Butterfly Bliss

Hopefully you are not too tired of my whitewashed, shabby elements cards...cuz I have another one for you!
Used a different DP collection this time. I was at Winners/HomeSense just before we came up to the lake and I spied some 6x6 paper pads. This is from First Edition Spring Feast. They were only $3.99 for each pad...I bought this one and another one called Song Bird.

Now remember that I am working up here with a very small amount of supplies...and they are dwindling as we speak! I think the Bliss ticket needs chalked or inked or something just to make it coordinate a little better...but with only a small pot of cream acrylic paint, I tried to make it blend by whitewashing the edges slightly. Not perfect but Cèst La Vie!

When I added the Memory/Box banner, I whitewashed it really heavily...as I wanted to show the sweet little lined pattern that is embedded into the lantern circles. I pop dotted them forward with my
new, slim style, pop dots. These dots are great as even with the bling diamonds on top they still slide through the post office tester slot!

Recipe
Card Base - from my stash; Michaels Recollections square, textured, white card sets
DP - First Edition, Spring Feast
Card Stock - snippets from my stash
Dies - Spellbinders Floral Ovals,  Memory Box die banner; the corner die is Spellbinders,  I forgot my little book that I record these details in...I cut the dies before I left home so not sure of the name...sorry!
Bling - from my stash
Chipboard - from my stash; Michaels dollar bins

I am entering this card in the following challenges

Pixies Crafty Workshop - must be snippets.

Rudolph Days - Christmas NBUS

NBUS...what a weird accronym! My friend Darnell @ http://www.djkardkreations.com/
penned this one...it stand for Never Before Used Schtuff.
You know what it is...we all have it. It is tucked away in drawers, folders, backets, and envelopes. You name it...we have it somewhere...or something somewhat like it! lol

Darnell penned this word and is on a mission to make NBUS cards this year. I have decided to join in on her parade. When the mood overtakes me, I will combine NBUS with my effort to use up my paper scraps...so it shall be cards of snippets as well as NBUS...oh my...that is a mouthful!

Here is my first try...I will be submitting this card to Rudolph Days at my friend Sarn's blog, Stamping For Pleasure. Making a Christmas Card on the 25th of each month for her challenge helps keep the finished cards number up so the Christmas season can be a little less hectic! There are some lovely Christmas cards submitted there so Christmas themed inspiration abounds.

My main NBUS item is the Kraft Christmas stocking tag. I got it for Christmas quite a few years ago. It came in a packet with a few other similar themed items that will eventually also turn up on NBUS cards. While I never liked it on it's own, I don't mind it combined with my stamped wreath image. 

The tag had a smaller, very narrow strip of tag that said, I BELIEVE. It sat at a weird angle and read backwards. I removed it and added the stamped and coloured wreath  to cover the spot where it used to sit. When that wreath looked a little bare, I added the 3D teddy from a dollar store page of decoupaged stickers. Another NBUS and another I couldn't imagine using as although I did like it, it just seemed too darned small to be a focal point. Combining it with my stamped wreath worked for me. A little Christmas red stickles added to the teensy berries on the wreath gave it just a touch of bling too!

So this is proof that something you never thought you would use, could work out after all.

Recipe: 

Card base and envelope - from my stash, originally Michaels, Recollections Kraft Corrugated

DP - from my stash; My Minds Eye Santa Claus

Cardstock - red and kraft snippets from my stash 

Dies - Marriane corner die blog candy from Shaz in Oz @ http://calligraphycards-shazinoz.blogspot.ca/

Bling - last of the snippets of teensy fire engine red bling on the card. This size is hard to find...while I do have some other shades of teensy red ones, I will be watching to replace these!

Embellishment -from my stash,  K and Co present with bow

Stickles - from my stash, Christmas Red

Stamp - unknown; I stamped this at a stamping class at my local scrapbook store and did not write down the name

I am entering this card is the following challenges:

1. Pixies Crafty Workshop - must use snippets

2. CHNC Extra - Always Anything Goes, must be Christmas

3. Stamping for Pleasure Rudolph Days Challenge - must be Christmas 

Silhouettes

Here is another of the inspirational cards I made at my weekly crafting day up at the lake.

I continued on with using the chipboard shapes from Michaels and whitewashed the edges again...yep, just like my previous post. I kept embellishments to just a few clear diamond bling bits that I added to the chandelier. Here is a bit of a close up.

Recipe
Card base - From my stash; Michaels Recollections brand square textured card set
DP - Prima Lyric
Card Stock - Kraft snippets from my stash
Dies - Spellbinders Floral Ovals and Spellbinders Fancy Ribbons Die
Chipboard - from my stash; Michaels dollar bins
Sentiment- from my stash 7 Gypsies stickers, Trousseau
Bling - from my stash

I am entering this card in the following challenges

1.Pixies Crafty Workshop - must use snippets

Soar

Don't know if this is old enough to qualify as NBUS (never before used schtuff), but this Memory Box die is about a year old and I can't think of when I have ever used it! Oh my goodness,...some of you know that I have memory problems from an accident...this NBUS idea may need some tweaking!!! lol

This is just another page of 6x6 Prima Lyric collections with a few added dies and embellishments. This is another card in my series of inspirational cards. I have bloggy friends and some IRL friends who are struggling a bit at the moment. Life can get so busy and it is hard at times to get the right balance of work, play and family life.  I think these cards could be pressed into service to send to someone so inspire them about the better days lying ahead...or adding a sentiment of Soar...its your day could be added and presto, it becomes a Birthday card.

I have written of my struggles to learn Windows 8...well the keyboard on this new W8 laptop needed adapting. I can not access the question mark, the apostrophe etc. So if my posts seems stilted or misspelled,  it is due to not having access to those keys.
It is being taken in to the geek squad to have the keyboard adapted and to have a shortcut installed to download pictures...it is about a one hour process to download and get access to pictures. If you have any choice...I would take Windows 7 if you could find one still!

Here is a bit of a closeup so you can see the depth of the 3D nest etc.

Recipe
Card Base - from my stash; Michaels Recollections brand square textured white card and envelope
DP - Prima, Lyric collection 6 x 6 pad
Card Stock - from my stash; snippets of kraft used for the Memory Box dies
Dies - Memory Box; Small Birdcage, Songbird and Corner Bow
Embellishments - from my stash; K and Co birds nest and kraft ticket (maybe 7 gypsies or TimHoltz)
Burlap - from my stash ( a friend gets me new burlap coffee sacks...they cut up nicely!)
Bling - blue diamonds from my stash; Dollar store

I am entering this card in the following challenges

1. Pixies Crafty Workshop - must use snippets the kraft cardstock used for the diecuts were snippets.

             

Quaaout Lodge

Sharing some more of our day among the Squilax Nation. The Nation owns a gorgeous Lodge and Spa, plus a great 18 hole golf course called Talking Rock. DH plays there a couple of times each summer...now that I know how lovely it is, I think I get him to drop me off at the Lodge while he golfs! They have a great restaurant as well as numerous Spa packages.
The next time we have company over from England, I am going to suggest splurging on a night at the this Lodge. They have golf and stay packages that were really well priced. The golf course is a wee bit pricey so for not all that much more, you could do a package deal.

I only managed a few pictures as we had to rush to the Pow Wow for the Grand Entrance at 1.00
Here are the ones I did manage. This is the lodge in the centre and the tall portion to the right holds the rooms..they are at an angle to the beach so each room has a private balcony and view of the Little Shuswap Lake.

The grounds were beautifully landscaped and there were some interpretive areas...there were some teepees just off to the side of the main lodge.

The Lodge was beautiful. There was a wonderful attention to detail and the focus was on nature and Indian Heritage. The main reception has wonderfully soaring ceilings over a huge round fireplace.

The washroom doors made me smile...

This area was just outside the shops

The front doors were carved

The cement sidewalks and the walls outside had native art painted on them.

The 18th hole of the golf course runs along the waters edge at the beach and ends at the lodge.

It looks like you could boat in to golf as I saw a dock just outside the lodge. This is the view from the dock.

We even saw a water skier go by skiing the old way, on two skis. Most use the single ski now so it was fun to watch him.

Well, that is it for the tour...I will be back with a card tomorrow!

Squilax Pow Wow 2013

What a wonderful day we have had today! We drove 20 minutes down the highway to the Squilax Nation and went to their 30th Anniversary Pow Wow.

It was a colourful, energized day...full of drumming, native chants, and children, youth and adults dancing and partaking in the most respectful cultural event I have ever attended.  Due to the Anniversary nature of the weekend, camping was free and there were not any fundraising events on site. It was just a weekend of celebration, of connecting with cultural roots and a day of bonding.
I took a ton of photos and hope I will not bore you with them. I asked each individual if I could take their photo and everyone obliged and thanked me afterwards!

There were 250 dancers and I was there for the Grand Entrance and the dancing afterwards. There was a flag raising..all the nations flags and also one from the Queens representative. Dancers came from all over the province. There was a procession of the Chiefs of each Nation and as you can imagine, the photos will show that the native dance clothing styles as well as stance and facial features differ depending on which Nation the dancer belongs to. I tried to catch a variety of styles.
.

and now some of my photos...

This man had the most wonderful moccasins so of course I took a piccie of them too!

This young fellow was trying to cool off with a freezie...the heat was unbelievable and to dance in all those heavy clothes must have been very hot!

The dresses of the ladies were laden with these carved silver triangular bells...I can only imagine how heavy those dresses must be. This girl had here face painted in a style I saw many times today. She looked so pretty and thanked me for taking the closeup of her bells!

Ladies dress styles and use of colour varied greatly. Here are some group shots to show you just that. 

There were so many children dancing...proudly displaying their competition numbers. The youngest I saw was about 3 years old!

And finally the dancing...I wish I had known how to work the video portion of my ancient camera...the drumming and the Indian chanting was wonderful. 

This man had his face done in red paint but I was unable to catch a photo depicting it!

This father and small son danced past me and tagged at my heartstrings...the Dad had just demonstrated some steps to his son!

This was my favourite dancer...he had so much energy and his outfit really moved with the dancing!

Here he is full view

Hope you enjoyed this little peek at some Canadian Native Culture.

Spread Your Wings

I wanted to make some cards that are sort of multi purpose. Cards that are a bit uplifting to mail to a friend going through a tough time...or pressed into service as an inspirational Birthday card by stamping a Bday sentiment inside. I am making a dozen of this style of card...some have whitewashed butterflies, others have birds, others just a framed sentiment.

The DP I used here is a new look for me.  I have never been a huge fan of peach...but it is growing on me! I bought a few new outfits for my upcoming vacation and they have a definite peach trend. When I saw these Prima 6 x 6 paperpads with a splash of peach scattered here and there...I took the plunge.

I've also managed to fulfill a couple of crafty goals with this one.  Remember that one of my New Years goals was to make some cards that used up some flowers...well, some of the flowers I used on this card are years old!
Remember those little glass jars of Prima flowers...you know...we all had them! I managed to use a few of them here. I layered them with some kraft smaller flowers that came from the dollar store about 10 years ago. Wish I had bought 10 packages as they are my fave, teensy flower.

I also managed to slide in another NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff)...the pretty chipboard butterfly was from a chipboard package from the Michaels $1.00 bins. I am a bit of a sucker for those bins...and I have buckets of "schtuff" to prove it...time to use some of it up!
I also cracked open a bottle of ivory acrylic paint...left over from those days when I painted wooden Christmas crafts. Another NBUS as the lid was still sealed! I distressed the die cut label and the butterfly with this cream paint. I like the vintage, shabby chic look it created.

Recipe:
Card base and Envelope - from my stash Michaels, Recollections brand 5 1/2 square, white  textured
DP - Prima Lyric collection
Card stock - snippets of kraft cardstock from my stash
Dies - Spellbinders Fancy Tags 2, Impression Obsession flag dies
Chipboard - NBUS from my stash,  Michaels dollar bins
Bling - teensy diamonds from my stash
Flowers - Very old Prima, and dollar store kraft teensy ones
Paint - NBUS acrylic cream paint
Word letters - Bo Bunny cardstock stickers

I am entering this card in the following challenges
1. Pixies Crafty Workshop - must use snippets
2. Sister Act - Always Anything Goes
3. Word Art Wednesday - use an encouraging word

Thought  I would close with some photos of what is blooming right now in my garden. I snapped these photo just before we left. I did not want to chance that any would  be finished when we returned, and then I would have no memory of them!
In spite of digging them all up and dividing them this spring, the daylilies are still blooming great guns...

While I do have a few more colours, some are not blooming yet as they were chosen to bloom later so as to stagger the blooms in the garden.

One  clematis is in bloom, soon to be followed by the one on the other side of the garden!

And finally, if anyone recognizes this plant, could you let me know the name...It is about 4 or 5 feet high and grows from tuberous roots. Bees just love it...it is usually covered in 30 or more bees. They keep so busy here on this plant that they leave the patio alone. We can eat supper al fresco  and they do not come over to bug us! The pink is a true fushcia pink colour...the colour here is a bit off as that fence is actually sort of an orangey, redwood shade.