Yesterday was Abbotsford Farmer's Market Day.  I love being there, there are lot of wonderful people there with their great products.  My favourite this time was DMP - Dream Monkey Productions. Look what she makes. So awesome.

 
Here is my table - it's finally starting to look nice.  It is hard to choose what to display on 6' table, so much to squeeze onto such a little surface!


Some new cufflinks.


The whole table again.  It is almost working, few little things to adjust and it will be great.


These are the upcycled altoid tins.



See how crowded it gets?  I think I like it though.



OK, that's it for now.  I will be back at market on March 16th, 9-1.  Come and see me, would you?


Blog ya' all later,

As I didn't make anything new over the last two days, I've decided to show you a couple of the necklaces that I made around Christmas.  It was a very busy Christmas season.  I only did one craft show, but a couple of stores my stuff is sold in were fairly busy, and a lot of friends were buying from me and I've given a lot as presents.  The first one is the one I kept for myself.  I just love it.  It goes with everything, and depending what kind and what length of chain you put it on - it could be an everyday piece or little more special.  Lookie:

These other ones are made on rummikub tiles.  They are about 1-1/2" x 1", and it is a lovely size to work with, and it seems perfect to show off the pictures.  I have used a huge variety of images throughout the Christmas, there were whimsical ones, funny ones, modern ones, name it - it was there.  A lot of them were turned into key chains, and the ones with manly images were very popular.  Women loved the key chains with images of nests with words "nest", or "Home Sweet Home" next to them.  Like this first tile, only made into a key chain:

These next two were popular as well.  Isn't this little girl just adorable?


And here is the last one:


That's it for today.  Blog ya' later,

I save a lot of stuff.  I save toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls to make castles with kids, I save jars and cans to make pencil holders, ornaments and who knows what else.  I would never throw out a pretty box or an outdated calendar with beautiful pictures.  You should see all the bottle caps, clock gears, aluminum pull tabs and old kitchen utensils piling up in my craft room.  I see purpose for all of those things.  It is not junk.  It is my treasure.  One of these days I will use it all and then you'll see.

I go to thrift stores, flea markets and garage sales religiously and collect little bits of what I think could be used at some point when I have time.  The biggest score, however, would be a bag of scrabble tiles, mahjong or rummikub tiles.  They make so many pretty things. I have my friends on lookout for me too.  When they go thrifty shopping, they know what to look for.  :-)  Wanna see what I made with these lately?  Don't forget - you can click on a picture, enlarge it, then you can click again and make it even bigger.  Lookie:
These are scrabble tile pendants (or earrings, I might change my mind), all made on real upcycled scrabble tiles salvaged from less than a rewarding life in the depths of thrift stores, repeatedly overlooked and ignored by shoppers.  Here is a close up of these beauties:
All these little pieces awake with new beauty and appreciation after their make over.   
These are Wizard of Oz dominoes.  Eventually, they will be key chains.  Or pendants.  Or magnets.  Or little bits in my shadow boxes to adore the walls of my studio.  Here is another set:
These game pieces will be drilled tomorrow night by my wonderful hubby using my trusted Dremel. Hopefully right side up.  Shhhh, I might tell you that story some other time.

Anyway, blog y'a later, 

 

Here is a close-up of the leaves, bleached with water (how cool, eh?) and highlighted with a white gel pen.

2012 was not a good year for me. It was not even an ok year. Come to think of it, 2012 was one of the worst years I've ever had. And those of you who know me, they can tell you - I've had my share of tough times before. But never this much death and grief has piled up in ONE SINGLE YEAR. Never.  Between April and December, we have dealt with 4 (yes, four!) deaths of people that were very dear to us.  A favourite cousin of mine, my mother, my husband's step dad, and a very dear friend of mine, well, a sister really.  A bit too much, don't ya' think?  I was so glad when it ended. I hope it ended.  2013 has to be better, I can not see it being any worse.

Through all of this, I have crafted, but never posted anything.  Blogging was not on my mind.  I would like to get back into it.  I really, really would, but life has a way of getting in my way.  So no promises this time, ok? 

Here is a quick project I did yesterday.  It was made with some pre-order stuff (these cute umbrellas, as well as clouds embossing folder) from Stampin' Up Spring catalogue.  So much stuff I like in there!  Check the sidebar of my blog for the catalogue if you haven't seen it yet.  I also used some of the retired stuff, some other SU stuff, as well as some non-SU stuff ("Puffy Clouds" die from Memory Box).  


I almost never do the inside of my cards.  Ask my husband.  Every time I make a card and go to him to show it off, he opens a card, hoping to find something, and almost never, ever, there is anything there.  Well, just for you honey, here ya' go....




I am looking forward to 2013 and moving on. I would like to craft and blog more.  The only resolution is to cherish every day that comes my way and is filled with happiness. 



 

It's been very long since my last post. I kept my self very busy with my clubs, classes, family, house. I've been doing a lot, but wasn't really in a mood for "Show and Tell". I will try to make up for it in this post. Let me see, what do I want to start with?

We had some lovely weather here. I was gardening a lot and spending a lot of time with my boys exploring our new town. Here is a picture from the last weekend, we went kite flying and it was a great day.


The boys always enjoy helping with gardening. This year I decided to make our own garden labels. They are made of aluminum flashing and hanging wire (local hardware store), chalkboard vinyl (SU), ball chain (Etsy). All you need is Big Shot, some dies and embossing folders, and a crop-a-dile. Lookie:


I liked this so much, I combined it with something totally different. If you are anything like me, you have your fridge so cluttered with everything under the sun, that you can not see a tree from the woods. Our kitchen is where we do our homework, play board games, build Lego... And somehow, all of this finds its way to the top of my fridge. All the pencils and erasers and sharpeners... I got tired of it and this is what I made:



These are made from a tin my favourite tea is packed up in.


I covered it with SU paper, Tim Holtz tissue tape and attached a few rare Earth magnets on the back. I now have all our pencils and small stuff tidy in these on the side of my fridge.

Mentioning Tim Holtz, while I was away from my blog, I also did something very neat. I took Tim Holtz Creative Chemistry class. That was so much fun!!!


Guess what one of my next classes will be. Guess correct and you get $5 off the registration fee for my class.

One more thing for today... Were you wondering what that OUCH was in my title? Well, let me tell you... SU published the retiring list of stamps yesterday. I don't want to tell you how many of my stamps are retired now. Way too many!!! Shhhhh! Don't tell my hubby - he comes to my blog here and there, he doesn't even know I have that many stamps to begin with. LOL. I think I will keep some of those for personal use, and sell most of them... SO, come June 1st, there will be lots of stamps for sale. If you are somewhere near me, you might want to come to my June Open House and check it out. But here - take a look at the list for yourself, these stamps are available only until June 1st:



OK, that is it for now. Hopefully I won't be as long until the next post as I were last time. Fingers and toes crossed. I hope I somewhat made up for it.

Blog ya' later,

Another rainy day and for some reason I was lacking inspiration. Usually on those days, I just start playing with my scraps and supplies and see what happens. I, kind of, enjoy those days, I don't feel like I have to really finish any projects. Today though I did finish one card. I thought it was a good way of using some of my smaller scraps.

Supplies Used:
Paper: Crumb Cake (SU!); Early Espresso (SU!); scraps of different colours (SU)
Ink: Early Espresso (SU!)
Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral (SU!)
Other: dimensionals (SU!); paper snips (SU!); white gel pen (SU!); corner chomper; baker's twine (SU!); Edge Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug)

That's it, folks! Short and sweet today.

Blog ya' later,

Valentine's Day is coming up. I wasn't really in the mood for making Valentine's cards. I still have to make all the Valentines for kids' school. 44 children. 44 Valentines. And I am not in the mood. This is going to be painful. Oy. Anyway, I did make one Valentine's card. Just so I can say I did it. Lookie:

Supplies Used:
Paper: Cherry Cobbler (SU!), Crumb Cake (SU!), Whisper White (SU!)
Ink: Tempting Turquoise (SU!), Cherry Cobbler (SU!), More Mustard (SU!)
Stamps: I (Heart) Hearts (SU!)
Other: Simply Scored Scoring Board (SU!), 5/8" Organza Ribbon (SU!), Basic Rhinestones (SU!), Fashionable Hearts Embosslit Die (SU! Occasions Mini 2012), Word Window Punch (SU!), Modern Label Punch (SU!), Silver Brads (SU!)

This is a stationery box to hold your cards and envelopes and would be a wonderful gift. The instructions very kindly shared by a fellow Stampin' Up demonstrator, Lisa Zwolanek. This is my take on it:




All the supplies are Stampin' Up.

That's it for now. I have a movie date with my little boys, watching Planet Earth. Gotta make popcorn.

Blog ya' later,

It's raining here. A lot. It's raining like it's never rained before, you know. All the snow is gone and it as all dark and murky. One of those days you want to snuggle with your book, a cup of coffee or tea, and not go anywhere. But, I do have to go to get my kitty from the vet. He went in yesterday for a check up as there was a bit of a bleeding from his front paw, but it's all good. Raddatatt is coming home. So, it's a pleasure more than a chore. These are some photos of him from September.

I spy with my little eye... Something hiding in my cupboard!!!!


"Oh, no! She found me!"


I also craft on rainy days. This is the last of the cards we made at the last club meeting, and it happened to see the day on a rainy day like today. Yeah, what are the odds of that, right???? LOL.

Supplies Used:
Paper: Very Vanilla (SU!), Pacific Point (SU!), Garden Green (SU!), Everyday Enchantment (SU!)
Ink: Pacific Point (SU!)
Stamps: Three Little Words (SU!)
Other: Island Indigo 3/8" Ruffled Ribbon (SU!), Antique Brads (SU!), Paper piercer with Mat Pack (SU!), Paper Doily Large Sizzlit Die (SU! Occasions Mini 2012), White Gel Pen (SU!), EYelet Border Punch (SU!), Wintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder (SU!)

Blog ya' later,

I can't say that this year was good so far. Way too many bad things happened already.

My mum is not doing great health wise and for few days we were not even sure if she would make it. She is doing better now, thank you. At first doctors thought it was a stroke, but after some extensive tests, they are quite certain that it is not, but who knows. It sounds to me like a bit of "He likes me, he likes me not" diagnosis. The only CT scanner in her town is broken and they have to wait for a CT scan to make sure. The things we take for granted and are a luxury elsewhere. Makes me even more thankful for what I have.

Three days ago, Charlie fell off the climbing structure after school, I saw it happen, and it scared poopies out of me. So I ran to him, only to slip on the gravel and fall myself. We're both ok, just a touch scraped. Ouch. :-)

Our kitty Raddatatt got badly hurt two days ago. He suffered an extensive trauma to all 4 of his legs. The vet thinks that he possibly went under a car, climbed on top of the engine and the owner started the car. Apparently, it is very common with cats. They go for the warmth of the engine, and it is the motor belt that gets them. He is a very lucky kitty, it could have been much worse. He came home as usual and until I saw a bloody trial after him, I didn't even realize that something was wrong. I took him to the vet, all while shaking and crying. Luckily, I was in a cab, not driving. He was stitched, a hind leg was also taped and braced as one of his joints was dislocated. The vet is expecting a full recovery. My boys were just devastated when he got home that night from the vet looking like a Frankenstein, all stapled and drugged. They are doing better now when they see him slowly recovering. I don't want to take any pictures, he really is not a pretty sight right now. :-(

So, no more. That is three. They say that bad things come in threes. I've done my share of bad things for this year in the first 12 days of the year.

On the other hand, here is another card we made with my club. Lookie:

Supplies Used:
Paper: Basic Black (SU!), Watercolouring paper (SU!), Bold Brights paper stack (SU!)
Ink: Stazon (SU!), Cherry Cobbler, used for colouring (SU!), Old Olive, used for colouring (SU!)
Stamps: Apothecary Art (SU! Occasions Mini 2012)
Other: Aqua Painter (SU!), Stamp-A-Ma Jig (SU!), Basic Pearls (SU!), Framelits Labels Collection (SU! Occasions Mini 2012)

Off to check on my little kitty. He is such a trooper. Blog ya' later,