{ January Aloha RAK Group Signups }

Merry Christmas to Everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Holiday with Family and Friends. We were all spoiled rotten in our house!

Signups are now up for January's Aloha RAK Group. Please email me with your full name and mailing address if you would like to join us for January. Signups will remain up until the morning of January 1st. I will email everyone with their RAK partner on the evening of the 1st. If you have not joined in before you can click on the sidebar to find out all the details of the RAK group.

Hope you can all join us!!

{December Signups Now Closed }

Just a reminder that Signups are now closed for this months Aloha RAK Group. I will be emailing everyone that signed up with their RAK partners.

Thanks again to everyone who decided to play once again this month. Hope you are all having fun with it!!

I hope to be back soon with some new creations...having some issues with my camera...well more the batteries...

{ December Aloha RAK Group Signups }

It's that time once again. Signups will remain up until November 30th. If you would like to join in this month, please email me with your name and mailing address by November 30th. I will email everyone on December 1st with your RAK partners. If you have not signed up before and are not sure what the Aloha Monthly RAK Group is...just click on the photo on my sidebar for all the details.

Hope you can join us for December!!

{ RAKS and little Blogging Break }

Now theres a title for ya, huh? Okay, first off I just want to apologize for not getting this posted sooner, but I have been crazy busy and my camera and computer were out of commission for a bit. Anyway, now I want to share my October Aloha RAK that I received from De. Thank you so much De...and you have to tell me where you got that cute little Hawaiian shirt post-it on the inside!! :0)

Okay, now to the other part. I have decide that I am gonna be taking a bit of a blogging break from now until the New Year. My in-laws are gone for 5 weeks to Hawaii...which means I am working LOTS over the next 5 weeks and well...I just need a bit of a break for the bloggin' thing. I will still be poppin' in to see all my favorite bloggers. I will still be posting in regards to the Aloha Monthly RAK group and if I find some crafty time I will most likely post a few creations here and there. But over all my posts will be non existent. Hope everyone understands, but it is just needed right now.

{ November Aloha RAK Group Signups are now Closed }

All those that have signed up have now been emailed with their RAK partners. Thanks again to those that have joined in for November. Have fun!!

{ November Signups for Aloha Monthly RAK Group }

**NOTE: This post will remain sticky until November 1st, please scroll down for new posts**



Here we go again! It is time for signups for the November Aloha RAK Group. Once again you will have 1 week to sign up for this RAK Group. All the 'rules' can be found by clicking on the link on the righthand side of my blog. If you would like to sign up, please email me with your FULL name and mailing address. If you were a member last month, please just email me with your FULL name...I will have all your mailing details already. I will be sending out an email with your partners mailing and email address on November 1st. Again your RAK's must be sent out by November 20th at the latest to assure that your partner receives them within the month of the RAK group. You will have until Midnight October 31st to sign up.



Hope you decide to join in for November!!

{ Wish Upon a Star }

Quick post before I head off to bed. I just wanted to share this with you all. I needed to make a bday card for my oldest as it is her bday on Thursday...yes, only 2 days away and I have yet to make her a card! Anyway...and I also wanted to play with some new toys I picked up at the Pantry this past week. Lookie what I made!!


I love it!! Not much stampin' here, but oh so cute! This whole card is done using the new Imaginisce Fairest of Them All line...paper, rub-ons, ribbon and brads. The sentiment is a $1.50 stamp from Michaels. I hope she likes it as much as I do! I might have to make another one for myself. ;0)

Thanks for stoppin' by!

{ How cool are these!!?? }

Okay this is not crafting related, but I just had to share what I picked up for my family today! Check these out!! I was going to save them for Christmas, but I can't. ;0) I am gonna leave them on the kitchen counter for when they all get home from school and work...heeheehee. ;0)

Off to work I go...wish I was off to bed though! Thinkin' I have myself a sinus infection...yucky. :0(

{ RAK's and RAK's and RAK's...oh my! }

Just have a few BRAK's(Birthday RAK's) that I realized that I had not shared yet! Bad Tracy!

This first one is from my friend Catherine. I had commented on Catherines blog one how much I loved this stamp and she sent me the card! Thanks Catherine...and for the goodies too.


This next one was a card from a fellow CSTer...that's an online Stampgroup for Canadians. This one was from Carole Mork. I just think this is such a great card. My hubby even liked this one! Thanks Carole.



Next, I wanted to share a card that one of our Aloha RAK group members received. Dianne does not have a blog so she asked me to post this awesome RAK she received from her RAK partner Charlene. She also received a DVD tin FULL of awesome goodies!! Lucky you, Dianne. :0)

Okay...I will leave you with one of my creations from the Calgary Classic Weekend. This was done with an image that I swiped from Nancy...love it! And the DP is from some paper I got for my bday...this one is from the Oriential Trading Company...some really cute paper!

I am off to work...thanks for stoppin' by...oh! And don't forget to sign up for this months Aloha RAK group! Details are at the top of my blog!

{ What a fun weekend! }

Wow! I must say that even though I was not feeling 100%? I had a great time at the Calgary Classic. I will definitely be attending next year too! I had a goal of 40 cards...what the heck was I thinking? I did manage to get 16 done though...so not too bad. And I was also VERY lucky this weekend. We had the opportunity to decorate our name tags and then we all got to vote on our favorite. Well, thanks to all my table mates...I won!! Thanks guys for all the votes! I won the SU set For a Friend...which I do not own. I also won one of the random draws. It was a great package full of DP, gems, black writer pen, and other great goodies. And there was another great win...thanks to one of my table mates and very good friend...but I will get into that at a later date. ;0) All in all? A pretty darn good weekend...thanks to Nancy, Shannon, Merlie, Crystal, Linda and Dianne! And of course to Adelee and Christine ... thank you for all your hard work organizing and making this weekend so awesome!!

I will share some of my creations from this weekend...once I get the pics uploaded. But for now?

Another creation using one of my favorite DP lines...Stampit Australia. This is the black and white sheet. As with this one...I colored the centre of the flower with a blender pen and some Barely Banana. Very simple...but the paper says it all!

Thanks for stoppin' by.

{ Weekend Fun! }

Just a quick post. I only have a few hours until I leave for the Calgary Classic. That is right...a whole weekend of just stampin'. Although, hubby has decided to share his sickness with me. I am hoping that once I get there and am surrounded by stampers, stamps, ink and paper that I will magically feel better!!

Okay, here is a new creation for ya. I did this one a few weeks ago but just never got around to posting it. This is a

High Hopes image that I recieved as a RAK from my stampin' friend Charlene. This was a fun one to color. Thanks again Charlene!!

Well, I am off to get the girls from the bus, have a quick bite to eat and then my friend Dianne is coming over and we are gonna head on over to the Calgary Classic.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! I know I will!

Tracy :0)

{ LCSC #12 Entry }

Good day everyone! I got the chance to play a bit lastnight and decided to work on this weeks LCSC #12. This week Jen said with the sketch we could use an Anthony & Burt stamp. And since I just happen to have one now...I decided to play! I was not too sure about these images once I received it. Just cause it is a bit big. But I actually quite like it. They are kinda cute, don't you think? I like the image just not totally sold on my choice of papers. But it is okay.

Since I am talking about Littlecs, just thought I would let you all know about the great sale that Jen is having for the entire month of October! 35% off Everything! Go! Check it out!

Thanks for stoppin' by and a big Happy Turkey Day to all the Canadians out there! Enjoy!

{ Playin' with more new toys...and an update }

Just thought I would post a quick update on my DD dental surgery on Tuesday. All went well...aside from her initial coming too! Wow! They were not kidding when they said that they tend to be VERY cranky when the first come too after surgery. She was thrashing and screaming. Thank goodness that did not last long, cause that was one of the hardest parts for me. We kept trying to talk to her hoping that if she heard our voice it calm her down...but no way! She finally settled down and went back to sleep and the next time she woke up was much better! There has been no pain at all...which is awesome! They only thing that was bothering her was the IV site. She finally took the bandage off her hand lastnight and now we know why. You should see the nasty bruise she ended up with. Pretty much takes up the entire top of her hand! Wow! But she did very well, considering all the work they did on her...1 very nasty absessed tooth pulled, 2 baby root canals with crowns, 6 teeth coated and 2 more teeth filled down to buy us some more room in her mouth. We just have to go back on the 22nd to have the spacer put in. Hopefully this will be the last of it for quite awhile! She went back to school today...we were not too sure about sending her, but looks like she decided to finish the day out.



Okay...onto more fun things. Here is another creation using one of my new stamps! I just love these Penny Black Hedgehogs...too cute! The sketch that I used for inspiration was SC196 over at SCS. I am really lovin' this one! I am heading to the SCS Calgary Classic next weekend and plan to work on my Christmas cards all weekend. I am thinking that I might be doing up a bunch of these ones in various color combos. I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but I also added some Crystal Effects to the light bulbs.

Thanks for stoppin' by and hope all the Canadians out there have a great Thanksgiving!! It will be a relaxing weekend here. Hubby works all weekend, but we will be having dinner at his parents on Monday...he will meet us there. But I think we will just relax and get DD back to her normal self.

{ Playin' with my new toys }

I was able to make a few cards yesterday with all my new loot! So I thought I would work on Jen's LCWC #11. I used some of my new DP and embellishments. Not 100% sold on this one, but I think it is okay. I do love those snowflakes though! I also used my new Snowdots Cuttlebug folder that I picked up from Littlec's.



Tomorrow is the big day for my oldest to have some dental surgery done. Not looking forward to it, but hoping all goes well. They are putting her under for 60-70mins and doing a bunch of work. She has been having nightmares for the past week and lastnight she was waking up every 1 1/2- 2hrs! She told Daddy that she thinks she is just scared about tomorrow. Poor thing.

Well, I am off to work on this months class project before I head off to work.



Thanks for stoppin' by and have a great day!

{ Check out these goodies! }

Just thought I would share all the goodies I received from my family for my bday today! My mom spoiled me with a bunch of stampin' goodies. Now there might be something missing. I actually put everything away before I took the pic...so I had to try and remember everything! There was also a ton of DP, but couldn't really get a good pic of it all. I know...spoiled! Thanks again, Mom. :0)




Next up? Lookie what my family made me and gave me for my bday! Hubby kinda took one of my cards from my stamp room as a template so he know what size to cut the paper and...well he said if it wasn't for the girls he would have no idea how or where to find everything! Too cute, eh?
Check this out!! This is a Scrapbook Album that I saw in Disneyland in May when we were there. I debated on whether or not to buy it. And finally decided not to. I was not sure I would really get into scrapping and not sure I wanted to do 12 X 12. Of course when we got home I wish I had bought it! Well hubby ordered it for me! He had a bit of a struggle...they have since discontinued it, but they found 2 left in the warehouse and shipped this one out to him!!



Here is a close up of the medallion! How cool is this? It now holds my only 2 scrap pages from our trip...this one and this one. I also received some bubble bath and a pink hoodie from Costco! All in all a good bday. :0)

{ And the winner is... }

Colleen!!!!

'I love to shop online for stamps and other craft goodies. However, what is missing is the free shipping no matter how much you spend. Shipping I feel is almost always very expensive.If money was no object I would purchase a bigger house or add on to my house. Right now each of my kids have their own bedroom, but my craft stuff and desk is in my daughter's room. It would be great to be able to have two more rooms so that I could have a craft room and my kids can have a play room. The family room is their play room at this time.' Colleen...please email me with your email address and mailing address so that I can get your gift certificate and a few extra goodies to you!

Thanks to everyone who took the time to comment. I would definitely say that FREE SHIPPING is the most common want of online shopping and a new Stamproom would be the first thing everyone would purchase if they won the lotto!!

I have some bday gifts to share with you all, but I have to wait for my camera battery to charge. Let me just say there are some yummy things to share!! And some of you will be happy to know that you will be seeing much more scrapbooking here on my blog because of it! No...it's not a Cricut...but it is something very cool, or at least to me it is!

Back soon with more details. :0)

{ Anyone up for some prezzies? }

**NOTE: This post will remain sticky until Sunday October 5th. Please scroll down for new posts.**
**another note: Jen has graciously added another $10 to make a total of $25 for littlecs!! **

Since I have not had a challenge all summer long...or any blog candy...and since I was lucky this summer and won 3 or 4 candy giveaways of my own...and since it is my bday on Sunday...it's time for some candy!!

Here's the deal. I want a comment on this post telling me (A) What is missing or what you would like to see more of when it comes to your online stampin'/scrappin' shopping and (B) If you were able to buy 1 item for yourself...money no object...what would it be? I will randomly draw one winner from all the comments on this post and the winner will receive a $15 Gift Certificate for LittleC's Stamps n' Things as well as a little surprise package from myself. Sound like fun? You have until 9:00am October 5th to comment and I will make the draw there after.

As for myself? I would say that that there really isn't anything missing from my online shopping experience...just possibly a Canadian vendor for some of my favorite stamp companies. Dealing with customs and shipping charges from the US and other countries can sometimes be frustrating and expensive. As for my one big item? I would have to say a Cricut Expressions machine or a Laptop!! Just need to win the 35 million tomorrow night and I am set! ;0)

{ Gift giving Season is upon us! }

That's right! I originally saw this tutorial on Beates blog and thought what a great way to use up some of the 500 coasters I have! This was the project I did this month for my class. This would make a great Christmas or winter Bday gift. And this Stamp It Austrailia paper is perfect! Anyone in the Calgary area can pick up this paper at the Scrapbook Pantry. So...what do you think? I was planning to use my Bind-it-all, but I did not have the right sized coils for this project and could not get any in time. But I think the ribbon actually gives it a nice 'romantic' feel. Think I will be making some more of these!

Also, before I forget...here was my September Aloha RAK that I received from Colleen. How awesome was this?! Love that little matching mint holder. I can not wait to dig into those mints...I almost forgot about them. ;0) Thanks again, Colleen.

I also recieved some BRAKs yesterday. This first one is from my friend Nancy. And she used her new TCP stamps too! Thanks again, Nancy. :0)

The second one is from Joan(froglady @ SCS). What a fun card. I love that stamped background! I really should try this more often. Thank you so much, Joan for thinking of me.

I have a couple of 'tags' that I need to work on that I have received from a few people the past week or so. I will be back...

{ Signups are now closed }

The October Aloha RAK Group signups are now closed. Thank you to everyone who signed up and emailed me your info. We had 26 participants this month. I will be emailing everyone with your partners. Have fun and thanks for playin'!

{ Are you ready for some RAK'n? }

**NOTE: This post will remain sticky until September 30th...please scroll down for new posts.**

I hope so, cause I have a big announcement today! As some of you may or may not know by now...if you have already been over to Jen's blog today. I am officially taking over Jen's

MONTHLY ALOHA RAK GROUP. Yup, that's right. Now if you are not familar with the Aloha RAK Group you can simply email me and I will send you the complete details...since I am not that computer savy and have not figured out how to get all the details here on my blog, but soon! The sign ups begin today and you have until September 30th to email me with your name and address. I will match up all the RAK'rs for the month and email you with your RAK'n partner on October 1st. Remember...your RAK is to be a handmade item(card). It is totally up to you if you wish to send along other goodies as well, but it is not mandatory. I have been involved with this RAK group, almost from the begining, and it is a fun group. So please, won't you join us?

Have a great day and I look forward to hearing from all you RAK'rs!

{Just a reminder!}

I just wanted to remind everyone that you have until September 30th to sign up for October's Aloha RAK Group. Here are the signups I have thus far. If your name is in RED I am still waiting your mailing/email info. Please contact me by the 30th or you will not be included in this months RAK Group. If I have missed anyone, please email me with your info ASAP so that I can add you to the list!


Christine Pereira

Nancy Elrick

Charlene Weaver

*Rebecca*

Monique (Moe) Montenegro

Jodi-Ann Lee

Pat Asaro

*De*

Mary Bennett

Charlene McKenzie

Deborah Golan

Jayne Converse

Colleen Kwan

Margarita (Margie) Cortina

Jackielou Ramilla

*Joy*


Michelle Ueligitone

Cyn Flores

Felicia Escalante

Toni Whitnell

Dianne Forst

Kelly Glover

Fida C Javellana

Erin Bohland

Rhonda Kelly

Those of you on the list...I will email you on the 1st with your RAK partner. If anyone would like to refresh your memory on the 'rules' of the RAK Group, you can click on the link on the Righthand sidebar.

{ Two Challenges in One! }

When one is busy...you do two challenges in one! This month for our CalGal Challenge, Allison challenged us to make a Snowman card. And I also wanted to play with Jen's LCWC #9. Although, looking back at the challenge now...I see that I missed the second part of the challenge, which was to use buttons!! Oh well. I love this little snowman(retired TAC). It is a very simple image, but so cute!

On another note...I got my van back tonight!! Woohoo!!! You have no idea how happy I am right now!! Of course I am $840 poorer now, but I have my van back!!

Okay...I am off to have a strawberry daiquiri with hubby now. ;0)
Thanks for stoppin' by!

{ Life is too short... }

And so are the days! I can not believe it has been almost a week since I posted. Again...sorry. I am thinking this is gonna be the norm. Just seems like there is no time for stamping, or when there is...I am just too tired and not feeling creative...at all!! And we aren't as busy as some families, but busier than what is normal for us. And just lots of stresses right now. Or shall I say...I am stressing about lots of things. Not that they are stress, just that I am a little worry wort. ;0)

Anyway here is another creation from last week. This one was for a sketch challenge, but for the life of me I can not remember which one. I looked through my usual sketches, but can't find it. If anyone knows what this one was from, please let me know!

For this one, I used a colored image...from my stash. It came out alright. Nothing spectaular, but a nice card just the same. :0)

Hope you all have a great weekend. And thanks for stoppin by.

{Fevers, Candy winnings and RAK's}

How's that for a creative title? Sorry, not feeling so creative today. It was a looooonnnnnggggg night. Our oldest was sick with a fever lastnight and she does not deal with fevers well...at all! Some of you may have this same problem. Anytime she has a fever we know we are in for an interesting experience. She usually is hard to control. She tends to act very strange. Lots of confusion, uttering jibberish and crying. And lastnight was no exception. She even had some uncontrolable shaking which freaked her and me out too! She said she was having falling dreams all night too...which did not help either. But she is better today. Although, I did just give her some more Advil...the fever is starting to return, but not too bad at this point. Just a lazy day in our house today.

Okay onto better stuffs...

Thought it was high time to show off some of the Candy winnings and RAK's I have received over the past few weeks.

This first one is from my friend Catherine. I had sent Catherine a card a few weeks ago and this was what she sent to me! I have seen some of these necklaces on her blog, but now I have one of my own. Although, my girls seem to have stolen it! Thanks again, Catherine. :0)

This next one is actually my August Aloha RAK from Teri. Not only did she include this awesome card and Cuttlebug folder, but check out the cute altered mint container! So cute. Thanks again, Teri!

And now onto all my recent candy winnings! First off was my challenge win over at Jen's blog for her store LittleC's. I won this adoreable High Hopes stamp. Thanks again, Jen!

Then I was lucky enough to be picked by Dawn for this cute camping set by SUI. I have not opened this one yet, but hope to maybe later this week. Thanks again Dawn for picking my name!! :0)

And lastly, I was lucky enough to win one of the random draws over at SCS for the Verve Anni-Verve-sary Challenge. I won my choice of a $15 set. This was my choice. As you can see, I have used the sentiment, but have not played any further yet...yet. I am hoping to play with this one this week too! Thanks again, Julee!

And now I will leave you with a little creation of mine from last week. I finally decided to try out one of those cute little circle Nestie cards I have seen everyone doing. And I also used my first EVER rub-on! Yup...that's right. Finally! It came out a little off center, but I really like the final result.

Hope everyone has a great day and thanks for stoppin' by and listening to my looonnnggg ramblings today. :0)