It's June already!

So, exactly where did the month of May go .... I know the weather was miserable but it really did fly right by.  I am finding that this is happening alot lately as I get closer and closer to going back to work.  My return date is set for July 12th and it is really going to be bitter sweet.  I love my days with Hailey but I don't think I could be a stay at home Mom ..... I realized I'm not a very good housewife!  My home and life are better organized with the regular routine of work.  I have a great dayhome for Hailey to go to.  She has been going each Thursday since the beginning of May and it really is a challenge to convince her to come home.  It is a great feeling to have her somewhere that she is so comfortable.

Miss Hailey is crawling and pulling herself to stand on everything she can get a hand on.  She mastered up on the stairs on the weekend.  Though she has no idea on down and still wants to launch herself.  In March before our road trip, we had pictures taken with our photographer, Virginia Booth.  I've had a great time scrapping with them though I haven't done a layout since the beginning of May!  Anyhow, the layout I have here was up on the MondayNightClass.ca Blog sketch #9 at the beginning of May as it was based on a sketch from an old kit.  I really can't get enough of Bo-Bunny paper.  I think Bo-Bunny is #1 now with me. 

I really want to post to my blog more this year but I find that I am so off and on with that.  It isn't from lack of having material to post it is just remembering to do it when I sit down with the laptop.  I really hope I still have a few followers left that read my blog. 

Please, please leave me a comment so I am not just writing letters to myself.

Supplies:

Paper: Bazzill, Bo-Bunny Allisa

Embellishments: Prima jewels, Imaginsce flowers, Doodlebug sugar coated brads, Basic Grey bird jewel, Bo-Bunny letters, American Craft Thickers, journalling quote from internet

Monday Night Class Sketch Challenge #6

It is Sketch Challenge #6 at the MondayNightClass BLOG again.  This is my second time as one of the designer who took on the sketch.  However, this is the first time that I had done the kit that the sketch was based off of.  All Girl & Proud of it was one of the first kits I did one time at the Bloomin' Inn.  I have included it here today as I've never posted it on my blog before.  The pages were made in September 2008 when I was at the Inn with my Mom.  The pictures are all of my niece, Katelynn and myself when Katie was just a few months old.  She is now 4 1/2 and I have my very own daughter ........

I love how multiple pieces of patterned paper are used.  I used to suck at doing this until one day, Christy told me the secret to using mulitple pieces of patterned paper is to make sure to bridge at least one of the pieces onto both pages.  It was a total revoluation to me that day now, I am not sure how I could be so silly.  The only thing I knew before was to try to use the same line of paper as they tend to go together.  However, now I can cross manufacturer lines with this little secret.  (though I didn't do this here as well I love Basic Grey)

My 'Take Flight' layout was a calbration between my husband and myself on the weekend. I was scrapping in the cold basement and he was playing guitar.  I was asking him for some ideas as I didn't want to just do the basic title 'new' or 'precious' - I wanted more!  So, he started talking about how alert she was for only 12 days and then of course, I had this butterflies that I wanted to use as I seem to use butterflies on layouts alot with Hailey (i.e. see last post and page 107 in the current issue of Cdn Scrapper where my layout was published - I should really blog about that!)

So, I wrote my journalling out in pencil of course and I came up with  .......
"At 12 days old you were so alert beyond most newborns.  It is not hard to tell that you are going to be a beautiful, adventurous little girl that will have so much to offer the world.  Take flight my little butterfly, there is no cacoon that will hold you back.  July 21, 2009"

Well after that journalling, it was easy to pick the title of 'take flight' - I should use my cricut more for titles but I have a huge infatutation with American Craft Thickers and I need to use them in order to justify buying more ... .makes total sense ... RIGHT!!

Supplies
Patterned paper: all pp Basic Grey, Bittersweet
Embellishments: all BG except butterflies, Heidi Swapp and Rhinestones are Dollarama brown color (loves these - makes not even bat an eye when I put the whole package of 100 on the layout!)

Crop 4 Kids on Saturday, MINI roadtrip on Sunday ... so much to do between now and then ..... laundry, packing (for both crop and trip) plus I have 4 kits for MNC that all need a few finishing touches on them ... I have to do that and hand them off to Christy before I leave!  I hope to post once before I leave .... if not then it might just be our trip for the next 3 weeks.

MNC Sketch Challenge #3

This time it was my turn to be one of the designers that took on the Sketch Challenge at the http://www.mondaynightclass.ca/ blog {I Love Mondays}.

I love how this layout turned out and all the different patterned paper that I used from Upsy Daisy.  I then pulled out all the brown and green butons from a package of Basic Grey Buttons from the Infuse line ... and paired that with some eyelet grommets from SU. 

Visit the blog post at I Love Mondays to see what Christine did ..... we both used a similar theme.  On the blog, you will also find the sketch to give it a try yourself! 

Ian leaves for a job in the NWT again on Friday morning and then on Tuesday (the 9th), Hailey and I are jetting off to Arizona to hang out with my Mom and Stepdad as they pretend to be snowbirds for a months.  Ian hopefully will only be a couple of weeks this time ...... worst case is a month .... way better than the 2 months in the fall!

Happy New Year!

2010 is upon us. Remember 10 years ago when the world was going to end as it was feared the computers etc wouldn’t roll over…… seems like a light year ago. 2009 was a great year for the Tompkins’ household. Welcoming Hailey into our family has forever changed us, I have to say that I love my husband today more than I did last year and each day that I see him grow as a father brings us closer together as a family and couple. The year leading up to July 9th (Hailey’s birth day) was a hard one, I never thought the nausea and all day sickness would ever end. Even though I ended up with a c-section, really the only memories that remain with me aren’t the surgery or the recovery but day after day of gagging and vomiting.

The first day of 2010 has been bittersweet for the Tompkins’ household. On New Year's Day at 6:30 pm Atlantic time, we lost Ian’s Grandpa Tompkins after a long battle with kidney disease. Grandpa Ron was a extraordinary man, a veteran of World War II and a retired principal. He will be greatly missed by the family however, we are happy that he is no longer suffering. I first met Ron, in December 2005 when I first visited Ian’s grandparents in Antigonish, NS with Ian. At the time, both he and Grandma Flo were living on their own, at 88 and 86 (yes, folks Ian is the 3rd generation of Tompkins’ men to marry an older woman). We are very glad that we were able to go to Nova Scotia at the beginning of December and visit Grandpa Ron one last time. This picture is of Hailey and the only Great Grandfather that she was able to meet.



I am not one to make New Year’s resolutions. Ian asked me if I had a resolution the other day and I responded, ‘My resolution is to love my family and make the most of the 6 months I have before I go back to work’ – he didn’t think that was much of a resolution and perhaps it isn’t as Ian is very goal outcome orientated as most engineers are … that resolution does not give you any end result. So, then he asked if I had any goals for 2010. Well, I think do have a few of those. First, I want to revitalize my blogging life. So, my personally goal is to blog at least 2 times a week. Secondly, I want to set a both a monthly stamp and scrap goal. I find it funny I teach all the Copic classes at the Scrapbook Pantry and I think I have 3 cards displayed in there. So, my personally goal is to scrap at least 2 pages a month and make at least 2 cards a month. I know this aren’t very lofty goals but if you’d seen what I’ve done in the last 16 months you’d understand – oh wait you have as you’ve read this blog or lack of blog. Anyhow, this goal is outside my designing for www.MondayNightClass.ca and my Copic teaching at the Scrapbook Pantry. This goal is all for me, my personally crafting which I haven’t been doing enough. Thirdly, I vow to attend as many Calgals events as possible this year and to post the card from our sketch challenge on my blog right away (ok within 2 days – who am I kidding!)

Anyhow, these are my ‘goals’ in my little craft world. I am sure they aren’t what Ian was getting at but, what does he know!

Before I show you a card I created I want to tell you about one of the new things at the blog for www.MondayNightClass.ca – our blog name is I Love Mondays (I personally love the name cause the only way I could possible love Monday's is when scrapbooking is involved). The designers (including Cindy and Christy) will be taking an older kit and creating a sketch from that kit then 2 designers will be posting their rendition of that sketch. The first MNC Sketch Challenge was posted today, this will take place on the 1st and 15th of the month. My first official page will be up on Sketch Challenge #3 but I hope to play along with the majority of them. I think it is a great idea and shows a whole new take on the kits, they just aren’t a one time thing, the are an idea for another page as well as a sketch for a whole new page. Christy posted a 2 page layout today and Kim posted a 1 page layout as well on the first sketch challenge. Make sure to check out their work and the information on the new challenge by clicking HERE!!!!

On to my card, I think I made this card at one of the last Calgals I was at before I had Hailey I am pretty sure it was June (and I was the size of house). The image is airbrushed and I coloured and airbrushed this at my Copic class in April when I taught airbrushing to the class. I think the Sketch was by Merlie though I don’t remember where she got it from and I’m too lazy to go back through her blog posts to figure it out. (at least I can admit it!)


Details
Stamp: House Mouse – Stampabilities
Paper: SU Rich Razzleberry and Orchid (I think)
Misc: SU embossing folder, Brides Flowers from Mike’s, SU Rich Razzleberry ribbon, Copics plus airbrushing system, Plum KaiserCraft pearls

*** Newsflash that probably everyone knows but me! Did you know that Dollarama has the pearls and rhinestones that look exactly like KaiserCrafts ones. There are 23 in total I think 16 rhinestones and 7 pearls well at least that is all they got in Regina. My Mom got some and then went back and got a few for me in my stocking but they were sold out of most however, we went to the south Regina Dollarama and I was able to get all 23. They are divine!

So, this is post #1 of the week – see you back here in a few days. I forgot to also say make sure to check out the new kits that were released on today from www.MondayNightClass.ca!!!! I don’t have any up there but the ones that are up there are awesome. I think my favourite is ‘Ahhhh’ as I am dreaming of a beach right now but ‘Deck the Halls’ would be great for the holiday pictures!

Mojo Monday #71

I know there are some people (ummm Nancy!) that are going to be amazed that there is a new card up on my blog after basically 4 months of not blogging (apparently she was counting). Anyhow, I did it.... I made a card, I took a picture of it, uploaded it my computer and am now posting it. It was a long ordeal, I needed to add Adobe Photoshop to my new laptop, charge the camera batter, find the camera cord, edit the picture and now type the post!

This is the first time I have used a Mojo Monday sketch. It was a great sketch. The card came together pretty quite as it was one of the images I colored when the Cal-gals were together on Friday night. No one made cards but we all stamped out images and colored with the thousands of dollars worth of copics that were on the table between the 5 of us.

Supplies:
Stamps: Stampabilities
Paper: PTI - Sweet Blush, SU - Basic Black, Making Memories - Sabrina
Ink: Memento Black, Copic Markers
Embellies: Taylored Expressions - Black glittery ribbon, Prima - Sweetheart flowers, Sweetie word from my drawer - company unknown?

Calgals challenge

Somehow it is now Sunday even though I was going to post this on Friday. How fast time flies.

This card was made for the August Calgals meet up (see the names of the Calgals on the right side of my blog). It was my turn to do the challenge so I picked a color challenge using certainly celery, pretty in pink and chocolate chip. I also used SC190 for my sketch inspiration.

Another week of work starts tomorrow but it is only 4 days long then I leave Friday morning to spend the long weekend at the Bloomin' Inn with my Mom until Monday for a scrapping retreat.

Supplies
Stamps: House Mouse - Stampabilities
Paper: patterened paper - SU, certainly celery, pretty in pink and chocolate chip
Ink: Memento, Copic markers
Accessories: Doodlebug felt ribbon and brad, Kaiser flower, Mike's ribbon, nestabilities

Sketch Challenge with House Mouse

This is probably the lamed title for a blog post yet. But I can't think of anything to name it. I made this card using last Wednesday's sketch challenge on SCS, SC189. I started with a House Mouse stamp and colored it with copics. I realized that my blender pen was out of fluid so once I grabbed the spare blending became easier. I guess I'll have to go by the art supply in Calgary and see if they have blender refill until then I have a sketch copic that I can use.

Monday morning starts a 5 day course for me on Oil and Gas Evaluations. I've been told its one of the best courses in the industry but it is still sitting in a classroom from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm which I am sure will drive me a little squirrly. Wish me luck!

ETA: I entered this card in a new House Mouse Challenge blog - we were to use the theme new and well this was a NEW stamp.

Supplies
Stamps: All Stamps by Stampabilities
Paper: regal rose, orchid opulence, PTI white
Ink: Memento black, Copic markers
Accessories: Dashes, Dots & Checks ribbon, Imaganisce flowers, Jesse James glitter dots

She's having a baby .....

Sophie G is having a baby - NOT ME! However, my good friend Carmen is 13 weeks pregnant so I made this card for her using the sketch challenge from a few weeks back, SC186. This Sophie G stamp was released on June 20 with the other Riley moose stamps from Hanna Stamps. I am off to meet Carmen this afternoon for afternoon matinee, we are seeing The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2.

I spent yesterday afternoon stamping with my friend, Nancy at her house. We each only got one card done but we got a lot of chatting in. I am going back to her place on Thursday evening for the monthly Calgals meet up however, I better get my challenge card done as it was my challenge and I'm not done yet. I won't hear the end of it if I don't have my card with me!

Supplies
Stamps: Hanna Stamps
Paper: Bella Rosa - Stampin' Up, Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Pink Piroutte, PTI white
Ink: Memento Black, Copic markers
Accessories: Kaiser pink flower, Imaginasce pink brad, SU old olive twill

Sketch Challenge 188

I'm going to try to do the sketch challenge on the day that they are posted. This is a first time for me. It was fun to do this challenge, the fact I have so many images colored made it pretty fast for me. You can find SC188 on SCS.

I have some pictures from Texas plus some more cards I made there and I finally downloaded my camera tonight. I am hoping my SU catalogues will be at the house tomorrow when I get home from work. However, not sure how much time I will have to look at it right away as Mom and Gerald are coming in for the weekend and there is a Rider game on Thursday night ... I'm hoping for 7 and 0!

Supplies
Stamps: Hanna Stamps
Paper: Basic Grey Boxer, Night of Navy, Real Red, PTI white
Ink: Memento black, Copics
Accessories: navy ribbon, silver brads

Combing challenges!

I have combined the challenges from this past Fridays, Hanna Stamps Challenge (HSC21) which was a sketch challenge hosted by Niki and the challenge from this months Calgals meeting (see who the Calgals on my sidebar) - it was Tracy's turn and she challenged us to Surf and Sun or was it Surf and Sand.



I made 3 cards one for each of the Calgals as I didn't do last months challenge which was our first challenge. So I made a card for each of the girls in hopes they forget that I didn't do the last one.



As you can see the sketch was the same on each card they just used a different Riley stamp from the last release.



I am going to miss it but Hanna Stamps Member Forum is going to be having a Pajama Party at the Members Forum on SCS this Friday, June 20. It will be a great time so don't miss it. I am heading to Saskatchewan for the weekend and am going to be teaching a stamping class and then doing a scrapping/stamping demo in a small town outside of Regina. Hopefully, the weather is good but not too hot as the event is outside and called Arts in the Park.

Supplies
Stamps: Rileys - Hanna Stamps, Summer sentiment - Hero Arts
Paper: real red, pumpkin pie, tempting turquoise, Basic Grey Mellow
Ink: Memento Black, Copic Markers
Accessories: Bazzill flower, Doodlebug brad, SU striped ribbon

Trio of Flowers

I made this card at Nancy's in the beginning of March as well with the Calgals. The sketch is from Beate's weekend sketch challenge - WSC 37.



I have today off as well then back to work tomorrow. I have a long list of house duties to accomplish as well as prepare for stamp club tonight. I hate when I leave it to the last moment hopefully I feel inspired today!

Supplies
Stamps: A Beautiful Thing - SU
Paper: close to cocoa, pretty in pink, chocolate chip, regal rose, whisper white
Patterned paper: berry bliss
Ink: regal rose, pretty in pink
Accessories: Cloud 9 rain dots, pretty in pink brads

My Best Friend and a sketch challenge

Here is my latest sneak peek from the Hanna Stamps release for tomorrow. I used the sketch challenge posted on SCS today - SC167 for the layout. However, I had to alter the size of my shapes to get what I was after.
S
There a pile of cards at SCS made by the Design Team, check them out by using the keyword: hsdt or click here.

Supplies
Stamps: My Best Friend - Hanna Stamps
Paper: tempting turquoise, real red, basic black, Staples 110# white
Ink: Brilliance tarlit Black, palette noir
Accessories: Bo Bunny brads, Bazzill flowers, SU scallop punch, 1 3/8" punch

Happy Easter Hanna

Hanna is wishing everyone a Happy Easter! with her next release on Friday, February 22. The 'Spring Time' set featured on this card along with 'Route 66' which I revealed yesterday will both be released by Kristi on Friday on the website - Hanna Stamps.

The sketch on this card is from the weekly Hanna Stamps challenge on SCS from Hanna's Member Company Forum. HSC4 was a sketch challenge hosted by Frances (stampowl). To see more cards made with this sketch, check out the HSC4 gallery on SCS, keyword: HSC4

For more design team member sneak peeks, the gallery on SCS can be found here. keyword: hsdt

Back to work after a 4 day weekend, getting out of bed to a day of meetings and catch up didn't sound like much fun.

Supplies
Stamps: Spring Time - Hanna Stamps (to be released on Feb 22), Happy Easter - Studio G
Paper: orchid opulence, apricot appeal, certainly celery, bazzill coconut swirl smooth
Patterned Paper: Apricot Appeal, Level 1 Hostess Prints
Ink: palette noir, orchid opulence
Accessories: Prima sprites lavendar, rhinestones, Dots, Dashes and check ribbon
Coloring technique: Prismacolor with OMS

Sketch Challenge 159

This card was made as part of my stamping goals to do a weekly challenge. This challenge was from the weekly sketch challenge on SCS, specifically SC159. Something about this card bugs me, as it didn't come out as I had it in my head. I think its the patterned paper with the blue. It just didn't go with the card in the end.

It is back to work today after having 2 days off to be with Ian for his surgery. I'm excited though as on Friday night I am going out stamping with the Cal-gals!

Supplies
Stamps: Garden Silhouette - SU retired hostess set
Paper: real red, basic black, whisper white
Patterned paper: Cosmo Cricket - Hey Sugar (both sides of PP)
Ink: palette noir black
Accessories: heart clip, xmas red stickles, prima sprites, red rhinestones, real red grosgrain

House Warming

Ian and I went to a house party for friends' that just moved into their first place together. I made them this card and also gave them a gift of an aroma warmer from PartyLite with some melts and tealights. Ian thought we should get them a bottle of wine, I would usually agree however, the hostess is expecting her first child in April and I think giving her a gift she can't enjoy is cruel.

The sketch for this card came from AmyR's blog and Friday sketch challenge AmyRS11.


Supplies
Stamps: Right at Home - SU! (retired)
Paper: close to cocoa, chocolate chip, purely pomegranate, whisper white
Ink: Palette noir black, SU! markers with blender pen
Accessories: Prima Sprite, Doodlebug sugar coated bon bon brad, cuttlebug folder, purely pomegranate double stitched ribbon

The lastest from Hanna Stamps - Domestic Goddess

Domestic Goddess is the lastest release from Hanna Stamps. I made this card using the new set as well as challenge on the SCS Members Forum for Hanna Stamps. Cindy hosted the challenge this week - HSC2 - she gave us the option of a sketch challenge, a color challenge or using the 2 together.

I choose to do the two challenges together. My new Two Scoops paper by Basic Grey just happened to have the colors of wild wasabi, pretty in pink and bashful blue in it. The scallop piece is from Doodlebug Paper Frills.


Supplies
Stamps: Domestic Goddess - Hanna Stamps
Paper: pretty in pink, wild wasabi, bashful blue, watercolor paper, Doodlebug Paper Frilles
Patterened Paper: Two Scoops - Basic Grey 6x6
Ink: Palette Noir Black, SU! markers to watercolor
Accessories: oval nestabilities, wild wasabi double stitched ribbon

Calendar Chick

This is a card a made a few weeks back (also part of the ones I took forever to photography) using Beate's weekend sketch challenge 30. I didn't get it done in time for her weekly contest.


I'm not sure I really like it though as this sketch wasn't my style at all. However, this year is about stepping out of my stamping box and trying new things.

Supplies
Stamps: Calendar Chick - Stampendous, Sentiment - Penny Black
Paper: regal rose, so saffron, whisper white, blue bayou
Patterned paper: Two Scoops - Basic Grey
Ink: palette noir, SU markers to watercolor
Accessories: stickles on flowers, Jesse James glitter embellishment, Basic Grey Two scoops exopy brads, SU photo corner punch, circle nestabilities

Riley's in the Garden!

Another Riley card for you! This is Riley in his garden making sure his potted plant grows up to be a big daisy. Remember they will be released from Hanna Stamps on Feb 1st - 6 Riley's in total.

This card uses Amy R's Sketch challenge from Friday AmyR10.



Amy is on so many design teams and I admire her work but best of all she is from small town Saskatchewan. I was born and raised in small town Saskatchewan and now I live in the giant city of 1 million growing more each and every day.

I also used some of my new ribbon from Costco and I see Amy recently used the same piece of ribbon on her blog with her new cards from Gina K's Stamp for a Cause - How Sweet it is ......

Supplies
Stamps: Riley (not yet released) - Things Hanna would Say - Hanna Stamps
Paper: SU! chocolate chip, certainly celery, whisper white
Patterned paper: K&Co Costco slab
Ink: Palette Noir, SU! markers to watercolor
Accessories: Prima Sprites, Bo Bunny Bodacious brads, Costco Ribbon Boutique, Nestabilites circles and ovals

Beate's Sketch

I finally had a chance to do one of Beate's weekend sketch challenges. I actually did this on Sunday night even though I'm uploading it on Monday night. Beate extended this weekends to Tuesday am.

My card is a standard 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 card. I think most people did a square card for this one but I stuck to the standard. The fairy stamps are from Close to My Heart and I'm not even sure if they are current or not anymore. I really like how this one turned out. The inspirations started with using the 6x6 Stella Ruby paper and then I though of fairies and flowers and sure enough I have a flower fairy set. I didn't photograph these until tonight so I had to use my ott lite rather than natural light so the watercoloring on the fairy didn't come out that well.



Supplies
Stamps: Fairy - Flower Fairies (CTMH), Sentiment - Fairy Dust (CTMH), Floral background (SU)
Paper: Barquoe Burgandy (SU - retired color - IMO, a nicer burgandy than bravo), So saffron, 6x6 Basic Grey Stella Ruby, Very Vanilla
Ink: waterproof black, Markers for watercoloring (barquoe burgandy, so saffron, certainly celery, blush blossom, cameo coral)
Accessories: Marvy giga scalloped circle and mega circle, pink eyelets set with cropdile, yellow stickles in the center of pink eyelets

Color Challenge 116

This is the first color challenge that I have done when it was posted. I actually stamped these on Monday night as the SCS color challenge #116 for Tuesday was posted early.

This week's challenge was to use Garden Green, Cool Caribbean and Chocolate Chip. Garden Green is a color I never use! The sketch design is from SCS sketch challenge #86.

Supplies
Stamps: Paper Trey - Green Thumb
Paper: garden green, cool caribbean, chocolate chip, Basic Grey paper for 6x6 Phoebe pad, whisper white
Ink: garden green, cool caribbean, chocolate chip
Accessories: blue ribbon from Jody's share



Seeing as I had a piece of the Basic Grey paper left I decided to do another with the same color combination and stamp set. I am really liking using these sets from Paper Trey (I just got Little Lady and Paper Tray in the mail so look for some cards from that new set soon!) The sketch design is from SCS sketch challenge #29.

Supplies
Stamps: Paper Trey - Green Thumb, Canvas Background by Stampin' Up
Paper: garden green, chocolate chip, Basic Grey paper for 6x6 Phoebe pad, whisper white
Ink: garden green, cool caribbean,
Accessories: marvy giga scalloped circle and mega circle