Before I share today’s card I’ll just mention what my two big “events” were this week:

1.  We purchased a car for me! (before we were a one-car family).  It’s used but it’s a 2009 and it’s awesome!  It’s a base model Honda Fit and it’s FUN to drive!

2. We are doing a trial adoption of a beagle – he’s 5 years old and his name is Jack.  We did a trial adoption a couple of years ago but took two stray 6 month old dogs and they were just too disruptive.  We’ve fostered in the past too but decided it was time to think about giving a dog a forever home.  Jack is doing well so far but I am not a very good sleeper at the best of times and was awake most of the night.  Thankfully it’s a long weekend (we planned ahead) so I should be able to stick it out until Jack settles down a bit.

I’ll share pics of Jack later.  He doesn’t like noises or foreign items so I’m going to let him settle in before sticking a camera in his face.

ETA: My husband couldn’t wait to take pictures any longer…here’s a shot of Jack:

Back to the card…

I had a request for a pirate-themed baby shower card (a first for me – that doesn’t happen too often).  Luckily, I remembered that I had a tiny little Rubber Soul stamp of a pirate ship…here’s what I came up with:

I was a bit worried that the customer wouldn’t like the skull and cross-bones but I felt it really brought home the pirate theme so I stuck it on there anyway.  The card was a hit! (whew!)…so much so that she needs another card for her mom with a “nautical” theme (I didn’t ask why the pirate/nautical theme…I’m just going to assume that the parents own a boat and leave it at that!)

You can’t tell in the picture but the image is framed with a circle that is pop-dotted so there’s more dimension on the card than the picture conveys.

The sentiment was done using a stamp from Hero Arts AND a computer generated word.  I printed Ahoy on red cardstock and then stamped Baby Boy underneath it.

I crumpled up some ancient map themed patterned paper that I had in my stash and ran the sewing machine along the edges.  I also distressed the edges before matting the paper to the black panel.  A couple of brads (I love using old supplies) and I called it a day.

Now, to work on the “nautical” card…see you soon!

ETA:  How cool!  I was “soup-spotted” on the Jillybean Soup blog today!

http://jillibeansoup.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/08/soup-spotting-81110.html

Hi guys…I’ve been so busy I haven’t had any time to update my blog (blog post coming tomorrow though!) DH and I are still working on all the things we need to finish before we host a big family do this weekend.  That means my evenings (and last weekend) are spent assisting with building a fence, doing some landscaping and repairing our patio.   I haven’t even begun cleaning the house or shopping for the food for Sunday.  Eeekkk!!

The Happy Mail only went out today (but it did go out – sorry for the delay).  As I’d already pre-packaged the papers/stamped image I couldn’t handwrite the addresses on the envelopes so I took a few minutes last night to print out labels so I can get your goodies out to you.  I only had 7 replies on the happy mail post so I sent the 8th envelope to someone who has commented on my blog from time to time.  Hope she enjoys it after she finishes scratching her head on why she got the stuff in the mail!

I should be back on schedule after Sunday.

It’s too humid to make cards lately so apologies for my lapse in blogging.  We’re just trying to keep cool.  

I do have a cute project to show you on Saturday (please drop back on Saturday…we’re having a blog hop at PaperWorks Co to celebrate a new stamp release and there are PRIZES!!!)

Stay hydrated!

Hey everyone.  I’m around – I just haven’t been particularly crafty this week.  An old friend of mine died yesterday (she had a stroke on June 3oth and we’ve known since then that she might pass away – it’s been a sad time) and she’s been the focus of my thoughts since she had the stroke.  Rest in Peace, Sherry.  You were a beautiful soul on earth.

(wipes tear…)

Whew, now that I’ve shared that, I do have a project that I started working on today.  It’s work-related and I volunteered to do it and it’s also a great way to reduce the scraps in my stash.  I’m making a fairly large batch of 3X3″ thank you cards and got 16 of them done today…here’s a peek:

There were too many to take a picture from my usual vantage point…I don’t know if I’ll be taking a picture of all of them when they are done as I need the space to work so I probably can’t be bothered to set this batch out again…

Here’s a little close up as the picture above probably doesn’t give much detail:

I needed to be able to crank them out quickly so I stuck with coffee cup and tea cup images that fit on a 2X2″ square…they’re really fun to make and I’m happy to reduce my scrap pile!

Take it easy!

No project to share tonight – I just wanted to wish my blog readers and anyone else that stumbles across my blog from time to time a very happy holiday.

It’s been a very busy day at our house – I had to work today but we’ve managed to get our turkey pre-cooked for our family dinner tomorrow and I’ve just finished baking a decadent cherry cake as tomorrow is not only Christmas but it’s my mother’s birthday too.  I tried a new recipe that uses 2 tins of cream and 5 eggs in the cake.  I hope it tastes as good as it looks.

One of my brothers is in Newfoundland for the holidays and he and his wife dropped by tonight to exchange gifts.  I’m using my gift right now!  My brothers went in on a very cool Christmas gift for me – a Dell Netbook (in jade green!).  Hopefully, this could mean more regular blogging as I’ll be able to fit in a blog post when I’m not in my craft studio.

I’ll end off here as it’s almost Christmas Day in Newfoundland – only 5 minutes to go before the big day!

Oh, and here’s what my new netbook looks like:

Just a quick note:

a) accidentally let my web hosting expire so I was without a blog for a little bit

b) too busy making Christmas orders, preparing for Christmas etc. to blog…will be back soon with a couple of things. (the stuff I’ve been mass-producing is all the same thing with different papers/stamps – not blog-worthy!)

c) have a BIG project going on at home.  Will share when it’s done.

Just letting you know I’m still alive…

K

Still working on mass-production items so I don’t have much new to share (unless you want to see a zillion little boxes that are all the same design but just have different patterned paper on them)…so I thought I’d write a review of my two favourite US online stores (that ship to Canada – I do sometimes order from Canada but get newer products and better prices from the US).

1.  http://www.7kidscollegefund.com/ - I order from here as often as I can get away with (4-5 times per year)  The owner has a 10% discount on the MSRP so it’s like getting a sale every time I shop there.  PLUS they do sometimes have specials on a particular line of products which saves me even more.  Shipping is reasonable but not cheap or flat rate.  When you are finished adding items to you cart you will see the actual shipping you are being charged.  

Another great thing about this site is that you can contact the owner and ask her to carry a certain line.  If she does already carry a particular line (such as Hero Arts) you can ask if she will stock a particular set and let you know when it’s in.  I do prefer to buy my Hero Arts sets from this site and have had several sets special ordered for me.  Great customer service.   Ship times are not incredibly fast but reasonable (it usually takes about 3-4 weeks to get my stuff.  Note that I live in Newfoundland so mainland Canada might experience better ship times)

2. http://www.eclecticpaperie.com/index.html - While I order more frequently from 7kids (4-5 times a year), eP is my favourite US retailer.  When I first started ordering from eP you could not us the online checkout from Canada and communication/shipping time was poor.  However, their great selection of items and “Dave’s Deals” kept me coming back despite the early “growing pains”.   I am happy to say that you can now use their checkout from Canada and communication and shipping times have improved dramatically. 

I am a sucker for Dave’s Deals and order just about every time he cleans out the shop.  Customer service is good but a little slower response time than 7kids (give ‘em a couple of days to respond – both of the shops I’m reviewing are home-based so you need to make allowances). 

Examples of great customer service – On one of my orders I was sent the wrong stamp but they did not have the correct one in stock to do a switch.  Not only did they refund the money, they let me keep the other stamp AND offered me a 10% apology discount on my next order. (which was just a few weeks later because there was a new Dave’s Deal!)  My last order even had a small pack of primas (my fave!) included as a thank you for my order…love free stuff!!!. 

As with 7kids, shipping time is about 3-4 weeks to Newfoundland (these guys are based in California so we are as far away as we can get and still be in North America). 

If you do decide to check these online stores out, it’s worth signing up for their newsletters as that’s how you’ll learn about new products and specials from both retailers. 

I must go play with my latest eP order…I hope Dave isn’t doing any more cleaning in the near future…I can’t store another Prima in my craft room!

My husband (see banner above!) and I took some vacation time this past week (Thankgiving Week in Canada) and went to visit Gros Morne National Park for a few days.  We rented a cabin in Rocky Harbour and spent a couple of days soaking up the scenery and walking a few of the MANY trails in the park.

The weather on the west coast of Newfoundland was lovely during our stay.  There were a couple of threats of rain but the dark clouds didn’t amount to anything and we had lots of sun and perfect conditions for our walks.  I won’t go on and on about everything we saw while we were there but I will share a few pictures I took while we were there. (Note: My camera is a teeny tiny Sony Cybershot DSC-U20 – it wasn’t designed to take pictures of mountains etc.)

The above shot of the trail is just a couple of minutes in to one of the most intense trails in the park (the actual Gros Morne trail)  It’s a strenuous half-day hike just to reach the base of the mountain.  Don’t be impressed.  We didn’t actually hike this one but walked a little ways in just to check it out.  The trail takes you to the highest point in the park (806 M – over 2644 feet for those Imperialists out there!) and the environment is describe as “Arctic-Alpine”…brrrrrr!

The next shot is taken at the beach at the “end” of a trail we actually did hike (Western Brook Pond).  It’s a 6 km round trip (add 1.5 km if you take the scenic route through Snug Harbour) so we walked 3 km to take this shot and then turned around and walked back to our car.   Had we arrived earlier in the season we would have been able to take a boat tour that would take us right to the base of the cliffs in the shot (it’s a 2.5 hour tour).  It’s probably a good thing that the tours were over for the year as the water was VERY  choppy that day and my husband is NOT a boat kind of guy. 

Here’s a shot of the same cliffs (they’re seriously a billion years old, BTW!) taken with a real camera (my husband’s).  It does not do justice to the amazing sights we took in while in the park.  Everything was just so BIG!  While hiking through some of the coastal bogs, we felt so insignificant (in an awe of nature kind of way) and inconsequential because you could really see how large the world is and what a tiny blip we are on the radar.  I’m not sure if this will give you some perspective but my shot (above) was taken from the beach with no zoom (my camera doesn’t have one) and the shot below was taken with a zoom lens a couple of kilometers BEFORE we reached the beach (and you can see the coastal bogs we walked through to get to the beach). 

Another cool thing we saw in one of the wooded areas of that walk was this “man-eating tree”.  Isn’t it wild?!

I won’t bore you with any more shots from the park but if you ever have the opportunity to visit Gros Morne, I highly recommend it.