Farewell Olympic Flame

I'm going to shed a tear or two today. Even though I am posting this in advance, I know that today will be an emotional day. As I previously posted, I have been a huge fan of the Winter Olympics for years and years. I have been so happy that we have been lucky enough to host them here in Vancouver. I know that if we win the hockey game today I will cry, if we lose I will cry too. I know FOR CERTAIN, that I will cry when I watch the closing ceremonies. I am so proud of all our athletes, and especially of our female athletes who have earned the vast majority of our medals. It will be an exciting and emotional show tonight.
So anyway, back to this page. I took this photo on Friday night when my hubby and I went downtown to watch the men's hockey game with other fans. We wanted to be down in the middle of all the action for that very important game. Fortunately we won that game. The mood in the city was very exciting. After the game, my hubby and I walked down to the Olympic Cauldron which will be extinguished today. The photo above was taken with my Blackberry. I was pretty impressed - it's not the best photo, but it's the only opportunity I will get to photograph the cauldron when it's lit.
This page was created with MDS (My Digital Studio). I started with a background in Soft Suede, then I layered stamps (brushes) over it in Sahara Sand and Kraft. I just reduced the opacity in order to make the layers stand out. The stampsets I used are Baroque Motifs, Frames With A Flourish, and Best Wishes & More.

Would you believe??

OK, now that I've alienated my international readers :) I'd like to explain what this page is all about. Firstly - would you believe that this whole page was created with all Stampin' Up! products???? Pretty crazy eh? Well, let me explain. This is the absolute definition of HYBRID. First I started with MDS (My Digital Studio) and created the background paper. I enlarged punches and colour filled them and layered them and added stamps in various colours and had a blast making it. (but it took hours). The background paper was created on a 12x12 page layout and then printed out as an 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper on Whisper White (basically the top got cut off). I mounted it on a 12x12 page of Night of Navy to bring it up to a 12x12 size. Below is a jpeg of the digital page.

And here's my ticket to the game which shows the Vancouver 2010 colours which I have tried to evoke in my page.
Next I found the perfect photo of my hubby and I standing outside of the stadium waiting to get in. Yes, believe it or not, GM Place (now dubbed Canada Hockey Place) is right near the ocean. Thank goodness it was a sunny day! The photo of the Canadian flag was taken of the big screen during the hockey game. The rings were made with circle punches, carstock and some dazzling diamonds glitter. And the type was made with MDS and printed out on Whisper White.

This is where you might want to tune out if you are solely a crafting junkie and not a sport junkie like me. Below I have posted a You Tube video that is taken from a broadcast on NBC. When I first saw this last week I went through a box of kleenex. Seeing as so many of my readers are American, I thought you might find this of interest because the Winter Olympics are currently happening here in Vancouver.

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #8

This week at Stampin' Royalty we are challenging you to a colour challenge. With all these bright colours, I was really stumped at first. But then I decided to try the brayer technique and this is what I came up with. First I stamped the flowers in White Craft ink and added clear embossing powder. Next I heat embossed the image. Next I used a brayer to apply the Summer Sun and Only Orange.

The Fun Stuff

1. Ink - see the challenge colours

2. Paper - see the challenge colours
3. Stamps - Easter Blooms
4. Accessories - brayer, Rhinestone Brads, Satin Organza Ribbon

Brayered Sympathy

These cards were started for a Stampin Royalty Challenge but I deviated from the plan and came up with these cards. I love Pacific Point blue (last year's In Color) This card was made with the Eastern Blooms stampset. I stamped the branches in White Craft Ink and then Heat Embossed it with clear embossing powder. Next I brayered on the orange and yellow. Finally I stamped the blooms and cut them out and popped them up on dimensionals. The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes and it was punched out with the word window and then mounted on the Modern Label punch out. Finally I used Bashful Blue grosgrain ribbon to finish it all off.

Happy Birthday Human

Aren't these cute??? These were taken from the great Andrea Walford's blog. I played a bit with the paper and the angles of the elements, but I pretty much copied her idea. Those adorable robots were painted with an aquapainter and I used the paper piercing tool and mat to make the pierced border around the robot image. The Bermuda Bay cardstock was stamped with the nuts and bolts in matching Bermuda Bay ink for a tone on tone look.

1. Stamps - Lots of Bots

2. Ink - Black Staz On - Going Gray, Bermuda Bay

3. Paper - Cardstock - Bermuda Bay, Whisper White - DSP - Sweet Pea

4. Accessories - Scallop Trim Border, Large Oval and Scallop Oval punch. 1/2" polka dot grograin in Bermuda Bay.

Butterfly Shadowboxes

Here's another of my 8x8 shadowboxes. I used the Big Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die. The butterflies were cut from Whisper White and from Vellum. I layered them and attached them to the background with Rhinestone Brads. The sentiment comes from the Razzle Dazzle Stamp set.

The Fun Stuff

1. Ink - Rich Razzleberry

2. Stamps - Razzle Dazzle

3. Paper - Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White and Vellum cardstock. Retired DSP from Saleabration 2009

4. Accessories - Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die, Eyelet Border punch, Modern Label Punch, Rich Razzleberry polka dot grosgrain ribbon, Rhinestone and Silver Brads

BLOG CANDY TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahhhh I meant to post this when I crossed 20,000 hits, but life got in the way. Stampin' Royalty has kinda taken over my blogging life, and now the Winter Olympics are in town and I'm such a junkie that I have NOT BEEN in my scrap room in almost a week - GASP! Anyway, what you see below is but a sample of the amazing paper and die cuts in this pack. There are stamped and punched images, 6x6 samples of DSP and these lovely labels and tags from 62 cards. To enter you need to post a link to my blog on your sidebar and become a follower and post a comment here to let me know you have done this. You will get another entry in the draw if you let me know what your favourite Winter Olympic Sport is. I am looking forward to reading your comments. You have until Feb 28th to post your comment. I will post the winner on March 1st.

Online Torch Relay.

Hey World - let's pass the Online Torch. After learning that 3 Billion people watched the opening ceremony to the Winter Olympics, my girlfriends' hubby and his buddies started an online torch relay. It's a contest. On Feb 28th, the country with the most online torchbearer's wins. Check it out at www.tickity.com/onlinetorch

GO CANADA GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stampin Royalty Challenge #7

So this week over at Stampin' Royalty we are challenging you to make a Masculine card. This card was inspired by a card made by Andrea Walford. Much like this previous post I made this card on My Digital Studio, and then printed it out in pieces and carefully cut it out and pieced it together like you see above. I added buttons, ribbon and filligree brads to add more detail.

More Swaps

Ahh, another fabulous swap from Marie, featuring products from the current Occasions Mini Catty. This card was made by Linda Willman at http://www.stamperspad.com/.

Bye Bye SP DIVA's...

I am a bit sad to say that this will be my last week as an SP Diva at SP Color Combos. Please click on the link on my sidebar to go to the site. This week's challenge was a REAL challenge for me. I find orange and yellow really hard to work with. Especially Summer Sun and Only Orange. I thought that the bright colours would be good for a child's birthday card. So I pulled out my newest favourite children's stamp set (Fox and Friends) and came up with this card. The sentiment is from the set 'Look Who's Turning'.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I hope you are enjoying your Valentine's Day. We are right in the middle of the Winter Olympics right now and it's very exciting. But not too exciting to forget about Valentine's Day. I have to say that with my obsession with cards, I find any holiday that involves cards terribly exciting. Anyway, now I'm rambling. Here are a few more cards made with that fabulous Designer Paper from BoBunny. Again I fancied it all up with accessories from Stampin' Up!

Shadowboxes...

My son has been asking me and asking me to take down the Christmas Shadowboxes. If you are familiar with my blog you will know that I have a set of 8x8 shadowboxes in my living room that I periodically update. This one was made very quickly. The frame in the centre is a nestability, but everything else is from SU. I used the I (heart) hearts stamp set and the new large bird puchh from the Occasions Mini catty. Basically they were stamped in Real Red and Pretty in Pink and then cut and layered and popped up. I also used the Sending Love DSP which is also in the Occasions mini catty.

Olympic Rings!!!

Wow - I'm totally inspired. I have to confess that I have an addiction to the Winter Olympics. When I was in University I had a poster that had mini versions of all the Winter Olympics up until 1988 (the last time it was in Canada) This poster was so important to me that I actually paid to have it framed.

This card above was inspired by a card I found on Stampin' Connection, but I have since been unable to credit the creator. If you can help me, please leave a post as to who created this card. Anyway, This is a warning, that what follows may NOT interest fellow crafters and you might want to give it a miss, but I need to ramble a bit here about my pride in the Winter Sports of the World. Maybe it has to do with the fact that my heritage is a hybrid Scandinavian and I have many memories as a preschooler of being up the mountain and learning to ski. My grandfather comes from Norway and they have a strong tradition of doing well in the Winter Olympics. My dad is Icelandic and had to learn English when he started school. He's a huge hockey fan. As a girl I always wanted to play hockey and had to endure hours of watching my brother play hockey. As an adult, I finally realized my dream and started to play hockey. My husband and I bonded over memories of specific hockey games memorable to Vancover past. We actually played hockey together on a coed team for 5 years where I was pregnant twice (and thus was really supportive on the bench), felt my first baby kick watching team USA play Team Norway at the world Junior hockey Championships at the Colisseum. (Where I first watched the Vancouver Canucks play as a young child) and watched my favourite local hockey team win the Memorial Cup when I was pregnant with my second child. And I watched the Junior Team Canada win the Junior World Cup in the most exciting moment of my life (while pregnant too).

Basically I LOVE WINTER SPORTS!!!!!

So when the Olympics were given to Vancouver I cried in delight! I am going to 3 hockey games and 3 curling events. I watched the opening ceremonies tonight with my children for the first time. I hope to do that every 2 years on from now on.

Yeterday I watched the Olympic torch as it went by close to my school that I teach at. And I was so sad that I was not able to be with my own children as they watched the torch go by from their daycare the day before.

I was downtown today with my husband and we reveled in the fact that we saw and heard sooooooooooo many people from foreign places. The energy of so many people excited to be in one place is completely overwhelming.

As I wipe back my tears for the fallen Georgian Luge athlete, and my pride in our Canadian Athletes, and my pride in the Opening Ceremonies which I watched twice - once on the Canadian feed, and again on the American feed - I am so proud that my hero Rick Hansen got to light the olypmic torch along with my favourite female canadian athletes Catrina Le May Doan and Nancy Green (who I actually met as a child) - (oh yeah, and with Wayne Gretzky and Steve Nash), I have gone through 2 boxes of kleenex at least, and I can't wait to see what the next 2 weeks bring.n GO CANADA GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Valentine's Cards

Ahh Valentine's Day. Isn't this the cutest little squirrel? Again, these are a few of the cards I made from that cute DSP from BoBunny. Of course I fancied it all up with stuff from Stampin' Up! Can you spot the Scallop Trim Border Punch, the Word Window Punch, the Heart to Heart Punch, Scallop Square Punch and of course all that cardstock from SU!!!

Stampin Royalty Challenge #6

This week's challenge was to make a Valentine's Day project. All of us at Stampin' Royalty chose to use the I {heart} hearts stampset. I also used the Scallop Trim border punch and the crimping technique that I learned from Jan Tink's blog. I also used the new Sending Love Specialty DSP.

Sunflower Sunshine

This fabulous card was a make-n-take at my upline's house last week. We had a girls pajama night. Everyone came in our PJ's and we gabbed, crafted, and laughed late into the evening. I love this card because not only was it extremely easy to make (no stamping) but it's a great all-occasion card that you could attach almost any sentiment to.

SPCC #34

This card was whipped up in a matter of minutes. The roses were imprinted in the Manhattan Flowers Texutred Impressions folder exclusive of Stampin' Up! The stampset (Vintage Labels) coordinates nicely with several punches and it's available free in the current Sale-a-bration catalogue.
The Fun Stuff:
1. Paper - Rich Razzleberry, Very Vanilla

2. Stamps - Vintage Labels

3. Ink - Bermuda Bay, Soft Suede

4. Punches - Scallop Circle, 1 3/4" Circle

5. Accessories - Rich Razzleberry 1/2" Polka Dot Grosgrain, Stampin Dimensionals, Silver Brads

Valentine's Cards

Well I needed to make a bunch of Valentine's cards for a client, and made the mistake of going into a local scrapbooking store to find some inspiration. I stumbled across this fabulous Designer Paper from BoBunny. Basically I started with this fancy paper and added my favourite Stampin' Up! accessories.

Mojo February

It's been a while since I've attempted a Mojo Monday Challenge. This week I decided to try a Valentine's card seeing as the season is near.

The Fun Stuff

1. Stamps - Holiday Best

2. Ink - Real Red

3. Paper - Real Red, Pretty In Pink, Very Vanilla cardstock, Sending Love DSP.

4. Punches - Scallop Trim Border, Extra Large Fancy Flower, Scallop Oval, Large Oval, Boho Blossom, paper crimper

Marie's Swap

Another beautiful card from Marie's Swap. This card was made by Kathryn Curtis. Isn't it adorable. I have to admit that purple and green is my favourite combination. I even used purple and green in my wedding invitations, so whenever I see these 2 colours together I am immediately drawn in.

Valentine Fun

Here are some more Valentine's cards that I made with the BoBunny DSP I bought last week. I actually made 10 cards from that one piece of Designer Paper (with a little help from

Stampin' Up! accessories) Can you spot, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Grosgrain Ribbon or the Scallop Square punch??

Stampin Royalty Challenge #5

Whew! It's been a month and we're rolling along nicely over at Stampin' Royalty. Please click on the link at the top to check out what all the other Stampin' Goddesses have come up with. This week's challenge was 'anything but a card'. And I went a bit overboard as you can see. Actually the template for these boxes is now available as a PDF file, for sale on my sidebar. Just click on the link here or below and you will be able to purchase the templates. The file has the templates for all 4 boxes. These are great for gifts, treats, wedding favours... the list goes on and one. Here are some closeups.

The Fun Stuff!

1. Stamps - Great Friend, tiny tags

2. Ink - Tempting Turquoise, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive

3. Paper - Sweet Pea DSP - occasions mini

4. Accessories - various Chocolate Chip Ribbons from SU, Pretties Kit, Very Vanilla Hodgepodge Hardware, Label Punch, 1" circle punch, Rhinestone Brads, flower embosslits and leaf sizzlits.

Copying Another Great Artist

This card was copied from the great Andrea Walford. I found it on her blog and decided to try to copy it. It's made with the Write Stuff DSP kit, and I don't actually have a copy of this kit, BUT I do have the MDS kit. So first I made it with MDS. This first card is made from a printout of my MDS card. I added the "happy birthday" sentiment after the card was put together.
These next two cards were made by printing out various elements of the cards from MDS and then carefully cutting them out and layering them like on the 'original' MDS card. I attached them to Kraft cardstock and then added the ribbon and buttons afterward. Then I stamped on the sentiment in the top corner.

SPCC #33

This card was so much fun to make. When I saw all those bright colours in one combo I felt a bit overwhelmed. But then I realized that I could put them all together in a birthday card. The gifts were punched out with square punches and then the sides were trimmed in at an angle to give the gifts more interest. The ribbon is not SU, but everything else is. The stamps are from the new Sale-a-bration catalogue.

The Fun Stuff:

1. Stamps: Vintage Labels

2. Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Real Red

3. Paper: Very Vanilla, Summer Sun, Real Red, Pink Passion, Tempting Turquoise

4. Accessories: Ribbon, Top Note Die for the Big shot and Finial Press textured impressions folder for the Big Shot

5. Punches: all square punches and various circle punches by SU, Scallop oval punch