A Colourful Life

Patchwork Card

Hi all!  Today I made this card.

 

It took a bit of time to make it with all the cutting and gluing, but I like the end result.  I used Stampin' Up's top note die to create the center piece.  I had to cut it 4 times out of 4 different patterned papers, cut each into thirds and then glue it all together again.  As you can tell, I love to cut!  Here's a closer look.

 

This card will be one of the projects in my Step into Spring Class in the next few weeks.  Stay tuned for dates and details.  If you would like to be added to my class list, send me an email by clicking on the contact me link in the margin and I'll add you to my list so you get class dates and details for all my upcoming classes.

On the home front:  Spring break is over.  Back to business.  The kids are back in school, Jordan is writing midterms and studying like a mad man.  Alyssa, too has thrown herself back into her academic work.  She was working on her Science project and kept waffling back from idea to idea.  She was going to do a project on sublimation but it was too hard to get the dry ice for her and they only sold it in such large quantities that we would be left with too much that would just be thrown out.  So she has decided to do a project on fluids and density instead and will show why oil floats to the top when added to water because of density.  There is so much I learn by helping the kids with their homework....for example, did you know that water is the only substance which in its solid state (ice) is more dense than its liquid state?  Usually, solids are denser than liquids.  But since water (a liquid) is more dense than ice (a solid), the ice floats.  Cool, huh?

Before I go, I have to tell you what I saw the kids doing last night.  It made me laugh.  They like to annoy and tease each other.....you know the way brothers and sister do.  So they were taking a break from school work and decided they would sit opposite each other and stare at each other while taking turns thumping each other on the forehead to see who would quit first.   Now, this might have struck me as disturbing at first....but they were thumping each other lightly and were laughing so hard, that I knew they weren't hurting each other.  I wanted to tape them, but of course they wouldn't allow me.  My kids.  They make me laugh.  Precious, aren't they? 

 

Calculus - it doesn't bring out the best in me.

.....rather it doesn't bring any part of me out at all....rather it makes me want to go and hide.  Tonight my son, who is in 1st year Sciences at UBC, asked me to quiz him on his calculus notes.  His notes, by the way looked like this:

 

Relevant equations

3. The attempt at a solution
Midpoints : 3,5,7,9,11,13
width of subintervals: (14-2)/6=2

2([squareroot(3^2+1)]+[squareroot(5^2+1)] ......

 

Okay, I'm not stupid by any means, but what's that all about??  And amidst all those numbers were parenthesis and tangent and cosign symbols and greek letters.  Like Theta -- what is theta? 

So glad I'm done with school!!! 

Having said that, here's what I do better than calculus......make cards.

 

I used spring colours for this card, to welcome Spring!  I also used 2 ribbons to add texture -- I just knotted the silver cord around the thicker striped green ribbon to add an interesting detail.

I used the Garden Whimsy stamp set as well as the Whimsical Words greeting set from Stampin' Up!
 

Friend Card

This is a quickie post to share the second card in my upcoming Vintage Vogue Flower class.  It's been a long day -- I worked all day, took a spin class after work then did some weight training and core work and I'm pooped.  But I promised some people that I'd upload this, so here it is.

 

I used the Argyle folder for the background and the colours I used are Bashful Blue, Rich Razzleberry and Crushed Curry.  Below is a close up.

 

All the backgrounds start off as just white cardstock and then I stamped them to create patterns in the same colours.  Easy, peasy.

Okay, now off to bed.  I'm tired!!

 
 

Weather, weather......

The weather has been a bit crazy here these past few days.  After several gloriously sunny days during the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, Tuesday brought us a bit of snow.  Nothing much, but still there it was.  I am glad my procrastination has come in useful as I haven't yet taken off my snow tires.  So I was ready for the snow, despite the fact that it was really just a little bit of powder that came down.  Then on Wednesday, the rain came down in buckets.  Torrential.  It reminded me of a vacation we had in Jamaica once when it rained so hard while we were out by the pool, so hard that we couldn't even see a foot in front of us.  And the thunder and lightning -- it was quite a sight.  Then the instant the rain stopped, the sun came out and a rainbow appeared and within a couple of minutes everything (including us) was dry again!  The sun was that intense.  Today started off with rain, but the sun is trying to peek out of the clouds now and it might just turn out to be a pleasant day.  I hope.  

I have a new class I am teaching.....finally!  I've had emails from some of you asking me when the next class is, and here it is!

 

This class features Stampin' Up!'s Vintage Vogue set.  Here is a close up of one of the cards.

 
 
Details on class dates and the availability of this class in kit form can be found on my kit blog here.  

It's March!

We're into the third month of this year.  Summer is creepin' on up -- and before you know it will be here! We are going to Hawaii in June for a week -- can't wait.  It's been awhile since I was there.  We took the kids when Alyssa was just 4 years old, Jordan was 9.  Now Alyssa is 13 and Jordan is 19.  We will be going there this year for Alyssa's birthday.  We waited to buy Jordan a ticket, as we waited on the university to realease the summer schedule and sadly, he will not be able to join us.  I knew this may happen so was ready for it.  He is focused and motivated in his university studies, as he pursues his education in Medicine/Pharmacology......well at least, that is his goal at the moment.  So far, so good! I am so proud of his work ethic!

Yesterday, my entire family came over for dinner.  We celebrated the Canadian Olympic team's outstanding performance in this past Olympics and of course, we celebrated our hockey gold!  Both women's and men's! 

 

I made french vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  I finally got to use my piping bag.  I had bought it years ago and it is a set with 16 different piping tips for different designs.  The cupcakes were a hit!

 

The boys in their hockey jerseys.  

 

Here are most of my nieces and nephews, as well as Jordan and Alyssa enjoying each other's company.  We had a fun night.  It was also Oscar night and we did have that on in the background but we were quite loud, so we only caught the winners names and watched some parts of the show.  Everyone was wearing Canadian red, of course!

I will be uploading pics of my next class in the next post, but in the meantime, here are some very simple baby cards I made for a friend who has had her first child.  I remember when I had my babies, so many friends and family were doing things for me to help me that I almost needed thank you cards on a daily basis.  So I made her some!
 

First, I stamped all the images using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  I then coloured inusing Copic Markers.  If you outline your images with the C1 Copic marker, it makes a nice shadow around the image.

 
And here's the finished set.  Very simple.....but then again once you have babies, life has to become simpler!  Any new mom will tell you that!
 
  
 
 

Mid-Week Random

Tomorrow is Wednesday -- hump day.  The middle of the week.  I always look forward to my weekends and find they come and go too fast.  Why is that?  Well, at least it's mid week now.....so the weekend is a comin'!!

Life is back to the same routine again after all the excitement of the Winter Olympics.  Today I went to a kickboxing class after work at Fitness World.  Loved it....will try and go again next week.  I originally joined Steve Nash Sports Club, and then they acquired Fitness World, so now I can also go to any of the Fitness World Clubs.  Awesome.  It helps that Doug & I like to go -- so we quite often will go together.  Also lately, Doug has decided he wants to eat healthier.....not that we don't anyway....but he means business.  He has started cooking some healthy vegan meals for us and I love that I come home and everything is ready and all I have to do is eat!  He's awesome.

 

Here he is -- my own personal chef, cooking me dinner.  

 

Doesn't this looky yummylicious?  It is chick peas, onions and mushrooms in tomato sauce with cumin and chili powder.  Tasty!

 

Doug served it up on Quinoa (keen-wah) -- which is technically a seed, but used as a grain because it has grain characteristics.  It cookes up like rice and tastes kind of like rice....but even better!  And it is so high in protein, calcium and iron and extremely healthy for you.  We are going to try to eat as many vegan meals as possible and try to cut down our meat to just once a week, unless we are invited out to someone's home, etc. etc.  We still want to enjoy eating out, so we don't want to impose any vegan dietary limits unless we are at home.  And of course, I still plan to indulge in my cakes and pastries.....to a limit.  Anything in moderation, after all. 

I made this card last week using the Vintage Vogue stamp set from Stampin' Up.  I will be teaching a class using this set in the next month so stay tuned!  

 

This is the simplest card in the class, the other 3 are more detailed and intricate.  I will post the class details in the next week.  In the meantime here is a close up.

If you would like to shop online for any Stampin' Up product, you can do so on my Stampin' Up website by clicking here.  

Have a great week!