Reflections ...

December 31, 2010 ... wow, can you believe 2010 is coming to an end?!  "What happened?!" ... that's what I usually ask hubbie after falling asleep on the couch ... however, I definitely did not sleep through 2010.  Actually, I think I was a bit sleep deprived this year.  Looking back, it's been a year of learning and new challenges ... started a new job and learned a lot this year about myself and what I'm capable of.  I did focus a lot on work this year ... adjusting to the job, working in a virtual team, and team changes.  I'm happy to say that after all that's happen, I do feel like I'm at the right place at the moment ... for me and the company. 

Also, I'm thankful to hubbie, family and friends who have kept me sane through the year!  It's funny though ... I always get reminded in some way of what's important in life ... paper, stamps, inks and all that fun stuff ... LOL ... just kidding but my crafts are a part of me! 

Anyway, I will focus on ensuring a balance in 2011.  I already know it's going to be a busy year ... there's already 2 weddings that will be happening ... my brother is planning to get married in May and my best friend will be getting married later in the year!  The weddings will certainly help me achieve a better work/life balance!

Ok, let's end 2010 on a creative note!  Here are cards from my Creative Kickstart class with Jennifer McGuire.  I really enjoyed this class and the techniques we learned.  One of my favorites is using the Ranger's Pearl dabber paint as a resist (middle pic).  Just  love that butterfly stamp and the shape of that card!

  

Got to play with some sticky back canvas (left pic) ... was fun to use something other than paper and really like the result.  And love those mini frames ... BTW, the reason I have 2 is because one was from the Hero Art make and take that Jennifer did in Framingham (one on the right ... in case you wanted to know).

  

Hopefully, this class as well as the other classes and experiences will help me kickstart the New Year with some new crafts to share with you :)  See you in the New Year!

Festive Techniques ...

Hope everyone had a nice Christmas.  Hubbie and I had dinner Christmas eve with the family at my brother and his girlfriend's ... oops, I mean fiancé's.  We had turkey, stuffing, potatoes ... lots of food and desserts!  I was sooo full!  On Christmas day, we had the usual family dim sum get together with my mom's side of the family ... 4 tables ... which is basically about 40 people!  The evening was nice and quiet ... just hubbie and me :)  The past few days have been really lazy days!  I guess hubbie was right ... needed time to re-energize.

Hubbie and I don't get each other gifts ... this has been the case since we bought the house.  However, we do get each other things throughout the year for no reason.  To be quite honest, I prefer those moments ... I still remember working in The Paper Room one morning and turning around to go cut some paper ... when I see a box on the stool, it was an airbrush compressor!  I've been thinking about getting one and had not quite decided yet, and hubbie went out and got me one ... it was in The Paper Room for a couple of days before I discovered it!  I was so touched by this surprise ... I had to wait to thank him since I didn't want to wake him up at 7 a.m. on a weekend!  This Christmas I did have something to open ... to help me start my lazy days :)  Apparently, Santa brought me a bag of Miss Vickies Crinkle chips ... yummy!  Hubbie ... I mean Santa set it on the dining room table and "borrowed" one of my stamps "a merry Christmas to you" (actually the one in the card below) ... he leaned the stamp against the bag.  Sorry, I didn't think of taking a picture of it ... I should have ... it was really cute!

Keeping with the current theme, here are the cards from the Festive Techniques class with Jennifer McGuire.  I really like the technique we used on the transparent card.  We created the background with an arcylic block, some Distress inks, and pearlized water ... really simple!  I also changed it a bit and used one of the Christmas greeting stamps I have from Penny Black.

I love the music background stamp used below (middle pic) ... could also use it for a birthday card.  BTW, it is suppose to be a tag where you could slide a gift card in.  However, you also have the option of using this for the front of the card.  I haven't decided yet, so I hid the hole behind the music background layer.

 

Happy Holidays Everyone!!

  

May you have a great Christmas filled with wonderful surprises and all the best for the New Year!!

Just a quick share ... it's the1st card set that I made ... and since I did not have a box for it, I made one!

 
Next time, I'll use 3 different images ... I didn't have another image with this Penny Black kitty that would fit in the blossom shape, so I just did 3 different colors.

Woo hoo ... I'm officially on vacation!!

I actually survived until the holidays!  Yipeeeee!! 

After such a crazy and busy year, I can now take a real break ... I'm off for 20 days!  I worked a couple of hours this morning to finalize a few bits (my 1st day off), but that's ok ... I am now off ... no connecting to work, no emails ... just focusing on spending time with hubbie, family and friends, and of course lots of quality time in The Paper Room.  Needless to say, I plan on blogging more frequently ... so stay tune!

I'll be starting the vacation with a nice breakfast with Hubbie ... hopefully, he'll wake up soon ... I'm getting hungry ;)

Still within reach ...

Here's a picture of how things look now after I added the Gracious Living containers to my current
"towers".  It felt so good after I organized everything ... yeah, I know I'm a bit wierd ... hey, to each their own, right? 

Hubbie keeps saying that he's going to get me a mini step ladder if I made it any higher.  Hah!  It's higher, and I'm still able reach the top drawer ;)  However, I don't think that will be the case if I go higher than the 2 highest ones.

Wow, time sure goes by fast!

It's been over a week since my last post ... ooops!  I've been busy finishing some of my cards from my classes with Jennifer McGuire and working on some cards for my next class.  I have so many ideas going on at the same time ... I decided it was time to focus! 

However, I first needed to get organized.  Hubbie picked up one of those "Gracious Living" bins while he was at Canadian Tire for me ... you know the ones where I've stacked up and have all my stamps, inks, papers etc.  I'll take a picture of how high they are now and share it in a later post.

Once I got organized, I made this card for a friend who needed one for a baptism ... nothing amazing ... just a simple card.

Finally, here's card #3 from the Colour My World class.  It's not exactly how it was suppose to be ... I kinda of tweeked it a bit since I ripped too much.  Can you tell which one is mine?  I'll give you a hint ... it's the badly taken picture!  (The nicely taken picture of course is Jennifer McGuire's.)  You know I really don't take good pictures when there's no sunlight ... who am I kidding!?  I'm not sure it makes a difference :( 

BTW, can you believe it's already December!  We got 30 cm of snow yesterday ... hubbie had a nice little workout shovelling the porch and stairs ... thankfully, we got someone to do the drive way or hubbie would have had a major workout :)

Colour My World ... Card #5 & 6

Can't remember if it was during card #2 or # 3.  As Jennifer was going around the room, she passed by and said to me "Your husband's funny."  I think he was in the store for not more than 15 minutes ... I have no idea what he said ... and unfortunately, with his memory, he doesn't either! 

Here's card # 5 and #6 from my 1st class.  I really enjoyed the technique on card #5, where we used my favourite Ranger arcylic paint dabber ... Pearl ... as a resist to create the background.  You can't see it in the picture, but the Pearl colour gives the background a nice shine ... not too flashy.


With card #6, I went back to my usual colours ... wha!? ... you have to admit browns and blues do go well together :)  We spritz the image with pearlized water (Ranger's perfect pearl + water) and got this wonderful pearlized effect, which of course is not showing up in the picture ... you'll just have to take my word for it and use your imagination :)  I'll try to take better pics in the future ... but no promises ... I'm an amateur when it comes to taking pictures!



Colour My World ... Card #4

No, I don't have a problem counting ... and I did not forget about card #3.  Card # 3 is not ready ... I didn't like the results of that card, so I want to redo it.  Here's 4th card:

We used the distress ink, perfect pearls and water to create the background.  Then combine them to create a paint to colour the butterfly. 

BTW, the old letter writing stamp that I mentioned I did not have ... I actually have it.  However, I don't have this butterfly stamp or the flower stamp in card #1 ... just to show you I don't have everything! 

Colour My World ... Card #2

Here's the 2nd card from the class ... I decided not to stamp a sentiment in the circle until I plan on giving it.  Who am I kidding!?  I'll probably be keeping this as a sample ... I'll stamp it later :)

Me staying away from my usual colours did not last very long ... back to the browns ... Vintage Photo to be exact.  Hey, at least there's a bit of red on the card!

Colour My World ... Card #1

Yaaaay, I got to play in my room this weekend ... I finished some additional cards with embossing folders and The Greeting Farm images ... you know the big-headed girls ... I actually have a big-headed boy now :)  I also started to work on the cards from my 1st class with Jennifer McGuire.

Working on the cards brought me back to last weekend ... when we arrived at the store, there was already a line of ladies waiting to get in.  After I got my name tag with my table number, I started to head to the back as Jennifer came to the front ... I said "Hi" and she said "Hi, it's good to see you again."  I was a bit surprise ... I met her back in March and since then I'm sure she's met 100's of people, so I did not expect her to remember me!  But it was a nice feeling that she did :)

To be quite honest, I started the day quite tired from the craziness preparing for my team's arrival during the previous weeks.  However, I knew this day would relax and re-energize me for the week to come.  Here's the start of my journey to relax ... ah yes, this 1st card, it was my effort to stay away from my usual colours and decided to do something different ... so I picked up the Barn Door Red and Wild Honey distress inks ... and here's the final result:

Quick post ...

Apologies for disappearing for a bit ... a few members of my team were in town last week, so it was quite a hectic week.  Also, hubbie had a minor operation on Monday and has been home recovering and mommy's back from her trip.  So, lots have been happening!  Therefore, I didn't have the time to post anything ... however, my plan this weekend is to play a bit in The Paper Room, so I can relax.

Here's a quick post about another one of my favorite stamping companies "Hero Arts".  Of course, one of the advantages they have over other companies is that Jennifer McGuire works there!  Here are a few cards I made with their asian stamps ... I love these stamps ... and a lot others from them ;)

  

... in other words, I have quite few stamps from them!  It was really apparent just how many Hero Arts stamps I had when I noticed I had most of the stamps used for the classes with Jennifer McGuire.  I did get a few more that I did not have by the end of the night ... the only one I couldn't get since they did not have anymore was the old letter writing (it's a letter Jennifer McGuire's grandfather wrote to her grandmother ... I think I got that right).  Don't worry though, I will get it eventually along with a few others :)

Classes with Jennifer McGuire ...

On Sunday, I attended 3 classes (Colour My World, Festive Techniques, Creative Kickstart) given by Jennifer McGuire ... from 10:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.  It was amazing ... it wasn't just all the techniques we learned that made it so great ... it was her fun and inspiring personality.  She's really sweet and generous and that really shines through.

As I mentioned in a previous post, her classes are fast paced ... she prepared 8 cards for each class ... we worked on 6 and the other 2 were to be done at home.  However, 6 cards in 2.5 hours was still a lot since each card had many techniques ... so I have homework :)  As you probably guessed, this is definitely homework I don't mind doing ;)  I figure I'll post the cards from the classes as I complete them ... so stay tuned.  This will allow me to share what I learned and my experience ... who knows maybe one of you would be inspired to take a class with Jennifer!

A few more cards ...

Thought I just share with you the other cards I made during the weekend.  The style is pretty much the same ... just different color, embossing folder, or image.  Yup, they're a few of the other stamps I have from The Greeting Farm ... translation for hubbie:  Yes, more big-headed girls!

I tend to use the same image and make variations ... I do that all the time ... it's like I need to do every color combination, etc.  in order to get it out of my system.  BTW, it's not out of my system yet, so I'll be doing some more.  I do need to practice coloring with my Copics markers ;)

Yaaay, an extra hour!

We move the clocks back this weekend ...

  ... this is what it meant for hubbie ... an extra hour of sleep! 

For me, it was an extra hour of crafting :)

This weekend I tried to finish up some cards I started.  As you may recall from a previous post regarding embossing folders, I had a bunch of cards that I made with embossing folders and just needed to add an image.  Over the past few weeks, I've been coloring a bunch of images that I stamped ... and I  F-I-N-A-L-L-Y put them together this weekend!  I made 14 cards ... I didn't have a chance to take pictures of them all.  However, I did take one of these 3 (sorry, it's a bit out of focus ... I took the picture quickly) ...

It's one of the stamps I have from The Greeting Farm ... when I talk to hubbie, I refer to them as my big-headed girls ... only way for me to describe them so he knows what I'm talking about.  He doesn't find them very cute ... oh well ... at least he likes my coloring :)

Penny Black Hedgehog ...

One of my favorite stamping companies is Penny Black Inc ... I have quite a few stamps from that company!  Why you ask ... well, it's because of these little guys  ... aren't they just adorable? 

BTW, he's a hedgehog.  Hubbie calls him a porcupine even though he knows full well it's a hedgehog!  Oh and he keeps saying that I'm going to get a thank you letter from Penny one day ... he's so silly!  Honestly, I really don't have THAT many stamps ;)

 

Oh, alright I have a lot of them ... I think I have 50 stamps with just this little hedgehog.  I'm not going to tell you how many in total from this company; I don't want you to think I'm an addict or anything.  To be fair, this is over a period of over 10 years!  Ok, I'm going to stop there before I make things sound worst than they are!

An Asian Touch ...

What a great day I had yesterday!  I had my class "An Asian Touch" yesterday, where I show different techniques with Ranger's Distress Ink ... and had a wonderful time with 5 really nice ladies.  Hopefully, I'll get to see them again.  The best thing about classes for me is meeting new people and sharing ideas and experiences.  It's nice to know I'm not the only nut out there :)  BTW, I also got to do a bit of shopping after my class ... yay, more toys ;)

Not only did the class get the creative juices flowing, but it eliminated the stress from my job ... you know the one that pays for all these toys.  This is really the best therapy for me :)

We made 4 cards ... the idea was for each person to make 2 cards with the bamboo stamp and 2 cards with the cherry blossom stamp.  The price of the course included one stamp ... however, most of them bought the other stamp ... I can understand ... I love these 2 stamps ... and of course, I have both of them!

Chinese Screen Card

Supplies:

One 8 1/2"x5 1/2" piece of cardstock (Black)

Two 3 1/2"x4" pieces of cardstock (Brown/Olive Green)

One 3 1/4"x 3 3/4"piece of glossy paper
One 3 1/4"x 3 3/4"piece of cardstock (Blue/Light yellow used here - inside card)
Versamark Ink
Distress Inks (Broken China & Brushed Corduroy/Peel Paint & Vintage Photo)
Blending Tool
Adhesive



Traditional Resist Card



Supplies:
One 8 1/2"x5 1/2" piece of cardstock (White)
One 4"x5 1/4" piece of cardstock (Grey/Olive Green)
One 1 1/2"x5 1/4" piece of cardstock (Red/Mustard Yellow)
One 4" diameter circle - watercolor paper (White)
Versamark Ink
Clear Embossing Powder & Heating Gun
Distress Inks (Stormy Sky & Aged Mahogany/Peel Paint & Vintage Photo)
Blending Tool
AdhesiveCorner Chomper

Box Card

Supplies:
One 8 1/2"x5 1/2" piece of cardstock (Purple/Brown)
- Score at 3 1/4", 4", 7 1/4, and 8". 
One 3 1/8"x5 1/2" piece of cardstock (Beige)
Distress Inks (Dusty Concord/Walnut Stain)
Blending Tool
Adhesive
Stickles (Star Dust)



Blending Distress Inks Card




Supplies:
One 8 1/2"x5 1/2" piece of cardstock (White)
One 4"x5 1/4" piece of cardstock (Sky Blue/Brown)
One 2 3/8"x4" piece of cardstock (Red/Mustard Yellow)
One 2 1/8"x4" diameter circle - watercolor paper (White)
Distress Inks (Stormy Sky & Brushed Cordunroy/Aged Mahogany & Vintage Photo)
Momento Dye Ink (Tuxedo Black)
Craftsheet
Mini Mister
Adhesive



Oh and before I forget ... I had a lovely assistant during this class.  At one point, we needed bone folders (a tool used to crease materials in crafts) since not everyone had one ... and in comes hubbie with 2 bone folders.  Yup, he was at the store waiting for me ... don't worry, he wasn't bored ... he was doing his own crafting ... WarCraft!

Can you tell what this is?

A friend of mine asked me to make a birthday card for her sister-in-law's 50th birthday.  Here's what I came up with ...

If your guess is a suitcase, then you're absolutely right.  Her sister-in-law loves to travel!  Here's the inside of the card ...

 

I love those Hero Art butterflies ... I stamped a whole bunch of them and colored them ... probably over 100 of them.  I've made dozens of cards with them ... I still have quite a bit left to make more cards :)