I took Milan to school and it was a beautiful brisk morning. I really enjoy these morning walks with two of them; We have a chance to talk and just enjoy our morning. And also see all the people we know in the neighbourhood. I love our neighbourhood. We have good schools, good neighbours, wonderful parks... I feel like I really belong here.

My open house was a huge success. Thank you to all who showed up and helped make it so successful. These are some of the projects we did that day:






In all this time I wasn't posting, I did make quite a few cards, so here are two out of bunch:






I will come back to this post later and add all the details, off I go to a playground now...

Blog y'a later.

We had a great day today. The weather was just fantastic, sunny and cold. I kept thinking that we should be somewhere in the mountains roasting marshmallows and hot dogs. No such luck, but the boys had a really fun day. They played outside all day, they would just bring their rosy cheeks in when hungry. I love days like today. Not too many chores, lovely weather and boys full of beans. :-) They should sleep well.

I made this card the other day, but didn't have a chance to post it yet. As I didn't make a new card today, I'll use this one.

Supplies Used:
Paper: Natural White (SU!) for card base, Autumn Wine DP (SU!), Chocolate Chip (SU!), Close To Cocoa (SU!)
Ink: Chocolate Chip (SU!)
Stamps: Just Buzzing By (SU!)
Other: dimensionals (SU!), Prisma pencils, baby oil, paper piercer, gold brads (SU!), 1/4" circle punch (SU!), Chocolate Chip Stampin' Marker (SU!), ticket corner punch.

I am hoping for another day like this tomorrow. Kids don't have classes, it is a Pro-D day. Keeping my fingers crossed for good weather. Off I go to put kids to bed. Blog y'a later.

Next Saturday, January 31st, I am having an open house. The new catalogue is in, Sale-a-Bration is starting on February 1st, enough to get a party going. We will do couple of make and takes with supplies from the new Stampin' Up catalogue. You can get your new catalogue for $10, or you can have it for free with a $75 order of SU supplies. This is a no-fee make and take session, but please pre-register so I can prepare enough make and takes. There will be snacks, make and takes, couple of show and tells, and little gifts. Please join me if you're free. RVSP to happyinker@gmail.com or (604) 684-1666 and then come to 3150 Stephens Street in Vancouver.

I do not have a new card today. Or, I do have few new cards but I didn't take photos of them. I'll do it tomorrow. Here are the photos that I did take...






Can you tell it was a day spent with boys today? I had a blast. OK, I doubt this is what you came here for. Oh, well... :-)

Blog y'a later.

While I was waiting for my SU! pre-orders to come in, I played with some of my older SU! stuff. I love "Embrace Life" set, I've made many cards with it. And it never seems to get old. I can play over and over with it. Here is the latest card I made:

Supplies Used:
Paper: Natural White (SU!) for card base, More Mustard (SU!), Basic Black (SU!), Whisper White (SU!), Autumn Wine DP (SU!)
Ink: Basic Black (SU!), Really Rust (SU!)
Stamps: Embrace Life (SU!), Warm Words (SU!)
Other: dimensionals (SU!), Prisma pencils, baby oil, paper piercer, gold brads (SU!), 1/4" circle punch (SU!), colour spritzer (SU!), sponges.

Tomorrow a friend is coming over to play in my studio. I have to get ready for my Saturday class, we will do few Valentine's cards. My "Love You Much" bundle is finally here (all of it!!!!), as well as some other new stuff. I love new rubber. Maybe I use this card as one of the non-Valentine's Day cards for the class... we'll see.

Kids are back to school and that means lots of running back and forth for me. I love our days on the playground after school though. There is a group of kids that are becoming very good friends, and it is such a joy watching them play. By the time we get home semi-frozen and tired, we're all ready for some hot chocolate and grilled cheese sandwiches made with smoked gouda. Yum.

My younger son's school is collecting money for the new playground, they had to take the old one down as it was made with that pressure treated wood that is not safe for kids anymore. Right now, the young kids under the age of 6 have nowhere to play. I would like to help, so I decided to schedule my classes and some make and takes on one Saturday in February or beginning of March, and give all the proceeds to the school. Stay tuned for the exact date and your E-vites. If you're reading this and would like to be invited, but you don't belong to my regular mailing group, send me a quick e-mail or leave a comment and I will make sure to include you in this fundraiser.

Blog you later.

I hope this year is a very successful one for you all, filled with health, wealth and laughter. I know I couldn't wish for more...

We had great holidays. It doesn't happen very often in Vancouver, but we had a white Christmas! Oh, joy!! We were out frolicking in the snow, tobogganing, firing snowballs at each other and shoveling. Even shoveling didn't feel so hard. Look at me speak, I shoveled for about 5 minutes, my hubby is a "man", it is his job, so I was not allowed to use a shovel. He drove around in our Volvo with a shovel in the trunk and took on helping people who got stuck all over the place. We are probably the only ones beside the police who have snow tires and chains in this city. :-) I am not sure which he (my hubby that is) enjoyed more - helping people or lecturing them about being on the road with all seasons tires. Santa spoiled us too, my kids got all the toys they asked for, I got few things I was wishing for for a long time, like "Toolset for Dummies". I also got a little "to go" set of pink tools. My other half got saddle bags for his Harley. But most importantly, we got to spend quite a bit of time with our family. I still feel all warm and fuzzy.

I didn't craft a whole lot over holidays, all those Christmas cards took a toll on me. I recuperated and enjoyed my family. I did work on my craft room a bit. I cleaned it up, purchased Bygel racks from Ikea for my punches, we'll be putting them up today. I do have a card to show though... I saw this sketch somewhere long time ago and jotted it down. I can't remember where though. If you know let me know.





I am not going to list details for this card as I can't remember any of the designer's papers used. :-) Flowers were died with SU! re-inkers. The stamp is a SU! Lovely Labels, photo corners were done with SU! photo corner punch. There you have it.

The next card was done as a spoof. It is in my SCS gallery. Have you noticed lately how popular llamas are on SCS?!?!? I resisted for the longest time, but then I did join this movement. :-) For more info on how it all started go here and here. I downloaded a colouring page and resized it and fixed in Photoshop. The image was coloured with Prisma pencils. The bubbles on the paper are supposed to remind you of llama spit. Gross, eh?!?! Anyway, here is the card...



OK, that's it. Blog you llater (I am so funny, huh?!?)

I have sold 150 - 200 cards this Christmas season. Different cards. Pretty cards, cute cards, funny cards... The best seller, by far was this one:

Supplies Used:
Paper: Natural White for card base, Always Artichoke (SU!), Whisper White (SU!), DP (can't remember which one)
Ink: Basic Black (SU!
Stamps: Mudzy's Predicament (High Hopes)
Other: dimensionals (SU!), Prisma pencils, baby oil, paper snips (SU!), craft knife.

This card makes me laugh. Or, it used to... I couldn't imagine anyone really doing this. It could only happen on Christmas cards and in movies like Fargo or such... Until yesterday. We took the kids up to Grouse. It was a beautiful sunny day and we had a blast. We threw snowballs at each other, slid down the hills on our bums, saw Santa and his reindeer. At the end of the day we were exhausted. While waiting for gondola to take us off the mountain, my two sons were standing and watching the trees over the fence separating us from a gondola. We were behind them talking to our friends. Next thing I know, Milan, my older son, turned to me to ask me something and I thought I would faint. At first I didn't know what happened, all I saw was this bloody mess on his face. As he saw my face, he got scared and started crying. It took me a second to realize that he "pulled a moose" on me. He put his lips on the fence while watching the forest. Well, good part of his lips stayed on the fence. Lesson learned. Today he is doing his show and tell in kindergarten - he will show them his lips and tell what happened so no one else would ever do it. :-) Too bad he was too upset for me to take his picture and scrap it.

Blog you later.

Over the last couple of weeks I received few blog blings that I didn't have time to do anything about. Well, here they are, all three of them:

This one I received from Loretta Rogers:


Thanks Loretta!

The rules say I should give this to 5 people and link to them. As I have to list more people for the other blings, I would probably need about 20 people. Instead, I will leave this to all of you who come to my blog, you all deserve it for putting up with me. Lol.

The next one is


I received it from Katherine Cosimano. Thanks Katherine! I did this back in the summer, maybe August... If you go to the older posts, you'll find it,

And the latest one was


from Tenia Nelson. I am very thankful Tenia!

Many thanks to you all for taking time to stop and look at my work.

OK, let's get on with a card...




The photographs are not the best today, I don't have time to redo them though. I started with (again) natural white for a card base. I apologize, I can't remember which designer paper is the one I used, I have a feeling it is one of the Heidi Grace designs. Anyway, that was matted on Blue Bayou and pierced. The snowflakes were done in embossing resist on Soft Sky with Pacific Point ink, and again, matted on Blue Bayou. I put a crystal brad by MM in the middle of each and mounted them on a piece of Whisper White matted on... guess... yes! Blue Bayou! "Marry Christmas" was stamped in Versamark and embossed with a Detail Silver embossing powder. This will be one of the cards we will do for my Technique class. Here is the list:

Supplies Used:
Paper: Natural White for card base, Blue Bayou (SU!), Whisper White (SU!, Soft Sky (SU!), Heidi Grace DP
Ink: Pacific point (SU!), Versamark
Stamps: Snow Swirled (SU!), "Merry Christmas" Stampendous
Other: crystal brads (MM); dimensionals (SU!), paper piercer, silver embossing powder, sponges, clear embossing powder.

Blog you later.

I love fall... I love all the colours, smells, crisp days... I even put people into "season categories". There are winter people, there are spring people, there are summer people, and then there are fall people. The card I made yesterday is for fall people. It happens to be a birthday card, but that is not how I decide which category you fall in. I see colours when I look at the people, we each have a colour associated with us. Anyway, here is the card...





I started with a A2 size card. First layer is Basic Black sized to 1/16" smaller than the base. Beautiful Life Leaf was cut to 4" x 5 1/4", corners were cut with a ticket corner punch, then lightly sanded with sanding blocks and pierced. I used my Cuttlebug to cut two shapes with Top Note die - Basic Black and Boho Chic. With my paper snips I cut off the perforated part and then I matted it on black. Prima flowers were coloured with SU! re-inkers, pierced and a gold brad was put through each. I stamped Happy Birthday in Versamark and embossed with a gold detail embossing powder. The shape of the inner Top Note was traced with a gold gel pen. I popped the central piece with dimensionals and added Prima flowers with mini glue dots. Voila!

Supplies Used:
Paper: Natural White for card base (SU!), Basic Black (SU!), Beautiful Life Leaf (Bo Bunny), Urban Window Collection - Boho Chic Fancy Free (We R Memory Keepers)
Ink: Versamark
Stamps: Elegant Greetings (SU!)
Other: gold brads (SU); dimensionals (SU!), Top Note Die used in Cuttlebug, paper piercer, glue dots, Prima Flowers, Su! re-inkers, gold gel pen, ticket corner punch, sanding blocks (SU!), paper snips

Blog you later.

Many of you have asked over the past four months about my kitchen. So, here is a very quick post with two pictures of what it looks like now. If you were to scroll way down, back to August I believe, you could see how it started.




Off to clean my office now. It looks as if a big bomb went off in there. Blog you later.

I admit. I am a bad blogger. What can I say.

Many things happening in my life and then we went away. We spent few days at Birch Bay State Park down in Washington State. You know, those State parks are great when cold weather arrives. Unlike our provincial parks, they have hook-ups for our motor home, plus they stay open all year. And they are a great deal for just $25 a night. We spent some time playing on the beach in the rain, went trails hiking, pretended we were great hunters chasing a bear... and watched people. People coming to State Parks at this time of the year are either really huge outdoors lovers as we are, or have a sad stories to tell. There was a woman there, all by herself, not really sure how to operate any of the RV features, how to hook up or use amenities... "It's a long story why I'm here all on my own", Fran tells us in her deep Southern accent. Her RV looks as if she packed up everything that ever meant anything to her. There are pictures, clothes, little notes scattered throughout her RV. A whole lifetime.

There was a Volvo station wagon there too. An older lady and her two cats sleep, eat and entertain each others in there. The only time she came out was to use the bathroom nearby. I can't help but wonder what her story is.

On to the cards... I haven't posted for so long that I think you should have more than one card to see. So, here they come.

These are the cards I made for a big order in Quebec for a friend of mine.

Supplies Used:
Paper: Natural White for card base, Always Artichoke, Bravo Burgundy (SU!)
Ink: Bravo Burgundy (SU!, Gold (Encore))
Stamps: Season of Joy, Nombreux Joyeux messages, To You and Yours(SU!)
Other: gold brads (SU); dimensionals (SU!), punches - scalloped circle, circle, scallops edge (SU!), paper piercer

Supplies Used:
Paper: Natural White for card base, Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White (SU!)
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Real Red (SU!)
Stamps: Season of Joy, Nombreux Joyeux messages, French Script, Poinsettia wheel (SU!)
Other: gold brads (SU); dimensionals (SU!), Nestabilities, paper piercer, gold gel pen, unknown red ribbon

I also made lots of cards for people around here. You can find my cards in Campbell's Gold farm gift store in Abbotsford now. They have some amazing honey, wax and pollen products, pottery and mead! I might end up working for mead, who knows! Lol. I will show you just one of many cards I made lately. I have to save something for later.

Supplies Used:
Paper: Whisper White, Always Artichoke, Real Red (SU!)
Ink: Basic Black (SU!)
Stamps: Festive Four (SU!)
Other: gold brads (SU); dimensionals (SU!), paper piercer, Copics

I hope I kind of made up for not posting so long. I'll try to be more on top of things from now on. Honest. Blog you later.

It seems as if it's been forever since my last post. My house is still upside down for all of you that asked. Cabinets are in, floor is in, we need to do some minor adjustment on cabinets and then bring the granite in and do the final touches - trim on the door and the window, baseboard, you know, all those. Between that, school, pumpkin patch, Halloween preparation, my volunteering, I am sure I am forgetting something, I had no time to blog. I made quite a few cards as I have few big orders, but never had time to take photos and post. Well, I will post two cards today. Also, I had people ask me to start writing out the recipe for my cards, so I will.

Here is the first one.

Supplies Used:
Paper: Natural White for card base, Always Artichoke, (SU!) and Silver Lining Gleam by We Are Memory Keepers
Ink: Always Artichoke (SU!)
Stamps: All Year Cheer I (SU!)
Other: flower brads (Making Memories); dimensionals (SU!)

And this is another Christmas Card...

Supplies Used:
Paper: Natural White for card base, Old Olive DP, Old Olive, (SU!) and Color Connect Elegant Berry by The Paper Company
Ink: Versamark Onyx Black
Stamps: Q.T. Hooty by Pink Cat Studio
Other: dimensionals (SU!), Copics, White Gel pen, paper piercer

I have more cards to come, but later. Off to go to take kids to school. Blog you later.

This is going to be a tuff one... Monique Hawrelluk, a fellow blogger and SU demo tagged me and now I have to tell you 7 things about myself. So, the rules are:

Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here we go. The facts (most of them weird, I know)

1. I come from Sarajevo in Former Yugoslavia. I arrived here in 1994.
2. I met my husband in a pub during a karaoke night. I stole his beer. :-) Rest is history.
3. My background is in computers and electrical engineering.
4. I am so very much scared of snakes. Where I come from they are very poisonous and there are many of them.
5. I don't have a driver's license. I don't want one. I love walking and busses do go everywhere (I am lucky to live in urban area, eh?)
6. I never did any paper crafts until last Christmas. I made my Christmas cards last year, looking back it was a not too bad for someone who's never done it before. Then I didn't do anything until May, and now I am in love. No return here.
7. I play piano. Don't have enough time to do it as often as I used to, but I still love it.

Phew! Done. Now, let's see whom to tag...

1. Tegan
2. Brandi
3. Miss Boo
4. Michelle
5. Judy
6. Julie
7. Gina

Off I go to let tagged ones know they've been tagged. I'll have some cards tomorrow. Blog you later.

Carolyn King is an amazingly talented lady with a wonderful big heart. She decided to help Alzheimer’s Society financially, but also decided to recognize people who are caring for those affected by this disease - caregivers! If you decide to join in, please send a card to someone you know who is caring for a person with Alzheimer's, or if you know no one you can send a card to the following address:

To the Staff at the Artman Home
250 N. Bethlehem Pike
Ambler, PA 19002, USA

Carolyn also has an amazing blog candy on her blog - go check it out!

Anyway, I made a card and here it is:




I sure hope it makes someone's day happier, easier and brighter. Please join in!

Blog you later!

Yes, I do. Between this enormous reno, my business, volunteering and kids, I find I don't have enough time. A day should be about 36 hours, and we should be able to function on about two hours sleep. That is the only way I can do everything I challenge myself with. Oh, well, in my next life I will be an octopus. Anyway, I did have time to make a card with my new High Hopes stamps. I just love how quirky their stamps are.




I am not completely satisfied with this card, but no time to play more. Blog you all later.

I have three cards to share with you. A Halloween and two Christmas cards. Don't have time for much more right now... Gotta go. Blog you later!

Well, in a midst of my reno days, I managed to make some Christmas cards.








If you're wondering about the condition of my house. Well, the deck is almost done, but then needs to be stained, and as for the other stuff... not done yet. But we had chosen the colour of the walls in the kitchen... lol.



Also, Jackie from My Sweetest Girls gave me "I love your Blog" Award few days ago. She is so wonderful. I apologize for waiting so long, but I didn't have a whole lot of time on my computer lately. Go and check her blog. Well, here are the rules: 1. The winner can put the logo on their blog 2. Link the person you received your award from 3. Nominate 7 other blogs 4. Put links of those blogs on yours 5. Leave a message on the blogs of the girls you've nominated. And my list:

1. Lynn from http://thequeensscene.blogspot.com/.
2. Judy from http://jarfullofjoy.blogspot.com/
3. Stacey from http://stampinwithstacey.blogspot.com/
4. Cathy from http://cathyrose-stopandsmelltheroses.blogspot.com/
5. Frenchy from http://frenchysstampinblog.blogspot.com/
6. Tiffany from http://mycraftyworld.blogspot.com/ and
7. Allison from http://alliohran.blogspot.com/

OK, Off I go to sleep now. Blog you later.