Shanna's Grad - May 2009

I can't believe I have a second one finished high school. Shanna looks so unbelievably beautiful - I can't imagine how she will look at Prom! She has grown into such a gorgeous, smart, responsible young lady - I'm so proud of her!

Proud dad Marc with Shanna before we left for the ceremonies.

Mom was pretty proud of her too!

Back From All Level Worlds

Well.... the girls got back from LA and All Level Worlds last night. Shanna's team took 3rd and Burt's team took 4th. Not bad considering the company they were in! I'm really proud of them. And Shanna competed injured - she burnt her toes on a hair straightener the night before competition. (four teenage girls in one hotel room - nuff said)

The girls left Thursday night. Burt competed Friday (as well as the Youth Elite Team), Shanna competed on Saturday (as well as the Senior Co-Ed team who took 1st place - way to go Reign!)

Saturday afternoon Burt and her friends went off to Hollywood to shop. Sunday both girls joined a bunch of other girls and took a stretch Hummer limo to Santa Monica to go to the beach and do more shopping.

They arrived home late last night, tired but excited with how much fun they had.

I made an important discovery upon their return - apparently neither of them are related to me by blood. They had the opportunity to go to Disneyland and neither went..... WHAT??????

New Cards Again

Well we had a very productive day yesterday. We knocked off five new designs - not bad for a day's work. Of course, this is because I didn't allow Jill into the beer while we were working! LOL She made up for it when we went for dinner afterwards.

This really cute little guy uses lots of fun techniques. We ran the background through the Cuttlebug to emboss it, we used our Copics to colour/shade in the pic and then we airbrushed the background.

This is a quick, easy Thank You card.

One of my all time favorite cards that we have done. This one was done a while ago but has never got posted. The text says "Happy birthday Little Lady". Again we have used the Copics for colouring/shading and the Copic Airbrush System for the background.

I have a daughter graduating this year, so I figured I should do up at least one Grad card. I was really pleased how this one turned out. It is very classy. I printed the words on vellum and then used eyelets to attach it to cardstock that I inked the edges on. This picture really does not do this card justice!

The next two are also cards that were done a while ago. Jill's youngest daughter loves dinosaurs and we did up these two cards for invitations. We wanted to use the dinosaur images but also keep it a little bit girly for a three year olds party.

I just love this kissy frog - and he looks great shaded in greens with Copics.

I know I say a lot of cards are my "favorite" but I think this one just might "be the one". It's a baby girl card and it's so girly and fun. The saying under the stamp is "Does this diaper make my butt look big?" It's just so cheeky and cute!

Here's another Baby Girl card that I did up really quickly for my daughter's teacher. I used the Sookwang tape and Glitter Ritz on it although I still haven't been thrilled with any of the results I have had using this stuff.

This was meant as a Baby Boy card and it's really cute - I'm just not sure I like that particular stamp with the card itself.

New Cards

Jill & I had lots of fun this weekend designing some new cards. The one above is just adorable. Jill needed a card for her father in law (who just happens to be the very famous Don Leo Jonathon of wrestling fame. He was my husband's ABSOLUTE hero when he was a kid.... he just about fell off his chair when he found out that he was my best friend's father in law..... and then when he got to meet him in person.... well watching a 50 year old man star struck is pretty funny - especially if you knew Marc) Anywho...... so she designed the above card. I just love the "Worm Birthday Wishes"..... Her shading on the worm is ... fabulous!!!

We did two variations of this card, using Sookwang tape. This is really cool tape that you use with glitters. This was our first try and we weren't 100% happy with the results but they aren't too bad. The Mickey was done on the Cricut and each piece is cut out and then the whole thing is pasted together - that is NOT a sticker! He was lots of fun to put together and we vowed to use our Cricut's more in the future.

We also took a class today at "the store" and learned some really neat new stamping techniques. We used our beloved Copics in class and I might have bought one or two (or six) more.... I'm well over 100 now and Jill is hovering at the 100 mark..... they are our addiction - and hey, we could be smoking a pack a cigarettes a day... this is MUCH healthier.... :-)

My National Championship Winners!

This is a picture from their team from last year (the one I owned) but I don't have another pictures of them in their new VAS uniforms so..... (to see them in their VAS uniforms, scroll down) Last weekend they competed at Sea To Sky International Cheer Championships and both of their teams took first place - thereby winning National Championships... I was so excited for them - they were just bursting. This was the third year that they competing at this event and have wanted those Championship sweaters sooooooooo bad! I haven't been able to get them out of them all weekk to wash them! Seven of VAS's teams won National titles at this competition. It's just the most awesome program out there! I'm very happy that my girls are members of this club!

They leave for All Level Worlds in LA a week today and are busy getting prepared for that trip. There are, I believe, 15 competitions taking place simutaneously in 15 different cities across the US next weekend, so the teams won't know their final standings for a few weeks. Video of each team will be gathered and then the final judging will be done at a central location for a World's winner in each age category and skill level. (My girls compete Junior Level 2 (Burt) and Senior Level 3 (Shanna) Burt is also an alternative for the Junior Level 5 team.

Best Christmas Present Ever

This is my craft room. My husband, Marc, built this for me for Christmas 2007. He is amazing - he can build anything I can think up. But.... generally he's better at thinking things up. I gave him a picture of the Making Memories wall hung organizer and said that's what I wanted for Christmas. I got the whole room instead. There is a window behind that big built in storage unit. He used that area for deeper shelving which is great - my big Xyron machine fits in there, along with some of my other bigger items. I could store my Cricut and my Cuttlebug up there as well but I have lots of room on my counters so I don't bother. Marc had recently builtl me a new china cabinet and took my old one, painted it white, took the doors off and installed rods for my ribbon spools. How could I not love spending time in this room. It's not 100% finished (that's Marc.....) but is completely functional. It's right next door to my huge office, which I spend the other half of my life in. He built that for me as well, including a zebra wood, custom built desk that fits into my five panel bay window.

Yes, I'm a bit of a computer geek - that is two computers in my office. The one on the table is actually my girls computer. Mine is the one in the background with the HUGE screen..... I told Marc when we got married, "you never have to buy me jewelry again - just keep me up with all the new technology and I'll be happy!"

Some New Cards

Well, I am finally back. I have been working on cards the past month and a half, just haven't posted any. I've been off work for the past six weeks (I had surgery) so I've had a fair amount of time to create. Here's what I've come up with. These super easy funky cards are great for all the parties my teenage daughters are invited to.

I tried a few different techniques with this card. I have people saying they want to work with brads and Prima flowers so.... I embossed the background with the Cuttlebug and then wiped it softely with an small ink pad so only the raised section inked.

I love this little fishy card and so far, everyone else who has seen it, loves it too. I used my Copics to colour it, but it's really too small to do much shading.

The Easter Bunny Basket gave me more opportunity to shade and work with the Copics. I think he turned out really cute.

My Easter Ribbit card is quite simply but turned out so cute. I just love Whipper Snapper stamps. They have the cutest images.

I actually did a couple of the two Easter cards and YEAH! my Airbrush system finally came in. With the other cards, I used the Airbrush for the background and put in grass and sky. I was really pleased how they turned out. I have used this technique on a few other cards that I will post soon.

Last comment for today.... I came across this pricture today and just couldn't resist posting it here. I love this picture of my girls.... it was taken last summer, I think, Shanna has since dyed her hair quite dark.....

Disney Princess Accordian Album

This is an accordian album that I put together quite a while ago. It is a very simple project that took me under an hour but turned out really cute. I used the Disney Block Princess paper for the images and added glitter.

Any little girl who loves the Princesses will love this album.

As anyone who knows me well knows, I'm a huge Disney fan, making a trip to either Disneyland or Disney World at least once every year. I used to be strictly a Mickey fan, then moved to Disney Princesses and have gone in and out of a major Tinkerbell stage.


I no longer have favorites - I just like everything Disney. I think it's time to book another trip..... :-)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KYLE!

Well my first born is now 20 as of yesterday. This makes me feel very old.

In this picture is Burt, Kyle, Josh (one of Kyle's best friends) and Shanna last night at dinner.

Next year he says he will be in Vegas at this time - what a disaster that will be!

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone. Marc and I are out for dinner with Jill and Jeff tonight which is always good for a laugh.

My wonderful son - Kyle

This is my wonderful son - Kyle (and my incredible niece Niki). Kyle is going to be 20 in a couple of weeks - that makes me feel so old!

Kyle is working in construction right now but wants to go back to school. He is going to start classes at UFV in September but he doesn't know what he wants to do quite yet. He's going to start out slow with one night class a semester until he figures it out.

Kyle is my hockey player but all the pictures I have of him playing hockey are REALLY old. He started playing in grade one and still plays in the Abbotsford Minor Hockey Association - on the Juvenille A team. Next year he plans to play on his cousin's beer league team.

Kyle loves cars and he's already had four of them! He started out with a little Sonoma truck which he and his dad custom painted black on the bottom and neon green on the top. It was really cute! Then he went through a couple of Honda Civics and now has a 2009 Mitshubishi Lancer. I've been wanting to get a picture of him with his car but - it's always raining in BC!

My cheerleaders

These are my daughters, Brittany (who I almost always call Burt) and Shanna. Both girls are competitive cheerleaders on Elite teams with the Vancouver All Stars - which is one of the best all star programs in Canada. The girls started cheering five years ago - Shanna with her high school junior team and Burt on a rec all star team. They have come a long way and have both become pretty good tumblers with roundoff back handsprings back tucks to their credit. Both girls are capable in all positions, be it base, third, front or flyer, although Shanna has gotten too big to be a flyer and Burt is a little too tall. Their cheerleading has given them the opportunity to do a lot of traveling. They have competed at Knotts Berry Farm in California, in Orlando, Florida and this year they go to All Level Worlds in Los Angeles. Both girls have also done a lot of coaching - and Shanna is certified as a Level 3 tumbling, tosses and stunting coach and is just finishing her Canadian Coaches Level 1 course. Of the two of them, Brittany loves coaching way more than Shanna but is too young to do the credentialling. They are not coaching at all this year with their move to the Vancouver club.

Mom has become a big competitive cheerleading fan as well and with my love of scrapping - put together a book for the girls memories. This is it....

Cheering is much different than what most people think. My girls wouldn't have a clue if you put them out on a field to cheer on a team. They learn and practice a 2 1/2 minute routine which is made up of dance, tumbling, stunting and jumps and compete with this routine for an entire year. A cheer squad can be as small as 5 girls or as large as 36. My girls are on all girl squads but there is a senior Co-ed team at their club.

My biggest pet peeve is people not accepting that cheerleaders are athletes! Those kids work really hard and it takes a lot of skill to do the tumbling and the lifting/tossing that they are required to do. I'm a credentialed cheer coach (to Level 4 in all three aspects of cheer - tumbling, tosses and stunting) and I co-coached a senior team for a couple years. These kids are very much athletes.

First Entry

Well.... we are about to hold our first class on Tuesday and we are busy getting ready for it. We have created five cards for this first class.

Jill and I are a bit obsessed with our card making, stamping, scrapping hobby as of late. So this is a way to share it and give us a bit of a push to produce and not just sit and natter when we are together.

I will tell you right now that I am going to have to get better at my photography skills for blogging but here goes.

Since Valentines is right around the corner Jill & I decided to start off with some Valentines cards. Not everyone wants five Valentines cards so a few could be used for anniversaries or even birthdays or for a note card.

Our first card is a funky, happy hearts and buttons card. The image is stamped and then coloured in using Copic markers, blending the larger hearts. We've matted the image and then added buttons for a fun touch.

This card would be a great Valentines for kids, a friend or to be used as a note card for any occasion.

Our second card is our Love card. We have used the Cricut and the Cuttlebug to make this card as well as the Friskers corner heart punch and added some pretty touches with some sheer ribbon and rhinestones. The background is hard to see in the picture but we used a paper with glitter stars.

Our third card is one of my favorites so far. We have used stamps for the images and used the Copic markers again to colour it in. This card is done in really rich jewel tones and we have added gem stones to the ends of the feathes and the swirls in the heart scroll at the top to add a bit of punch.

This card could be used for a variety of occasions as well.

This is our first Happy Birthday card. This card has been stamped with a birthday cake image and Happy Birthday and then heat embossed. It is mounted on really funky sparkle paper.

This is my favorite card so far. This is our "I love you more than....." card. I used these stamps for an anniversary card for my husband, Marc. I substituted the ice cream for a cameo of Mickey Mouse as everyone knows how much I love Mickey and all things Disney.

So that's the line up of cards for the first class. We are holding this class twice - Tuesday, Feb 3, and Thursday, Feb 5, both from 7:00 - 9:00 pm. If you are interested in joining us - everyone is welcome. The cost is $20/person which includes all supplies, refreshments and a door prize. All you need to bring is yourself (and maybe a friend)!

We took a Copic advanced class at "the store" today and can't wait to try some of the new techniques that we learned. We are especially excited about airbrushing with Copics and matching our embelishments to the Copics we are using. Now to get Marc to buy me that compressor..........