Blog Candy

My very talented friend Stephanie (who I will also be gushing about in tomorrows post) has a huge blog candy giveaway and there is only a few more days to enter.

The loot:


Check it out HERE.

While you're there, be sure to drool over her stellar creations.

Piling It On

After a whole week reading The Daily Dare I've found a ton of new challenges. The funniest one so far is Pile It On - their mission is to provide a challenge, but you need to enter as many other challenges as you can with one card. They are very helpful in providing a list of challenges that work well together. For example, this week there is a number of Get Well challenges.

When combining challenges, the easiest way for me to do it, is to choose a sketch, a color challenge, a theme and an embellishment. That way you can make a red and white birthday card with brads to a certain sketch specs and enter four challenges with one card. It ups the ante a bit creatively and helps you stretch your style. I know I can get pretty stuck in my "rut" of orange all-occasion cards.

Here's the card I made (orange is still strongly represented *grin*). Sorry it's a bit dark, we are getting snow so there is little natural light:


Close-Up:


This card uses an auxiliary image from Butterfly Queen by Bombshell Stamps

And here is the ridiculous number of challenges it fits:

1. Card Positioning Systems:


2. Corrosive Challenge Blog: Wings
3. Ann's Creative Nook: Ribbon
4. Pile It On: Get Well Card
5. PaperCutz: Get Well Card
6. Stamp with Sarah Kay: Get Well Soon
7. Creative Card Crew: Get Well Soon
8. Flutterby Wednesdays: Butterfly, Fairies or Angels
9. Belli Challenge: Butterflies or dragonflies
10. Lil Red Wagon: Ribbon

Okay, so how crazy was that?

Today is one month from my spinal surgery. I am very stable on my feet and my mobility is much improved. The pain hasn't decreased (yet) and I am feeling really frustrated by the slowness of my recovery. I know this will take months, but I REALLY want to be back to normal. Thank you all so much for the deluge of support. I have a stack of cards about six inches high that I look through whenever I need encouragement. Having something so tangible has been a life line.

Paper Piecing

I'm not a big paper piecer. I adore the look of it, but seldom make the time. I think it might be because I waste a lot of paper doing it as I tend to get ink everywhere, not just on the part of the stamp I'm piecing. So, when I saw the challenge at Cooking with Katie I had to give it a go.

Here's my card:


The challenges it fits are:

Cooking it up with Katie: girly (the floral paper), paper piecing (banner and heart) and at least two patterned papers
Gingersnap Creations: Three colors you love - Mine are orange, red and blue.
And this sketch at The Sweetest Thing:


And Everything But the Kitchen Sink had a very, very similar sketch that I thought I met as well:


This sketch (either one) is a design I plan to use again and again.

The stamp I used is "Til Death by Bombshell Stamps.

Keeping it Simple

I'm trying to find my groove again, but it's really hard when I'm feeling spread so thin by recovery, caring for my family, homeschooling etc. Whenever this hits, I usually try a few challenges. To my extreme pleasure, there was a lot of low-key, simple card challenges out there this week.

Speaking of challenges - have you been to The Daily Dare? They have a list of a huge number of challenges each day. All organized so you don't have to search all day. Love it! This card fit several challenges:

Pals Paper Arts: Kiss: Keep it Simple, Sweetie (to be honest, this is one of the simplest cards I've *ever* made... it's so hard not to do more!)
If the Shoe Fits: Mad for Plaid (see my orange plaid ribbon)
Clean and Simple Stamping had this sketch:





This is my first time using the heart from Madonna Woodcut. One of my favorite things about Bombshell Stamps is how the supporting images are so awesome on their own. Each set is really stuffed with stamps.

Cupcake Stands

I'm blogging at Gauche Alchemy today... want a peek?


CLICK HERE to see the rest :-)

So Terribly Proud & So Very Homesick

This video does a great job highlighting the majesty of where I am from. I tear up every time I watch it. If you want to know me just a little bit better, spend a minute watching this video of BC. It certainly answers the question of why mountains are so important to me.

D is for Dad

We decided to celebrate Chris today. Besides be an all around top-notch wonder-man for the past fifteen years he's done the job of both mom and dad the last few weeks as I've been recuperating. I wanted to do something nice for him but needed to keep it within my energy and our budget.

The boys and I agree that all good celebrations begin with banners. Not the lovely, crafty, pennant style banners that are all the rage. The butcher paper let-the-boys-free-with-markers kind of banners. The ones I love.

My kiddos made this:


And yes, that is a monster E that craves Food, Blood and Fleash (flesh) LOL.

We made him Nanaimo Bars (a Canadian Speciality) and bought him Bioshock 2, as Bioshock was his favorite game ever.


But the best part of all (for us at least) was making pie in a jar for Chris. We all hate Cherry Pie and Chris loves it. I saw a recipe by Lollychops on Our Best Bites for Pie in a jar and knew I found my answer. This project was absolutely perfect for my kids skill level, age and stage. It was challenging enough to keep them engaged but easy enough to have results to be proud of. Here's some pics:



One of the things I love most about A-Z is taking the time to let folks you love know how dear they are to you.

Have a great weekend everyone. Whether you are celebrating Valentine's Day, the Olympics or Chinese New Year, make time to make it special.