Fabulous Design Dollies challenge

I've been following them for quite some time, but have never completed a challenge of their's before. And the Design Dollies http://designdollies.blogspot.com have had some great challenges! I am proud to submit for them, a card that took a ton of time, thought, paper, and reconfiguring LOL! In the end, I'm very proud of this, and I think I will have a very hard time giving it away.

This is the challenge:

BLUE, GREEN, ORANGE and RED

Sounds pretty simple, right? Well, yes, if you have your idea formulated 100% in your head to start (and who does that?) I started off with one of my favorite stamps - from the Charlie Horse line over at Clear Dollar Stamps http://www.cleardollarstamps.com/ this stamp is Charliene in the Morning. I used Stampin Up paper, along with a page from DCWV Pocket Full of Posies stack. Ink is Close to My Heart clover green and star spangled blue. Markers were Creative Memories, die cuts done with my Spellbinders dies. The red accents were originally white, but with some love from Tattered Angels candy apple red glimmer mist, they became beautiful and vibrant. Bling from my stash and black embossing powder from Stampendous finish off the card. Wow, talk about name dropping! Whew!!

Here is my finished product:

Thank you Dollies, for such an awesome challenge. This is the prize up for grabs, in case anyone needs more reason to pop over and check out their blog:

Check them out, over at the Dollhouse:

Some Odd Girl contest

This is just too stinking cute! Pop on over to a sweet, crafty and inspiring page and enter the contest to win! All you have to do is enter your suggestion for naming this adorable little dude!

Post their blinkie on your blog page, and enter your suggestion, link it back to your page. Super simple!

September 11th, and celebrating new life

As I am sure most of the world is as well, I have thought a lot about September 11th, and the WTC tragedy. What a scary, uncontrollable shake to the entire world that day was. I remember watching tv in the morning - hubby called me over - and it was surreal to see. It's still to this day unfathomable to understand how human beings can do this to each other. I was working downtown in Calgary, at a law firm, on the 31st floor. All anyone could talk about was the attack. Because Calgary is a big oil center, it was told that if we were worried in any way about our safety, that we should leave for the day. I had Ed come and get me, there was no way I was able to concentrate. We spent the rest of the day watching tv, and listening to reports over and over. Such a sad, sad day. Unnecessary tragedy that took so many lives, and maimed so many more.

This afternoon was all about my friend Denise, her husband Doug, and their soon to arrive baby boy James. Surrounded by family and friends, and more baby gifts than I have ever seen, we celebrated the love of this amazing couple. There couldn't be better parents chosen. I was so honored to be invited, and of course became the unofficial 'official' picture taker. I have a ton of pics to upload, she will be very pleased.

My friend Shelly was so sweet, and watched the kids for me for 5 hours. When I got to her home to pick them up, all the boys were in the pool in the back yard - with Brian and Nicholas in their full clothes, Benjamin in shorts (that were not his) with a pamper that was sooooo full, absorbed to the absolute max - it was hilarious. Shelly was concerned I'd be upset, but really, they were having so much fun. And I got some adorable splashy pictures - Nicholas wrangling an inflatable alligator, and Benjamin doing his cannon balls off the ladder. The boys sure do love water!

I'm looking forward to a nice, quiet evening, maybe watching something on the dvr and scrapping a little bit. Oh, and a yummy, yummy cup of "Lee" tea to relax with. (Lee is my friend with angel wings.)

Friday Tidy

I've been able to get back to a normal schedule now, with us back home from Vancouver, and kiddo back in school. Hubby is again traveling for work, so it's me and the kids and pets. I love 7:30, when the boys go to bed, as I have some time to watch tv or a movie, read, or what I've been doing lately: scrapping and making a mess LOL! I've spent a good portion of last night and this afternoon cleaning up, and trying to find a way that will work to maintain order and still give me what I need for scrapping room. Here's what I've accomplished so far:

Legally back

We are back from our whirlwind trip to Vancouver, where we had to go to get new Visas so we could stay in the country. Had our meeting on Wednesday morning of last week, and picked up the new visas with our passports Friday. Played happy tourists for the rest of the time, visiting Vancouver's Gastown, China Town, chinese gardens, Granville Island, Stanley Park and Canada Place. Loved walking along the seawall, taking the water taxi boats and finding unexpectedly beautiful and wonderful places. Oh, and not to mention filling up on Tim Horton's coffee and getting my Kraft Peanut butter. I really wish we'd had more time to stay (and more money!) but we had to hurry back, as Ed is again leaving. Just getting off the plane and settling at home, and tonight he is off to Pennsylvania for a week or two. Just me and the boys, and what a lazy time we'll have. Hopefully I can get us all into routine again, and watching the money to get us back on track. It's raining today, which is wonderful as I don't have to water the lawn, but we do have a flash flood warning in effect until 7pm tonight. I've read that we are on the 'dirty side' of a tropical storm, which may have hit hurricane status... maybe I'll watch the news today. And I know I'm going to scrap today!