because that, to me, is what a wedding is all about.

All Because....

This is the portrait we had developed on canvas for my parent's wedding anniversary way back in February. It is one of the shots by Michael D. I was free to use any colors since the photo was really simple with whites, blue jeans and my sisters fab house as a backdrop! This layout stemmed from one in an SU Stampin' Success mag available to demos. The title came to me from a saying that I have seen in several forms. I love it and definitely will be getting a frame!

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!"

Many Thanks...

Since my husband lives with Cystic Fibrosis (CF), we thought we should get involved with the association so the boys have can hopefully make some new relations with people who can share what they go through. Also it is a great family time to do fundraising in order to help those living with this genetic condition that affects the lungs and digestive systems. We missed last years walk because my youngest decided that was to be his birthday. This year we made it out with my parents, as well and in total raised over $2500. It was amazing and we had many people to thank.

Scrappin' a Song

In a recent scrapbook magazine, there were layouts using song lyrics. Either as fave songs at the time, or lyrics that suited a moment. My page is based on lyrics that are feelings around my children. Unfortunately, the song is for relationships based on 'couple status' so I just edited and used certain parts for my page. I detailed this in my journalling. We took this photo on our Hawaiian holiday and I love how it looks like they are gazing at each other, when actually the baby was going in for a bite of big bro's nose :o)

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)

Little Helping Hands

Here is my little boy 'helping' me with my die cuts. Do not let his cute face fool you....he is such a handful compared to my first and gets into absolutely everything! But I love him because he is mine and would not trade him for anything :o)

A happy bird-day???

As soon as I saw this Angry Bird on Ida's blog, I knew it would be perfect for my hubby's BD today. I can hear the gasping now about the fact I do not have an iphone, but my husband does and he and my son love to play this game. Next time though I think I'll find some black elastic for the cord-the ribbon was much harder to place. The greeting is from the pun fun set! It seems to work and my clouds are made from the new cupcake punch. This as so much fun, thanks Ida!

Celebrating Earth with Cuddle of the Week!

Sorry, this is non paper crafting related but as a mom always looking for deals I thought there may be others out there who appreciate this site- True Cuddles. Every Tuesday they offer deals on items great for babies! If you sign up they email the deal straight ot your inbox.

The cuddle of the week: 4MyEarth sandwich and snack pockets from EnviroStyles! by True Cuddles on April 11, 2011 In celebration of upcoming Earth Day, True Cuddles is happy to present a 4MyEarth® sandwich and snack pocket twin pack from EnviroStyles. The pack contains one sandwich pocket and one snack pocket and is available in five great styles suitable for the whole family.

This part is scary**It’s estimated one child uses approximately 105 metres of plastic wrap per year based on a sandwich, muffin and small snack for lunch each day. Times this by a school of 450 students and it comes to a massive 47,250 metres per year! (85 times the height of the CN Tower.)

Loving You

Red, Chocolate and Love...Happy belated Valentine's!!

I have had to wait to post this one because it has professional photos by Mike D that my family had done as a gift for my parents anniversary present. We have not had photos done since our wedding nearly ten years ago. I will have another page later that has all my sisters and nieces in it. Be sure to check out Mike's site-he has amazing work posted there! (*click his name and you will be linked to his site)

Almost There

Ok, when we decided to move up to a 3 bedroom unit I lost my finished craft space in our basement. If you look through the older posts of my blog-particularly at Nov 12, 2010-you will see the space we needed to transform. Well we are almost there :o) :o)

Last week my hubby worked at getting most of the room finished. The only part left is to put in the bathroom. I have been told that will be started this weekend. YEAH!

The pics below are of my new sky blue room and where most of my craft tools have been kept stored-what will be the bathroom. Can not wait to set up this space, or at least a portion of it. The boys of the house do want space for their video games :o(

Added a Little Glitter

Since 40 years of marriage is such an occasion to celebrate, I wanted to change my previous card (you can see it a few posts back- March 7th to be exact). A ruby anniversary deserved some glitter! A little hint though, when using the glitter paper make sure it is glitter side down when using your Big Shot for letters/numbers.

My #4 was never the right way when I went to place it on the card.

Not once, but twice, before I figured out what I was doing :o(

I blame 'mommy brain' !!