Digital Daisy

Posted on June 17, 2010 by Shauna

Help! I’ve been sucked into the land of all things digital.  And it’s actually not so bad over here.. OK, it’s amazing.  I could waste happily spend my entire day (and many others) playing with digital papers and designs.  It’s making me so happy!  Bonus?  This card is totally my style.  So often my own style can get lost, but here it is. Clean and simple with colours I love… and glitter.

IMG_2412

This is my very favourite digi kit.. watercolour amazingness!Well, it’s actually called Watercolor DigiKit, but I like to think my name’s much more creative.

This card’s for the latest challenge over at Everything But the Kitchen Sink (see sketch below).  I’m just so happy with how it turned out.  Those papers are all kinds of pretty.

IMG_2413

I started with a cute little 4”x4” card.  The circle window is just from a Paper Shaper punch.  I added some glitter to the flower and some pearls to the sentiment.  That sentiment’s just a cute font that I got at the most amazing website ever.  They make fonts out of people’s handwriting and let everyone download them for free.  Some people have very cute handwriting, and let’s just say, this one isn’t my own! I could go on. I’m so addicted!

The Sketch:
Sketch_Challenge17

  • Cardstock: Blue grid, green and beige dots printed onto white cardstock
  • Accessories: Pearls by AMuse, Prisma Glitter, Paper Shapers circle punch 1 1/2”

Check out others’ projects for this challenge.

Cheers,

Shauna
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Moxie Fab Frog

Posted on June 15, 2010 by Shauna

Hi again,

Well, I managed to convince myself to get up out of my computer chair and make my way to my crafting chair.  Yep, I made a card!  Father’s Day is quickly approaching and I needed a card for my good ol’ dad.  He’s a nature kind of guy, so frogs work, right?

IMG_2409

I checked out this week’s Wednesday Challenge over at the CAStastic Wednesdays Challenge blog, and just had to participate, as their theme is Father’s Day!  Check out all the other great submissions!

For this card, I was inspired by this week’s Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World.  Note the stripes?  And some of the colours?  That’s what I did with my inspiration ;-)  Check out the stripey inspirational map pillow:

Color Map Pillow from CB2

I can remember when our family grew corn in between the rows of our apple orchard.  Wee little tree frogs would hide out in the corn stalks, so my dad would catch them and bring them over to show me.  Precious.  Granted, he’d also do things like catch snakes or black widow spiders to show me.. but I’m sure he meant well!

IMG_2410

The lovely frog is by Stampendous.  I stamped him onto some patterned paper and painstakingly cut him out.

Happy Tuesday,

Shauna
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Project 52: Old Standby

Posted on June 15, 2010 by Shauna

Hey there,

Well, I’ve been home sick since last Thursday.  I was feeling better over the weekend, and maybe pushed that a bit too far, since I’m much worse now.  You’d think that being at home all day would give me lots of time to do all sorts of crafty things and post them all, but I’ve mostly been sleeping and watching TV.

house

This week’s date definitely wasn’t glamorous.  We needed some quiet time at home together, so we did our old standby of watching an episode of House, curled up on the couch together.  It was nice :-)

In other news, I’m thinking pretty hard about becoming a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator.  I think it’d suit me.  I’m sort of excited, although it wouldn’t be until sometime in July. Eeeeeee :D

Alrighty then.  To check out others’ fun dates, head on over to Simply Modern Mom and click on the Project 52 category.

Cheers,

Shauna
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Strawberry Basil Mojito

Posted on June 12, 2010 by Shauna

Heyya,

It’s finally warm and sunny here.  We’ve been waiting in anticipation for this weather for months now!  Of course, with the sun comes my craving for a mojito.  My favourite so far this year?  the Strawberry Basil Mojito.

Deeeelicious!  The sweetness of the strawberries combines so well with the spiciness of the basil.   A good friend of mine found herself without ice cubes one day, so she decided to use frozen strawberries instead.  Brilliant!  Think about the potential? Raspberries? Mango chunks, oh my!  You can play around with the sweetness and omit the rum if you like.

Mmmm.. as the strawberries start to melt and release their delicious sweetness… I could drink myself under the table with these..  (which brings up a good excuse to make these nojitos! – also yum with frozen strawberries)

Strawberry Basil Mojitos
  • 12 large basil leaves
  • 1 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
  • .5oz simple syrup (more to taste)
  • 2 oz white rum
  • 4 oz club soda
  • 5 or so frozen strawberries (5 slices if large)
  • crushed or cubed ice

Add basil, lime juice and simple syrup to a martini shaker and muddle.  Add rum and club soda, and stir or shake.  Whatever makes you happy.  Fill a glass with strawberries and ice.  Strain mixture over the ice.  Add more club soda to taste.  Enjoy.  Stay above the table.

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A New System

Posted on June 11, 2010 by Shauna

Hey there!

I’ve been slacking on the cards, you say?  What could I possibly be doing that has caused me to let you down in that department?  Ummm.. working? yes.. but also, I’ve been putting in good hours at getting my clear stamps into a new system.

A binder.  On sheets. Large, binder-sized sheets.  Do I like this system?  Well, seeing as how I haven’t done any stamping, I can’t really tell you one way or the other.. but I don’t love it yet.  Maybe it’ll grow on me.

What I had was all my clear stamps in little CD jewel cases, stamped onto the covers so I could see in crisp black in what goodies were inside each one.  The problems I faced there were numerous.  Some stamps were just too long to fit inside the cases, and the cases are so small that the sheer number of them was just too many to constantly flip through.  My shoe box storage bin was full. More than full.

Meet my new stamp binder.  Well hello, there!  Isn’t she pretty? I have to admit, her insides just aren’t so pretty, but she’s useful!  Check out her guts.

I ordered some heavy duty clear sheets from the Old Island Stamp Company.  Gosh their website’s awful, but their products are great.  And they’re super local, on a little island near here.

On a sheet of cardstock I stamped out the image of each clear stamp I’d have on the adjacent page, then stuck them all on their pages.  There’s nothing worse than not getting a visual display of what you have.

Downside to this system?  Well, the fabulous clear sheets are catchier and harder than paper, so they’re not so forgiving when you try to flip them back and forth around binder rings.  Pretty frustrating, actually.  So I may photocopy all of my stamped out pages to have a sort of index at the front that I can flip through so much easier.

I started this project with a 3/4” binder.  I’m sure glad I traded up to a 2”!  wow.  Now to get my card-making mojo back.  Can one pray to the mojo gods?

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Project 52: Birthday cupcakes

Posted on June 7, 2010 by Shauna

Heyya!

So once again, this week’s date was definitely a group date.  A large group date!  I can’t help it, it’s been a busy week.  See a pattern here?  Well, this week I got old celebrated my birthday!

To be honest, we sort of had 2 dates this week.  The first one was on my actual birthday-day (Wednesday).  I had a blissful day where I only had to work half a shift teaching a super lovely class.  I allowed myself many little yummy treats (like Starbucks), and I did what I could to make the day stress-free.  We played our usual Wednesday night Ultimate Frisbee game, then rushed home to shower.  From there, it was out to dinner with the boy and my dear friend, Sara.  Delicious. Such a good birthday! 

And the gifts.. wow!  Nathan got me the matching wedding band to my engagement ring (I’d bought a much cheaper one, thinking that it didn’t matter to me that they matched).  Darling Sara gave me a precious Version 2.0 of a date book that I’d made for her.  Hers was even more fun and creative than mine.  I’m so very much looking forward to our future girly dates together!

Date 2 – the group date – was loads of fun too.  I’d planned a Super Fun BBQ Birthday Party for myself.  We had so much amazing food and I made sure to have a bazillion hamburger toppings.  Some star toppings: caramelized onions, bacon, pineapple rings, jalapeno havarti.. wow.. I want another right now!

I also made a giant jug of sangria, and 2 types of cupcakes.  Oreo cupcakes (try them, you’ll swoon) from Annie’s Eats

4646734377_12f4a00228 Picture taken by miss Annie

The others were mini strawberry shortcake cakes.  I can’t take credit for the oh-so-clever name.. that’s all care of The Pioneer Woman.  Her recipe is to make it into a layer cake, but hey, who doesn’t like things better when they’re individually sized?

 
Step one: assembly

These.. wow.. I’d gain several pounds per week if I ate these things as much as I ever wanted.  A lovely helping of Heaven.


Step two: devour ice and place on a pretty platter for guests to enjoy.

I can definitely say that this was a great birthday week.  Nathan grilled our food to perfection and was a fabulous co-host.  We’re a good team :-)

Head on over to Simply Modern Mom for Tiffany’s and others’ dates this week!

Shauna
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Inspired on a Birthday

Posted on June 1, 2010 by Shauna

Heyya!

Well, it’s nearly my birthday (in 3 hours), so I’m celebrating a bit early.   I was perusing the Moxie Fab website and came across the latest trigger.  It is trigger Tuesday, after all!  Well, I fell in love.. let’s just say that all things wedding make me want to get all crafty and creative.

I feel like this card could easily be birthday appropriate too.. how clever ;-)  But anyways, about the wedding bits..  You should see the trigger:

pinkandorange_wedding_2

I loved the green, the pink, the orange… and the crisp, crisp white!  I also adore the stencilled mr & mrs.  That’s where I got my inspiration for the subtle swirly background in psychedelic embossing powder.

This bouquet and patterned paper are both from a digi kit that I got from 2 peas in a bucket.  I added a wee bit of Twinkling H2Os to the flowers for some shimmer.

Oh weddings.. so much fun to get all creative for…

Happy crafting,

Shauna
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Project 52: Shish Kabobs

Posted on May 31, 2010 by Shauna

Hey there,

This week’s date was fun! (OK, they’re all fun, but I love when they involve food).  We had 2 friends whom I hadn’t seen in years over for dinner.  It involved food prep. Lots.  I made some delicious guacamole, fabulous salsa, a yummy salad with grapes, goat cheese, pecans, and the best shish kabobs with a warm crusty bread!

ChickenShishKabobs_GrillTop_600 (not my picture)

Nathan grilled the shish kabobs to a juicy, tender perfection.  Trust me, I was happy to see that we had enough for leftovers the next day!  The secret?  All I did was chop up my veggies (peppers, zucchini, and onions), chop cubes of chicken breast, and peel prawns.  In 3 separate bowls I marinated them in some low fat Greek salad dressing for an hour or so.  Stick ‘em on skewers and grill.  If you’re using wooden skewers, soak in water for several hours first.

We chatted with these friends a whole lot over the yummy food.  These people are great athletes who now do bike racing for fun.  (Crazy? I think so!)  It’s pretty intimidating, but I’m trying to be motivated by them.  I have yet to ride my bike in the last millennia 8 years.

Check out Simply Modern Mom for Tiffany’s date, and check out others’ date nights by clicking on the links under Project 52: Date Night.

Follow the links at the top for the recipes for the guacamole and salsa.  And get the salad recipe after the jump!

Continue reading →

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Unscripted Watercolor

Posted on May 30, 2010 by Shauna

Hi there,

Let me tell you about my week(end).  My girlfriends decided to make an event of the new Sex and the City movie (yes, the one that got like zero stars, no thumbs up, etc).. but hey, I like any excuse to dress up and drink martinis.  Problem?  I hadn’t seen a single episode!  So I borrowed all 6 seasons and started watching.  Well, I can’t say I’m caught up.. I’ve been sort of randomly watching them.. but to get me through parts of Season 6, I made this fun little card.

This one’s for the latest challenge (Sketch 57) over at Unscripted Sketches.  I had so much fun with this watercolour element flower that I got with my digi kit from Two Peas in a Bucket

I used some Twinkling H20s for the blue on the flower – plus some Diamond Glaze.  I’m also pretty fond of that little “enjoy today” stamp.  It was free with a Verve order!  (Gotta love free things!)  Speaking of free, the other day at the grocery store they had some bouquets that had expired, so I got a beautiful one.  With a little pairing down ít’s beautiful in our dining room.

Here’s the original sketch
SK-sketch-30-US-sketch-57

Now go check out what creative things others have done with it!  And wish me courage to live through this movie tonight!

Shauna
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Clean and simple-ish Flower

Posted on May 29, 2010 by Shauna

Heyya,

Butterflies and flowers.. two things that I’m addicted to I use all the time in my cards.  What can I say? It’s love!

Today’s card is for this week’s sketch challenge (#92) over at Clean and Simple Stamping.  I got to use my new solid butterflies stamp from AMuse.. Yep, still in love.

I used my vintage fairy tale book again for the background.  The flower is a template from lovely Martha.  Oooh, the bluey-turquoise and green paper (not the background 2) are both from a digi kit by Two Peas in a Bucket.  I’m pretty fond of this kit, so I’m sure you’ll be seeing more of the elements here soon.

Both the butterfly, middle strip, and tag (in blue) are Martha Stewart punches, and I added a wee gemstone to the butterfly.

*sigh*  Butterflies remind me of life’s simple pleasures.  They make me smile.  Maybe it’s a good addiction to have ;-)

Here’s the sketch I used
FTL92

Cheers,

Shauna
Posted in Any Occasion, birthday, challenge, sketch | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Masking Dragonflies

Posted on May 26, 2010 by Shauna

Heyya! Well, I had the day off, so I decided I could spend some time playing in the craft room.  Later today I’m hoping to attempt a new recipe – Mango Nut Bread.  Sounds super yummy!

Today’s card is for the challenge over at Everything but the Kitchen Sink.  I was inspired by the sketch, and it was the perfect opportunity to try out a technique I’d seen on Moxie Fab World using my new Japanese masking tape.

I cut out a shipping tag shape from some kraft paper and layered on my Japanese masking tape in strips.  Next, I stamped a Japanese cherry branch image using Satzon ink.  I added a sentiment and some twine to finish off the tag.

I stamped the little dragonflies on vintage book paper, cut them out, scrunched them up, and added some little pearl embellishments.  I also re-stamped the cherry blossom on white cardstock, painted in some of the blossoms, cut them out and tacked them on, finishing them off with some Diamond Glaze.

The image from EBTKS is here, along with my tape inspiration
EBTKS 15_6299 3582709346_625b2ef550

I love these colours.. purples and pinks and browns, oh my!

Now wish me luck with this bread!

Shauna
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Unscripted Wordy Birdies

Posted on May 25, 2010 by Shauna

Heyya!  It’s been a while.  I have a good excuse this time around – I’ve been out of town for 5 days!  I watched my wee little sister play copious amounts of hockey on a Bantam AAA team.  Needless to say, they didn’t win, but she played better than most of her team ;-)

So without further ado, I’ll let you get acquainted with the card I popped out today.  ‘Tis birds!

I just picked up this little bird punch and had to use it on some vintage book paper.  And of course a vintage book tag too.

This is for Sketch 56 over at Unscripted Sketches.  Another fun one to work with, as usual :-)

And here’s the sketch in real life
SK-sketch-29-US-sketch-56

Cheers for now!

Shauna
Posted in Any Occasion, challenge, sketch | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

My not-so-very green thumb

Posted on May 20, 2010 by Shauna

A month or so ago I purchased some herbs in an attempt to always have the fresh stuff on hand for added deliciousness in my cooking.  I started with last year’s chives, rosemary and lemon thyme.

My additions were some much-needed sweet basil, Italian parsley, peppermint, and cilantro.  When I bought the cilantro, it looked all big and green, but it had needed to be transplanted about 3 weeks prior!  I nearly lost the whole bunch, but after some coaxing (water and sunshine and a dose of flower extract to kill off aphids), it’s just started to flourish.

ItalParsley1 Mint1  Cilantro1

Check out how they’ve grown.  The peppermint has gone crazy (as expected) and I’ve already made some gosh darned good mojitos.  I also got to use a pit of the parsley in a pesto that I’ll post about sometime soon.


I also recently bought some more cilantro and some beautiful purple basil (just for the colour).. but unfortunately the basil isn’t too happy with me.  I put it outside where it’s just not basil temperature yet.  Most of it died 2 days ago :(


My goal is to have a great big lovely amount of basil, as it’s my favourite herb.  I’d really like to try to make some real basil pesto.  I’ve never done that before – nope, just parsley pesto.  Can you make it grow? Send little growing fairies my way.

Cheers,

Shauna
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Unscripted rose

Posted on May 17, 2010 by Shauna

Hey there, and happy Monday! Today’s card is for the Challenge #55 over at Unscripted Sketches.  I decided to go with bold and bright.  It’s been pretty cloudy weather here.. maybe this’ll brighten things up a bit :-)

This is take two of the rosette.. and what do you think about the stamping on vintage book paper?  Does it make an ok background piece? 

The leaves I just cut free-hand, then stamped some leaf stamps over them using VersaMark ink, just for some texture.

Whew.. crafting is all kinds of work!

Shauna
Posted in Any Occasion, birthday, challenge, sketch | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Project 52: hot tub date

Posted on May 17, 2010 by Shauna

Hi there, and welcome to this week’s date.  This one was all Nathan.  His plan was for us to use our condo building’s hot tub while watching a movie on my laptop.

Here we are, all ready to go

Well, we ran into a bit of an obstacle.  The hot tub, which we have never used, is currently closed pending health inspection.  Oh the joys of a new condo building. Anyways, we improvised!  I filled up a bubble bath where we had our own personal hot tub and watched our movie as planned. 

On the movie menu?  It’s Complicated.  A mediocre and fairly LONG romantic comedy.  Still, no complaints here.  I got to spend some fun time with the mister.

Check out others’ dates this week over at Simply Modern Mom, and hey, participate too.  I highly recommend it!

Shauna
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