Joanne

Joanne
My life and crafting times.

Friday 26 August 2011

Vacationing in August

We left home at the beginning of August and have been either on the road or camping. Or as my sister dubbed it "Fake Camping" We first went to Colville WA and spent the night at the Walmart there. Our plan was to get the tires replaced on the trailer. They were the ones that we got when we bought the trailer three years ago. It was time! Luckily they had the tires and they were able to change them as well.

With that being done off we went to Soap Lake in WA. Wow what an amazing place. I loved the Coulees there. The lake was gross but oh so beneficial. There are more minerals etc in there and if you would like to read up on it here is a link to check it out.
http://www.soaplakecoc.org/
I hope you like what you find there. I know I did. Here is a picture or two of what I saw. Not to mention loved!
       This is the view of Soap Lake and one of the many Coulees when we stepped out of our trailer.
My daughter Arianna taking a mud bath in the lake. She really did love it and her skin was so soft after wards.
Another one of the great Coulees. We drove to the Grand Coulee Dam as we drove we saw this all around us.
Here are my husband Jim and our daughter Arianna by the Dry Falls. It is much lager than the Niagara Falls only there is not water flowing over it. It is 3 1/2 miles and an amazing view.
Here is a good view of the Dry Falls near the Grande Coulee Dam. The water in basin is from underground. This area only gets about 9'' of precipitation a year. Such a view. There is also a visitor shop there and a good view of the dry falls from it.
 We also went to the Grand Coulee Dam and saw their light show. It was a history of the dam and surrounding area. Very interesting. Unfortunately I don't have a good picture of the dam. Sorry about that.

We also found this Gehrke Windmill Garden. A man loved them and was making all kinds of windmills from scraps and recycling them in the 1960's I believe. Here are my two loved one in front of the "garden"
                                                          Gehrke Windmill Garden
Yes the windmill is inside a chain link fence. But it was oh so interesting to see all that this gentleman used.

We after three days of this area we left for Anacourtes Island on the west coast of Wa. I do have pictures of this as well. We met up with my sister, niece and nephew and camped at Fidalgo Bay Resort. The resort was a bit disappointing at first but the washroom and laundry were very clean and well maintained. They did have better sites which we got not so great of a site but when we saw the rest of what they had we were happy. I would chose a better site next time. Some had beautiful views of the ocean. If you had a boat you could go crabbing as well. Sea life was in abundance and quite fun to see. While we were the smelts were running and we witnessed people carrying their nets and catching buckets of them. Now on to some of our pictures.
                               My nephew Trent while on a walk along the inlet at Fidalgo Bay.
                                 My niece Chante pretending to eat an oyster while on our walk.

                                    Arianna chases a crab with her finger. Can you see the crab?
I will add more later. The pictures are taking a long time to download so off we go. We are headed to the Chilliwack Corn Maze in BC.
I would also like to mention at this time (August 26th) that this is my daughter Arianna's 9th birthday.
Have a wonderful weekend all.

Having a blast
Joanne





Friday 29 July 2011

Summer time fun!

In Canada (south central BC) it is finally nice and hot. But on the positive side we still have green grass. The roof and deck are complete. That was quite the experience and we thank Paul for all his hard work. They look great! We have to wait until next year to put the finish on the deck though. Ran out of money. That roof was a major undertaking.
                                                    (here is the roof still being worked on)
We have gone camping with a group of 7 families which was such fun. Can't wait for next year! I hope that the Russells decide that this is something they would like to join in on an annual basis. During our stay at the camp ground we have decided that there will be a Disney Cruise in the future for all those families and maybe a few more families to sweeten the pot. What fun that would be!
                                        (here is the group of great friends we camp with annually)
I am working on a couple of cards (waterfall) and will post that when I have the chance. They are near completion. I like the way they turned out. And to think that I made these cards while at my friend's house outside under her sunshade. While the kids played in water and all kinds of other fun things.
Having a great summer and hope yours is the same.
Joanne

Tuesday 19 July 2011

Second wedding card in July

The second card I made while camping! I can hardly believe that I used all white for this one. I am now laughing at myself but loved the process none the less.
This card I used two different ideas from two different ladies. I can post the teepee card blog that I learned this from but forget where I got the white on white from. For the teepee card instructions go to 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-UdMmYUMVI&feature=related
I followed the instructions and sizes on that but did the white on white with my own ideas.
First off here is the card.
After going by the instructions on the you tube I posted, I used the corner rounder on each end of each triangle. This made it a little difficult to line up but I did it.
Next I made squares in 5", 4" and 3" and cut them from corner diagonally. I had to use two of each square size and had one left over of each triangle. After cutting the triangles I used the corner rounder on each end. I used my ATG to layer each of the triangles onto the teepee card and for two sides I added white ribbon from my stash. The ribbon was sandwiched between the teepee card and the largest triangle piece. I added these groups of three triangles for three of the sides of the card. One was left blank. Gosh I hope this make some kind of sense if not please ask for clarification :-)
After I got all those triangles adhered I started with the decorating part. First at home I cut out three different embellishments on my Cricut all in white of course. One was the wine glasses as seen above. In the center of each glass I wrote in silver gel pen the bride and groom's initials. The other two were a bride and groom and the word Love. These three cuts were cut at 2". To fix these cut outs I used my Xyron and made the Love, bride and groom and the wine glasses into stickers. I didn't write down which cart I got them from though.  Then I added some clear self adhering gems to corners and where the ribbon met the card. When folded the gems made the corners of the card very thick. This made it hard to put into an envelope. Took a bit of maneuvering but in the end it worked out.
I would have liked to add some brads or grommets but didn't have any in silver so had to by pass that thought. I think it would have been a nice touch. You can't see it from any of the pictures but I also used my MS edge punch on the last triangle just gave it a bit more on the inside.
Well if you like what I did or have suggestions I would love to hear them! Or if you use this idea please let me know and show it off.
Have a great day.

Two cards for two weddings

Happy July every one. We were fortunate enough to have one of our daughters visit us for a couple of days. She was here because she was part of a wedding party. We were invited to this wedding  but had to chose between this one and another on the same day at the exact same time! Was such a hard decision to make but we opted out for Jim's cousin's wedding.Would you believe that these weddings took place while we were camping near by.
So here are the wedding cards I made. The first was made with my daughter Karina. She gave her input and had fun watching as I used the Cricut, pasted things on and made changes and different colors.
First we used a light weight card stock in black cut at 5 1/2" X 11". Using my Martha Stewart score board I scored it at 5 1/2". The edge was punched using my Martha Stewart edge punch ( I tried to find the name of this punch but was not able to, if I find it later I will post it) I punched along the right side of the card.
Using the "Heart Struck" cart on my Cricut I cut the shadow in grey and then the designed in blue cut at 3". I saved the heart from the bottom of the blue and used it on the inside of the card.
On the left hand side of the card I tied a black ribbon and then added the "Zettl" name from some sticker font I had in stock. I thought it looked nice.Then as I looked at it all I thought it needed a bit more pazzaze so I added a bit of glitter glue in blue on some of the flourishes. Because I smudge one I decided, with Karina's help, to smudge the rest. Looked nice I must say.
For the inside of the card I added another piece of grey card stock that was cut at 5 1/2" square and used the same MS edge punch on all sides.
Because I loved the heart from the front cut out I wanted to use it on the card and adhered it to the inside of the card. I thought it was a nice little touch. I think that was about it. I know that the corners over lapped and didn't like that but I was pressed for time! Hope you liked this card. Let me know if you do. I love to hear from you.
Thank you Karina for your loving and valuable input <3

Sunday 19 June 2011

Happy Father's Day!

Well good morning to you all. And a special greeting to all you fathers out there.
Yesterday I worked on my father's day card. I got the idea from Dawn on you tube. Search under Shirt & Tie Card with Dawn and it will take you right there. All the instructions plus a wonderful video are there for you to follow. She does such a great job on the instructions.
Now I will show you the card and then head on over to her you tube post and have a look. Check out her many other project and I am sure you will be very inspired.

That is my Father's Day Card for this year. I can't send via snail mail because we have a postal strike. Good thing that next week we are heading over there and I will deliver it personally.
Happy paper trails to you all.
Joanne

Thursday 16 June 2011

Teepee Card Instructions

Good Thursday everyone. I was looking at this site and she had a link to see how to make a teepee card. I thought it was a good idea and so will share this you. I think I will try to make one of them today and then will post it if I manage to get it done.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-UdMmYUMVI
Let me know what you think?
Joanne

Tuesday 14 June 2011

Hat in the Cat 12 x 12 page

About a month ago I was at an all day scrap booking fun time. One of the pages that I loved from that day was this Hat in the Cat (and no I don't have that wrong, my daughter forgets that it is Cat in the Hat and says the reverse) Any how here it is. The paper is from Creative Memories. It is not embellished much but I think that it is just right. I cut two mats, one black and one red, out of card stock each measuring 6 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches. I used chalking ink in black for the red mat and white chalking ink for the black mat. After mounting the picture on the red mat (corner rounder used on the corners of the picture and mats) Then off set the red mat from the black mat. I journalled with a white inked pen on the black mat following the red mat edge. The "Hat in the Cat" was cut using my cricut and a font that I thought best suited the title. I can't remember what cart I used. Sorry. The capitals are 1 1/4 inches high.
Well that is it for this page. Happy scrapping :-)

Banana Grams 12 x 12 page

I have been working on this album for a couple of years. I don't like to rush things. My mom and dad came out for the first time at Christmas. Poor mom and dad. They have not seen that much snow for many, many years. As a matter of fact probably not since we left Ontario in 1975! Luckily we don't get that much snow every year.
Now onto this page. This page took a bit of thought as I wanted to make something to emphasize the game we were playing. My  parents gave Karina a game called Banana Grams that is really similar to Scrabble. We had such a good time playing it. The page itself was not too much of a stretch. The pictures were mounted on red card stock and then used my black chalking ink by Creative Memories. One photo mat was cut at 4 1/4 by 8 inches. I was going to add some journalling in there but as you can see I changed my mind. The second picture of the girls with their footed pajamas was mounted on the same red card stock 4 1/4 x 6 1/4 inches. Of course I used the chalking ink on the edges as well to match it up with the other mat.
The Banana Grams tiles were a bit more of a challenge but very easily made. I cut the chip board in 1 inch squares and did the same with a cream coloured card stock. The cream tiles were glued onto the chip board. I told you if there is a long way to do things I do it that way. Next time I would glue down my card stock onto the chip board and then cut into 1 inch squares. Then with the Big Shot and die cuts I cut out each of the letters to make up my words. They are 3/4 inch tall. My next job was to affix the letters to the tiles. Not too bad so far. To make them shinny and so that they don't look like a bunch of layers I mod podged them. I let them dry of course before I used my tape runner to glue them down. They look like they are tumbling down the page.
The Family mat was created by using the same red card stock. 6 3/4 x 3 inches. Using the Martha Stewart border and corner punch, Victoria, added a bit of detail and interest. I chalked the edges again with the black chalking ink. The "Family" was cut using my cricut machine and the cart I used was Creative Memories Reminisce. 2 1/2 inches in size. After gluing the word onto the mat I went around the edges of the word with a black fine tipped felt. It made it stand out a bit more really.

Well that about covers this page. I hope you like this one as much as I do.

I forgot to add the other picture of the inside of the card. So here it is! I hope I get better at taking pictures of these soon.

 Look at the previous post to get all the details.
Have a good day.

Grand daughter's 10th birthday card

It is so hard to believe that my grand daughter is now 10! Where did the time go? It seems just like yesterday that I held this new born precious girl in arms and cuddled with her. Good thing she will still cuddle with me when I get the rare but wonderful times with her.
The card is a 10 x 4 1/2 and then folded in half. That is easy enough. Nice a bright neon green was used and of course it is card stock.
She is into the Monkeys now and so I thought I would add that to her card. I used my cricut to cut the TEN & both monkeys. The Monkeys were cute from the cartridge that Creative Memories has called Stork's Delivery (page 64). The monkey on the front of the card was cut at 2 1/2 inches. I used both of the layers. The monkey itself is a brown cardstock (not sure which brand but I do believe I got it at Michael's) I made the girl monkey and so she has a lovely blue bow at her ear (blue is my grand daughter's favorite colour). I also inked the edges with  brown chalking in from Creative Memories. The inside monkey was cut at 4 1/4 inches. The same chalking ink was used on her with the colour for the bow.
The "TEN" is from the cartridge entitled Graphically Speaking. You can find this cut out on page 77 under the Jumbled section. I cut it from a bright pink card stock which was from Michael's as well. The edges were inked using a red.
I used pop dots to raise the "TEN" and entwined the monkey to look as though she were swinging from the "TEN". I do love how that turned out. As an after thought I decided that the bright green card stock was too plain so I decided to use a friends stamp (dots) and green ink to add a bit of colour. I do wish I thought of that before I mounted the "TEN". Oh well mistakes some times turn into master pieces.
I used my friend's stamp for the Happy Birthday. I have no idea of who put this out but it sure is cute!
That is it.
Hope this inspires you. And for you well seasoned card makers well just enjoy the beginner stages of someone trying to be creative

Saturday 21 May 2011

Have you had a good weekend so far?

Well here it is Saturday night and I have not done much in the crafting area. I did make my grand daughter a birthday and I will try to post a picture or two of it. She loves monkeys and so her card was designed with that in mind.

Other than that I have been busy with work and doing some thing around the house. We have started to switch the computer room and our bedroom. We haven't gotten too far yet but it is coming along.

Our roof is close to being ready to have the shingles put on. From what Paul, our contractor, says it should start on Tuesday. I am hoping it will be done if three days maybe four. It was a big job and they are doing a good one at that.

Well that is it for now. Have a great weekend everyone.
Joanne
Just trying to be crafty

Monday 16 May 2011

Happy Monday

     A new week for us. We are in the midst of putting a new roof on our house. It is raining and despite the tarps that you can see from miles around (they are a bright blue) we have a bit of water coming through. The contractor has been here this morning and did some work but when it started to rain once again. He called it quits until the weather looks better. Now we have the wind getting stronger again which has caused some havoc on the tarps. This weekend I called the contractor twice to tack down the tarps. I can't wait until we have the shingles on again.
      So because of the rain and a bit of dripping in the house I am not setting up my Cricut (which hopefully this summer I will have my craft area set up) to make a birthday card for my grand daughter. I do have some plans for this card. She is into a monkey that is new to me. It should be fun. Keep posted to see what I have come up with.

Have a wonderful day everyone.

Joanne just trying to be creative

Sunday 15 May 2011

Mother's Day Card


Although I have not created this card I thought I would share it. I didn't keep all the measurements and so would be hard to tell you how I made this one. It was a lot of fun. Thank you Darlene for showing me how to make this one.

My first day with a blog

Hello world of being creative. My name is Joanne. I am the proud mother of 5 beautiful ladies and three great and wonderful grand daughters. I do a bit of work with a friend coincidentally named Joanne as well. I file and input data entry for her.
While I am at home I love to do all kinds of things. I have been a belly dancer (Middle Eastern Dancing), cross stitch, gardening and my most recent is scrap booking with card making as the newest part of paper crafting.
I hope that I can inspire some but more importantly I hope to get inspired by so many of you ladies (and some gentlemen) with their creative works of art.

 Have a wonderful day.


Joanne