Helloooooo???

I know, I know....this long absence is inexcusable. I guess I suffer from thinking nobody wants to read my blog. It's been very busy over the past months, what with great grandbabies being born, grand-children graduating from high school, us buying a new truck and trailer to go RV-ing, dear friends passing away and so on. I promise to get some pictures on here of some of the above and also what I've been working on stamp-wise so bear with me. Thanks for looking in!

Hallowe'en Creations

This is a pic of the Hallowe'en favours I made for my hairdresser to give her clients during the week of Hallowe'en. I usually do this holiday along with Easter and Christmas for her, making appropriately themed little gifts. Her clients really like them and they're fun to make. I do up 50 of each and fill each one with a chocolate treat. This time it's Twix and Nestle's Crunch bars with a few Kit Kat when I ran out of the others. I used the new Sizzix pillow box die in my Big Shot machine and finished up every scrap of my retired Creepy Crawly Hallowe'en dp. I really liked that paper which is why I bought about 4 packages of it when it first came out! I tied each pillow box with orange gg ribbon tied in a knot and piled all 50 of 'em into a basket lined with orange tissue paper. I know Marilyn will love handing them out as much as her clients like getting them. Happy Hallowe'en everybody!

Sparkly Birthday Card

Here is a card I totally cased from my friend and upline, Kerry. Her blog is here at ehmazingstampers@blogspot.com She used the Birthday Whimsy set from SU which I don't have so I substituted Garden Whimsy instead. The butterfly is sparkled up with Rose Glitter Ritz 'cuz I didn't want to use the Cosmo purply-pink glitter. I thought it would overpower the Pink Pirouette cs which I just love. I also used whisper white and Pretty in Pink cs from SU. I used a couple of Pretties Kit flowers and a half-back pearl, secured with Crystal Effects and applied with a dimensional and I outlined the bottom right butterfly with a Sakura Gelly Roll silver marker. It sparkles too, as does the big butterfly, IRL. Doesn't show up that well in the photo. I made a similar card using Pacific Point and Tempting Turquoise cs and I thought they both turned out well. I'm really liking the new In Colors and can't wait to do more with them. So many ideas, so little time!

The New SU Catalog and Stuff

Almost a month has gone by since I last posted, after being tagged by my good friend Kerry and adding my responses. I don't believe how time really flies. Now the new Fall-Winter catty has come out and is ready for release to our customers on Monday, the 11th. It's a great catalog, I think, one of the nicest I've seen so far with lots of new and exciting products. I am really liking the new In Colors too, especially the tangerine and pink, so I'm looking forward to creating some things with them. The new scallop border punch is like a prayer answered for those of us who weren't so keen on the corner rounder as scallop maker. It worked but sometimes was a little bit "off" which put ME off but it served a useful purpose I guess. Now the border punch is here and it couldn't have come any sooner to suit me! I like the square scallop and 1 3/4" circle punches too and I see there's a stamp set to go with the square in the RMHC Making A Difference set pictured on the inside back cover of the catty. It's cute and I think I'm going to order it, along with a ton of other stuff. (The only complaint I have about the new catalog is that some of the print, especially in the front pages, is in such light colored ink I found it very hard to read. But that's just my mature eyes I guess! ) I like the new Big Shot too but man, it's expensive! I'm sure I'll get one but that muttering under the breath noise you hear will be me, crabbing all the way to the cheque book. I'm off to Staples to get my book bound, wired and plasticized so it lasts until the next one and then I'm going to start putting my order together. Kerry and I are going to share some of the new Christmas stamp sets in an effort to make it easier on both of us so we have to collaborate our ideas before ordering. And then I'm going to wait patiently for the Holiday Mini. That's my favorite catalog of the whole year, I really look forward to getting it and I've never been disappointed. Now, if they would only bring back the 1/4" gold textured ribbon then my Christmas stamping would be complete! Bye for now and we'll talk soon.

I've Been Tagged

My upline and good friend Kerry tagged me today, along with other bloggers, to provide seven little known facts about myself so I dredged up these gems:
1. I despise asparagus, above all vegetables, to the point that I can't even stand the smell of them cooking. I know, I know, you're supposed to love them but you'll have to count me out!

2. I was born in London, England and came to Canada as a mere baby of 10 weeks.

3. I lived in Turkey (yes, that Turkey!) for 18 months when I was 14-15 yrs. old.

4. I am blind in one eye. No, you wouldn't be able to guess which one.

5. I didn't get my driver's licence until I was 21 so I wouldn't have to ask anyone to sign for me. My Dad laughed when I asked him as a teen if I could get it.

6. Everyone in my family (my side of the family) was born on a Thursday.

...and finally

7. At one point in my secretarial life I could type over 80 wpm.

Now you probably know more useless trivia that you can't even use to amaze your friends.
Thanks for tagging me Kerry.

Sympathy Card

My dh George has to go to the funeral of a co-worker this afternoon and he asked me to make him a card to take along. I didn't know this man but George has known him for many years so I really tried to put some thought into it. I used a 5" square ww base layered with Night of Navy and So Saffron and then another ww layer. I stamped the large image from Essence of Love with Versamark and embossed it with a garnet colored ep that comes out exactly the colour of Bravo Burgundy. I added the butterfly from Essence of Love in the upper right corner, the sentiment from the same set in the lower right and a piece of burgundy ribbon on the upper left. I used Bravo Burgundy for the stamping and I also put one of the Close as a Memory sentiments on the inside. I had some nice 5 1/2" square white envelopes to use that worked well for this card. It's never great to have to go to a funeral but I also had to go to one yesterday, of a co-worker's husband who died far too young due to cancer. Making a card for her and for dh's friend today brought home how fragile life is and how we shouldn't get so caught up in the day-to-day of it all that we forget. Hang on close to the ones you love!

Fresh Cuts Birthday Card

I cased this card by Kerin Sylvester, at http://www.kerinstamps.com/. She has some great ideas for using the Fresh Cut stamp set and the cards that go with it; this one really caught my eye and I knew my sister-in-law would love it. The iridescent ice embossing doesn't show up that well but it sure looks pretty IRL. All the supplies are SU except the ribbon which is a spool from the M store. I love ribbon and can't resist buying ones I like. Take a few minutes and check out Kerin's site, she really does some great cards.