weeds

Here are a few more weeds like some others I did. Quick and easy. I was at da Bella Store yesterday and got another weed. I think it is a bamboo?? Anyhow, stay tuned for that one. Man, she has a lot of new stuff coming out. CHA did her well. lol That store is to die for!! Always something in there you just HAVE TO HAVE!
Funky dandelion

Wacky weeds


both embossed with clear embossing powder, heart from buck store and celebrate from Quickutz.
I went to a family of clients' house the other night. THe papa played with my cuttlebug and came up with a few things I haven't seen around. So I'm excited to reproduce them and show you.

We're off to Montreal tomorrow, so we have to buy snacks today, pack, let the kiddies run around etc. (THey were dragged to a few mama related stores yesterday. They get to run, run, run today). lol. I'll be making announcement cards for the sister in law's upcoming event, so hopefully I'll have something to show you this weekend.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

lattice all work together

I was inspired by another blogger's card, but cannot remember who it was. It had the lattice front with a handheld bouquet punched from blue paper. I don't remember what else was on it. That's why I strayed and came up with this layout instead. If you know who it is, please tell me so I can give credit.

Lattice is 1/2 inch strips. Flowers are punched with Su retired 3 flower punch. The paper is from Creative Memories. The ribbon was stamped with Stazon and the sentiment is from Papertrey. Not sure which set. it lost it's home. Butterflies, Martha Stewart. Flower centre baubles dewdrops for the buck store.


That's all I got tonight,
Thanks for looking,
Amanda

sailing over the chaulk

Another boat themed thang. The erasers at the club were pretty groady. yeah, I said groady. Let's see what age you are. lol
They also had a plain box for chalk that was begging to be done over. so I swiped it and returned it.


yes, I know, I spelled chalk incorrectly. please, allow me to share a brief phone conversation with my husband after it was done and delivered...
"How do you spell chalk?" he says
"C h a u l k" I say confidently
he replies, " There's no "U" in chalk."
"It's the Canadian version" I say
"Oh, it's metric!"

Funny, funny. For my American readers... I don't know if you are aware, but Canadians often put an extra U in some words, like Labour, colour, neighbour. To name a few. Spell check just LOVES them. Not. Anyhow, that is not why I put a U in Chaulk.
Really, I do know how to spell.

Chaulk is a sir name in the little town in Newfoundland I grew up in. So to me, chalk has a u in it. lol

Hoping to play tonight and have something to show you tomorrow.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

sailing, sailing over the ocean blue

The sailing club that my DH sails out of is having their regatta today. i decided to do a little marketing and give the winners a card to go with their trophies and prizes. The sailboat is a Quickutz die and the "waves" are the swirls large stamp from Stampin' Up!
I embossed the swirls with seafoam embossing powder. The blue part is raised on pop dots.



The sun came out and the wind is a blowin' Lovely weather for a party and rib fest at the club. I'm waiting for the princess to awaken from her 2nd nap of the day and then we're off!!

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

another grillafella

Here's another card like another card I did. Haven't been stamping much lately. Ideas in my head, but the kids have been going to bed far too late for me to have energy to play afterwards. As the sun goes to bed earlier throughout the summer, so will they, I hope.
Have a great weekend. Off to do some yard sale-ing. Is that a word??

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Sympathy card

I've had to make a sympathy card for a specific person. Not something I've had to do before. I wanted soft and simple.


Card base is pre embossed from a pack from Michael's. Image is from Inkadinkadoo, I think. Nestabilites for the shapes.

The squirrel has left through the front window screen. Another screen shredded. But at least we know it's gone, gone, gone. We hope to nevuh see another one in here.

Thanks for looking,
AManda

Parental Unit tag

When my friend wanted the tags fro her baskets, they were labeled as one each for the 2 kids and then one for the parents. Well, I didn't feel like putting their names on it, so I called it "Parental Unit"

I went searching thru my plain paper scrap box and the colours of brown, turquoise and pumpkin pie came out. OOOOh. Lovely. Then i went looking for something a little more textured and tactile. The birds were singing to me so I found something with those colours. I tore some coordinations paper for the branches and already had the leaves cut form a previous project. The title was done with rub ons from the buck store. They aren't very vibrant, but did the trick. I just lOVE the texture in this tag. Oh yes, the circle on the top with the eyelet in it is actually a paint chip from Ralph Lauren. nice sample. I may have to try some more. :}


And now for a squirrel update:

I didn't go to sleep very soundly last night. I left the top of the living room window open with an apple on top to entice the rodent. And as I tired to drift off into slumber land, I kept hearing sounds and imagined/hoped that the squirrel gave into my plan. This morning as I came downstairs, I was very cautious, but didn't see any signs of it prowling thru the night and the apple was still there. "Maybe he doesn't like apples like the last one." I said to myself. So I went about daily business, Even going into the basement to do laundry.

When I came home this afternoon to greet DH, all the doors were propped open. Uh Oh!!
Seems it was a very quiet squirrel all day. Hubby came home, went to play with his projects in the basement and heard the squirrel! he chased it up and down the stairs for 45 minutes he said. dang thing wouldn't leave. So he got it in the front room and closed the door. the room with all the shelves, wine bottles, christmas decorations, baby gear, clothes, books. Many, many things to ruin with it's remains. Oh and a huge bag of mini chocolate chip cookie snack packs!! lets see if he likes cookies better. hrmph
I hope Dh does something about it tomorrow. Don't like living wit da rodents.

Thanks for looking and reading!
Amanda

not again!!! and more news below

OH. My. GAWD!!!
we have another squirrel!!!!!!!!!
you can read about our 1st adventures of squirrel hood below

http://latenightstamper.blogspot.com/2008/07/squirrel-has-left-building.html

I think this one is more rowdy than the last.

help uuusssss

EDITED:
I've had people email wondering how the squirrels are getting in.
These are highly intellectual squirrels, they are very clever. THey wait till we play outside and come in ..... wait for it.. through the open back door! GASP!!! I know, imagine the nerve of it. lol Needless to say, I'll have to listen to my daughter yell about the closed door than have the neighbourhood squirrel population living with us. For those who live outside of Ontario, these squirrels are not cute and grey or brown., They are evil looking black rodents! I'd take a picture, but they aren't worthy enough. Can you tell I'm in love??

Tag the Ballerina

here is the tag for Saskia's basket:
Image is Stamping Bella. The glitter paper is actually the cards front from a glitter pack at Michael's. Crown punch, ballet slipper Quickutz. Pink papers from Stampin' Up's mini designer papers (hostess set?) and the jumbo eyelet also. The letters are Quickutz, Metro font and the little flowers on the crimped vellum are from the mini punches from the Philippines.

Fun to make, but let me tell you... that ballerina is not very paper piecing friendly. lol That hair is something else. Stamped her on the kraft CS and on white. Lost her shoelace under the vellum. Oh well. I coloured her with Koh-i-nor pencils.



The tags have been delivered and placed ont he baskets. Cute. I put them in clear envelope type bags to preserve them a bit.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Frozen Treasure!! Arrggg!

I got this idea on another papercrafter's blog. i can't rememebr who it is. Maybe when I'm blurfing later, I'll find it and put it here.
The kids are having a great time treasure hunting. Just grabbed things from around the house. It's finally a decent day. A day of poor air quality and humidity and then a full day of pouring rain.... We are really enjoying our little yard today and listening to Barenaked Ladies kids cd.. Snacktime. (I know, one of the band members just got arrested in the States, but it is still a good cd!) It reminds us of Portugal as we only had 3 cds for the whole 2 weeks.




k, off to do a card, I mean a tag post. If I don't get intrrupted to much. :}

Thanks for loking,
Amanda

Tag it!

Yesterday, I sat in my stamp room, air conditioner on, children entertained downstairs, things around me and couldn't think of anything to do. accckk!! I was worried I was in a funk.

This morning, my friend called and requested 3 basket tags for the catch it all ones at the front door. ZING!! ideas were flowing in my brain. thanks for the butt kick Barb. lol Each one created gave me excitement to create. I definitely will make more of these.

Here is the one for Zane:


Inspired by the star theme (does cuttlebug have a star embossing folder??), I started with Papertrey's Textbox set and chose the stars. Versa marked it on Nearly Navy CS and embossed it 3 times with seafoam white EP.
The stars below were using the mini punches my mother in law brought back from the Philippines. put them on popdots with the nearly navy beneath it. The barely banana star was punched with my new SU star punch and the letters were rub ons from the dollar store. Everything was distressed with SU white craft ink. Jumbo brad in the 2 inch barely banana circle.
The tag is big: 3.5 x 5 inches. it fit into some clear bags I have.

it makes me smile.




I was going to show you all 3 tonight, but it's much to explain. So here are some big sneak peaks of the other 2. Check back tomorrow.



Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Oldie, but goodie??

Well, I don't have anything new to show you. I'm working on a scrapbook layout!!! Can you believe it? Very rare.
So, nothing new, I can tell you a story or show you something old...
Let's go with the something old eh?



I don't have any details on the ingredients, only that the image is a retired SU set. I think I may have sold it. And the "live, love, laugh" I think is Hero Arts I bought at Scrapbooks by Design. Everything else is probably dollar store. It says it was d/l on Mar. 16, 2006. I wasn't even cardmaking then. Think I should look at the dating on my iPhoto.:}

Love how the ribbon matches the paper. I distressed the edges with chaulk ink and cut the fancy edge with my little scissors. I'm thinking of very limited supplies housed in a 3 drawer mini storage unit when I first started compared to my overflowing stamping room. Oh, the good ol' days. lol

Thanks for looking.
Amanda

Flock it!

Howdy!
Another hot, sticky, sweaty day in the big city. I didn't even bother to look towards the CN tower, it's was probably lost in the smog. yuck. But local wade pools and splash pads make for a great day, even when your daughter fouls the water and they have to close the pool for an hour to treat the water!! nuff said.

On to what you're here for!

I've been wanting to try embossing the cardfront with nestabilities. Been having a bit of a time trying to do it well. I've only tried it on the SU mini cards, so don't know if it's a thinner CS. But a managed to get a few salvagable ones.

To make this little set stand out, I used some pink flocking. It doesn't show all that well in the photos. The sun was going down, but you get the idea. I used the Quickie Pen and poured the flocking on it, waited for it to dry before tapping off. Did I tell you before that I don't like flocking? I still don't like it. But it was the effect I wanted. So I suffered yet again for my art. lol



This Wacky weeds image from Stamping Bella was stamped in Spring Moss from Papertrey and then flocked in pink. The blossoms don't look as vibrant as the other flowers because I didn't make the blossoms pink first. They were green like the stem.


With the funky dandelion, also from Stamping bella, I stamped both parts of the flower in different inks. Used the glue pen to outline the flower and then applied the pink flock.


The last image is from Papertrey's Green Thumb set. I love how many different things come in it. I lost the mini strawberry though, so I'm bummed. Hoping I'll find it one day when I clean those corners of my desk. I chose to flock only a few circles for a contrast.


Well, that's it for today. Think I'll crash in front of the boob tube. Hope something decent is on.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

who can guess?

What is it? What is it?



It's a Canadian Dime with the Bluenose Schooner on it. NO! Beside it are 2 jagged pebbles that came out of my daughter's nose this morning!! OUCH! lol

Yesterday we were at the playground and I thought she might have put a stone up her nose. It started bleeding profusely a while later. you should have seen a bunch of mothers digging for napkins and tissues and the advice flying around a crying, bleeding kid. Because of my suspicion, I didn't freak out. Just hoping that if it was the cause, it wouldn't be in her nasal cavity or sinuses.

Anyhow, a few sneezes this morning and out it popped without too much fanfare.

No cards today.

Thanks for sticking around for the story.

Amanda

New Home card

I had this card coloured and cut out for some time now, but I could never figure out what to do with it. Today, I actually got to see the friend I made it for, so had to put it together. I'm glad it just needed to be assembled and I'm happy with how it turned out with a star and a few pop dots for lift.


The image is from Stamping Bella, star from Stampin' UP punch, cuttlebug tiny mosiac embossing folder on the more mustard CS and the Quickutz congrats.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

ballet shoes

I saw this lace paper at the LSS, Scrapbooks by Design, today. And HAD to have it. It paired nicely with the ballet slippers from Quickutz. i inked the edges of the shoes a little and just glued and popped a few things with the oval nestabilities. There is not much light out today. Very overcast. Sorry for the blah photo.




that's about all I have to say. it's so hot and humid here today. No breeze, no motivation to do anything. But glad i had a minute to play. i think we're off to the sailing club to catch some dinner and cooler temps!

Thanks for stopping by,
Amanda

music bookmark

here is the bookmark I made to go with the card:



Same papers as the card in previous text. This bookmark and jacket comes from Sharon Johnson's blog- http://notimetostamp.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/ Nov 9, 2007 entry. I love it as a little thank you gift.
The ribbon come from Walmart! by the metre or yard if you're from the imperial system. The music score image is a retired SU block.


I made the charm using shrink art. The notes are the Quickutz notes. There are 2 in the single die, just as it is in the charm. I tried to cut through the shrink art paper, but it wouldn't work, didn't cut all the way through. I really wanted to make a smaller charm than the previous one, so I used Su scallop circle to punch around it. Coloured the back of the notes with marker and shrunk. You like?


Thanks for looking!
Amanda

Thanks and a music charm

I signed me and the kids up for a music class this week. We've never done anything organized before with a specific time, so this was all new to us. I had to wake Neve up a few times from her nap, but we all survived. Luckily she LOVES music.
This is the thank you card for the teacher. i also made a bookmark I'll show you tomorrow. Can't give away all my goodies at once.lol


Paper is by SU, Thanks-Quickutz, the charm took a little playing around. More on that later.

I also played around with how to attach it to the card. Finally decided to colour a paper flower. Only had my ink pad as I lent my markers out. Didn't like the effect, so I put the flower on a piece of paper and washed it with a paintbrush. Still wasn't too excited about it, even though there were hints of brown in the ink. But when I took the flower off the paper, I got this lovely washed out flower imprint. I punched it with the SU scallop circle and cut between the scallops to make a flower. Added a bit o bling in the middle for when the charm is gone.


The charm was a fun process. I wanted to see if the eighth notes from Cuttlebug would shrink well. Then I decided to try the reverse image. I used the Quickutz scallop circle die around the notes and outlined it. Shrunk it down, there ya go. THe notes did ok. They are tiny, one of them came out with it's legs crossed so when I tried to open them, they cracked. now I have a couple of quarter notes. :} (music humour). Oh yes, that splotch you see behind it is a removable glue dot. I forgot to take it off before I took the picture. These dots are great for this kind of stuff. I made another charm for the bookmark with the Quickutz die. Show you that later.


Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Diaper duty

WHew, it sure is hot and sticky here. I hope you like this card. I finished it on a muggy day in the attic!! And DUH, I was playing with the heat gun before I abandoned it when common sense came to me.




As shown before, this image is retired SU jumbo wheel I borrowed from a friend. The pink paper is from coordinations and embosses with Cuttlebug Swiss Dots. The green vertical stripe is yummy velvet paper from Doodlebugs and embossed with another cuttlebug folder (sorry name escapes me at the moment) Ribbon is from Walmart. I love this ribbon! ANd soo cheap.
The little flower thingy in the bottom is from a set of 4 charms I bought at the LSS. Sorry, package was thrown away long ago, but I will be making some more with shrink art. I think, if I can figure out the printing backwards thing. Or maybe print it backwards on the computer, then shrink it.?? Any suggestions? I added some $$store bling and popped it on a velvet circle from Quickutz circle. Coloured it with my Koh-i-noor and Odorless Mineral Spirits.

Off to wake the kiddo and go to a music class. Fun to see them dance around and listen to someone else! :}

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

The squirrel has left the building

Yes ladies and gentlemen, the squirrel has left the building.

I would like to take this moment to thank said squirrel for causing minimal disruption and damage to this household. He lived here for but a short 5 days, with only 1 sighting, 2 downed curtains, 4 piles of turds and 2 eaten pieces of fruit.

He finally managed to get between the window panes ( I had the top of the window open, instead of the bottom) where he broke through the screen, eaten or clawed, I'd rather not investigate so closely. I'm just glad he landed somewhat safely, I assume, as there was no sign of him sticking around.

My husband just reminded me of his solution to the problem.. he was going to get a humane trap from his work and leave it in the basement. UH UH, NO WAY!!! That would mean that I would have to bring the caged rodent outside and free it while he was at work. I kept telling him, "Do you remember the Chevy Chase National Lampoon movie with the squirrel attached to his face?? That's all I could think of. I ain't gettin' nowhere close to that thang on purpose!"

The best thing about it all, the children had no idea there was a large rodent living with them. Thank goodness. I don't think I could handle the questions from my 4 year old. Where did they ever learn such hard questions??? And where is the answer book> I must have missed that line-up.

No cards today, but I do have a little picture for ya..


Ever wonder what those ears or the pink eye was behind the cards of my outdoor shots? It's the cement bunny. There is a baby bunny, but my daughter was playing with it and I'm not sure where he landed. maybe under the deck. It is from a family friend via my uncle. She has some in her yard too. I love those bunnies.

That's it for now, Hoping to do some stamping tomorrow. i've been playing in my mind...

thanks for looking,
Amanda

Grillafella apron

We still have a squirrel, not that we've seen him. Just signs of him in the house!

Here is a card I did for a pool party we went to yesterday.
The idea for the apron comes from my DH's cousin and fellow paper crazed crafter, Anabela.. You can see here sample here.
http://creationsbybela.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2008-06-11T07%3A06%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=10
Now that I look at her cards, Seems they must be a little bigger to get all the stuff on?



Grillafella from Stamping Bella. Oval from nestabilities. Thanks from Quickutz and the sewing stitch on the border is from sassafrass lass. I love that it is acrylic and you can shape it to the paper. I got the shape of the apron from putting part of an oval die and tracing it. Ribbon is from Stampin' Up.

Don't know if you can see it written on the BBQ, but it says. "your old Weber". I think it was around Christmas time, my DH had a great deal on some GPS systems. So he traded one for a Weber BBQ with a guy at work. We got the rotisserie from him yesterday. Guess we'll be eating roast chicken this week, or Frango assado in Portuguese. YUMM. Who wants some?

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

acckk

We have/had a squirrel in the house!!
I don't know if it's still here or not, but I did see it this morning and I heard it yesterday with signs of it's inhabitance.
I'm sure there will be a story to tell later. I have to make sure there is no fruit or yummy things for it to play with while we're out.
yikes

baby clothesline preview

I had a few moments and quiet tonight to colour with my kooh-i-noor woodless colouring pencils and odorless mineral spirits. Since I can't get the watercolour thing down, (believe me, I've tried for many years and many attempts) I'm going the colour pencil route.

This image is a retired Stampin; Up! jumbo wheel. I love it. It belongs to my friend, Chrissy. I wheeled it a few times while I was there a few weeks ago. I have an idea for a layout, but will put it together at another time. I wanted to put something new up here and that's all I've got! lol
Isn't the colour combo fresh?

Off to a pool party with the family tomorrow. And hoping to pick up new twin beds for the kids. My daughter definitely needs her own bed now. Maybe we can get her out of ours! :}

Have a great weekend,
thanks for looking,
Amanda

visit to the dentist and a kit

Hello there...
I've been in mass production mode to make 10 dental kits for my dentist. I've added a few things to my tooth fairy kit. This is the boy version. Here goes....


Card was made with Quickutz sentiment and tooth, Nestabilities oval and Cuttlebug tiny mosaic embossing folder and Taken with Teal SU paper.



Tooth tin was Lee valley tin, ribbon adhered with sticky strip, and tooth charm shrink art. I have a wooden box in the shape of a tooth and traced it before shrinking it. The tag was something I made up on the computer and punched with Marvy uchida scallop oval.

The key chain was a last minute addition. I still have to find some loops or hooks or something better than the ribbon. Same paper as the card and I used the half of the punch from SU and stamped, "I brush daily" with snap stamps. Ok, I know, I really stamped, Dailey. I'll fix it. I knew it wasn't correct as I was doing it. I know a composer here in town and her last name is Daley. I was getting mixed up. Ever write or say a word and it just looks ridiculous after awhile? the first time it ever happened to me, I was in grade 5 or 6. It was the word tights. as in leggings. Go ahead, say it. over and over and over. lol k, I'm blaming my nuttiness today on the heat.

I could do a better job matching the tin colours to the paper colours, but didn't realize it until after it was done. The girl one will feature a bella and be better coordinated. Pink, is pink, is pink. lol

Thanks for looking and yes, you may leave a comment.

Amanda