Merry & Bright

It is reveal day for me at Sketch Support. This time it is a one-page sketch. This was such a great sketch for using up bits and pieces. I went straight to my scrap bin and found some paper from Bo Bunny I really wanted to use, but I was very limited on what I had available. I was able to create this single page and I still have paper leftover.

One of the element areas on my page had these really cute Christmas trees. I wanted to highlight this, so I cut out a second set of trees from the paper and adhered them over top of the trees on the paper, using foam adhesive. I added some Stickles to make them sparkle.

Sharon from the DT at Two Scrapbook Friends did a tutorial on making her own garland using Sizzix dies and felt. It inspired me to create these cute little Christmas bulbs as an accent on my page. I had a really hard time finding felt that would match my colours, so I used white felt and my Copic markers. They turned out perfectly!

I added a little floss and a gemstone and it made a beautiful handmade embellishment. I also stamped a border around my page that says 'all is bright'. That really tied in with the title and the theme of my layout.

Be sure to stop over to Sketch Support and check out all the different variations of this sketch. You can even print it out for yourself. If you do create something, link it up in the comments. I would love to see what you do!

Paper: cardstock – Bazzill, pattern – Bo Bunny
Embellishments: Felt, bling – from stash
Ink: Tim Holts Distress Ink
Tools: die-cut – Sizzix
Stamps: Close To My Heart
Stickers: Jillibean Soup and Cosmo Cricket
Other: Floss – We R Memory Keepers, markers – Copic and American Crafts

It's Friday!

Hello Friends! I just wanted to share my new favourite song! I thank my kids for keeping me up to date on all the latest and greatest hits.

As I sit here typing, my toes are tappin', my head is boppin' and I find myself singing along. Turn up the volume on your laptop or computer speakers and get ready to move!



I just have one question.........what is a 'dirty bit'. Is it something bad? I don't want to be singing along to something that has some nasty 'teenage' meaning. Know what I mean?

Hope you enjoyed!

I Won! I Won!

A couple of weeks ago I was visiting a blog and reading about all of the new collections being released from Nikki Sivils. They had a little contest going, and if you displayed one of these cute badges on your blog then you could win one of her new lines.

I proudly displayed the 'Beatrice' badge. I couldn't resist that little beaver holding the heart. It was a toss up between that one and the one with the turtle.

When I checked my blog last night.......I was surprised to receive this!!!!!!

'Hi Carolyn!! Love your blog and this sweet bag of treats tag is adorable! But.. I really love that my newest "Beatrice" badge is on it too!! If you'll email me your address I'll send you one of my brand new paper lines that haven't been released yet!! Thank so much!!'

I am just thrilled to be receiving one of her new collections! Yippee for me! We will be checking out all of her new collections when we attend CHA next week. I am sure you will be seeing them in our store soon!

A Warm Treat on a Cold Day!

Happy Monday everyone! It is freezing here (-17) and I am happy that I don't have to go anywhere today. I am also happy because today at Sketch Support they are revealing the add-on sketch and my project.

What is an add-on sketch? It is exactly like it sounds. It is a sketch that you can add on to a card, layout etc. It is a great way to make your own embellishment. I had never worked with anything like this before but it sounded like a great way to made some cute things.

When I created this I knew that it would be revealed in January and it would probably be freezing outside. I was right.

I created this little tag and attached it to a clear bag filled with hot chocolate mix, mini marshmallows and some chocolate chips. I thought it would be the prefect warm treat for a freezing cold day.

I followed the measurements exactly as they were given on the sketch. I attached it to a Nestie tag, added some ink and black pen for detail......voila!

Paper: cardstock - Bazzill, pattern - unknown
Embellishments: chipboard - Fancy Pants
Ink: Tim Holts Distress Ink
Tools: die-cut - Nestabilities
Other: ribbon - Making Memories, floss - Bazzill, marker - American Crafts, bag - baking supply store

Pop over the the Sketch Support site and check out what the other dt members are doing with this sketch. Allison will be revealing all week long.

Up To Snow Good!

Today over at Sketch Support, my layout is being featured using the 2-page sketch. Along with my double-page, Jill Sarginson did a beautiful Christmas layout and Allison Davis will show you how to flip the sketch and she did a roller coaster layout. Click the badge on my side-bar and visit the Sketch Support website to see all the creations from the design team.

When I created this page, I was excited to do a winter layout, so I kept with the theme of the sketch. I also wanted to use a new line of papers from Bo Bunny that we had in the store, along with my Sew Easy tool.

I dug into my stash of photos and found some that would be perfect for what I had in mind.

The chipboard accents added the perfect amount of dimension to my pages.

I added a little bling for some winter sparkle.

This snowman was just way to cute so I had to make sure I found a special spot for him. I added extra snowflakes and stitched a border around my page using the Burst tip for my Sew Easy tool. It was a lot of stitching, but so worth it in the end.

We are running this layout as a workshop at the store on Thursday, January 20th. We still have a couple of spaces left if you are interested in joining us.

The Cake Boss

For Christmas, Amanda received 2 tickets to see Buddy, the Cake Boss at Center in the Square. I was lucky enough to be the one she asked to go with her. We went to the sold out show and had a great time. I was really hoping to get some great photos for her to scrapbook, and I think we were successful.

This is the stage before the show started.

Once Buddy was on stage, he loaded t-shirts into this air gun and shot them out into the audience.

It wasn't too long before he chose some women from the audience to help decorate some cupcakes.

He invited some men up on stage to do the decorating next. Buddy offered to make the flower that they had to make, only he did it blind folded.

He took some time to tell us how the Cake Boss was born and some history on Carlo's Bakery. It was a very interesting story.

Next up were the kids in the audience. To my surprise, Taylor ended up on stage. She is the daughter of a great customer of ours.

Here is Taylor decorating her cupcake with Buddy!

He did a Q&A session with the audience and while he was answering questions he decorate a wedding cake......no big deal, right?

He really is the Cake Boss!

Thanks to my mom and sister for giving Amanda these tickets for Christmas! She had a great time.

My Word For 2011

At this time of year, lots of people make resolutions, organize, set goals. I am not really one for resolutions. I organize myself as best I can. I set goals every day.

I wanted something to mark the start of a new year and to focus on. Then after reading a post by Jill Sarginson I was inspired to choose a word for 2011. This word would act as a resolution, help me stay organized and reach my goals.

My word for 2011 is FOCUS! It is perfect for me. It will help me at work.....I can be more productive and use my time well. It will help me with my family......I can spend quality time with my kids and my husband. It will help me with my hobby.....go on the computer to do what I have to do and then move on and do what I want to do.

Oh Canada.......What Happened?

I would make a terrible hockey coach. My instinct as a mom is to give each of the Team Canada players a hug and tell them they played a good game and they did their best. I would remind them to reflect on the experience and store away the memories of being part of an amazing team.

When you read the headlines, they will all say how Canada failed. Critics will dissect the plays, fans will offer their opinions and coaches will go home disappointed. I think they should all hold their heads high!

Oh Canada!

Update On Our Little Kitty

I have received several messages and many inquiries at the store about our little kitty. I thought I should do an update and let you all know that she has recovered from her traumatic battle with the bungee cord. If you missed that post you can check it out here. She is eating and drinking normally and all the swelling has disappeared from her face/eye. The only sign of the pain she was in is when she yawns. She seems to stop herself when she tries to open her mouth too far. Other than that she is in perfect health.

Our nameless kitten now has a name too. We now refer to her as Charli (the boys are not too happy because as they say.....'mom that is a dude's name'). I am still not 100 percent sold on it either. I often find myself calling her 'the little one'. She follows me everywhere. As I type this, she is curled up next to me having one of her many daily snoozes.

Thank you for all your well wishes. She is so tiny and we are so grateful that she is going to be okay!

January Sketch Support - Happy Birthday Card

This week Sketch Support is kicking things off with a card sketch! As soon as I saw the sketch I knew exactly what I was going to do........stitch! I know that this won't surprise some of you. I also had a great stamp set from Lawn Fawn that would be perfect. I headed straight for my scraps and this is what I came up with.

Amanda's 19th birthday is coming up in February so I thought that I would save this one for her. The cupcake theme will be perfect.

Here are all the details:

Paper: cardstock - Bazzill, pattern - Pink Paislee
Stamps: Lawn Fawn
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink, Memento
Tools: Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher (stapler), Bazzill In Stitchz circle template and piercing tool
Stickles: Fruit Punch
Other: floss - Bazzill & We R Memory Keepers, ribbon - dollar store, foam adhesive - 3L

Visit the Sketch Support blog and check out all the great ideas and the sketch that we used to create them. This sketch will be featured all week long.

Loopy Loopy Bow Flower - The Cutting Cafe

I am very happy and excited to be revealing my first couple of projects for The Cutting Cafe! This week the design team was given the Loopy, Loopy Bow Flower cutting file to work with.

Here is the gift wrapping project I posted previously (oops, I messed that up). I used the file and cut all three sizes for the bow and layered them together, fastening them with a brad.

Here is a close-up. I used double-sided paper in two different colours.

I added some jingle bells and curly ribbon to help jazz it up a bit. This was made for a Christmas present, but you could do the same for any occasion.....birthday, wedding, baby shower.

I was having so much fun with this file, I decided to make another project using fabric. I cut the pieces out of cardstock and used them as a pattern to cut out my fabric.

I used 2 coordinating colours and cut 2 each of the medium and small sizes. I layered each flower opposite of each other and embellished the middle with a button and a bow tied from twine.

I used a hot glue gun and adhered the finished flowers to some headbands and created these handmade beauties for my daughter.

Amanda wore one to work yesterday and received all sorts of compliments on it. It was really easy to do and I was finished the entire project in about 20 minutes.

Be sure to visit the Cutting Cafe blog (reveal day is on Wednesday) and check out what the other girls on the team have done with the Loopy, Loopy Bow Flower.

A New Year......A New Adventure!

I am so excited that January 1st is finally here. Today is the day that Sketch Support is launching their new website and on Monday the fun will begin.

This amazing website is designed to inspire you and show you how to use sketches of all kinds as a tool. Single page sketches, double-page sketches, card sketches and new add-on sketches will all be featured each month.

I encourage you to visit the website and check out Allison's welcome message. Click on all the different buttons and get familiar with where things are. Stop back and visit my blog often and see what I have created using all the great sketches that will be coming my way.

2011 is going to be a great year.