TGIF!!

It’s been a busy week and I’m so glad it’s Friday! I’ve been working on Mother’s Day cards lately. This card was inspired by the cherry blossoms that line the streets near my house.


The stamp set that I used is called “Eastern Blooms” from Stampin’ Up!. I’m so glad that I invested in the stampin write markers. They were perfect for the cherry blossom branch stamp.

I stamped the flowers in Melon Mambo, Apricot Appeal and Perfect Plum, and then I cut them out individually. I adhered the flowers on the stamped branch with foam dimensionals for a raised look. I also used my fingers to curl the petals of the larger flowers backwards.


I’ve been trying to make the inside of my cards more decorative so I put a little purple flower in the bottom corner. The “Happy Mother’s Day” stamp is from the “Messages for Mom” set that was in the most recent occasions catalog.


I think that this is a great card that captures the feeling of nice weather in the Spring.

This card is also available for purchase in my Etsy shop. You’ll find the link in the sidebar on the right or the in the navigation bar at the top of the screen.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you all have a great day!
-Ashley

Jumbo Paperclip Bookmark

I know that it's been a while since my last post, but better late than never!

It was my birthday in March and as a gift, I received a portable photo studio. I LOVE it! It really helps me improve the photos of my cards. This is my favorite photo that I've taken with it so far.



This is my variation of the jumbo paperclip bookmark. The paperclip itself, is 4" long, and the metal is thick so it cannot be bent out of shape easily.




I used the "beautiful wings" embosslit from Stampin' Up! to make the butterflies. I think the rhiestone crystal gives it the perfect touch of something extra.

Please comment below if you would like a video tutorial! :)

CANADA WINS GOLD!

If any of you follow me on Twitter, you will know that I went downtown yesterday to watch the gold medal hockey game. We lined up at a restaurant on Robson Street at 9 am. The restaurant wasn't going to open until 10:30 am. I thought that we would be the first ones there, but the line was already going down the stairs. By 10 am the line was already down the block and around the corner! By the time the restaurant opened and we got to the door, the only tables available for our group was on the patio! It was packed!

The game was a nail biter and it was awesome! Way to go Crosby!

After the game, the streets of downtown Vancouver were absolutely insane!! Here are some pictures to prove it! There were even people who climbed up into the trees!

The Olympics are here!

Here are some pictures that I took on Thursday afternoon on Granville Street and Robson Street:


A view of the British Columbia Canada Pavillion




The back side of the Art Gallery. They put a large projection screen. I stood there for a few minutes but I couldn't figure out what was playing on the screen.


If you really look, you will see two people on the Zip Trek going between one building to another. They were screaming the whole time.

I must say that I am impressed with the impact that the Olympics have had on the city. I thought that traffic would be insane and living in Vancouver during the 2010 Olympics would barely be manageable; however, yesterday, I was able to go to and from the North Shore 3 times and each trip took me no longer than it would on a typical day. I didn't go through downtown so I can't account for how the traffic was there, but the back route that I took was problem-free.

There were 2 police officers on every second corner along Hastings Street, as well as parked around side random highway exits and parking lots. It definitely feels safe here.

I didn't go out last night durning the opening ceremonies. It was too wet and cold, so I watched it on TV. It was amazing! The effects, the costumes, the atmosphere were all top notch. One of the arms of the Olympic cauldron didn't rise due to a hydrolic problem but other than that, everything turned out great.

After the ceremony, Wayne Gretzky carried the torch from BC Place, down Georgia Street to Stanley Park, while standing on the back of a pickup truck. Many people ran out onto the street to run along side "the Great One". Police officers had to pull up along side the pickup truck as people were getting too close and started to stand in front of the vehicles. The energy and excitment were unbelievable.

Last but not least, I would like to express my deepest sympathy to the Georgian athletes and the family and friends of Nodar Kumaritashvili, who passed away after a training accident on the luge track yesterday morning. RIP Nodar.

Gearing up to the Olympics

Wow, it's been a long time since I last posted. Things with the apartment are just getting organized. We've had our floors replaced but there are still things that need to be dealt with. It's been about a month and a half already!

On a more positive note, my rabbits, Royce and Abby are happy and back living together. It was a lot of work but I'm glad that things worked out in the end.

On my lunch break last Thursday, I went for a walk down Georgia street to get to the mall. I've never seen so many people on Georgia street. There is a definite buzz around town with the Olypmics quickly approaching at the end of next week. I decided to take a detour down Robson street on my way back to the office. I stopped by the Canada Pavillon that was set up at Robson Square. I heard a band playing and decided the head down the stairs to see what was going on. There was a skating rink and a live band. They even had these yellow cushions available to sit on. I've posted some pictures.

It seems like all of the stores have also just put out loads of new Olympic merchandise. I went into Aritzia this afternoon and there were 3 sections of Olympic clothing. London Drugs also had massive amounts of Olympic t-shirts, flags, keychains, pins...you name it, they had it. I've never experienced anything like this. Park Royal shopping mall was decorated with maple leaves and there were many cars in the parking lot with Canadian flags clipped onto the windows.

I can't wait to see what next week brings! I'll be sure to keep you all posted!

My Christmas Disaster

So speaking of speed bumps and things holding up my blog posts, you'll never guess what happened on Christmas Eve! In a nut shell, we were trying to hang something on the wall to put our mail and keys but we accidently hit a pipe. The picture below speaks for itself. Things have been a little more hectic since my last post. The apartment is a mess. Royce, my rabbit, is still sick and needs to be kept away from my other rabbit Abby. *sigh*



I hope to have things sorted out by the new year. I'm working on my next Stampin' Up! order and I hope to have some Valentines Day card tutorials and videos for you shortly.

In the meantime, I hope you all have a very happy new year! We're going out to dinner tomorrow night for the count down at the Trattoria restaurant in Kitsilano. I'll be sure to tell you all about it.

Busy Busy Busy

Needless to say, I haven't been able to post every day. I can't believe that this is my only my second post. It's been crazy busy for me lately, so if you could just bear with me until after the holidays I should be able to get things under control.

This past Saturday, I helped put on our company's Breakfast with Santa Party for the kids. It was A LOT of work, but in the end everyone had a blast!

Some of you may know that I have two rabbits, Royce and Abby. When I got home from the party, I noticed that Royce was sneezing frequently. Rabbits don't sneeze very often and I was getting worried...ok, I was actually panicing, but only because my last rabbit had similar symptoms and eventually it turned into pneumonia. I decided to keep an eye on him overnight and then to take him to the vet on Sunday if he didn't get any better. That night, he was sneezing so frequently and so hard that he kept me up most of the night. That's when I knew it was serious. I called the vet on Sunday morning and they couldn't squeeze me in. I ended up driving an hour in the snow to get to another rabbit savy vet. Over all the whole vet trip took about 4 hours from start to finish. Royce is now on antibiotics for an upper respiratory infection and he has a follow up appointment this Sunday. For now, to prevent Abby from catching the same illness they can no longer live in the same cage. Abby is now set up in the kitchen due to her recent escape from her pen this morning.

Here is a picture of the two little ones from a couple months ago:

A Fresh Start

So I’ve decided to start this blog all over again, and I’m happy to report that it’s turned out a million times better than it used to be!

My goal is to post each and every day. I would also like to use this blog as a means to support and promote other Stampin’ Up! demonstrators and/or Etsy shop owners, like myself…and of course there will be personal tid-bits along the way so you can all get to know me.

I’m really excited to get started! You can find the link to my Etsy shop in the sidebar.

For my first post, here is a picture of the Reindeer Poop that I made. I'm sending 7 of these to a customer this afternoon. It was super fun and easy to make! A great stocking stuffer.

The only things that I used that were not Stampin' Up! products were the cello bag and the reindeer stamp. There are many great reindeer stamps in the Stampin' Up! catalog, but the only reason I used a different brand of stamp was because I was pressed for time and I could not wait, so I ran out to my local craft store and picked up a reindeer stamp.


click to enlarge

The poem on the back reads:

"Santa checked his list not once, but twice
and found you've been naughty and not very nice.
Since coal is expensive, here's the scoop,
he's filling your stocking with reindeer poop!"

Here is the recipe:

Real Red Stampin Up cardstock
Whisper White cardstock
Holiday Greetings Designer Series paper
Real Red Grosgrain ribbon

Great reindeer stamps from Stampin' Up:

click to enlarge