LRW #165 - Boxing Day

Wow--can't believe it's the last Lil Red Wagon challenge of 2012!  Excuse my late post--we were still in full Christmas festivities yesterday, and we're on our way out now in some newly fallen snow (10cm of it) for even more Christmas cheer.

In honour of yesterday's Boxing Day here in Canada (see LRW blog post for Deanna's history of it), she's challenged us to use a box on our card.
    I got to do a bit of Boxing day shopping at Michael's yesterday with the gift card I got for Christmas.  I picked up this great damask background stamp for just over $2 (I got a snowflake one too!!).  I decided to play with it right away to make this Birthday card for my BFF.

. . . not that she has any wrinkles, but I liked the sentiment.

Hope you can play along with us in this final week of the year!!
Be sure to check out what the other LRW gals created.

Thanks 4 your time!

Merry CHRISTmas!!

I normally don't post anything political on my blog, but I was inspired by this video clip from one of our Members of Parliment in Canada's House of Commons. (see below)
     I've always been proud to be Canadian and how we embrace all cultures; afterall, my parents are Portuguese emigrants and in our community, we always celebrated Portuguese traditions and our heritage.  However, when it comes to Christmas, even Canada has succumbed to the political correctness of taking the "Christ" out of Christmas.  As a Christian, I've always been offended by this.  If all cultures and faiths have the right to celebrate freely, then why can't I as a Christian?
   It's been great this year to see some of the political "correctness" (or more aptly "paranoia) be put aside as I see many retailers in our area (including Tim Horton's) boast "Merry Christmas" banners, and this address from a British Columbia MP also finally addressed what I've been thinking for so long (which is why I decided to post it):

And since you came here hoping for some crafty projects, I thought I'd post a couple of Christmas cards that proudly display the word "Christmas"

If I don't get back on here before Tuesday, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!

May your hearts and homes be filled with peace, love and happiness!

Thanks 4 your time!

CFC82--Even the Score

WOW--this must be a record for the last few months--2 posts in one day!  I'm lucky to get 2 posts in a week!  I've been taking it easy the last couple of nights and I just noticed the current CAS-ual Friday challenge which is to use "scoring" on a card.

Here's my take:

The scoring helps ground the trio of butterflies while making them stand out even more, I think!

Okay, now I really need to go do some wrapping!


Thanks 4 your time!

LRW #164 - Christmas Tag

This week over at Little Red Wagon, Rosanne has challenged us to another Christmas project . . . 'tis the season, after all . . .

make a Christmas tag!

I went for a woodsy feel with the colours, woodgrain background stamp and twine. 

I'm so glad I've got my tags (and shopping) done!!!  Now all the wrapping--hoping to get that done tonight!

Hopefully you get some time to play along with us this week--link up your project here.

Thanks 4 your time!

LRW #163--We Wish You a PINK Christmas

Regs has asked us this week over at Little Red Wagon to view our Christmas projects through some rose-coloured glasses . . . 

. . . that means, she wants us to use PINK on our Christmas themed creations

I made a HOT pink card for my niece:

Not one of my favourite creations, but it will have to do--she'll like the glitter on the ornaments!

Be sure to check out with the rest of the DT has created with PINK, and then link up your creations to the LRW blog here.


Thanks 4 your time!

LRW #162--Home for the Holidays

Joanne's hosting the Little Red Wagon challenge this week; she's called it . . . 

Home for the Holidays.

 She's asked us to include a house on our holiday card.

 I played with this narrow house from PTI's Boards and Beams set, and made 2 cards.  I couldn't pick which one to post--more inspiration doesn't hurt, right?!

Hope you have a chance to play along with us!

Be sure to check out what the other DT girls have created,

then link up your project on the LRW blog here

Thanks 4 your time!

LRW #161 -- Trim the Tree

Check out Little Red Wagon to see the challenge I'm hosting this week!

Thanks 4 your time!

LRW #160--Boy Oh Boy

Boy oh Boy is right . . . life seems insanely busy lately!   Is it just me, or is life just a never ending TO-DO list that keeps on getting re-prioritized?  Oy-vey!

Any way, this week's challenge over at Little Red Wagon is NOT about life's busy and stressful nature; it's about making a masculine card--which is why Jan has called it BOY Oh BOY!!

Here's what I came up with:

Hope you're not TOO busy to play along with us.  Be sure to check out the other "masculine" projects the other DT gals have made; then link up yours to the LRW site!

Thanks 4 your time!

LRW #159 -Texturize it!

Happy Wednesday!  Boy life's been busy!  I'm so glad I got most of my LRW cards done weeks ago, since I haven't had the chance to make a card in over a month! :(

Hopefully you're not in the same boat and have some time to play with us this week at 

Little Red Wagon  where the challenge is to 

TEXTURIZE IT!! -- use embossing on your card to add texture

I decided to use a PTI Impression plate.  I like how the soft texture of the impression complements

 the softness of the stamped grass image and fluttering butterflies.

Be sure to check out how the rest of the DT used texture in their projects;

then link up your project to LRW by next Tuesday!

Thanks 4 your time!

LRW #158 - Colour an Image

So excited to share Little Red Wagon's challenge this week.  

Dee has asked us to Color an Image. . .

and I've been having fun colouring in the house images from PTI's Boards and Beams set.

I couldn't decide which of these two to share, so I'm sharing both!

(Be warned, I've used this first house on many of my Christmas cards you may be seeing over the next few weeks)

 I don't own many Copics, so this above card is a combination of

Copics and water colour pencil crayons.

I got to borrow Rosanne's Copics  at a crop earlier this fall and coloured this one.

With SO many great images out there on the market, I'm sure you can find something fun to colour.

So play along with us and link up your creation to the LRW site!

Be sure to stop by the DT's blogs to see what fabulous image the ladies have coloured

Thanks 4 your time!

LRW # 157--Halloween Treats

Happy Halloween everyone!  Looks like our evening will be quite cool and wet, but nothing compared to what some devastated parts of the North Eastern U.S. are dealing with.  My prayers go out to all those affected by "Frankenstorm".

Little Red Wagon's challenge this week is Halloween treats

I have two projects to share!  The first one is quick and simple gift tags I whipped up last night

when I realized that my son's grade 1 class was going to be decorating bags to collect treats from classmates.  Now, his teacher did state in the letter home that it was optional, but of course, I didn't want Owen to be staring at his empty backpack with nothing to share.  So, I made these quickies:

 Just used two sizes of circle punches, a spider stamp, and a "To: / From:" stamp.  

I used a cute Halloween small paper pad (DCWV), 

then I just glue-dotted them onto an individual chocolate bar.

I also made a treat bag for my own kids.  Here's the treat bag topper for Owen (didn't get a shot of Caden's before he ripped it open--haha)

I know it's a busy night, but hope you have a chance to share with us this week any 

crafty Halloween treat you created!

Head on over the LRW Blog to link up, and be sure to click on the rest of the DT team to see what sweet treats they've made!

Happy Haunting!!!

Thanks 4 your time!

LRW #156 - Colour Combo

I'm a little late posting this week's Little Red Wagon challenge. I've been battling a head cold/flu the last couple of days, so I took the day off today to get some rest.  Now that I'm snuggled up in bed with my laptop and tea, I have some energy to post.

Regan have given us a colour combo to play with this week:

 rust, olive, kraft and brown

Here's my card: 

The olive looks more like a light brown on the photo, but I swear it's an olive coloured ink.

Hope you have some time to play with this colour combo that is perfect for this time of year

Be sure to check what the rest of the DT created!

Think I'm going to go back to sleep now!

Thanks 4 your time!

LRW #155 - Bowdacious!

This week at Little Red Wagon . . .

. . . Judy has challenged us to use a bow on your card (small, medium or large bow)

I do love adding bows to cards--they add a beautiful touch.  This card took me about 10 minutes--easy when you have beautiful paper that does a lot of the work for you!

If you have trouble tying bows, there are some great youTube videos out there.  You can find my favourite here.  Then, show off your "Bow" by linking it up to our challenge site!
Be sure to check out what the other girls tied on!!

Thanks 4 your time!

CFC73--For the Girls

This week's challenge over at CAS-ual Fridays is dedicated to the amazing women in our lives (in honour of October's Breast Cancer Awareness Month).

Here's a fun card for any diva!!  The pink bags honour the Breast Cancer awareness month colour!

Thanks 4 your time!

LRW #154 - Fallin' for you!

My turn to host the challenge over at Little Red Wagon.

 Here's a look at my card . . . 

 Get all the challenge details here. 

Hope you can play along with us!

 Thanks 4 your time!

LRW #153 -- Button Bonanza

Jan has got us using buttons this week at Little Red Wagon

In fact, she's asked us to use at least 3 buttons.

Call me a minimalist--I stuck with just three.

Side note--I made the marble-ized tie-dye paper with a shaving cream + ink technique that I learned this summer during Papertrey Ink's Stamp-a-faire--get the tutorial here [Scroll down to the 3rd video].

So jump into your stash of buttons (I know you have one--here's my cute stash I adore) 

and play along with us this week.  

Be sure to link up your project to LRW, and check out with the rest of our DT 

created with this staple embellishment

Thanks 4 your time!

LRW #152--Inspiration Photo

Wow--can't believe October is almost upon us!

Joanne is timing this week's Little Red Wagon challenge perfectly with this fabulous Inspiration Photo to ring in the new month of fall splendour!

I wish my front entrance looked this great!

I loved all the black and white in this photo--it made for a crisp clean feel that suits the season so well.

I also noticed that black chandelier peeking behind the door in the photo, and that became the focal point of my card:

Hope you can squeeze some time to play with us this week!

Link your project back to the LRW blog.

Before you do, be sure to check out what the other LRW gals created with the fun inspiration photo and leave them some love!

Thanks 4 your time!

LRW#151 - Thinking of You

Wowzas--Wednesday again already!! Time for another Little Red Wagon challenge

 This week, Dee has asked us to make a 

Thinking of You card

 I coloured the image with some Copics, and then I added some white pigment ink to the centres of each flower to soften them up.

I layered an olive green ribbon over a larger width cream ribbon to accent the green leaves.

Hope you have time to play with us gals--go check out their creations too!

Thanks 4 your time!

LRW #150 - Hexagons

Happy Wednesday!  This week's challenge over at Little Red Wagon is something that's really trendy right now in the papercrafting world. . .

Rosanne has asked us to use HEXAGONS!

I decided to go with a layout:

 It's not the brightest photo of my boys--so I went with a light colour scheme--I love this MME paper!

It has a hexagon patterned paper that I hand cut.

 I popped up some of the hexagons for some added dimension.

I was inspired by this hexagon layout designed by Amanda over at Two Scrapbook friends (here)

Check out the other Hexagon projects created by the rest of DT team,

and get on trend and join our challenge!

Thanks 4 your time!

LRW #149 - Back to School

Well, today is my official first day of school since yesterday was more of a homeroom/Grade 9 day.  Given I don't have a homeroom, I didn't get to see any of my students, so today is the day!!!

What a perfect day then for today's challenge at Little Red Wagon:

 Regan has asked us to create a School/Teacher related project

I've taken on the role this semester as the head of our Communications Dept.,
and I wanted to give each teacher in the department a little Good Luck token. 

 I found these pencils at Michaels with a George Bernard Shaw quote about Communication,
and I thought they'd be perfect.  But, of course, as a papercrafter, I had to dress them up!

I had to choose a quick and simple design because I'm not a big fan of the assembly line projects.

I stamped a notebook image --super easy shape to cut with a paper trimmer.
Then I simply cut two slits with my exact-o knife.

(yikes--I need a new cutting mat!!)

I used the computer to create the sentiment, 

and then I used 2 circle punches to cut out the sentiment and red mat.

I also hand cut the award ribbon-style tails.

 Here's the fully assembled project.  I slipped one in each teacher's mailbox yesterday morning.

They could easily be made for a whole class.

Hope you have time to play along with us this week!

Be sure to check out the fun projects the rest of the DT created!

Before I go, I couldn't leave without including this photo of me and my big boy yesterday morning for his first day of 1st grade.  Boy, do I ever love this kid!!!

 Couldn't leave out my little guy--he starts pre-school next week!

Thanks 4 your time!