{ A Calgal Challenge }

I apologize for not posting this week. I have been busy working and shopping. But guess what? I only have 5 more gifts to buy and a few of them are because they are things that will not be available to buy for another week or two. Woohoo for me!! I always say that I want to be finished my shopping by Dec 1st and I am the closest I have ever been. Now I can spend December relaxing, wrapping, baking and just having some Christmas fun instead of freaking out worrying that it won't be done in time!!

Okay...onto the card...here was my take on our Calgals Challenge for November. Shannon gave us this sketch, which was Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge.

Shannon was nice enough to give me a brown flower, since I did not bring any along with me. But when I got home I decided to add this orange one too for some added bling. It's okay... I love my new Verve stamp though!

Well...today is tree and house decorating day today. This will most likely be a whole day affair as I will be setting up my Christmas Village this year. We don't have room in the house for it, so I set it up on the top of our kitchen cabinets. It actually looks really nice there. Maybe I will post some pics once we are all done. I only set it up once in awhile and I thought since this year we are having 3 family dinners here...5 of us on Christmas Day, 15 of us on Boxing Day and 7 of us on the day after Boxing Day! Well...best get started decorating.

Thanks for stoppin' by...

{ Relax and Recoup }

That's what we are all doing after yesterdays Bday party. Hubby and I have vowed that this is the LAST party at home!! Let's just say that the bday girl could hardly talk lastnight from losing her voice. She had to keep yelling at a few of her friends to settle down and quiet down. Her bestest friend at school was THE worst. I kept asking her today...'is she always like that'? There was one little girl...who we just met for the first time lastnight...that was a complete angel!! We made a craft with some foamies and she made one for the Bday girl first and then made one for herself. So cute! I hope they play more together. ;0) I made a point of telling her Mom when she came to pick her up that she was welcome in our home ANYTIME and that I was very impressed with her! I think Mom was pretty happy to hear that...as would any Mom!

Okay...onto the card. This is one I made a month or so back and I am pretty sure I have never posted it...if I have, just pretend that you have never seen it before. ;0)

I am a HUGH tea lover, so this image is a favorite. Although, I think this is the first card I have ever made with him! I am pretty sure this one was inspired by some sketch, but I can't seem to think of what it was!

Well...I am off to relax before all the Halloween festivities begin. I think I have talked hubby into going out this year. I believe last year was my year. At least it should be fairly warm tonight...although there is a pretty brisk wind right now(Chinook wind) hopefully it dies down once the sun goes down.

Hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween!

{Mojo Monday Entry}

Sorry for the less than creative title! But here it is. This is my entry for this weeks MojoMonday and the first offical sketch for the new blog. Okay...I was not too sure about this one. I knew right away when I saw the sketch that I wanted to use more of my Fairiest of them All DP, but then the for main image? I decided to go with the rub-ons. This is only the 3rd time in my life that I have used rub-ons. I was not too sure at first, but now...I think I like this one. I added some blue around the cloud to make it come out a bit more. And unfortunately, I only have one size of the oval nesties, so my sentiment oval is little smaller than I had wanted. Okay enough picking it apart. Hope you like it.

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)

{ 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)

{ Check it out! }

Okay...so if you have not heard of Whiff of Joy yet...where have you been!!?? Katharina is having a hugh blog candy giveaway right now. Go check it out. These Guardian Angels are just so sweet. Go check it out!!

On a side note? I realized something lastnight. You know these great sketches that Julee has for the AVS Challenge on SCS? I will not be able to complete them for the giveaway. We are leaving on Monday for some more camping. Oh well...I still plan to do them all and with all a Christmas theme too! Guess, I will just have to buy the line like all the rest of ya. ;0) Well except for the lucky winner that is.

Oh...here is another couple BIA creations for ya. My girls asked me to make them little sticker books just like Mommy's wish book. Lovin' my BIA...it definitely gets easier with more practice. Not that it is hard...just trying to decide on coil size is the tricky part.

Later...

{ AVS02 & AVS03 }

Okay...quick post...gotta get outside with the girls and read more of my book. It is soooooo good!!

Here is my entry for AVS02. I am really liking this one and my ribbon seems to be behaving for me, so that always helps. And I even used some buttons!! I just love Julee's sketches...don't you?





This is my take on AVS03. You might need your sunglasses for this one! I know a little bright. But I had this image with the stack of colored ones and thought I should use it up. Even though it is a bright one...I like it. And as you have guessed by now? All 12 of these sketches I am gonna do Christmas cards. I need to get going on them and thought this was a good opportunity to do it. So while the rest of you are making beautiful flowery and butterfly cards...I am shivering in the cold! ;0)

Okay...back to the book...later...

{ Proud Mommy Moment }

This week my girls have been in swimming lessons. My oldest is...well...she is a big chicken when it comes to almost everything. She just lacks confidence in most things...it's something we struggle with a lot with her. Anyway... during swimming lessons she has always struggled to put her face in the water and most recently letting go of the edge of the pool...despite the fact that she can touch the bottom of the pool. ;0) Well all week in lessons this has continued and the teacher was always having to hold her as she did her front and back floats and glides. Each day she has been practicing on her own at the side...trying to let go...for a second at a time. ;0) And then on Thursday the teacher put flippers on all the kids. She started trying on her own...which was exciting. Then at the end of the class he had them all swim the entire length of the pool! I thought...this should be interesting. Well guess what? She did it! The entire length of the pool she was swimming with the other kids. The teacher was actually helping some of the other kids with their technique and was no where near her. She was right in the middle of the pack...SWIMMING!!! Let's just say I was very close to tears. So with that in mind, I decided that she needed a card...and I had a challenge to complete too. ;0)

I am not 100% happy with this card. There are a few little issues with it, but she liked it.
I just noticed that the ribbon was crooked for the pic...oh well.
This one was for Jen's LCAWC #1. This one was a sketch done by Maria. The card turned out okay, but I just am not thrilled with all the white...kinda sticks out too much. What do you think?
I was cleaning up my stamp room lastnight...god knows it needs it!! But, man do I have a lot of scraps! I need to find me a good sketch for using up scraps of DP. Anyone have a good one??
Have a great weekend all! :0)

{ Another wonderful summer day! }

What a beautiful morning here! It is gonna be a hot one though. I think it is suppose to reach around 30C today...that's about 86F. My youngest has a bday party to go to today and they had another one yesterday. But I think once we get back from that one this afternoon that we will be pulling out the pool or the sprinkler.

Okay onto another teachers gift...the last one, I promise! This one I used some old Michaels DP. I actually quite like this one. Thanks to Shannon, I have fallen in love with this taffeta ribbon from SU. She showed it to us once at one of our Calgal gatherings. I have the Basic Grey, Chocolate and have now ordered the White and Vanilla. Love it!

Well, hope everyone has a great Sunday! Enjoy!

{ Happiness }

I actually did some stamping yesterday. I have a project to get done for my stamp class next week. This is the first prototype, but not the one we will do. I have been struggling a bit with this one. I need an easy sketch for the cards so that the ladies can all get the project done within a few hours and not be here all night long!! ;0)

I really like this template for the box though. A big thank you to Rochelle for the great tutorial. I think I may make a bunch of these as gifts...for who? No idea, but I am sure I can find someone. ;0)

Happy Sunday!

{ I don't know about this one! }

I decided to go ahead and try out both of Allison's challenges...last weeks and this weeks together. I had this brilliant idea in my head...or so I thought. But I am not so sure it worked out. Maybe, it's just that I am not use to using different patterns and textures together. What do you think? Is it as awful as I think it is?

Don't forget...Last day to get your challenges in for this months giveaway!! :0)

{ Another Weekend Sketch Challenge complete! }

I managed to get a bit of stampin' done yesterday. Not only did I work on a Beates' Weekend Sketch Challenge, but I also got one of my own New Years Challenges done. I decided that I want to do 4-6 Christmas cards each month, so that I don't have a ton to do at the end of the year again! So low and behold...here is my first Christmas card of 2008...and it's only January!! I know...I am probably the only one in blogland working on Christmas cards, but it's a start! ;0)

This one is done using another image that I swiped off of Shannon, during one of our Calgal gatherings. I believe this is a High Hopes image. I just luv this one! I am thinkin' I might have to get this one on my next High Hopes order. I also used the Verve Visual set and snowflake brads that I won from Toni. And also the DP was from a stack that I won from Cindy! And I used my new Nestabilities!! Okay the cardstock, ribbon and ink were mine. ;0) Thanks ladies...see I am putting it all to great use!!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend. It has been a pretty lazy one here. The girls are on the mend. The weather turned a bit chilly and snowy here, so it is a good weekend to stay indoors and stamp!!

Be back tomorrow with another Pink Cat Studio creation I did this weekend. :0)

{ Better get stampin'! }

That's right. This is my last card that I can share...so I best get a move on. ;0)



Here is another image that I stole off of Allison last weekend. This one is from
Pink Cat Studio. I like this image...fun to color. Not 100% sure of this card, but I guess it's okay. Again, I am just never thrilled with my ribbon.



Well, I gotta a sickie home again today. But it could be worse...I thought I was gonna have both of them home. They both came off the bus yesterday feeling lousy. Em(my oldest) could barely speak and El was complaining of a stomach ache and looked so pale! Then Em ended up with a wicked nose bleed lastnight that lasted about 30 mins. Then first thing this morning the same thing happend. I hope she makes it through the day without another one. El is home with a slight fever and very sore throat. All she really does is nod...poor thing. Daddy was complaining of a sore throat too. It just never ends. I wish I could encase them in a bubble when the leave the house...I don't want anymore sickness!! But I know lots of you out there are going through the same thing this year. Oh well...this too shall pass.


Hope you all have a great day! I know I will...I think my Nestabilities are at the post office for me to pick up today!! Woohoo!! If they are, I am sure I will have something new to show you tomorrow. :0)