The End of the MINI VSN

Phew... that was quite a night... after the last challenge I took more pictures and uploaded them to SCS so that I could be included in the judging part... I hope one of mine gets noticed. My wonderful sister thinks my lady silouette one will win that challenge because it was very original...


We'll see how it goes and I'll post if I do win one or more of the challenges...


This was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to Nov 14&15 when there is a full VSN - especially as I will be travelling to Linden to join my sister, mom and friends to participate as a group.

VSN Challenge #7... the final Challenge

I had quite a bit of time after the last challenge so I took some time to clean up and take some pictures of the finished artwork...

On to the final challenge...

direct quote from SCS "Most of us are familiar with the film version of "Cabaret." But did you know that there were several stage versions produced? In 1998, director Sam Mendes put together his own interpretation of "Cabaret" that included several changes to the original production and script. Most of those changes were a reflection of what was going on in the world politically and socially during World War II, the time frame of the story. In Mendes' finale, the Emcee character is on stage in an Emcee costume similar to that worn by Joel Grey in the film version - top hat, cane and tails. The Emcee's costume is stripped away (yes, the Mendes production was much more risque than the film version!) to reveal the black and white striped uniform worn by the Jews in the concentration camps in Hitler-occupied Germany. My challenge for you is to duplicate the dramatic transformation from the widely recognized Emcee costume to the concentration camp uniform by creating a card using the Emerging Color technique. It's an easy technique, especially as described in Beate's tutorial, and makes for dramatic results. I can't wait to see the results of your Quick Costume Change!! I'll be right here in this chat thread to answer any and all questions that you might have about this challenge. IMPORTANT NOTE!: YOU DO NOT NEED A BRAYER TO COMPLETE THIS TECHNIQUE. I GOT MUCH BETTER RESULTS JUST USING A CRAFT SPONGE AND INK DIRECT TO PAPER. I FOUND WITH THE BRAYER THAT THE COLOR WAS TOO STREAKY. A SPONGE WITH INK WORKED MUCH BETTER. HOPE THIS HELPS!"

O.....M.....G..... Another technique I was not familiar with... And although the gal said it was easy... it WAS NOT EASY!!!!! I really struggled with this challenge - I don't have a lot of stamp sets that would work with this... I tried using a tree and leaves but I didn't like the results I got.... however my husband and my sister both liked the finished card and I did get positive feedback on SCS... I guess everyone has different tastes...

Check it out and decide for yourself...

VSN Challenge #6

I almost ran out of time with the last challenge... and I was super hungry so I decided to stop for a dinner break with hubby...

After dinner - I was refreshed and ready for this next challenge...

direct quote from SCS "The accordion doesn't often feature in a modern cabaret, a much maligned musical instrument but the source of a valuable lesson in my life of learning to hold my tongue. Years ago on the job, we took a new boss out to lunch. Somehow the topic of musical instruments came up and for some reason we (the employees) chose to make fun of the accordion . . . yes, you guessed it. Our new boss was female and her husband was an avid accordion player. Really! Not much you can do to recover from that. A more enjoyable lesson is to learn to play the accordion , or in this case to learn to make an accordion card. There are actually many different variations on the accordion card but for today's lesson we will focus on this versatile little beauty, the accordion fold booklet."

O....M....G.... I'd never done one of these before... luckily for me they had provided a link to a U-Tube video tutorial (which took FOREVER to load) and also provided some written instructions....

Turns out this impressive technique is really quite simple... So with the time I had to spare I used another new technique I learned at Regionals to make the chipboard flowers and fabric flower shiny....

Check it out!!

VSN Challenge #5

Wow... I actually had a few spare minutes after the last challenge to take a potty break (both me and Gizmo had to go)...

I definitely feel more inspired and motivated towards papercrafting now... I'm planning on making my Christmas cards this year and I am so geared up now! On to the next challenge...

direct quote from SCS

"Come on babe Why don't we paint the town? And all that Jazz

I'm gonna rouge my knees And roll my stockings down And all that jazz

Start the car I know a whoopee spot Where the gin is cold But the piano's hot

It's just a noisy hall Where there's a nightly brawl And all That Jazz

When you hear this song, does it make you think of the opening scene in the movie Chicago? It does, for me. One of my favorite movies is Chicago. For those of you who might not be aware, Chicago takes place in the 1920's. I loved the costumes that they wore in the movie. (My girls have each dressed up as flappers for various halloweens too.) My challenge to you is to dress up your card using items reminiscent of this time period. Think feathers, boas, fringe, etc."

Ok... snag major... I don't have any fringe or feathers or boas... what to do??? I took a few minutes to think about the movie Chicago... there is a scene where the ladies were using chairs and I thought of a classic burlesque image of a dancer with one foot on a chair... unfortunately I don't have a stamp image like that... Ever resourceful I decided to draw one myself... I covered the lady in sparkly fabric (leftover from a halloween costume) and added some fancy fibers to imitate fringe...

I really liked the way it turned out - and its one of my hubby's favorites out of all of the cards I've made so far!!

VSN Challenge #4

I'm now totally grooving... even the sound of my husband playing Mario Kart on the Wii can't distract me... (well maybe a little to laugh when he keeps falling off Rainbow Road)

direct quote from SCS "Bonjour! This challenge is for the seamstress or costume designer lurking in all of you! Nicole Kidman has got to be one of the most beautiful actresses in the world! In Moulin Rouge, she was a Can Can dancer, and had the most gorgeous costumes that showcased her classic beauty to perfection! For this VSN mini challenge, you are to make a card inspired by one of the costumes Nicole wore in Moulin Rouge. Attached is a link of some of her most popular gowns and suits from the movie. Click on the link, scroll down, and you will see the designs. Click on each one, and thumbnails will appear below of more detailed images of that costume. Be inspired by the colors, the patterns, the BLING, the fabric, the jewelry...oh, and the BLING, hee! I recently read that she had 50 costume changes in the movie! If you have a particular favorite in mind that is not pictured, feel free to use it as your inspiration, and post a link to that costume in your gallery along with YOUR design!"

As I LOVE this movie... and all of the fabulous costumes in it I was SUPER excited to do this challenge... I used the Pink Diamonds outfit that she wore during her 'Diamonds are a girls best friend song' as inspiration... (insert n.kidman pic here)

I also learned my lesson about adhesives and chipboard... I used a wet clear glue instead of snail adhesive on my chipboard heart - much better results!!

Check out my homage to Pink Diamonds....

VSN Challenge #3

After the last delightfully easy challenge I was definately starting to get in the groove of things... On to Challenge #3

direct quote from SCS ""An Understudy is a theatrical term for someone who learns the lines and blocking/choreography of a leading actor or actress in a theatrical play. Should the lead actor or actress be unable to appear on stage because of illness or accident, the understudy takes over the part. Usually, when the understudy takes over, the theater manager will make the announcement prior to the start of the performance." - Wikipedia When I think of a Theatrical Production, especially the countless hours of rehearsals, I have a HUGE respect for the understudies. They must learn all of the dialogue and be prepared at a moment's notice to take over for the lead. That is an incredible amount of work in spite of the fact that they may NEVER even be seen!! So in honor of the many, many hard-working and talented Understudies..........my challenge is to make a Layer Card. Did you catch the words Under and Over in that Wikipedia definition? Ahhh.......that makes me think of a card with lots of fabulous layers!!! A little time-consuming perhaps, but such beautiful results for that hard work!!! Please make a card using a minimum of 5 layers, 5 layers any way you'd like, it doesn't have to just be a base of 5 layers and..........you can definitely use more if you're an addict like me!!! LOL"

When I first started making cards and scrapbook pages, I really was afraid of using too many layers, it seemed like a waste of paper (expensive paper!!) but now that I have a couple more years experience under my belt I realized that adding layers whether just paper or adding texture with fabric ribbons metal... the possibilities are endless and you end up with a product that is so snazzy and amazing that other people want to buy them or at least learn how to make it themselves...

So here is my tribute to fall and layers...

VSN Challenge #2

After madly scrambling for the first challenge and then quickly cleaning my workspace I went onto SCS website and looked at the second challenge of the evening...

direct quote from SCS "You're filling in tonight because the main act got sick. The hustle and bustle backstage has you frantic. Hurry up, you need a costume....but what? Look! There's a skirt worn in act one...shoes from the 3rd act...a feather boa from the burlesque show. Yeah, you can put something together!! Hurry, its almost time!! My challenge to you is to use your scraps laying around to create a card. You may use ONE regular piece of cardstock to create your base and ANY embellishments you want, but scraps only must be used for the layers of your card. Do your best to create a fanstatic card, worthy of your audience."

As I am always making cards and crafts I ALWAYS have lots of scraps - I really enjoyed being able to try out some of the techniques I learned at Stampin' Up! Edmonton Regional... (see an older post about that!!)

This is a striking card and what I love about it is that it looks really hard to do, but it isn't... you just need to know the secret!!

VSN Challenge #1 (and what VSN is)

First off... VSN is Virtual Stamp Night. And what is that? Basically its an event that is held once a month or so on http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ (SCS) where you can join hundreds of other papercrafters like myself and the organizers set up challenges that go up once an hour. You have 45 minutes to complete the challenge and the last 15 minutes are for clenaing up, snacking, washroom breaks, taking pictures and uploading your finished product onto SCS website.

I was very optimistic in yesterday's post when I thought I would be able to blog inbetween challenges... but wow... almost every challenge had me using every one of my 45 minutes... and then madly cleaning up and running for bathroom breaks (mine and Gizmo's)... Now you don't have to do the 5 o'clock challenge at 5... you could start at 6 or 7 - but you have to only use 45 minutes to do the challenge... and it can be very challenging!

Challenge number 1...

direct quote from SCS "When you go to a play there are always beautiful photos of the cast members posted for everyone to see. So, what do you do with the photos once the play is over? You frame them, of course. My challenge is to create a frame for the picture of the star in your life. You can use chipboard, cardboard box (like a cereal box), or a store bought frame to create your own personalized frame."

I've been in a school play where we had a star board with pictures of all of the people in the play... I did take my picture home but I never did anything with it.

I chose for this challenge to make a frame for one of my favorite pictures of my goofy husband!! I ran into a huge snag at first when my printer wasn't responding to my laptop... but my hubby was home and fixed that in a jiffy (love computer geeks)... and then I ran into a weird snag when I was trying to put snail adhesive (its double sided glue in kindo of a white out runner form) onto my fancy large Chipboard (from Stampin'Up!) frame... the adhesive was lifting the first layer off... I switched brands of adhesive and the same thing happened... maybe I had a bad batch of chipboard...

Luckily I had gone to Michael's the night before and picked up some $1.50 wooden craft frames so I grabbed one and quickly used my snail adhesive to attach my patterned paper...

Because I love glitter so much I had to use glitter on chipboard letters to spell out JOKER... a word that describes my husband to a T!! I added some fancy fibers and cut out the printed photo to fit the frame and just squeeked in to the finish line with only about 30 seconds to spare...

And here is the finished project... My JOKER frame...

To Market, To Market ...

I went to the Strathcona Farmers Market today (and not to buy a fat pig) - I've been wanting to make my incredible pumpkin soup since last week but couldn't find small pumpkins anywhere!! I knew my market would have them - they've never let me down!

I picked out some wonderful mini cucumbers, two beautiful sugar pumpkins, 2 spaghetti squashes and a bundle of leeks... I've never cooked leeks before but I hear they make a great soup as well... I shall have to find a recipe online!

Another reason I love the market so much is that its a five senses kind of place - lots of things to see, hear, touch, smell and taste!! I love to people watch and there are always lots of opportunities to do that there too!! There are always buskers (musicians, artists etc) there to entertain you... I always bring change to put in their baskets!

We didn't stay too long at the market - I have to be back before 3 so that I can participate in a mini virtual stamp night (VSN)... but I'll have more posts about that as it happens

Stampin' Up! Regionals (Edmonton)

October 18th 2008 in Edmonton Canada...


I've been a SU! demonstrator for quite a while now (I don't do the parties... unless someone wants me to... I'm mostly in it for the discount and pre-ordering) but I haven't gone to a regional seminar before. My luck was complete when the Regional for Alberta just so happened to be in MY city!!


I didn't know what to expect, but I had my mom (fellow Demo) coming with me so I knew it would be fun!!


Mom and I spent Friday making swaps - Swaps are card fronts that you trade with other demo's to get new ideas and techniques... I made 10 and mom made 20... we swapped with eachother first LOL...


Regional was so crowded but so awesome... there was presentations, new techniques, some boring business talk, stuff to make and lots of samples to take pictures of... I managed to take over 200 pictures and am still in the process of going through them!!


I even found mom's doppleganger there... not identical but looking enough like my mom that I almost accidentally hugged the stranger...LOL that would have been funny!


Mom and I also got a picture with the founder of Stampin' UP...


All in All I would definitely go again and I did learn a lot!!

so sorry

Sometimes I get so busy with 'life' that I forget to blog and it only takes a couple prods from family and friends (you know who you are) to get me back on track. After all... how are you supposed to know what's happening in my Life As It Happens if I don't blog?

So I'm very sorry that I haven't posted anything since my Thanksgiving post and I will work on lots of stuff this weekend for you.

For now... here is some random weird facts and stuff...

The average chocolate bar has 8 insect legs in it. (I guess that's where the protein comes from?? LOL)

Orangutans warn people to stay out of their territory by belching. (I know some people who do the same)

Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes. (so do the asses that drive cars)

Armadillos, opossums, and sloth's spend about 80% of their lives sleeping. (so does my dog, my cats and on Saturday's my husband!!)

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain. (I know some people who this is true for as well)

It is estimated that at any one time, 0.7% of the world's population are drunk. (hmmm if it isn't me... is it you??)

The word "democracy" is banned in online chat rooms in China. (wow... their government sure is scared of that aren't they?)

The average bra size today is 36C. Ten years ago it was 34B. (must be all the hormones in cows... Moooooooove over wonderbra!!)

The name for Oz in "The Wizard of Oz" was thought up when the creator, Frank Baum, looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N, and O-Z, hence "Oz." (cool!!)

An earthquake on Dec. 16, 1811 caused parts of the Mississippi River to flow backwards! (isn't it normal to be backwards there??? Just Kidding!!)

ThankFULL

FRIDAY October 10th, 2008:
So we got the spare room (mostly) finished for my parents to stay in this past weekend - I'll post some pictures soon. We didn't assemble the end tables but everything else worked out really well - I'm kind of envious of the bed especially (its one of those princessy type beds).

We mass cleaned our house - I LOVE SCRUBBING BUBBLES!!!!! (It made cleaning the bathroom fun as it hissed and crackled and disolved all of the dirt!!!) and made a small grocery run and finished about 10 minutes before my parents and Uncle arrived!!! HA! Procrastination wins again!!!

SATURDAY October 11th, 2008:
Made breakfast for the crew (except dad, who was still sleeping) and we headed off to the Farmer's Market to shop for Thanksgiving Dinner supplies! Man was it crowded!! We lost Uncle Paul for awhile - he explored on his own as mom, Chris and I shopped. Picked up a lot of really nice veggies and some cool dried grasses and pods (to make the house more Harvesty...) and I picked a very sweet small pumpkin (for soup). Mom of course had to have some Kettle Corn, so Chris went and stood in line for us (so sweet).

If you live in or around Edmonton - you should go to the Strathcona Farmers Market, its open on Saturday and Sunday all year!! There are really cool buskers (musicians, artists etc.) and always something cool to see, hear, smell and eat!!

Went on a massive grocery shop with mom, picked out a nice turkey (named him bob). I don't know why I think we can fit a whole trunkload of groceries in my fridge and cupboards - but it happens all the time!!! Had to clean out the fridge to get everything in - except there wasn't room for the Turkey!! oops! luckily it was still half frozen so we put it in the sink and decided we'd have to get some ice.

Its now almost dinner time and everyone is ravenous!! Mom really wants a buffet - so I suggest the Sawmill, but I got confused with the address and we ended up at the Moose Factory instead!! (or the other way around... I'm confusing myself again!!) Anyway - we ended up at the one that doesn't do the buffet during the week... Bummer! But we all had an awesome dinner and we watched a couple at another table who was getting their appetizer, main course and dessert made tableside!! It was really cool when the newbie cook was flambe'ing their dinner - he almost caught the ceiling on fire - I'm not exaggerating either!

Got home and played Mexican Train (its a dominos game) until past midnight... I totally lost (but we didn't actually finish the game so I guess if everyone else did really badly I might (slim chance) have won the game)

SUNDAY October 12th, 2008:
Sundays with my parents are always a quiet day - after they get back from church we had brunch and then my dad went for a nap - mom followed not long afterwards. Uncle Paul likes to walk around the neighbourhood etc. so Chris and I watched some TV.

BBQ'd dinner - everyone really liked my steak marinade!! We had some weird corn - it was white and red and when it cooked it kind of looked dead - dad called it cadavar corn!! LOL. It turned the water black... but it tasted good and the cores were kind of purple...

MONDAY October 13th, 2008: THANKSGIVING DAY!!!
Got up super early and started roasting the pumpkin for the soup... then mom and I dressed the turkey - and no it didn't include a bow tie and dinner jacket... lol Who ever puts together the cooking directions for cooking a turkey should be shot!! 20 minutes a pound... yeah um no... maybe 10 or 15... and because of this we really had to rush at the very end - especially since I asked Chris and dad to make a trip out to the grocery store and when they finally got back they were madly trying to put together my new dining sets from IKEA - and the turkey was already done - so was everything else... we just needed a place to sit and eat it all!!

All ends well though! we had out creamy pumpkin soup (in ceramic pumpins with lids) lovely salad and then the AWESOME turkey, candied sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and yellow and purple carrots... Top it off with yummy cranberry sauce and drool inducing gravy and we all stuffed our faces... and then crammed in some mini pumpkin pies and tiny strawberry rhubarb tartlets with fresh made whipped cream on top of all of that!!!

I was really sleepy - probably more from the lack of sleep and constant work in the kitchen than from whatever is in Turkey!! I said by to my dad and uncle (my mom stays for another whole week!!!) and flopped down on the couch, cuddled my puppy and tried not to fall asleep!!

All in All - an awesome Thanksgiving weekend!!

Reno's and paint and Kitties... Oh My!!!

We've been working on finishing our spare room in the basement this past weekend and this week so that my parents will have a lovely place to sleep this weekend (my uncle will be in the computer room on our spare futon). The room had some water damage from before we moved in - and our landlady keeps saying she'll fix it etc... and that was ok when we were just using it as a storage room - but now its empty and I want to use it as a guest room! The carpet was disgusting, but luckily for us it was not glued down!!!!! We rolled it up and discovered rust and yellow stains and a little bit of mold. We cleaned the floor - and all of the mold is gone... but the ugly stains remain.

We got it in our heads that it would be easier to repaint the floor than to re-carpet the room, so off to Home Depot we run and we talk to the paint people, who tell us we need to prime the floor with a special primer and then 8-24 hours later we need to paint. We buy all of the supplies - including an awesome pole to go onto the roller so we don't have to paint on our knees!

I was really tired (and I admit - very very cranky) when we finally got home. My wonderful hubby (he really is so awesome) offers to prime the floor while I sort through my Stampin' Up! order - I think I almost cried when he offered this & he really is so good to me, even when I'm short with him...

Anyhoo... so he paints the room (he didn't paint himself in the corner either!! LOL) and comes up to tell me its done and that when I have a minute or two (I was in the middle of putting a stamp set together) that I should go down and take a look!!

I finished with the stamp set and went downstairs... I opened the door to the room a little bit (didn't want any kitties in there while the floor was wet) and the floor looks amazing! I of course tell my hubby this - and he beams back at me and proceeds to open the door all the way, so I can get the full effect of the new white floor... we were gazing around at the room and didn't notice that Tigger was in the basement - he ran into the room and almost all the way to the back wall - as soon as we noticed we started to yell for him to get out of the room, which he did really REALLY quickly... slipping and sliding but thankfully not falling down... Then because he's a cat and not a dog he didn't stop when we told him to... he ran across the basement and up the stairs and through the kitchen and hallway and hid under our bed.

Now to make this funnier for all those who don't know what my house is like - we have CARPET in our kitchen, hallway and bedroom - the rest of the house is laminate or hardwood or painted concrete.

We quickly closed the door to the spare room - Tiggers paw prints and skid marks will have to be covered by the paint tonight - and ran upstairs (Chris beat me in the foot race!!). I was laughing pretty hard because it was like we were in a Family Circus cartoon following the foot prints... except in this case it was paw prints!!

Poor Tigger - Chris got him out from under the bed and into the bathroom and we had to give his paws a very long bath!!! He kept looking at us and howling!! The paint mostly came off - it dried soooo quickly. but we got most of it.

Chris joked that at least it wasn't an Epic Fail for Tigger... when I asked what an Epic Fail would have been, he said that it would have been if he had slipped and fell on his side and then slipped and fell on the other side... I think we would have had to shave him...

Capshun... I haz it!

So, I was on LOLcats today and I've seen all of the new posts - I hadn't had my LOL fill yet so I took a look at LOLdogs...

I found a really funny picture, but the caption wasn't as funny as I wanted... so I did what any good internet personage does... I re-captioned it... Take a look if you dare!