Less is more sketch - part 2

Hi all, I had so much fun with this week's sketch at Less is More that I couldn't stop at just one card....I think this 'lil cutie looks great in pink polka dots - what do you think?

Sorry for the less than perfect photo, but hubby had my camera out and I didn't get it back until after dark and I really wanted to post this card. Photoshop helped a bit....

Anyhow, like I said, I was having so much fun with this fab CAS sketch that I just couldn't stop! It was the cause of a great deal of creative energy this week! I have a few more versions that I will share once I am able to take photos in proper lighting.

My parents are on a plane on their way here as we speak, so if I'm mia for a few days in blogland, it's because I have company. The boys are looking forward to their visit very much! Since their flight is coming in at midnight, the boys won't see them until morning, so I expect the boys will be up pretty early.....

Thanks for stopping by! Shanna :)

What I used: stamps: CTMH Life's a Jungle (elephant), new CTMH Card Chatter - Birthday (hip hip hooray) papers: My Mind's Eye ribbon: Bo Bunny

Peace on Earth

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for all your kind comments on yesterday's post. It is such a fun sketch that I had to play again last night! Trouble is, hubby has my camera, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to post another take on this week's challenge at Less is More. That's okay though, because I have these to share today. Awhile back, I posted this card that seemed to lend itself well to duplication and a reader's comment about mass production got me to thinking - hmmm, needing lots of cards for Christmas still........ these are what I came up with. The stripe on the first version is a little wider since I wanted to include the red bit, but then I found the strip a bit too fat and made the second version slightly different. Though a little more involved than the card is was modelled after, this one is still simple enough to work at while yaking with the girls, allowing me to make several in one sitting. So, I plan to make 10 or 12 more of these.

I'm going to enter this over at Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenges. I'm so happy to now have 30 Christmas cards! Cheers to cards that aren't too much trouble to duplicate!

Off to read bedtime story - hmmm, tonight maybe it will be Froggy...

Shanna :)

What I used:

papers: St. Nick Collection

embellishments: new CTMH buttons

ink: CTMH Olive stamp: CTMH Peach on Earth - D1243

Chairs to you....

I was inspired by the sketch this week at the Less is More challenge blog. Also, I've been wanting to fiddle with the CTMH May stamp of the month, Chairs to You, for a while now.

Last night once lunches were made, kitchen tidied, children in bed and laundry left in a heap on the futon (lol).... I hid in my craft space for an hour or so and played around with some fun papers and a comfy little chair! Here is one of the cards that resulted. What do you think?

I love these patterned papers!

Hope you had a good start to your week. Fingers crossed - with any luck I can sneak into my sweet scrap space for another hour tonight after bedtime - off to read to the boys....we are currently working on "The voyage of the Dawn Treader."

Cheers,

Shanna :)

What I used:

stamps: CTMH's May stamp of the month - Chairs to You D1456

papers: Echo Park - Off the Record and ??can't remember, but both are currently available at DAT'S to the best of my knowledge

ribbon: SU

Celebrate today CAS

Good evening! Just a quick post for tonight as it has been a busy weekend! I had so much fun playing with the new "Paper Lantern" stamp set from CTMH! When I first saw this set, I thought hmmm, how much would I really use this....but I can see using it quite a bit now that I've played a bit. This card was so quick and simple once I figured out what to do about the "wire" - the "squiggly line" that comes with the set does not lend itself to this sort of layout so I was stumped until it occurred to me that I could simply hand draw the squiggly! Doh - somtimes it's as simple as pulling out a marker! :) I'm going to share this over at Wee Memories Challenge blog since their Scrappy Saturday challenge is "Anything goes". Hope you all had a great weekend! Ours was fantastic, I'll share some photos from the Harry Potter party soon! Cheers, Shanna :) What I used: stamps: CTMH Paper Lantern D1458 papers & inks: CTMH Lagoon & Pear

Thinking of You

Happy Friday!
Here is a card I needed to make for a co-worker who lost a loved one. I always struggle a little with sympathy cards, but I like the basic design of this one. I think using the fabric added a bit of something to this otherwise very simple card. This is a piece of fabric that Donna picked up recently and shared with me, love getting my hands on new patterns and designs to add to the stash!

Chester's Harry Potter birthday party is tomorrow so I'd better run and finish off the treat bags and do some tidying....

Ciao,
Shanna :)


What I used:

fabric - Thanks Donna!
embellishemnts: stitching, prima flowers, new CTMH button

Joy to the World

Christmas Clara here is a rare attempt at coloring blonde hair! I used a combination of: YR20, YR21, YR23, YR31 and Y26. I cannot say that I LOVE how it turned out, but I am fairly pleased since I haven't really practiced much on coloring hair, especially blonde hair. I have lots to learn and should really be reviewing some of the great tutorials out there! All in good time my friends, all in good time.....if only there were 48 hours in each day, sigh....

The colours in this card were super fun to work with - I chose my image, then reached for my Jovial paper pack and decided on the colours from there. You can't really tell, but I added some gold stickles to the ruffle on her skirt to match with the bit of gold in the fun ribbon.

I am entering my Christmas Clara card into this week's challenge at Christmas Card challenges. Also, the challenge this week at The ABC Challenge is quilting or stitching, so I am going to share over there as well.

********Alert to local gals - new stuff in at your LSS DAT'S. I happened to stop by at lunchtime today to find that a new order had just arrived - ladies, RUN do not walk, there is a gorgeous array of beautiful new 6x6 paper packs from Prima, SEI and DCWV, as well as fab new colors of Stickles, crochet flower embellishments, etc. etc. etc.....I am so excited about some of these new and gorgeous papers - I'm going to be dreaming about all the fab cards I will be making with these new papers.....

Hope you have been having a great week, I sure have!
Take care,
Shanna :)


What I used:

stamps: Kraftin Kimmie, CTMH Sentiment
papers: Basic Grey Jovial
embellishments: stitching, prima poinsettia flowers, Bella Bling, misc. ribbon that I've been hoarding so long I cannot remember who made it. :)

Wishes and wrapping paper a la Pickle Pants....

Thanks for stopping by today!
This is a card I made for my girlfriend who found out recently that she is expecting. I decided to go with one of my Tim Holtz sentiments for this rather than focus on an image. I LOVE the font on this quote! Now that I look at this on my puter screen, I can't say as it photographed all that well, but too late now. This was a fun one to make, and for such a fun occasion. I reached for this paper from a lil stack of papers that was in my goodie bag from Kraftin Kimmie day and found some embellies and other colors that worked with it.

And here is the inside. Sorry about the spot - I still haven't decided to send my lens away to get cleaned or just buy a new lens - hubby is hopping to just buy a whole new camera - maybe I should just do it. Either way, I have to do something before summer vacation as we are heading to the East coast and I do NOT want to have to crop nasty spots out of those shots!!!

Oh, and last but not least, more artwork by Pickle Pants. We often use newsprint (the ends of rolls that you pick up for cheap at the newpaper office) to wrap gifts. I LOVE fun and brightly coloured giftwrap, but it drives me crazy that it cannot be recycled. So, when we run out of either boy or girl paper for parties, I don't rush out to buy more. We get creative instead. These gifts were going to a boy of Chester's age who is a big fan of Mario Bros. Well, Pickle Pants is also a big fan and decided that these characters would work well on the gifts. I think he called the big yellow mushroom guy "Big Man" but have no idea if this is made up or his actual name, lol. Video games are defiitely not my realm..... :)

Hope you are all having a fab week! I was thrilled yesterday to find out I was "featured" on the Little Red Wagon Challenge Blog for the house mouse card from my last post. How fun is that?!? It definitely made my day!

Cheers,

Shanna :)

Hip Hip Hooray - House Mouse

Happy Monday! So glad you stopped by to visit!

This is a card I've been wanting to make for a long time now. I picked up this stamp at a fabulous little scrapping/stamping store just outside of London, ON when on a weekend getaway last fall. We had travelled down to London to attend the first ever Kraftin Kimmie day and had a fantastic time! We got lucky after the event and gained after-hours entry to the fab little store where I picked up this stamp amongst a vast variety of other things (mostly stamps) that quickly filled our shopping bags!

Anyhow, here is my card at long last! I have loved House Mouse forever, but this (and one other purchased the same day) is the first stamp I've actually purchased! I also used a brand new sentiment set from CTMH - Card Chatter - Birthdays, that just came in an order last week! I love getting to use new stuff right away, though it happens not so often. :)

Though I must admit that the image with all the books was a little tedious to colour, I just adore how cute he turned out! I think he works perfectly with this fab line from Bo Bunny!
And here is the inside of my card. I almost don't want to give this one away. I think I'll make another before I do....

I had the challenge at Little Red Wagon in mind when making this card as they are looking for office supplies for their challenge this week. The clips seemed to work perfect here.

Hope the beginning to your week is a good one!
Shanna :)

What I used:
papers: Bo Bunny Learning Curve - LOVE this line!
stamps: House Mouse & new CTMH Card Chatter Birthday - D1475
embellishments: misc. office supplies, boarder punch, new CTMH buttons
copics:
mouse - E21, E55, E57
books - YR31, Y35, E31, B95, B97, B99, R27

April's class - Brigette relaxes.....

Good morning and thanks for stopping by!
Lucky me, I enjoyed a great day stamping with some girlfriends yesterday and was able to design the card for my April class! Here we have Brigette - I admire her because apparently she has seized a rare opportunity to relax in some shimmery bubbles! Hubby always tells me that I don't "know how" to relax. I keep telling him that maybe I could do that if he helped out a little more, allowing me the time to relax...... :)

One of my followers let me know that some people call this technique "outside the box" - works for me. This is the technique for my April class at DAT'S - using nesties to leave parts of your image "outside the lines".

It was so fun to make Brigette's bubbles pink and shimmery using DecoArt Glamour Dust - I ADORE this stuff and really must make more excuses to use it!

April Technique Workshop at DAT'S

Date: Saturday, April 16th Time: 1 pm

Cost: $7.00

Registration for classes at DAT'S for the months of April and May begins on Tuesday, March 22nd

Contact DAT'S for more details or to sign up

If you are taking my class, please bring the following:

cutter, your favorite adhesives, scissors, tweezers. I have listed the copics used for this card below - if you have your own copics, bringing your own will speed up the colouring process. However, you do not have to have your own copics to take this class.

And here is the inside of the card. I used the little accessory stamp that comes with Brigette. The sentiment is from Krafty Quotes #2, but I cut it in half to make it work with my card design. I had a fabulous time playing with this new Echo Park "For the Record" line! The patterns and design are so fun and there is still some available at DAT'S.

Today is Chester's Birthday, so we are having a family day, just hanging out. His official birthday party with his friends is next weekend since it is the March Break here and we've had poor results trying to have a party during the break in years past.

Hope you have a fabulous day, whatever you're doing!

Cheers,

Shanna :)

What I used:

stamps: Kraftin Kimmie's new - Brigette & accessory stamp, Krafty Quotes #2
papers: Echo Park's new "For the Record" line, available at DAT'S
embellishments: SU 5/8 " black satin ribbon, Zva Creative Bling, Deco Art Glamour Dust, boarder punch

ink: CTMH Lagoon

copics:

skin - E000, E00

hair - E25, E27, E29

bathtub - BG72, BG75

bubbles - RV10
towel - RV25, RV29
tap - T1

Go Green!

When Danderella was over the other night, I had a chance to play around with these fun papers. The fun patterns and colors just make me so happy!

My cards fit with the challenge over at Crazy for Challenges - trees, as well as the challenge this week at Paper Sundaes - Keep it Simple. You can bet I will be whipping up a few more of these for the stash. Oh, and would a few of these with a variety of sentiments not make a fantastic gift set? I'm thinking so....

I drew the gum-drop-shaped tree to make it look like one of the trees in the paper and popped out the red oval tree with an oval punch, then snipped out a few trunks out of scraps of cocoa papers and voila - die cut trees!

Happy Friday!

Shanna :)

Deck the Halls in March?

Well yes, but first I should say Happy St. Patty's Day! If I drank beer, I suppose I might enjoy it green on St. Patty's day....I once decided to make my boys green eggs and ham (ya know, i added spinach), yeah, so it didn't go over so well....onto the card...

Merry here would like to show you her perfectly browned turkey complete with lemon slices and a sprig of rosemary! I am planning a class for April and this is one of the cards I've been playing with. I thought I would try to work the "technique for having an image overhang your nesties" into the class. I'm sure there is a proper name for this technique, but I sure don't know it if there is....please enlighten me if you happen to know it. :) Otherwise, I may be forced to come up with something myself....

Now that I look at my photo, my background paper and matting looks a bit green! Yikes, it's actually brown - CTMH cocoa brown to be specific, oh well! Anyhow, I've decided this is probably not the card for the class since it is looking a bit more like a Thanksgiving card than a Christmas card and my guess is that I won't have too many takers on a Thanksgiving card class in April - I would have been pushing my luck with Christmas no?



After playing around with a different design idea, I ended up using the great sketch over at Friday Sketchers. (Oops, looks like I missed the deadline for Friday Sketchers - it's one thing to get a card done for a challenge, but qutie another to get it posted in time, kwim? It's a wonder I ever manage it!) I am also going to enter this into the challenge over at Kraftin Kimmie this week which is "anything goes!" Did I tell you that I won something last week for entering the challenge...apparently I will be getting a surprise in the mail!!! I love going to the mailbox and finding something other than BILLS! :) Woo hooo!!!

And, since this is a Christmas Card, I'm going to share it over at Christmas Card Challenges this week as well. This card increases my Christmas card stash for this year to 26! I am super happy about this!!!

Well, thanks for stopping by! Hanging with my boys tomorrow as it is March Break here - we don't have any big plans - just the way I like it - maybe we'll make it pyjama and game day!

Shanna :)

What I used:

papers: Fancy Pants and ooops can't remember and I cut off the label!

embellishments: SU ribbon & Bella Bling, cinnamon stickles, SU punch, sponge

stamps: Merry from Kraftin Kimmie and CTMH sentiment (D1366 Holiday Trinkets)

ink: cocoa, buttercup to sponge

copics: E000, C00, T1, E43, E44, E47, R37, R39, YR23, Y26, Y15 (lemon)

Life and Artwork by Pickle Pants....

Hello and thanks for stopping by!

While stamping and visiting with Danderella on Sunday evening, I finally pulled out my set of Tim Holtz quotes and made this card. This particular quote is one of my all time faves and hangs above our piano as a framed embroidery. Quick and simple, but I thought it worked well with this rather "loud" paper - paper I might usually have a hard time using. It also works perfectly for the challenge at Raise the Bar this week - create your own GREEN acrostic. Mine stands for: G-green R-red E-embellishment (ribbon) E - embellishment (brad) N - no image.

I also thought I'd share some of Pickle Pants' artwork. We have a hard time "letting go" of artwork around here, so sometimes I make a bargain with Pickle Pants and he agrees to let it go if I take a picture. This one I had to share - it's a "kleenex launcher"!

I believe this one was a monster of some sort...

Happy Monday everyone! My day was pretty good for a Monday - I even rec'd a real letter in my mailbox! Thanks Meg!

Shanna :)

A Bella Birthday

Here is a card I made awhile back and hadn't gotten around to posting. I do believe the papers and brad are from that Imaginisce "kick" I was on awhile back. I thought I'd posted all the cards from that run, but I guess I missed one.

Hope you have had a great weekend! Mine was fabulous - a day of skiing with Chester on Saturday, then both boys had a sleepover bday party this afternoon = quiet house = hanging in my scrapspace with Danderella = relaxing! I would be truly relaxed if it weren't for the sore muscles, but who's complaining! Oh, and the weather has been beautiful too - the sun is so nice and warm, the snow should really start to melt now!
It's March Break here, so I took tomorrow off to hang with the boys - a three day work week for me! Pickle Pants has his first ever piano lesson in the morning after I pick both boys up from the party, then who knows......I love days when we don't have much in the way of plans!

Cheers,
Shanna :)

Homemade Yogurt!

A co-worker recently introduced me to a food blog called "A year of slow cooking" after a conversation we were having about yogurt. Where I live, the containers that yogurt and sour cream come in cannot be recycled! Since I am very much into reducing, re-using and recycling, this drives me bonkers! We were also discussing all the stuff they add to the store-bought yogurt. This led her to decide to go ahead and try THIS recipe for homemade yogurt. When she emailed me and told me she had success I decided I was brave enough to try it too!



I can honestly tell you that it is one of the easiest things I have ever made and get this - you make it in your crock pot!!! The best part is that my boys are eating it - all I do is add some fresh fruit, a bit of granola and a teaspoon or so of maple syrup or honey to add a bit of sweetness. This is an added bonus - before trying this, I only managed to sneak the plain stuff into smoothies and frozen smoothie popsicles and occasionally substitue it for sour cream when I make tacos (except for consistency, you hardly notice the difference). I truly didn't expect them to eat if from a bowl - they ate what you see here for breakfast (and sometimes snack) almost every day last week. I am onto something here - this is so easy to make, so much cheaper and no plastic container to toss into the landfill! Can you tell how excited I am! lol

Just in case you want to try this, I will post the recipe here with the adaptation that my friend made and has worked for me. Please note that this recipe was found on "A year of slowcooking" blog and I certainly am not the one who figured how to make yogurt in my crockpot. :)

Here it is:

Add 8 cups of milk to your crockpot (I have used homo, 2% or skim)
cover and turn on low for 2.5 hours

Unplug and allow to sit for three hours

Scoop out 2 cups of the milk and put in a bowl - whisk in 1/2 cup plain yogurt (the good plain kind with active culture from the store or a 1/2 cup you've saved from making your own)
Also whisk in 1/2 cup skim milk powder
Pour contents of bowl back into crockpot and stir to combine

Wrap your crockpot well in a beach towel, all the way around, on top and under (I use two)
Allow to sit un-plugged, overnight or for 8 hours

Voila, easy-peasy, you have homemade yogurt!

Don't be afraid, go on and try it. It's the easiest thing I've ever made!

I had been planning to share this for awhile now, but seeing Jenny's request over at The Southern Institute to share "Meals kids love" prompted me to get my post done.

Happy Saturday!

Shanna :)

p.s. Pickle Pants decided that he was NOT skiing today, so Chester and I went instead - too bad for Pickle Pants, sooner or later he will figure out what he is missing! Chester mastered another run - pretty awesome for his second time out ever - oh, my muscles are gonna hurt tomorrow.....however, five hours of skiing was much more fun than the treadmill!

It's a Party - Hogwart's Style!

These are Chester's Bday party invites. After the Harry Potter Party (simply a movie-viewing party with friends), he decided he may as well make his Bday Harry Potter themed as well. Well, that makes life easy for me - already have the treat ideas, and they want to watch the second movie. It will make for a bit of a long party, but that's okay - we plan to have an "intermission" to have food, cake and gifties.

I had been on the lookout for a stamp that was somehow related to the theme just to have on hand since both boys are so intrigued by the books and movies - and came across this one a few weeks back when a few of us decided to order from Whipper Snapper. I just love that little froggie!

I'm sharing two versions because the patterned paper is from my stash and there wasn't enough of the one to make 10 or 11 invites as it is Basic Grey and there was only one of each. This paper is so ancient - it's from the "archaic" line - so glad to use up a bit of it.

It is a fairly basic card, but keep in mind I had several to make. At first, I didn't plan to color, but simply stamping on colored CS just wasn't doing it. Donna convinced me I had to color them in and add liquid glass on the bubbles (you can't really tell in the photo), and I do like how they turned out. Best part is, they are done and distributed.

Originally, I made this a folding style card, but when I got home hubby's comment was - why don't you just make them like postcards and put the info on the back to save paper? That was exactly what I ended up doing.

Happy Friday! Looks like Pickle Pants and I are hitting the (bunny) slopes tomorrow - it's his turn this weekend - once again I'll need some luck folks - those of you who have the pleasure to know my Pickle Pants know how frustrated he can get.....I'm hoping that the need for adventure he has will override the frustration of learning to ride the Grip tow. Yep, that's the part that makes my entire upper body ache for nearly a week!

Cheers,

Shanna :)

What I used:

stamps: Whipper Snapper, CTMH sentiment

papers: Basic Grey & CTMH CS

copics: YG93, YG95, E25, E19, E31, T3, YR24

Tulip Thanks

Super quick post for today. Here is another photo card using a photo I took at my little brother's place last spring. Him and my new sister-in-law moved into their new house during the winter and were treated with hundreds of spring flowers come spring! Beautiful perrenial gardens - I was green with envy - oh to have that many spring bulbs - the effect was amazing! I couldn't stop taking photos. I'm sure they thought I was a little out there - I even ended up with grass stains....
Anyhooo, hope you've having a good week, ours has been super busy so not much time for visting. Hope to catch up with you all soon!
Cheers,
Shanna :)

Happy Spring & some thrifty finds.....

Hello, and thanks for stopping by!

Today I have a super simple card to share. I have made a New Year's resolution to work on using some of my extensive stash of ribbon.....yep, I have a bit of a ribbon problem. I just really like it, ah, a lot....

Anyhow, this super simple card fits in with this week's challenge at Raise the Bar - "I'm just saying" - a challenge to use a sentiment only, no images.



I just had to share my thrift store finds with you today. I stopped by on my way home from work just in case I happened to find a pair of skis in great condition for Chester. Fat chance for the skis - however, I can never turn down the chance to walk thru the book section.... here is what I found:

The Neverending Story original price $9.99

Anne of Green Gables original price $4.99

Bridget Jones's Diary original price $12.95

The Hound of the Baskervilles - with beautiful linen cover original price about $20 I think

Lord John and the Pirvate Matter - hardcover! original price $ 35.95

Olivia - board book original price $ 11.99

Cook's Notes journal orignal price unknown, but a very cool book

Over $100.00 worth of books before taxes....

So I didn't head out empty-handed, but I'm just getting to the best part. When I got to the till, I said to the lady, "I'm not sure of the price of these." She starts making a little pile for FREE...I look at her confused and she says, "you can go pick another if you like, it's Buy one get one Free day." I decide not to go back as the babysitter is at home with the boys and I don't want to be late. She rings up my sale, and it comes to, wait for it.....$1.97. I paid under two bucks for this entire stack of books, many of which are actually on my "to read" list as opposed to just, oh, I found a good bargain and some of which are hard covers, all in excellent if not brand new conditon! Made my day, let me tell ya! What a way to end my workday on a Monday!

Here's hoping your day was as good as mine! Hmmm, maybe I"m onto something here - a weekly Monday trip to the thrift store might do me some good, and save me some money on books!

Shanna :)

Easter Wishes

Happy Sunday! Thanks for stopping by!

When a few of us got together to scrap, we got talking about the new Lily of the Valley release and then went on to discuss how we should really ink up some of the lotv stamps we already own. So - we challenged ourselves to make and post a card using any lotv stamp within the next two weeks. Here is what I came up with.... Since I usually send a few Easter or spring cards, I figured I may as well ink up this lil' cutie. I coupled him with some papers from Basic Grey's Urban Prairie line and voila. You can't really tell from the photo, but I just had to add some pink flock to his tummy and paws - just for you Lee-Ann!

Skiing update - Chester and I had an absolutley fantastic time skiing yesterday! It was his very first time on skis, but after an hour lesson and a few more runs down the "bunny" hill together, we hopped the chairlift and did his first "green" run together. He was so excited! We repeated the same run several times. It was a fabulous day, but we both defintely have sore muscles today! lol I am hoping to take Pickle Pants next and maybe fit in one more trip to the mountain with Chester - we shall see what the weather does in the next couple of days. It depends on how much my sore muscles can manage as well, lol!

Here's hoping you have had a wonderful and relaxing weekend,
Shanna :)

What I used:
stamps: Lily of the Valley, CTMH sentiment
papers: Basic Grey, Urban Prairie
embellishments: Bella Bling (I did not spill it this time), SU ribbon
copics: R000, R81, Y32, Y35, YG93

Fearless at Five and Penpals anyone?

It's Friday - where did the rest of the week go??? Oh yes, must share what happened on Wednesday evening....hubby plays squash on Wednesday nights......so around 8:30 Wed evening, hubby calls to say he is on his way to the ER because he has turned his ankle. Okay - we agree that he will call me from the ER to let me know how it's going. He got lucky and the place was nearly empty - in and out in less than two hours. Thankfully, Danderella's hubby was willing to come and sit at the house while I rescued hubby from the hospital. The best part of this story - hubby calls to say I can come and pick me up and says, "Can you bring me some sweats?" Me - "Sure, but why.........?" Yep he went to the gym in his shorts and a hoodie and it must have been -25 celcius on Wednesday night - can you say dufis?? I'm thinking maybe he learned his lesson - or maybe not - ya know - sort of like when your Ma used to say "Don't forget to wear clean underwear!" Oh well, when all was said and done, hubby came home on crutches, but with nothing broken.

The layout I am sharing today is one I started eons ago, back in the summer, and finally finished last weekend. The random buttons are on there to avoid publishing photos of other people's children on my blog. This Bo Bunny paper was fun to work with and I was able to fit in quite a few photos of the party.

Chester is interested in having a penpal. If any of you know a child between the ages of about 7 and 10 who might be interested in correpsonding, please email me so we can discuss.

Well, Chester and I are heading to the ski hill in the morning for his first ski lesson - wish us luck!
Have a fab weekend,
Shanna :)

Holiday Cheer

Happy Wednesday - time for the downward slide to the weekend!
I started this card on the weekend and finally managed to get it done last night.....but not before spilling an entire twelve compartment container of Bella Bling all over my scrapspace - amazingly, I did not swear, but I very nearly cried........and almost gave up on the card for the night.

However, I was determined to get this done since I had two challenges in mind for it. Firstly, I chose this image because the challenge at Raise the Bar this week is "Mug shots" and it is brand spanking new from Whipper Snapper, so I was really looking forward to coloring him. And because I am also adding this to my stash of Christmas cards (I am now up to 25!), I am also entering this over at Christmas Card Challenges. This week's challenge is to use punches and though I didn't use a punch, I did use a nestability - close enough I suppose since the main challenge is simply to make a Christmas/Holiday card. Oh, I am going to be so organized this year! (the power of positive thinking...)

And here is the inside....I found the paper was light enough to stamp on and so should be light enough to be able to see the writing when we sign the card.

This card was rather painful to make - I agonized over the design and what ribbon to use, what embellishments, then the Bella Bling "incident" happened - in the end though, I think it was maybe worth it? What do you think?

Happy Wednesday!
Shanna :)

What I used:
stamps: Hero Arts sentiment, Whipper Snapper
papers: CTMH Indian Corn Blue, Echo Park - Wintertime line
embellishements: Basic Grey embossing folder (a gift for Christmas), SU felt ribbon, clear button, embroidery thread, SU felt snowflake
copics: R27, R29, E77, E79, B00, B34, C0, YR18

Welcome to the Neighbourhood

Happy Tuesday!

Here is a quickie I put together inspired by a piece of fabric my Ma picked up for me at a yardsale last summer for .25 cents! Although I hate having yardsales, I love stopping at them once in awhile to check for books, antiques or crafty items. I once nabbed a whole basket full of rick rack for super cheap!

I love birdhouses and just couldn't resist cutting this out with my pinking shears and sewing it onto a little card. Simple and cutesy. There are a few other cute "pictures" or "scenes" on the fabric that may eventually make it onto cards as well.

Have a great day!

Shanna :)