May the Force Be With Us in 2013

I have a blog goal for 2013.

I want to double my followers.

Post twice a week.

Enter at least two new challenges a month.

Every 25th of the month its Christmas time on my blog which will help me later in being prepared for next years craft fair. 

There my blog goals are now out in the universe and I am giddy to stick to the program.

The giddy may be the Christmas Chocolate I am still munching on.

Thats stuff has got to go lol.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with family, friends and fur babies.

During the Christmas Chaos my best friends little guy turned one.

His parents are big Star Wars fans.

I wanted his card to mean something not just another Happy 1st Birthday.

So I decided to make my card more for his parents than him.

Lets face it he wont remember anyways.

His gift was a Star wars book called Darth Vader and son. Too cute actually.

So I decided to use a stamp called The Force from Saturated Canary.

Jump start on Next Christmas ALREADY!!!

This Christmas I lost track of how many cards I was lucky enough to make for people who ordered from me.
That was so much fun.
Then of course the thirty or so cards that I made to personally give out to family and friends.
However I ran out of time to make any to be able to enter in one of our towns many Christmas craft fairs.
Thats one of my goals for next Christmas.
The big Sooke Community hall Christmas Craft fair.
I think that would be soooo much fun.
So to ensure I have enough cards to sell at the craft fair, sell on the side and give as gifts I am starting now.
I figure why not, I am in the Holiday zone.
Anyone who personally knows me will say I am in the Holiday zone all year but I do take some time off lol.
I am not totally one of the Christmas nutters you see featured on tv specials on TLC.
Even though I do have a secret fantasy that involves my husband channelling his inner Clark Griswald and going nuts with our Christmas lights.
Is that weird?
So Michaels had these cute little Snowmen on end of season clearance and I couldn't resist picking up a box.
Two dollars is cheap.
So I am curious how many different ways I can incorporate him on a Christmas card.

Snowflakes make me wish for a white Christmas

In Victoria BC we see snow falls but they really don't last longer than a week.
Most of the time just as we build a snowman the rain comes and washes him away.
Tonight we have had a few flakes landing on the ground making me dream of a white Christmas since we are only a week away from the big day.

Mini Merry Christmas Button Cards

Its December Baby!!!!!!!

I cant believe that we are just three weeks away from Christmas!
I spend so much time during the year planning and preparing things for this time of year ,yet I still get surprised when I flip the calendar and its actually here.
Ktrista at Saturated Canary sweetly gave her blog followers an early Christmas gift.
Latte.
Isn't she adorable. She can now be purchased on Kristas store site for just two dollars.
I think this image is what my daughter Karlie is going to look like in a few years.

27 more days till Christmas!

I came home today and spent the afternoon wrapping the kids Christmas presents before they got home from school.
It was so much easier to shop for them them when they were little.
Dolls and Legos were always Christmas favourites.
Now its makeup, clothes and video games.
Time flies by faster than I ever thought possible.
After the wrapping I spent some time colouring this little cutie from Make it Crafty.

Happy American Thanksgiving!!!!!

Being a Canadian we have already stuffed ourselves last month on Turkey and all the fixings.
A month ago I was thankful for my family, health and having a job.
Tonight I am still thankful for my family, health and having a job.
The thing I love about American Thanksgiving here though is that it kicks off the Christmas programming.
I love watching all the old Holiday classics.
Iam also thrilled that several of my crafting sites are having Black Friday sales starting at midnight.
I dont get the Black Friday hoopla but I may jump on the sale band wagon tonight.
Recently I treated myself to a new Digi from Make it Crafty

Too all my American blogging friends I hope that you had a great holiday today with your loved ones.
Stay safe if your going to venture out and join the shopping crowds.

Coffee or Hot Chocolate for the Kraftin Kimmie Food or Drink challenge #145

When the weather outside is frightful, I find a steamy cup of coffee to be quite delightful.
Are you a coffee or hot chocolate fan.
My husband thinks I am actually addicted to carrying around a the hot mug.
Iam submitting this little bug eyed cutie into the Kraftin Kimmie inspired by food and drink challenge.

Brrrrrrr a little

Ok Brrrrrr but not.
We have no snow or wind or rain.
Just feels colder than it has in a long time.
Guaranteed my Bald Man is wearing his toque today at work.
Me Iam warm and cozy inside colouring images of Snowmen.
Better than being outside feeling the Brrrrrr.
My image today is from Kraftin Kimmie, her adorable snowman called sending winter hugs.

                                                  http://www.kraftinkimmiestamps.com

Warm Winter Wishes

This week has been very warm for Christmas card creating.
Family in Alberta are facebooking pictures of Snow and I am wearing a T shirt and flip flops.
Yesterday it was a warm plus 14 in November.
Nice!
Whats also nice is that I have one more card that I was lucky enough to have displayed on One Crazy Stampers site this month as a guest designer.
It was such a fun experience that I hope to one day repeat.

For my final card I used Whimsy stamps Holly!
The sentiment is from Krafftin Kimmies Holiday Sentiment set.
The papers used are from Xmas Bella paper pad.
I think she is adorable.
This card was also added to a fundraiser where she bought to help raise money for a local mother with cancer.
The money raised will help  to send her to India for what we hope will be a life saving procedure.
Fingers crossed and prayers prayed.

Changing Holidays Decorations

I know I promised my Bald Man that I wouldn't start Christmas decorating until tomorrow  so for now I can take down all the Halloween decorations.
What else I can do today is show you another card I have featured on One Crazy Stampers Blog!!!!!

This is Whimsy stamps Heidi, you can find her at One Crazy Stamper.
I coloured her with Copic markers and Spica Clear Glitter pen.
I used white pearls as the falling snow. You can find these pearls and a huge assortment of other pearls at One Crazy Stamper.
The papers are from Whimsy Stamps Vintage Christmas which you can also buy at One Crazy Stamper.
Love that store they carry everything you need to get crafty.
Thanks for stopping by to check out my blog, please come back again.

That handsome Santa is mine by the way :)

I Believe in Santa

Just finished handing out roughly four hundred pieces of Candy tonight.
Halloween was a success.
Now on to my favourite time of the year.
Christmas!!!!!!
I love everything about Christmas.
The lights, the decorations, the crafts, the fellowship with family and friends.
Like I said I love Christmas.
This Saturday our tree goes up.
Iam an early decorater.
As well as decorating my house , my craft room looks like Santas workshop.
I have been busy making Christmas cards.
This month I am thrilled to be a guest designer at my FAVOURITE craft store One Crazy Stamper.
Its like an early Christmas present for me.
Thanks for stopping by my blog to see what I have been working on.

I made this card using Recollections card stock.
The papers are from Whimsy stamps vintage Christmas Pad.
Saturated Canary's Wendy stamp.
The sentiment is from High Hopes.
I coloured the image with both Copics, spica glitter pen and Chalk.
Everything on my crafty Christmas list I think Santa can find for me at One Crazy Stamper.
I better leave him a list .

Getting Ready for Christmas!

I know its not Halloween yet and my Jack-o-lanterns are still out on my porch but today we pulled up all the Christmas decorations from the crawl space.
I love it when I see the decorations for the first time after almost a year.
The Santa's, the Snowmen candle holders, the wooden Snowman that I hang on our front door.
Laugh if you will but when I see these things it just fills me with joy.
I miss them throughout the year.
When I was a kid I dreamed of moving to the North Pole and being one of Santa's helpers.
Funny thing was a couple of years ago my own daughter wrote Santa a letter.
She asked if when she was old enough if she could move to the North Pole to work for him.
Guess the Candy Cane doesn't fall to far from the Christmas Tree.
Iam looking forward to Wednesday to take my daughter trick or treating but I am REALLY looking forward to Saturday to put up my Christmas decorations.
Today I played with Mo Manning's little cutie " Sticky "

I coloured him up with Copics and Prisma pencil crayons.
The embellishments are from my Christmas stash.
The papers are Bo Bunny's Mistletoe collection.

My second card I made with one of my few Christmas Tilda stamps from Magnolia stamps.
My friends are divided on their love or dislike of these little cuties.
Some are creeped out by their lac of mouths, I think it adds to their unique charm.
I coloured her up with my Copics and used Bo Bunny Rejoice collection papers.

Wishing for Snow instead of rain.

Family all over Canada have been facebooking about snow.
I love snow.
However living on Vancouver island we don't see much of it.
Some years we see no snow at all on the lower end of the island.
When the snow does come though the island shuts down.
We don't have the same snow removal equipmet that the rest of Canada has.
The best part of the islands lack of snow preparedness is SNOW DAY!
When the snow comes we usually get one or two days that a lot of us get to play hooky from work and school.
The kids get to go sledding with sleds that collect more years of dust than use.
Snow ball fights.
The absolute quiet that seems to come when the world around us gets blanketed by the snow.
My favourite part is the Snowmen.
Their life is short here, sometimes it takes the kids all day to build them.
Than just an hour of the inevitable rain to wash him away.
So we love him while he stands.

Mo manning Snowman

You can find this cute Snowman at http://www.mosdigitalpencil.com/snowman/
I used Copic markers to colour him up.
Ribbon and Snowflake embellishments that I had in my craft room.
Paper is from Bo Bunny Mistletoe collection.

Pumpkins!

Spent the day out and about Victoria with our two Japanese exchange students today.
We shopped, ate, hiked and went took many many pictures.
I love the experience that welcoming Exchange students into our home brings to our children.
Getting to do for others and experience different cultures.
Today we got to introduce Tacos and pumpkin carving.
Tomorrow they go home. Less than 48hrs this trip was. Talk about a whirl wind experience.
These are the pumpkins the kids all carved togther.

Boobie Love

Saturated Canary is very generous with their Freebie digital stamp offerings.
Recently I downloaded Boobie love.
I love everything about this image and what it stands for.
Thank you Saturated Canary for sharing.
Please check out http://saturated-canary

Almost Halloween!

Today here in Sooke BC we had our first full day of fall weather.
Rain, rain and more rain lol.
So I drank a lot of coffee and spent most of my day hibernating in my PJ'S in my craft room.
One of my favourite stamp sites is http://www.kraftinkimmiestamps.com
The stamps are whimsical and the shop offers a huge variety to please all imaginations.
Today I worked on my entry to the Krafftin Kimmie lets get Spooky challenge http://kraftinkimmiestamps.blogspot.ca/2012/10/challenge-150-lets-get-spooky.html

The images I used are my favourite Halloween Ghostly couple Hattie and Horace.
The sentiment is from the Close to my Heart Autumn collection as well as the papers.

Christmas is coming but this weekend I shall Halloween!

Christmas is JUST 75 more days a way.
This comes to a surprise to me and I have been counting down the days since last Boxing Day.
My craft room is glittered and ribboned in anticipation of the big day.
This weekend however I NEED and WANT to make some Halloween themed cards.
We have exchange students coming for a whirl wind weekend in Canada trip the following weekend so it has to be this weekend.
Iam writing down to hold myself accountable lol.

Krafftin Kimmie A cup of cozy wishes

Magnolia stamps

Close to my Heart Bundled Buddies

Sunny Sunday

Woke up this morning on the last day of September. The sun was shining but there was a chill in the air. I thought about some of my friends that live for summer. Some of them get upset when the season turns cooler. I saw this qoute about summer and decided to make a card with my new Saturated Canary stamp to the lake.

Sick Kids, sick Dog, Hide in my craft room

Not much to say that the title of this post doesn't say. Two kids down with a chest/ sinus thing. Then the Dog needed a rush visit to the vet. The kids are on the mend and the Dog is also doing good. Me I drank a lot of coffee today and spent the afternoon hiding in my craft room . Looking forward to a quieter day tomorrow. Hopefully the kids feel good enough to return to school.

Grey Days

So now that I have finished reading the shades of Grey series I was inspired to play with Saturated Canaries Grey tie Digital stamp. I like the instant convince of digital however I LOVE the pile of rubber stamps I seem to have collected this past year. I don't think I can become a digital girl but I think it may be a fun place visit once in a while. When I do visit the digital world http://saturated-canary.myshopify.com will be my go to site. Her stamps are fun, unique and current. Other than hanging out in my craft room I am all alone tonight. Son is is his x box gaming world, daughter is with a bud, wee dogs are sleeping and husband is off at his poker game. Just a Saturday night with me, my blog, my markers and Vampire Diaries on Netflix. I would take Damon Salvatore over Mr Christian Grey any day but thats just me. I am a sucker for vampires.

96 more Days till Christmas!

I know for a lot of people the thought of Christmas in September is just something they don't do.
However if you have been following my blog or know me personally than you know I start my countdown on Boxing Day.
It may be considered to be a sickness to some but its part of my charm.
This year I am excited because not only have I been making Christmas cards to send to my friends and family but I have actually sold some too.
It just really makes me happy to know that there are people out there who like my cards enough to buy them.
My Christmas wish this year is to bring Christmas cards back in fashion.
Over the years I have noticed a steady decline in Christmas cards.
Christmas texts, E cards and Facebooks messages I receive plenty of.
The kind that give you a thrill of anticipation every time you walk to the mailbox during the holidays however not so much.
Today I played with Kraftin Kimmies Felicity stamp and you can find her and other great stamps at  http://www.kraftinkimmiestamps.com

The papers I used are from the Minds Eye Lost and Found Paper pack and Recollections cardstock.

Not a Christmas Card

Seems like I haven't been on here FOREVER! Life gets busy sometimes. Today I stole some time to play with my new Wee stamp that I bought from Whimsy stamps....... Summer Fairy. I just love her she is adorable. Here in Victoria BC it feels more like summer than June,July and August put together. Too bad school and work are taking up everybody's time or else I think the beaches would be packed.

This card is going to work with me tomorrow, for somebody who is always there to lend me hand and a kind word. Nothing makes a Wednesday better than a pretty card.

56 more days till mini Chocolate Bar Night!

Today I played with my new CC Design Devilish Lucy Stamp.
Last week my daughter and niece and I were wandering around Value Village trying to come up with ideas for our Halloween Costumes.
So many choices.
Not sure what our plan is but what I do know is that my neighbourhood gets roughly 500 kids knocking at our doors.
Thats a lot of mini chocolate Bars.
What candy do you hand out on Halloween?

First Day Of School!

Everyone seems to have survived the first day of school!
No tears just a few moans and groans of protest this morning as I pushed them out the door.
Me however I dread tonight.
The routine I must once again fall into.
Making school lunches.............groan.
So this morning while the kids were off meeting their new teachers.
I spent some much needed quiet time meeting a new stamp that has come to live in my ever growing collection.
The lovely Samantha from  http://www.kraftinkimmiestamps.com

Samantha

Earthquake

This afternoon here in Sooke BC we had a wee 3.1 earthquake. A baby rattle compared to the Seattle Quake that a few years ago cracked my dining room wall. My kids freaked out and came running to find me and ask if that was indeed a quake. Yes,yes it was. While my kids were worried about another one I actually found myself thinking " Great, of course we will have a big quake just when I finally get my own craft room grrrrr".

http://www.kraftinkimmiestamps.com

However before the shaking I did get this cute little snowman card finished.
I think he is adorable! 

Craft Room!!!!!!

I love my Bald Man! Over the years my craft room has evolved. Started off as a shoe box of scrapbook materials stored under my bed. Then a bigger box of frame making materials stored in the shoe closet.
In recent days half my bedroom became my craft room. Now my husband very lovingly gave up his den for me to have my very own craft room. He came home from work with shelves, desks, paint, wood ext. This is just phase one and I love it. I am truly looking forward to craft room remodel phase two. He has been busy painting a peg board project in the garage. He is going to install it this week. So exciting. I love my Bald Man for always thinking about me.

Birthdays and more Birthdays

The last few days has been busy with Birthdays.
Last weekend one of my daughter best friends and tomorow my niece and the very next day my daughter. Seems like yesterday my sister had my niece and gave her to me to hold.
YIKES! She was a four pound peanut.
Six weeks earlier I had given birth to my eight pound and 26 inch long son.
A giant compared to her.
I was so scared to hold her. I thought I would break her.
Almost Two years to the day  I gave birth to my own daughter .
A strong ten pound pink adorable little angel. She smiled at me when the nurse handed her to me and hasn't stopped smiling at me.
I always say that if reincarnation is true than she is a brand new soul.
Seeing everything for the first time. I love this about her.
The card I made today is for my niece who recently moved back home to the island with her family.
Every island girl should still believe in mermaids ..........even teenage girls.

                                                  http://www.kraftinkimmiestamps.com

Brrrrrr

Is it cold......not really. Chilly.......yes. I even have it from my sister from Ontario who is running around in her Ontario summer shorts that it is chilly. So my card today was inspired by the chilly breeze in the air. Also because I am making Christmas cards like a mad woman because I have actually taken orders for cards. Having too much fun I tell you :) . This is Kraftin Kimmies lovely Eva helping shovel Santas driveway.

http://www.kraftinkimmiestamps.com