Sheesh....

Where does the time go? We are in the middle of "Take this house and sell it" renovations and somewhere is my desk with partial Christmas cards on it! Hopefully, this will end soon and I can get going and mail them out.

Cathy

Lest We Forget....

Happy Hallowe'en

It has been quiet on the western front. Wedding over with and it was awesome. I just have to finish the Thank You cards and then it is on to Christmas cards.

Just a quick note as my work day is almost done and I am heading home to get ready for my youngest grandson to go trick or treating with us. Our subdivision is isolated and we have hoards of kids show up and we hand out hot chocolate with a fire works display for the kids.

Isn't he just the cutest little dragon?

  


Hope you all have a safe fun-filled evening.

Cat

Greetings....

First...I do not like the new blogger. If it ain't broke why fix it! I hope they do not make the changes permanent...Facebook did it and it sucked!

Second...I am here! Life has a habit of getting in the way. Grandbaby turned one and the other turned two....a new one on the way (please, please a girl this time)! I am not holding my breath though...nothing but boys on both sides...oh well...I will accept healthy and perfect!

Wedding...favor tags done, table numbers done, templates for programs, escort cards, place cards, and menu cards done...all ready for printing and putting together. I only have two weeks to pull this off...yikes!

Lots of camping this summer....beautiful weather, great friends...good times. We are off again this weekend with the RV club we belong to. I was "volunteered" to run the craft class at the rally. Nope...not cards this year...too easy! How about tissue box covers? What was I thinking? Fiddly, fiddly, fiddly...to make up two kits for 15 people. Oh well, it should be lots of fun.

Hubby should be back any second with the motor home and it is time to load up and head out for a great weekend of sitting poolside with a cold rum & coke and later sitting around a fire with a spiced tea!

Have a great weekend!

OMG...I won!

It is a bitter sweet win....I follow "Making Our Mark" blog and one of the resident artists, Guy Gondron has throat cancer and MOM held a fundraiser for him. I love his images and a lot of them have come across my desk as freebies. It was a no-brainer to support him....well, I won the grand prize! Can you believe it?

Because of this, an opportunity is coming my way and I am seriously debating it.....making blog videos! I have one technique I am having so much fun with and I am really, really considering it....just have to research what kind of video camera to use.

Hope the sun is shining your way!
Cat

Graduation....

It's that time of year and we have three graduating...two from high school and one from college. When I spotted this card I just had to make it for Jake, our nephew...it is so him! I wanted to change it up a bit so I turned it into my first easel card...not bad for my first attempt.

He is not a fussy, frilly kind of guy so I did not put the usual sappy sentiment inside...all it says is, "What...expecting something profound?"

My two nieces are the other two...Angela from high school and Nicolle from college (she is going to be a lawyer).

I have been really busy trying to finish my first year of Copic classes with Suzanne Dean and I finished my last homework last night...I am impressed with myself. I have gone from wanting to scream and through these markers out of the window to complete frustration (it was the paper) to having an absolute blast! These are my final pictures for the class...thanks Suzanne, I learned a lot.

I hope your day is sunny and relaxing.

Cat

They did it again...

Thanks Glitterbabe's for the laugh..


today's words of wisdom.....

What is Celibacy?

Celibacy can be a choice in life, or a condition imposed by circumstances.
While attending a Marriage Weekend, Frank and his wife Nancy listened to the instructor declare, It is essential that husbands and wives know the things that are important to each other.�
He then addressed the men. Can you name and describe your wife's favorite flower?
Frank leaned over, touched Nancy 's arm gently, and whispered, Gold Medal-All-Purpose, isn't it?
And thus began Frank's life of celibacy...

I think this is hilarious!!!

I was "blurfing" my usual blogs and found this on Glitterbabe's website. I couldn't find a way of linking directly so...I copy/pasted it.

"today's words of wisdom... THE LAST CONFLICT....

The Israelis and Arabs realized that, if they continued fighting, they would someday end up destroying the whole world. So they
decided to settle their dispute with an ancient practice: a duel of two, like David and Goliath. This "duel" would be a dog fight.
The negotiators agreed each side would take 5 years to develop the best fighting dog they could. The dog that won the fight would earn its people the right to rule the disputed areas. The losing side would have to lay down its arms for good.
The Arabs found the biggest, meanest Dobermans and Rottweilers in the world. They bred them together and then crossed their offspring with the meanest Siberian wolves. They selected only the biggest, strongest puppy of each litter, fed it the best food and killed all the other puppies. They used steroids and trainers in their quest for the perfect killing machine. After the 5 years were up, they had a dog that needed steel prison bars on its cage. Only expert trainers could handle this incredibly nasty and ferocious beast.

When the day of the big dog-fight finally arrived, the Israelis showed up with a very strange-looking animal, a Dachshund that was 10 feet long! Everyone at the dogfight arena felt sorry for the Israelis. No one there seriously thought this weird, odd-looking animal stood any chance against the growling beast over in the Arab camp. All the bookies took one look and predicted that the Arab dog would win in less than a minute. As the cages were opened, the Dachshund slowly waddled toward the center of the ring. The Arab dog leaped from its cage and charged the giant wiener-dog. As he got to within an inch of the Israeli dog, the Dachshund opened its jaws and swallowed the Arab beast whole in one bite. There was nothing left but a small puff of fur from the Arab killer dog's tail floating to the ground. The stunned crowd of international observers, bookies and media personnel let out a collective gasp of disbelief and surprise. The Arabs approached the Israelis, muttering and shaking their heads in disbelief. "We do not understand," said their leader, "Our top scientists and breeders worked for 5 long years with the meanest, biggest Dobermans, Rottweilers and Siberian wolves, and they developed an incredible killing machine of a dog!"

The Israelis replied. "Well, for 5 years, we have had a team of Jewish plastic surgeons from

Boca Raton working to make an alligator look like a Dachshund."

hugs and smiles,"

Have a wonderful day!
Cat

Copic Swatch Book...

I have been working on this for some time. I am a visual person and I have accumulated lists and lists of Copic blending families from my favorite guru's but, never could visualize them.

One day I was in my LSS... Be Creative in Pitt Meadows, B.C. and Lisa Strahl had hers there. I thought what a wonderful idea! So...I began.

I started with 4-1/4 by 5-1/2 but the pages were going to be too small and the book would be too thick so I started over and went with half-sheets. I decided to use my stock of Gina K Pure Luxury as: 1) I was not a fan of the paper (I know people rave about it but, I have way too much trouble blending on it) and 2) It was nice and thick with no bleed-through to the other side....perfect for my book. I got all the paper cut to size, my binding coil at hand, my Cinch ready to bind and I picked up a sheet of heavy-duty acetate/mylar stuff...cut it in half and it was perfect for the front and back protective covers.

I started at the internet with digital clip art. I could have stamped it all but, I am such a newbie at stamping and there were so many images to do....I decided to go with digital instead. I searched until I found the images I wanted to represent my swatches....blank faces, hair, flowers, leaves, etc.

I created my templates and printed off all my pages.....sat down one night with my Copics and colored the pages in. I split each section by color and representation. I was not concerned with the actual representation of....say a leaf or a barrel but, with the laying down of my color blending families.

I am really, really happy with it. I can sit down now...open the book...look for a color family I want...see the main color, the highlight and the shadow....grab my markers and color. No more guessing!

Have a wonderful day!

Copic Airbrushing....

Eurika....my first airbrushed image! This card is for my baby (baby?...the kid is turning 26!) and he is such a dragon fan. The inside says "Meddle not in the affairs of dragons; for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup". This saying is so much my son!

Have a great day!

Ok, can I please, huh, can I?

Oh I just have to...I mean, I really need to....I mean, oh please can I, can I? I can't hold it in...EEEEEEEEEE......I GOT MY COPIC AIRBRUSH SYSTEM! Is life any better? Do you have any idea how much fun it is to spray flower patterns to practice? Do you have any idea how wonderful the soft hiss of the compressor is?

The only thing wrong with it....it's not pink! I mean Bosskut has taken me to the "pink side" with the Gazelle. Even The Cinch binder is pink!

OMG, I am going to have so, so much fun!

Have an awesome day!

Wedding...wedding...wedding...

Finally...caught up on my blog. Last thing is the wedding invitations I have made for No. 2 son and fiancee who are getting married in October. Amanda (future DIL) approached me about making them and could I do something like this?

One small(?) issue...they are copyright protected! I contacted Marleine at Paper Olive to see how I could accomplish this without infringing. I hope I have done it okay!

The first thing on my list was to search the internet until I found the correct damask. Then I had to create a pattern from that damask and use that pattern to create my own damask paper. That took considerable effort in my graphics program! I then isolated one of the damask images and made a monogram from it. Each of the monograms has a crystal glued in the heart of the pattern.

The next project was to find all the black paper and take it to a print shop and have them cut it to size! My nephew's were done by hand and I was not measuring and cutting and erasing pencil marks again! It was cheap too - $11.00 for all the cuts!

I cut out squares and then halved them into triangles to form the pockets. The right pocket has a slit in it and two holes at each end of the slit....how professional...I impressed myself!!!

I made one template with everything "damask" but I found it way too busy...so, I made a second template with just the damask image at the top and sent them off for approval. No. 2 son (bless his heart) liked the invitation in the centre with the full damask and the inserts for Directions and Menu with the damask monogram at the top. Of course, keeping in the theme, the reply card was full damask pattern....and...there were crystals in the damask monogram too!

There was no way I was going to try to cut out 150 damask frames and...since I had a digital cutter (yeah Gazelle!)...I located and purchased the perfect cutting file. With a lot of help from Terri at Bosskut I managed to get them all lined up and cut out perfectly.

I wanted to have the invitation matted like a picture frame but the damask paper was too fragile and it kept tearing. I was stuck cutting them all out and layering one on top of the other. Man was I going through glue rollers! I said, "Enough"...took my trusty coupon in hand and headed to my local M's and picked up an ATG....can I say AWESOME? Way, way easier and cheaper! You can see my little pink toy in this picture.

All the components nice and tidy and ready for securing and stuffing!

Man the picture does not do these justice....the plum, the black, the white, the damask, the crystals- rich, rich, rich!!!! The whole room sparkled!

My future DIL loved them and they are in the mail. Now I just have to do the place cards, programs, name tags and personalized menus!

Have a great day!

Be still my beating heart....

OMG...it is enough that Beate from Fresh & Fun took the time to view my little blog and send me a comment (she is my hero....gosh I adore what she does!) but I happened to glance down and saw the number of people who have viewed my blog....almost 11,000!!! Man I find that hard to believe!

I have been so busy working (bookkeeping and I have 5 year ends and tax season all at the same time) I haven't had time to post. I did get my Christmas cards out...barely! For the life of me I can't find the blog where I got my inspiration from (okay, okay...I cased it...it was so simple and I was out of time to make my own up!). I went with Elizabeth Craft peel-offs and used her Merry Christmas ones. Man, this was fast and so simple and so elegant....love it. Whoever you are, thank you, thank you for your quick and simple design.

The latest craze around here right now are tissue box covers. I made a bunch for Christmas gifts and of course, I neglected to take pictures. However, I just Googled images and came across this website here. She has some awesome samples of what we have been up to. Perfect for those embossing folders I just had to have and never used! Diane Zechman has the tutorial and video up on Splitcoast Stampers and this is the link. They are so much fun and really, really simple to do.

I made two in baby colors using the Cuttlebug Birthday Bash in lavender and yellow and one in blue and yellow...they were so adorable. I also made one for my brother's bathroom in his new house. He decorated it himself in red, black and gold...and man, it looks awesome. One of the pieces he had in it was a three foot tall bamboo painted a high glossy oriental red and he has dried flowers and reeds in it. It is sure the focal point of the bathroom. I used the Oriental Weave embossing folder set. On the front I used Tim Holtz bird cage die and I think it looks stunning.

Have a wonderful day!