How 'bout some cute overload!

Michelle from Purple Onion contacted me a few weeks ago asking if I would consider doing up some samples for her upcoming Stacey Yakula release, A Beautiful Day....how could I not! These stamps are just adorable and Stacey's art is so whimsical and fun it just makes me smile. With all the snow and cold we have had here in southwestern Ontario I was SO ready for some spring cute overload.

As I was colouring these up last weekend I watched my bunnies came out of hiding and return for another year of Linda vs the Bunnies in which Linda tries to minimize the damage to her garden of annuals and perennials. This has been an ongoing battle for a few years now and it won't be long before I have a yard full of baby bunnies eating up the tender young growth of my plants. GRRRRRRR! I don't deny that they are cute as anything, but man oh man, they can sure be destructive.

So thinking of those babies I decided to make my cards into something suitable for those spring babies, hopefully of the human variety :)

How cute with this be for twins, or maybe a new addition!
Featuring: Blossoming Perch, Finch, Robin and Beautiful Day Sentiment Set

The bunnies in my yard are NOT this cute! They certainly would not pick a flower and give it to me, they would EAT IT!
Featuring: Chloe, Blooms and Beautiful Day Sentiment Set

 

 

I'm still working on more samples so come back soon....BUT....if this is not enough to tempt you head on over to Purple Onion Designs because for one week only you can purchase the entire Beautiful Day collection for 30% off!

 

See you soon!

Linda.

Homemade for the Holidays

Hi everyone! Yup, still alive and kicking. I managed to get all 40 of my handmade xmas cards done plus 20 for my mom. I do have a pic of my mom's which I will post but sadly I was in such a rush to get mine mailed I totally forgot to take a pic. I think I may still have one that is unassembled which I hopefully will get put together because since I have been making cards I do like to keep a chronicle of my cards through the years.

Since I don't have a card I thought I'd share some other homemade stuff that I've been up too over the last week or two, please forgive the nasty pictures because I took them with my phone.

First up these super delish mini tourtiere turnovers. It is a Kraft Canada recipe so it guarantees to be easy....It was a teeny bit time consuming because you have to make and cut the pastry but OH MY, the outcome is SO WORTH THE EFFORT! and if you have a food processor, the pastry will work up really quick and easy. If you are gonna make them....do a double batch because I think the portions are off and I only got 17 or 18 and not the 24 the recipe quotes....AND, they won't last!

 

My next homemade for the holidays are gifts I made for my mom and sister in law....nightgowns. Not just any old nightgown, these are made out of combed cotton batiste which is a DREAM to sleep in and with my little touches of heirloom stiches not only are they comfortable, but a little special too! Almost decadent in a Downton Abbey sort of way. FYI, I have had the pattern for years which is a long discontinued Kwik Sew. 

 

bodice detail

 

hem detail

Lastly, today is Christmas Eve and I typically host my side of the family with a traditional turkey dinner. However, plans changed this year which left my day open so I decided to revive an old Christmas Eve tradition from my childhood. I grew up Polish Catholic and eating meat was a no no on Friday, but ESPECIALLY on Good Friday and Christmas Eve. So every year on Christmas eve we would head over to Baba's where she was busy all day making pierogies. All kinds of them! Potato with white cheddar, yellow cheddar or cottage cheese.Veggie ones with sauerkraut and desert ones with prunes or cherries. And then there was the extra dough that she would just roll thin and boil up for my brother and I.

 

I don't have the stamina that my darling Baba had so I just stuck with two varieties. Potato with yellow cheddar and onion and potato with dry cottage cheese. And I did sort of cheat and made the dough in the kitchen aid stand mixer with the dough hook. This is the fruit of my labour...cheddar cheese on the left, cottage cheese on the right. And in keeping with tradition, all dripping in browned butter.

 

 

 

Finally I want to show you my most fav give that I am giving this year, yet the least expensive. It really doesn't have to be extravagant, and at Christmas I love to share and give some of my favourite things. This year it is a Japanese Salux bath cloth that my BFF Jenny hooked me on to. If you love a loofa, this is loofa feel good times ten! I have very dry itchy skin and bathing myself with this cloth feels euphoric! Ya i'm weird! But I love me a good bath cloth. I paired that up with some handmade soaps that are made by the wife of a guy I work with. These soaps are DIVINE....yes DIVINE! Right now she is just selling them locally but hopefully soon she will have an ETSY store which I will share as soon as it is up. In this gift pack there is also a bath bomb also made by her. Seriously, what girl would NOT love to get this as a gift!

 

 

 

That is it for my homemade holiday edition this year!

 

I wish you all the best this Christmas season and peace and love in the new year.

 

Linda.

 

Just 6 days left!

To save at Purple Onion Designs the 25% off sale runs until December 10th!
I've got one last card to show you... this is Icicle...I think he is intended to be a polar bear, but I leaned toward the 'other' side and coloured him as a little brown bear. I hope you like him. The sentiment is also from Stacey's collection.

 

coming up in the next week...mom's xmas card and a peek at what I will be sending this year!

 

'till next time. Linda!

More from Stacey Yakula at Purple Onion

Been a busy few days here at the Heavens house. Lions football game on Thanksgiving Thursday and they WON! I don't even like football that much and I even thought it was exciting, that is what I saw when I didn't have my nap during the second quarter. HeHehe!

So how 'bout another sweet little guy from Stacey Yakula over at Purple Onion. Remember, the 25% off sale runs until December 10th!

 This is Birch, the most adorable little bunny I have ever seen.

 

Stick around because I still have one more card to share. Plus the cards I have been working on this weekend for me and my mom. No colouring this year....time has run out...but something that I still think is adorable.

 

'till next time, Linda.



Black Friday Sale over at Purple Onion

Hey Ho! Look who is back...ok, not permanently back, just back with a little Holiday cheer! Michele over at Purple Onion was gracious enough to let me colour up some of Stacey Yakula's adorable holiday images for her Black Friday sale. YES, a sale over at Purple Onion, all stamps are 25% off and the SALE STARTS TODAY AND RUNS THROUGH DECEMBER 10TH!

How 'bout a little cuteness....this is Frost standing in front of Snowy View. I really love these little guys.

In other news if you wonder where I've been and if I have been alive, yes very alive and doing all kinds of non stamping crafty things. I FINALLY put up the grasscloth on my bedroom wall and made quilt for the bed. Once I got into the quilting spirit I started another one and bought fabric for a THIRD ONE! Then summer hit and the thought of quilting left me. Right now I'm making some ornaments to change the theme of my little dining room xmas tree. You might remember last years tree here. Stay tuned, and I'll post the new one when it's done.

AND stay tuned for other things because I'll be posting two more cards with Stacey's images this weekend.

For my American friends...happy belated Thanksgiving and hopefully that turkey overload was DELISH!

Sometimes someone just needs a little smile

With this busy time of year we can often forget that there may be people in our lives who just need a lift, or a smile, and something to just take their mind away from the craziness going on around them.  I have someone like that in my circle of friends right now and today she talked about her story. You may know her, she is a fellow babe and one of  the sweetest gals I have ever met. Her name is Cath and she talks about her journey here. 

Since she IS a babe, how could I not use a Stamping Bella stamp and I chose Ramona and her wagon because how could you possibly hold in a smile with something so adorable in front of you. I'm thinking some other current and past babes may also be thinking of Cath so you may want to head on over to see what Emily has cooking.

Later, Linda.

DIY Christmas stuff

I was in the mood this year to spruce up some of my Christmas decorations and Paula must have channeling my thoughts when she told me about this blog she follows, eighteen25. So I go check it out and boy did I get the inspirational kick in the pants that I needed!

This is my 'mantel'...well I don't have a mantel in my living room but I do have the top of the entertainment unit and this is how it looks today.

The subway art was downloaded from eighteen25 and they have an entire collection that you can download here! SOOO COOL! Then there are the dollar store finds...

• the frames (which I likely will replace with something a bit more sturdy when I find a good deal, but these do the trick for now)
• the white tree, i do plan on painting the pot white but just haven't done it yet...maybe today
• the plastic 'crystal' reindeer
• and the silver tea light candle

Then I have this ....which I shamelessly admit I totally CASE'd off of Nichole Heady's blog! Now I did follow the rules to change 3 things. She did a one layer card, I layered and sewed. She used copics, I used pencils. I also added LOTS of snow flakes falling over those trees and glittered like crazy. And of course, she made a card...I framed.

 

The last piece of DIY up there is this fabric circle tree. I get emails from Cloth Paper Scissors and I almost thought of stopping because they do send a LOT of them but I can't stop for fear I'll miss out on something good...and something good did come! Something that I could easily make! Lord knows there is no shortage of fabric scraps in this house.

 

 



Now lets move to the dining room. My little tree, another shameless total CASE-job from eighteen25, you can see their tree here. It was part of Michaels Dream Tree Challenge.

Lastly, I was driving home from work one day and one of the stores had all these ginormus snowflakes hanging in their window. I'm thinking "I've seen those somewhere! I need them". YES, it was the dollar store! Oh how working in the mall has its benefits!

 

That's it for today!

Off to run a couple errands and move on to the big tree in the family room.

 

Mom's 2012 Christmas Card

If you have been following me for a while you know that I make my Mom's XMAS cards. It is probably the most fun I have all year. I LOVE making Christmas cards more than anything else and I know that all my Mom's friends and realatives look forward to getting one every year.

I make about 25 for her so I have to keep the design simple enough to mass produce yet stunning enough to keep them wondering 'how'd she do that'. This year I was bound and determinded to use this Stamp Shack image that I have had for years and after a few duds, this is what I came up with.

I stamped the image with versamark on some smooth watercolour paper (available at Pickle) and applied three different embossing powders. Verdigras at the top, some PSX topiary in the middle (now retired) and sprinkle and sparkle's midnight black at the bottom.

After heat setting I spread over the entire image with Tumbled Glass distress stain and then sponged some iced spruce and bundled sage distress inks. When it was all good and dry I added the blue shading with prismacolor pencils and blended it out with gamsol.

Sentiment is papertrey, Sprigs and holly leaves are Martha Stewart punches. Background paper is Basic Grey (I think!) which I also sponged the edges,

So there you have it! Mom's Christmas cards, all done and delivered to her on the American Thanksgiving day weekend! The earliest I've ever had them completed!

 

IF you are reading this AND on Mom's list, I hope I haven't spoiled your surprise!

 

{hugs} Linda.