Bargains Galore - Did You Get Them?

Well last Saturday's shoppers were very happy to have left their homes before eight o'clock in search of the bargains they found at the Garage Sale.

Coming from as far away as Midland we had a crowd of happy bargain hunters at the door before we arrived.

They came with their bags in their hands, around their necks or they picked up baskets to shop with, but all in all they had fun.

Scoring a brand new Cuttlebug, current Basic Grey papers, gently used stamps, cutting tools, books and magazines to learn from and craft storage to name a few of the bargains to be found.

Many went home saying they were going to go through their stash ready for the next time.

Have you been checking out the Ravelry knitting and crochet website? Here are two ear warmers Linda and I made from there.  One is knitted, one is crocheted, but both have cables going through them.

February has been such a cold month these have been handy to have if you aren't a hat lover.

Here's the link for the knitted ear warmer.  You can download it free from the site.  I can't find the link to the crocheted one, but if you're interested, let us know and I'll search some more.

Don't you love our models!

With thirteen in class last Thursday, it was a pretty busy class.  However everyone was done with lots of time to spare.  Linda and I rarely have to move them along because they push and pull each other.  Elaine was really not looking forward to making this card with the chevrons because she didn't enjoy a previous chevron card last year.  However this was a success builder and she was thrilled with how simple it was.  The bow on the top was a huge hit too.

Jump on over here to the Flickr site to see the other two cards the ladies completed on Thursday.

We had a delicious family dinner last night and when I tell you what we had, you'll be wishing you were at our table too.   Sandra had made some delicious creamy chicken pockets and Linda made oven roasted potatoes and brussel sprouts, with boiled carrots and steamed cauliflower.  Absolutely delicious and lovely colour to please my eye.  I'm a veggie lover and get teased about how I like the colour to be right with a meal.  I  was on dessert and didn't know Sandra was making chicken pockets so I made apple enchiladas and ice cream pie. Everyone commented on how good the whole meal was, and the best part was that there were some leftovers for children to take for lunch today.

Did you see in the newsletter that registration for the Mega Crop Weekend will begin on Thursday?  If you want the early bird special make sure you are at the store by nine as it usually goes within the first ten minutes.  If you don't want that, then still make sure you sign up quickly as there is limited space and like the classes it fills quickly.

Finally tonight here's a little verse that my sister found which would be good for the inside of a card.  

When I was speaking to her tonight I asked if she knew where she had found it, but she didn't.  

I couldn't click and copy it so I re-typed it for you to use, plus I put a little scroll on the bottom and some faux brads on the side.....enjoy.

Don't forget to left click first to go to the larger image, then right click and follow the instruction to either save to a file, or copy the image into a program such as Word.

Until Later...Happy Crafting.

Lilian

Garage Sale Tomorrow!

 

 

Tomorrow is the big day!

 

     We have sorted everything that our vendors have brought in for our GARAGE SALE and there are some fantastic buys.

STAMPS, PAPER, PUNCHES, CUTTING TOOLS,

STICKERS, EMBELLISHMENTS,

INSTRUCTION  BOOKS,  ORGANIZERS,

ALBUMS,  DECORATIVE  SCISSORS,

EMBOSSING STENCILS, AND MORE!

 

 

Garage Sale starts at 9am - cash sales only - items as is.

 

Don't be late or you'll miss out on the best stuff!

 

 

Family Day Weekend?

So, did you have anything fun planned with your family for this holiday weekend?  Much as the break is welcome, I do wish it was a little later and the weather was warmer.  Are you getting it?  I'm just not a winter person, so why do I live in the great white north you say?

I can clearly recall the day many years ago, when I got the brainstorm to move to Canada and waited for my husband to come home from work to share my excitement with him...where was my brain?  No, truly, we don't regret the move at all.  I just wish someone had reminded me of my geography lessons and that Canada is a snowy land.

Here's another question.  -   Why is the English language so complicated?  

I had a phone call at the store this past week and was asked if we had the straw that you tie around balloons to hang them.  Hmmmmm, I'm thinking, do they mean raffia?  I can see tying raffia around a balloon can't you. When I asked if they meant raffia, they said no...like a drinking straw. OH, I thought...straw not straw.  Yikes so many words are the same but mean completely different things. Wear/where, there/their, hear/here to name a few.  I did feel silly, but oh well...shrug it off and move on.

So here's a conundrum for you.  Given that we know the English language is confusing, what is this word, and how is it pronounced.  

Ghoti   

Don't get it?  Then here are some clues.  Look at each bold and underlined portion of the words below.

Enough    Women    Nation    

Think about the sound these letters make in their respective words.  Put them together and you'll be able to enunciate the puzzle word.  Leave a comment below if you can figure it out. (It's not that I'm fishing for comments, just wondering who reads the blog.)

I told you the English language is confusing!

Anyway, moving on to something more sane. Linda was trolling around the Internet and came upon a great bow tying tutorial that she wanted to share with you all.  I think she's hoping that those that are taking the All Day Card Making class will practice it before coming to class...LOL.

Here's the link.  and here's the finished bow...looks great doesn't it.

I heard from one of our Friday night scrappers that she used the freebie word art that I put in the last blog on a card that she made.  Here's another for you to use inside a card, or as a focal point on the front of the card.  Remember you have to left click on the image to enlarge it, then right click to either save it to a file or copy it into your word publishing program. You can then size it to fit what you need.
The fonts I used here were Volutes for the lower case letters and Palace Script for the two upper case.  Take care that you download the font and not advertising.

Don't forget to leave a comment at the end of the blog if you've enjoyed something from the blog content.  We're always interested in what you have to say.  It's really easy to do.  Just click on the comment section at the bottom of the post. Enter your comment and sign your name at the end of it, then post it using the Anonymous choice if you don't have a blog of your own, but don't forget to sign your name in the comment section.

Another long distance customer, my sister-in-law Di, sent me a photo of some cards she made inspired by the monogram that Evelyn put on her card in the last posting, aren't they great masculine cards.  Once again by taking the original idea and putting her own "stamp" on it she turned it into a lovely card, making it in triplicate for three different masculine birthdays, smart girl!

Here's the starting card that we made in our Technique Class, then Evelyn's interpretation and finally Di's.

  

I'm excited to show you what our paper crafting  friend Lisa was inspired to do when she saw my Distress Ink storage on the blog.  Wow she's one talented lady!  Her crafting supplies are in her dining room and although some are inside storage, her Distress Inks were on a shelf and didn't look exactly stunning in her dining room.

Here's how she disguised them as artwork.

The artwork on the front is a piece that we offered as a make and take at one of our crop weekends that Lisa attended.

 What great use for the piece. See how the cord at the top hangs from a decorative brad which in turn holds the artwork in place.

Lisa used foam core board (sold at out store) a pair of cutters and a craft knife to create the cubby ink storage.

Below you can see the artwork removed and how the Distress Inks are now accessible. Isn't that clever!  Lisa is going to have a listing of all her inks on the reverse of her artwork for quick reference.

GREAT JOB Lisa and thanks so much  for sharing.  Perhaps you will inspire someone else to create storage for their inks too.






Here are some words that may inspire you to take photos to use in one of your scrapbook pages.

And for the needle artists.  I'm still working on my cross stitch that I started last year whilst I was travelling, how about you, do you have a piece on the go right now?

No, then look here for some inspiration.    

Ellen Maurer-Stroh offers  among other free patterns, twelve flower of the month designs that you can download and use.  If you prefer your needlework to be in kit form, then drop into the store and see the great selection we have and ask about others we may be able to order in for you.

Needlework not your craft of choice?  We've just ordered some particular painting by numbers at the request of a gentleman that likes to paint them and give them as gifts.  Just ask us about the wide variety of crafting items that we can access for you.

Don't forget to look at www.ravelry.com for some great knitting and crochet patterns.  I'm not sure if you have to set up a free account to browse the patterns, but well worth doing if you are a knitter or crocheter.  We have two groups of beginner knitters at the moment and they have been working on these cowl designs.

Here and  also here.  

When I told another customer of the store, Margaret,  about Ravelry she discovered a great slipper pattern that she's really enjoyed making with the yarn colours she chose and we ordered in for her. I'm sure she'll be happy that I shared this pattern with you.  Remember if there's a particular colour or brand of yarn that you'd like, talk to us and we'll do our best to get it for you.

And finally, have you talked to your friends and family about the upcoming Crop Weekend?  Have you arranged things so that you are ready for the registration that will be opening really soon now.

How about the All Day Card Class?  The first one is full, but there are a few spaces in the second one if you want to join us.  Don't delay too long and be disappointed.

Until Later.....Happy Crafting

Lilian

What a Month!

February is never the best month of the year, but it's certainly testing us this year isn't it.  Further to Emily's comment last week about going to school one week for the Friday only and the following week every day but Friday.  Her latest comment was....."Yay! A four day weekend."

I wouldn't like to be the decision maker in the early hours of the morning regarding whether the school buses will run or not.

In talking to my one sister in England tonight, she tells me they had more snow today, but it was gone by the evening.  They've had far more snow this year than they usually have too.

My other sister in Belleville said that my nephew Brian had flown in from B.C. to do two speaking engagements of which one was cancelled because of the weather.  

It's his birthday next week, so Evelyn made a card for him using one of the cards from last week's Technique Class as her model.  He doesn't look at the blog, so I'm safe putting it on here.  

Don't you love the way she made it her own by using just two strips instead of three and putting the monogram on as the focal point....great job Evelyn.

 

Anyway moving on to that warm lovely red time of year  - Valentine's day, which will soon be upon us.  I thought I'd show you what Linda and Emily were creating on the weekend for Emily's classmates. (Note, if you're one of her classmates Mom's, please don't show this to them before Valentines Day.)

Emily found an idea on the internet that she liked of some Super Hero Suckers.  The sentiment was printed on the card stock leaving some space for the cutting of the cape, which was easy enough. Emily used her decorative scissors to edge the bottom of the cape.   

However the mask created a bit of a challenge given that they were so small and 26 to cut.  Linda drew a rough shape on lined school paper  and quickly decided that they WERE NOT doing this 26 times.  

So she coloured the rough cut in with her black Permapaque Pen, much to Emily's chagrin at  first until she realised where they were heading.  The next step was to take a photo of the blacked in mask on the right and email it to herself.  

She then imported this image into the Silhouette program.

Traced and tweaked the shape a little then duplicated it.  Here's a shot of her Silhouette screen with a 12 x 12 work space so that you can see how many she got on a small piece of card stock and how close together she was able to have them cut.  So much easier as Tammy (one of our cardmakers) would say than fancy cutting...LOL!

After punching some red hearts for the cape and a quick assembly Emily is ready for Valentines day as you can see.

And how about you?  Have you created a card for your Sweetie yet? Here's a sentiment that I made tonight that you are welcome to use. Right click on the image so that you can get a larger copy of it. After copying it, paste it into your word publishing program to use it. You can size it to whatever you need for your card.

The font is Edwardian Script and the image I found by doing a Google Images search.  I then removed the colour to make it a black and grey image and faded it behind the words, putting a border around the edge.   If you took our recent technique class you will know how with red Stickles you can highlight any of the hearts you choose and make them pop.  

Are you one of the ones that receives any blog updates into your email inbox and were able to register quickly for the new All Day Card Class date?  Some have already taken advantage of the early notice that the blog allows.  I can't say it often enough, but if you want to be able to know when I post something new on the blog then go to the right side bar, just below the store photo where it says.......

KEEP UP BY EMAIL WITH WHAT'S NEW AT THE CRAFT NOOK

Click in the box just below that, type in your email and follow the steps and you will know the day after I post something new on the blog.

Finally, for all of you who are so kindly asking how Rachel and Jonathan are doing in Quebec.  They are both ready to come home now, which is natural as we all miss home when we are away, but both are having a great time with their host families.  

Today all the students were at Radio Canada and interacting with the station.  From what I understand, some were chosen to participate with the radio and some with the television.  I believe they all had an opportunity to participate though.  Rachel was an announcer, Jonathan worked with the cameramen.   

They've both had their struggles with language comprehension, nothing to do  with speaking it, but Quebecers will speak faster and obviously more fluently.  Both have learned tremendously and feel their skills have grown and now if they have to do laundry know how to say that too! 

They still have a tour of the city to come, a visit to circus school and a play day.

The teachers have been amazing and kudos to the principal for his part in making this happen and being there even though he apparently doesn't speak french.

Until Later....Happy Crafting

Lilian

Did You Miss Out?

If you did, then you may be in luck.  We  have another date for a second All Day Card Class.  We had confirmation yesterday for Saturday April 6th once again in the Community Room at Independent Grocers.  So if you missed out on the first class and would like to attend the second class, drop in soon or call us to register your spot.  From the waiting list we are already half full, so don't delay and be disappointed again.

The Garage Sale is taking off very well.  We have more vendors signed up this time than we have before, so could be an opportunity for some great bargains.  Have you marked it on your calendar?  It's February 23rd.

We had a great time at class on Thursday.  Although due to the weather conditions a couple of people weren't able to come, those that were there had a great time.  It always amazes me how attentive the ladies are and  how many small things they learn along the way.  Perhaps a better way to ink up their stamp, how to get a clearer image, how the embossing buddy works better if you take it out of the bag first....LOL.  

Oh we do have some fun at Technique Class and yet manage to complete three cards each time.  

This week we played with Distress Inks, water and a paint brush to increase the brilliance of the colour and then added some pencil crayon to the image to create shadows and shading.  Very different for some of the ladies, but they were all up for the challenge.  Here are the cards we made.

 It's always more difficult to create a masculine card, so the woven strips and the bike not only work nicely for that, but also offer you the opportunity of using up some smaller pieces of card stock.

The ladies loved the stark contrast of the purple and mauve floral card which could be used for many occasions from birthday to wedding card.

It was the beautiful bold butterflies that got the most attention on Thursday though.  When the butterflies were first stamped with Aged Mahogany Distress Ink, they looked a little flat.  However with just a wet paintbrush, a brown pencil crayon and some Stardust Pen the butterflies really came to life. 

Now this card would also suit many different occasions. Maybe even a Valentine card.  Have you made a sweet card for your sweetie yet?  Here are some words that you may be able to use...

Hope everyone managed to dig themselves out after that nasty storm.  We had a lovely gentleman in the store yesterday who offered to dig out our driveway if I didn't have anyone to do it for me....such a kindly offer.   Once again in Muskoka we were more fortunate than many.

Emily made mention of the fact that last week they only went to school on Friday because of the three days of bus cancellations and one day scheduled as a Professional Development day for the teachers.  This week however they went every day except Friday.  She thought that was kind of neat.  One week of schooling in two weeks.

Rachel and Jonathan seem to be having fun on their french exchange program in Quebec.  Struggled a bit to begin with with the language, but still having a great time.  It's one thing to be able to speak the french language with anglophone students, but quite different struggling to comprehend it being spoken much more fluently by francophones.   The teacher's send text/email updates and have commented how proud they are of all the students participation with their "twinned" student.  How well they are interacting with them and the language too.

Here's a photo that one of the teachers sent as the students were waiting to go into the Cosmodome program.

Lent is almost upon us and it will be sure to bring back special memories for my one sister as it was on Shrove Tuesday that she met her husband for the first time, and yes though I'm not sharing, there's a story there too.  Here's a link to the Kraft Food website where you can find recipes for making your own pancakes instead of the boxes of ready made mix..  

Don't forget to move on registration for the second card day class if you're wanting to join us.

Happy Crafting

Lilian

Winter Wonderland

I was sitting by the fire today with a cup of tea, reading a book when I glanced out of the window and thought what a beautiful day this is today. The snow was on the trees, the sky was blue and the sun was shining brightly...life is good!

Yes snow means driveways to be cleared, but it was light and fluffy snow that fell.  Of course that's not good for snowman making, but the children were back at school today....life is good!

                                            

Linda was mentioning in the newsletter that we had re-organised the one wall of cards in the store.  Have you seen it yet?  It's so hard to display all the cards that are made either at the Thursday Technique Class or the All Day Card Classes.  However they do look much better now and we only had to retire a few to make display space. 

Can you see any cards you've made in these past classes?  

Here's a peek at the wall.

 

  

These are just some of the cards on display.   Did you recognise any you've made in the past?  Drop into the store to see more.

Were you one of the lucky ones that was quick enough to get registered in the March All Day Card Class.  Linda always cautions in the newsletter to contact us as soon as you can because classes sign up so fast and this was no exception with only one spot left by Thursday afternoon.  

If you wanted to be in it though, all is not lost.  Give us a call and we can add you to a list and we may be able to put together a second class.  It's always a busy but fun filled time no matter whether it's all occasion cards as this class will be, or Christmas cards.  Lots to learn and you'll have a minimum of ten models to make new cards from.  

Take a look at a card that Linda made today modeled from a previous class.  This is being given to Rachel's host family in Quebec when she goes on her French exchange program this week.                        This is the card that she modeled hers from.  We made it in an August 2010 Technique class

     

And here are two views of the card that she made for Rachel's host family.  Isn't that the cutest stamp that she used.  So perfect for two schoolgirls meeting one another in person for the first time.  They've met a few times on Skype in the past few weeks and they've learned a little about each other and their respective families despite the differences in language.

Do you recall my saying in the last blog that I'd have to clean my craft room before I could take some photos to show you what I've done?  Well that hasn't happened yet.  Well it has, but then it quickly got messed up again with some sewing projects, a re-upholstery project and more prep for up-coming  classes.   

In saying that, I found this on my PC that I saved back in 2010 according to the file.....

                                   I can't clean my room

because I get distracted

by all the cool stuff I find.

Is that your problem too? Maybe the garage sale that we will be holding on February 23rd  will be useful to you?  As you clean and go through your crafting stash, weed out what you don't use/need any more and turn it into new cool stash.  

How it works, is that you bring into the store "stuff" that you no longer use from your stash with an attractive price on it. Someone else sees it and wants just exactly that to add to their stash and they buy it. You get the money in the form of a gift  certificate that you can use to add new "stuff" to your stash.  

A win/win situation for vendor (you) and buyer (who knows).  The cost to you, just $5.00 a bin and believe me, you can get lots in a bin.  

So get busy take a look at what you've accumulated that you no longer use and get in touch with us soon.

If you weren't at the Crop and Craft Night last Friday then you missed out on an evening of  laughter and learning.  We had two young people and a Mom who wanted to learn to knit and did a great job as they started on a cowl scarf with a variety of stitches.  Moving at their own pace and learning in their own way they were a happy bunch.   

And Jane who just wanted to learn how to size, not just crop her photos and put them into a map so that she could see where she was going before starting on her scrapbook page.  A trick she saw and liked from another Friday night scrapbooker. Take a look here at what Jane had to say on our Facebook page. 

Such a kind  and encouraging comment, thank you Jane.

We also had scrapbookers, card makers and jewelry makers, so lots of activity and so much laughter.

Why don't you join us some Friday to pursue the craft of your choice, be it one of the above or another you would like to learn that we may be able to teach you.

Here's a link for any knitters and crocheters out there.  You will find a zillion (can you count that high) patterns on this site and you will be sure to find something that you just have to make. 

Until later, Happy Crafting

Lilian

Have to wish my sister-in-law a Happy Birthday for the 7th...hope you have a lovely, lovely day and are totally spoiled June.