Post-Christmas Blues

It's come and gone for another year. I find the aftermath so anti-climatic but then I look forward to the New Year and try hard to motivate myself to jumpstart it with some resolutitions and set some goals to give me something else to anticipate. This year, I want to maybe get into a community play to do some acting again. It's been a while since I've been on stage and I long for the thrill of jumping into another character. I also want to continue with my health regime - exercising and making better eating choices. I've only been into this for about a month so I'm anxiously waiting to reap some benefits. More time for card-making would be nice too - I've still got some Christmas cards I would like to display - like this one.

Merriness

Only 4 more sleeps until Santa comes. That is what I have to keep telling my son. I'm pretty excited too, I must say. I think I'm ready - at least
I have tried hard this year to not be stressed
and have everything done ahead of time. In the
past, I have wore myself out trying to make
Christmas so perfect and wonderful and then I end up not enjoying myself because I'm so exhausted. This year, however, most of the shopping is done, gifts are wrapped, cards are sent, and I'm ordering Chinese food the Sunday before instead of slaving trying to make a perfect traditional feast. Not as festive, but the Merriness should be abundant since I will have precious time to spend with folks rather than being trapped in the kitchen expending all my energy. Here's to the Festive season!

Naughty or Nice

We're closing in the Big Day and I must admit that I am excited. I've always loved Christmas but now that my son is 3 and really "gets it" this year, we are all anticipating the magic. He's been to see Santa and asked for an electric train set. He also points out good things he does in hopes that Santa has noticed too. Little does he know, Santa notices . It's too bad this card doesn't sparkle the way it does in real life. It's hard to do Dazzling Diamonds justice on-line.

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

Wow, we are ready for Christmas weather-wise. Yesterday, I think we got close to 30 cm of snow. Although we live in Canada and it's expected, it's always a shocker when we get it all at once. We had to bail on our family Christmas because the drive was so terrible which was very disappointing since we haven't seen the extended family since the summer. We made the best of it though. My husband and I bundled up complete with snowpants and boots, along with our son, and went outside to dive into the drifts. It was magical. Then we came in for an evening of Christmas specials. Ethan made it through Rudolph but fell asleep about an hour into The Polar Express. Off to bed for him while Mommy and Daddy stayed up to catch up on some Christmas wrapping to prepare for the big day.

I'm Back

I know I've been absent for a couple of months but I'm back now. As a recruiter for a Polytechnic Institute, September, October and November are chocka block busy for me. I hit over 50 high schools in the surrounding area and travel across Ontario promoting the school before graduating students complete their college applications for February. It's a crazy time with little space in my schedule for myself let alone anything creative. I did manage to get some Christmas cards completed. Now sending them out ... that's another story. I better get on that ... soon!

Cousins

My sister and I grew up very closely (although far geographically) with all of our cousins on our mother's side. Now that we have all started families it's been tough to get together for visits since my Aunt's family lives 2 provinces and 4 days (by car) away. We were all able to get together for the first time in 3 years this past month and the newest generation of cousins was finally able to meet. We were able to capture them all together in this photo which was too priceless not to put onto a scrapbook page.

Another SWAP

Red is my favourite colour but Orange is in a close finish. I never used to like Orange, I can't explain why. Recently, however, I have come to find it an alluring colour. The warmth of yellow softens the stark passion of red (which I love) to create a bright, fun and exciting colour that catches attention. I love combining it with Tempting Turquoise as I did here with this birthday card that I created as part of my convention swap collection.

Sending Out My First RAK

I am sending out my very first RAK today. It's going out to siannasilver in Winnipeg. I hope she is having a great day!!! I won't post a picture of the RAK because that way she will be the first to see it. I just wanted everyone to know! I'm pretty excited about spreading kindness. To have the power to brighten someone's day who I don't know and never met is so profound. What a world this would be if everyone adopted such a task. Cheers! Enjoy Suzanna!

Big Dreams

I'm just enjoying some quiet time to myself today. I sat down and wrote out my Life List. For those of you who watch Ellen, you are probably familiar with this term. This is the list of things I want to make sure I do during this life of mine. I always have dreams but like I have said to thousands of clients I have counselled as a career counsellor, dreams can become goals once you write them down. So that's what I did. Some of them I could probably do tomorrow, some of them may take years to manifest but now I have something concrete that I can look at, ponder and re-evaluate. Lot's of times I never do things because the thought gets lost. The older I get, the more value I see in writing things down. My biggest dream is walk the red carpet on Oscar night - and not as a cheezy contest winner but as a credible actress. This is one of those dreams that could take some time but for now, look at this swap I created for convention.

Lazy Hazy Days of Summer

I've been on holidays for a couple of weeks and my brain has turned to mush. I've managed to get in convention during these holidays and as I prepare to get back to routine, I thought I better update my blog and get some convention stuff up.

These pics are of some of my swap samples. I find that Baroque Motif set fabulous. I wasn't going to get that set until I saw some samples my downline made. What a great investment because it is super versatile. I've used it for birthday, vintage, sympathy and I've got some plans to use it for Christmas too.

You've got to love the photography of these samples. Before I swapped out the last copies, I realized I hadn't captured them for myself. I had the lovely girl beside me during one of the general sessions, hold them up while I took pictures. Thank you to you nice lady. I didn't get your name but you I haven't forgotten you.

Convention

I don't have any pictures that I can post at the moment since I am updating this from the Internet Cafe at Convention but I wanted to check in to let my readers know what is going on. We're almost done another year. Sad but true. I can't wait, however, to get home and try some of the new ideas. I also realize how much more I have to purchase in order to get a grasp on my wish list - HA HA HA!!! Always great to recheck those dreams since the theme this year is "Dream Big". I have so many but I always love it when I have to visualize and repeat them to myself because each time I do that, my dreams seem to come that much closer to reality. For now, I'm going to sign off and Dream Big!

This is Canada

Believe it or not this is a photo taken in Canada. My husband and I took my wee one to the Sand Hills this past weekend - the Sand Hills is a popular beach spot for families on Lake Erie in Southwestern Ontario. It was gorgeous - I couldn't believe how blue the water was - almost reminiscent of a caribbean resort spot. And this is Canada!!! By the way, where that bench is in the picture, is about a 30 ft drop down to the beach. We are actually in the middle of huge sand cliff here.
The smaller picture shows the opposite view to give some perspective on how much further we had to go down to get to the water. The walk back up was atrocious. Great workout though.

The birthday card I have posted here, incorporates the colours of our day at the beach. I love bashful blue and close to cocoa - great colour combination!!! And what about that Baroque Motif? It's an awesome set - so elegant and versatile!

For Cat Lover's

Has anybody visited this blog "I Can Has Cheezburger"? I am a cat lover and I know there are other cat lovers out there who read my blog. You need to check this out. It's basically a site that posts humourous pictures of cats with titles. I love it!!! Check it out! http://icanhascheezburger.com/

Everything Retired

My first week of holidays is coming to an end. Sigh. I can't complain too much though - I will go back to work for two and then off for another chunk. I just know that in the next two weeks I will earn my next vacation as I will have to catch up from the last week and then run around cramming in stuff that will need to be taken care of before I take off again. It will make the next vacation more sweet I'm sure.

I just received a UPS box with my last workshops goodies. I like to have the workshop shipments sent to my house so that I can make sure the order is correct and dress up the packages for my customers. These are the thank you cards that I included for this group. I tried to use up some retired items.

Retired Items:

Cardstock: Buckaroo Blue

Stamps: Think Big and All Year Cheer II

Paper: Carte Postale Collection from Winter Mini

Another Year Older

I celebrated another year of life over the weekend. My husband took me to Toronto for a meal at the Old Spaghetti Factory - one of my favourites. I am a HUGE spaghetti fan so it's only fitting. Being raised a rural girl, going to Toronto for an evening is pretty exciting - different than the everyday anyway. We didn't really do much but just walked up Yonge Street. With it's people and activity, that was entertainment enough. There's just something about the hustle and bustle of a major city on the weekend. I loved it.

This card, although not for my birthday, was my first attempt at using the (retired) small corner rounder as a scallop. I love it! I think the large scallop that it creates is very sophisticated and just adds a little class. I can't wait for my new SU stuff to arrive this week so that I can try this effect with some of the new colours.

You Go Girl!

Sometimes you just have to send a card to a friend to let her know she's doing something good! Need I say more?

Reese's Piece

What a wonderful holiday weekend. I'm exhausted and ready to go back to work tomorrow if you can believe it. I spent quantity and quality time with my son and husband all week and I'm grateful for the wonderful memories I now have to reflect upon.

This project that I have posted was created for my new niece for her baby shower. I had already given my sister the practical gift at her shower before Reese's birth and I waited until she was born so that I could create and give the sentimental gift that would reflect who this new little person is. My sister is a big Disney fan since she worked there in 2000 so I wanted to capture something of her. Besides, this love of Disney also transfigured into the nursery that she decorated so it will fit the decor nicely. I originally planned to make a "pink" project since Reese was a girl but then I found this scrappin' kit that I purchased from Creative Memories a year ago and it all came together from that. I call it "Reese's Piece". Love you Reesy!!!

Great Day

It was a great day here in Southwestern Ontario. The sun was out and the air was pleasant - not heavy and humid as it can tend to get up here.

I uploaded some pix from my camera today and found one of the invitations my mom and I made for my sister's baby shower. We were very pleased with the final results. We intended to do simple but I think we went above and beyond what we had planned adding brads, punches and dimensionals. The hour long task (that we agreed on) became an all night event. I don't regret a second of it though. My new niece and sister deserve to have special invitations. We ended up having a tea party and it was simply delightful. I made pretty little pink cupcakes with babies on top that I am kicking myself for not capturing on camera. At least my mom captured me making the cupcakes which shows how much fun they were to make. I know Reese won't remember he welcome party but I sure hope her mommy does.

Ready for Anything

Wow. The last 2 weeks have turned into a blur. I've had a baby shower, doctor's appointment, class, Father's Day, workshops to present, workshops to attend ... and the list continues. I'm exhausted and ready for some down time. I've made these small greeting cards for a stamp-a-stack workshop I demonstrated recently. When life gets busy, it's good to have cards like this on hand.

New Aunt

Lot's of celebrating the past couple of weeks. My folks celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary to which I created the card for. I didn't have a lot of time, so it was simple but I was pleased with the result. I just used the Cool Caribbean paper an ink and randomly stamped heart images from Simply Said. Then I mounted the piece on Whisper White with "happiness" from Warm Words stamped underneath and some silver cord. Like I said, simple but sometimes less is more and I think it looked very elegant. My parents thought it was beautiful.

Speaking of beautiful, my family and I welcomed the arrival of my niece, Reese Carol. My sister was in labour for 36 hours - bless her heart - to bring this glorious angel into the world. She is an absolute darling, perfect in every way. I am looking forward to spoiling this little one as she has made me an aunt for the first time. Since I have a boy, who I love with every proton of my existence, it is nice to have a girl to shower with girly girlness. Welcome Reese!!!

Some Summer Travel Ideas for Southwestern Ontario

I've just added a link for "101 Things to See and Do in Southwestern Ontario". I love to have ideas for day trips in my area and this article in the London Free Press gave me some great tips on things to do that I never thought of before. When travelling across Europe, I started to realize there were so many places in my own back yard that I've never seen and took for granted. I've since started to take daytrips and have found it's a great way to get out and immerse myself in my local culture and have time to spend with my family. It allows me to pass on some traditions, culture and heritage to my kids. If you live in Southwestern Ontario or think you might like to visit, check out some of these ideas.

For myself, some personal favourites are picnics in Stratford along the river by the Festival theatre, picnic at Queenston Heights at the base of Brock's monument, a drink at Rock's Pub and Grub in Innerkip. Please let me know of any of your personal favourites.

Layers of Diapers

My mom and I got this idea from a gift that my sister got at her baby shower. It looks like a wedding cake but it's made up of layers of diapers. We rolled each diaper so that the fold was on the outside and then held them together with tiny elastics that we got at the craft store (came in a box of 1000 I think). Then we tied each layer with a string (or ribbon) to hold them in place and also to cover the elastics that held the diapers together. We used a medium sized silver platter that we found at the dollar store for the base.

Once all the layers were done, we stacked them and placed a small stuffed animal on the top - I guess we were thinking of a star on a Christmas tree. Finishing touches included sticking some bath toys, socks and face cloths around the finished product, glued lace to the edge of the base and wrapped it in cellaphane. It was the talk of the shower.

Happy Mother's Day

It's the end of a long but wonderful day. It was my third Mother's Day and my son rewarded me with some trees that I've had on my wish list for years (of course he's only two so I imagine he had some help from Daddy). I had hoped to get them planted tonight but after fitting in so many other events for the day, we just didn't get to it. It wasn't just Mother's Day for me, it was Mother's Day for my mother too. I got her a gift certificate for Micheal's and placed it inside this card I made for her. I cased this from a design I saw on Taylor Van Bruggen's blog: "Taylored Expressions".

Happy Mother's Day to all of you.

Sunshiny Day

What a glorious day here in Southwestern Ontario. The sun was out full force and I enjoyed every minute of it. We haven't seen too much of good ol' Mr. Sunshine lately so we have been delighted he blessed us with a whole day.

Spring cleaning was on the agenda and it's something I really don't mind doing when I can open the windows and pump up the dance tunes for a little extra motivation. I'm so proud of myself this week. I signed up for acting classes - something I've been meaning to do for a long time now. I'm very nervous to be revisiting that part of me but more excited than anything else. And you know what? It feels right. It feels like I'm being pushed in this direction and I'm just letting the force take me.

Also, I'm excited to report that I went on a date to see Fracture last night with my husband. My homey Ryan Gosling didn't let me down. His performance was terrific. He does our country and region proud. I was a little disappointed in the story but 2 hours of Gosling suited me fine. I'm also happy that he was in a film that my husband could stand to watch. The Notebook was hard for him to stomach. At least he had some pleasure in watching Rachel McAdams.

Anyway, my artistic contribution to this site is my "Laugh" card. It's all about welcoming the Spring and reminding myself and others to laugh. It truly is the best medicine and a great sentiment to reach out to anyone for almost any reason. My "So Good" card is a tribute to all things good in life and for doing "so good" by taking my first step on my journey of discovering my "Dramatic" self.

Enjoy.

A Slow Start

And I'm off at a turtle's pace. I am comfortable with computers but blogging is a whole new world to me. I need to learn the tricks and quirks to making my page as inviting and inspiring as some of the others out there. Like, how do I get fancy banners and buttons on to this site and get my pictures to look right. I know you stampers and creative colleagues are awesome and if you have any advice or tips that you think might help me, I would welcome the feedback.

This card I have posted was made to welcome a special new addition to our family. My cousin and his wife just adopted a brand new baby boy and he's a blessing that our family has long been waiting for. He's adorable, as most babies are, and super special and I wish nothing but goodness and sunshine to shower over him and his new family.

Welcome

Welcome to my first page on my new site. I have so many goals and passions in life and I thought I would put these out there for others who might need some inspiration or want to see what I'm up to. I am a drama queen at heart and hope to revisit that very soon in my life but for now I let out my creative expressions in paper art form. I'm a Stampin' Up Demonstrator which has been a very rewarding experience that has allowed me gather the supplies that I need (or want rather), gain confidence, set goals and obtain a little extra income.