Holiday Hugs

Last card for the holidays. This was one of my first

attempts at using Copics. I started a couple of weeks ago and finished it last night. I see I have a

 lot of practising to do!! I used Basic Gray Jovial, and large scalloped ovals and the stamp Mimosa with Stocking Hat.
Copics: R27, YG97, Y11, Y08, RV21, E000, E00

One Crazy Stamper - Holiday/Winter

A Little Bird Told Me...

Today my friend Julie and I made cards and I thought this one turned out nicely. I used craft paper and and older paper I have had hanging around. The stamp and sentiment came from a friend. I used Lacey Nestabilities to frame the bird. Copic markers were used to colour. I added a button and some twine.
If The Shoe Fits - craft paper

Christmas Eve Star

On Christmas Eve, our family attended the evening service at our church. Everyone was asked to bring a star and hang it at the front. I made four using George, embossed using Swirls on the Cuttlebug, and wet embossed using gold. Twine was used to finish them off. They looked so pretty hanging on the tree with the lights making the gold shimmer!

Merry Christmas

I do hope you had a wonderful Christmas. We were so blessed to have our family at home. I tried a new recipe for the turkey this year. My 93 yr old Mother was a little perturbed that I would experiment on such a huge undertaking but I am always up for a cooking challenge and it was an amazing feat! For the first time, I tried  brining the turkey. I would be interested in knowing how many have tried this. I heard about it on a food channel. When I went to pick up my fresh turkey, they gave me the smallest of birds. I was able to negotiate but lugged home a 22lb..er. What to do? Brine. I washed Tom well and then found a clothing container to mix my potion. ( I had loaned my large cooler to my son) I started with hot water, added half a box of Kosher salt and mixed well. Throwing in some garlic, onion, cloves, bay leaves, sage, thyme, (I forgot to buy fresh) I mixed up my brew. In went Tom, and I filled the container with ice water before sliding the box out the kitchen door to the back yard. Outside he sat until Christmas morning, then I washed the salt off and dried him well and added onion to the cavities, some spices and put him in the oven at 450 degrees for half an hour. The temp was then reduced to 325 and I used a little aluminum foil to lightly cover the top until he was done. Wow!! Amazing!!  I know he was overcooked and yet nothing was dry. My Mother who is an incredible cook, was completely surprised at how well the turkey turned out. I think, if I don't mind saying myself, that it was the best turkey I ever had!! Hope your day was full of warm, happy memories!!

Naughty or Nice?

I saw this lovely Basic Grey paper and put together a sweet card. This is Maurice and wouldn't any little boy LOVE a pair of socks for Christmas?? I used crayons, stickles  and the sentiment is from Kimmie.
LRW - Basic Grey
Paper Cutz Challenge - Anything goes
Digi Doodle - Christmas colours red and green
Ooh la la - Christmas song (Santa Claus is Coming to Town)
Die Cut Dreams - using a die cut
Kraftin Kimmie - seeing spots

One of a Kind

Yes - the One of a Kind Craft Show opened its doors today!! Yahoo! It was a slow start but a good ending. Our Probus Club chartered a bus and 48 ladies were at the Rec Centre at 8:00 to get a good start on their shopping. Unfortunately, the first bus we boarded wasn't ours, so off we went into the cold to wait for the next one. When the second bus arrived, the driver mentioned there were problems with the bus. After boarding and getting settled, I asked him what he meant with "problems". Oh, there is a major transmission problem he said so I called for another bus!! Third is a charm they say! So, we waited patiently, and waited not so patiently until he had a call and drove out and off to the Auditorium. He thought it would be closer for the "coach" to meet us. The coach did arrive and it did have a bathroom and it was bigger, unfortunately, it was a standard so getting in and out of first was a challenge especially in bumper to bumper traffic. We did arrive safely and saw the best show yet! There were vendors from all over Canada and incredible purchases to be had. I did get some wonderful Christmas presents and was excited to bring the haul home. I did learn that the "bum warmer" is THE gift this year. Too bad I learned this after I left the building. Go figure!

On Board Fun!



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Ziplining over the Boardwalk



While I was uploading our cruise pix, I got so excited remembering the fun times! Here are a few of the activites that I so enjoyed!!



Bougie Boarding, praying I wouldn't tip off!



Rock Climbing









Getting Ready for Christmas

Being away is nice but the time on holiday adds to the stress level when you return and discover that the majority of the neighbours have their Christmas lights up and decorations out! Today I decided to make a card. I played along at:

LRW as Rosanne's challenge was to add a banner. I have never done this so I liked the idea! I used the stamp Trimming the Tree and coloured with Prismacolors, added some Stickles to the scarf, tree, and star, used some pop dots, stickers from the DCWV Christmas Combo pack, some twine and brads. The picture isn't as vibrant as the real deal but I'll keep  experimenting with exposure.
Ooh-La-La Creations - Christmas
Scrapbook Sisters - Christmas Tree
ABC Christmas Challenge - Christmas
Pollycraft Challenge - Glittery Christmas

Gone Sailing....

The Oasis of the Seas

I have been MIA for a couple of weeks and have been having trouble adjusting to time in the real world. We left our home Oct 29 for FLL and enjoyed a day of shopping and relaxing before embarking on the Oasis of the Seas Oct. 30th on a Western Caribbean cruise. The Oasis has the reputation of being the biggest cruise ship in the world. There were 5800 passengers!! I should say so!! She is an amazing ship and if you enjoy being busy, then this might be the ship for you. Many of the passengers were on board for two weeks as it takes that long to take part in all the activities. I don't know about that...we seemed to see and do "almost" everything. Luckily, friends who sailed her in Sept, sent us the Compass...the daily listing of activities so we had a heads up and were able to prioritize. I will try to post some of the pictures we took. Royal Caribbean offers a fun cruise. I was able to Boogie Board, Rock Climb, Zip Line, play mini golf, take a scrapbooking and jewellery making workshop, take a dance class, play trivia, ride the Rising Tide bar...there must be more. The entertainment was outstanding. We saw Hairspray ( I sang along!), saw a show with the Texas Tenors (America's Got Talent), saw an ice skating show based on Hans Christian Andersen, sat in on a stand up comedy show, viewed an aqua theatre show featuring high divers, syncro swimmers and acrobats all performing in a small pool at the back of the ship. They had to postpone our show partway through as the water became rough and dangerous. Once the stabilizers were out and working, the show continued. Come Fly With Me was a show featuring the singers and dancers and acrobats performing above us in the theatre during the show! Experiencing Hallowe'en on the Oasis was an experience in itself! The activities team went all out with decorations, music, a parade on the Promenade. We even went through a haunted house! Some passengers went all out wearing the most creative costumes!  What a week! We were exhausted! Afterwards, we headed up past West Palm Beach and spent the next week on the beach. It was just what the doctor ordered!

Treat Bags

As we won't be at home Hallowe'en  night, I made some old fashioned caramel apples and with some candy and chocolate, put them into a treat bag for the neighbourhood children. I also used Paper Doll Dress Up to make the pumpkin and cat for a topper. BOO!!

Hallowe'en

This is the last week to show some Hallowe'en spirit so I entered several challenges. For the first time, I used a digistamp and coloured  it with Prismacolors, used My Mind's Eye Blackbird paper, and added some pop dots. Voila!

Dutchdare - #89 Hallowe'en

Stamp Challenges - digi stamp

Tuesday Throwdown - anything goes

Toptip Tuesday - anything goes
Paper Playtime - Hallowe'en
Crafts and Me Challenges - Hallowe'en
Creative Craft Challenge - Hallowe'en
Meljens Designs - anything goes
Other Lovelies - "H" Day
LRW - Hallowe'en

Happy Birthday Mom!

October 19th....and my Mother celebrates 93 years!! We will go out for lunch and have a good visit. Maybe a manicure and pedicure will be in the mix....mother-daughter fun! So with that in mind, I made a card for her. She loves birds and has a feeder attached to the window where she watches the flurry of eating. This card was made for someone older but the paper was given to me years ago before I started scrapping. I used the Live Simply cartridge (new) and added some glitter to the wing, some faux stitching to the leaves and the sentiment comes from My Pink Stamper Punnylicious

LRW - something old, something new

Fantabulous Cricut  - leaves