Love of a Lifetime

Danderella and I have been counting down to the premiere of Eclipse and tonight is the night! Woohoo! If all goes as planned, we are getting together at my house after lunch to watch Twilight and New Moon before heading to the theatre after dinner. Should be a fun afternoon!





It all started not quite a year ago when I picked up a copy of Twilight at the local library when I took my boys to choose some books. I picked it up and thought, hmmm - a few of the girls (scrappy friends) had recommended it, maybe I'll give it a try. Let's just say it turned life upside down for a couple of weeks - I was so hooked ("sucked in" might be a better world) and just had to know what happened - all I wanted to do was read!!! Ask Danderella who read the whole first book in one sitting - unfortunately I passed it to her late at night!!! Thank goodness all four books had been published by the time I started reading -I don't know how people managed to contain themselves in between books. Anyhow, if you are interested in reading more about my obsession at the time, feel free to visit my "I think I'm in love with a vampire" post here. I also did a layout back in November in honour of the premiere of New Moon - you can find that here.

I thought it would be fun to make a card in honor of the premiere of Eclipse and enter them in two challenges that are having Twlight related themes this week. Over at Raise the Bar, the theme is Evening/Twlight and the challenge at Drunken Stampers is "Inspired by Twlight". I also managed to incorporate the sketch from Mojo Monday. This is the first time ever that I've actually used a sketch from Mojo in time to post it during the current week!



I've said it before and I'll say it again, the Edward in my head (I always read the book before watching the movie) is way better than the on-screen Edward. No, I defintely don't mind looking at Rob Pattinson, but the Edward in my head was just different somehow, better if that's possible...One of the things I love most about Edward, besides his velvet voice and other than that he is a brain and very well-read is that he is an accomplished musician - I love how he plays piano for Bella and even composes a song. (I was so impressed to hear that Rob Pattinson is a classically trained musician!) So, that is a very long and drawn out way to explain why I chose to use this fantastic 7 gypsies DSP for my background. I bought several sheets of this when it came out lest I should ever run out!

As I was making this, I started thinking about how our 10th Anniversary is coming up - in one month - and decided, hey, I'll just make it an anniversary card! How thrilled to you think hubby will be to get an Anniversary card with Edward on the front!?!?! LOL - I'll just have to make sure to write something like "So glad I found my own human Edward" on the inside! No, hubby does not play piano - he isn't musical at all, so I might be pushing it. LOL! It's getting late and apprarently I'm rambling...

For all the fans out there, ENJOY the movie! For the non-fans, sorry for the rambling. Will be back to the regularly scheduled programming soon :)

Cheers,
Shanna :)

UPDATE: 10:30 pm on Wed night - I totally enjoyed Eclipse! I agree with what others are saying - it is by far the best yet of the series. Way more of everything - action, romance and a few funny parts too!

What I used:
stamps: The Greeting Farm
papers: 7 gypsies DSP both sides, Kraft, Bazzil dark brown, CTMH pansy purple
embellishments: Bo Bunny Rub-on, Basic Grey Bling it, Kaiser pearls, Bazzil chips music note
copics: BV29, BV23, E18, E37, E99, C3

Gift for a teacher & Chicken Pox!!!

Happy Tuesday!

Today I wanted to share the gift I made for my youngest son's teacher. I made one of these altered clipboards back when my eldest was in JK and his teacher loved it - I even saw her using it on a field trip, so I figure it was worth doing again! I always try to be practical about teacher's gifts. There are tons of fun and cute mugs, magnets, doodads out there for teachers, but I figure any teacher who has been teaching for a few years probably already has them all and then some...am I right Laurel? Krista? And what do they do with them anyhow? I try to put myself in their shoes.... When I don't have time to do something homemade, I usually include a gift card for a modest amount with a handmade card. I'd love to hear what others do.....please share!


I try to make the front as flat as possible for ease of writing. There is a pencil attached to the thin green ribbon (top photo). I decorated with a variety of ribbon and some stickers from my (huge) stash of stickers that get used only on rare occasions. :)

The paper is from DCWV Grade School Stack and already had the details along the bottom - helped me keep it to one layer.

And here is the back. Once again, the paper had all the details, I just had to add a short piece at the bottom as the clipboard is slightly longer than 12" and stamp to personalize. Those alphabet stamps came in handy! I did spray this with Super Seal - Aerosol Acrylic Sealant Spray - to protect it a bit from drips and drops.

So, my eight-year old has the chicken pox! Happy Summer vacation! Oh well, at least it seems a mild case -which I really was hoping for since both boys were immunized for it. He is in good humor except for the itching - read fitfull sleeper. Any and all suggestions for relieving the itching will be gratefully accepted!!! We have tried oatmeal bath, baking soda bath, baking soda "paste", calamine lotion, cold compress & finally a polysporin anti-itch product. It is 11:30 pm as I type this and he has gone back to bed just a few minutes ago - hopefully to stay! Fingers crossed.

He did have a mild fever the first day or so, but nothing high and not much else in the way of symptoms. Thank goodness I had booked holidays this week as I would have had to re-jig everything! He is a little disappointed that it didn't happen during the school year so that he had a good reason to miss class - such a boy!

Hope you are all having a wonderful week! Two more sleeps until Eclipse! Oh, and I just found out last night that my little sis is coming for a visit! Her one main request, since she won't be here in time to come with Danderella and I to see it on the 30th, is that we go again (maybe on the 2nd) to see Eclipse at the theatre. I don't think she'll have to twist my rubber arm too hard!!! Consider it done Sis - can't wait for you to get here!

Cheers,

Shanna :)

Walking in a winter Wonderland....

This week, Sparkle's Christmas card challenge is to find inspiration from your favorite Christmas song. This is a bit tricky for me since I am a bit of a Christmas "nut" - I have umpteen boxes of Christmas decor (that bedeck the provervbial halls in early November as soon as Rememberance Day is over) and start listening to Christmas tunes well before it is socially acceptable to do so - November 1st - just as soon as Halloween is over with! Sometimes I think they should move Halloween a week or two earlier just so I can start listening to Christmas music sooner. Needless to say, I have several favorites. ...




"Walking in a winter wonderland" is just one of them and here is my card inspired by that song. I have had both these sets in my collection for quite some time and they have seen very little, if any, ink - so the time was right to get them out and play. I love the vintagey feel that the design of the stamps coupled with the distressed edges give. It is difficult to see, but I also used some Tattered Angels Glimmer mist - Irridescent gold.

Some of my other all time favorite albums include:

A Twismas Story by Conway Twitty Alabama Christmas

Elvis' Blue Christmas

Soundtrack from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer by Burl Ives

Let there be peace on Earth by Vince Gill

music from the Nutcracker Ballet

I look forward to seeing what you add to your Christmas card stash this week!

Ooo, ooo, DID YOU HEAR??? Sparkle is opening her own stamp store!!! Check it out here and be sure to leave a comment - right now she is showing sneak peaks and offering up some sweet candy! You could win one of her new stamps plus a bunch of goodies! You don't want to miss this!

I'll be back tomorrow with more crafty stuff to share and an update on the status of my kiddos during their first week of summer vacation - it involves red, itchy spots.....

Cheers,
Shanna :)


What I used:
stamps: Winter Wonder & Vintage Christmas from CTMH
papers: dsp is scrap from my bin, CTMH garnet & ponderosa pine
embellishments: gingham ribbon, misc buttons, Queen & co pearls

Paper Sundaes - Birthdays!!!

Good morning! Thanks for stopping by. This week our challenge is sponsored by Wags 'n Whiskers. You can buy Wags 'n Whiskers stamps in the United States and Canada at Stamp & Create, or in the rest of the world at Bunny Zoe's Crafts. This week's theme is Birthdays!

I hope you are all having a fab weekend! My boys managed to be "better listeners" yesterday and we managed, amongst other things, to get the groceries without any catastrophes! They enjoyed helping me make the list, though Pickle Pants thinks it funny to print POOP or BOOB in place of cheese or crackers, despite the fact that I am spelling each word out for him! Hey, what can I say, he's a BOY and of course, when he does stuff like that, he gets a reaction from his older brother.... However, despite the list covered in potty words, the boys were so well behaved at the grocery store, I made a point of giving them High 5s - they do say to try to catch your children "being good." I do find it helpful when I manage to catch them at it. Some days easier than others of course!

Can't wait to see your Birthday cards - who doesn't need an extra of those in the stash!?!?
Back tomorrow with Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge. Of course, it starts today, so if you want to get crafting, go check it out.

Shanna :)

What I used:
stamps: Stamp & Create
papers: Cosmo Cricket
embellishments: misc buttons, Cosmo velvet ribbon

An apple for you and ramblings....

Happy Saturday - day two of summer holidays at our house!

We got off to a bit of a rough start yesterday morning- when I stumbled out of bed to see what the boys were up to - they were allowed to get up and play Wii - I was greeted with "Mom - there is pee all over the floor!!!" Yeah - so, no time to wake up slowly. I am saying to my five-year-old, "what happened buddy?" He says "That happens all the time when I stand up to pee!" My response, much to my husband's chagrin- "Never stand up to pee again!" I proceeded to clean up the pee, thinking about how the house is such a mess and it's only the first day......

Fast forward a few hours - we had breakfast (brunch?) at around 10:30 or 11 am, so didn't eat lunch until about 2 pm. We were heading to a Border Cats game for six, so we decided to go to the library to sign up for The Big Boreal Adventure (really cool thing that just started here and encourages family to get outdoors together and explore - you have to solve simple clues and there are sections of the book where the kiddos can do crayon rubbings along the way, sort of like a passport). So, I say to the boys, go brush your teeth and then we'll get going. Big guy takes care of it pretty quickly, but 15 mins later, Pickle pants is still playing and doesn' t have his socks on either. So I say, get in there and Brush Those Teeth! His response - "I can't find my toothbrush!" Nope, not acceptable - I know there are two! Two minutes later, I ask if the teeth are brushed - "I can't brush my teeth - both the doors to the bathroom are locked!" Guess who locked the doors????? So, I could carry on about the rest of the day, but I would just bore you. We did have a fun time at the ball game though and got some photos, so I'll share those in a couple of days. The best part was the hecklers at the third base line.

About the card - I was inspired to make this card when my Ma found this fantastic stack of fabric for a major bargain at a yardsale last weekend while she was here. There were several pieces that had these cute panels featuring cows, houses, apples, etc. - very country. I had made one teacher card, but still needed at least one more. I was thinking, I could make a cute, but simple card, and I think that is how it turned out. Sorry the photos are so terrible, if I recall correctly, I had to photograph it late. I have also been very lazy about cropping my photos, sooner or later I will get around to doing that again. :)

Happy Saturday! Tomorrow I will be back with my card for Paper Sundaes next challenge.

Cheers,

Shanna :)

For Meghan

Good morning!

Today is the first official day of the summer holidays for my boys! It also means a week off for me to ring in the holidays with them! Woo hoo - doing the happy dance! It has been a long time since I've had more than a day or two off in addition to my regular weekend - so looking forward to this!

I have had an O&M student from Mohawk college in Brantford working with me for the last three months. It has been a busy time - I brought her on the road with me and we did 4 road trips in a 7 week period. The last few weeks, we have stayed closer to the office to see people/children in the immediate area, so although the pace has remained pretty busy, it has been nice to stay closer to home. Lucky for me, it turns out Meghan and I have a variety of things in common. We both enjoy a good book and share common concerns about the environment. She is also a quick study and has had lots of great questions. It has been fun to share my passion for what I do with her! Finding that we had a number of things in common made travel together easy and enjoyable. (Those road trips would have felt weeks long rather than days otherwise!)

So, this is the card that I made for Meghan from myself and all the staff at my office, wishing her well and thanking her for her help over the past three months. All the Best Meghan! I will miss you, but I know we will stay in touch.

As I was making this card, it just seemed to need a bit of a shabby look, so I distressed all my edges and did some tearing - something I don't do very often. I think I like how it turned out, especially because it allows the polkadots to peek through. As such, I am entering this card into the challenge this week at KLSNS, where the challenge is "Let's get Shabby!"

Hooray for the holidays! I have a bunch of things ready to share, it is just a matter of putting posts together, so since I'm on holidays, I should have time to make more frequent posts in the next while! Have a fabulous Friday!

Shanna :)

p.s. Is anyone else counting down the days to ECLIPSE? I sure I am - I have a fantastic afternoon/evening planned with Danderella. We have the afternoon off together sans children and plan to watch both Twilight and New Moon while eating bonbons - then once we get the kiddos where they need to be (picked up from daycare, etc.), we will be attending Eclipse in the early evening!!! Only five more sleeps!

What I used:

stamps: Quote from Tim McGraw - Stampendous

papers: Basic Grey Kioshi - hooray I finally cracked open my pack!

emb: misc. buttons & ribbon, prima flower

Happy Father's Day!

Does this look familiar to any of you?!? I just couldn't resist this new stamp from Stamping Bella! Lucky me, our LSS DAT'S Scrapbooking brought these in recently. This one looks like my hubby playing "Call of Duty"!

This is one of the cards I made on Saturday when I got together with a bunch of the girls to scrap together. It was a fun day, yaking, scrapping, eating, more yaking, eating and oh yeah, we celebrated our girlfriend Stephanie's upcoming Wedding! A group of us worked together to create an album where Steph can gather and display her shower photos. We even managed to surprise her! If you are interested in seeing the work of several talented women together in one album, click here - it will take you to Donna's blog where she has posted all of the fab pages, including one by her daughter.
Since the theme this week at Raise the Bar is "What a special Guy", I am entering this card I made for hubby. My boys got a real kick out of Daddy playing video games on the card!

Hope you are having a great week! I'll be back soon to share another FD card and some teacher cards and gifts.

Cheers,

Shanna

What I used:

stamp: Stamping Bella

papers: Cosmo cricket

Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge

So how are those Christmas cards coming along? Does it seem like that is all I'm posting these days? Weird eh? Well, at least I am increasing the Christmas stash. I promise I have some other stuff to share soon!

Sparkle's Challenge this week is a recipe with a twist:

3 patterned papers

2 buttons,

1 ribbon

twist: use a transparency

Now that I am preparing my post, I realize that I used three buttons! Sorry! I guess it is too late now though. Don't do as I do, say as I do. However, as Sparkle would say, the only necessary challenge is that you make a Christmas or Winter themed card, the challenge is bonus.

Sure hope you can play along this week!

My parents were in town this weekend - so it was a whirlwind of activity, including two baseball games, gymnastics wrap up, SK graduation, a birthday party, some scraptime with my girlfriends, Father's Day brunch and dinner and most of the day spent in the garden/doing garden related activities. A great weekend, but my bed is calling my name VERY loudly at the moment, and I need to drive the rents to the aeroport a 5 am, so ta ta for now..... oops, this is a scheduled post....

Cheers,

Shanna :)

p.s. Will try to add card details later. :)

Paper Sundaes - Pretty as a Princess

Happy Sundae!









Thanks for stopping by! This week, the theme at Paper Sundaes is Pretty as a Princess. Our sponsor is Simon Says Stamp. I had some fun with this Magnolia cutie and decided to add to my Christmas Card stash!

Can't wait to see what you come up with this week!

Shanna :)

What I used:

papers: Little Yellow Bicycle

stamps: I think she is called Christmas morning Tilda

Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge Week #28

Yikes, I forgot to set up my post this weekend to post early this morning, and it's been such a busy day that I haven't had time until now!
Sparkle's Challenge this week is to use scraps! Well, I have an abundance of scraps, so that part was no problem. I've been wanting to try making a "paper quilt" for sometime now, so this was a fun challenge.

I'm gonna keep this short since it is almost Tuesday and I'm bushed!

The tree buttons are from a quilt shop we stopped at on the way back from our MOA Scrapfest trip last fall. They had so many cute buttons. I attached them with embroidery floss.

I am happy with the outcome, but feel it is missing something. My one thought was to add the sentiment "tag style" along the top right corner. What do you think?
Hope you can play along this week!

Cheers,
Shanna :)

Paper Sundaes - It's a Sketch

Good morning!

Today I have another challenge to share from Paper Sundaes. This week the challenge is a sketch and our sponsor is All that Scraps! If you haven't been over to see them, you don't know what you're missing!

I must admit that I struggled a bit with this card. I really wanted an Edwin to stand beside the piano - my eldest played in his second recital yesterday. He played beautifully and we are so proud of him! As a result, I needed a card for his teacher and although I had Tilda's that might have worked, I didn't have an Edwin on hand, so ended up simply making the piano the focal point. In the end, it worked I guess. I colored the piano similarly to the color of ours, though we certainly do not have a baby grand, as I suppose this one is probably meant to be. We do have a beautiful upright that is approximately 100 years old and was given to us when my Grandmother passed away .

Anyhow, I decided that the piano and it's plain backgroud was too stark, so I sprayed on some glimmer mist. I love glimmer mist, but have not yet mastered it's use. Good excuse to practice I guess! Also, I decided to use a rectangle instead of an oval from the sketch, so to made it a bit challenging as well.

I will be entering my card in the challenge over at Raise the Bar which is "Sweet Music".

Thought I'd share a few more Wedding photos - there was no shortage of subjects to photograph last weekend! The rings.

My parents with the Bride and Groom infront of the barn.

My other brother and the cake maker! Check out the cool shades!

The Drinkin' Hole - unfortunately, I took this photo before the decorating was complete and we'd hidden all our tools! The groom built the bar and made the sign. In true country style - the beer was held in the trough (off to the left) on ice, but was moved behind the bar once we were all set up. The Cameron Tartan is there in the background as my brother wanted to include something heritage somehow. He says he thought about having the guys wear kilts, but apparently this option is very expensive. They did have bagpipes though which sounded really cool during the outdoor ceremony.

The whole fam damily - Hubby & I on the left (yes, mine is the one with the shaved head!). So far, we are the only ones with children. My younger and only Sis is on the far right with her hubby - they had the hippy look going on. :)

The girls - my little Sis, moi, Mom, Auntie and my cousin. Pretty rare that we are able to get a photo of the group of us together! Notice that lovely windswept hair - good thing I didn't have time to put much effort into the "do" as I would have been disappointed! :)

A shot of the barn where the reception was held from the lawn in front of the pond.

And my little guy pulled up a corner of the table cloth and went of to la la land......of course the empty bottle of wine just happened to find it's way into the photo for special effects - hubby took this one. :)

Hope you are able to play along with us this week! Happy Sundae!

Shanna :)

What I used:
stamps: Magnolia, CTMH sentiment
papers: 7 Gypsies "Orchestra", bazzill
copics: E55, E57, E59, E41, T8

embellishments: Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist (suede), prima flowers sprayed, brads, Black CTMH ribbon, corner punch, scallop punch

An outdoor country Wedding

I thought I'd share a few photos that show what we were up to last weekend! My baby brother married his sweetheart last Saturday. We flew down to Southern Ontario where I grew up and where the rest of my family still lives, to help prepare for and attend the Wedding.

My brother and his Bride are both horse lovers (wonder where he got that from, MOM!) and have a team of work horses that they use to do wagon and carriage rides for Weddings, special occasions etc. Millie was a gift to the Bride several years ago. The Bride rode in (through a beautiful covered bridge) on Millie bareback then jumped down where her Dad met her and walked her down the aisle.

The Bride's hand-tied bouquet. The bridesmaid's bouquets were similar, hand-tie style but without the purple Calla lilies. I got to help Mom make these, hand-tied bouquets are so much fun to make!

This was just a fun shot, going for overall effect rather than details of each of our family groupings, starting with our parents on the left, then each family unit from eldest to youngest siblings.

It was an outdoor Wedding at a beautiful property just up the highway from the elementary school we attended and the hockey rink where we all spent countless hours skating, playing hockey, ringette, curling and spectating. My Wedding reception was actually on the ice surface of same hockey rink (sans ice!) The Groom built the backdrop by the pond with cedar rails and Mom added the flowers, lanterns etc to decorate. I loved how the buckets filled with flowers looked hanging at the end of each aisle.

Me with my "dancing partner". That is a story for another day.

Being part of my family means "all hands on deck" when a Wedding rolls around - this is because my Mom is a florist and a decorator. For the last two family weddings, my other brother's girlfriend has also been the baker - she makes beautiful cakes and desserts!!! Oh yes, and she is also an accomplished musician and artist. Erin played three different violin pieces as the Wedding party and then the Bride walked down the aisle. I was her assistant - it was so windy that I had to help hold the music so that it didn't fly off into the pond!


My brother (the Groom) made the sign hanging up above. The Bride and Groom and posing with my boys. He also built the bar (no photo here) and the matching sign that hung above "The Drinkin' Hole". It was very appropriate for a country Wedding. Do any of you know the song "I'm from the country, and I like it that way!".........

Dad - aka Father of the Groom tasting Erin's delicious cake!

This is the inside of the barn where the reception was held. Want to know how I got all those paper lanterns WAY up there??? A had a partner hold one end of the string while I threw the whole spool of ribbon up and over the rafters, over and over, then climbed the ladder to tie the paper lanterns on . You can't see it here, but we had battery operated lights that we rigged to the top to make them light up when it got dark. They looked fantastic when night fell.

These were the centrepieces - the Bride wanted them very natural and country looking, so we used: hostas, cedar, buttercaps and daisies mostly. They were very fun to make - we arranged them in tin buckets. This is what I was up to until about 12:45 the day of the Wedding. The ceremony being at 3 pm, we decided we had better wrap it up and head back home (15 min. drive) to make ourselves decent for the ceremony! My Mom and other brother (who was in the Wedding party were also with us).

In discussion with the Groom on the way home, we discovered we had a music crisis. So, we headed to a friends house to try to solve that and made a few SOS calls to friends& family to see who could help . Meantime, my brother the Groomsman calls to say his shower at home is busy and can he use the one at home? - we say sure even though two of us still need to get cleaned up. What a busy few days - I managed to get into the shower at 2:15 pm and we made it to the ceremony just after 3 pm with wet hair and two boys in tow! :)

Thankfully, it did not rain until late the night of the Wedding even though they had been calling for some - instead we got wind and lots of it! My wet hair didn't last long! Once the ceremony was over, my sister and brother's girlfriend and I scooted out to her house with a mission to safely deliver the Three tiered Wedding cake as well as five huge slab cakes to the reception before anyone had noticed we were gone. Thankfully it was a short highway drive since the safest way we could figure to transport the 3-tiered cake was for Erin to hold it on her lap!!! It arrived safe and sound and the cake was super tasty!

All in all a very busy weekend, but a beautiful Country Wedding and lots of fun memories. My youngest fell asleep with his head resting on a table while sitting in the chair while my eldest danced until the music stopped playing!

If you made it this far with me, hope you have a fantastic Friday and 'll be back on Sunday with the next challenge for Paper Sundaes!

Cheers,

Shanna :)

Edit - there are several photos that I left out as this turned into a very long post. I will share more soon!

Cut it out & Pop it up!

Good morning!

Sparkle's Christmas card challenge this week is to "Cut it out and Pop it up". Here is what I came up with....

I have had this snowman stamp for a very, very long time. It is one of the first dozen or so stamps I ever bought and I often forget about him!

Can't wait to see what you come up with!
Shanna :)

What I used:

stamps: I think I bought the snowman from a Canadian company called Under Construction (but it was years ago!), sentiment - CTMH

papers: CTMH - honey, Indian corn blue, cranberry

copics: C00, 100, Y26, YR18, E47, R27, B95

embellishments: pop dots, gingham ribbon, cuttlebug embossing folder

Summer fun!

Good morning! Thanks for stopping by!

The theme this week at Paper Sundaes is "Summer Fun". Our sponsor is Sassy Cheryl's. Check out this little cutie pie gobbling up her huge slice of watermelon!



I'm looking forward to seeing your take on summer fun!

I love watermelon and so do my boys - how about you?

Shanna :)

What I used:
stamps: Sassy Cheryl's
papers: MME - be loved, bazzill, CTMH cranberry
embellishments: machine stitching, buttons
copics: E00, G21, G24, G28, YG45, 100, R08, R35, R46