Christmas Stampin' All Year Long Challenge 69 Purple and Silver

This week over at Christmas Stampin' All Year Long we had a colour challenge. Maria asked for some suggestions for some challenges a while back and I made the suggestion of making a Christmas card using the colours of purple and silver! She took my suggestion and made it into this weeks challenge! I used Concord Crush as my base card which I embossed with the snowflake embossing folder. I then put a strip of Brushed Silver card stock down the side of the card and added some purple gems. I added a little white snowflake attached with a purple square brad which just happens to be framed in silver!!!!! You should play along!! Make a Christmas card using these fun colours! Chow for now Jacqui

Wednesday Weigh In..

Well I was up 1 this week - so that bumps my total weight loss back down to 18 pounds lost. I am actually pleased with that result though because this past weekend was my Jactopia weekend. I had my bestest stamper friends over for the weekend to stamp with me. We also had lots and lots of food - I spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen!!!! We had my yummy Bacon Potato Chowder with homemade Whole Wheat Rolls for supper on Friday night. Then for breakfast on Saturday morning we had Cinnamon Rolls and eggs. We got up late so our lunch and supper were kind of combined into one big meal - which was Taco Dip, Greek Salad, cold meats (chicken, turkey, ham, porketta, roast beef) and lots of fancy schmancy breads (marble rye, pumpernickel, Italian cheese with grains, 9 grain and I think there might have been one or two more), cheese, and my homemade Coconut Cream Pie for dessert!!!! Then on Sunday we had left overs and I made my ever so popular Baked Spaghetti for supper....so all in all....I'm glad I only went up 1 pound! But I'm back on track today and looking forward to a bigger loss this week!
I'll post some Jactopia pictures tomorrow hopefully!
Chow for now,
Jacqui

Last day of Regional swaps

This is another pre-posted message - so it's early Sunday morning that I am posting this....I wonder if I went to bed last night - or did me and my girls stay up all night stamping and having a blast!



This was one of my swap cards, but no one put their name on it so I'm not sure how stamped it. I like it anyway! But I would like to give them credit for it.


This one used some of our new waffle paper and was created by Tanya Morose


I think I need to get this set!!! This beauty was created by Samantha Forrest.


This one was stamped by Ruth Hill ! (hey girl - miss ya!)
Chow for now
Jacqui

Swaps galore!

Here are some more swap cards from Regionals!
I pre-posted this message too....hhmmm..I wonder what I am doing right now!!!!


This sparkly one was stamped by Ruth Millard!


This one was stamped by Michelle Warford. This card was so heavy! Check out how many layers it has! I love it!


This card was stamped by Mary Hamil
I have one more day of Regional stamps and then I'll have to get stamping myself again!
Chow for now
Jacqui

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long Challenge 68 - Something Metallic

This week over at the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long Challenge Blog, we were challenged to use something metallic on our card creation. We were also blessed to have Robyn's Fetish as our sponsor this week. Please see the CSAYL blog for more information about our generous sponsor. I cracked out some of my little Christmas embellishments for this card. All the paper used is made by Stampin' Up! The image was coloured with Copics.My metallic piece is the little horn Santa is holding. If you haven't played along with us before, come on and join in the fun. Get your creative juices flowing! Chow for now, Jacqui

More Regional cards

Here are some more cards made for the Small World Stampers swap we had at Regionals in Hamilton. I am posting this one ahead of time, cause well....I am at home ....off work until Tuesday. So today while you are reading my post, I will be frantically cleaning my house, washing my floors and getting everything organized for my girls!!!!!! I can't wait to see them all. It's been way too long. I have not seen my BFF since April and that is just UNACCEPTABLE!!!!!


This card was stamped by Lynn Schumacher


This card was stamped by Lisa Jewer


This card was stamped by Karen Capern


This card was stamped by Karen Banks


This card was stamped by Julie Leblanc


This card was stamped by Joanne McTavish
There will be some more cards later!
Chow for now
Jacqui

Field Hockey and Wednesday Weigh In

Well..the girls tried hard, but were unsuccessful in taking a win yesterday in the two games they played, so the field hockey season is over. I must admit I had fun coaching and it got the juices flowing being out on the field with the stick and the ball again. I had many a flash back to the time when I played on that same field, for that same school. Thanks to the fans that came out to watch the game. It's always good to have people out watching. It's also funny to hear the comments the fans make. Many people don't understand the game of field hockey. There are many rules that are very different from hockey and if you have never played it can get confusing. It's a great game though. It would be nice to start a league in town if there would be enough interest in doing so.
Well the Wednesday weigh in - I'm down 1 pound this week - so that makes it a running total of 19 pounds. I was hoping for 20 by this time - but I'll take the 19.
I hope to be able to maintain this weekend. I have my favourite people in the world coming over to stamp with me this weekend and that usually means treats, and stamping and maybe some alcohol as well.....and that is not always good for the scales, but hey, you have to live right? So I will have fun this weekend - try to be good, but not get down on myself if I am not and have a super time with my girls!
It's been a while and I still have not shown you the rest of the cards from our Small World Stampers swap we had at Regionals in Hamilton. So here are some more of the cards I got!

This awesome card was stamped by Deb Laine


This card was stamped by Corinna Mulligan (I apologize for the blurry picture)


This car was stamped by Brenda Lassaline


This one was stamped by Donna Henley


This one was stamped by Eva-Marie Nathalie Rogerson and on the inside it looked like this!





This one was stamped by Dusty Weber. I love all the stitching!
I'll show you some more tomorrow!
Chow for now
Jacqui

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is always a nice time around our place. For the last few years it has been great weather, so it's nice to soak up some sun and spend some time outside. This Thanksgiving was our first one at our new place, which was great cause when it was time to head to Mom and Dad's for dinner, we just had to go down the road! We had duck this year which was very tasty. It was an organic duck so there was no grease at all. It was wonderful! Unfortunately, Dad was working in the fields combining beans so he did not join us for a sit down meal....although we did see him for about 20 minutes in between a wagon load so he could eat come cool food..but at least he ate! On Monday we went in to see Granny at the nursing home. She had a cold last week so she was on bed rest for 6 days - that's just standard practice at the nursing home. She kind of enjoyed the lounging around!!! They brought her meals to her in bed and she kinda liked that! She looks great and is doing well. I just love her so much, it makes me smile just to think about her. I took my tripod into the nursing home with us so that we could get a picture of us together! So here you can see Granny, my mom, me and Jade! 4 generations!!! Hope your Thanksgiving was a great one and that you got to spend it with your families. Chow for now Jacqui

NMDHS Proud!!!

Just a quick little entry to say how proud I am of the NMDHS Field Hockey Team!!!!! They won their first game this season yesterday! I'd like to think it was because of my fabulous coaching!!! The girls did great - even though we were playing in high speed winds, sleet, hail and pouring rain - seriously - they only call the games for lightening.
Way to go girls!!!!!!
Chow for now
Jacqui

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long Challenge 67 - Inspiration Challenge

This week over at the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long Challenge Blog, we had an Inspiration Challenge. We were given a picture and we had to create a card using inspiration from the picture. We also had Pink Cat Studio as our sponsor this week! Please see the CSAYL blog for more information on this great sponsor.
My inspiration was the greens and reds and the snowflakes.
I used River Rock as the base for my card, added in some DSP I got from a paper stack, popped up the image after colouring it with Copics and added some buttons tied with the gold elastic cord from Stampin' Up!, put a little gold bow on the top and voila - card done!
Chow for now
Jacqui

Rocky!!

Saturday morning I got up and looked out my front window and there was a raccoon lumbering up the lawn. This is odd, as raccoons are nocturnal animals and typically if you see them out during the day it indicates that they are sick or possibly rabid. So I was not about to go out and pet him or anything, but I did want to take a couple of pictures of him. So I grabbed my camera and took a few pictures of him coming up the lawn.....but he didn't stop when he saw me...he kept on coming! Next thing I know he is climbing up on the step that I am standing on....so that was my cue to go back in the house! I took a few pictures of him from inside the house walking around the step. Then he decided to climb on my big round pot I have sitting on my step ( which I have big plans for next spring). He climbed up on it and started looking in the window and scratching like he wanted in....(not gonna happen Rocky). My cat Shadow was NOT IMPRESSED. She was hissing like a jungle cat by this point. Then Rocky would go to climb down and end up in my pot and I was worried that he was gonna break it so Joel went out and flipped it over so he would not break it. Well then that just gave him something sturdy to stand on to look in the window. I didn't really want him near the house, so Joel went out and put an apple on a shovel to try and lure him away from the house. This worked to some extent......except that wherever Joel went with the shovel - the raccoon would follow him. Finally we just left him alone hoping he would go back to where he came from. They are a very cute looking animal, but they can be so dangerous as well and like I said when they are out during the day, that is not a good thing.
Chow for now Jacqui

Wednesday Weigh In

Well I'll start with the weigh in part to get that out of the way! Well I'm glad to say that I am down another 4 pounds this week, which makes it a running total of 18 pounds since I started on September 1st. I'm okay with that! I wish there was some magic pill you could take that would get you at a good weight and a good strength level. That's one thing I hope to do this time when I lose the weight is start some strength training. I have a bad back and I find the length of time I can sit or stand is getting less and less and I think if I do some strength training that might help that issue.
I wanted to post some pictures, but Blogger is acting up, so I will try later.
Chow for now,
Jacqui

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Challenge 66 - Sketch Challenge

This week over at Christmas Stampin' All Year Long, we had a sketch challenge. Sketch challenges are great. You already have the layout, you just have to add the papers! We also had In Style Stamps sponsor us this week. Check out more about this great sponsor on the CSAYL blog. The base of my card is River Rock card stock by Stampin' Up! the next layer is some Christmas designer paper I picked up on a road trip! The image was coloured with Copic markers and cut out using my Nestibilities. It was popped up with Stampin' Dimensionals. Buttons were added to the top of the image and a ribbon was added to the bottom to complete the sketch. Come on over and play with us! Chow for now, Jacqui

Put up or Shut up!!!! and the Wednesday Weigh In

Well, I will start off by saying this week was better for weight loss! I went down 4 pounds. So I am pleased with that! So that brings me up to a total of 14 pounds all together so far. woohoo!!!

In a previous post I told you that my daughter Jade is playing field hockey! I am proud of her for going out and giving it a shot cause it's a sport she has never played before, and it is very different from ice/street/floor hockey so there is a big learning curve. I went to watch their first game and although they had never played before, they did not too bad. Some of the girls have their own individual skills, but as a team they were quite scattered and did not look like they knew what they were doing. I made a few comments to one of the other mom's that was there as well as to Jade and they both informed me that the coaches basically volunteered to coach so that they would have a team, but neither of them have ever played the sport before. Well, it's great that they volunteered their time so there would be a team, but unfortunate that the girls won't learn too many skills and fundamentals. So yesterday at practice, Jade asked the coaches what they would think if I came out to help out a bit. They said sure!!!! So....tonight is my first kick at the can at coaching a field hockey team......and I'm thinking they aren't gonna like me much after running their little butts off!!!
Chow for now,
Jacqui

Don't ya sometimes wish....

that you could do things that people do in movies? Today I am wishing I could make fire like the fella from the movie Inkheart. It is freezing in my workplace. I have a heater under my desk turned on to full blast, an extra sweater on, a blanket on my lap and gloves on my hands...which thankfully are thin enough to allow me to type. This is ridiculous.....off to read the labour laws on "do we have to work when it's freezing"....... chow for now, Jacqui

Small World Stampers Swap

At Regionals on the weekend, one of my Small World Stampers girls, Heather Arsenault hosted a swap. I have not participated in a swap for some time and I was fun to do it again. I already posted the card that I did for this swap. You can see it here just in case you missed it. I will be posting the cards that were in the swap over the next few days. I want to capitalize on my blog posts!!!! I know sneaky huh! Here we are all lined up ready to swap. Heather had it all organized pretty slick - I just turned to my right and took a card and gave a card to the person next to me and then she followed me. It worked great. That way you got to see everyone! Today's share from the swap are the cards made by Carole Moore and Christine Brayer-Tebbens. Carol's card is embossed with the snowflake folder and has lots of glitter!! One of my favourite products.....and well Christmas cards cannot be Christmas cards without glitter! Christine's card is a different shaped card which I like. I like the non-standard sized cards. Makes me think I need to think outside my little box a bit more! More to come....... Chow for now Jacqui

Workshop Wow from Hamilton

At Regional seminars for Stampin' Up! they present these Workshop Wow's. Basically they get demonstrators to go up on stage and present some great thing they have discovered or made with SU products, and this Regional was no different - other than they now have 6 workshop wow's instead of only 4!!! It's so much fun to watch other people (besides the professionals) showing how to use our products. I cannot believe how well they did - I'd be shaking in my boots if I had to get up there and present in front of 100's of demonstrators......um AND SHELLI!!!!! Anyhow, one of the presenters was Jackie Topa. (it always makes me smile when I see her name, cause well, I have this event in the fall that I call Jactopia - and so when I see her name it makes me think of that!) carrying on with my story...... Jackie Topa was one of the workshop wow presenters. She created these awesome little projects with our new waffle paper. I am so glad someone used that product cause I wasn't really sure what to do with it...but these things are sooo stinkin' cute! She made a little witches hat, which she filled with candy! Isn't this the cutest!!!! If I get some waffle paper before Halloween, I might make some of these to put on my friends desks at work! She also made a little pilgrim hat for Thanksgiving. I love the little turkey out the top! And she put a Christmas spin on the waffle paper as well, making a cute tree - and the lids on those boxes come off!! You can get the patterns and instructions for this from her blog. Chow for now, Jacqui