Christmas craftiness and a few samples....

I spent 12 lovely hours at a crop this past Saturday and I decided to work on some non-layout projects. I bought this Kaisercraft tree last year and never got around to finishing it but it's done now! I used some double dot paper and little bits from the Echo Park Christmas line. I added buttons, raffia and ribbon and used the good ole' Alphalicious cartridge (I use this cartridge a LOT!) for the numbers.

I also created this little curly wreath using Echo Park's other Christmas collection. I've seen a few variations of it online and wanted to try one out. Super simple and not overly time comsuming. This one is pretty small and I'm hoping to make a much bigger one for our front door sometime before Christmas.

When I was all done attaching the curls I took it outside, sprayed it with adhesive and sprinkled it with Glamour Dust for just a little sparkle.

Things have gotten back to 'normal' around the store so I've had a bit of time to whip up some samples of the new lines that have come in.

We R Memory Keepers ~ Merry January

Such a pretty, wintery line that I had to 'grunge' up for my boy! lol

I thought the coodinations paper was perfect to sand for a snowy look. I added some snowflake buttons (have you checked out all the cool new buttons yet?) with some Stickles on top.

Echo Park is quickly becoming one of my favourite companies. I love that they have two holiday lines. Look at how cute Kate is in this cup!! (kind of hard to see but there's lots of Stickles on here too..gotta have glitter at Christmas!)

American Crafts

New arrivals in blue and pink! Such sweet collections of chipboard, stickers and embossed papers.

New for dogs and cats. Super cute dimensional stickers and felties along with patterned papers that work for more than just the animals in your life!

Lots of layers and buttons! I tried out my new Sew Easy tool too.

It sold out super quick at the store but there's more coming!

Thanks for taking a peek and I hope all your Holiday crafts are coming along nicely!

mysterious ways...

Every now and then something happens to make my spine tingle a little bit. Tonight, after a tough day, I decided to take a very long bath and finish up a book I've been reading for the last few weeks. When I got to the end, for some reason, I decided to read the acknowledgements which is something I rarely do. This is what they said at the very end ....

And thank you, always, forever, in extremis, to Heather Feather, for her love, support, friendship and positive life force....to my singing, skipping daughter Shelby, who fills our house with sunshine each and every day.

This book is for my mother....she taught me absolutely everything I know about unconditional love. Thanks, Mom.

I am not skipping or singing lately but I thought it was pretty neat to read this, today of all days.

Oh and if you didn't know...my mom's name is Heather.

Hug your mom extra tight the next time you see her.

nine years...

A Mother’s love is binding
Unrelenting in its power
The glow from it so blinding
Beyond her final hour

Even after a Mother’s gone
Her love will see you through
A love to help you carry on
Because that’s what Mother’s do

I'm sure that my mom would hate that I posted this picture for everyone to see but it's important to me because you can still see light in her eyes even as she was facing the worst moments in her life.

Here is a pic of her from her younger days. I have no idea how old she is here, probably mid teens. This picture was in rough shape but my father-in-law restored this for me and did a fantastic job.

I really wish I had more pictures of my mom and should probably keep that in mind for my boys because I am ALWAYS behind the camera.

Missing you Mom.

to market, to market we go....

This time yesterday we were up enjoying the beautiful fall weather at the market. All the colours and smells .....mmmmm.

I had no idea that brussel sprouts grew on stalks!

Grandma and Grandpa, who are frequent market goers, supplied Holden with lots of grapes as we wandered around.

Of course Holden thought that was just awesome!

3 generations

It would be nice if every Saturday had this kind of weather so that trips to market would always be so enjoyable!

just in case you wondered...

If you've ever wondered what goes on at a Two Scrapbook Friends retreat here's a little peek inside one.

It's not just about creating layouts and cards it's really about getting together with a bunch of like-minded (read:crazy) women and enjoying some time away from the stresses of daily life.

Each table designed a tshirt which was then modelled by one of the participants.

These ladies had some serious skills on the catwalk!

I wish I had taped the 'model' showdown on the catwalk. Priceless!

As always a job well done by Carolyn and Joanne!

*I didn't get signed releases for this so I hope nobody minds!

and now for something a bit different....

I spent the weekend among 100+ creative women at the TSF retreat in Grand Bend. I had decided before going that I really needed to work on cards and get my Christmas tags done for the forum swap. For those of you who don't know, I am NOT typically a card maker. I will often throw something together last minute when I need a card.

I made a few cards on Friday night and completed a layout for one of many challenges going on throughout the weekend and then it happened. Emily, owner of Stamping Bella, was invited to join us at the retreat to demonstrate how to use Prismacolour pencils. She was doing a make and take which I thought I would try using a stamp, pencils and a little tube of something called 'liquid applique'. When I started colouring I felt a similar feeling to when I started scrapbooking. Uh-oh, I knew I was in trouble. It was so much fun especially when I saw what the liquid applique did. You apply this white liquid, almost like an opaque Glossy Accents, and then you apply a heat gun and that's when the magic happens!! It puffs up like marshmallows!!! Needless to say the big joke for the rest of the weekend was that I had gone a bit crazy on the applique.

I picked this little Santa up last year and thought it would be perfect to add a little applique to him

OOh I could use it on clouds too!

And for snow of course!

I made 17 of these cards! I used a Bella stamp, Memento ink, Prismas, Glossy Accents on the windows, Stickles and liquid applique to make snow under the tires. This is my first go at using Prismas and it was seriously fun! I suggest if Copics intimidate you (like they do me a bit) Prismas are such a great alternative.

It was a great weekend and I did get loads of cards made, so many that I'm not sure what I'll do with all of them. It was so much fun to work on something different and to learn a new technique.