Cristmas MIracle

Monday, August 16, 2010

dum dum de dum....

Big news! A few weeks ago (yes, I know, I haven't posted in a while but life has been such a whirlwind...) Mark proposed!

Apparently he had some plans up his sleeve for a little while, and managed to keep it secret.
I'm even more impressed that he told my sister, and that SHE was able to keep it a secret. (sorry Lindi, I know how you get when you're excited about something!)

Of course, being the wonderful guy he is, he had everything planned out, and even managed to remain calm and collected even though I kept throwing a wrench into the "schedule"! (little did I know that he had my family in on it. )

To make a long story short (because if I told the entire thing, it really WOULD be a long story), he got my sister to call me and ask if she could take the boys to her house for a movie, which left me thinking, "yay, an evening alone with Mark!"

He took me out for dinner to a little Vietnamese place that we really like. Afterwards, he took me to the park where we went for a walk on our first date. It's a gorgeous park, and overlooks all of Hamilton. (the view isn't ideal, we were looking out at the "beautiful" steel mills on the water.haha)

We were looking out over a kids' soccer game, and Mark was standing behind me rubbing my neck. (it's always sore from the way I have to carve my stamps).

It started to rain a little, so I thought we should probably head back. The rain lately hasn't been "little". When it rains, it pours, and pours, and hails, and then pours some more!
So it was safe to say that we needed to back to the car. Mark said "before we do though, I have a

surprise for you..."

I turned around, and he was down on one knee, with a little box that was sparkling, and said "will you marry me?"
Of course I said yes (or screamed it?)

I had about a minute to admire the ring before we had to run to the car! Then we sat in the car for a bit, all excited, me asking him how he had planned this all etc, and how long he'd had the ring...and then he said "we have to go to your sisters house now, because your family is all there waiting for us".

He had gone there before hand to show them the ring, before he picked me up for dinner:)

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Inkadinkado 'Standing Seagull' - birthday card for my BIL

Hi and thanks for stopping by :-)

It was my BIL's birthday late last week and this is the card I made for him - now that he has the card, I can post it here.

I stamped the image onto Watercolour paper and watercoloured it with Acrylic paints. The teal blue frame was popped up on 1mm mounts (dimensionals) over the image then I added the brads so it kind-of-looks like a porthole.

The sentiment was diecut with one my Spellbinders Tags Trio dies - I lightly inked around the sentiment with Creamy Brown chalk ink - then popped it up on 1mm mounts.

I am popping this card into the Splitcoaststampers "Way to use it" Challenge WT281 of 'Wonderful Woodgrain'. The Challenge gave me the perfect excuse to use my Distressed Stripes embossing folder (which I have hardly used) for the brown cardstock base and seemed to be the obvious choice to match my image. I lightly sanded the cardstock to highlight the embossing.

I am also entering this card into the Simon Says Challenge of "There ain't no cure for the Summertime blues" where your summery creation has to have some blue in it - I have used one of my fav colours: Teal Blue. And of course, what could be more summery than a seagull!

Thanks again for visiting - hope to see you again very soon!

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Inkadinkado 'Standing Seagull' 99205-DD, Sentiment from: Penny Black 'Critter Party' clear stamp set

Ink: Stazon Jet Black, Colorbox Chalk: Prussian Blue and Creamy Brown

Designer paper: Kaisercraft Reminiscing P203 Hold Dear

Accessories: Cuttlebug, Distressed Stripes embossing folder, Spellbinder Large and Small Oval Nestabilities + Labels Trio S3-147, 140lb Watercolour paper, JoSonya acrylic paints, paintbrushes, mounts (dimensionals), EK Success Open Scallop border punch, grosgrain ribbon 15mm-9/16" wide, Fray Stop (for the cut ribbon edges), 10 x brads (Printblocks), sandpaper, Cardstock: Provincial beige, teal blue

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Traditional Orange Pumpkins from the Pumpkin Patch

A GRAET ADDITION TO YOUR FALL DECOR!

For a limited time in my etsy shop! New Pumpkins arriving daily! Check back for fabulous Halloween Fabric Pumpkins from Riley Blake "BOO TO YOU" fabric collection!

Friday, August 13, 2010

Penny Black Celebrating - my DH's birthday card

Hi and welcome to my Blog :-)

I made this quick little card for my DH's birthday this past week. Now that he has the card in his hot little hand, I can post it here. I tried to colour the cat in similar colours to our own cat - Ruby. There is a photo of Ruby on the LHS of my Blog if you want to see her. She is such a character and fetches just like a dog (mainly with pipecleaners or hair scrunchies), and if she wants your attention, she will drop something at your feet or your lap, stand back and miaow at you for you to throw it. She is one cute puss!

Anyway, enough waffling and onto the card! I diecut the circle from the blue cardstock first then ran the cardstock thru my Cuttlebug using my new Indentz embossing folder (which I sourced from the UK).

Recently I rang KW Doggetts (an Australian paper company) for a Sample Pack of different brands of smooth white cardstock specifically to use for the Gamsol Magic/Magic Coloured Pencil technique. They were very helpful and generous with what they sent me - and all for free!! I had a great old play and found that their brand: "Knight" smooth cardstock was magical - the colours blend out so beautifully and perfectly, and this is the cardstock I used for this birthday card. And it's so white. Much whiter than Beckett Radiance. It was an absolute joy to colour!!! In fact, I was so impressed, that I rang and placed an order and asked for 12" x 12" size which is very practical for my square cards 'cos I can just cut them in half. My order was ready in a day and I was able to go and pick it up from their factory which is only about 20 mins drive from where I live. They have a retail store where you can grab a box and fill it up with different coloured/brands of cardstock/vellums for a set price - ahhh, it was heavenly!! I have no connection to them, but thought it was worth mentioning if you love using the Gamsol Magic technique, but don't know what cardstock to get if you are in Australia. You can just ring up and ask for a sample pack and then you can decide what weight (ie: gsm) you like to use. I believe they have offices in some of the other States of Australia.

I lightly coloured the background with blue chalk (which you can hardly tell from the photo!). I added Art Institute transparent light blue glitter to the balloon. The tiny hearts next to the sentiment are the leftover punchies from my EK Success Arrows border punch.

The fawn cardstock border was made with a Threading Water punch, and I added a Scor-Pal line above it.

Thanks again for stopping by. Have a great weekend!

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Penny Black 'Celebrating' 1472E, Sentiment from Crafter's Companion 'Popcorn the Bear' Bunches of Love set

Ink: Memento Tuxedo black

Accessories: Cuttlebug, Indentz 'Happy Birthday' embossing folder, EK Success Arrows border punch, Fiskars Threading Water punch, AI blue glitter (from Shabby Chic set), AI Designer dries clear adhesive, Spellbinder Circle Nestabilities, Scor-Pal, Kaisercolour chalks, OMS, Prismas, fawn and blue gingham ribbon, Cardstock: royal blue, fawn, KW Doggetts Knight smooth white