Thursday, October 28, 2010

Coming Soon - Veteran's Day Blog Hop on November 11th

****Join 20 amazing crafters for a Blog Hop honoring our Veterans and Troops. Inspiring Projects, Interviews with Veterans, current Service Personnel, and family members who have sacrificed to keep us free will be all along the Hop. There is also some great blog candy offered by Marlo Letterle...and one of the last chances to win one of her amazing Scrap'n Totes! Other blog candy will be up for grabs, as well. So, on November 11th, grab a box of tissues and a cup of coffee and hop, hop, hop to Honor The Brave Who Have Kept Us Free!****

Monday, October 18, 2010

Nineteen Minutes

In nineteen minutes, you can mow the front lawn, color your hair, watch a third of a hockey game. In nineteen minutes, you can bake scones or get a tooth filled by a dentist; you can fold laundry for a family of five....In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world, or you can just jump off it. In nineteen minutes, you can get revenge. (copied from the book)
I recently read best selling author Jodi Picoult's book “Nineteen Minutes”. I can’t seem to get it out of my head. This book should be on every parent’s must read list. In this book Jodi tackles bullying on so many different levels. She also makes you think how well do you really know your child/children. This book really makes you think and to realize how important it is to try to stop bullying all together.

Have you ever been bullied as a child or teenager? I know I was. Growing up, we lived about 10 blocks from our public school. My father had passed away when I was 11and my mother never drove or learned to drive. We had no choice but to walk to and from school each day as there were no buses for our route.

Growing up, a neighbor girl who lived across the street from my house for some reason chose to pick on me. I was smaller than her, two years younger than her and definitely not a fighter. I remember the fear I had walking home from school each day. I never knew when she’d jump out at me and start a fight. I never did anything to her but she took great pleasure in picking on me and seeing me cry. Even changing the route that I walked home didn't help as she'd end up finding me. My mother tried to step in and talk to her mother about the bullying and even that didn't help. Her mother just stood there & yelled at my mother. (You could see where she got it from). Even getting the school involved didn’t help as she never bullied me on school property. I had no choice but to put up with her bullying that finally stopped when they moved away. I was never so happy to see someone go.

If you want a good book to read, Nineteen Minutes is definately the one. But even if you don’t read it…. Talk to your children about how important it is not to be a bully and to help those who are being bullied.

Loving Fiskars Purple

A few weeks ago I received my Fiskars Tool Caddy in the mail from Shannon for entering her Fiskars Tool Garland Challenge. I love it & love the Fiskars Purple. I have wanted one of these Tool Caddy’s for a long time & had never been lucky enough to find one or to win one. (Where I live in Ontario, Canada, finding Fiskars tools isn’t easy). Thanks so much Shannon for a great challenge & a great prize!

You Never Know When Or Where Inspiration Will Strike

October 3rd, I ended up in the emergency room of our local hospital. I had an abscess tooth and the entire left side of my jaw was swollen to almost 3 times it’s normal size. I looked like a hamster storing up food for the winter. The pain was horrible and I knew that I had to get on antibiotics right away.

While waiting for the doctor, I overheard him talking to the lady before me. (there is no privacy in the ER) She had a lot of medical conditions and diagnosis that he was unfamiliar with and she really couldn’t explain to him what they were. He advised her to carry a little journal in her purse listing her prescriptions as well as her medical conditions and a brief description of them. Then when it was my turn to be treated, once again he was confused by some of my medical conditions and prescriptions. He commented on his being a doctor for 31 years and how he had learned so much from the previous patient & myself that day. It goes to show that you are never too old to learn.

His comments had really got me to thinking about carrying a little journal in my purse containing my medical information so I decided to create a journal just for that purpose. I also made one for my mother & sister to carry in their purses.

I used 2 coasters for each Medical Information book(one for the front & one for the back) out of my huge stash of coasters. I designed & printed up the pages in Microsoft Word and the DSP is Yellow Bicycle. I used my Fiskars Trimmer to trim down the pages to 4x4, glued the DSP to the coasters, trimmed the excess with my Fiskars Fingertip Craft Knife as well as sanded the edges. I didn’t do a lot of fussing with these mini journals as if your purse is anything like mine, they’ll take a beating. Here is a picture of the finished journals:
Surprising enough when I gave my sister her medical journal at Thanksgiving, I ended up getting an order for my BIL’s sister to make one for her husband. I hadn’t thought of making them for men, but then again it’s us women who carry our loved one’s medical information in our purses too.

This definitely goes to show that you never know when or where inspiration will strike.

Orange and Pink Challenge (Long Post)

At the end of September, Tami (one of the Lead Fiskateers) posted that she was looking for a few crafters willing to take on a color challenge on the Fiskateers Message Board.She had something planned that she wanted to highlight a few projects in a certain color theme. The only restriction was the color combo. I emailed her right away & was one of the lucky ones chosen to be in this color challenge. I can post this to my blog now as my projects are up on the Fiskateer Blog and can be seen here: http://www.fiskateers.com/blog/2010/10/17/pink-and-orange-go-together-in-gift-items/

I was a bit surprised when I got notice of the color combination that we were to work with. Pink & Fiskateer Orange!! I’ve never worked with that combination before & never would have thought that the two colors would look good together. It sure surprised me. Pink & Orange do go together.

Since this challenge was for Breast Cancer, I knew immediately what I wanted to do. For those of you who follow my blog, you know that my older sister Donna is a 3 times Breast Cancer survivor, so Breast Cancer Awareness is very dear to my heart. Pink and Orange are not normally colors that I work with so creating something with these colors was a challenge for me. The inspiration for this challenge came from items that I created for my sister at the time of her battle with Breast Cancer as well as a couple of items she would have used if I had of thought of making them at the time of her battle.

A year ago my sister was diagnosed with Breast Cancer (her 3rd time) after 20 yrs of being cancer free. Hearing of her diagnosis, I bought this cancer stamp set to create a card for her and hopefully give her some encouragement and strength to fight this horrible disease again. For the challenge, I have created 3 different card styles shown in the photo. I used Yellow Bicycle DSP which just so happened to have Pink & Orange in it as well as glitter on the page, my Fiskars Trimmer, Scissors and the Fiskars Threading Waters Border Punch.Next I created an altered journal for her. I wish that I had of thought of creating one for her at the time she was battling cancer. At the time I told her that she should write down her thoughts, etc as she has quite the story to tell about her fight with cancer. During her first battle with cancer 20 yrs ago, they over radiated her & now she is left with a heart condition that she is going to need open-heart surgery on in the near future. She never knew this until the results came back from her pre-op tests a year ago. Since I didn’t think at the time to create a journal for her, I did it for this challenge & gave it to her at Thanksgiving (our Canadian Thanksgiving was October 11th). I again used Yellow Bicycle DSP, my Fiskars Trimmer and Scissors. I also made little tabs for her to write on & set up dividers for her journal if she wishes. I also added an inside pocket at the front of the journal for her to keep any receipts, doctors cards, etc in. I covered the inside back of the journal and added the Survivor verse. I added a verse to the front cover as well as a Velcro closure and trimmed it with lace to finish it off. The lace is so pretty & has little hearts on it.The next item added to this gift is a medical information journal that I got the inspiration for while being a patient in our local Emergency Room. I used 2 coasters for the cover of each mini journal, the pages I printed up in Microsoft Word and the DSP is again Yellow Bicycle. I used my Fiskars Trimmer to trim down the pages to 4x4, glued the DSP to the coasters, trimmed the excess with my Fiskars Fingertip Craft Knife as well as sanded the edges. I didn’t do a lot of fussing with these mini journals as if your purse is anything like mine, they’ll take a beating. Lol I made 3 of these little medical journals and will be giving the other 2 to my sister & my mother.

Last on the list was Thank You cards. When my sister was recuperating from her surgery, her daughters arranged with family & friends to bring in meals to them for a couple of weeks. I thought it was an awesome idea. Donna’s husband was her rock & he was really good about cooking breakfast & lunch but he’s never been one to plan & cook supper. Having meals brought in gave her the time she needed to recuperate with out the stress of meal planning & being in the kitchen. Most meals that were brought in usually gave them leftovers for the next day. Living 45 miles away from them it wasn’t easy taking in a meal. My mother & I took a supper in for them as well as I left them some money to order take out food for another night. I decided to surprise Donna with a dozen Thank You Cards that she could send out to family, friends, etc for the meals, etc. This saved her the added stress of not having to go out & shop for cards. I know that she appreciated it.As you can see, my inspiration for the Pink & Orange Challenge is my sister & her fight against Breast Cancer. All the items I’ve created are items that someone fighting cancer could & would use. All are items that I gave my sister as well as a new journal & medical journal that I wish I had of given her at the time (she has them now). I’m so thankful that my sister won her fight against breast cancer & is a Survivor.My prayers go out to all of you who are fighting this horrible disease or who have family/friends fighting it.

Thanks for looking & have a great day!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian Family & Friends

I just wanted to wish all my family & friends a Happy Thanksgiving. With yesterday being our Thanksgiving holiday (Canadian), I went up to my sister and her husband’s home for supper. Since our family is very close knit, we try to spend all of our holiday’s together. Our 85 year old mother lives next door to me and came up with me to my sister’s house. Our family has grown a lot over the years and finding a place big enough to hold us all is getting difficult. I’d never fit them in my small apartment. lol

My sister has 2 daughters who are both married & have children. Their oldest daughter has 4 children (3 boys & 1 girl) and their youngest daughter has 3 children (2 girls & a boy). The ages of the kids is from 1 to 8 yrs old so it gets pretty noisy with that many active children running around the house. There is never a dull moment. My younger brother is married & has 2 children. His step-daughter is married and has 2 children (boy 10 & a girl 1). His son is a year younger than my son. My brother isn’t one who likes to get out & visit. Sadly he misses a lot of our family get-together’s unless they are at my mom’s. I also have an older brother who spends his winters in Costa Rica.

My son is finishing up his apprenticeship and after he completes this college session (he’s in college now), he’ll be able to write his exam for a mechanic. His GF is working towards her Masters in Nursing & wants to be an ER Nurse. He came for supper & then had plans to meet his friends at the Fair near our home to see the Demolition Derby.

There were 19 of us sitting around the table this Thanksgiving and we all have a lot to be thankful for. There was so much food & desserts. The dinner was so good. (Turkey is one of my favorite dinners).

The family also surprised me with a belated birthday too. This year with our mother being ill & my sister’s MIL being ill, getting together on my birthday was difficult so yesterday was a nice surprise. (Thanks everyone for the nice belated birthday!)

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Are You Looking for the Survivor Stamp Set?

For those of you looking for the Paper Inspirations Survivor stamp set that I have, Darlene left a comment saying that it is still available at Addicted to Rubber Stamps. She said you can find it by doing a search by the company name. It is $17.89 now. (I don't remember paying that much for it). ATRS always has sales on so you may want to check them out. I used to shop there all the time & loved it. Unfortunately I no longer do so because of high International shipping fees. Other than that, they are a great company to deal with, fast service, great customer service and great products.

Thanks Darlene for checking this out & letting me know so that I can pass this information on to others who are looking for this stamp set.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Day 2 - I Have a Thing For Pink

I have a thing for pink! I love how some companies help to sponsor Breast Cancer awareness & raise money for it by putting out unique products. Last year I found a neat pair of Fiskars scissors that I just had to have. I also bought a pair of scissors for my sister as well as gave her some cool pink pj’s to wear in the hospital. Then I ended up finding this adorable pink shoe scotch tape dispenser that I had to have too. The year before I bought all the women close to me pink umbrella’s.This year I spotted some new pink items to add to my collection…a pretty pink pen set by Paper Mate, an adorable purse pop up note dispenser by Post Its for my desk and a Pink Fire Safe by SentrySafe. I’ve been wanting to buy a fire safe for some time now to keep my valuable papers, insurance policies, photo’s, birth certificates, etc in. I spotted this one on Friday when I was out shopping & knew I had to have it. Not only was it PINK, the price was right and buying it also donated to Breast Cancer Research. Every penny helps when it comes to research. Not only am I helping a great cause, I’m also getting some cute items to inspire me & to add to my studio.On another note...I’ve had some enquiries about the stamp set that I used for my cards. I’ve scanned it & am posting a picture of it so that you can see it. It is such a beautiful stamp set & I couldn’t resist it. It’s acrylic & made by Paper Inspirations. I think that I bought it from Addicted to Rubber Stamps sometime last year or the year before, I really can’t remember. Here’s a photo of the stamp set & another card that I made for my sister when she was going through her battle with Breast Cancer using it.I also have a stamp set from Stampin Up that I use for cards for breast cancer called “Hope Is” (retired). It has the ribbon stamp, Believe, Love & a verse “Hope is…believing in a brighter tomorrow.” Here’s a card that I made using this stamp set.I hope that you’ve enjoyed today’s post. Have a great day & be sure to check out the other blogs as several will be posting something new for today. TFL!

Friday, October 8, 2010

Pink Blog Hop

I signed up for Karel’s Pink Blog Hop as Breast Cancer Awareness is a subject very near to my heart. My older sister is a 3 times Breast Cancer Survivor. Over the years she has had some difficult times with the diagnosis especially when she was in her late 20’s when she was first diagnosed. She had 20 years of being cancer free only to have it come back a year ago. She went through a very difficult time with the last surgery and is still recuperating. I am doing this blog hop for her as a way of letting her know how thankful I am that she is now cancer free & to have her in my life as well as those who are battling this horrible disease.

Welcome to Karel’s Pink Blog Hop. If you arrived here from Gina’s Stamping Creations -- http://ginathorntonstamping.blogspot.com/, you are in the right location. If not you can pick up where you should be or left off from the following list of talented blog participants.

1. One By One The Flamingos Are Stealing My Sanity – http://karelj.blogspot.com
2. Gina’s Stamping Creations -- http://ginathorntonstamping.blogspot.com/
3. Crafting This Moment -- http://craftingthismoment.blogspot.com/ (YOU ARE HERE)
4. The Cricut Diaries – http://cricutdiaries.blogspot.com
5. Sweet Sassy Diva -- http://sweetsassydiva-gspot.blogspot.com/
6. Scrappin’ Sista -- http://onescrappinsista.blogspot.com
7. If It’s Groovy -- http://ifitsgroovy.blogspot.com
8. Oh, Snap! -- http://ohsnaplizzie.blogspot.com/
9. Crazy About Cricut – http://crazyaboutcricut.blogspot.com
10. Gen’s Den -- http://www.gensden.com/
11. Peanut Butter and Jelly Designs -- http://peanutbutterandjellydesigns.blogspot.com/
12. Heartfelt Creations --http://heartfeltdesigns.blogspot.com
13. Creations With Becka – http://creationswithbecka.blogspot.com
14. Calie’s Creative Corner – http://caliescreativecorner.blogspot.com
15. Tidbit’s Place – http://tidbitsplace.blogspot.com
16. Gypsy Paperie -- http://gypsypaperie.blogspot.com
17. Life From Marianne’s Table – http://number1aunt.blogspot.com
18. The Suburban Crafter-- http://www.rachelstampshappy.blogspot.com/

Special Giveaway Instructions - To win the $25 gift certificate that Sarah at Pink by Design Store so graciously donated, all you have to do is complete the hop and leave a comment on every blog. On Tuesday, utilizing random.org, a blog number, and then a comment number for that blog will be chosen. The winner will be notified by a posting on One By One The Flamingos Are Stealing My Sanity, by a posting on Karel's Facebook and Twitter Accounts, and every effort will be made to personally contact the winner. Be sure to also check out Sarah's store.

When my sister Donna was diagnosed with cancer a year ago, I found this cancer stamp set and had to buy it. I knew it would be perfect for creating cards of encouragement both for her and others fighting this horrible disease. I sent her a card back then using this stamp set and will again give her one as a celebration for being a survivor.My next project idea is something I’ve had for sitting around for a few years and thought that it’d be perfect for this Pink challenge. A few years ago I found these adorable boxes at our local dollar store. I bought them & they’ve been sitting around all this time waiting for me to put them together. The boxes are all made of a sturdy chipboard and the package came with 4 different box styles with instructions, ribbon, tags & clear buttons to decorate them. All you had to do was punch out the box shapes, fold on the score lines & add some sticky tape in places. So easy, yet so nice! Wouldn’t these be adorable filled with chocolates or something sweet and give to someone fighting cancer?The next stop on your blog hop is The Cricut Diaries – http://cricutdiaries.blogspot.com. Your going to love what she has to share. Thanks for stopping by & enjoy the blog hop.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Think Pink Blog Hop

With October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I’ve signed up with Karel at http://karelj.blogspot.com/ to participate in the Think Pink Blog Hop. The hop will be over Columbus Day weekend (October 9-11) and Sarah of Pink Cricut is sponsoring it. She also generously donated a $25 dollar gift certificate!!

Currently there are 17 bloggers signed up for this fabulous event & you’ll have 3 days to visit the blogs. This will give all hoppers three full days to hop, learn new techniques, get project ideas and maybe claim some blog candy!

As a windup to the event Karel is featuring different bloggers who are participating in the event on her blog. Stop by Karel’s blog at http://karelj.blogspot.com/ to see the featured bloggers. The Think Pink Blog Hop will start at Karel’s blog on October 9th. See you at the Hop.