Lil Duckie Arts

Happy Birthday Stars Card

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Shauna

I just spent a good 20 minutes examining my living room floor. There is a whole lot of dust, dirt, Nathan’s cereal, and little rock chips down there. Oh the rock chips.. Definitely the bane of my existence. That’s what we get for having an old marble floor. Little bits of marble seem to appear moment by moment. You think you’ve done a good job at cleaning, but nope! Think again! Little baby stomach sweeper can find anything! She does such a good job of scooting around backwards on her tummy. Never mind that she really just wants to get that toy that’s 10 inches in front of her.

I think about how I should give it a good vacuuming again.. but then I think about how my craft room is calling my name.. so I make you a card!

A birthday card! Using Christmassy stamps! Whodathunkit?

Materials
Lucky Limeade, Whisper White, and Pool Party Cardstock. Lucky Limeade and Pool Party Inks.
Merry Minis and Create a Cupcake stamp sets.
Scallop Border Punch and Merry Minis punch Pack.
Pool Party Bakers Twine

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Especially for you Birdies Card

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Shauna

Let’s talk about the laundry couch. It’s a bit embarrassing, but hey, it’s real life. Real life overflowing laundry couch here in my house. Is that normal? Probably not. Some people really have it together and fold their laundry as soon as it comes out of the dryer. That doesn’t seem to be happening in my house… Something to do with laundry not folding itself.

In comes the handy laundry couch. It’s great. You need a towel? Baby outfit? Sock? Just head on over to the laundry couch! You don’t even have to unfold anything! You may have to do some rifling through piles of sheets or something, but hey, anything for the sake of convenience, right? Ummm yeah…

Never mind watching TV… Good thing we have a second couch for that. And especially good that the laundry couch hasn’t expanded, though I’m sure it’s trying to take over the house this week. *sigh* Time to go fold some laundry? Or make a birdie card!

Materials:
Whisper White Cardstock; Melon Mambo, Basic Black, Calypso Coral, and Peach Parfait inks.
Jewels. Betsy’s Blossoms, and Made For You stamp sets.

Posted in Any Occasion, card | Tagged any occasion, birdies, card, CAS | Comments Off

Lemony Quinoa Spinach Salad with Feta

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Shauna

Sometimes I don’t want to cook. We’ve all been there, right? You manage to get through breakfast.. Then comes the load of laundry, answering a plethora of emails (most of them were junk mail, so that was easy/annoying), stamping the day away, playing Patty Cake fifteen thousand times… That’s not your life? I’m sure the laundry and emails creep in there somewhere at least.

It’s so nice to have a giant bowl of this salad on hand for times when you suddenly realise you haven’t eaten in at least 3 days. It’s packed full of so much goodness, it just about makes over your whole body on its own. Spinach! Quinoa! Olive oil! Lemon! And holy cow is it ever addictingly delicious. I love it. I’d eat it every day if I could.

Lemony Quinoa Spinach Salad with Feta
Source: Adapted from Dinner with Julie

1 cup quinoa
3 cups packed spinach – washed
1/2 red onion
2/3 cup feta cheese
zest and juice of one lemon
3 Tablespoons rice vinegar
2 Tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Rinse quinoa in a fine mesh sieve for a few minutes. This gets rid of the bitter coating. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and add rinsed quinoa. Boil over medium heat for 15 minutes. Remove from heat. Drain well, return to the pot and steam with the lid on for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and allow to cool.

Put quinoa into a large bowl. Thinly slice the spinach and add it to the bowl. Add the onion, lemon zest, and crumble in the feta.

Drizzle the lemon juice, rice vinegar, and oil into the bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and toss well.

Salad will keep for about 4 days in the fridge.

Posted in Recipe | Tagged quinao, Recipe, salad, spinach, stamping snack | Comments Off

Happy Birthday Owl Card

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Shauna

L won’t be winning any prizes for graceful crawler of the year, but we have movement, folks! She’s started to push herself backwards, to her great dismay. The toys just get farther and farther away from where they should be… Don’t you hate it when that happens?

And no, I’m not the least bit prepared. We haven’t baby-proofed anything, and we’ve got the world’s most dangerous house. Uh-oh! Right now I try to contain the beast as Nathan searches for the best methods to make things better around here. What do you do about a marble floor and a giant fireplace with a big floating hearth? Perfect face-smashing things.

For now I’ll just think about this card. Little friendly owl, in colours fit for a boy. Boys are always having birthdays it seems.

Materials:
Whisper White and Pool Party Cardstocks; Versamark, Gumball Green, and Island Indigo Inks.
Owl Occasions, Woodgrain, and Create a Cupcake stamp (sets).
Gumball Green Ribbon, and Scallop Border Punch.

Posted in birthday, card, guys | Tagged birthday, card, guys, masculine | Comments Off

Especially for you bird

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Shauna

Sick husband, sick baby.. or is that sick baby, sick little one? Either way, it’s a house full of woe and kleenex. Fingers crossed that they’re on the mend, that I’ll be getting more sleep soon, and that I don’t catch this dang cold! I’m pretty sure that’s within the abilities of the finger-crossing charm, right?

I’ve been attempting to play ultimate, and re-learned a golden rule: always warm up before sports. I was feeling pretty tired and cold, so I figured I’d just skip the warm-up like so many others seem to be able to do. No good. First sprint up the field and I pulled my quad. You’d think I’d know by now that my quad gets mad if I don’t warm up. Next game, I thought it was healed enough to play. Nope, no good. Instead, I just made sure I was out cheering my team on way past my bedtime, trying to stay warm. They won, so the cheering must have paid off!

Next week? Definitely playing with a fully healed quad muscle. Truth.

I made you a card! I’ve been meaning to use this pretty Betsy’s Blossoms set for a while. Here’s a clean and simple way to use it.

Materials:
Wisteria Wonder and Whisper White cardstock; Wisteria Wonder and Island Indigo ink.
Betsy’s Blossoms and Made For You stamp sets;
Big Shot and Chevron Folder, and Circles #2 Originals Die.

Posted in Any Occasion, card | Tagged any occasion, birdies, card | Comments Off

Butterfly Silhouette Card

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Shauna

Canning! It’s on my mind. Of course, now an afternoon project takes several days for me to accomplish, since I’m now running on baby time. I just started a giant batch of crab apple jelly. I think I’ll add some rosemary and garlic to some of it for an interesting cracker and cheese side, like on Family Feedbag. Doesn’t that sound so tasty? And a balsamic hot pepper one? Yes please!

I suffer from the I waaaaaaant to do eeeeeeverything syndrome. It’s bad. Why can’t I make 15 different types of jams all right now? Never mind that I won’t actually eat them all. I just want to make them all.

On the same vein, I took a workshop on cheese making. I’ve always known I could easily make my own ricotta and mozzarella, but I needed an extra little push to get myself started. Now I have it, and I’m excited to make my own little batches! That little push came in the form of the rennet that was included in the class. Hooray! Now I want to make all the cheeses!

And all the cards. I should use all my punches to make this card in a million different ways, right? And oh, how I love that woodgrain texture!

Materials:
Pool Party and Naturals White cardstock.
Butterfly and tiny circle punch. Big Shot and Woodgrain Textured Impressions Folder.
Pool Party ruffled ribbon and Linen Thread.
Jewel

Posted in Any Occasion, card | Tagged any occasion, birthday, butterflies, card | Comments Off

Christmas Ball Card

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Shauna

Hiya!

This a week of fun activities for me. I got to spend one blissful afternoon with a girlfriend doing things like getting a pedicure and shopping together while Nathan took care of L. It was nice to talk about non-baby things like how our relationships with our husbands have evolved over time and how we’d love to eat up a whole blackberry-apple pie! I got myself my first new dress as a mom. I’m thinking that N and I will have to have a nice dinner date sometime soon.

Next up – some ultimate frisbee and a session or two of baby bootcamp. I’m finding that it’s so easy to sit at home and do nothing with the baby, but I feel so much better when I’m out and about doing various activities.

I haven’t been doing a drop of card making, as I’ve been focussing on other things, but I do have a card to share that we made at a Christmas class a few weeks back. You may recognize the layout. It’s a recurring one since I really like the frame made with the ribbon border punch.

Materials:
Lucky Limeade, whisper white, and Very Vanilla Cardstock, Candlelight Christmas DSP.
Real Red ink.
Teeny Tiny Wishes and Ornament keepsakes Stamp Sets
Ribbon Border Punch, 1/16” circle punch. Big Shot and Holiday Ornaments framelits dies.
Linnen Thread, Rhinestone Basic Jewels, and Lucky Limeade Ruffled Ribbon.

Posted in card, Christmas | Tagged card, Christmas | Comments Off

Facebook Page

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Shauna

Hi hi,

I finally have a Facebook page, and it’s only taken me what, 2 years? Silly me for not doing this earlier. I spent all of nap time yesterday making this happen.

If you’re interested in updates, promotions, etc, please like the page. You can do that by going to the Facebook page, or on the right sidebar of my blog. In either location, just click “like.” It’ll make me happy!

Right now it looks a bit like this:

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged facebook | Comments Off

Simple Snowflake Card

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Shauna

Oh my goodness, do I ever have a whiny baby as of late. She’s not too into this whole blogging thing. She seems to think it’s a very bad idea for me to sit her up beside me to play with her toys while I get all the fun of typing. Even her beloved Indestructibles book just isn’t good enough. Oh well, little Lila, I’ve got to share a card, and you’ve got to learn a bit of patience when mom’s blogging.

The first day of school here came and went. A part of me missed the whole back to school thing. I lament the days of buying new school supplies and organizing them all perfectly.. 30 different pens of varying colours and thicknesses, all lined up. Fresh sheets of paper in a brand new binder.. these are things that I’ve always cherished… doesn’t everyone?

That little part of me wanted to be back at university for the first day, as I’ve had so many great first days there. I think I’ve washed away some of the trepidation that I used to feel, replacing those feelings with only jubilation at all the fun of frosh and meeting new friends, drinking good coffee, and planning everything to minute detail. Never mind my horror at finding out what kind of insane projects I’d be expected to accomplish that semester; there were agendas to be filled in! Forget the awful profs that scared me to bits with their grumpy scowls; there were binders to organize and label!

Another part of me longs to be back teaching in a high school classroom, to witness the back to school slog of all the students. It’s ok though, I’m happy at home. However, sometimes it’d be nice to have a few extra breaks from baby.

Instead of going back to any schools, I made a card. Another Christmas one, using the shiny new snowflake die. Isn’t it beautiful, especially with the glimmer paper? Another thing I’m in love with.

Happy back to school to some of you, and happy stamping to the rest. To those of you who can do both, I commend you!

Materials
Pool Party, Early Espresso, and Whisper White Cardstock; Silver Glimmer Paper; Candlelight Christmas DSP;
Early Espresso Ink;
Scallop Edge Border punch, Word Window, and Modern Label Punches;
Big Shot and Fancy Fan Folder, Snow Flurry Bigz Die, and Labels Collection Framelits die.

Posted in Christmas | Tagged back to school, card, Christmas | Comments Off

Merry Owl

Posted on August 29, 2012 by Shauna

Christmas? Oh yes, Christmas. It sneaks up on you and pounces. My best defence is to start early and make lots of cards when it seems like it’s way to crazy soon to be doing such silly things.

Besides, this little owl was just too cute not to use. I love him, sitting on his branch with his merry little Santa hat. And let me tell you, that stocking of his is full of great gifts. This set is so versatile. It works especially great for birthday cards (there are balloon and gift stamps).

Materials:
Basic Gray, Gumball Green, and Whisper White cardstocks. Basic Gray, Gumball Green, Versamark, and Real Red inks.
Owl Occasions Stamp Set, Woodgrain Stamp
Scallop Punch, Big Shot, and Labels Collection Framelits Die.

Posted in Christmas | Tagged card, Christmas, Owl Occasions | Comments Off

Just for You butterfly

Posted on August 22, 2012 by Shauna

It’s been a crazy last few weeks. We packed up the family and made our way to Osoyoos for a week. Osoyoos is a little gem of a town on a lake in the interior, near Penticton and Kelowna. It’s surrounded by amazing wineries. Seriously, the wineries are everywhere.

I went a bit wine crazy, convincing myself I was building up my wine collection. I definitely built it, and now I’m working on whittling it down. A glass a day is good for my mommy brain.

The rest of our time was spent swimming, playing fun games (most of my husband’s extended family – 14 of them! were there), and playing with baby L. Now we’re back, and needing a bit of a holiday from our holiday.. yahknow?

I was inspired to make this card the other day. I love this little butterfly.. all whimsical and pretty. It reminds me of the little white ones in our yard with softly rounded wings. Watching them flutter around is pretty neat.

Materials:
Crumb Cake and Naturals White cardstocks.
Basic Black, Pool Party, and Wisteria Wonder Inks
Corner rounding punch, and library clip
Big Shot and Fancy Fan embossing folder

Posted in Any Occasion, card | Tagged any occasion, butterfly, card, just for you | Comments Off

Wild Roses by my mom

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Shauna

My mother in law comes to all my card classes. She’s a super keen stamper, but one of the few who has the willpower not to buy any supplies for herself. I’m convinced she’s smart enough to know that once you start, there’s no end to what you “need” to buy. Plus, she just loves creating in a card class setting with friends. For some people, that’s enough.

And then there’s my own mom. The artist who would rather be anywhere other than a crafting class. Tell her what to create? Are you crazy? She doesn’t follow any one else’s guidelines when it comes to art. I was pretty stunned when she used some of my supplies and suggestions to make a card. Normally she doesn’t do colouring in, or defined lines, or any of the things that most people love about stamping.. but I think she’s done a pretty great job here!

Materials:
Whisper White Cardstock. Basic Black and Old Olive inks. Pencil Crayons
Fabulous Florets Stamp set
Word Window Punch
Big Shot and Stripes embossing folder

Posted in card, wedding | Tagged card, fabulous florets, flowers, mom, wedding | Comments Off

Owly Congrats on a New Home

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Shauna

Hiya,

Some good Friends of mine recently moved into a new (to them) home. It’s such an adult home (ie: totally not a basement suite). They threw an epic housewarming party – tame by day, a bit more exciting as the evening progressed. As per our usual, we headed home pretty early with the babe.

Guys, thanks for the fun party!

Here’s a little housewarming card I made them. Note: Mr. Owl’s got a new home too.. see?

Materials:
Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White, and Soft Suede cardstocks; Tempting Turquoise and Basic Black Classic Stampin’ Pads; Tempting Turquoise button.
Linen Thread, Scallop Trim Border, and Word Window Punches, and Crop-a-dial.

Posted in congratulations | Tagged card, congratulations, house warming, owl | Comments Off

Lavender Pear White Wine Sangria

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Shauna

I’m in the middle of a lovely and (mostly) sunny summer. Long, warm, sunny days call for refreshing beverages, and I’ve found a flowery fruity winner: lavender, pear white wine sangria.

Lavender’s fairly easy to grow. Last summer I snipped a whole pile from my grandma’s garden and let it dry. It’s been great for so many recipes! I thought I’d try it in some white wine and see what happened. Good things, my friend, good things!

Start with some beautiful fresh or dried lavender. Boil with water and sugar.. Let it steep like tea for a good 15 minutes.

Add the good stuff

Strain your lavender syrup into your wine concoction.

Sippity sip all day long. Find a patio, back yard, driveway on which to sit and enjoy some sun.

Lavender Pear White Wine Sangria
Source: A Lilduckie Arts original

1/4 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
30 sprigs fresh or dried lavender (or a good handful), stems removed
1.5L white wine (2 750mL bottles)
4 oz triple sec
1 cup lemon lime soda (optional)
1 lime, cut into rounds
1 pear, cored and sliced into spears

Add water, sugar, and lavender to a small pot. Stir over medium heat until it comes to a simmer, and the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and let lavender steep for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, pour wine, triple sec, and lemon lime soda into a large pitcher. Add lime rounds and a few pear spears, reserving some for the glasses.

Strain lavender syrup into the pitcher, and chill for 2 hours.

Serve over ice with a pear spear.

Posted in Recipe | Tagged cocktails, lavender, Recipe, sangria, white wine | Comments Off

Sweet Simple Cupcake Card

Posted on July 18, 2012 by Shauna

Heyya!

I wanted to show you another card that we made at our breast cancer fundraising event. This is one of my favourite card designs, since I’m a huge fan of white-on-white. I adore the new Delicate Designs embossing folders. Isn’t that doily texture pretty? And of course, this little cupcake is in my Top Ten stamp set list!

Instead of daydreaming about cupcakes, I should really be training for this 5k run. Yes, I need to train. I can’t run 5 minutes without huffing and puffing and wanting to stop, so that’s got to change! Now to find some inner motivation.. Still working on that!

Materials:
Whisper White Cardstock; Early Espresso and Primrose Petals Classic Stamp Pads;
Create a Cupcake Stamp Set; Linen Thread; Cupcake Builder Punch;
Big Shot; Delicate Designs Folder

Posted in birthday, card | Tagged birthday, card, Clean and Simple, cupcake | Comments Off