March Calendar Photo

Well it seems that Spring has decided to make an early appearance here in New England! Now I know it won't really stick around, this is just a taste of what is to come in another 6 weeks or so, but it sure is nice to be reminded that Winter won't last forever. LOL

After having our plans thwarted repeatedly for the last several weekends we finally had a very productive weekend. We spent some time at the NH Camping and RV Show yesterday and found a couple of new campgrounds we will try out this year. I'm happy to say that we didn't find any new campers that we couldn't live without! :) We finally found a place that sells the new refridgerator we've been looking for and it was on sale! WooHoo! So it was a good weekend overall.

Now you may have seen a February post where I showed pictures of four of our animals. My original intent had been to display a photo of all five animals but the calendar page simply wasn't large enough. So I decided to keep my favorite photo of our cat Luke for the March page. He gets a page all to himself! Isn't he just the cutest?

All of our cats are rescues but I think his story is the saddest. When he was less than a year old his family moved away and left him outside to fend for himself. Can you even imagine? I swear I just don't understand some people. Anyway he got into a bit of trouble, either with an animal trap or another animal, no one knows for sure but he had to have a couple of surgeries after he was rescued and he almost lost his back leg. He had to stay in foster care for 5 months before he could be put up for adoption. But he now has a happy home with a family who loves him whole-heartedly!

The stamp isn't positioned correctly (that's what I get for rushing and not paying attention) but it is an image from JustRite Stamps which states "May the luck of the Irish be with you". I colored the shamrocks with a Copic marker and the horseshoe is colored with a combination of a Prismacolor Pencil (Gray) and a black gel pen. The green striped paper is from a huge paper pack called Wild Asperagus which I picked up last year at A. C. Moore for $9.99.

Yesterday we stopped by the Scrapbook store on our way to the Camping Show and I picked up a kit by Bo Bunny which I'm hoping to get started on tonight. Wish me luck!

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderful week with Spring-like weather! :)

-Janice

Birthday Card

Hello World! It's so nice to be connected to the outside world again. We had a terrible wind storm Thursday night and we lost power for about 48 hours! Our generator decided not to cooperate so we spent Friday making as many phone calls as we could think of. We tried to buy another one, rent one and find someone who could fix the one we have. We finally found someone to fix it but they couldn't do that until Saturday. So we had a couple of rough nights but this wonderful little repair shop came through and fixed our generator for us. We were back in business by mid-afternoon Saturday and then the power came back on Saturday night. Oh well, at least it's fixed for the next time and trust me, living in New England there will definitely be a next time! LOL

I didn't get much crafing done this weekend ... it was just too cold! The house got down to 50 degrees! However I did come up with this sweet little card. I made this totally from scraps, can you believe it?!?
The stamp is from JustRite Stampers and I colored it with the few Copic markers I have. I tried to match the spots on the package to the spots on the decorative paper. It came out pretty close but I'm not sure you can really tell from the picture. I cut the stamped image and the scalloped blue circle with the new Spell Binders Nestabilities that my hubby got me for Christmas. Isn't he sweet? The blue scallop under the decorative paper was made with a Fiskers Apron Lace punch. The layout was a sketch by Michelle Wooderson. I will definitely be using this sketch again for inspiration.

Next week I'll show you my picture of Luke (our cat) which I used on the March page of my calendar.

Until then ... I hope you have an enjoyable, stress-free week.

-Janice

Last Valentine's Day Card

Good Evening! I'm so sorry that I wasn't able to post this card last weekend, especially since it was Valentine's Day. I ended up with a terrible head cold that completely knocked me out last weekend. I was so looking forward to the long weekend but ended up in bed all weekend instead of getting to enjoy myself! I felt especially bad since my husband had taken a vacation day to spend the holiday with me.

Thankfully I am feeling much better this weekend. We went to visit my mother and I was able to deliver the Valentine's cards I'd made for her, my sister and my husband. Since my husband occassionally checks in on my blog I decided not to post a photo until after I gave it to him. So here it is ...

The plaid and polka dot paper are part of the Daisy Bucket Designs sheets I picked up from my LSS. The stamp is Signature Greetings from PaperTrey Ink. I just love the hand-written feel to these sentiments and Dawn McVey's handwriting is so beautiful. The frame which holds the sentiment is part of a stamp set that I picked up on clearance at Michael's a while back. There are also some miniture red rhinestones that I picked up in the dollar bin at Michael's a while ago.

I was able to spend some time in the craft room this weekend and came up with a gender neutral birthday card. Those can be some of the hardest for me! I'll be sure to share that creation with you all next week.

Until then, may you have a stress reducing week! LOL

-Janice

February Calendar Photo

Happy Super Bowl Evening! Is everyone ready for the Big Game tonight? I am about to make chili for dinner. I thought that was an appropriate Football food. Besides that it's 27 degrees with a wind chill of 14 degrees here. Needless to say it is C O L D!

I never made it into the craft room last weekend. We spent our weekend visiting relatives who are not too healthy. It felt good to see everyone again even though the circumstances weren't the best. So I never completed the February calendar page until earlier today! I did get a jump start on March though. I have the picture chosen but I need to figure out how I want to mount it. I also need to make some Birthday and Thank You cards. But I kind of ran out of steam today.

Here is the February calendar page:


These are three of our animals. Clockwise from the top left is our dog Skeemo she is a 14 year old American Eskimo. Next is our female cat Lady she is a Tuxedo cat and is roughly 10 years old. Since she was a rescue we're not sure exactly how old she is. The completely black cat in the lower right-hand corner is Sultan he is two and a half. The last cat is Houdini, he is Sultan's brother, so he is also two and a half.

Our March calendar page will feature Luke since I have a close up picture of his beautiful face. I'll tell you more about Luke in March!

Well that's all I have for today. Enjoy the Game tonight if you are interested in it. Otherwise just enjoy the commercials! LOL

-Janice

Replacement Valentine's Day Card

Happy Sunday Everyone! I hope you've all had a relaxing and enjoyable weekend, I know I have. My dh and I ran a few minor errands yesterday and spent the night watching a movie by the fire. It was so nice! Today I spent some quality time in the craft room and am happy to say I was able to replace the Valentine's Day card I showed you in my last post.

Here it is:

So what do you think? It's definitely better than having negative words and phrases all over it! LOL I still can't believe I didn't notice that. What a "duh" moment that was.

The pink paper is Berry Sorbet from PaperTrey Ink. I stamped the heart image using Versamark Ink and the Heart strip stamp from the Around and About stamp set from PaperTrey Ink. The cat stamped image and saying "be my Valentine" are from the Tiny Treats; Valentine's stamp set, also from PaperTrey Ink. I used my Coral Copic and the Air Brush System to add some slight color to the white scallop circle which I cut out using my new Scallop Nestabilities dies. For a final touch I added some Martha Stewart glitter to the heart on the kitty.

Overall I'm very pleased with the outcome. Next I think I'll tackle some Birthday cards and I'm hoping to complete a collage of pet photos for this really cool mat and frame that John and I picked up a couple of years ago while on vacation in the White Mountains. It's been tough as I'm still learning my new Photo program and the pictures don't always come out the way I would like. But I'm determined to figure it out ... all in good time.

Have a wonderful week!

-Janice

Valentine Cards

Good Evening! I have a fairly quick post tonight. With Valentine's Day coming up soon I wanted to get a jump on making my cards. Unfortunately I made an error in one of my paper choices and will need to remake the card. I picked up two sheets of paper from a LSS which had four sections, each 6x6, double-sided. There were red and white polka dots, brown and white polka dots, text (this is where I went wrong), a floral design and waves of hearts and text.

The text was in two different styles, a positive and a negative. I didn't notice the two different types of text until recently when I went to use some of the scrap pieces. See what I mean:

You can click on the picture for a closer view. Here is the second card which I am much happier with. What do you think of this one?

I still have one other Valentine's card to share but it's for my husband and sometimes he reads my blog so I want to wait before I post it. I will remake the first card and show you that when I am done.

I have also been sorting and choosing pictures to make a Memory Album for one of our pets who passed away a few years ago. I started it once before but I couldn't finish it. I'm hoping for better results this time. I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks for stopping by during your busy day. I hope you have a wonderful week.

-Janice

January Calendar Page

Hello! Today I wanted to post the first month in my completed calendar. You may remember that I posted earlier (in December) that I had picked up a scrapbook calendar for 2010. Well, I haven't quite got the entire calendar completed yet but I did get January done!



What do you think? It's kind of plain but I really wanted to just showcase the winter photo. Here is a closer view.

This is one of the pictures I took when it was snowing at the end of December. We've had about 9 inches since these were taken but I still think the snow sitting on the pine trees, or in this case the Hemlock, is just so pretty!

I have an idea for a February picture but I haven't created it yet. Actually I haven't created Feb - July yet! But I did get Aug - Dec done, does that count? LOL :) As each month arrives I will post the calendar page for that month.

In the meantime I have begun making my Valentine cards and hope to get some pictures soon. DH and I bought a portable photo studio this weekend so I'm hoping for some better shots of my cards. We'll see how it goes!

Thanks for stopping by, have a great week.

-Janice