Sisterlines Space in Time

"If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you always got." Mark Twain.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Our Craft Lounge Sneak Peek Number 2!!




Here is today's sneak peek!!!!


This is another card sample using the up and coming new release set called Flyin' Birthday.


The base of the card is Pacific Point card stock, the next layer is Green Galore card stock, both by Stampin' Up! The balloons were coloured with Copic Markers. Each balloon is popped up at a different level. You can see the different heights in the picture below.


Come back tomorrow for a fun fun blog hop!

Chow for now

Jacqui

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Our Craft Lounge Sneak Peek!!!



I have been asked to participate in the upcoming blog hop for the release of a whole bunch of great new stamp sets from Our Craft Lounge!!!! So today, you get to see a sneak peek of one of the great new sets!
This set is called Flyin' Birthday!
The base of the card is Not Quite Navy card stock by Stampin' Up!. The next layer is designer paper....I'm not sure by who though. The hot air balloon is popped up on the circle and matted with a scalloped circle.
This is a fun fun set!


This picture shows a close up of the hot air balloon popped up on the page.
Come back tomorrow, for another sneak peek!!
Chow for now,
Jacqui

Friday, April 24, 2009

Keeping surprises is a hard hard job (edited on Tuesday April 28th!!!)

I thought I better edit this post since the original post is not 100% accurate. That's the risk you take when you schedule your posts!!
It was a great surprise.....no one ever did find out until they were supposed to....but the stress...oh the stress!!! ha ha

So....providing this thing worked right.....it is now Friday.....and the secret has been revealed. The big secret..........I went to Detroit... much to the dismay of Kristi Ferro, who just drove to my house......FROM DETROIT.......picked Diana (my sister) up at the airport....first surprise for Kristi.......I had to steal Kristi's phone so she did not call, text, email, or communicate in any way with any of the other stamping girls.......ESPECIALLY VICKI......I brought her to my house......we had a short nap.....my other stamping girls arrive ready for the road trip.....out jumps Diana.......surprises everyone else......after the screaming subsides........we pile in the cars to begin our road trip......we drop Diana at the end of the road ......and we proceed to Vicki's.........we unload all our goods...........a while later the door bell rings........oh...who could that be........holy crap...it's Diana!!!!!!
When I get home....I'll post some pictures of the surprise....but man oh man.....keeping this thing a secret since the beginning of the year has been painful!!!!!!


Here is the real story!!
Kristi Ferro (Hanna Stamps) was coming to spend the night at my house so she did not have such a long drive to Kingston the next morning. I did not know exactly what time she was planning on coming to the house. She emailed me on Tuesday night indicating that she was planning on leaving her home at about 2:00 pm, which would put her at my house sometime around 4:30 pm or so. Well I needed to leave my house at 8:30 pm to make the trip to Detroit to pick up Diana. I emailed Kristi back and told her that was fine, but I needed to let her know that I needed to leave my house at 8:30 pm and go to "the farm - aka Detroit" to help my Mum....so I thought maybe she would say okay I will take my time and come a little later.....Well I get the email response from Kristi.....AND SHE WANTS TO COME TO THE FARM.....SHE WANTS TO MILK SOMETHING...well...two problems there.....my parents farm has nothing you can milk......and how the heck am I still gonna make it to Detroit on time if I have to take Kristi to the farm first?? So back goes a response to Kristi - saying okay...make sure you are here by 7:30 pm so we will have time to look around the farm before I have to "help my Mum" (aka drive to Detroit). So the day progressed along and then at about 5:30 the phone rang and it was Kristi saying she was not going to be able to make it to my place before I had to leave for my Mum's. Whew!!! This whole thing might work out after all....but I guess I was a little quiet on the phone ( she called right after I got up from my nap and I didn't want to spill the beans, so I wasn't offering too much information!)...but my quietness was mis-interpreted as anger....ah....poor Kristi thought I was angry with her....little did she know that my head was bursting with all the little white lies I had told since November...to keep this whole thing a secret!!!! Then 5 minutes later Vicki called to see what the heck was going on. She was wondering why my Mum would want me to come to the farm the night before I had to drive to Kingston. I said, well it's a busy time of year on the farm with lambs, and planting and all the other work that goes into running a farm. It's hard to tell little white lies to Vicki. She is my BFF and I tell her everything, so not letting her in on the secret was hard. Anyhow.... I left for the airport at 8:30 pm and Kristi arrived at my house around 11:00 pm. She was chatting with my husband...waiting for me to get home...and Joe finally told her that I was gonna be really late...so she best be going to bed.
Diana and I arrived back in Woodstock at 6:00 AM. Joe woke Kristi up at 6:00 AM and told her it was a good thing that she didn't go with me to the farm, cause I just got home. I felt bad, cause she was worried about me all night, but I was okay. So she came downstairs and came out into the kitchen!!!!! Surprise Kristi!!!
Getting that nap, I indicated in my original post...didn't happen! (Well it happened a tiny bit for Diana - she fell asleep on the couch for a bit).
That was when Tami came to my place!!!!! So I took her hand....tiptoed over to the couch and pointed at Diana sleeping on the couch!! Tami was speechless!! Even my kids didn't know that Aunt Diana was coming over! When Jade walked out into the kitchen she screamed! Joel was excited too...not screaming like a girl...but there were big hugs all around!
Then we were waiting for Kim and Donna to get to my place! When they finally got there, Diana was standing over where she could not be seen. I told them that I had found something and I wasn't sure if I should bring it along to Victopia with me or not.....then I brought out Diana!!!! More screaming!!! And yeah....they thought I should bring her along!!
So we did our road trip...stopping at the Scrapping Bug, Simply Scrappin' and Stamping Bella along the way. Vicki called us once along the way and poor Kristi could not get off the phone fast enough...she was afraid she was gonna say something to spill the beans to Vicki! Vicki also let us know that she would not be home till about 8:30 as she was taking John to football practice. This was great, it gave us a chance to get all our stuff in the house and get Diana hid somewhere!!
Vicki's mom helped us out...she called Vicki and told her that we were there so she headed home! So we all got hugs from Vicki and chatted it up a bit and then Diana came walking out from by Vicki's bar. There was waaaaay more screaming then!!! It was a good surprise.
We had so much fun and so many laughs. I cannot remember when the last time was that I laughed that hard. My friends are the best ever. I'll post more about Victopia later, I just wanted to correct my post so you received accurate information!
We are heading to Markham today to have dinner with our little sister Courtney!

Chow for now
Jacqui

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Victopia Bound!!!



Today is the day!!!! I am packed, I am ready, I have our itinerary printed out. We are ready to make our way to Kingston to go and stamp with Vicki.


These stamping weekends are some of the best times of my life.


I have met so many great people in my life and I am proud to say my stamping girls are the best friends I have ever had.


This is just a short post, cause it's a long drive


But I wanted to check in....and let you know it will probably not be until Sunday or Monday when I post again....unless I do some "post dated posts" - that depends on my timing for Wednesday!!
Chow for now
Jacqui

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Celtic Thunder hits London Ontario!!







Back in October, my mom and my sister and I went to see Celtic Thunder in Toronto at the Air Canada Centre. It was a fabulous show. It was verbatim from the PBS special. The fellas voices were bang on and they sounded incredible. The stage was awesome and the band was perfect too.........and then one day...............






My phone rang and it was my Mom. She had just found out that Celtic Thunder was coming to London to do a show and she wanted to know if I wanted to go with her. (Well that's a silly question!!!) I said I would love to go....but Jade will kill me if I don't take her too, so Mom decided to get a ticket for her as well and that it would be her birthday present!!! My mom sent an invitation to Jade in the mail to attend the event BUT she did not tell Jade what the event was!!! We did an incredible job of keeping it a secret....Jade did not know what she was going to see until we were walking up to the John Labatt Centre and she saw the 3 Celtic Thunder transport trucks!! She was "excited" to say the least!! Which was the reaction we were going for!!
Our seats were AWESOME. We were 6 rows back from the stage!! They were perfect. We could see everything.....even the beads of sweat!!!

I had my hopes up when we got the tickets because right on the ticket it said "NO RECORDERS" so I was hopeful they would let us take pictures. But......when we got there, signs were posted everywhere saying no cameras, recorders, cell phone cameras - NOTHING. So that was a big drag because we were so close. I asked the John Labatt dude anyway - just in case I was misinterpreting the large pink signs.....but nope I understood. I was not even allowed to take a picture of the stage with no one on it. So you'll have to enjoy these pictures I found on the web instead.




So Mom and I were sitting there discussing the show and what Jade was to expect - boy were we surprised!!



The show started the same...with the creepy guy with a hooded cloak on the big screen - he reminds me of a horror movie - but anyway - and then the drums start!! You can just feel the vibration in your chest - it is awesome...a little loud for some, but it totally gets you "into" it when you can actually "feel" the beat of the drums. Then they came out and did their first song, which was Heartland, and of course they nailed it and it sounded great. According to the PBS special Keith should be next sitting on his rock playing his MacPherson guitar.....but oh..what's this?? Keith is standing....Keith is wearing a hat....and he sang a different song...what is going on?? That was the first of many surprises!! They have changed up their entire show. It was fabulous. We thought the show in Toronto was awesome....this one was 10 times better - seriously. We were hoping they would still do the song A Bird Without Wings, which Damian and George sing together, as it is a beautiful song. Yes, they did sing it...but believe it or not......Damian's voice has changed from a soprano to a tenor since October! He still sounds great - but it was just different than what we were expecting. They even got the string section involved more in the show this time! They were doo-op girls when Damian was singing Breaking Up is Hard to Do and Happy Birthday Sweet 16.

It was great to see them singing and performing different songs, and it was nice to see them interacting a bit with the audience as well. That was one thing that struck me in Toronto - they do not say a word....they smile and nod and wave, but they did not speak a word. This time however, Damian said "thanks" once and it caught us by surprise. George said "thank you" once, Ryan said "sing along London", and Paul said something but I cannot remember what is was. Keith came right over to in front of where I was sitting and said "Hello London" he knew I was there I'm certain of it!!! (ha ha - a girl can always dream!!!)


I thought my mom was going to jump out of her seat when George came out and sang "500 Miles" by the Proclaimers. That's one of her favourite songs and always makes her think of the movie "Benny and Joon" with Johnny Depp! They also added the song "You Raise Me Up" by Josh Groban. Paul did a fabulous job of singing it. I must admit it made me cry. They also did a fabulous version of "Every Breath You Take" by Sting. It seemed to be getting to the end of the show and it appeared as though they were done and I was like...no....they can't be done....they have not come out in their kilts yet. So off the stage they go......and the band starts playing - it was cute - the one tiny little fiddle player put her hair up funky and she was in bare feet and she started flitting about the stage playing her fiddle and kind of making a "competition" between the other band members! It was a fun performance for sure. It was a little bittersweet when I looked at the piano player cause his profile looked like a younger version of my Poppa (love you Poppa -miss you lots).

And then.......Out they come in their kilts to sing Caledonia. I get goose bumps just thinking about the show. It was fabulous. They were showing their legs and kind of being silly, pulling on Damian's kilt etc. They look like they have a fun fun time when they are together.




Check them out!!!! Don't they look fabulous in their kilts.
I must say - these guys put on one kick ass show and if you ever get the chance to see them - take the chance. You will NOT be disappointed.
I was looking on the web, and I guess the people who follow them are called "Thunderheads" so I guess....I'll sign off today with.....
Chow for now,
Thunderhead
Jacqui


































Sunday, April 19, 2009

Two Challenges in One


I participated in two challenges this week. One was to create a card using a stamp set that had flowers in it and one was to make a card using designer paper. My time has been stretched a little thin this week, so I decided to make one card that I could use for both challenges. I hope that's not cheating, but I did it anyway!
I am heading up to Kingston next week to stamp with my BFF Vicki Garrett and to see a bunch of other friends I have met through this stampin' thang!
We've got a road trip planned and I'm getting so excited I can hardly stand it!
Jade and I are heading for a surprise get-together with my mom today! (it's a surprise for Jade, not so much for mom and me!) I'll fill ya in on that tomorrow!!
Chow for now,
Jacqui

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Lucy Goosey.....







Thursday I am sitting at my desk at work. I start my shift at 6:00 AM. At that time of the morning there are only 2 of us at work. I was in my cubicle and I heard this noise, I though it sounded like a goose, but it kind of also sounded like a squeaky chair. So Nathan, the fella I work with, says holy crap there is a goose sitting on the window sill. So I go running out to see the goose. By the time I got there he was back down on the ground. (To totally appreciate this story it's important to know that our offices are on the very top of a cement parking garage. The building is a 5 level structure and our offices are located on the 5th floor. So when we look out our window we are looking way down towards the ground.) So Nathan and I watch the goose for few minutes and he looks like he didn't hurt himself too bad hitting the window, so I decide to go back to my desk. I told him to tell me if he got up there again. I just got around the corner and he said there he is again, but by the time I got back he was down on the ground again. So I decided to watch him for a bit. We kind of stepped back from the window, just in case he could see us, then when we leaned forward to see him, he was standing on the curb. Then all of a sudden he took flight.....it was almost like slow motion.....and Nathan and I were cheering him on, yelling you can do it you can do it.....but it was not to be....smack right into the window again.
I'm thinking why is he trying to get up here? I figured his girlfriend must be up on the roof and he is trying to get to her. I run back to my desk to get my phone so I can take his picture if he decides to attempt it again. I see him get back up on his curb and it looks like he is gonna go and oops there goes the bus by him..he stepped backwards and fell off the curb...but once the bus went by, back up on the curb he gets! So I am there ready with my camera phone and yep..yep....there he goes again, but this time he took a different flight path and went a little farther on the diagonal so he had more time to get some height and he was successful this time!!! We were cheering for him! I went out to the parking garage to see if I could see him. When I walked out the door I saw a head......so I was right!!!! His girlfriend/wife/mistress has a nest built in one of the flower beds that is attached to the side of the structure. So he was trying to get up to her! I went over and looked at her.....she turned her head with quite a bit of attitude I might add! I tried to get a bit closer to her to get a better picture with my camera, but she started hissing and I didn't want to make her mad. Later on that day I took her out some crackers. When I got close to give her the crackers she stood up and she is sitting on 2 eggs!!!! So I am gonna take some bread and stuff for her to snack on! Hopefully she will eventually realize I am not gonna hurt her or the eggs and she will stop hissing at me.



So Friday I took my camera to work to get better pictures. We have decided to call the girl Lucy and the boy Drake! I don't know how many eggs she has cause she has them buried but I hope some of them survive.

Chow for now,
Jacqui




Friday, April 17, 2009

Why is it.......

that when you take a knife out of your drawer or out of your knife block to cut a nice ripe and juicy tomato to make a sandwich, the knife is not sharp enough and you just end up squishing the crap out of your nice tomato? But when you put it in the sink to wash it, and you reach down into the water to pick it up, it has no problem at all slicing through your finger? It must be Murphy's Law of knives in the sink!! So not only have I been a little lacking in the stamping mojo department now I am wounded!
I received an awesome card from Jane Bosi in the mail yesterday. We both belong to a Stampin' Up! group where we use only Stampin' Up! products to make cards, but this particular challenge was a contraband challenge. So we were to use our latest contraband item to make a card. This is the card I received from Jane. The funny thing is, I used the Changito monkeys on my contraband card too! They are my newest favourite little fellas! This picture shows a close up of the little Changito dude!! Isn't he cute? With his steamin' cup of java that he is bringing into his female Changito, but the kitchen floor was chilly so he had to slip on her fuzzy slippers!

I love the way Jane coloured this. Using the white gel pen to add highlights to the coffee cup and to the head of the monkey and the pj's.





Now this picture is my beautiful Granny! This was taken on April 12th on her 90th birthday. She was talking to one of her nephews. She is just so beautiful. She looks so happy here. I love taking pictures of her when she is not looking. She will not smile for pictures so getting ones that she does not know you are taking are the best, cause then she is natural. She was having a good time on Sunday. She kept saying "why would all these people come just to see me?" Well it's cause we love you silly, Granny Grunt! She was so cute telling my mom to go and get her some earrings and her broach, so she put her cameo's on. It just makes me smile to look at this picture, I just love her so much.
All right....enough mushy stuff!!!! I'll try to get some stamping done so I can show you some fabulous creation!!!!!
Chow for now,
Jacqui

Thursday, April 16, 2009

No I haven't.......


disappeared from the face of the earth!!! I have been so crazy busy the last few days I have not had time to blog. It's been such a busy last couple of weeks. We had Jade's birthday on the 8th, then off to see Willie Nelson on the 11 - who was absolutely amazing by the way - then Granny's party/open house on the 12th - which was a huge success. She was totally surprised by the Open House, and just guessing we think about 50 people came to see her! How great is that? Then my favourite guys in the world....The Road Hammers came to Cowboys bar in London. The show was the kick off to their Canadian tour. They were awesome as usual. It was a late night and I got 2 hours sleep and then off to work again.

So I haven't been doing too much stamping!

So I was just checking in to let you know that I haven't deserted you!!

I'll leave you with a quick picture of Willie Nelson.

Chow for now,

Jacqui

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Happy 90th Birthday Granny!


90 years. Wow, that just seems so surreal. But then again - when I was 16 I thought 40 was a lifetime away and well here I am.......

Today is my Granny's birthday. She is the sweetest, the most cantankerous, the funniest and the absolute BEST Granny anyone could ever have. She has just a good and pure heart. There should be more people in the world like her. We are having a family lunch with her at the nursing home and then we are having an Open House for her after lunch. I am hoping a bunch of the cousins we have not seen in sometime show up. I plan on taking lots of pictures, so hopefully will get a chance to post them when we get home later on today. I leave you with a few pictures of Granny. Isn't she beautiful? I will edit this post with more pictures from today.





Love ya Granny Grunt!
Chow for now
Jacqui

Another April Birthday card



Well I'm still working on April birthday cards. Granny and Uncle Mel are the only ones that are actually gonna get theirs on time!!! Oh yeah Jade got hers on time as well. The base of this card is Pink Pirouette, which is inked up using the direct to paper technique. The next layer is a piece of Bella Rose Designer paper and the next layer as well.



I used my scallop circle Nestabilities to cut out the Bella Rose Designer paper and the white piece the image is stamped on.



The image was stamped with Memento ink and coloured with the Copics. Crystal Effects was applied to certain areas of the image to make it look like real icing and sweets.Dew Drops were adhered to the right side of the card.The sentiment was stamped on white, and sponged around the edges. A piece of Bella Rose designer paper was cut like a ribbon and placed behind the sentiment.

What's this you say???
The countdown is on!!! In 13.5 hours I will be sitting in my seat at the Willie Nelson concert.

I can hardly wait. I was to go and see Merle Haggard a few months ago, but on the night of the concert the drummer fell ill and they had to cancel the concert. I am hoping nothing like this happens tomorrow night! So this little ditty is my ticket and my sharpie marker to get a great autograph (hopefully!)
I hope to get some good pictures as well, which I will post in the next day or two.
Chow for now,
Jacqui

Friday, April 10, 2009

Happy Birthday Diana!

(make sure you scroll all the way down - this stupid thing put way too much space between the pictures)
Today is my sister Diana's birthday. She is so much fun and I love spending time with her. Yeah, I'm positive my mom would say we fought like cats and dogs when we were kids, but it's that familiar saying "you don't realize what you have until it's gone". You don't realize how much you are going to miss someone until they are not with you every day. I wish she lived closer. I would like my kids to get to know her better than they have. And I would love to get to know Eric (Diana's son) better too. He grew up so fast.


I started going through some old pictures to put up here of Diana to celebrate her birthday. I was unprepared for the emotions I felt while I was looking through these pictures. Some laughs, and some tears. I got so “into” looking at them, I didn’t get the post up until now! Oh my gosh what memories these pictures bring back! It was so hard to decide what pictures to post.

This picture is of Diana and I when we were quite small. Doesn’t she just look thrilled to have a new sister!!! Me on the other hand….looks like…who the hell is this and why is she squeezing me so tight!!!!



















This picture is Diana’s “Little House on the Prairie” look. I don’t think there are any pictures of me in this get up. (hope not!) Ha ha just kidding. It is a cute little outfit, I'm just not sure where they were taking her dressed like this??


















I’m not sure where this picture was taken, but it was definitely at the height of Diana’s fashion career! Check out the paisley on those pants!!! Now there’s a challenge for you! Make a card inspired by Diana’s funky pants!!

I'm not sure if that "belt" came with that outfit or if it was one of Poppa's ties!
















I’m not sure where we were going when this picture was taken. But aren’t we cute!

Just like now…I’m a little more conservative then Diana – check out the length of that blue dress!!!!



















Oh my gosh memories here…..Christmas with Granny and Poppa. That snow man sitting on the hi-fi, that you can see just behind Diana’s head, is at my house. That is my ornament and it still gets set out every Christmas. You turn Santa around and it winds up and then he and the little boy sitting on his shoulder twirl around while the music to Jingle Bells plays.

If you look close on the Christmas tree there are some light teal coloured balls, they go on my tree at Christmas, as well as the Humpty Dumpty ornaments, and the Santa's, and oh my gosh I have those fruit baskets and those angels with the harps too!









I’m not sure where we were going this day either, but I do remember I just loved that little outfit, and my sister! Look how happy I am just standing there beside my big sis!




















This picture brought back many a good memory and a few tears too. Here we are in front of Poppa and Granny’s trailer. We used to jump in the car every summer, hook up the trailer and head west. We would drive and stop and camp all the way out to Alberta. We would go to Cold Lake to visit our Aunt and Uncle. Oh my gosh I have so many memories of all the things we did when we were camping and the places we visited. But the best part of all was the quality time we spent with each other and all the great memories we have with our Granny and Poppa.

They were such selfless people. They never went anywhere we could not go. My love for them both is immeasureable.









I like this picture! It totally shows how “fun” Diana is! Check out the pose!! I also like it because it reminds me of the house at Andy and Marion’s that Granny and Poppa used to live in. We used to have so much fun there. Snowmobiling in the winter, getting stuck in the mud in the garden in the spring, making bed sheet tents with chairs in the summer, and baling hay in the fall. Well we didn't actually bale the hay...we ran along beside the stooks of hay and scooped up all the baby mice that would nest in the stooks!



Here is Diana early on in her American Idol career!! Now she is just a critic! I beleve she even has stirrup pants on!! Could it be so?



















Check out the dresses and hair on us!!! This picture was taken before we went to our Uncle Bill and Aunt Olive’s 50th wedding anniversary. At least I think that is what we were celebrating. I know it was for Aunt Olive and Uncle Bill anyway!! We both had dolls that had dresses with that same material! Hhhmmm….looks like that corner was “the” place to take pictures!! Half the pictures I posted here are taken in that corner!















here we are about a year and a bit ago. Diana came home when our Granny was quite ill. We went over to a dear friend of mine (hi Jenn!!) and did some stamping. We were exhausted from all the emotional stress dealing with Granny – and well…if you’ve ever been around either of us – tired + stress = goofy!! My good friend Donna said we were the best "sister-sister travelling road show" she had ever seen!

These pictures bring up so many great memories, but they also make me realize how fast life just flies by and how much I miss her and wish she lived closer.
I love you Diana
Happy Birthday.

Chow for now
Jacqui

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Happy Birthday Jade!!


Well it's hard to believe, but Jade turns 15 today. I can remember the day she was born. It seems like just yesterday. She is such a good kid, and I give her such a hard time all the time, it's a wonder she survives!!



I like this picture of Jade and I. It was a couple of summers ago when we went up to Kingston for a vacation with my BFF Vicki! I don't have very many pictures of me with the kids, cause I am usually on the other end of the camera, so I cherish the ones I do have.






Jade is such a beautiful girl. She has a good heart and she cares about everyone. She always sees the good in people even when they are being mean and nasty.

I like this picture of Jade as well. Vicki took it when we were at the beach in Ipperwash a couple of summers ago. This is her "oh my gosh Mom I can't believe you just said that" face!!

I love trying to shock her every once in a while!! It keeps her on her toes!

This is the card I made for Jade for her birthday. I cased it from one that Cambria did. I loved the layout and all the little embellishments that are on the card.

The base is Purely Pomegranate card stock, with the next layer being Chocolate Chip. The next layer is a piece of designer paper. Hanna is stamped and coloured with Copics and her dress is paper pieced. She is matted on Purely Pomegranate and then matted on Chocolate Chip card stock. Photo corners were punched with Chocolate Chip card stock and pink designer paper. Dew drops were put on the corners. Arrows were punched with the Stampin' Up! arrow punch. The "15" was stamped with Karen Fosters snap stamps and then punched out with the star burst punch. It was then layered on Purely Pomegranate and then on Chocolate Chip. A piece of pink ribbon was attached to the card and the word "celebrate" was applied with a rub on. I'm pleased with the way this card turned out. I hope she likes it!

Love ya, Jadey!!

Chow for now,

Jacqui

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

When will the snow go away?



Well I must admit that I am getting a little angry with Mother Nature. I’m getting a little tired of the snow. It’s April…..get on with spring already…..
I told the guys at work that if it was snowing when I got up this morning I wasn’t coming in to work, I was just gonna roll over and go back to sleep and pretend the day wasn’t happening.
So I decided that the card I would make today would be bright and springy. The base of the card is Pumpkin Pie card stock. The next layer is Washington Apple designer paper. I put a piece of Pumpkin Pie ribbon on the card as well. The image was stamped with Memento ink and then coloured with the Copics. It was then matted with a piece of Pumpkin Pie card stock.
The little hedgehog was stamped and coloured and cut out and popped up on the image. The sentiment was stamped and punched out with the scalloped oval punches. A larger scalloped oval was punched and matted behind.
I’m not sure who will get this card either, but I will add it to my April birthday card stack!

A very good friend of mine’s mother is having surgery tomorrow, so send positive vibes her way. Good luck Marion.

Chow for now,


Jacqui

Monday, April 6, 2009

A Little Bit Country........

I absolutely love watching the country music awards. I listen to country music all the time. Country music stars just seem to be so genuine. Not only in the songs they write and sing, but in their lives and when they talk and are being interviewed. They just seem so down to earth and appear to truly love the job they do.
There are so many new people and new groups breaking into the country scene it is hard to keep up with all of them. I like Taylor Swift very much. She seems so pure and honest right now. I hope those qualities stay with her forever. Reba presented her with an award, I believe it was called the Crystal Milestone award for selling more records then anyone in a year and for bringing country music to the younger age group. It was cute, cause she had no idea she was getting it.
I always like to see George Strait perform. He is a classic and does not rely on light shows and props to entertain the fans. He stands up there and plays his guitar and sings his songs and it’s golden!
Did you see Reba’s dress she had on when she presented Taylor Swift with her award? It was very pretty. It was green and black. Two colours that look fabulous on her with her beautiful red hair. I must say though…it kind of looked like the black parts could have been leather, which made me think of “Lady Heather” from CSI!!!!!!
Wow…I’ve never seen Leanne Womack play the guitar before. I was wishing she had of performed her new song “Last Call” but she did some other song I have never heard before. My all time favourite song of hers is “I Hope You Dance”. Her beautiful children are in the video with her and I love the dress she has on in the video, and oh yeah….the song is awesome too!!
Good Lord – I was glad to see that Kelly Pickler managed to keep her boobs in her dress, but holy heck, she looked like she got beat up and was trying to cover it up with make up.
I’m still trying to figure out if she is really that dense or if she is just putting on a show.
So this whole country music conversation is really leading up to something! On Saturday night, Willie Nelson is going to be in London and I am gonna be at the concert!!!! I can hardly wait. I have always wanted to see him in concert. I have always wanted to see Merle Haggard as well. I had tickets to see him last year and his drummer became ill and the concert was cancelled. I was very sad. So I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Willie and his crew will be healthy and be able to put on a great show. He is having Ray Price as a special guest and rumor has it Billy Bob Thornton. I have only ever heard one song by Billy Bob and that was the one her wrote for Angelina Jolie, so hopefully if he comes along it will be a good show. Whenever I go to see The Roadhammers I call my BFF Vicki. We totally cannot hear each other on the phone, but I like to make sure she knows I am thinking about her and wishes that she was at the concert with me. So when my phone rang tonight I was surprised….it was Vicki calling me from the Willie Nelson concert in her home town!!!! She always surprises me!!!!! I love her to pieces!!! Only 18 more sleeps until I get to hang out with her for a weekend!!! I cannot wait…the next 18 days are gonna go by sooooo slow.
All righty….onto the card!


I have loved these little owls ever since I saw the card that Diana made with them. They are just so cute with their huge eyes. I finally inked them up this weekend. I’m not sure who this card is going to be for. I have a bunch of April birthdays, so I am making a bunch of cards and I will decide later who gets which one.
The base of the card is Baja Breeze card stock. The next layer is designer paper from the collection in the new Occasions mini – I can’t think of the name of it right now. The owls were stamped and coloured with the Copics. I used my Nestabilities to cut them out and then matted them with some Baja Breeze. Put a little bit of white satin ribbon from the Occasions Mini catalogue and stamped the happy birthday sentiment across the bottom.
Quick card, but cute I think.
Chow for now,

Jacqui

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Happy Birthday Aunt Brenda


Well today marks the first of a bunch of April birthdays for our family.
It must have been cold in August for a number of years!!!
Here is a picture of my Aunt Brenda. Isn’t she beautiful?


This picture was taken a couple of Christmas’s ago. The kids and I had purchased a bunch of Christmas type hats and doo dads because we were in the Ingersoll Santa Claus parade and the Woodstock Santa Claus parade so we had to have some props.
When someone opens a present, everyone else sits by and watches them open their gift. So the kids decided that whoever was opening a present should wear this funky little Christmas hat with the braids. So she doesn’t always wear a hat like this!!!
I just love Aunt Brenda to pieces. She is so funny. I don’t think I have ever had a visit with her where I wasn’t crying from laughing so hard before I left! She is a such a sweet heart and has taken such great care of my Uncle Mel, we can never thank her enough.
Have a great birthday Aunt Brenda. Hopefully I'll get her card made today and I will get it posted up here as well!
Love ya lots,
Jacqui

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Verve Sketches

Sketch challenges are so much fun.
I think I like them better than colour challenges.
You get a sketch and then all you have to do is pick the colours and the stamp set to put in the elements of the sketch.
One of the lists I am on has some sort of a challenge each week. This past week the challenge was a sketch and this particular one was by Verve.
The base of the card is Kiwi Kiss card stock.
The next layer is Bella Rose designer paper.
I then took another piece of Kiwi Kiss card stock and punched it with the scallop edge punch, which mats a piece of Pacific Point card stock which is punched with the scallop edged punch. I stamped the vase of flowers from the Scene in a Garden stamp set randomly on the Pacific Point piece.
Then I put two strips of Kiwi Kiss which were sponged with Pacific Point across the Pacific Point piece.
The vases of flowers were stamped with Stazon on watercolour paper and coloured with blender pens and the re-inkers.
The sentiment is from Spring Song. It was stamped on Kiwi Kiss that had been sponged with Pacific Point ink and then matted with a piece of Pacific Point.
The pots and bird house were stamped with Stazon on watercolour paper and coloured with blender pens and the re-inkers.
The sentiment and the bird house were popped up with dimensionals which you can sort of see in this picture.
Now I am off to do a bunch more stamping. A lot of my family celebrates birthdays in April!
Chow for now
Jacqui

Friday, April 3, 2009

Music Expressions



I haven't done much stamping in the last few days. My back is still pretty sore from falling down the stairs, and I sit all day at work, so I haven't been doing too much sitting at my stamping table.


This card I did for the virtual stamping night which was this past weekend over at Splitcoast Stampers.


The card was to be inspired by the Venetian Casino in Las Vegas, using specific colours


Here is what I came up with.


Chow for now,
Jacqui

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

You know it’s gonna be a bad day when……..

You get up at 4:00 AM to get ready for work and you slip and fall down your stairs. Yep, that’s what I did this morning. My alarm went off, I sat up in bed, threw on my robe, slipped into my slippers and headed down the hall to the stairs….I got down about 4 steps and then slipped….I guess that’s why they are called slippers…….and down I went.
I didn’t go ass over tea kettle, which is a good thing, but I landed on my back and smacked my head and hit my arm off something. Thankfully my steps are covered in carpet…..but it’s not as plush on my arse as it feels on my feet!
I’m pretty stiff right now, but I think I will survive.
So enough whining!!!!
My little sister Courtney celebrated her 27th birthday on Monday. My mom surprised me by having her and her boyfriend Jay meet us for lunch on Sunday. That was a great surprise. We live a ways away from each other so we don’t see each other as often as I would like. Courtney’s boyfriend Jay celebrated his birthday on the 28th of March. Like always, my birthday cards for them are gonna be late….they are in the mail right now, but they obviously didn’t make it to them on time.

Courtney is a teacher, so I used the teacher set made by Hanna Stamps to create this card.
I stamped a bunch of apples and coloured them green and red with the Copics. I drew a chalk board and coloured it with the Copics. I then sponged above and below the chalk board to make it look like walls. I stamped the clock on the wall. The teacher Hanna was stamped and coloured with Copics and then cut out and adhered to the card.
I stamped the table from the Stampin’ Up! set Scene in a garden, to be the teachers’ desk. I then coloured the globe and placed it on the table. I also coloured the ruler and put it in the teachers hand and coloured the pencil and put it on the table with the globe.
I was quite pleased the way this card turned out.. I hope you like it too!

Jay is a Real Estate agent so I went that route with his card. I wheeled the houses using the Neighbourhood wheel by Stampin’ Up!.I coloured them with the Copics. I then stamped Anthony by Hanna Stamps and coloured him with the Copics and cut him out. I also stamped, coloured and cut out the brief case. Jay’s card was a quite a bit simpler than Courtney’s card, but I hope he likes it just the same.

Well..I think I might go get some ibuprofen and go lay down and rest my weary bones!
Chow for now, Jacqui