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 :)

Thank You

Hello everyone,

Just a quick post today. I had hoped to be back with another Christmas card for Sparkle's challenge, but it just wasn't "in the cards", pardon the pun. With costumes to finish, swimming lessons, groceries, laundry and preparations to make for being away all this week, there just wasn't time. Oh well, I thought I'd leave you with a couple I made before this weekend so at least there is something new on here. I'll be back Thursday, but hard to say if I'll be posting due to all the Halloween festivities. Can't wait to show you my boy's costumes though.

For the first card, I had finally pulled out my Basic Grey Lemonade pack to play as I was making a special birthday card (I'll post that when I'm back) and decided to keep playing and made this, though I have a hard time working with stickers, I think it came out pretty good. It never hurts to have extra thank you cards on hand.

The second card was a fluke. I had been playing with it for a background for another card & it wasn't working, so I decided to turn it into a quick thank you. The stamp is from Solo T from CTMH. Paper is from my scrap bin.

Have a fabulous week! And to all of you out there who are feeling "under the weather", hope you are feeling more like yourself soon!

Hugs, Shanna

Season's Greetings

Good evening!

Here is another Christmas card I had made as a sample for our Charity Pyjama Stamping Party in September. you may recognize the papers and color combo as I've used it on a few of my Christmas cards. This one is pretty straight forward and simple, but I really like how it turned out. I used one of my newer EK success border punches which I love as well as my favorite embellishements - ribbon and buttons! I also got "happy" with my corner rounder, I like to do this sometimes as I get bored of all the straight lines! I think the ink and matting is in Garnet from CTMH. The reindeer stamp is from "Heartfelt Christmas", one of CTMH's new ones this year. My card base is Kraft, which I have really been enjoying. Enjoy the rest of your week everyone, it's almost the weekend! I hope to be back soon with a card for Sparkle's Christmas Card challenge for this week - to use some sort of winter clothing on your card. Since I have a new mitten stamp just screaming to be inked, I would really like to find the time to do this challenge. We'll see how the sewing (Halloween costumes) comes along and see if I can spare a few minutes to put together a card....

Hugs,

Shanna :)

To everything there is a season....

Good morning,

I promised to tell you about the other sympathy card I needed to make. There is a bit of a story behind this one as well - you are welcome to skip it if you like, but I think it worth telling....

My husband and I dated for several years before getting married. While I was in University in London, ON, he finished college and headed to BC to look for work on the coast. That spring, I used my tax return money to pay for a plane ticket to go visit him. Wow - BC is so beautiful - we loved the Island in particular. Since he was staying out there, I decided to join him for the summer. I flew out after writing my last exam in April. For the first two months, we lived in a simple little furnished apartment with a kitchenette across the road from the ocean. Money was very tight as we were living on student wages (luckily I found a job quite quickly as a tour guide at a local historical museum as well as a Nanny job for two young boys in the evenings). As a result, we posted several posters offering to do odd jobs. We met many wonderful people as a result and did some interesting jobs. One of the jobs involved piling wood for an elderly couple in at Horne Lake ( a little inland from where we were staying). The lady, Betty, insisted that I be brought along the next time and perhaps she could find something for me to do as well. Well, to make a long story short, at their insistence, we ended up living in a broken down motor home on the Beach of Horne Lake for the rest of the summer for free. This couple had a hard time seeing us pay rent when there was a perfectly suitable "living spot" available on their beach. In return, we ran errands for them, did some cleaning, piled wood, picked up groceries, etc. and didn't have to pay rent. This made for an interesting, and memorable summer to say the least - no plumbing or hot water, but we did have electricity when the generator was running (we played lots of cards!). Anyhow, we stayed in touch with this couple over the years and let them know when we married and had children, sending Christmas cards each year. We went to see them again while on our honeymoon. A few years ago, I stopped sending the cards since we hadn't heard from them in a number of years and I mistakenly assumed that they were no longer with us. Much to our surprise, my husband received a phonecall from Betty's daughter two weeks ago - we had never met the family. She was calling to let us know that her Mom had passed away in September. She said she had been going through her Mom's things and found all of our cards and photos and knew we would want to know. Wow - I could hardly believe that someone we had never met took the time to call (and write to us) to let us know - it was all because of the cards and letters I had sent over the years. Although I am sad to hear of her passing, I am thankful to have known her - she was a kind, compassionate and giving person. Betty was 81. This is the card that I am going to send to her family.

Hugs,

Shanna

p.s. The stamp is from Stamping Up - Measure of a life

Happy Birthday to my LSS - DAT'S Scrapbooking!

Good morning everyone!

Woo hoo! Today is our LSS's 6th Birthday Celebration - Congrat's to DAT'S Scrapbooking for six fun-filled years! There is a make 'n' take this morning between 10 am & noon featuring Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist - how fun is that for only $3.00 and I will have another Christmas card done! And - I received an email last night saying that EVERYTHING in the store will be 25% OFF (the only exception being special orders)!

So for all you local gals who want to get a Christmas Card done, try out Tattered Angel's Glimmer Mist (you will love it!) and support your local Scrapbook Store - see you at DAT'S this morning! I plan to be there when she opens the doors at 10 am.

As for my card, this is one of the cards I prepared as a sample for our Stamping Charity Pyjama Party back in September. The stamp set is one of the new Christmas ones from CTMH called Holiday Jingle. The paper is "O Holy Night" from Rusty Pickle. It is actually the backside of the paper I've used in some recent Christmas card posts. I love this paper! When you buy two-sided paper, do you think to buy more if you like the pattern on the back? I often do, depending on how much I like the other side. Embellishments - the ribbon is Stamping UP and I tried a technique I'd seen a lot on Laurel's blog, though she often sews it and I was having trouble sewing a peice this small, so used glue dots to hold it in place instead. I also used some Bella Bling and my corner punch from EK Success.

Well, I'm off to get dressed and go SHOPPING (woo hoo), then work on my boy's Halloween Costumes - what are you up to today???

Forever in my Heart....

Good evening fellow Bloggers,

No, I have not completely disappeared from the face of the earth, I just had several important matters to attend to.... namely, sick children, out of town travel for work and well, life...I'm sure you all know what I mean. So, blogging (and creating) had to take the back burner for a bit. Fall, though it is my favorite time of year, tends to send me into a tail spin and I don't really snap out of it until around Christmas sometime when I get some time off. This is due in part to my travel for work as September & October tend to be the optimum time to hit the road since usually we don't yet have much snow and the roads are still good. (I say usually as I think about the blanket of white which covered our yard and hung around all day this past Saturday!)Children are back in school so I make all my "transition to school" visits sometime in late August, September and/or October and that makes for busy times with the size of the district I cover (approximately the size of France). Because I work for a non-profit, we do not have "wings to fly", so we spend literally hours driving. Thank goodness I get along really well with my most frequent travel partner. Of course, on the home front, fall is also the time that extra curricular activities start up again and the germs start to have their hay day as people begin to congregate regularly indoors (school) - oh such fun!

Anyhow, I received some very sad news this past week while I was on the road that a dear friend and former co-worker had passed away. It was not a surprise as she has been very ill the past couple of years, but my heart is heavy nonetheless. She was a warm, kind and caring woman who had a true (and catchy!) passion for life. She was genuine and true and had a kind, giving heart. Some of my fondest memories of Sue are of the few times I had the opportunity to accompany her and a group of others Christmas Caroling. The first year, we visited onw of the local hospitals and other years, we sang in the neighbourhood of the Church where her husband was Minister. I LOVE Christmas, and carolling was such a fun and festive thing to do! We often attended the Christmas Teas and Roast Beef dinners at the Church and although we were not part of the congregation, we were always welcomed with open arms. Sue was wonderful to work with - she had such compassion for others and always had a smile to offer even if she was not having a good day herself. She will be sadly missed by many, but I am honoured to have known such an amazing woman.

So, I had been in a "funk" for awhile, my attention turned to any number of other things and I had not been creating at all. With the prospect of having to make not one, but three sympathy cards (that is another post...) I had no choice but to force myself out of my "funk" and just try to create. I started Sunday night and was able to complete my three cards by Monday afternoon, bit by bit. I must say that I feel so much better after poking around in my stamping room! So, this is the card that I made from my family to Sue's. I couldn't believe it when I was thumbing through my CTMH sets and found this one (Kanji Phrases), as yet uninked, because it was perfect for what I wanted to say! I have a hard time with Sympathy cards, wanting to say something supportive, and yet not too blunt. I thought this was a really nice alternative to "With Sympathy" or the regular sorts of sentiments widely available. The patterned paper is by Cosmo Cricket and the butterfly is also from a CTMH set called Celebrate Life. Cardstock is CTMH cocoa and the baubles are Bella Bling - gotta love Bella!

Well, if you are still with me, thanks for hanging in there - I guess that's what happens when I don't post for nearly two weeks! Have a wonderful week everyone!

Hugs,

Shanna