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October Stamp Club

There will be a few changes at the October Stamp Club on Tuesday, Oct. 16th.

We will be working in the diningroom because the spare bedroom furniture has been moved into the studio for that week only. Should be interesting. This is where we began!

The second change: Club members will be making 6 cards that evening. We will do all the stamping and techniques then we will assemble the cards if there is time. You will do 2 designs, three cards of each design. Don't worry, they are easy!

Here are the cards we will be doing:

FALL WORKSHOP PREVIEWS:

Here are the samples of the cards and workshops I have planned for September and October.  The dates and times for the workshops are posted on my Stampin Up Website. For more information or to  register for these workshops visit  my website at www.express_yourself.stampinup.net

Cards for Her:

For Him:

Christmas:

May Stamp Club- Because I Care, Fabulous Florets and Just Believe

Well we are back home inspired by all the beautiful rich colours of spring in Victoria. It's a preview to what we will be experiencing soon I hope!
Here are the cards we will be doing on Tuesday May 15th.

We are going to have FUN!

Saturday, May5th

Saturday was so busy and so good we didn't have time to blog. Here's a peek at the highlights of the day.
Craigdarroch Castle!

Veronica on "acation at ABC" according to Jack.

  Quilt Show!

Super Moon

High Tea!!!!!

Veronica on "acation at ABC" according to Jack.

Inculturation day

This morning started out overcast and windy. Veronica and I were waiting for Safeway to open so we could buy eggs for mom. Before we left she said, "You better hurry up and go because I haven't had anything to eat yet!" My response was, "We haven't had anything to eat either." We left in a hurry!! During breakfast mom got something on the front of her top.After breakfast we loaded everything we needed into the car then mom said,"Wait, I have to turn my top around." (She was in the backseat and proceeded to pull her arms into her top). I started to back up and mom's coffee cup tipped and spilled coffee on her lap.

 We headed to a mall in Victoria and bought 4 old tea cups for our "High Tea" tomorrow. Fabricland was a bust and we wanted to go downtown for fish and chips. En route we pasted a spot that we discovered was not an Indian Cemetery (which is what Nan thought) but was garden plots. (We don't need to stop and take pictures).

We parked at the wharf downtown and enjoyed a terrific lunch before walking down Fort Street to finally reach Antique Row in time for Veronica and I to return to the parking lot and get the car. Jane and mom were to check out the quilt shop til we returned with the car.

Mom had an experience that affected the rest of her day. (and ours too) When they were finished checking out the quilt shop and were successful in purchasing the "tea" (another interesting story) they stood patiently waiting for their ride when a "person" approached looking for money to buy coffee. Mom said she would by him a coffee...he suggested Starbucks...they said that was too far so he suggested the "Organic" health food store behind them. They should have just walked with him to Starbucks...it would have been MUCH cheaper. He ended up getting a block of cheese, rice and a microwavable turkey breast...oh and and a coffee too. Mom was beginning to panic because Brenda & I were now waiting outside parked (well illegally parked) in a handicapped parking spot. We couldn't stay there so Mom ran in to tell Jane that we were moving. So here's where it gets interesting...the clerk was to say the least...slow and this gave the man more time to pick more items for Jane to buy (she was going to use her debit card). Well the items wouldn't scan and there was some talk (?) about butter and Mom had had enough, she slapped $15 bucks down on the counter & said "Here...we have to go." As they were walking out the door the man asked if he could keep the change? According to Nan she wasn't angry at the man ....that clerk really annoyed her....and we heard about it all the way home! We all thought about Gavin and how Nan has been such a great influence...neither of them can "let it go".

Jane went searching for a monster for Gavin and she found one!

Our next destination was The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria ! We began our tour in the Emily Carr exhibit. Jane told mom, "Don't touch anything!" And it's a good thing she did. The man followed us around because Nan kept FLINGING her hands close to the paintings.

(This was taken by Mom's favourite painting "Wild Lillies".)

There were quotes from her books on the walls above the pictures. Mom started reading them out loud and when I said,"That's not quite what was written." She replied, "I'm putting it in my own words." We soon learned we wanted to stay 20 metres away from mom and her comments. (Use your imagination people!") "Some people just take paint and toss it on,back and forth and then they say use your imagination. A donkey would use it's tail and do the same kind of thing and what was he thinking?" We weren't taking mom to the modern art exhibit.

We also came to see the "Silk Splendour  Textiles of Late Imperial China" The gallery had an Asian Garden in a courtyard which we could see from the hallway to the textile exhibit. When mom spotted the Japanese Shinto Shrine she said,"Are we in Chinatown?"



We are thirsty and  hungry. We need to go to downtown  WalMart AGAIN to buy groceries (because mom had WalMart gift cards) and this time we are taking a camera to take a picture of the "cart escalator".

On our way home we were stopped at a red light. A man approached the car to wash the windsheild. I waved my hands and said,"No,no,no." But he still washed the windsheild. Mom said she would "get it" and pulled out a $5. bill. Veronica said, "I have it." and she handed me a tooney. He said, "Thank you, how generous."

At home we made stew and watched 2 cruise ships go by. When they were out of view we heard something. Veronica said," I hear a ship." It turned out to be my phone which was on vibrate. We were tired.
We watched a 1hr. show of Poirot and turned in after mom finished pin curling her hair.

We managed to get our luggage tagged then continued on to security. On the way Mom said,"Oh now this is where we have to take off all our clothes!" Once through security we went to our gate which was by the infamous escalator where Mom and Dad took a tumble.





More to come later, enjoying coffee in our room.

Looking back on our day:

When we landed in Victoria we went to the Hertz rent a car to pick up our vehicle and we were given a choice of two cars. We made our choice without asking ,"What colour are they?" We chose the Impala. We found our hotel in Sidney but couldn't check in until 2 pm so we left our luggage at the hotel and went to have breakfast at Smittys where mom did her "on location weather report.

Rain, Rain and more rain today!

Then off to WalMart to buy an electric frying pan. Finding WalMart was a challenge. We ended up in downtown  Seattle (I mean Victoria), it felt like Seattle  and found some great deals! After that we went  to Emily Carr House. Jane really enjoyed the house. It was a beautiful restored home full of antiques and the gardens  were beautiful!

When we were leaving Emily Carr's house Veronica said to mom, "Guess what time it is?" Mom replied, "It's got to be 5pm." Veronica said,"It's 1:30." Mom said in a panic stricken voice,"It's just the start of the day!"

We decided it was time to head back to the hotel this time taking the scenic drive along the coast. All we can say is WOW!! The architecture and landscaping was so varied and breathtaking. We didn't know where to look next. What a drive. We highly recommend this road. 

When we returned to check into the hotel we were a little concerned because it looked outdated and small  compared to the photos on the Internet and under no circumstances was mom going to carry her suitcase up a flight of stairs. Guess what, we had to carry our luggage up a flight of stairs. Mom got a quarter of the way up before she stopped and said, "Somebody's going to have to carry me up." Jane was the first one up and spotted the exercise room. It was as big as a bathroom. Now we were really concerned about the size of our room. We were pleasantly surprised! The room is fine. The view is gorgeous. We unpacked, had a coffee and found a really nice bakery where mom bought a loaf of bread which she had to carry around (without a bag) as we explored a few bookstores. Jane finally put the loaf of bread into her camera bag after mom exclaimed ,"In all my 80 years I never walked around town carrying a loaf of bread."

Jane felt compelled to explain why she had a loaf of bread in her camera bag when she pulled it out to get her money to pay for groceries at the market.

We had a great stir fried chicken dinner back our hotel room. The challenge was how to wash the BIG frying pan in this little sink. Jane's solution was, "We can always use the tub."

Now it's time to relax, Mom is curling her hair, Jane and Veronica are knitting and we are going to watch American Idol.

Good Night.

Three Sisters and our Mom

You can join us on our adventure! We will keep you up to date on all the exciting stuff we are doing on our Mother/ Daughter trip to Victoria BC. So far so good. We managed to get on the same flight and sit together on the plane. We are checked in and ready to go. Veronica is bringing lots of recipes for meals made in an electric frying pan. (She has an interesting collection). We want to save our money to spend on stuff other than restaurant food. We were going to ask Mom to bring a crock pot but she wasn't keen on that. She declined Jane's offer of bringing a walker for her in case she gets tired. We figured Victoria should have the odd bench that we can sit down and have a coffee. Stay tuned for our first post from Victoria tomorrow.

Easter Dove

This card is my "artistic" impression of the "life giving" gift that Easter brings. The stamped butterfly, embossed flowers and 3d leaves represent new life. The strip of  gold waffle paper represents the wood of the cross. I used Wisteria Wonder and Daffodil Delight in keeping with a spring colour theme.

Apothecary Art #2

These cards are a bit different .  The first  card features Regal Rose. The second card is done with a Pretty in Pink" palette and the white organza ribbon to give it a much softer look..  The embossed white cardstock is sprayed with frost White Shimmer Paint to give the card front a nice finish.

Apothecary Art Workshop

I really enjoyed designing these cards. This stamp set and the Framelits dies work well together. This design would be suitable for birthdays, anniversaries and special occasions too!  Hrere are 3 different syles using the same template. I just changed the ribbon or the colour of the block that the sentiment was stamped on.

Tea Shoppe Cards for Feb Stamp Club.

This was a challenge to get the right balance of colour. I stamped the teacup on Basic Black with gold embossing powder. I love the new Framelits Labels Dies!

This card features the Large Sizzlits Die. The contrast between Concord Crush and Daffodil Delight really makes this card pop.