Impressions by Day

Final Days of the Olympics

We're winding down to what will be a very, very busy day in downtown Vancouver tomorrow - with the much anticipated match up for the Men's Gold Medal hockey game with Canada vs. the US - it promises to be a very much watched hockey game, not only on television but by the thousands at Canada Hockey Place and at all the sports bars around town.  Right after that will be the closing ceremonies and with the venues being next door to each other, the crowds will be huge!

Here's a card that Jen made as her homage to the Olympics.

She made the Olympic rings by punching a circle with the 1 1/4" Circle punch and then punching around it with the 1 3/8" Circle punch.  Super card.

I promised some blog candy giveaways and I have two items to give - all you need to do is post a comment here and let me know:

1. What was your favourite or most memorable Olympic moment, or

2. Since this is a stamping blog, how did you find my blog and what would you like to see in future posts?

You have until Tuesday, March 2 at 5:00 p.m. to post a comment related to the above topics.  There will be two winners, one to receive this Holiday Best stamp set which is a Level 1 Hostess Set in the IBC.

Or this Olympic souvenir - Quatchi!  One of the four mascots for the Vancouver Olympics - isn't he cute?

Thanks for stoppinby by today and happy stamping!

 

Quilt Purse

I've finally finished my first attempt at making the quilt purse using the Big Shot and Scallop Square die - for a person who has not sewn for many, many years - it was a bit intimidating.  The easiest part was using the Big Shot and cutting out the squares to put the purse together.  And here it it.

I did not have a sewing machine nor any fabric scraps.  The only thing I had that I was able to use on the purse is the button - its one of the extra Ralph Lauren buttons that I got with my blazer - lol.  I need to search for all those extra buttons that are attached to your garments and hope that I haven't recycled too many of them.

I borrowed the machine from Jen and Kathleen was very helpful in reacquainting me with a sewing machine!!  There's a fabulous quilt store just minutes away and I was able to pick up some "fat quarters" to put together the purse.  Now I'm hooked!  I just got home with more fabric and will be working on my second one.

I also tried out the Flower Folds Bigz die and made this brooch.  The fabric is cotton and very beautiful with Asian designs.  Need to make more of these too and experiment with different fabrics.  Shelli showed her flower brooch at the Cincinnati Regionals last year and you can click here to see the details on how its made.

I love my Big Shot!!!  

Well, lots happening today - the semi-finals of the men's Olympic hockey games just started with the US playing Finland and later Canada plays Slovakia.  Gosh, what's a girl to do - watch hockey for the rest of the afternoon or play with my Big Shot? 

Perhaps I can do both - women can multi-task. 

Be sure to stop by tomorrow as I have some blog candy to give away - thanks for stopping by today and happy stamping!

 

 

Treat Cups and oh yes, more Olympics!

I've barely had time to stamp with wall to wall coverage of the Olympics here in Vancouver but I did manage a class on Sunday featuring the treat cups.  More about the Olympics later.

Here are two of the cards we made.  The first one uses the Something Sweet stamp set from the Occasions Mini (p. 14, #117688, $36.95 WM, #118589, $26.95 CM)

A very quick and easy card with the tab pull to release the mini marshallows on the inside of the card.

We used the Beary Best Friends stamp set that was in the Holiday Mini and carried over to the Occasions Mini (p. 38, #118052, $24.95).  As this was in the Holiday Mini prior to the introduction of clear mounted stamps, the set only comes in the wood mount.

We inked up the tail of the balloon in the set with a black marker and placed a treat cup in place of the balloon.  The little BAB is colored in with Creamy Caramel, Bashful Blue, Gable Green, Ruby Red and Brilliant Blue markers.  The sentiment was stamped using the Stamp a ma Jig - I love that SAMJ!  In this sample, I perforated the back of the cup in an "X" using the  perforating tool of the Cutter Kit (p. 191, #106958, $23.95) but in class we made a pull tab to release the contents from the treat cup.

OLYMPIC STUFF and watch for Olympic blog candy later this week.

Towards the latter part of last week until yesterday, Vancouver was bathed in beautiful sunshine and it provided huge opportunities for visitors from all over the world to see what a beautiful place we live in.  Alas, our typical Vancouver rainy winter weather appeared yesterday making it a bit chilly on the streets but does not appear to have dampened the mood out there.

Alannah received the following link from a friend that appeared in the Boston Globe newspaper on the Opening Ceremonies and they are absolutely amazing photos.  Click here and enjoy.

Last week I attended the Victory Ceremonies at BC Place with my son, Colin, who received complimentary tickets from Semiahmoo House Society where he attends on a daily basis working in the catering programme.  Semiahmoo House is an organization that provides support, advocacy and services to individuals and families challenged with developmental disabilities.  We were fortunate to see Maelle Ricker receive her gold medal for Snowboard Cross and Lindsey Vonn her gold for downhill and the energy in BC Place was amazing.  Unfortunately, my picture taking was not so I cannot the photos I took - lol.

Kathleen was at the Victory Ceremonies on Friday and look who she found?

Canada received more gold medals in ice dancing by Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and in women's ski cross by Ashleigh McIvor.  Canada's hockey team will face power house Russia in tonight's quarter-final  game and it should be an exciting one.

I'll have another souvenir from the Olympics to give away later this week so please visit again.

Thanks for stopping by this chilly, wet day and happy stamping.

 

 

Razzleberry Left Overs . . . and more Gold at the Olympics!

Do you have lots of left over scraps from card stock and DSP?  I've got my scraps sorted into drawers in color families and they're overflowing.  When the In Colors came in I was mixing them up with some of the other colors and it got to be so unmanageable that I decided to get separate drawers for the card stock and one for the small pieces of DSP.   Don't you just hate to throw away even the smallest pieces?  But the drawers become so full that they get bent and you can't really use them anyway so I've started not keeping pieces that are too small - although you can get small punches out of them - especially with the new Small Heart and Medium Jewelry Tag punches in the Occasions Mini.  There goes my idea of throwing away the smallest pieces out the window - lol.

I found some Razzleberry Lemonade DSP scraps and made this card.  
  

The strips are cut 1" x 4.25" and adhered right to the front of the Melon Mambo card stock.  Add the image from Razzle Dazzle using the Melon Mambo and Crushed Curry markers.  Its layered onto Melon Mambo and Crushed Curry and trimmed the Crushed Curry piece with the Scallop Trim Border punch - a free Sale-A-Bration item.  The sentiment is from With All My Heart, also in the Mini, that I colored with the Markers and then punched with the Scallop Oval punch.  I sponged the edges with Melon Mambo and Crushed Curry and popped it up with dimensionals.

Great way to use up some of your left over scraps. 

Have you been enjoying the Olympics so far?  Its wall to wall television coverage here and we can't escape it!  Its been fantastic and finally, we have our first gold medal won on Canadian soil.  What an eruption of pride and joy when Alexandre Bilodeau won in the men's moguls on Monday. 

More gold the other day to go along with more silver and bronze.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Amber is also volunteering with the Olympics and she managed to send us a few photos she's taken and here's one taken with some of her fellow volunteers.  Those volunteer uniforms are gorgeous!

The building wrapped with the Canadian flag is formerly the Georgia Hotel, a Vancouver landmark that is currently being renovated into luxurious condos.  They're almost ready to open and they are handsomely priced in the millions.  What a fantastic location its in - right in the heart of the city with penthouse condoes that will have sweeping views of the north shore mountains, English Bay and the southern part of the city.

Thanks for stopping by this beautiful day and happy stamping!

 

Mojo Monday . . . on Tuesday

Its been a while since I made a Mojo Monday card from the great sketches and when I saw the one for this week, knew I had to give it a try.  Here's this week's sketch.

And rhia ia what I came up with.

Thanks for stopping by and happy stamping!

 

Happy Valentine's Day - Year of the Tiger - and the games are on!

Wow, what a convergence of activities for today - a Happy Valentine's Day and Goong Hei Fat Choy to celebrate the Year of the Tiger to all and the Olympics are well underway.

Unfortunately the day of the start of the Olympics was a tragic one for the fatal accident on the luge run which took the life of the Georgian luger, Nodar Kumaritashvili.  Our condolences and sympathy to his family and Olympic team mates who received a standing ovation on their entry in the march of the athletes during Friday's Opening Ceremonies.  And wasn't that just a fabulous show - yes there were a few glitches but with an event of such magnitude, its inevitable that there may be some technical glitches but it was handled so well by David Atkins the Executive Producer.

During the torch relay that ran through our community, there were throngs of people out to watch and Ulla was able to get much better images than I and here is the runner going through her neighbourhood.

Here's Alannah with Paige and Danielle as they were waiting for the Opening Ceremonies at the O-zone in Richmond on Friday.  Paige and Dani were part of the Richmond School District choir that had about 3,000 students taking part in the opening ceremonies at the O-zone.  Alannah has already done several shifts at the Richmond Oval and is absolutely enjoying it.  Their venue is hosting the long track speed skating and she was on shift yesterday and had a fantastic time.

Here's Kathleen holding one of the torches used in the torch relay.  The torch belongs to Blair Horn, a former Olympian, and a partner in the law firm where Kathleen works.  Blair ran his leg of the relay in North Vancouver and handed off to the next runner in the middle of the Suspension Bridge - can you imagine how awesome that must have been!?  Blair took his torch into the office and staff members were able to have their pictures taken with it.  How neat is that! 

I have to admit that I've been glued to the tv since Friday watching all the events taking place and its been worth every minute.  Hmmm, productivity will be at a minimum during the next couple of weeks, I'm sure.  LOL.

Here's a Valentine treat holder that I made using the Petal Card die (p. 199, #113467, $26.95).  I cut out two of the petal dies, a strip of Chocolate Chip card stock 5.5" x 2" and folded in half and attached it at the bottom of the heart.  The handle is a strip of Pretty in Pink textured card stock 12" x 1".  It's fastened to the sides with Chocolate Chip Corduroy Buttons.  On the front of the holder are two Pretty in Pink hearts cut with the Heart Embosslit and layered on top are Chcolate Chip hearts punched out with the Full Heart punch.  The centre "hugs and kisses" is stamped in Pink Passion and cut out with the Heart to Heart punch and sponged on the edges with a bit of pink. 

For my Chinese New Year card I used one of the sheets from the Sending Love DSP with Brushed Gold and Real Red card stock.   The image is from the Level 2 Hostess Set, Asian Artistry.

Its stamped with Gold Encore ink and embossed with gold embossing powder.  The image is colored using the Blender Pens with Real Red and Glorious Green classic ink.

Thanks for stopping by this beautiful day and happy stamping! 

 

 
 

 

Gumballs . . . and counting down to the Olympics

I had planned to do a fair bit of stamping today but starting at 5:00 a.m. this morning I've been glued to the TV watching the torch relay as it nears the Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics later today.  The torch relay started in beautiful Stanley Park and is making its way around the downtown area of Vancouver.

Among the torch runners this morning have been Governor Arnold Schwarzenneger from California who handed it off to Sebastian Coe, CEO of the London Games in 2012.  Rollie Fox, father of the late Terry Fox whose Marathon of Hope run across Canada in the 80's was abruptly ended when his cancer returned, ran a leg of the relay.  Terry's legacy continues to live on as annual Terry Fox runs are held around the world to raise money for cancer research.

Walter Gretzky, father of Wayne, Dal Richards a 92 year young impressario and many others from all walks of life have run through the streets and will continue to do so until 1:45 p.m. when it will end at the FHFN Pavilion prior to the Opening Ceremonies.

While channel surfing this morning, I stopped in at the TODAY show where Matt Lauer, Meredith Viera, Ann Curry, Natalie Morales, Al Roker, Lester Holt and the whole contingent from the show are all set to broadcast the Olympics from Grouse Mountain.  Michael Buble made an early performance and he's still pumped after his stint as a torch runner yesterday. 

Matt also ran a stretch with the torch and from the brief glimpse I got from his hand off, it looked like he handed off to Bob Costas.  Many international stars like Michael Buble, Sarah McLachlan, Steve Nash - all proud Canadians who ran with the torch were humbled by the experience running for their country.

Well, its all very exciting today and I need to get back to watching the final hours of the torch relay and then onto the Opening Ceremonies and of course the big question is who will be the runner to light up the Olympic cauldron?  The anticipation is unbearable!  

But back to stamping (lol), I wanted to share this gumball card I made using the Something Sweet set from the Occasions Mini (p. 20, #117688, $36.95 for wood mount, #118589, $26.95 for clear mount)

I'll be having a Cups of Treats class on Sunday, February 21 where we'll be making this card and 3 others using the Sweet Treat and Sweet Heart Cups.  If you wish to register for this class, please click on the Paypal link below.

Cups of Treats Class

• Date:    Sunday, February 21
• Time:    12:30 - 2:30 p.m. 
• Where:  My studio, Surrey
• Cost: $20.00

Please register by February 17.

 Thanks for stopping by and happy stamping!   GO CANADA GO!

Forest Friend

With Sale-a-Bration this year, not only do you get to choose from fabulous stamp sets designed just for SAB, but Stampin' Up! is offering a selection of stamps from the IBC.  When I saw Forest Friends as one of the FREE sets that you can choose for SAB, I just had to get it.  It has been on my Wish List for the longest time and as you can imagine, my Wish List is long, long, long so it made it easy to be able to get this adorable set by being one of the SAB options.

The primary card stock is Regal Rose.  I ran a piece of Whisper White card stock using the Perfect Details Texturz Plate through the Big Shot.  One of the great options of the Texturz Plates is that you can make your impression deeper or just give the card stock a background texture.  To get a more pronounced impression, you can either spritz your card stock with a bit of water before putting it through the Big Shot or use a shim. 

The sentiment is from last year's SAB Best Yet stamp set.  The images are stamped in Regal Rose classic ink, punched out with the 1 1/4" square punch and matted onto Regal Rose Scallop Square punched pieces.  They're popped up on the card with dimensionals.

Thanks for stopping by and happy stamping!

Polka Dot Valentine

I love Polka Dots so I absolutely love the Polka Dot Impressions Folder and Heart Embosslit from the Occasions Mini. 

Melon Mambo is the color used for this card.  It looks red in the picture but probably because the background paper is pink.

A sort post today - thank you for stopping by and happy stamping!

 

News Anchors Colors - and Blog Candy Winners

Well, you can certainly feel the excitement as we are just four days away from the opening of the Olympics here in Vancouver.  The athletes are arriving and so many visitors from all around the world are converging in Vancouver - the Olympic torch is scheduled to be passing in my neighbourhood later today and I hope that I'll be able to catch a glimpse of it.

Have you noticed watching the news the colors generally worn by the male news anchors?  Its grey and shades of purple/mauve - even some of the hosts on talk shows are wearing the "uniform" of these colors with their grey suits and striped purple ties. 

Here's a card using those colors. 

I used Basic Grey for the primary card stock color, layered with a piece of DSP from Nouveau Chic.  The layer is Almost Amethyst, trimmed at the bottom with the FREE Scallop Trim Border punch for SAB.  I love the flowers from Greenhoue Garden and those are stamped with Lavender Lace with centres in Basic Grey.  The sentiment and frame is from Vintage Labels another FREE SAB item, stamped with Basic Grey on Almost Amethyst and punched out with the Curly Label punch.  Don't you just love how well everything co-ordinates with SU products?  

... AND CONGRATULATIONS TO BLOG CANDY WINNERS!

Kathleen who won the God's Beauty stamp set and Walk in the Park DSP and to Gerriann Armstrong who won the Olympic mitts! 

I'll be in touch with you to arrange to get the prizes to you both.  Be sure to visit again as I just may have some more Olympic blog candy to give away before the end of the month.

Shop 24/7 at www.dayanna.stampinup.net for the products used to make the above card and you can earn FREE SAB stamp sets, DSP or the Scallop Trim Border Punch.  If you would like to have a workshop with me, please email me.

Thanks for stopping by today and happy stamping!