Laurel

Meet Laurel the Reindeer...another just squish it up adorable image by Stacey Yakula available in rubber over at Purple Onion. I will admit, I was a bit of a slacker because I was chatting it up with Paula yesterday and she said she was going to post her Laurel...and I said OMG...I was going to do that too!

So she posted hers, told you all to hop on over to see mine and it wasn't there. I got caught up in my newly acquired Netflix and the post slipped by me. Did I watch anything...NO....did I waste an entire day just cruising through what I could watch...YES! I think I have said it before....sometimes I just have to waste my day away doing nothing productive to gain some productive energy back. So, if you want to see Paula's cutie version...go check it out here! BUT FIRST ...check out mine.

She is all vintage paired up with cosmo cricket paper and to my shock...NO PENCILS were used here! Just copics. A LOT of them! So there you have it...my unproductive weekend. I did make up for it tonight by stringing three bags of red, white and silver glittered Styrofoam balls to make a garland for my little living room xmas tree and cooked up a batch of chicken noodle soup for this week's lunch's to keep me away from the fast food joints in 'the mall'.

that's it for now...till next time....
Linda

Free Hand

So what was the deal here in Chatham this morning? I woke up to SNOW on the ground....{insert that Charlie Brown scream here}...AAUGH!

Now that I have THAT out of my system I can move on. Last year (or maybe even the year before) Emily (da Bella) and I were at DeSerres Art Supply store and I picked up a greeting card that I thought was just adorable so earlier this year I decided to recreate it and sketched the image in my journal. Then I used a combination of Caran d'ache neocolor crayons and pencils to colour it up.

 

 

Christmas card update....since I have not been regularily colouring I've had to rely on mass production to get cards done. While I don't mind mass producing I don't like making 50 of the same thing so I usually work on 4 or 5 different card designs so I only have to make 8-10 of each. Speaking of that, I'd better get moving on them!

 

Later, Linda.

the stockings were hung on the chimney with care...

...In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there

I think I could recite that entire poem in my head and I don't even like poetry....WAY WAY too complicated for this simple mind.

How 'bout another Purple Onion Designs image by Stacey Yakula Studios...this one is simply called Stockings.

 

I can't help but be smitten with those little pointed toes! The colour inspiration came from the piece of Basic Grey paper and I coloured them up with copic markers and used some prismacolor pencil for shading. And of course....LOTS of glitter....no Christmas card is complete until you add the glitter.

 

Don't miss out, because Michele has all stamps 25% off and some incredible deals on her specials page so check out this post for all the details...but these deals will only last until Sunday!

 

 

Black Friday Deals

Are all my American friends coming out of their turkey coma and working it off shopping the Black Friday deals? Let me tell ya, my hubby says he would NEVER want anything that bad but I think if I lived over there I would most definitely get caught up in the hype.

We have our own way of enjoying the American Thanksgiving which includes pre-day festivities of steak dinner at the Keg, a late night at the casino followed by an early wake up call to head over to the Detroiter Bar for their Detrioter special ...burger, fries and a beer for $8.95. Now that we are all full we waddle over to Ford Field for the Detroit Lion's Thanksgiving Day football game. NOW...let me get something totally clear...I AM NOT a football fan but it was a pretty exciting game, I even stood up and cheered a few times. Colleen and I even managed to stay awake and not nod off until halfway into the 4th quarter. I opened my eyes just as it was finished and looked at the clock...4th quarter, 00:00 remaining...YES...then in my horror I looked at the score...31-31. I woke Colleen and said "OMG, they are going into overtime!".  So it was a long day, a long game, the Lions lost and I thankfully have the day off work to just chill and get some more Christmas Cards made.

Now if you are chilling out at home like me with no intentions of leaving you can still partake in some  holiday deals because Michelle over at Purple Onion Designs is having a Holiday Sale and Black Friday Specials with 25% off!!!!!!!!!! If you need some inspiration I just happen to have some for you. Paula got me hooked on these Stacey Yakula images and when these new ones came out she sends me a frantic text....DID YOU SEE THEM? I love Stacey's style, it is so soft and I tried to capture her simple style here.

First up, Snowy Trees. I used copic markers, pencils liquied applique, LOTS of glitter and sponged the edges with chalk ink.

 

Next up, Filbert. LIKE how cute is he!!!!! And being quick to colour I'll be doing a few more I think. Again I used copic markers, pencils and one of Stacey's sentiments. Then I cut him out and paired him up with a memory box tree. Gotta luv those dies too. That is liquid applique under his feet that was imbedded with clear flower soft while it was still wet. You can't see them very well, but to create the crystal snowflakes I punched them out of double sided tape. Pressed them down then removed the paper exposing the other sticky side and added glitter.

 

 

That's about it for now. I still have another one of Stacey's images to show you tomorrow and a couple more to colour up. It's gonna be a busy next couple weeks for me.

 

Later, Linda.

 

 

 

Are you feeling Christmasy yet?

I wasn't until today when I went to our local Canadian Tire (home/auto/tool etc store) and all the Christmas stuff was out. And OMG....there it was, a 4 foot tall Santa with a little Westie poo baby girl doggie jumping up on his leg! I'm thinking....I NEED IT! But with a $200 price tag I don't know that I REALLY need it. But I am definitely going to watch for that thing to go on sale.

This past weekend I was a busy bee making Christmas cards. 25 for my mom all done except for the little sprigs of embelishments that need to get added. I also made 8 very Tim Holtz like cards and CASE'd one of Nichole's from her Papertrey Blog. Gotta love simple cards sometimes. I also took a class last week over at Pickle with Nathalie from Magenta. If you don't know, Magenta is a Canadian stamp company and their beautiful samples caught my eye many years ago and I fell in love.

Speaking of Pickle, Kim is getting used to her new digs and just announced she will be open two extra days through the week! SO happy about that! Check out her blog for store hours and some pics she took at the Magenta classes.

Now how 'bout a little Christmas inspiration! This was a card I made for last years stash but somehow never got posted. It is one of those cards that just makes me happy and I think I may make a few more for this year.

 

Trees are Tim Holtz

Peace die and sentiment are Papertrey

 

That's it for today, more Christmas cards coming soon!

Peace out, Linda.

It has been a while

But I AM alive and well and enjoying my free time. I started on the bedroom reno during a week vacation and got some much needed painting of trim done in the hallway. Do you know HOW MUCH I dislike painting trim. I've got the grasscloth all ready to hang on the focal bedroom wall but then I got sick with a HORRIBLE sinus infection, then came down with a wicked cold that progressed into a mild case of bronchitis. I blame this all on the new found germs that I come in contact with since our office relocated to the mall downtown.

Anyhooo....that along with a major patch job under the bedroom window has put my wallpaper hanging on hold for a bit.

In the meantime hubby and I took a trip to California in September, YES, to follow our guy Dave Matthews and his band. We flew into LA, drove to San Diego and spent a couple nights there to take in the sights of Coronado Island and tour an aircraft carrier. That was WAY COOL! I thought ya, ya...it's a military ship...but so not JUST a military ship....more like a floating city....WAY COOL! We saw Dave in San Diego and the next day we drove back to LA for concert #2. Enroute to our hotel we detoured so I could plant my feet on Rodeo Dr. in Beverly Hills and make a pitt stop at Tiffany's. Then we drove through Hollywood, ate a coney at Pink's and drove down the walk of fame. Concert #2 behind us, the next day we flew to San Francisco for #3. With the concerts done we settled down to spend a few days in San Francisco. It was a busy three days taking in a couple wine tours in Napa, a tour to Muir woods, Sausalito, and Alcatraz and a 5 hour bike tour of some of the city sights. Josh, our bike tour guide only had us bike up two hills so it was doable!

The last two days of our trip was spent in a rented convertible Mustang driving the Pacific Coast Hwy 1 back to LA and our flight home. I was a little freaked at first thinking we would be driving south with cliffs out of my passenger window but I survived and the view was spectacular. I think I could definitely be a west coast girl!!!!!!

When we got home, I spent the next 3 weekends SMASH booking some of my fav photo's and spots we visited....I thought I'd share some with you here....

Graffiti in Clarion Alley....I was in awe of the artwork here!

Rutherford Hill and Mondavi wineries...can you see my happy face there!
Just look at all those barrels of wine!

Our 2012 tour calendar and some pics from the summer.
YES, we stood on the grassy knoll and had our pic taken on the field
of the Dallas Cowboys stadium.

Rodeo Drive and Hollywood



Dave has taken us to some pretty amazing places.

Finally I'll leave you with a some of my fav pics of the coast and our trip.

Muir Woods redwood forest

Alcatraz

That's me, walking the halls of the prison.

Before I go, you might be wondering if I've been colouring...well, I haven't, until this past week when I decided to get my gears going for Christmas so stay around and I'll have something to show you soon!

 

'till next time, Linda!

I am the queen of putzing

The last couple weeks I have been very busy taking on a bedroom makeover and painting hallway trims and baseboards that were in a very sorry state. Nothing is coming together YET...but progress is being made.

The bedroom is going to be ZEN BABY! Cool mushroom coloured walls, matching grass cloth behind the bed (yes, the real deal grass cloth!) and a new window covering. This is what I have picked out. The walls are done, some patching needs to get finished before I put up the grass cloth and I'm going to wait till the wallpaper is up before calling my blind guy to bring in some samples.

The swatch on the right is the grasscloth and the one on the left is a first pick at a window covering. I just want a very sleek simple roller shade...no fuss, no frills....ZEN! and that is my paint sample thrown in there. I am a paint sample junkie....I actually own and buy paint sample swatch books. I don't like to make a kazillion trips to the paint store, I want every option at my fingertips. And my current paint of choice is Aura by Benjamin Moore....LOVE that paint. This may sound totally crazy to some, but I actually enjoy painting. Once all the prep work is done I sort of find it relaxing and love watching the transformation happen.

When I haven't been painting I've been putzing. (defn: to behave in an idle manner; putter) It is one of my absolute fav ways to wind down and relax. I'll just look at something and decide to reorganize it. Or maybe open up a kitchen cupboard and decide to empty it, wash it and reorganize it. Are you sensing that I LOVE to reorganize! However there is no organized madness to my putzing. It is totally random and spontaneous. And during my randomness today I popped in on Emily's blog to see what was going on and her theme for this weeks AJ Tuesday was time. While I was in the midst of doing nothing really productive, but somehow managing to keep busy, I thought I'd play along.

I did a quick search on the internet for quotes using the word time and when I found this one it just came together for me and I knew I had drop whatever it was I was doing to sit down and capture it.

Linda.







Time to pass the torch

If you read on Emily's blog today that I am taking a hiatus, you read it right. After 3+ years of devoting my weekends to the 'craft' I've decided to devote some time to other things that need doing around here. I've got some redecorating fairies dancing around in my head and some unfinished projects that are screaming to be done.

I'm sure many of you must know that balancing a full time job and family against an abundance of creative energy is a difficult task and eventually we hit the wall where something has got to give. As much as I would like to retire from the full time job that is not the thing that can give yet so I have decided to step down from Emily's Stamping Bella design team.

Am I going to give up the craft entirely? NO WAY...I still love it. Remember Christmas is just around the corner and making Christmas cards for me and my mom is still something I am looking forward to doing. So I'll be around, but maybe just not as often.

I'll leave you with my last 'official' bellarific Friday card....another self portrait...me sitting at the window trying to decide what project to tackle next!

'till next time, Linda