Moms Must See This!

I've seen this video on a few blogs now, including Tejal's and Debbie's, and I had to share (by the way, check out their fabulous blogs!). This clip is absolutely hilarious. For all the moms out there, check out this lady's lyrics to the William Tell Overture which encapsulate everything a mom says in a day! Click here to view.

Flower for You Notebook

This is a notebook that I decorated as a practice for a Stationery Stamp Camp I'm holding on Monday (I still have room for a couple more people if anyone's interested!).

I found an awesome tutorial on Nancy's blog (Inkcicles). When I've made notebooks before, I always just coloured the part under the coil with a black sharpie so that the notebook colour wouldn't clash with the designer paper, but it always looked messy and incomplete. Nancy shows how to get the paper to cover the complete front of the notebook by removing the coils before decorating.

I used a spray adhesive to attach the paper to the notebook cover. It takes a lot longer (you have to let it sit for an hour after you spray before you can adhere it), but it is PERMANENTLY on there! Nothing is going to get that sucker off of there!

Anyway, for this particular notebook, I used Flowers for You designer paper, then layered on some Lovely Lilac, Certainly Celery and Whisper White. I stamped with my Simply Said set in Tempting Turquoise, Lovely Lilac and Pixie Pink to match the paper. The "Celebrate" is from Wonderful Words. The flower is a white fabric flower that I dyed in Lovely Lilac ink by rubbing it on the ink pad. I wish I could say it was from the Pretties kit, but that hasn't arrived yet (it's on the way - I'm so excited!). This is just a generic one I have - not sure who made it, sorry. I attached it to the paper with a rose red brad from my Rich Regals brads. After I decorated, I punched holes up the sides with my 1/8-inch circle punch and threaded the coil through again.

Make sure you enter my blog candy draw here. The draw is open until Friday.

Re: Blog Candy

I'm reading the comments people have made in my blog candy post (make sure you enter - I need at least 50 comments so I can donate that much to the Cross Cancer Institute), and am so moved by your stories. It is sobering to read everyone's encounters with cancer. I knew in my head that cancer affected a lot of people, but to read about so many different stories from all over the place just makes it so much more real. We need to find a cure for this disease. It is hurting so many people.

Before I posted the candy, I thought it would be too depressing to have people tell their stories, but I think now that it's therapeutic. It gives some relief to see that common thread we have in our lives and be able to tell people about it. I hope you feel the same way and don't think I'm bringing people down! I love talking about my dad - not because of the disease that killed him, but because of his amazing life and his heroic fight. Let's do all we can to raise money and awareness of cancer.

The blog candy post will be open until Friday, so make sure you enter!

Pink Blog Candy!

I had such a good day today! This morning, I took my summer sheets off the bed and put on my fresh, clean flannel sheets for winter! I love flannel when it's cold out and you can snuggle down in the warm bed! (But you don't care about the bed - get to the candy!! LOL!)

So this afternoon I went shopping with my friend, Heidi, and I found tons of cute pink stuff for blog candy! Here it is:

This is in honour of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I wanted to find pink stuff in keeping with that theme. Here's what you can win: six sheets of 8 x 8 designer paper, stickers, pink-toned bling stickers, pink buttons, pastel-colored brads, a spool with three different ribbons on it, love-themed clear stamps and a clear stamp block. I hope that's worth winning. I always have so much fun at Michael's, and I always spend way too much money!

So how do you win this blog candy, you ask? Well, in keeping with this month's theme, I would like you to leave a comment on this post and tell me how you or your family or someone you know has been affected by cancer. You don't have to go into detail if it's too painful. I just think it's important for people to know how widespread this disease is and how it affects our lives. Maybe by sharing our stories, we can spur people on to raising more funds and awareness. (One comment per person, please, and make sure you include a way for me to contact you if you win).

As for my story, well, I know a few people who have had breast cancer or who have it. My grandmother passed away sixteen years ago from it. But probably the most poignant encounter with cancer I've had is with my father. He had colon cancer. (I know it's breast cancer awareness month, but as my mother-in-law says, "If we can find a cure or treatment for breast cancer, it opens the door to healing all cancers!") My dad was diagnosed when I was in my final year of university in 1996. He went in for surgery to remove what the doctors thought was one large tumor in his colon. My mom and I were waiting for him after the surgery, when the doctor came in and told us that the cancer was literally everywhere throughout his colon, liver, and pretty much everywhere. He gave my dad six months to live. I have never passed out before, but that was the closest I came.

My dad fought brilliantly, confident that he would beat this horrible disease. I watched him go through rounds of chemotherapy, deal with a colostomy bag since his intestines no longer functioned properly and try every alternative medicine he could find.

He walked me down the aisle a year later and gave me away to my husband. He was starting to get better and things looked more hopeful. He fought on for six more months after that, but after a year and a half of fighting, his body didn't have the strength anymore. On November 6, 1997, my dad passed away. That was the worst day of my life. I was fortunate to have the chance to say good-bye and have the extra year with my dad, but this disease is horrible. It is so important to find a cure.

I'm going to copy what some of my blog friends are doing and commit to donating $1 for every comment I receive here to the Alberta Cross Cancer Institute, which is where my dad and many others receive(d) treatment (up to $50). So in addition to possible winning some blog candy, you will be helping contribute to cancer research and patient care.

I'll leave this open until the evening of Friday, October 12, and then I'll use Random.org to choose a winner.

Blue Bayou Pick a Petal

Finally, a card with a different layout! I used Splitcoast's colour challenge again for this card.

The card base is Blue Bayou, stamped in the same colour with the flower from Pick a Petal. I then layered Chocolate Chip and River Rock onto the base. The River Rock has some chocolate grosgrain tied around it, and I stamped the sentiment from Greetings Galore in Chocolate Chip.

For the big flower, I stamped the polka dot petal from Pick a Petal in Blue Bayou on River Rock cardstock eight times, then cut them all out. I stacked them all together, punched a hole in the pointed end and put a blue rhinestone brad through them all. Then I fanned them out to make a flower. I adhered that to the card with a dimensional.

There you have it! Quick and simple as usual. Hope you like it!

By the way, I'm going shopping this afternoon for some pink-themed blog candy in honour of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so check back tonight for your chance to enter!

One More For Beate's Sketch Challenge!

Okay, this is the last one - I promise! I just love this sketch from Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge!

For this Christmas card, I used the Wintergreen designer paper for the circle and adhered it to a Soft Sky card base.

I stamped the tree from Lovely as a Tree in Always Artichoke on Soft Sky cs. I matted that with Mellow Moss cs. For the snow, I used Tulip brand puffy paint (it's actually a fabric paint). I put a little bit on all the branches (it goes on really nicely because it has a very fine tip). Then I used my heat tool and heated the paint. That's what makes it puff up like popcorn! It's very fun to watch!

I stamped the greeting from Greetings Galore in Always Artichoke.

And now I need to try something that doesn't use this layout! Thanks for reading!

Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #22

I just can't stop using this sketch! I LOVE it! Here's another for Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge. It also uses Splitcoast's Color Challenge for this week.

When I read on Splitcoast that the challenge was to use River Rock, Blue Bayou and Chocolate Chip, I thought they wouldn't work together. But then I saw a few blogs where people had used the colours, and I thought they looked really great together! So I figured I'd try. I like it!

I used Chocolate Chip as the base, and I cut the circle from my Apple Cider designer paper. I then sponged Chocolate Chip ink around the circle so it would blend better with the base.

I haven't used my Heartfelt Thanks set for ages, so I pulled that out and inked up the bottom stamp with Blue Bayou and River Rock. Then I stamped the outline stamp in Blue Bayou and Chocolate Chip. I sponged Blue Bayou around the edge of the white cardstock and stamped "thanks" from Everyday Flexible Phrases in Blue Bayou. This was matted onto Blue Bayou. I pulled a piece from my pewter Hodgepodge Hardware to add that little extra bit. I tied a piece of Blue Bayou double-stitched ribbon through it. I used a glue dot under the ribbon knot to keep it from flopping down!

I'm loving this sketch! You will probably see a few more cards with this layout!

RAK for the Dunns

Here is my RAK that I will be sending to Andrea for the Dunn family, who has twin baby girls with Neuroblastoma (click here for more information).

I used Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #22 for the layout. I started with the designer paper circle. I love the Almost Amethyst, so I went for that. Then I had to choose some cardstock to complement it. I used Elegant Eggplant for the card base and Rose Red for the matting.

I stamped the flourish from Baroque Motifs in Almost Amethyst on some Whisper White cs. Then I added the sentiment (from Greetings Galore) in Rose Red. I wanted to use one of my flower brads that I won in some blog candy (from Alex), so I put that on the flourish. It still needed a little something, so I stamped some butterflies from Priceless in Elegant Eggplant, cut them out and attached them with dimensionals.

Andrea's Blog Candy for a Cause

PLEASE check out this post at Andrea's (Crafty Engineering) blog. She has friends who have twin baby girls (three months old) who have both been diagnosed with cancer. Andrea is offering blog candy for anyone who sends her a RAK (Random Act of Kindness card) to send to this family (she's hoping to fill a shoebox with cards). My heart and prayers go out to this family. It must be the most difficult thing in the world to watch your babies fight a horrible disease. PLEASE do what you can for this family. I'll be making cards this weekend to send!

Wintergreen Ornament

I was asked to come and teach a craft for the Parkland Head Injury Association. This is a group that provides support for families and people who have sustained brain injuries, so I had to say yes to such a wonderful group!

I am told there will be about 25 people there, so I've been racking my brain trying to come up with a craft that 25 people can do with the supplies I have (it's difficult to share one stamp set with that many people). So after looking around at Splitcoast Stampers and at many, many blogs, I found several of these ornaments and decided this would be a great craft!

I found the clear plastic ornament at Michael's (I was hoping for glass, but they didn't have any in yet). I cut some double-sided designer paper (Wintergreen, of course!) into 6 x 3/4" strips and curled the strips around a pencil. I placed these in the ornament, added some glitter (I think I'll use "snow" for the craft though - it will show up better) and closed it up. Then I tied some silver elastic cord through the hole in the top and some burgundy ribbon around that. Voila! Quick and simple!

Hopefully the group will like this! I thought I would just have some trays with a whole bunch of different paper strips that they can choose from and curl up for their ornaments.