Some Christmsas Eve Eve 2015 thoughts

It's been ages since I blogged here, and I don't even have anything creative to share, except a bit of 'creative writing'. 

In writing to a friend this morning, after typing all of this out, I realized this is something I will want to look back on in years to come, and someday my kids might even be amused by mom's experiences in attempting to pull off a memorable family Christmas for them. 

Here it is:

I'm off to run like a mad woman this morning too.  Do you know that it is IMPOSSIBLE to find an old Wii game, NHL Slapshot?  It's one of the very few things Charlie has asked for this year, because his old copy is scratched and crashes all the time.  Sigh.  Seriously, my kid asks for a game that is marked down to 99 cents at EB games, because they don't even take it in trade anymore, and it's one of like 3 things he wants (You know you're having a bad mom year when the kid asks for his own tube of toothpaste and a game worth NOTHING), and though I can come up with the toothpaste for him, I think that's not going to make Christmas magical. lol   I've even put an ad on Kijiji looking for it, but I'm coming up empty!  

I've got one who wants a cell phone, and a $140 set of headphones, and the other wants a tube of toothpaste and an obsolete Wii game.  My life is full of contradictions!  Maybe it's because last year the poor kid got a laptop that didn't work and had to be sent back twice, and a pair of headphones that took him over 6 months to figure out how to use.  Asking for toothpaste and a 99 cent game probably seems like a good plan to him.  Lowering expectations and all.  

Sigh.  I'm ready for bed and it's not even 8:30 a.m..

Heaven help me in attempting to make this a magical Christmas for all at our house!

Happy New Year...It's 2015???

Welcome to 2015! How did I get from January 2, 2012 to January 9, 2015?  Good Grief! It's been an absolute whirlwind!

I'm hoping that maybe this is my year to finally spend some time blogging again.


I still hope to get some creative paper crafting stuff up here, but to be totally honest, I haven't actually done much of anything terribly creative since I last blogged. EEEK! That's terrible...and not entirely true, but mostly so.

I have a different computer now and will have to sort out getting photographs to work for blogging again. That's going to be somewhat of a chore methinks.

For now, I'll share one of my newest passions. I'm still a lover of all things paper crafting, but time has been in short supply for hobby stuff the last several years. It's that whole growing family and kids in hockey and everything...

I have a huge respect for natural health care. I truly believe that God put here for us what we need; I won't go into a big tirade today, but I could. :)  But, I won't.

For today I'd like to leave you with a look at one of my most favourite Essential Oils. Copaiba (pronounced "Co-pai-ee-ba").
This stuff is fabulous. It is a great companion oil to many others, because it will enhance other oils.
I reach for this pretty little bottle often! :)

You will notice this is a Young Living Essential Oil. I settled on using Young Living oils after much research. This company has it right, and I am confident in their product. They are used even in hospitals throughout the US. I would LOVE to see that happen in Canada...wonder if I can help with that?

If you would like to learn more about Young Living or any of their products, you can reach me through my new blog specifically related to Young Living Essential Oils as well as my EFT practice on occasion right here at The Pure Oil Blog.  I will admit there is a bit of a learning curve for Canadian Distributors, but it's well worth the effort, and once you learn the Canadian ropes, it's smooth sailing!  I was unable to find a Canadian distributor, so my upline is American. She's awesome (shout out to Angie V.!!!), but being in the US she was unfamiliar with some of the differences we experience as Canadians.  Now that I'm plugging along quite nicely, I'd be happy to help anyone else navigate their way.

I'd also be happy to have you take a look at my EFT site The Pure Oil to learn more about Emotional Freedom Techniques!



And now, I'll leave you with a picture of my man playing in the Rangers Nation Hockey weekend.
He's a Hockey man through and through!!

That's my boy in the Blue helmet, clearing away the puck. :)

Happy New Year!

Outdoor Rink

Wow, it's January 2nd, and this is my SECOND blog post of the year....look out!  I'm on fire! lol

My ONLY complaint with Fancy Pants is regarding their alphas.  I LOVE this Winterland line, BUT they give you so few e's.  I really wanted to use the word SkatE, or icE, or even HockEy in the title for this one, but I had no E's left! lol

Hence the title, Outdoor Rink...see, no e's!

These are some older pics from a few years ago, that finally found their way to a page!

Thanks for stopping by!  I'm not done with this line yet, so stay tuned...

Happy New Year!

It's hard to believe that 2011 is gone, and we're now in 2012!!

I hope everyone had an Awesome Christmas, and some fun with New Years Celebrations as well.

Now, since it's officially January, I can share some of my Design work for The Srapping Nook!

I was so lucky to get the Fancy Pants Winterland line to work with this month, and I have completed at least 5 layouts so far with it! :0)

Today, I'll share my first two.

This is my favourite with this line so far i think, and it was also my first. lol

Sarah and Brewster all snuggled up one morning in December, and I couldn't resist snapping a pic.  This made it into my Dec, daily as well. 

The doily diecut is cut with my new Marianne Creatable die, and the large flouish is QK.  All the other die cuts on this one are Tim Holtz Sizzix dies.

mini deer

bird

greenery

pinecone (turned rose)

mini holly

This second one features some lovely Maya Road Kraft snowflakes, and more Tim Holtz Sizzix dies!

butterfly

bird

branch

pinecone turned rose again

festive long die for the pinecone.

(and this time I used the negative of the sprig to ink them on. :0)  you see, I don't have the actual die yet, but the die cuts came with my kit, and I don't want to run out! Using the negative, and his awesome distress inks is the perfect answer to stretching them out!)

take a closer look

Okay, for today that's it!

Happy Scrappin' in 2012!

More fun with some Timmy products!

I have been collecting some more Tim Holtz stuff over the holidays.  I can't stop playing with the stuff!

Sorry for the lousy colour on all of these. 

But tonight was my chance to upload,

and I wanted to get them done.

This one is using a few different stamp sets, the Tim Holtz banners, and the rose is from his new pinecone die. That little tiny dress from charm, is the mini sewing room dress form die cut from shrink plastic and shrunk to make the charm.

That stunning vine is a memory box corner die cut into two pieces.

This is the dress form die cut at full size.

This is also a smaller size tag.

 I've been having loads of fun with some new stamps, and a few die cuts I've swapped for too!

Again, sorry for the lousy colour, will try to re-take the pictures in daylight and get them up here!

December Designs Scrapping Nook

Wow, I'm so insanely behind!  Here are my December Designs for The Scrapping Nook.

I was sent the lovely Pink Paislee Old School line.  I love the rich colours in this line!

Thanks for looking!

November Designs from the Scrapping Nook

My November kit from the Nook was the stunning Little Black Dress by Basic Grey.

LOVED this line, and it made some lovely non-traditional Christmas Cards too!

October Designs for the Scrapping Nook

Janice and Tara sent me the awesome Christmas Chowder by Jillibean Soup for October. 

I LOVED working with this line...so much fun!

I made a tiny toilet paper roll album.  :0)

a layout

and a few cards

thanks for looking!

On the 12th day of Christmas...

Tim Holtz Gave to me....

(Be ever so glad that you can't actually hear me singing...)

Another tag I couldn't hope to re-create!

But i tried anyway.  I was in lack of all 4 dies he used.

I didn't have the fragmented doll figurine, or the most incredible new tissue.  I SERIOUSLY need to get my paws on that ASAP!!!

And I didn't have the stamp he used for background either..and no acouterments. 

(Did I even spell that right?)

Oh, and I don't have his fancy pins either. 

Or the white distress stain, or the right blue sponge dauber. 

But, this is what happened when I went into my scrappy space way too early this am.

As very un-like Tim's as it is, I still think it's okay.

Merry Christmas!

On the 11th day of Christmas....

Tim Holtz gave to me....

A tag i couldn't even hope to reproduce. lol

I can't find my shrink plastic, I killed my Ranger heat gun, and I'm sad...even moreso becuase there is only ONE TAG LEFT! 

Sigh.

Okay, enough whining. 

Here's what I came up with.

I don't have these stamps.  again.

I can't find the shrink plastic, and I'm using a hot glue melting pot as a UTEE melting pot..and it happens to have BRONZE UTEE in it. lol  Not exactly perfect subsitiutions, but it's what I had to work with. Oh, and I didn't have the holly die either.

I like the branches.  I actually had this UTEE technique, of using it on Cardstock punches to make 'metal embellishments' published in CK magazine!  That was many, many, many years ago...like in 2002 or 2003. lol I was happy to play with it again! 

When I find my Shrink plastic, I'll give his technique a try, and I just KNOW I'll be addicted!

This last tag, that didn't rotate, (sorry), was made by using the weathered wood distress stain for the backing on the glossy cs.  But that was before my Heat gun kicked the big one.  Sigh.

One more day, and as eager as i am to see how he wraps up the 12 tags this year, I wish tomorrow would never come.  It's always soooo sad to see it end.  I look forward to this all year!

On the 10th day of Christmas...

Tim Holtz gave to me....

Another Wickedly Awesome tag!

I LOVE this technique of making the 'mercury glass' ornaments with the tape transfer  technique, and his gorgeous facets.  This could easily be done with fragments too!

In the absence of his alpha parts, I used an old metal sticker that says "Joy" and painted it black, sanded to distress, rubbed with walnut stain, and heat embossed with clear.  In the absence of his banner die...i fudged my own by hand.  In the absence of his music stamp, I used one from Purple Onion Designs that I have had for years, and I still love it!  I didn't have nay mercury glass ornaments the right size, and I wouldn't want something so fragile on there anyway, with the little people at my house. lol  I took two very plain silver bells, painted them with plaitnum crackle paint...but I was impatient and dried with my heat gun...resulting in no crackles.  Oh well.  I inked with walnut stain after and embossed with clear powder. 

That tinsel started off stark gold...from Walmart I think.  I wanted it more aged, so I dropped a few drops of slate Alcohol ink on it and scrunched it up in my hand.  It turns out the gold is 'painted' on, and the alcohol ink removes some of that to make it silver and gold...so much prettier and vintage looking.  :0)

I also cut a branch with my movers and shapers die, from kraft CS, inked it with vintage photo distress stain, and then put some rock candy crackle on.  Then snowcap paint dauber, and picket fence distress stickles.   I used this to hang my ornaments from, they looked more anchored to me this way.

And last but not least, when I stamped my Kraft tags with the music stamp, I  couldn't help but see my new Maya Road snowflake on it....it just screamed Maya Road to me...and October Afternoon too...but I have yet to do one with some OA goodness.

So after pulling out one of my clear MR Snowflakes, I grabbed some MR ribbon, and one of their flowers.  Then I picked up my Martha snowflake punch complete with 3 coordinating snowflake stamps...and I stamped and cut them too!  The pearls are from a dollarama necklace that I cut apart, and the lovely little hearts are irock gems from my awesome KK over at the Nook!  Thank you Jac!  I love love love them!!!

December 9th tag

Tim's amazing day 9 tag.

I can't find this evergreen die to save my life, BUT I did get my painty little paws on the Halloween Candlelight fright die!! 

My background tags, just messing around with his awesome rusted enamel technique

Okay, I do believe these two are my favourite....the one on the right being my very most favourite.  I didn't have an alpha I loved for these, so I left them without.  For now.

And one more because I had this bg tag from another day, and this new stamp set burning a hole in my desk. lol  I love the stamping a photo like stamp on glassine, and heating to set, then crumpling.  Lovely!

It's kind of a combination of different tags I guess...speaking of which, I might as well share here some of my other 'mixed up Tim Tags'.

Another shot with a different embossing folder at the faux embossed enamel tag.  I like the other one much better.

And a few more with some lovely deer...with tag backgrounds from different days. 

Just to keep it interesting. lol

I still have to add my trim to the tops of all of these, but I'll get to that...sometime before they find their way onto gifts. :0)

I cannot believe there are only 3 tags left to go this year. 

Sigh.

Do you think Tim and Mario could possibly be talked into the 24 tags of Christmas??

Or add 12 tags of Halloween, and 12 tags of Easter, and 12 tags of Valentines....and....

On the 7th and 8th days of Christmas...

These are the tags I made...

Day 7I'm not in love with this one.  How I wish I had his holly die, (I freehand drew my holly and scissor cut them out), and his stamps for this.  I made do with a very very old SU! Crackle background stamp..which I have always loved, but for this tag, his 'jack frost' stamp as I call it rocks!  I also improvised with the sentiment, and infact used this one that my gf Jennifer stamped for me on white, and inked it al up.  Also, my lace is severly lacking...couldn't find the torn crochet doily I was searching for. 

Day 8 I am absolutely IN LOVE with Tim's day 8 tag.  I want it.  I love  love love love love love it..and that's not an overstatement.

I am pining for his steampunk stamps now too. Sigh.

In the absence of those, this is what I came up with.

Looking forward to day 9, but a little sad at the same time...hard to believe we have only 4 days left.  sniff.

On the 6th Day of Christmas...

Tim Holtz gave to me.....

and this is how mine turned out...

Amazing how much different colours can change the look eh?

And i realize I adhered my bottom portion in the opposite direction.  Oh well. lol

Thanks for looking!

Tim Tags day 4&5

I have been keeping up with the tags...just not the blogging.

Day 4 

I love love love Tim's incredible tag for day 4 and i actually had most of the stuff for it. 
I didn't have his distress stains in blues though...or picket fence.  So this is how I did the background.
I smooshed a few bluey coloiur on my craft sheet and then added a few pounces of snow cap paint dauber on there. THEN becuase it needed to be quite a bit more wet, I actually poured about a half tsp. of Tattered Angels mist in pearl on there, and then dragged my tags through.  I did a bunch of tags at once, so as not to waste the beautiful pearly stuff!
I sub'd his scroll work border for snowflakes becuase I didn't have the flakes.   And in the absence of the "25" die, i used his metal numbers stamped with a music bar stamp from one of his tiny sets.
I think that about covers it.

Day 5

I love his tag for day 5 but I didnt' have the right stuff.  So I improvised, but I picked a poor stamp...it was just too detailed to give the bold effect he achieved.  I used a new Catalina Wreath die in silver from Memory Box, with some pearls for the wreath.

thanks for looking!

Tim Holtz Tags!!

Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas are something I look forward to every year.

I actually get up before 6am and get to work right away the first 12 days in December to play along with Tim!  I've had blogging issues, but I finally figured a way around my problems, so I can share my tags!

Day One first attempt. 

I used a Maya Road keyboard chain for the sentiment, but I didn't like all the whitespace it left me with...so I tried again. I didn't have Tim's snowflake folder, so I used my snowflake Spellbinders embossing plate instead.

Day 1, second try.

I used a Tim folder for this one, and like the embossing much better...but with my pumped up sentiment, you can hardly see it. lol  The alphas are super cheapies that are years old from Dollarama.  I sanded them, and glittered them up, then inked the distressed bare parts.   I ran out of tiny cones, and substituted some matte jingle bells instead.

Day two tag. 

I actually had most of the stuff for this one!!  I love how it turned out.

Day three tags. 

first try

I didn't have anything for this one. lol

it's a sad first attempt.

I like these much better, but they're totally different than Tim's.

I used his folders, then some gold paint dauber over parts of the embossing, then inked, and added the clusters.  Sadly I don't have any of his greenery dies, and I freehanded the holly, and used some Martha Stewart punches, QK die for the mistletoe, and one tim mover and shapers leaf.  The black flourishes are bosskut and dienamics dies.

So there they are.  All my Tim Tags from the first three days of December 2011. 

Thanks for looking!