There must have been some magic in that old silk hat they found......

Good day! First, I wanted to share the fabulous Snowman & Woman that my family built with my boys on Christmas Day. The snow started on Christmas Eve morning and my parents, sister and brother-in-law were due to fly in at about 6:30 pm. As the snow got heavier, I must admit I was a little concerned that they may end up stranded at the airport in Toronto. Apparently though, they were meant to come this year as they got here safe & sound (and only about half an hour late) and we had a wonderful snowy white Christmas together for the first time in our home here in the great white North! It was very snowy, the snow just kept coming, but it was okay with us as we had nowhere we had to go - that just makes snow so much more fun!

So, after an early start on Christmas morning - a bit of breakfast and caffeine, opening stockings, then gifts, a few of the crew dozed off for a few zzz's before heading outside to shovel and build some snowpeople and a snowfort while I prepared the Christmas meal. That meant a quiet house and no children underfoot as I worked in the kitchen, a welcome peace. :) When I peeked outside the window to see how things were going (they must have been out there for going on 2 hours!) this is what greeted me! Made me think of the line in "Frosty the Snowman"- when they sing "he'll say are ya married, we'll say no man, so you can do the job when you're in town". It was like we had a Snowman Wedding on the front lawn!

As for my card, I figured it was high time to show you something Un-Christmasy...

So, here is the card I made for my baby brother as he and his fiance moved into their 1st house in the middle of December. I wanted to get it done to send home with my Mom along with a little basket of gifties, and this is what I came up with. I must admit I had so much fun making this one! I used my previously un-inked "Around the Block" which was CTMH's stamp of the month for November. Originally, I had thought to myself, ooh that just looks like a lot of work because it's the kind of set you use to "build your own". However, I am so happy with the outcome, I think I'll be reaching for it more often. The sentiments that go along with it are great too, though I opted not to use them in favor of showing off the paper and focusing on the house with their house number added beside the door. I used this fabulous line from Love Elsie for the card. I had purchased this line two years ago while at Scrapfest and have been hoarding to do layouts with pictures from when we purchased our home in October 2007, but figured I could spare a little to make a great card. I did a little coloring with my copics, paper pieced some trees and added a couple of Kaiser pearls and voila. So fun!

Well, I think I've been long-winded enough for today! Have a wonderful evening celebrating the coming of 2010 and please drive safely wherever you are going!

Cheers!

Shanna :)

Favorite Holiday Tunes

Good morning!

Today I would like to share the latest layout that I made for my family Christmas Memories Album. Once completed, this was color copied onto good paper and trimmed to fit the 8x8 pages. Each of my siblings and my parents recieved a copy for their albums. If you are interested in seeing the original post which explains the project and how it came to be, you can find it here in an earlier post.

I had hoped to complete two 2 pages spreads this year to include everyone's fave tunes, but ran out of time. Oh well, next year! Once again, the paper was from my recently acquired DCWV stack that I love so much for it's vintagey feel. I apologize for the photos, I do have a difficult time photographing layouts.

I had better go get myself organized. Danderella is going to be here in an hour or two to scrap with me! Woo hoo, my boys are at daycare and I don't have to go to work, it's going to be a great afternoon of crafting, coloring and gabbing! (And, I plan to learn some great copic coloring techniques from Danderella too!)

Have a great day!

Shanna :)

Cinnamon Hot Chocolate....mmmmmmmmmmm....

Good morning!

I am so happy to share an altered item with you - I saved tons of different containers of all shapes and sizes with great intentions of someday altering them.... Well, I finally got around to "repurposing" this container that my hubby got peanuts in last Christmas. Truthfully, I didn't get it made until after Christmas, but that's okay because it is for someone we haven't seen yet.

I used some DCWV paper from a big stack I have as well as a super cute Snag Em stamp from Imaginisce. It felt so good to color with my copics, I think I've been having withdrawl....not having time to do much coloring the last while. The stamp used on the lid is from a SU set. I used cranberry ribbon on the first version and a different chocoloate colored one on the second. I prefer the chocolate myself. Of course, I had to add some stickles here and there. I thought they looked especially nice on the heart on the mug. :)

***I wanted to add a Thank You to Laurel from Laurel's Place, for prompting me to enter this in Get Sketchy's Trash to Treasure Challenge. Thanks Laurel! I really should pay more attention to challenges!***

I photographed this with the insides out - the hot chocolate in the cello bag fits in side the tin. If you are interested in the recipe, it is as follows:

Cinnamon Hot Chocolate:

2 cups non-fat dry milk powder

3/4 cup white sugar (I added about 1/4 cup of icing sugar as well)

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup powdered nondairy creamer

1/8 tsp. salt

2 tsps. cinnamon (generous tsps.)

mini marshmallows as desired

On the tag, attach the following instructions:

Add 3 or 4 tbsps mix to a mug of boiling water. Stir and enjoy!

I made the recipe, then tested it with my boys to get feedback. Adjust to your taste. The original recipe asked for only 1/2 cup of cocoa, but we thought it needed more. We also added the cinnamon from a suggestion I had seen elsewhere. For me, it was what made it perfect. I added two heaping teaspoons. I like this enough, I think I will make a big batch to share for Valentine's Day - it has cinnamon in it after all - and where I live, we are still in the coldest part of winter in mid-February! p.s. We also like whipped cream on ours - why not, we don't drink it everyday...

Hope you are having a wonderful day!

Shanna

Christmas Stars

Good morning!

I wanted to share with you the acrylic beaded ornaments that my son has learned to make. I first learned how to make these about eight years ago from a good friend and co-worker who is very crafty. Once you have everything you need, they can be made in about half an hour and make great gifts! My son saw me making one to add to the cookie in a jar gifts that I was making for his teacher and wanted to know if he coud make one, so I showed him, and he made two! The top one is the first one he did, then he decided to get more adventurous with his colors and made the second one - everyone agrees that the second one is our favorite!

Hope you are having a great day and enjoying the festivities. I will be back with an altered gift item soon....

Take care,

Shanna :)

Lighting the way...

Good evening!

I sure hope you are all having a wonderful holiday! I had hoped to post on Christmas Eve to send Christmas Greetings to you all, but just plain ran out of time! It has been a few super busy, but super fun days, with some of my family arriving on Christmas Eve around 7:30 pm. We celebrated on Christmas Eve with a meal of Tourtiere and Rice Pudding. There was much excitment as my boys knew that their Nanny & Papa were coming, but we "neglected" to mention that their Auntie (my sister) and her husband were also flying in with them! We decided to really try to surprise them by "wrapping" Auntie & Uncle Adam up in a giant box. Well, we managed to pull it off and the first photo shows the boys "opening" the giant gift that I "found" when I went out to the garage to check on something! Wow, what a great surprise it was!!!

The other photos I added are of the ice lanterns we have been making the last few years. I love how they look lit up at night, which I don't yet have a photo of them at night. I like to have four or five of them burning when company comes over. We don't often get much company at Christmas since we are not originally from this area, but I make them mostly for the occasion of our Christmas Open House which we have had each year for the past three. We find it a great opportunity to visit a little with some people who we may not have seen much over the last year.

I have some more photos to share, but it will have to wait for the next post, I don't want to make it too long. I still intend to share my son's fabulous ornament with you, perhaps tomorrow....

Cheers for now,

Shanna :)

A Horsey Season's Greetings!

Good evening everyone!

Thank you so much for your comments on my last post - I sure do love my wild and crazy tree, it reminds me of my Nan each time I look at it. :)

As there are many "horsey" people in my family, I am always trying to think of ways to incorporate horses into Christmas cards for them. This is the one I made for my brother and his fiance this year. Iwanted to make a "personalized" card for them especially since they are getting married next year and they just moved into their first home! I decided to make this same one for my Mom & Dad. Since I didn't design this one in time to send it to all of the other horse lovers on my list, I am going to make a few extras for next year.

I used the horse's head from SU's "Bareback" and the Wreath from SU's new Christmas set "Yuletide Christmas". I just love this new set and can't wait to get some more use out of it. The idea of the wreath around the horse's neck has been "living in my mind" for quite awhile now and I'm so happy I finally made it "happen". I'm sure many of you can appreciate exactly what I mean - some ideas just never leave, they "float" around in there screaming for me to have time to "let them out." As it turns out, this paper from Basic Grey's Eskimo Kisses made for the perfect background. A simple card, surely, but special in it's uniqueness for the horse lovers on my list.

Oh well, best go tuck the boys in and tackle today's list.....I hope to be back tomorrow to show you the fabulous ornament that my eldest son made....

Cheers,

Shanna :)

Oh Christmas Tree....

Good morning!

I managed to put together a card for Sparkle's Christmas card challenge this week. This one looks a little like the last card I posted - I guess because I had a bunch of scraps and images hanging around my work area (even the scalloped piece) and so I was able to throw this together very quickly at about midnight! I even got to use my new Prima Poinsettias!

I was lucky to have some great light for this shot, though when trying to photograph the tree, there was a little too much - oh well! Yes, I know, my tree is a little WILD looking, but that's how I like it. I think it is because my Nana always had a tree from the "back 40" - one that had never ever seen pruning shears, and she always made them look so fabulous, there is just something so natural & homey about them that way, and something so unnatural about the pruned ones from tree lots. My Nan loved Christmas so much, I'm sure that is in part why my Mom and the rest of my family are all such "Christmas freaks!"

Because some of my family is going to be here on Christmas Eve (for the first time!) I have also made my Nana's Christmas Pudding! I LOVE it - I know you either love it or hate it right - well, for me it brings me right back to Nana's old fashioned kitchen and my seat at the long and very full dining table. Now I just have to figure out how to make the sauce the way she did it, a little tricky since she's been gone for more than ten years.... It may take a few tries, but I'll figure it out. I'll share a photo and the recipe later on. Better go tackle more of that list that seems to be growing rather than shrinking ....

Cheers,

Shanna :)

Merry & Bright

Good Saturday Evening,

Today's card is another version of a card I posted way back in Sept or Oct. This time, I used CTMH's Heartfelt Christmas and DCWV's Holiday Collection - The Christmas Stack - I love the vintage feel of all these papers. If I recall correctly, I used cranberry ink for the reindeer and cocoa for the sentiment. Sorry, I cannot remember what set the sentiment is from.

I hope you are all having a great weekend! My week was so busy, I've been wound up like a top - last day of school, last day of gymnastics, last day of daycare - gifts for teachers, bus drivers, daycare providers, gym coaches.... Fun, but very busy! Looking forward to some down time.... I must say I am very fortunate to have most of the next two weeks off - I have to work on Tuesday, but other than that it will be family time and time to celebrate - baking, crafts, gift wrapping and just hanging out with my boys! We have very special house guests arriving on Christmas Eve, flying in from Southern ON - fingers crossed for good flying weather - and they will stay until early on the 29th. My boys are so excited! Nanny and Papa have never been here before for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day - always before or after, but never on the actual day. I must admit, I'm just giddy. My favorite time of year is Christmas, likewise fror my Mom - and this just makes it all that much more special this year. Also, it looks like I may sneak in a bit of scrapping between Christmas and New Year's with Danderella up the street. It has been so long since we've been able to scrap together! So, all in all, I have a great deal to be thankful for and now that it's Saturday night, most of the agenda items have been taken care of and I can hope to start to relax - maybe a little bit. How is everyone else doing?

Hugs,
Shanna :)

Winter Wonderland

Good evening!

Here is a quick card I had put together awhile back knowing that if I fell short this close to Christmas, I could whip a bunch up quick like! Whew, thank goodness for those quick, yet nice designs...I still need to make a few more!

I used CTMH's Holiday Trinkets (the snowflake) and Holiday Commentary in Twilight ink. I just had to add some Kaiser pearls - fair warning though, adding them requires extra postage if mailing. Oh well...

I apologize, this isn't the greatest photo, I was trying to add a bit of fun in the background/foreground, but it didn't come out quite as I imagined.

Hope you are all having a great week - I hope to be back in a day or two with some of the gifts I've been making.

Cheers,

Shanna :)

A Proud Mama and a yummy gift....

Today was my eldest son's first piano recital. He started playing last January. He was nervous when he heard there was to be a recital, but seemed excited too. Well, today was the day - he played three Christmas songs - Up on the Housetop, Rudolph and Jolly Old St. Nicholas. He was #17 on the list, so had to wait a fair bit for his turn, but he played so beautifully I almost cried. My favorite is Jolly Old St. Nicholas. It is one thing to hear him play everyday in my kitchen (okay, so somedays I almost cry there too...), but quite another to see my 7 year old decked out in dress pants, shirt & tie, get up there in front of all those people and play so beautifully! We are so proud of him! He brought an entourage with him too - our good friends and neighbours - you might know Danderella -came out to watch as well as another close friend of the family - it was so nice of them to come out and show their support. We also videotaped it so that Nanny & Papa can see it later.

Today was also the day of our Christmas Open House - so we forgot to take a photo beside the piano when we returned home as I was in a hurry to try to get all the food ready to go for 6 pm. (We got home from the recital just after 4). However, I did have this shot of our piano all decked out for the holidays, so thought I'd put it up anyhow.

I decided to make a "cookie in a jar" recipe for the piano teacher's gift. I rec'd this same Cookie Mix from a friend a few years back and the cookies were so yummy that I asked her for the recipe for what was in the jar so that I could make some for giving. I am sorry, I had a hard time photographing these, I was in a hurry and lacked proper lighting to boot...

Here is what is printed on the tag:

Chocolate Coconut Toffee Delights Mix

1 jar of mix

1/4 cup butter, cut into small pieces

2 eggs

1 tsp. Vanilla

1) Preheat oven to 350. Line cookie sheets w/parchment paper. Place chips from bag in a lg. microwavable bowl - mic on HIGH 1 min, stir. Mic 30-60 secs. or until chips are melted. Stir well.

2) Add butter to chocolate - stir until melted. Beat in the eggs & vanilla. Add remaining mix to chocolate mixture; stir until well blended.

3) Drop in heaping 1/3 cupfulls approx. 3" apart onto cookie sheets. Flatten into 31/2 " rounds. BAKE approx. 15 mins. or until edges are just firm to touch. Let cookies stand on sheets mins. Makes 1 dozen 5" cookies. Enjoy!

Now, if you would like to try making these yourself, this is what you need:

1 pkg. semisweet chocolate chips -divided

1 & 1/2 cups flaked coconut

1 cup toffee baking pieces (skor bits)

3/4 cup pkd. light brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

Place 1 cup chipits in baggie. Layer all remaining ingredients in any order into a 1 & 1/2 quart canning jar. Pack ingredients down as you go. Use chipits in baggie as the final ingredient. When I made mine, the chipits in the baggie wouldn't fit, so I just tied them to the jar with an extra piece of ribbon.

Hope you are all having a great weekend!

Hugs,

Shanna :)

Hi all,

I rec'd two Kreativ Blogger awards (the same one) a few days back, and am finally getting around to posting them. Whew, once December hits, things get crazy! It's okay though, cuz I love this time of year...

Thank you Danielle and laterg8ter for nominating me.

7 things you might find interesting about me:

1) I LOVE Christmastime - I am a Christmas freak

2) I love to bake, but don't do it very often since my hubby is diabetic

3) I work with children who are blind and visually impaired -I travel for work and cover an area roughly the size of France

4) I LOVE to read.

5) My hubby is the owner/instructor/operator of our family business - a driving school

6) I ALWAYS back my vehicle in - lest I should get caught by said driving instructor - he insists we must practice what we preach - It's true though, it is much safer to back in than to back out

7) I will only go barefoot on freshly cleaned floors - otherwise, I must wear slippers or at least socks - Danielle, I didn't know that about you!

I am nominating the following fellow bloggers for this award:

Andrea

Megan

Marjorie

Sarah

Kristine

Maggie

Anne

Here is what you need to do when you receive this award:1. thank the person who nominated you. 2. copy the logo and place it on your blog. 3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award. 4. name 7 things abut yourself that people might find interesting 5. nominate 7 kreativ bloggers 6. post links to the 7 blogs you nominate 7. leave a comment on each of the blogs, letting them know they have been nominated.

Have a great day!

Shanna :)

Merry Stitchmas...

Good morning everyone!

Well, I finally got around to playing with my Bazzill Basics Stiching templates! I am so happy that I made a point of doing it because I love how it turned out and it really is easy. I would say it took me less time to stitch the images than it would have to color one with my copics! And, if you didn't already notice, I just had to do one more easel card. These are so fun!

I used Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses for my PP and Kraft, Barn Red & New England Ivy CS. Sentiment inside and buttons are CTMH, except the wooden one which I picked up at a quilt shop. I had some fun distressing the edges of all the papers on this one.

I must apologize, I was sent two awards over the past few days, but have not yet had a chance to post them. We have been busy tree hunting, decorating and beginning the baking in preparation for our Christmas Open House this weekend. Hopefully I'll be back later tonight with those awards.

Oh yes, I am also entering this in Sparkle's Christmas card challenge for this week. She encouraged us to us Santa on our card, but when I went to check, I hardly have any Santas - I think maybe that is a "good" excuse to go shopping! In any case, it is a Christmas card, so it works for that.

Have a great day!

Hugs,

Shanna :)

Happy Birthday Ella!

Hello again,

I've been mia due to a work trip this week, so am just doing a quick post for tonight and hope to go visiting tomorrow. My son went to a birthday party last Saturday evening for a girl named Ella and this is the easel card I put together for her. Actually, it was a double birthday card, but luckily I had an appropriate card in my stash already, so I only had to make one - good thing as I literally got this done just in time!

The patterned paper is thanks to Krista, but I cannot recall what company it came from. Ribbon is Bo Bunny and the big glittery monogram letter is from chipboard alphabet set I won at "Yap N Scrap" a couple of weeks ago. A prima flower with a rhinestone centre and a sentiment from Stampin Up finished it off. Like I said, it was a quick one, but I like how it turned out. It was fun to work with "all that glitters".

Cheers,

Shanna

p.s. I realize the second photo isn't that great, but I just had to post it because it actually shows the glitter!

Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge - Tilda

Good afternoon!

I managed to get organized enough to post a card for Sparkle's Challenge this week! I haven't done a Tilda card in so long, and I had some fun with this one. I even got out the sewing machine!

I based this one on a card I saw on Claudia's blog, it's from the Friday Sketcher's blog. So, although I have never done any challenges except for Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge, I have managed to post this card for two! Yay!

The patterned paper I used is My Mind's Eye - I just love this paper! I also used dotted swiss from Bo Bunny and two shades from CTMH - Barn Red & Garden Green. The sentiment is from CTMH's Holiday Hoopla - I love having some smaller sentiments for when you want to make the image more the focus. Some white flock on her hat & coat trim, some Kaiser craft rhinestones & a few snowflakes finished it off. I had some fun finishing the inside too.

Hope you are all having a great weekend! We had our photos taken at our favorite park this morning and the boys and are about to organize ourselves to sign & address at least some of our Christmas cards. I have yet to write the family Christmas letter and don't yet have the photos to go inside, but we can at least get them addressed & signed so that part is done. It is a big job, with any luck with can get half way through today. Hmm, that might be a little steep, let's go for 1/3.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,

Shanna :)

My first Easel card

Happy Saturday!

I had to make a card for a colleague who is leaving our office and used it as an excuse to try out my first easel card! (Thanks Danielle for the inspiration!) I can't believe how easy it was! I have left the "inside" blank for now as several of us will be writing messages on that part.

I used Cosmo Cricket's Earth Love Recycle paper as well as a great quote stamp from Stampendous - the quote is actually from Tim McGraw (what can I say, I'm a country fan!) I used my EK Success punch to add the corners around the quote, then added some Bella bling and tied some ribbon through a wooden button (picked these up at a quilt shop, love them). The base of my card is Bazzil.

Sorry about the shadows, I either have no sun at all, or too much! Happy Weekend,

Shanna :)

p.s. Forgot to say that this was loosely based on a Mojo Monday sketch from June.

Twilight Layout

Hello and Happy Friday!

I enjoyed a fun evening out last night to celebrate my Birthday (yes we have three Birthdays in our house this month!) with my hubby and our friends and neighbours from around the corner (you might know Danderella) - we went to see New Moon! It was a good time, and we enjoyed it despite the "cheese" here and there! I don't want to comment too much in case some of you are fans who haven't seen it yet....

Anyhow, my layout - last weekend I attended our local "Yap N Scrap" put on by our LSS DAT'S. Because the event landed on the date of the premiere of New Moon, and we know there are several fans amongst us, we decided that it would be fun to set up a table/display devoted to the Twilight series. This layout as well as the bookmark I made back in the summer (click here if you want to check it out) were my contributions. I simply pulled my blog post that I wrote after getting so pulled into the book series, and printed it off. Journaling finished - Bang! It was fun to do because I've never really done a page about something so simple as something I enjoy, especially one without photos! If you care to read the journalling, you should be able to click on the photo, it should be clear enough when enlarged.

The patterned paper is Basic Grey Skate Shoppe - I know it's old, but I don't scrapbook that often and hesitate to use too much of my Basic Grey collection on cards, bad eh? I had fun coloring Edward with my copics. There is some Bella Bling on there of course and the Twilight buttons we found on our Scrapfest trip to Mall of America this past September. Oh yeah, and because my journalling block was just way too white, I sprayed it with Glimmer Mist (thanks Krista who I borrowed it from last Friday night!) It seemed to change the color just enough...

Have a great weekend everyone!

Cheers,

Shanna :)

Happy Birthday.....again....

Good evening,

As promised, I am posting my hubby's Birthday card. As I mentioned, my coloring needs some help. I am still hoping to get some lessons from Danielle over at Danderella. Besides technique, I think it also has to do with having the right colors especially when it comes to the shading, etc.

Not much to explain here. The image is Changito Driver from Stampendous - another I've had awhile (probably since about March) and never inked up. It matters not, but I'm glad to have used it at least once! The paper is the one I used for one of my boy's Bday invites about 3 years ago and had bought in bulk not knowing how much I would need, so I cannot remember what company it's from. Card base is CTMH cocoa.

Well, I hope you are all having a great week, I will be back soon with a "Twilight layout". If you are a regular reader, you may recall me being infatuated with Twilight back in July. Well, I decided to do a layout....

Cheers,

Shanna :)

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my baby....and my hubby! My youngest son was born on my hubby's 30th Birthday. This is the card I made for my little guy. I will post my hubby's tomorrow.

I used this adorable Monster stamp (my son calls them aliens...) from Stamping Bella. I have had this one for awhile and hadn't inked it.....so many stamps, so little time it seems. I colored with my copics and used papers & embellishments from Bo Bunny's "U Bug Me" collection. I love how this turned out, except that I should have stamped the image and sentiment on off-white paper - too much white. I did a bit of sponging around the egdes, though it is difficult to see here. By the time I figured it out, it was too late and I had to get the card done asap. Oh well, my five year-old didn't notice it of course.

Well, Happy Monday! Hope you all had a great weekend!

Shanna

Yes, I'm still here...

Okay, so I dropped by Danielle's place early tonight to bring her something and she said, "So when ya gonna post something on that blog of yours?" So, this is my response....

I was out of town last night, then had my parents and sister as house guest for the weekend - we had a ton of fun, including my youngest son's Birthday party - but it meant no time for blogging! I will post pics later once I upload them to show you what we were up to.

In the meantime, I found a couple of photos of cards I made awhile ago to post. The first is used with CTMH's "Kanji Phrase" and some Cosmo Cricket. The second is a Changito I've had for some time but hadn't inked up. Must say my coloring has suffered from lack of practice and this was a quickie for a Bday party we were going to, but I love the image just the same and it came together with these colors. Sentiment is Stamping Up. Hope you are all having a wonderful week!

Cheers, Shanna :)

The secret of staying young.....

Hello - what a terrible blogger I've been - again! Ah well, I did warn you that autumn tends to send me into a tail spin.....I won't get into the details, life has simply been busy. However, I did promise to show you how the Halloween costumes turned out and voila - we have Harry Potter - the younger version and the slightly older version. Originally they were going to be Harry and Malfoy or Ron, but then we managed to find another pair of glasses that would work and realized that our youngest actually makes the perfect Harry! We have all been reading the series (I kid you not, even hubby is into it!) and so it seemed fitting to do the Harry Potter theme this year - that reminds me, must add the photo with my hubby as he was Hagrid. (Sorry they are all out of order...) Big thanks to Danderella's Dad for loaning the overcoat - I searched everywhere for a big dark secondhand one, but couldn't get one for love nor money, but I think this did the trick and give the basic idea, all that hair helped a little I think! The robes were not difficult, but just took some time. I'm not sorry I made them as I love how they turned out and after all a black robe can be used again for different scary costumes, so it was worth it. However, I don't think I can manage to sew the costumes every year. Kuddos to those of you who manage it!

As for the card you may recall a similar version of this that I had made some time ago and posted. Well, I thought the original design perfect for my hubby's Aunt Julie as she is very outdoorsy, but wanted to make it somewhat more feminine. So I finally found the perfect excuse to pull out and actually use, rather than drool over, my Basic Grey Lemonade pack! I finally cut into it. I don't know if I like it better than the original, but I think it did the trick. The embellies are Bella Bling of course. I stitched a little and paper-pieced and pop-dotted the owl. The "branch" is an actual twig from my front yard. I cannot claim this idea as my own as I saw it some time ago in a magazine. The sentiment is: "The secret of staying you is....to live honestly, eat slowly and lie about your age!" Lucile Ball

I couldn't leave you hanging. :) Have a great week!

Hugs,

Shanna :)

p.s. Whew - so glad to have Halloween reported, packed up and put away! Time to deck the halls!!!

Woo hoo, we got to meet Terri Clark!!!

I am heading out this evening to see Terri Clark in concert with a group of friends which is going to be so much fun - but we found out a few days ago that she would be making a special appearance at our local Canadian Superstore since her tour sponsor is Joe Clothing. Well, we headed over there a bit before 1 pm and joined the growing crowd. We were treated to two songs: If you want Fire (from her new album, The Long Way Home and Better Things to Do (from her self-titled album). She then signed autographs and we managed to snap a real quick photo of us with her - that is my best-friend Donna on the far left - and it turned out pretty good! We had her sign our new CD's and can't wait to create a layout with them and some of the photos we got!!!

I've been a Terri Clark fan for a long time - she has a great voice, a great attitude and I just love how genuine she seems to be. Also, she reminds me an awful lot of my sister, Krista. Well, if I get more pics I'll be sure to share them. I had better run, we are managing to get together for dinner before the show. Should be a fun evening! Hope you are all having a fabulous Sunday!

Hugs,

Shanna

Trick or Treat!

Happy Saturday and Happy Halloween Everyone!

Though I like Halloween enough, it is very rare for me to make Halloween cards - too busy working on the Christmas cards usually. However, I recently got my hands on a bunch of fun new products from my LSS and had to play with them last night. Have you heard of Glimmer Mist? If not, you are in for some fun! The company carries stamps, screens and glimmer mist to mention just a few - glimmer mist is basically a spray in with some "glimmer" in it. It is a little on the messy side, but Oh So Fun!

The black cat (I used the stamp & sreen) are both from Tattered Angels and the Bat Happy Halloween is from a new CTMH set called "Beware" - can't wait to use this one on a some Halloween pages. I added some yellow to the cat's eyes to make them a little yellow and I pop-dotted the sentiment. The patterned paper is from Bo Bunny. Embellishments are Bella Bling.

Well, have fun trick or treating! The high is to reach 4 degrees celcius here in the North and they are calling for sunny & clouds - lots better than the snow/rain mix that they called for yesterday. I think I will need to have hot chocolate on hand when my trick or treaters come back from the candy hunt - fingers crossed it will be Daddy taking them around....it could be worse, it could be snowing.

Have a spooky day!

Shanna :)