Oh Christmas Tree

I found this tree stamp at Michael's in the $1.50 bin! The sentiment came from the same bin last year. Gotta love a good deal! So this is my first card with the tree stamp. The holly are my own stamped embellishments. I'm really into the clean and simple look this year for cards.

One of my favourite tips I once learned is to take a silver (or you can use gold too) metalic broad tip marker, use an exacto knife and cut a small slit in the middle of the broad tip, and slide it along the edge of your cs for a nice silver edge! It comes out straight and even, and looks like another layer without having to mat it.

Card Details: Stamps - Recollections (tree), Studio G (sentiment), Heidi Grace (holly); Pilot silver metalic marker; Bling - Hero Arts; Candy Cane Stickles; Diamond dust Gelly Roll pen; Ink - Colourbox (pheasant gold), Versa Colour (Bark), Memories black Dye, Versamark; and Ranger silver EB powder.

Another Christmas Card

Here is a winter scene I made with my new SU Lovely as a Tree stamp. I frosted the ground and tree branches with Diamond Stickles to give it the look of snow, and sponged on a grey/blue winter sky behind the trees. Sentiment is embossed in silver.

Card Details: Stamps - SU, All Night Media; Memories Dye Ink, Versamark, Colourbox; Ranger silver embossing powder; CS - Recollections; Diamond Stickles.

Finally! Time to Post Christmas Cards (365 Cards Day 275)

I have been sooo busy lately it's been unbelievable! However, I have managed to squeeeeeze in some time to work on Christmas cards. I just haven't been able to get the chance to take pictures and post them until today. I'm going to post a few a day for the next little while as I finally have them all ready to be posted, I just don't want to do it all at once. I need to give you a reason to keep visiting me here!

These 3 cards are all fitting for today's challenge at 365 Cards. The 'Tis The Season challenge calls for using lots of red and green on your cards. They are my favourite colours to use on Christmas cards - I'm a traditionalist as you will see!

I made my own embellishments using a couple of different holly stamps and a flower punch. I punched out the star shaped flower in red and green, and pieced it together to make my own pointsettias. The holly stamps were embossed in gold, cut out and popped off the page with 3D foam tape. TFL!

Card Details
Top: Stamps - SU Patterned Pines, All Night Media (Sentiment); Ink - Versamark; Ranger Seafoam White EB Powder; CS - Recollections; Ribbon - Ruban "Berry Christmas"; Popped with 3D tape.

Middle: Stamps - SU (Lovely As a Tree), All Night Media (Sentiment), Whispers (holly berries);
Ink - Versamark and Colourbox; Ranger Gold EB Powder; Stickles -Candy Cane, Diamond; CS - Recollections, Unknown.

Bottom: Stamps - Inkadinkado (snowman), Heidi Grace (holly); Ink - Memories Dye Black, Versamark; Ranger Gold EB Powder; Stickles - Candy Cane, Platinum; CS - Recollections; Punch - McGill (Petite Petals); CB Swiss Dots Folder.

The Baby Card

This is the baby card I made to go with the gift for my niece's baby shower. I used a Fiskar's border punch to make the fancy square. It is popped off the page with 3-D 2 sided tape. I stamped the rattle (using a dollar store stamp), cut it out, then added glitter and a bow to make my own embellishment. I will try to add the card details tomorrow if I can find the time.

Why I've Been So Busy, Busy, Busy!

My niece is expecting a baby girl (her first) in February, and several of us got together and threw a big (and I mean BIG!) shower for her inviting all sides of her family. A total of 75 women attended! I made several craft items for the shower beginning with the invitations.

I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the talented ladies at Splitcoast for their wonderful inspiring ideas. I couldn't have done it without them! The invitation, favour, and thankyou card ideas all came from the Splitcoast gallery.

Can you see why I haven't had time to post anything for a long time?

The Invitation!

All 75 invitations!

The Favour
The favour, showing what I put inside.

75 Favours!

Thankyou card.75 Thankyou cards.

Table card I made explaining information about a couple of the games.

All 9 table cards.

Advice card I made for a special album. We also used it to draw for door prizes.
All 75 advice cards.

Helpful Hints album.
I bought a cheap photo album in the dollar store and exchanged the covers for ones that I made. This is the front cover and is computer generated.

Back cover of Helpful Hints album. Also computer generated.

365 Cards - Day 231 Imagine This: The Sky

Day 231 challenge at 365 Cards calls for a card using the sky for inspiration. I needed a sympathy card for a friend who lost her father suddenly, so decided to use this challenge for my inspiration. The card LO came from Lynn Hadley, my SU Demonstrator. I cased one of her LOs because it was perfect for what I had in mind. I stamped the flowers and sentiment with Versamark and embossed with white powder. Then I sponged on 3 or 4 different colours of blue ink.

Card Details: CS - K&Company, Bazill, Recollections and SU Glossy CS; Stamps - Artemio, Heidi Grace Greetings; Ink - Versamark, Colorbox, MS; Ranger White EB Powder; Ribbon - Dollar store.

"Take a Bow"

Create a ***NEW*** card using ribbon in a wonderful way! This is the challenge at Caardvarks where the sponsor this week is May Arts. I used 4 different kinds of ribbon on this card. Each flower was done using ribbon in a different way. Of course I had to add ribbon with a slide as well!

Card Details: CS - White (Recollections), Yellow & Green (Bazill), Stripes (unknown); Ribbon - Whites (Ruban), Pinks (unknown); Pearls - Recollections; Buttons - unknown; CB die cut & swiss dots EB folder; MS leaf punch; Ink - Pamass.

Thanksgiving

I have just a moment between turkey bastings to make a quick post, so I want to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian supporters! We have my Dad and step-mother, as well as my DH's parents coming for supper tonight. My DH has gotten very energetic and made a squash soup and pumpkin chessecake to go with my turkey dinner. I made fresh dinner rolls yesterday as well. Am I making you hungry yet? I'm getting hungry just thinking of it! The turkey smells soooo yummy!

I feel very blessed, and have so much to be thankful for. I hope you do too! Have a very Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Blessings,
Dorie Ellen

Happy 90th Birthday

Grammie Hanson is 90! My friend asked me to make this card for her grandmother who is celebrating her 90th birthday today. She has a very weak heart and lately has had lots of health issues as a result. She's been in the hospital for a bit, and last week wasn't expected to live more than a couple of days, let alone make it to her 90th! Turns out she is a fighter and much stronger than expected because she has had a couple of good days, and today the family celebrates not only Thanksgiving, but her birthday. Now that is something to be thankful for!
God sure is good.

The stamp and background were coloured by sponging on ink. I stamped oak leaves to create my own pp. The sentiment was computer generated. TFL

Card Details: CS - Recollections, SU Glossy; Inks - Colorbox; Stamps - SU (Lovely As A Tree); Ribbon - Ruban; Eyelets - Dollar store; Sentiment - Computer generated.

25th Wedding Anniversary

3 days after my husband's parents celebrated their 50th anniversary, his sister and her husband celebrated their 25th! I made this card for them. This was a new type of fold for me that I wanted to try. I attached the smaller, folded card to a larger base to make it a bigger card to give. I used lots of embossing and vellum on this card. I really like the look of vellum, don't you?

Card Details: Vellum - White Floral by Colorbok, plain - unknown; CS - Bazill shiny gray, gray metalic & pearl white - unknown; Metal frame & bling - dollar store; Punches - MS (leaf), Marvy Uchida (flower); Stamps - Craft (numbers), All Night Media (Happy Anniversary); Ink - Versamark; Silver EB Powder - Wal-Mart.

50th Wedding Anniversary Card

My in-laws celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on Saturday! Woot, woot!! We had an awesome celebration with 85 relatives and friends. I really think 50 years together is something definitely worth celebrating since we live in a society in which so many marriages end in divorce. They have a strong faith in God which got them through the rough patches and helped them reach this milestone. There's nothing better than leaning on the solid rock of Christ!

Anywhoo, this is the card that I made them. I did alot of gold embossing for this one! The base is shiny gold and the pp has raised shiny gold dots too. I also layered two different gold ribbons, one sheer and the other glittery. I stamped the envelope to match.

Card Details: Stamps - All Night Media (Happy Anniversary), Craft - (#50), Artemio - (roses & leaves); Spellbinders Nesties - Label 1; Bazill - shiny gold CS, Pearl CS - unknown; The Paper Company - white with gold dots; Metal frame and ribbon - dollar store.

Christmas Card

I started making this card for the MMSC19, but as usual, never got the time to finish it until now. I didn't add any embellishments like the sketch required, because I liked this card just the way it was.

Card Details: CS - Recollections (red, green, white), Crafty Bitz (green embossed), K&Company (red pp); Stamp - Inkadinkado; Ink - Memories Black Dye; Nesties Ovals; Image was coloured with pencil crayons.

Stampin Up Workshop

I have been wanting to learn more about Stampin Up so I recently held a workshop in my home. The workshop leader(Lyn Hadley) made the Halloween card with the candy in it and then gave it to me. The rest of the cards were made by me, but were her designs. The spider envelope has 3 Rockets candies in it. We had lots of fun and I enjoyed learning some new techniques to add to my repertoire!

**All items are Stampin Up.

Stamping 411 - SSC117

My son needed a card for his friend who was having a birthday party this afternoon. I finished it just in time before he had to go! Thankfully I have done a similar card like this before so it didn't take long to throw it together. Today's challenge at Stamping 411 involved using a shape with a point on it and since this one has 4 points on it I thought it would be a good one to use. I had to move the strip up from behind the fish though, because I wanted to put the sentiment on it. I hope I haven't strayed too far from the original sketch by doing that though.

Card Details: CS - Recollections, Unknown; Ink - MS (blue), Versamark with Ranger super fine gold EB powder; CB Folder - D'vine Swirls; Eyelets - Unknown; Sentiment was computer generated.

365 Cards - Day 198 "Make a Mosaic"

I made this card earlier in the week, but didn't get the chance to post it until now, and now it's too late to enter it in the challenge at 365 Cards! Oh well, at least I can still post my first Christmas card for this year! For this card we had to put a mosaic of some kind on our card. I made a mosaic out of punched images. The image was punched on red vellum so the mosaic would show through.

Card Details: Stamp - Heidi Grace Christmas; Ink - Memories Black Dye, Colorbox - Gold, Versamark Ink Pen (for the edges that I embossed); EB Powder - Ranger (super fine gold); Red Vellum - Unknown; CS - Recollections; Punch - Emagination; Bling - Dollar Store.

2 Challenges - One Card

This is a first for me, but I managed to combine two challenges on one card. First I used the Stamping 411 Saturday Sketch Challenge 116. (See the sketch above.) The second challenge was for 365 Cards - Day 196 "Just a Touch". For it, we had to stamp with black on white and add "just a touch" of colour. I chose to use this Hanglar Stanglar image (was a rak), and just colour the pumpkins. I actually like how the little bit of colour behind the girl gives focus to her and to the pumpkins at the same time! This is something I normally would never have thought to try, thus another reason I love these challenges!

Card Details: Stamps - Hanglar Stanglar, Artemio (flourish); Flowers and Leaves - raks; Ribbon - Stampin' Up; CS - Recollections, Cricut Rainbow; Punch - MS Lace; CB Folder - Swirls. I coloured the image with pencil crayons.

365 Cards - Day 192 "So Sweet"

This challenge involved using the word "sweet" on a card. I made this card using a new stamp set I've been having fun with. The roses are embossed in white and then filled in using fine black glitter. This is hard to see except where it is coming off of the flower and onto the card! The leaves are stamped with white on black cs, and the white background is embossed using the swirls CB folder.

Card Details: CS - Recollections; Stamps - Artemio (rose set), Studio G (sentiment); Ink - Pamass (white), Memories (black); EB Powder - Ranger (Seafoam White).

Stamping 411 - SSC115

Here is my take on Saturday's Sketch Challenge at Stamping 411.

Card Details: Stamp - See D's; CS - Pink Pearl; Anna Griffin; MME - Behemia (Blossom Girlfriends Floral/Pink); Flowers - Forever in Time; Brads - Dollarama; Ink - Ranger Walnut Distress Ink.

MMSC17 - Using Bleach Technique

Talk about getting things done at the last minute! This card challenge for Midnight Madness needed to be done by tomorrow! Thankfully I've had a quiet and relaxing Labour Day and a chance to work on it. It was a fun card to do as I tried out the bleach technique for the first time. The bleach didn't take too much colour out of the cs I used, but it did take enough out to give a subtle difference. The flower is the bleached part.

I also tried out inking my CB folder for the first time. I used the Birds and Swirls folder with lavender ink and got a wonderful effect. These are both techniques that I will definitely try again! TFL

Card Details:
Stamp - Inkadinkado (Doodle Flowers); Ink - Versamark, Color Box Lavender; Clear EB Powder - Stamplicity; CS - Cricut Rainbow (light and dark purple); Recollections (white); Unknown (dark purple base); CB Folders - Swiss Dots, Birds & Swirls; Metal Corners - Dollarama; Ribbon - Offray.

Sad News

The Scrapping Nook

I was sad to hear this morning that my local scrapbooking store will be closed for awhile. They lease their space and some work was done recently on an electrical panel in the back of the building, and it turns out they had an electrical fire. A malfunction in the panel caused the flourescent lights in the store to blow and they ended up losing their entire "stash" to smoke damage. You can check out their blog here for more information.

The store is owned and operated by a very dedicated and fun group of ladies who don't deserve this kind of stress and loss. I'm just thankful to know that nobody was hurt and that things can be replaced. Hopefully the store will be repaired, restocked, and up & running again soon.

Stamping 411 Challenge Card

This is from an old challenge, but I had it half done so I decided to finish it. I guess I should pay more attention to the dates on my notes! It seems I just haven't had enough time to keep up with some of these challenges! Well, school will be starting in a few days and hopefully then I will have a bit more time to make cards.

I recently spent some time trying to find ways to take better photographs. I made my own photolight box and have taken a few pics using it, and so far I'm happy with the result. It's much easier to get a nice clear picture with it, especially if I stick it outside in the bright sunlight and don't have to rely on lamps!

Now I need to get busy ordering curriculum for my bible study which will be starting up in a couple of weeks, and for youth group which will be starting up also the same week. Doesn't it seem like there is always something happening to distract you from what you really want to do most (ie. make cards)! Don't get me wrong, I love leading both my groups, I just don't like having to make all the arrangements at the beginning of the year.

Card Details: CS - Coredinations Black Magic, Recollections, Crate Paper Blue Hill Collection (Cloud)
Sentiment - Computer Generated; Ink - Portfolia (Gifted Memories)
Nestie - Scallop Circle; CB Folder - Textile; Stamp - Inkadinkado (Birds Galore)

Day 185 - Feeling Blue

This card was made for a challenge at 365 Cards. The challenge was to use 3 different shades of blue on a card.

Card Details:
Stamps - Inkadinkado (Expressions & Frames, Doodle Flowers)
CS - Recollections, K&Company (Classic K)
Ink - Memories, Versamark; EB Powder - Ranger (Seafoam White)
Nestabilities - Label 1; Ribbon - Dollarama

Resist Techniques

Last night I attended my first SU workshop and learned how to do the resist technique 3 different ways. Each card was made using a different resist technique. It was fun and educational! I just love learning new ways to decorate my cards. I'm sure these techniques aren't knew for most of you, but for me it was the first time I had done this before.

The first card was stamped with versamark on glossy cs, and then embossed with clear powder. Then I sponged on the ink and wiped off the excess to smooth it out.

The second card was stamped with versamark on glossy cs and once dry, brayered with ink.

The third card was covered with pastel, and then versamark ink was stamped on it using a stamp roller.

Card Details: I don't know the names of everything, but I can tell you that they are all from SU!

Day 181 - White Space

Here is a card I made for a challenge at 365 Cards (Day 181 - White Space). The challenge was to keep all decorations (paper, embellies, sentiments) within the blacked out areas of the card. I thought this might be easier if I turned it on it's side and I was right! Maybe that's cheating, I don't know, but it helped me as I have a hard time with white space, thus the challenge! I was able to use a new stamp I received awhile ago for a rak at More Than Scrapbooking.

My niece is expecting her first baby so I've been in the mood to work on baby cards. I've been playing with some ideas for baby shower invitations, favours, and thank you cards for her, but can't finish them until I know if it's going to be pink or blue! (I have to wait about 4 more weeks!) So this card was just a little something to satisfy my need to make something with a baby theme!

Card Details:
Stamps: Sentiment - Clear Expressions, Flowers - Artemio
CS: Recollections (white), Bazill (pink); Punch: MS Butterfly
EB Folder: CB Swiss Dots; Ink - Colour Box (orchid); Pearls - Recollections.

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Stamping 411 - SSC113

This is my first Stamping 411 Challenge entry. It is the Saturday Sketch Challenge for this week and was fun to do. I'm definitely going to be doing others as time allows. I used bronze embossing powder for the image and I like the different look it gives. It has a bit of a copper look to it. I bought several different rolls of ribbon for invitations I made, but ended up not using ribbon at all. The ribbon on one of the rolls was perfect for this card. Ribbon is something that will never go to waste! The cs I used was all scraps which I was glad to make use of. I will add a sentiment when I decide what I want to use the card for.

Card Details: Ribbon - Modern Home; Stamp - HOTP Botanicals; CS - Bazill (green), Recollections (dark brown and ivory), pp - unknown; Bronze EB Powder - Wal-Mart; Ink - Versamark.

365 Cards - Super Sketchy Sunday Challenge

This is my first 365 Cards challenge. This sketch looked like a fun one so I decided to try it. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, although I think it would have looked okay without the ribbon and slide at the top. The card opens at the point where the flower is. I really like doing things a little different like that.

I hope you are having a good week. I've got another busy one ahead, but still have some more cards to post so check back in when you can.

Card Details:
Flowers: Forever In Time
Stamps: Happy Birthday - Rubber Stamp Tapestry; Flowers - Artemio
Ink: Versamark, Martha Stewart (teal), Colourbox (peony); Silver EB Powder - Wal-Mart
CS - Recollections (purple), Cricut Rainbow (teal)
Spellbinders Impressabilities - Flowers; Ribbon Slide - Cuttlebug Die Cut
Diamond Stickles; Bling & Ribbon - Dollarama

Caardvarks Challenge

I finally found a small smidgen of time to work on some challenges. This card is for the Caardvarks Challenge. The rule is to create a **NEW** card which incorporates the colors of their sponsor's logo - black, white, and hot pink! The sponsor is MyStampBox which is a Canadian company from Toronto, so being that it is pretty close to home I thought it would be fitting to do this challenge.

My hot pink ended up looking a little darker and almost looks red in the picture, but in reality it is a fuscia pink. I love how the white embossing looks on the roses against the pink and the black. The leaves were done by stamping with white ink on black CS, and then I cut them out.

Card Details:
CS: Black and white - Recollections; Pink - Cricut Rainbow
CB Folder: Swiss Dots
Ink: Versamark; Memories Black Dye, White Pigment
EB Powder: Ranger
Stamps: Sentiment - Heidi Grace; Scroll, Roses, Leaves - Artemio

The Last Thank You

So this is the last thank you card I should be posting for awhile! I've made so many that it's time to make something different. I might even try to make some Christmas cards if I can! This card though is one that I like, and enjoyed making. The mint green is vellum and I enjoy working with vellum! I love the crisp look of white on a card as well, don't you?! I curled the flower petals up for more of a 3-D effect.

Card Details:
Ink: Versamark, with clear EB powder.
Punches: Cuttlebug flowers; Curvy cutter (ovals).
CS: Bazill, Recollections, (shimmery white cs is unknown).
Vellum: Memories Forever.
Pearls: Recollections

Midnight Madness Blog Candy

Check out the awesome blog candy at Midnight Madness ! I would so love to win some stamps as I have such a limited selection and sure could use more. I have been wanting to get in on the sketch challenges for a long time as well, but haven't had the chance. I'm sure hoping that this week I will finally get to it now that graduations, vacation, back to school shopping and a few other things are behind me!

Wedding Thank You

I'm getting to the last of the Thank You cards that I'm going to post for awhile. I have one more after this, and it's one of my favourites so I saved it for the last. This one was made (using my friend's wedding colours) with a chocolate brown cs base, gold cs in the centre, and shimmery ivory paper for the front. Everything is embossed in gold.

Card Details: Brown CS - Recollections; Ivory and Gold CS - Unknown; Stamps: Sentiment & oval scroll - Inkadinkado, bells - unknown; Versamark and gold Ranger EB powder.

50th Anniversary Invitation

I have been very busy this past week making 54 invitations (5 1/2 x 8") for my in-laws upcoming 50th anniversary celebration. I used a shimmery gold cs for the base, ivory cs for the second layer, and then the top layer is 29 lb. vellum (parchment). The "50th" stamp at the top is embossed in gold, the edges are all inked with gold ink, and the ivory layer has a bouquet of roses stamped in gold so it would show through the parchment. I bought ivory coloured envies and will be printing them on the computer with the same font as the invitation. These were lots of fun to make and didn't take long at all.

Card Details: Gold CS - unknown; Ivory CS & Vellum - Recollections; Corner Punch - EK Success; Gold EB Powder - Ranger; Gold Ink - Colour Box; Stamps: Bouquet of Roses - Judikins, 50th - unknown.

White on Black

I love the look of white on black and recently invested in some white EB powder to give this a try. I made the image just to test out the technique, but then added it to a card. It looks clean and simple which I like, but I also struggle with the fact that there is some open space around the image. Almost feels too empty to me.

Card Details: CS - Recollections; Stamps - HOTP Botanicals, Dollarama; EB Powder - Ranger Seafoam White; Inks - Versamark, Memories Black.

Another Thank You!

I was in the mood to try making a monochromatic card in ivory - I just love a good excuse to use the pearls as accents! This card is 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" and opens at the bottom. Sometimes I like to change things up a bit if you kwim!

Card Details: Stamps - Inkadinkado; EB Powder - Ranger; Ink - Versamark; CS - Recollections; Pearls - Recollections; Spellbinders Impressibilities - Flowers; Liquid Pearls - White Opal.

Thank You Thank You Thank You!

I'm on a Thank You card kick right now! I've been making all kinds of thank you cards for a friend to choose from, and I've been enjoying making several different types of cards. I've been having fun with vellum, different die cuts, and embossing techniques etc. So for the next several posts you will probably only see thank you cards, but at least they will all look drastically different because of the different styles I've been trying!

While I was away on vacation I was reading through some magazines, and although I didn't see anything like this I did see a card that triggered the thought to try something like this one. I really like working with vellum because I like the soft feel it gives. I placed the soft vellum flowers on shiny white paper that I embossed with my swiss dots CB folder. The sentiment is also a CB die cut out of vellum. Of course you always need to add the bling!

Card Details: McGill Flowers Punch - Petite Petals; MS Leaf Punch; Marvy Flower Punch; Fiskars Flower and Border Punches; Swiss Dots CB Folder; CB With Gratitude Die Cut; Vellum - Memories Forever; Bazill CS; Shimmery White CS - unknown; Bling - Recollections and Dollar Store; Pearls - Kaiser Craft.

Baby Card

Friends of mine just had their 3rd child a few weeks ago before I went on vacation. He is sooo cute! I just love newborns!! I made this card to go with a gift I gave them. TFL

Card Details: CS - Recollections; Vellum - unknown (from Michaels); Stamps - rattle (Dollar Store), Bundle of Joy (Clear Expressions); Ribbon and ink - Dollar Store; Punch - Marvy Uchida; and Eyelets - Making Memories.

My Favourite Card!

I finally had some free time to take some pics of my favourite card and post them. I made this card for a good friend who just got married. I'm really happy with how it turned out. I spent lots of time tweaking it to get it just right. It was really hard to get a decent picture of it - low batteries and cloudy skies did not help! However, I've finally done it and here it is.
I found this verse on the internet. It is so fitting for the special couple! If you go to www.imag-e-nation.com you will find a wonderful variety of free verses. I love this site!
This close-up shows the silver embossing on the bells and outside edge of the ribbon slide. TFL!

Card Details: Punches (Fiskars - small flower, border; Marvy - flower; Martha Stewart - leaf)
Vellum - Hot Off The Press; CS - Bazill
CB - ribbon slide; Spellbinders - Labels One Die; Ribbon - dollar store
Pearls - Recollections; Stamp and silver border stickers - unknown.

Camping Pics

My DH and I just spent 2 weeks with our kids camping at Arrowhead Provincial Park in Huntsville, Ontario. This is one of our favourite parks. Hopefully these pictures will give you a glimpse of what we saw and why we like it so much.

The next few pictures show views of Lake Arrowhead. I just love the birch trees along the beaches.


This snapping turtle hangs out at the dock and has been there for years (at least 15 years that I've seen him). He is about 20" from tip of the nose to the tip of his tail. He knows that if he hangs out around the dock where people fish, he will manage to get the occasional free meal by someone who will toss him a worm! There is an even larger snapping turtle that lives at the other end of the lake. We saw him each morning that we fished in the canoe, but he was camera shy and wouldn't come close enough to get a picture.
This dragonfly landed on my daughters beach bag. It was quite large - about 4-5" long. I thought it was very interesting to see it up so close. Gotta love those big green eyes!

My son is helping me show you a visitor we had on our site. This tree frog decided to get out of the rain (yes we had lots and lots and lots of rain!) by climbing up under the flap of our dining shelter. My son is on the inside and the frog is on the outside of the screen.

The river circling around the trees is a picture of Big Bend taken from a lookout we walked to which is pretty close to our campsite. The river meanders for miles creating several "oxbows" like this. This is one of the biggest oxbows with the best view from the campground. We actually canoed to this spot once before, and wrote our names in the sandy shore. It is only a short walk, but an all day canoe ride because of the long meandering river and portages around a falls and beaver dam. You can't tell but there is quite a current to paddle against as well.

I decided to try making another small sheet of handstamped patterned paper. Again, I added a bit of shine using my jelly roll glitter pen and liquid pearls stickles. What do you think of this one? It is sooo much fun to do!

I recently was challenged on a forum to make my own patterned paper by stamping images in different colours. This was lots of fun so the other day I tried making a couple more. I added a bit of shine using my jelly roll glitter pen and liquid pearls stickles. Next I'll have to see how they look after I've used them on cards! I don't think I'll ever get stuck without matching pp now because I can just make my own! Not only is it cheap it is fun to do too!

Anniversary Card

I made this card for my DH for our anniversary, and although I liked it, felt it wasn't fancy enough for 20 years. So I have decided to save it for some other time.