Visiting the Rellies!

Lots of snow in Ottawa. Could live without it.
Here is what I can't live without:

Have a great day!
Hugs,
Michelle

Merry Christmas

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my followers and visitors a very happy holiday season and a safe and prosperous New Year! May your lives be filled with peace, joy and love throughout the coming year.

Thank you for your visits and comments this year, they mean a great deal to me.

Hugs,
Michelle

Post-it Note Monday

She Lives!

I've been gone from here so long that I must apologize to all my followers and drop in visitors. It seems that when life gets busy, the first thing to go is my blog. In the coming year I hope to post something at least once a week so that people don't think I've fallen off the face of the earth!

I finally managed to finish my Christmas cards that were haunting me for so long, and then promptly forgot to snap pics of them to post here. Huh, guess I was just too overwhelmed. I also managed to finish a custom order for 20 cards for one of my regular customers. Her order is what kicked me in the arse to get them all done! (Ha, I just found one buried on my desk!) There were four different designs.

A few days from now I will be travelling to Ottawa to see the Aussie babies. My great-niece Hayden who is 2-1/2

What a doll!

and my great-nephew Carson who is 6 months (haven't even met this cutie-pie yet!).

So adorable!

To commemorate their visit to Canada I have made each of them a mini album that my niece can fill with photos from their holiday here. Each album holds 14 photos and a special note from Auntie Shell.

I also altered some pocket calendars for the ladies in my family to toss in their purses and  for my very busy niece a grocery list/coupon case with matching pen that she can toss in her bag.

I think that's all I've been up to lately. Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,
Michelle

WOYWW 08-08-12

This week my desk looks totally lived in for once. What happened to all that neat????
A friend had a darling baby boy on Saturday so I made a card for the happy parents. The rest of the mess junk creative stuff is for my journal. You'll notice there is still a lack of the Christmas cards I planned on doing.

Anyhoo, to join in the cult of the messy (or not) desk pop over  and see Julia at Stamping Ground.
Have a fab week everyone and thanks for taking a peek!
Hugs,
Michelle

WOYWW 08-01-12

How can it be August 1st already? Time flies when you're not looking huh.
This weeks desk is pretty boring. There's a card I took from Card Maker magazine, which I think turned out quite nice. I've also worked on a couple more journal pages.

To see more desks that are not quite as blah as mine, visit the intrepid Julia at Stamping Ground.


Oh, for those of you that recall, last week I couldn't remember if my parents (whose anniversary was yesterday) have been married 64 or 65 years. It's 64 years. Here is a scrapbook page I made to celebrate that day 64 years ago.

And here they are today.

Thanks for looking and have a great week!
Hugs,
Michelle

WOYWW 7-25-12

Well, I made it on time this week!
This was actually the first chance that I've had to get into the studio since my last post. Only one card to show today. July 31 is my wonderful Mom and Dad's anniversary. Bad daughter that I am I can't remember if it is 64 or 65 years. Since they often call me by my sister's name I figure that I can be forgiven!
My sis and her hubby are supposed to be over there on Saturday, so I figure Mr. R and I will pick up a DQ ice cream cake and head on up to make it a small party, which will send Mom into a tizzy as she doesn't like any fuss and bother! (Sorry Mom, love you!)
So here is my desk at 6:00 am this morning. I had to put everything out before I left for work so that when I got home it was all ready to go.

And here is the card that resulted. I've made (and posted) the same card before, but I so like the way it looks that I had to make it for the parents!

And here are my lovely parents on their wedding day.

I made it around to everyone's desk last week, but I was on a bit of a whirlwind tour so no comments were left. Sorry to everyone for that. I promise to be better this week, really!
If you are wondering what this is all about, visit our fearless leader Julia at Stamping Ground. If you are as nosey curious as the rest of us you'll feel right at home!
Have a super week!
Hugs,
Michelle

WOYWW 7-18-12 (on 07-21-12)

Does it count even if it's on Saturday? I just couldn't get it together this week. Out of the house at 6:15 am and not getting home until 7:00 pm or later it was all I could do to make dinner and eat before falling into bed. So no crafty time during the week.
I was up verrrry early today so I worked a little bit on my journal. Still haven't managed to start on the Christmas cards yet, but we have a long weekend coming up here in Canada so I have hopes for getting them at least started!
This is what my desk looked like at 6:30 am this morning. Yes, it was already that bright outside.

The little plastic case on the left holds my portable journalling kit so I can take my journal anywhere and work on the basics. Dragged out my watercolour pencils so I could be a kid again! The daubers and ink were used on another page.

This page was started previously and finished this morning. Used the ink to do the grass and sky. This is in the  house section of my journal.

Again, inked the sky and ground. This is the travel section of my journal. (Just noticed I stamped the wrong date--a little dyslexia going on! Like I said, it's way early so maybe I just need another cuppa!)

I'll leave you with a picture I took at my dear parents house last weekend. This is my father's buddy. He comes and sits at the patio table and looks in the door and talks to Dad until he takes out some peanuts for him. He is so used to Dad that he doesn't even fly away anymore, he just waits until the peanuts are shelled and then hops over to take them. I've started to call Dad "the Bird Whisperer".

Waiting for his food.

Thanks for stopping by and have a super weekend all! I'll try to be here on time next week!

Hugs,

Michelle

WOYWW 07-11-12

Seriously, my mojo seems to have gone on vacation this week. I've managed to work on a couple of pages in my "Pieces of Me" journal.

My desk is woefully lacking in interesting (any) projects so I figured I'll share a couple of shots of my craft room, or what I like to refer to as my *studio*. (Sounds so much better huh? Too bad a snooty name doesn't equal any creative works right now!) Have a little snoop around and send me a wish for my creativity to return!

This shelf holds my albums, a few background stamps, books and in the boxes some ribbons and embossing powders.

Normally my laptop is here along with the printer. A calendar and bit on my bulletin board. You can just see the "M" hanging on the wall and a candle. The purple case holds the stuff that I'm using on my journal and the paper stack underneath is also being used in the journal.

This part of the desk is where I do my crafty stuff.  The big pink monster is always close at hand. In the drawers below I have my most used tools/adhesives, chipboard and envelopes for mini albums and embellishments.

In the corner you can just see my card rack which needs repainting. My trimmers and scoring board live on top of this shelf along with my most used 8 1/2 x 11 paper and my iPod player (gotta have music). The plastic drawer units contain paper, embellishments, more tools and 12 x 12 paper stacks.

This unit holds magazines (looks kind of bare since I archived last years mags), notebooks, and in the plastic cases, beads, eyelets, floss etc. The pink case holds my (pink) Crop-O-Dile. After all, a girl has to be colour coordinated! 

If I can get off my behind I'll make up a couple of this years Christmas cards and post them soon.
I hope you enjoyed this little peek into the *studio* and thanks for looking around.
To view more wonderful craft desks visit Julia's Stamping Ground
Hugs,
Michelle

I haven't really done much crafting this week. Spent a small amount of time futzing about with my "Pieces of Me" journal and I'm liking the way it's turning out. I also spent some time designing my Christmas cards for this year. Now I just have to get them out of the junk bin I call my brain and onto an actual card! Ah well, sometime this week hopefully.
I thought that I would introduce you to my lovely family (the part that still lives at home anyway).
There is my hubby Peter, the love of my life, who has learned to live with my expensive habit and (mostly) doesn't question my purchases anymore. I'm thinking it's because he's afraid to know how much it really costs!

Mr. R

We also have three English Bulldogs who are (possibly) more spoiled than me!

Harley

Roxie

Dixie (aka Slick)

I also have a gorgeous daughter, handsome son and beautiful daughter-in-law who I will introduce once I can locate some pictures on my memory card. (My old laptop crashed, taking with it all my pictures--GASP! I'll have to take it in and see if they can be rescued.
Anyhoo, have a super Sunday!
Hugs,
Michelle

WOYWW

Found this fab site and just had to share http://stamping-ground.blogspot.it/2012/06/noticeable-lack-of-improvement.html 

Just for fun, here is my What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday. (Taken on Tuesday afternoon.)

Wide Shot

As you can see, not a lot of crafty, creative things on here. Just a whole pile of supplies. Oh, there is one creative thing on the far left. Two years later, and I've just discovered the junk journals made from altered composition books. That would be mine, titled "Pieces of Me".  The rest is the usual accumulation of stuff from my stash and my trip to Michael's to spend my birthday loot!

Birds Eye View

Think I'll try to tidy this and see if I can wring anything creative out of my over-worked, over-tired brain cells.

Have a super day!

Hugs,

Michelle 

What I've Been Up To

So much time between crafty posts and so many projects done. As the English say, my sluttish behaviour in actually posting really needs to have something done about it.
Anywhoo, on to the projects. All the cards, with the exception of the Mother's Day one were commissioned by a lady I work with.

Mother's Day card for my Mommy

Tried the waxed paper in the Cuttlebug folder for this one. First time ever and really like how it turned out.

Altered canvas based on one created by Kathy Orta at Paper Phenomenon. 

Funny, I know that I've made more stuff than this. 
Just had a birthday last week and maybe at my *cough* advanced age I forgot to get pics of the others. Hmmm...
Thanks for looking!
Hugs,
Michelle