Sunday, February 28, 2010

OH CANADA!!!!!!!!

 

  

 

The pictures tells the story :D  The Canadian Men's Hockey Team won the Gold medal in their game against the US.  It was a fabulous game and the US should be proud of how they played against us.  One couldn't ask for a better game!!

Nothing but sheer Canadian pride and tears streaming down my face as we sang Oh Canada with the Canadian Men's Hockey Team as they raised the flag at their medal ceremony.  Like the commercial says: I AM CANADIAN!!!!

Thanks for listening :D


Marisa

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Exciting News!!


I have been bursting at the seams for the past few weeks and am glad I can finally spill the beans!!  Stacey over at Stacey's Stamping Stage invited me to be on her newly developed Curtain Call Crew Design Team!!  I am still pinching myself to make sure it is real and am very excited and very honoured at the opportunity she has provided me!  Each week the team will be providing you with sample cards using that week's Curtain Call Colour Challenge.  I don't officially start until Sunday, March 7th, but you can count on me participating this week :D  Joining me on the Curtain Call Crew are these wonderful ladies: 

Why not head on over to Stacey's Stamping Stage to see what this week's Curtain Call Colour Challenge will be and join us in making a card.  Then link your card to Mr. Linky on Stacey's blog (use the keyword Curtain Call if you are posting to a public gallery) in order to qualify for a chance to win her Show Stopper Award.

I was really hoping to have a card to post along with this wonderful news, but there were too many amazing Olympic events to watch!  I have sung the Canadian Anthem more in the past few days than I have in years!!  Canada has won thirteen Gold Medals to date, with five of them being won over the past couple of days!! That means we have the most gold medals ever won by a Winter Olympics host country.  One more gold medal and we will break the all time number of  gold medals ever won by a country participating in the Winter Olympics!!!  We have one kick at the can left to achieve that record, and yes, it is the grudge match hockey game between Canada and the USA.  The US won the first time they played last week and needless to say, Canada wants to win the gold medal but B-A-D bad!!!!  I'll be very surprised if we don't break some ratings records on both sides of the border LOL!  May the best team win!

Have a fabulous day and I'll be back soon with a card, I promise :D  Go Canada Go!!!!


Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Some Bunny Loves You


I think I have finally recovered from the tears that were streaming down my face when Joannie Rochette skated in the Ladies Short Program last night.  If you are not aware of the story, her mom had a heart attack and died shortly after her flight landed in Vancouver.  She was coming to watch her daughter skate... Joannie decided to skate in the competition and her face told the story as she performed her routine.  She fully broke down at the end of her routine after the audience gave her a standing ovation.  Another Olympic moment and one that shows the wonderful support the audiences have been giving the athletes.  

Now for the card.  Square cards seem to be the flavour of the week, how fun!  Have always loved square cards and actually find them easier to "balance" than the standard A2 size.

I found this darling little bunny stamp in Michael's $1.50 stamp bin and just had to buy him!! He just makes me smile when I look at him.  I tend to stay away from images that require colouring because quite frankly, my colouring sucks LOL!  I need to enlist Dawn for some lessons as she is a master colourer (think I just made that word up LOL!).  I used Twinkling H2Os for the bit of colour and sparkle on the bunny and added a bit of grass to "ground" the image.  A "naked" button finished things off nicely.  

Glad you were able to stop by today.  Appreciate every one of you (((hugs))).




What's In It?
Stamps:  Michael's $1.50 Stamp, A Muse Stamps
Paper:  SU DSP, Almost Amethyst
Ink:  Mint Medley, Lavender Lace, Summer Sun, Pretty in Pink
Accessories:  Circle and Scalloped Circle Nesties, 5/8" Saffron Satin Ribbon, Twinkling H2Os, Blue Button, Dimensionals

Mojo Butterflies


Yeah, Canada won gold again!!!  I for one would not sign up to do the cross terrain skiing event, but then, I'm too old and conservative now LOL!    Add this win to our gold in the Ice Dancing the night before and we are a happy nation :D  One fun thing they are doing in Vancouver is change the colour of the Olympic rings by the water to the colour of the medal that a Canadian athlete wins on a given day.  The rings have been gold for two days now and it feels good :D  Okay, I now have the "I feel good na-na-na-na-na-na, just like I knew I would na-na-na-na-na-na-na" song in my head!   Bet you now do too LOL!
 
This week's mojo sketch provided another opportunity to go round or square even though I love round cards because time was short.  The first thing I thought of was to use a medallion for the diamond shape, but Wanda beat me to it.  You can see her lovely card here.  That meant I had to go to option B.  No better excuse for an opportunity to pull out my new SU butterfly die :D  This die may very well usurp my Swiss Dots embossing folder addiction LOL!  A piece of lovely, soft, floral DP started things off some half pearls and brads along with some ribbon finished things off nicely.  

Thanks for sharing a part of your day with me :D




What's In It?
Paper: Costco DP Pack, Burgundy, Tan
Accessories:  SU Butterfly Die, Scalloped Square and Square Nesties, 5/8" Burgundy Sheer Ribbon, 1/4" Burgundy Satin Ribbon, Half Pearls, Brads, Dimensionals.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Act 18 Staring Jen's SFYTT


What a delightful mix of colours Stacey came up with for this week's Curtain Call Colour Challenge.  I love navy and olive together and the other two colours are a fabulous compliment.  Will definitely be using this colour combo again.  I matched this up with Jen's Sketch For You To Try from this weekend.  I had to go with flowers because I saw lots of daffodils blooming yesterday as well as a cherry tree - in mid February!!!  We are definitely in  not going to know how to deal with the rain once it returns!  Warm temps, birds chirping, flowers blooming and a city that is a buzz with the Olympics - who could ask for more :D


Since Jen's sketch had smaller panels on it, I matched up my Marvy flower punch and my Martha Steward leaf punch for the flowers, and if you have flowers, you know you have to have butterflies too, right LOL!  The rest of the card is pretty straight forward.

Believe it or not, I may have to go out and mow the lawn because the grass is growing!!  Is that crazy or what??!!!

Thanks for sharing a part of your day with me.  Blessings.




What's In It?
Stamps: Best Yet
Paper:  Kraft, Old Olive, Night of Navy, Ballet Blue
Accessories:  Marvy Flower Punch, Martha Stewart Leaf Punch and Butterfly Punch, Half Pearls, SU scalloped Edge Punch, Dimensionals

Monday, February 22, 2010

How Many Panels??!!


When I first saw this sketch I freaked out.  Waaaay too many panels for my little mind to have to deal with LOL!  However, since Canada lost to the US in hockey last night I was more than a little bit feisty and welcomed something to take it out on - ha!!  I think making this card added rather than subtracted from my frustrations of the evening, but at least I can say I've done the sketch LOL!  

I went with a green monochromatic look as it was an easy out.  The colours lent themselves to my Mike's $1.50 tree stamp and some chocolate chip quite nicely so I ran with it.  The leaves on the tree are actually celery and olive, but you can't really tell the difference- yup, my night wasn't improving much LOL!  I framed the image with some nesties and, used the Distressed Lines embossing folder because it reminds me of tree bark. The rest was kept rather simple because it felt like a masculine card so I added a sentiment panel rather than a bow below the tree image.  Not sold on the card, but it fit in rather well with the emotions of the evening....what can I say, we Canadians take our hockey very seriously and hate to lose!  However, as one who has personally competed in many a sporting event, I can honestly appreciate and commend Miller for his outstanding performance in goal!!


On a lighter note, our family ventured into Vancouver yesterday to catch some of the Olympic festivities.  I think the sunshine and warm weather (13C - 58F) brought most of the Lower Mainland to Vancouver yesterday because it was a zoo down there!  I should have taken a picture of the crowds!  Line ups for any of the pavilions were anywhere from 2 - 6 hours long.  In addition, people actually show up around 6:30 a.m. to line up for some of the more popular venues that open at 9 or 10 a.m.!!!  Reminds me of when Expo was in Vancouver.  One lady coined it perfectly :  "Disneyland has nothing on these line ups!"  Needless to say, there was no way our kids would stand in a line for that long so we took in the cauldron, walked around for a few hours, enjoyed the atmosphere (it was incredible seeing so many wearing red and white!) and called it a day.  If the venues are open through the Para Olympics we may head down and try again but no sooner. Here are a few pics of our day out.

They had a really fun topiary display.  A curler, a hockey player and Vancouver 2010 .  Just had to take some pictures.  My kids cooperated at this point but by the end of the day they were done smiling for the camera LOL!

This is a picture of all the flags by the Athlete's village.  You can see the Swiss flag at the top of the one building and there are others up as well.  The Canadian's had a huge flag over a balcony just the right of the picture but the angle was wrong so I couldn't catch it.  Wish the wind had been blowing a bit as it would have been a fabulous picture with all the flags extended.   These next pictures were taken on the shores of False Creek near the Russian Soshi Pavilion (they are hosting the next Winter Olympics).  There was a 4 hour line up to get in so we passed and decided to enjoy walking along the seawall. On our way we tripped across an amazing sight.  On the banks of the seawall there were hundreds of Inukshuks people had made with the rocks.  It was a truly amazing sight.  Lots of adults and little kids were down there making their own to add to the count.  It's little pleasures like this that just make me smile.  Here are pictures of a few that were made and the bottom picture is just a portion of the ones that lined the short.
 



This is the type of day where Vancouver just shines in all its splendor.  Beautiful blue skies, warm temps, flowers blooming (I saw tons of daffodils and even a cherry tree in bloom), snow covered mountains in the background (what's left of it anyway!), and a beautiful blue ocean.  Believe me this is NOT our  normal February weather!!  We are usually growing webbed feet by now due to all the rain so don't be fooled LOL!

Thanks for letting me ramble :D  Have a glorious day :D 





What's In It?
Stamps:  Mike's $1.50 Stamp, All year Cheer I
Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Tan
Ink:  Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Certainly Celery
Accessories:  Label 3 Nesties, Circle Nesties, Distressed Lines Embossing Folder, 5/8"  Brown Satin Ribbon, Large Oval Punch, Tag Punch Paper Piercer, Half Pearls, Dimensionals

Friday, February 19, 2010

Darn, Don't Have That Nestie Shape....Yet...

Another wonderful sketch by Amber for this week's Verve Inspiration Challenge.  The inspiration picture basically made my card for me :D  First thing that came to my mind when I saw the plate was: "Darn, I don't have that Nestie shape"....yet.... LOL!   So I stuck to the oval as per the sketch. 

As luck would have it, I had some card stock that was a perfect match for the plate colour.  I then embossed the flower image in white on Kraft as per the napkin. Then I got stuck because I needed another colour to work with and didn't have any DPs with these colours in it.  Back to the picture I went.  Since there was silverware in the picture, I figured gray was a good match.  I crimped the two gray panels for some dimension and added the brads and some ribbon.  The ribbon is actually a perfect match to the card stock but the camera didn't want to show it that way - ugh!  A little something was still needed so I added a little border along the bottom and a tag to pull in a bit more of the kraft colour and fill in that side of the card.

Can't wait to go down town Vancouver this weekend to join the Olympic festivities - free ones that is LOL!  We have clear blue skies and sunshine for a few days to come so you will be able to see Vancouver at its finest :D

Have a fabulous weekend!




What's In It?
Stamps:  More Petal Prints (SU)
Paper: Kraft, Eggplant?, Cream Linen, Light Gray
Ink:  Versamark
Accessories:  Scalloped Oval and Oval Nesties, Crimper, SU Border Punch, 1/4" Gross Grain Ribbon, Brads, White Embossing Powder, Dimensionals

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Thursday, February 18, 2010

Butterflies and Flowers


Yeah, Canada won Gold again today!!!  This time Christie Nesbitt won in the Women's 1000 meter long track speed skating event.  Loved watching Shawn White win Gold for the US in the Men's Half Pipe last night.  I stood there with my mouth hanging open - two of the most amazing runs I have ever seen!

It's a glorious day today - blue skies, sunshine and lovely warm temperatures.  Vancouver at it's best :D  That lead me to butterflies and flowers again.  I used my new SU Flower punch and SU Butterfly die for this sketch of Jen's.  I ran the butterfly through my Birds and Swirl embossing folder and the flower centers through the Swiss Dots embossing folder to give them a bit of texture. The white panel pattern was made on my Scor-Pal and I curled the flower petals a bit with a knife. 

Off to watch more Olympics!  Have a great day :D






What's In It?
Paper:  Pretty in Pink, Cool Caribbean, Cream
Accessories:  3/4" Circle Punch, SU Flower Punch,  SU Border Punch, SU Butterfly Die, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Birds and Swirls Embossing Folder, 5/8" Blue Ribbon, Half Pearls, Dimensionals

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Spring Fling

Another wonderful sketch by Mercy this week, though I did have to ponder this one a bit due to the side panels.  I originally wanted to put a butterfly in the oval but a few others beat me to it - a hazard when one does not do the sketch on the day it's released LOL!  So I merrily went to flowers because the temps have been so warm here it feels like Spring!  I also used Colour Throwdown #79.  What a wonderful mix of colours. 

My main panel came together wonderfully and I was able to use one of my favorite Penny Black floral stamps called Blush - very appropriate for this colour combo :D   The red oval gave me a bit of grief as it is such a strong colour against the other two in this combination that it needed to be balanced off.  After some fiddling with various options, I settled on the two thin strips of red at the top and bottom to hem things in.  Since I didn't have butterflies as my focal image, I decided to add them elsewhere - ha!  Love these Martha Stewart Butterflies and they filled things in very nicely.  I really tried to get ribbon on  this card because if felt a bit naked, but it just didn't work so I left things as they were.

Thanks for your continued support through your visits and comments (((hugs)))





What's In It?
Stamps:  Penny Black
Ink:  Sage Shadow, Real Red, Blush Blossom
Paper:  Sage Shadow, Real Red, Blush Blossom
Accessories:  Scalloped Oval and Oval Nesties, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Martha Stewart Butterfly Punches,  Half Pearls, Bling, Dimensionals

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Jen's Curtain Call

This week's Curtain Call Colour Challenge had a wonderful array of colours:  So Saffron, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip, Going Grey and Very Vanilla.  I paired it up with Jen's Sketch For You To Try to make it a double challenge card.  I love this new SU flower punch and can see myself using it a lot.  Even though you can't really see it in the picture, I curled the petals of the flower a bit with a knife to give it a bit of dimension. 

My trusty crimper made an appearance as did the Swiss Dots embossing folder.  The ribbon is from one of my Michael's ribbon bin diving adventures.  I tied the ends with some raffia and a button, added a brad to the center of the flower and two brown half pearls in the lower corner.

The weather continues to give us issues as it is still very warm up here - 56F (12C) and it poured over night.  Thankfully the sun is shining today and they are calling for clear, sunny skies for the next week which will be fabulous!  Olympic fever has hit the city BAD!  There was a three hour line up to get into a department store to buy Olympic apparel the other day and another three hour line up to get through the cash register!  So wonderful to see all the red and white in the crowds as well as the wonderful support the Canadian athletes are receiving.  Our gold medal win has launched Vancouver into an electric atmosphere - can't wait to get down there and be a part of it this weekend!

Have a fabulous day, and thanks for sharing a bit of yours with me :D




What's In It?
Paper: So Saffron, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip, Going Grey, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  SU Flower Punch, 1" Circle Punch, 1/2" Circle Punch, Crimper, Scalloped Circle Nesties, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Ribbon, Raffia, Button, Brown Half Pearls, Brad, Dimensionals

Monday, February 15, 2010

Birthday Butterflies and Olympic Gold

I just loved Karen's sketch this week.  It has such a wonderful combination of circles and squares.  I started off by continuing to widdle away at my Costco DP stash - never realized how large those packs were LOL!  I chose Certainly Celery as my main colour - have I told you how much I love this colour!  I tried to add more blue but it just wasn't working for me and had to settle for my only splash of blue being the half pearls on the butterfly.  I pierced the butterfly trail first but needed a bit more kick to the card so I added the bling over top of the holes.  Now that I'm looking at the card, I think the bling needs to be spaced out a bit more - gotta love that 20/20 hindsight :D.  The white panel is scored at 1/4" intervals for a bit of texture (just in case you're wondering, yes, I did try Swiss Dots but it was too busy LOL!).

On an Olympic bent, I thought I'd show you a picture of what the Olympic Medals look like - in this case the gold medal as Canada is celebrating Alexandre Bilodeau's Gold medal win on Sunday night in the Men's Mogul competition.  Click on it to enlarge it - they've done a great job designing them!  Alexandre is the first Canadian to ever win Gold when Canada has hosted the Winter Olympics!!!  Our family was jumping up and down and screaming when he won, so much so that the poor cat went a runnin' with his tail all puffed out LOL!  I had tears streaming down my face when they showed his brother cheering because his brother has Cerebral Palsy and is his biggest fan.  What is even more touching is how Alexandre calls his brother his biggest inspiration.  Definitely, on on those "Olympic Moments".

Thanks for coming by today.  Off to watch more Olympics :D





What's In It?
Stamps: Savvy
Paper:  Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Costco DP Pack
Ink: Black
Accessories:  Circle and Scalloped Circle Nesties, Scor-Pal, SU Butterfly Die, MS Butterfly Punch, Blue Half Pearls, Bling, Dimensionals

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Curtain Call Show Stopper Award



 I was so excited today when I was scrolling through my blog roll and found that Stacey over at Stacey's Stamping Stage selected my card here to be one of her Act16 Curtain Call Colour Challenge Card winners from last week!!  No way!!  What a wonderful honour - thank you Stacey!!!  Can't wait to play in this week's colour challenge :D

Hope to be back later today with Karen Giron's sketch challenge card, but  I'm having such a hard time doing anything other than watch the Olympics!!!  Hi, my name is Marisa, and I'm and Olympic-aholic......LOL!  I have competed in so sports for years and have skied for over 30 so I just get a buzz when I watch the athletes pushing themselves to the limits and putting all their training to the ultimate test.  Many things are going to be severely neglected over the next two weeks - maybe even card making GASP!! I'll try my best to squeeze everything in this week, but just giving you a heads up just in case LOL!

Canada won their first medal yesterday!!  Go Canada Go!!!  Jenn Heil won the Silver in the women's mogul competition. We were really hoping for a Gold medal as Canada has never won gold in any year we have hosted the Winter Olympics.  However, Hannah Keamey had the run of her life and definitely deserved to win the Gold.   You couldn't have asked for a better competition between the two and the close final score proved it.

It is beyond fun watching these Olympic games because of our hosting the games.  I know where they are skiing, bobsledding etc. because I have actually skied those runs or been where the venues are.  The city is totally energized and they can't bring in enough of the Olympic mittens!  They thought they would sell about 1 million of them, but they have now sold over 2 million and are well on their way to 3 million!  Think it is because they are only $10 so very affordable also very useful.  Kids are wearing them all over the place :D

Can't wait to take the family down town to see the actual Olympic Flame and join in some of the excitement in the city.

Here are a few pictures from the Opening  Ceremonies (not taken by me - I wish!!). The first one is the Olympic Cauldron they lit inside BC Place where one of the arms didn't come up - ugh!  The next one is the Spirit Bear in the Opening Ceremonies, and the last one is the Olympic Cauldron in its permanent outdoor location in downtown Vancouver.





Thanks for letting me ramble. Have a great day and may your country do well in whatever events they are in! 

Blessings,