Busy Times Ahead.

Have you signed up for the upcoming classes yet?  Don't be disappointed as one customer was just recently.  She completely missed all the Christmas cardmaking classes due to the busyness of life.  Don't let that happen to you. 

We have another cardmaking class tomorrow, though of course that now is full.  We'll be making a Christmas card, a birthday card and two card fronts for your stash for those times when you get caught short.  Does that happen to you?  Funny isn't it how even though we know a birthday/anniversary falls on the same date every year, we suddenly realise the day before (if we're lucky) that this is the day! 

Next thursday (24th) we have our calendar class.  We've almost got all the samples complete now, just one more month to go and then cutting of kits.  The ladies will be completing 12 mini pages (6 x 6) that will have space for one to two photos per month as well as the monthly calendar.  These pages will be hanging from a frame that can stand on your desk, counter or shelf.  Then next year you can take it, replace the calendar with another small photo and put these pages into a 6 x 6 album.  A gift that can conceivably cover two years.  Great to give to a Mom/Grandma who really doesn't want anything.

Then the following thursday, (Dec 1st) we have a quickie gift class.  There we will be making gifts that you can give as hostess, co-worker or teacher gifts.  Linda sent me a photo of the one she was making today...so darn cute!!!  There will be three in total, so not to be missed, make sure you call before the class is full.

Do you like to colour?  I hate it personally, but both Linda and my sister enjoy it.  I found these Mandella drawings that you can colour and have as a focal point on your card or even as a portion of your scrapbook page.  Head on over here where a very talented artist Thaneeya McArdle is sharing with anyone that wants to use her work for their personal use.

Did I tell you that I've been working on re-organising my craft room (hence not too much blogging)?  A year or two ago when Linda had her new kitchen put in, I inherited some of her old cabinets that she didn't want.  Though they gave me lots of storage, I never quite organised it, so I'm in the process now.  In doing that, I got rid of my old crafting desk and purchased a slab door for a desk.  I've hung it from the wall and the other end is on top of a small bookcase that we've had for years, making a long desk through the middle of the room from the window.   Works so much better because I can easily access the table from both sides.  It doesn't stop there though.  I've hung some other shelves on the wall for my scraps of cardstock.  I'll show you a photo of those, but you'll have to wait to see the complete revamp.  I want to paint everything to pull it together, but first have to paint the frames for the new windows we recently had installed. 

 
 I have 10 baskets in total, well actually 9 because the Dollar Store has no more white, so I'm hoping I'll be able to pick one up somewhere else.  The tags quickly show me what colour is in each basket.  I was inspired by paint chips to make the labels using my cardstock scraps in a badge holder.  They are  hung with elastic at the moment, but I'll change that to be the appropriate colour ribbon soon.  It has been really successful and looks quite neat too.

 

Last but not least, here's a look at the card I made for Linda's birthday last Monday.  Have another one to make for her husband's birthday on Friday.  Note I said another one to make.  It's not done yet!

Talk to you all later, if I don't see you in the store soon....

Lilian

Catching up - Slowly but surely

How does that saying go, slow and steady wins the race!  Well slowly but steadily we are getting caught up......however of course there are more classes in the planning stages!  So are we ever really caught up?  Never mind, it means that every day we have a task to perform, so that's good isn't it?  I've posted some more photos on Flickr tonight, so pop on over there to have a look.

In posting the October Thursday technique class I looked at this card again.   Made by stamping the oak leaves using the Tim Holtz Distress inks I really love the colours.  Need it be said that I'm a Fall colour person, born in the Fall of the year and now in the Fall of my life...LOL. 
With the Sizzix embossing folder behind the leaves, they look like they are swirling in the wind.

Did you enjoy the beautiful weekend we just had?  When we were outside yesterday, my husband pointed out that the temperature was a balmy 13 degrees Celsius.  (I can't not mention that as we were doing yardwork there were two ladies walking by who offered us pointers on how to work, but didn't stop to help!)  Then today Linda's husband was outside working dressed in shorts!  This November is one to enjoy and treasure as it shortens up the winter for us.  However after my granddaughter Rachel was at my home for a sewing lesson today after school, we realised that it had quickly become dark with the changing of the clocks this past weekend.

As I mentioned earlier in this posting, Linda and I have been busy planning and prepping some new classes for you, so be sure to check out the newsletter for dates.  Don't be slow in signing up and finding they are all full!

Here's a nice idea here if you are a sewer for making your own fabric storage boxes.  Though we don't sell fabric, we do sell the plastic canvas that was used between layers to stiffen the box.  Enjoy.

Lilian

I'm back......did you miss me?

No we didn't fall overboard whilst on our cruise.  It was just that when we came back we took off running.  With three all day Christmas card classes for 66 ladies, a scrapbooking weekend with 40 ladies, as well as some regular classes, there was no time to think let alone blog!!
It took an email from a concerned customer today as well as hosting the last Christmas card class yesterday to make me feel ready to sit down and blog again.  So here I am.

There were so many things in the past few weeks that made me think...I must put that on the blog, that you will be inundated in the next days/weeks with stuff!  Hopefully it will be stuff to make you happy and feel creative.

Linda finished a lovely paper Christmas tree today that may spark your creative juices for the coming season.  As well we had a card class tonight and the ladies made yet another Christmas card along with two decorative tags and a greeting card.  They were busy ladies tonight and the store reverberated with their happy laughter....it was fun.  I'll post those later on the Flickr site, though here's one tag to tease you and if you look closely you can see a corner of the other one.

Do you see that lovely green double sided satin ribbon bow and trim at the bottom?  Well from the time that tag was made to the time we went to cut the kits a whole roll of ribbon has gone missing in action!  We can't find it anywhere and unfortunately I have to 'fess up to being the one that likely lost it!  I'm notorious for having product in my hand and then going to help a customer and putting that which is in my hand down "somewhere" in the store.  Even today we were looking on the shelves for the roll of ribbon and couldn't find it, so the ladies at class had a similar colour but in grosgrain rather than satin...still it looked pretty.

Anyway I'm not going to make this a lengthy post tonight.  I will share a site with you that I found for some free fonts...never have enough of them and love them for cutting with my Silhouette for scrapbooking titles, gives me so much choice.  Click here to go and see them.   I really liked that Stampin Rachel font.

No I didn't forget to put the photo in of  the paper Christmas tree Linda made.  Here it is hope you enjoy.  I "bumped" the photo from my iphone to my ipad...ask me about that "app" sometime...it's really amazing technology.

So, to make the tree you have to go into your local scrapbooking and craft store, preferably the Craft Nook in Bracebridge. There you purchase a styrofoam cone, bell, sequin pins a small amount of braid trim and three papers of your choice.  We used two of one and one of another. The paper strips are cut at 4" x 1/2".  Easy peasy and done in very little time.  

Happy Crafting...

I'll be posting the cards that we did for the Christmas card classes onto the Flickr site in the next couple of days, so keep looking  for them.  Maybe they will offer you some inspiration too.


Lilian

Having Fun

Well I hope we are...confident that we are, but I'm writing this before we leave, so really don't know!  We've been hearing that we will be getting rain, but we'll make the best of it and sing and dance in the rain if we have to.  Suitcases are packed, now it's just a waiting game as we leave in the morning.

Thought I'd share some stuff with you though in our absence.  I found this great idea to re-use and re-cycle along with using up your scrappy scraps.  Take a look here, once it's made it could be a great storage place for all those little scraps.  Take it a step further and if you can find 12" boxes you could bind them together, cover them and store your full sheets in them.   Think about it and have fun.   Send us some photos if you make any storage boxes.

I also meant to put this into the blog earlier...I don't think it's expired yet.  You may have to sign up to the website to be able to download, but some pretty nice words and sayings that could be used on scrapbook pages or cards and the best part is they're free!

And one more thing.   If you like to decorate for Hallowe'en this will give you a head start.  You can make it simple as it is, or you could fancy it up some more.

So that should  help you not to be in withdrawal whilst we are away and there are no classes happening at the store.  Stop in and say hi to Lizette and Anita, we know they'll be doing an awesome job for you in our absence.

Oh, before I go here's a sneak peek at one of the Christmas cards we will be making in class.  Don't tell Linda I showed it to you...LOL.  Oh dear, is it too small to see much...sorry but it's worth coming to class to make.   Remember there are only a few spots left in the third and last Christmas card class on Wednesday November 2nd, so get your name down if you haven't already

Happy Crafting....

Lilian

Gosh I had no Idea!

Really I didn't realise how long it had been since I'd made an entry on the blog.  So much is going on in the background just now and quite honestly if you aren't a piece of cardstock, Christmas paper or patterned paper for a class, then you don't get much attention!   Linda and I have been steadily planning, cutting and prepping for all the classes that will come very quickly after our return from our cruise.

It's getting to be quite exciting as the time draws near.  The children are beginning to ask questions regarding safety aspects of both the flight and cruise.  Makes you realise how much goes on in their heads that you don't really expect.  Like why do you have to have a muster station and run through of how to put on your life preserver on the ship if the ship is safe?  Sigh....answer that one now.  I received an email from my sister in England to say that it was only four more sleeps.  By the time she would have read my response, it was only three more sleeps for her.  She's excited too I could tell.  She's joining us in Fort Lauderdale and coming on the cruise with us.  We've chartered a large van to take us all to Miami where we sail from.  There's a total of ten in our family group.  You'll have to ask me sometime when you're in the store about the confusion we had in the beginning with our cabins...it's quite funny.

Because of all the prep work that's going on, I really don't have much to show you in the blog, but I did find this website that may be of interest to you if you're gathering fruit and veggies from your garden.  When I first came to Canada I couldn't understand why people spoke of doing their canning when in fact they were preserving in jars???  Anyway here's a website for printing some pretty labels to put on your jars, really nice when you are giving them as a gift. 
Don't limit your imagination to these alone though, design your own with the lovely background stamps from Impression Obsession if you own some.  You don't??? Drop into the store then and purchase a couple, they are so gorgeous.  There's not one that doesn't make you say WOW after you've stamped a piece of cardstock with it.  Here's one that I love to use with two or three colours of distress ink at the same time.
   Or combine two like these together to make a stunning background paper
               
Don't forget to look at the blog when we are away as I've got things lined up for you to enjoy still.

Lilian

So Nice to Receive

Linda and I strive constantly to give our very best to the customers that enter our store.  We try to remember that when they enter the front door we have no idea the stresses and concerns they bring with them.  With that in mind we endeavour to be upbeat and cheerful with each of you.  It was truly lovely to receive on Tuesday morning this comment from one of our customers, one that we don't know by name even.  Here's what she sent us......

You and your staff are amazing.  You are so helpful and cheerful.  I love visiting your shop and do so at every opportunity.

Thanks for all you help and the wonderful supply of goodies.  Soon I shall be able to open up my own shop.   I have that much STUFF.

Thanks again.

SS

Must admit we had a moment's concern when we read she would soon be able to open her own shop!

We are continuing to prepare for both the Mega Crop Weekend and the three Christmas Card Classes and they're coming along nicely.

The response to the Mega Crop Weekend was amazing with Wednesday bringing us to the point of me saying to Lizette...waiting list only now.   A number of croppers who aren't attending the whole weekend, have taken advantage of signing up for the class being offered.  Linda has the planning stages of the class well under control now along with some of the make and takes.

Thought I'd share these stylish rubber boots with you that I saw on a blog.  I really must remember to make note of the blogs I visit, but I surf and save so much without thinking I may share it later.  Don't they almost make you wish you lived in a rainy area!

                                                                      

Here's another interesting photo.  If we could only keep that perspective daily, what a much nicer world it would be.  Perhaps it's a design that could be incorporated into our home decor with the help of the Silhouette? 

And here's one last idea.  .Would be a great way to have a herb garden indoors don't you think.  A few mason jars, plumbing clamps and some boards and voila!  The only added thing I would do, with the help of my Silhouette, is label the jars

Have you taken advantage of the button on the right sidebar that enables you to receive our blog by email whenever something new is posted?  It's really easy to do.  Just enter your email address in the block under the 3/50 project button and submit it.  All new blog postings will come directly to your inbox then, save you having to remember to look at the blog and maybe miss an entry.

Lilian

Did You Register?

Today was registration day for the Mega Crop Weekend and true to form, there was a line up at the door when Linda arrived early.  She was planning on having them all registered and on their merry way before I arrived and then saying to me, wonder why no-one is registering this morning!  Naughty girl......I arrived early too and put an end to that idea...LOL!

It was lovely though to pull into the parking lot and see one of our customers who was thrilled to be first in the line to register.  She told us she had never been first for anything before.   She had her small daughter sitting on her lawn chair patiently waiting for one of us to arrive.  What was so lovely from my point of view though, was that she had aleady booked in to participate in a half marathon in Niagara Falls telling us just this week that she couldn't join us this year.   However the lovely part for me was that she had opted out of the marathon to join us and all the lovely ladies at the Mega Crop!  It wouldn't have been the same without you Birgit.

Another customer was backed up to the door with the back door of her van open so that her children could sit and play while she waited to be registered.  What great commitment, thanks Tara.

But that's just two stories, there were many others and each and every person registered is important to us.  We are now 3/4 full, so if you're thinking about joining us, don't wait too long.

One of the registrants has told us that she has a spare bedroom if any of you "out of towners" need a place to stay and don't mind a short drive to her cottage.  Contact us if that would be helpful to you, we will link you together.

This afternoon Linda and I were deep into more of the planning for the Mega Crop Weekend as well as the Christmas Card Class.  Both are coming together well and we're sure you'll be happy with the content we will present to you.

On a totally different note, I'd like to share some photos with you that my sister sent to me last night.  If you know our family at all, you'll know we are very proud of Brian who represented Canada in the 2008 Olympics and brought home a GOLD medal for Canada.  He is now on the journey again hoping to bring another medal home to Canada in 2012. 

                             

Presently he is in Slovenia at the 2011 Worlds Championship and yesterday the team was on the podium having come in third.  Not a bad placement at all given that they were less than three seconds behind the first place winners and with almost a year to go lots of time to improve and come together as a team. 

Brian is the short one on the team and is the coxswain.  His job is to direct and encourage the rowers.   

We often don't think about the athletes that represent our country as they train for many months and years prior to their few minutes of competition.  My sister keeps our family up to date as Brian and his team mates train and compete all over the world.   Many other athletes are striving toward the same goal in their chosen sport, keep them in mind now and again as they maybe are caused to spend time away from their families and home.  Brian has a lovely wife Robbi who keeps the home fires burning in Victoria B.C. for their two beautiful girls, Brianna and Peyton.

Now for all the children as they return to school, we wish you a happy and succesful year in whichever academic level you are at.  For those going away to other cities, we urge you to remember your roots.  Stay grounded in the values your parents have instilled in you.  For the parents, don't jump up and down for joy too much as your children leave the family home, you may break a bone!

For all of you, but particularly the younger ones, we encourage you to read.  We are a family of readers.  I can recall Rachel (Linda's oldest daughter) walking around the house with her book in her hand reading.  Our family all have our e-readers, be they Kindles or Kobo's or ipods with books downloaded to make for easy reading (have to get them loaded for our vacation).  For those children that want to keep a record of the books they've read, I found this free printable reading kit that can be downloaded here.  Enjoy!

Lilian

Busy Week

We haven't been blogging much this week, but that doesn't mean we haven't been doing anything.  We've got our feet down and running as we prepare for the Christmas Card Classes and the Mega Crop Weekend.  Lots of work happens behind the scenes as we research, plan and prepare for these events, and that's what we've been doing this past week in order to make sure that each event flows smoothly for those that have chosen to join us.

We've got about a third of the cards planned out and some samples made for the Christmas class.  Linda is very excited about the class we will be presenting at the Mega Crop.  We aren't sharing exactly what the class is, but you'll be able to make a complete album of the year's events in a very short time.  This class will be free to the first fifteen people who sign up for the crop.  However it is still open to others at the crop or even if you aren't attending the Mega Crop Weekend you can join us in this class for the small fee of $20.00.  Really worth the time and money, it's a pretty neat way of getting a complete album done.  Enough said about that, be sure to watch your newsletter for the registration of the Mega Crop coming soon.

We had another great card class last week, although by hosting it on Tuesday rather than Thursday, it seemed my whole week was mixed up.  Did you see the cards we made?  They're posted on our Flickr site HERE.  We worked with vellum, distress inks, masking, stitching and punches.  Many of these techniques were quite new to some of the ladies. Here's a peek at one of the cards, but be sure to hop over to Flickr to see the others.

We are so grateful for all the lovely comments we get from customers about the cards we make here at the store.  Many "out of towners" tell us they wish they lived nearer, or that we would open a store near them.   I'm still not ready for cyberspace classes yet, although I did share one last night with my sister in England with the help of our Skype program as I stepped her through some issues with her scanner and taught her some more steps to use on her photo editing program.

Linda and I are thankful for the support that we receive from all of our customers, local and long distance.    We are always open to suggestions that we receive from you and if there is anything that you would like us to look at to offer in the future, please let us know.  No suggestion is put aside without careful consideration first.  Many of our own thoughts and ideas will be on the back burner for months before they come to fruition.  We are hoping to present a calendar class in the fall that has been on my mind for a couple of years now, so if you approach us with an idea that doesn't seem to be used immediately, please keep this in mind.

Did you notice I've added something new to the side bar of the blog recently?  You can now get an email notification when I add a new posting to the blog so you don't have to miss a thing!  It's just below our proud to display 3/50 badge.  Have out ever checked out the mindset of the 3/50 program?  It's really grass roots thinking, and given that here are many papercrafting stores that have closed of late, with another closing at the end of September in Barrie, worth some consideration.  Click HERE to read more about it. They now offer an app for your phone (click on the badge on our side bar) so that when you're travelling you don't have to miss out on your local papercrafting stores.   Hmmmm wonder if there will be any around as we cruise later next month....well maybe when we are in Fort Lauderdale for a day or two.

In closing, don't forget to read your news letter tomorrow if you want to be one of the early birds registering for the Mega Crop Weekend.  As always, we will look after customers in the store first, then phone customers and finally email customers. 

Lilian

Lesson Learned!

Well if I hadn't figured it out before, I know it for sure now....I raised a pretty smart daughter it seems.  Before she left on vacation Linda merrily ordered product and guess when it shipped in?  You've got it ... while she's been away.  Pretty smart don't ya think?

She's been away basking in the sunshine, playing in the water and I've been slogging in the heat and dripping with perspiration....well not quite, but you get the picture.

However, with the help of my grandson Jonathan and of course our Anita, two general orders are now out on the shelves and one more of beading is underway.  So drop into the store to see the beautiful new Fall and Christmas papers, they're a treat.  Also a few new Christmas stamps are in.

The signup for the Christmas card classes are moving along nicely, so if you want to get in on the early classes, don't delay in contacting us.  Remember the early bird catches the worm.  The dates are Saturday October 15th and October 29th at Nippissing University, and November 2nd at The Independent Grocers.

Still some Basic Grey to be picked up too.

I think there's only one more spot in the Tuesday night card class if you're thinking about that, again don't delay.

I didn't forget about putting on the photo of the Blog Challenge prize that Angela won, here it is.  Keep looking for the next challenge to come your way.  I really liked how some of you stepped outside your comfort zone and created different ideas this time.  That's what the word challenge means doesn't it.

I was thinking today how fast summer is coming to a close and how soon the long winter will be upon us.  With winter of course comes all those wet boots and mittens.  Well while surfing for a while tonight, I came upon this sign and thought it would be perfect for some of our papercrafting customers to copy using their cutting machines to cut the letters.  If you don't have a Silhouette or Cricut, then we have lots of alphabet sticker for you to use.  I can't tell you where it came from unfortunately, because when I clicked on the image Explorer couldn't find the page.  So enjoy and have a chuckle.

                                  

And finally, my man's back home again.  He flew out to Winnipeg early Wednesday morning, and then by coach to Kenora where he picked up a bus that he drove back to Bracebridge. 

Now remember, I love this man, but he has to be crazy to find any pleasure in that! 

He does however get great pleasure from driving and he always comes home with a story or two. 

This time he told me about being held up on the highway for an hour and a half after an aircraft in Marathon hit a car on the highway. Thankfully Ron was about a km away and no-one was hurt.    Do I miss him when he's away.  He brings me tea in bed in the mornings and spoils me in other ways too.  Yes I miss him, but here's the picture I had on our iPad to look at each time I turned it on.

Lilian

All the Entries for the Blog Challenge.

Ain't they sweet!   I never tire of seeing the creativity of our customers.  Today I was privy to some photos of work done by a gentleman who, with his wife, owns a Silhouette.  They've even revamped their office space because they give the machine such a work out.  I've asked him if he would send some photos of his work that I could share with you, so hopefully he won't forget.   Amazing, spectacular are just some of the adjectives that come to my mind and so outside the box of what most people use their Silhouette for. 

That's enough tease for the moment though, here to titillate your senses are the blog entries all in one place.  We had an entry today, so don't miss your first look at that one also.  It was from Madison. 

Here again is the Home Decor sample that I made.

1.Diane                                                                  2.  Lisa                                                              

    

3. Lisa                                                                          4.  Angela        

       

                  

 5.  Lisa                                                                6. Christine



7. Bernice                                                                                 8. Bev 

                                                                                       

                                                                                                       

9.  Madison                                                                       10.  Tammy

                                                         

And the Winner is.........................

True Random Number Generator

Min: Max:

  Result: 4

Powered by RANDOM

  

HEY....it's Angela!!!

Congratulations Angela.  Drop into the store to pick up your prize.

I'll post a photo of the prize in the next day or two.

*****

Once again thank you to everyone

for playing along and sharing the fun with us. 

It only works when you participate.

Lilian

Christmas Card Classes - It's Confirmed!

I received the call at 4:55pm today (Monday) to say that both dates that we were waiting on for the Christmas Card Class are now confirmed. 

Thank you Jan for your help with this.

So here's the listing:  

Christmas Card Class (1) - Saturday October 15th 10:00 am to 3:00 pm

Venue: Nippissing University Science Room 

Christmas Card Class (2) - Saturday October 29th 10:00 am to 3:00 pm

Venue: Nippissing University Science Room 

Christmas Card Class (3) - Wednesday November 2nd 10:00 am to 3:00 pm

Venue: Independent Grocer's Bracebridge Community Room

Mark your Calendar and plan on attending one of them. 

They may be subject to some change with sign up considerations. 

Call or drop into the store to reserve your spot with pre-payment in the time slot of your choice.

The fee will be $40.00 plus tax.

Bring a bag lunch and any beverages you need.

More information will be forthcoming regarding any tools beyond your basic tool kit that you will need.

Lilian

Still Waiting on Confirmation of Dates for Christmas Card Class

I had hoped to tell you the dates were confirmed, but due to holidays and the person that I have to talk to being away I can't confirm until Monday.  Hopefully I can blog the dates then.

In the meantime I came upon this that I thought may be of interest to some of you.  Not to me, because my least favourite room in the house is my kitchen!  However of nescessity I have to spend some time there.  Perhaps you could print them out and incorporate them as a hostess gift in the upcoming Christmas season.  I'll see if I can find anything else as hostess gifts. 

Also this week I've had some customers in that have asked for help with their knitting projects.  One, a Grandma, hadn't knitted in years and wanted to teach her granddaughters, so we did a quick refresher lesson.   Another today was needing some help on sewing up seams.  Here's a useful site for the beginner knitter.  You'll probably have to sign up to the site, but like the book you can download, it's free to sign up.

Anyone who's signed up to the Basic Grey program, it came in late yesterday afternoon and I sorted it today.  You will be getting your email from Linda to tell you that it's ready for pickup now.  Some nice winter papers and embellishments this time.

Linda mentioned in last week's newsletter that we had confirmed the dates for the Mega Crop Weekend.  Have you cleared those dates, because we will be starting registration soon and have had a number of out of towners interested in participating.   Space is limited so make sure you aren't disappointed.

Only one Silhouette still available now with the Home Decor CD special, don't delay if you are thinking you'd like one.

Hmmm, no photos to post this time, but did you look at the cards from last Thursday's class?  They're here, and anyone that didn't take the class but has seen the punch all around the page card has really liked it.

  

Oh I've just noticed the date, and here's one of my quirks for you to ponder.  I often associate a date with someone or something to do with a family member, present or past.  Today was my aunt's birthday and she always maintained that contrary to popular belief, 13 was NOT an unlucky number. Given that her birthday was on the 13th and my two sisters who are twins have the 13th as their birthday, albeit a different month, I think she may have had a good point!  So there's my quirky bit of useless information to clutter up your brain cells...LOL.

Hope you enjoy your weekend, or what's left of it, despite the rain. 

Lilian

OOP's I GOOFED!

When I went into the store on Tuesday morning my eyes fell on a most lovely journal!  Hmmmmm I thought, guess I was wrong there, it wasn't a card Lisa had made for the blog challenge but a really punched up journal.  Unfortunately that's the trouble when you're looking at a photo.  No matter how good the photo is, the real thing is even better and that's exactly what happened here.  In hindsight I look at the photo and say to myself, how could you not see that it's a journal!   Look again here at Lisa's journal it's stunning. Then when I looked more closely in real life at her flower card here, I realised not only were the flowers popped on dimensional dots, they were beautifully cupped too. So there you go, my apologies to Lisa for not describing her work better, we've had a few laughs about it since Tuesday.  Have you begun to work on your blog challenge entry?  Last day is Monday at closing on August 14th.

But now it's Thursday and if you weren't at class tonight, then you missed a few laughs there too.  We made three very different cards tonight and ventured into the art of Zentangling.  This is a fancy word for Doodling and you either love it or not.  From my experience, the younger you are the more free you feel to doodle.  That said the youngest in our class tonight was celebrating her 14th birthday today and she loved the Zentangle card, but for us who've been around a while, we find it more difficult to be free with our doodling.  Take a look here on Flickr at the cards we made tonight.  Here's a sneak preview of just one of the cards.

This was perhaps the most popular card tonight.  An easier than you think card made with two Martha Stewart punches.  One was a square anywhere on the page punch and the border punch was the bangle chain punch.  The bottom layer we created with our favourite background stamps made by Impression Obsession.  They transform a plain piece of cardstock to a work of art that was almost a shame to have covered up here. The card was completed with some stamped flowers, a ribbon tie and embossed in the corners with a Cuttlebug folder.

I had hoped to be able to give you the dates and confirmations for the all day Christmas Card Class, but have still not heard back from one venue.  If I hear back tomorrow, I'll write a quick post tomorrow on the blog.

Lilian

How Creative!

Well I suggested that it would be good if you stepped outside the box as you created for this challenge and that's exactly what some of you did!   From scrapbook pages to sewing, for some of you it wasn't what you traditionally did.  Well done!  We can get comfortable doing what we always do and never try something new.  That's what this challenge is supposed to cause you to do....try a new thing at the same time...have fun!

Linda and I wondered how each person would interpret the colours we put forward.   Would you would use mainly black and white, or whether they would be just a touch of colour with the colour of your choice being most predominant. 

Well we had some of both, and here they are for
your enjoyment.

Lisa's card beautifully highlights one flower in the colour of her choice.  Love the stitching along the bottom too.  Must ask her if she did it with the new stitching tool.

Angela is predominantly a scrapbooker, but she made this fun and cheerful card whilst away on vacation!   Easier to manage than a scrapbook page, how we do love to craft! The checks make such a cheery summer card don't they.

 

Christine tells me she has never stitched before, so she was stepping outside her box in creating this card.  She used a Martha Stewart all around the page punch to create the flower.

 

Bernice used neon green as the mat and stitching on her card and it really pops with the black and white.  Like the way she stamped the greeting along the stem of the flower too.

 

Lisa made a gorgeous flourishy card here and chose to "stitch" the ribbon through the card.  Neat idea. Do you see the bling...WOW!

 

Bev created a simple yet stunning silhouette card with just a touch of bling on the flower accents and the lower border where she stitched.  Very effective.

Another card made while on vacation.  Di used an Impression Obsession background stamp and heat embossed it in white on black.

The touch of stitching on the side of the card just sets the focal point off.

In creating this card, Lisa had a fairly even balance of black, white and her colour.  The faux stitching around the edge of her focal point draws your eye to it, and just a touch of bling this time to hold the greeting in place.

Tammy loves to make scrapbook pages that she can give to friends and they can just pop the photos into.  The combination of colour here is quite effective, and the stitching under the banner is quite lovely.  Nice use of the corsage pins in the top left too.

 I've never seen any of Bernice's scrapbooking before as she seems to be predominantly a cardmaker.  However she has great talent here too.  The orange she chose draws your attention to Nick's tie and pocket handkerchief beautifully.  Don't you love the pretty little rosebud at the top left too.

So there you have the first entries into this month's blog challenge. 

Were you thinking of entering,but haven't got around to it yet?  Though I forgot to tell you the closing date of the challenge, fortunately Linda put it into the newsletter last week.  Just in case you missed it though, you have until closing on Monday next week, August 15th.

To all of you who asked.  My sister in law Di and I had a lovely time crafting together and were able to get all of the wedding "stuff" done that she had in her mind.   In saying that, we had lots of time to enjoy other things too.  Di joined us for a card class and crop at the store.  Terry (my brother in law) had an overnight fishing trip with the guys near Parry Sound where he met most of our mosquitos up close and personal.  We had an evening meal at the horse race track in Barrie and the guys went to the car races another night.  We hadn't realised we'd never taken them to the Marine Railway near Coldwater, so a pleasant afternoon was spent there too, with a side trip to see a lovely roadside garden.  There were swimming times and a picnic at Boyer's beach , a boat cruise, glow in the dark mini golf and a lovely dinner at the Mandarin in Barrie to celebrate both Terry and Di's birthdays, so lots of fun packed into three short weeks.  The only thing we didn't do that we planned was a morning at Gravenhurst farmer's market, we were rained out for that.

Lilian