Friday, May 30, 2008

Another day, another beach....

Well, more beach hopping in sunny, yet a little cool in the Algarve.
Loving it here. There are so many little beaches and places of interest just a few minutes from our house.
THe countryside reminds me so much of NFLD. I swear that Nfld, fell off Europe and went to Canada.

I finally warmed up yesterday. I've been wearing a sweater for days. We found a beach called Praia Branca. It was very small and private. Not the touristy kind we've found previously. There were many caravans and German campers there. I was a loser and didn't wear sunscreen, but I did wear my tankini top. OUCH. Yes, I hurt.

We went to the market in V. do Bispo this morning. Bought some stuff for supper. Tomorrow, we're going to the little restaurant in the village for BBQ chicken. THe owner himself cooks it outside. Looking forward to it. I'm getting a little fished out!

I finished my book, so now I'm a little restless. no creative stimulation, no creating, no blurfing. i wandered into a little shop in the square, and lo and behold.. they had crochet thread. So a bought a few balls and will experiment making some flowers for my cards. Look out friends, you may have an abundance of flowers to out on your cards if all goes well. lol

I tried to d/l some pics, but Blogger is giving me grief in that area. The kids have had enough playing in the park and everyone is hungry.
I'll try to get a trip here later...

Thanks ofr checking in..
Amanda

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Day 2 or 3, what day is it?

K, I think I have a little time to get things going here. The kids are asleep in the back of the car. Big day at a very windy beach. Pics for that will come tomorrow, as we forgot the cable again!

The pic below is from our trip to Lagos a short trip from here. It is in the town centre. little laneways and things going everywhere with much to explore.


This is a really tourist town area. Lots of brits there. Of course, had to take a picture of the marina. We had lunch in a restaurant just around the corner form the tourist section. WHat a difference it made. We were the only tourists there. Henry speaks Portuguse, so it helps a lot.


The 2nd day, we went to Sagres where it is the most south west point in Portugal and Europe. This was special to me, as the town I'm from in NFld, Port aux Basques is also the most South West tip in NFLD. And let me say, it was just as windy!!! Crazy windy. We walked around the tip to the lighthouse and back again. Crazy fishermen hanging off the cliffs. Saw on land a small one. Hope it tasted good. Look how long the pole is...


neve and me at the tip. how windy is that!. She didn't want to be in the wind anymore..

And another look at the fortress. Fort Henry. There is a bunch of history to tell, but later.


Today, we went to the beach in Portimão called Praia da Rocha. Huge cliffs, mucho winds (again) and many tourists. I think they were they only ones there. i mean really, why would the locals spend a day going down enormous cliffs to hide out by the rock for wind cover?

Off to start the charcoal outdoor BBQ (like a fire place outside). He ran after the fish truck this morning. They drive around and ring the bell. So we're making our own sardines. Yesterday, i ordered a hamburger at a restaurant, instead of fish. Umm. go for the fish. It is not an american burger. Good, but no bread and came with a fried egg. i ate every bit, but not what was expected.

Adeus,
Thanks for reading..

Monday, May 26, 2008

We're here!!!!

We're here in Sunny Portugal in the Algarve.
I'm sitting under a chestnut tree using free wireless in the village square. We are currently in Vila do Bispo, a larger village than where we are staying- Raposeira.
Wow, the streets, laneways are small in the village. I've learned to just close my eyes around some corners. I have faith in Henry's driving abilities, but boy, it is tight.

I don't have any photos loaded today, as forgot to pack the cable for the camera. It's back at the house. I'll so it tomorrow.
(update: we found it, but the kids are getting restless and it's chilly now.)

Today. we went to Lagos. Definately a trendy tourist city. Many Brits here this time of year. Had a nice sardines and fish soup lunch in a cafe that was tucked away. We were the only tourist in there. Nice.
THen we went to a beach in Salema. Tine, but Raf got soaked. The water was cold. It reminded me of my times at the beach, growing up in Newfoundland. We would let the waves tease us until our feet got frozen, then let the waves get us further, until we were so numb, we couldn't feel a thing.

Anyhow, that's enough for now. We're outside and it's getting cold. Must go back to the house. more tomorrow

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Fly little Butterfly..

It's after midnight. It's official.. I'm going to Portugal today!! SHRIEKS OF DELIGHT!

There is much to do before then, but I'm sure the late departure will allow for us to get things done. We planned on this trip 3 years ago and here we are. Rented a house in the Algarve for 2 weeks with some trips to Lisboa and Coimbra and other day trips, the beach. We'll be sitting on the patio eating just caught sardines, going to the market, BBQ chicken, playing on the beach. All of this depends on the weather of course. It will be colder there on Sunday than it will be here. Hope that changes.

So I'll be using this site to update on our trip for family and friends, or anyone who wants to see some of the life there. You have been warned:} My Dh has already searched out a place to go online. I don't think we'll be able to go more than a few days without getting the shakes! lol

Now on to the card...
This was inspired by Becky Oehlers. http://hemidemisemiquaver.wordpress.com/ She did a card of butterflies and had one of them flying away. Very calming.
THe card base looks like handmade paper. I bought them at Ikea a few christmases ago. THe envelpoe is the same, but has some embroidery on it. Pretty.
The black butterflies are punched from fabric paper using the Martha stewart punch. THe white paper I got from da bella store. It is embossed with velvet. yum.
THe sentiment is from Papertrey's Butterfly Wishes.




Yep, I think that's it. I may have a few photos in here you have not seen, so I may sneak a card or 2 in while I'm gone. I'm too tired to figure out how to delay posting on blogger.

See ya in a few days. Yippee!!

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Thursday, May 22, 2008

bday cupcakes



Howdy,
t i keep thinking today is Friday, then i freak, b/c I think "We're leaving tomrrow". THen I remember that it's only Thrusday and think, oh, I still have time to do this/that, so I can't use the excuse that we're leaving to not do it. lol

I'm making some thank you notes for the attendees and present givers to my party. This note die is from Cuttlebug, the sentiment is from the buck bin at Michael's in the US. Don't know if they have them here in Canada.

THe cupcakes were my birthday cake. They tasted as lovely as they looked and I thank my friend, Yvonne, for taking the trouble to go to a friend's house to make them. Her kitchen is being renovated.

Must go, kiddie pulling the leg..
Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Birth announcement



I'm making another baby kit. this time, it's a birth announcement one. My friend is now 1 day overdue, so let's hope it's soon.
I left a large open space for a picture of the wee one when he comes.


Stars are SU star punches. star stamps are also from SU. "a star is born" sentiment is from Stamping Bella. I'll have to look up the inside stamp. It was on sale in the fall at a LSS. I popped the little stars on pop dots for variation.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Monday, May 19, 2008

baby Shower thanks


There are sooo many babies going to pop soon at the parenting centre I visit with the kids. i have a lot of cards to make and fast.
here is a thank you card I made a s a set of 20. I'll make a gift out of it as I did with the bridal shower thank yous.

http://latenightstamper.blogspot.com/2008/04/bridal-shower-thank-you-kit.html

The stork and sentiments come from a baby set from Fiskars. It has everything. I should take a pick of it to show you.
I used "tiny tile" Cuttlebug folder and the tag punch from Stampin' up!

Quiet Victoria Day around here. Waiting for the babe to go for a nap..

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Sarah's Birthday ensemble

I had a great birthday yesterday. It started out with mucho rain and a drive to Stamping Bella with 2 friends. My friend and upline, Sarah, (www.sarahiscrafty.com) made this great bday hat for me. I had to wear it in the store. We had a laugh and I was a little embarrassed. I'm really a quiet, shy type. hmm hmm.



Emily sure does know how to shop. She has another load of new shtuff! Velvet brads and paper, demos on the big shot die cutting machine, bling, bling, bling, bellas, not bellas, you name it. She got it in that little space. They're gonna have to expand again.:}

Then I came home, prepared myself for my "surprise" birthday party. My husband organized it at a friend's house, but I found out about it before the day. I think the biggest surprise though, was that no one was there when I showed up!! HAHA. Joke's on me. What can I say, all my friends have children. Have you ever made it on time when you have children?
The sun came out, the wind made an appearance and everyone had a great time. The kids were busy and and everyone was fed and watered. Thanks hon.

Sarah also made a matching card for the hat. Cute eh?


I have a bunch of projects to do and new toys to play with. Just waiting for some time to experiment.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Saturday, May 17, 2008

It has arrived!!

Today, I celebrate the 40th anniversary of my mother's day of labour. I hope it was worth it for her. LOL

Off to visit THE Stamping Bella for a laugh. Great way to celebrate, don't you think?

Have a great one.
Amanda

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Baroque butterfly


We're back. Yippee. Nice to be home. I miss the king size bed though:}

Here is a card made with my new Inkadoo stamp set. I love this one and went back after my initial shop to get it. I imagined a card stamped with fun flock on it. Well, my 1st attempt is needing some attention. i don't like fun flock. It's stickier than glitter! What was I thinking? lol

Anyhow, here is my next attempt. Embossing. I can handle embossing. It took over an hour to set this card together. Glad I bought the butterfly punch by Martha Stewart. it saved the card I think. ribbon slide by SU, ribbon, IDK (I don't know) I have a few other techniques I want to play with. I don't recall seeing one of them, so I'm excited to try it out. Tomorrow though. have to conduct the choir rehearsal tonight. No time to play.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Zoo Trip

This post is so not stamping related, but I wanted to show my family what we've been up to today...

We went to the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium. 1st of all, it's not on the GPS system we have!!?? How can that happen? But I did manage to get a crossroad. Thank goodness. I had written directions from the hotel, but the traffic in one area was so tight, I definately would have missed the turn off there and back.

What a pretty drive. Lots of forests and hills. Am I correct in saying parts of Pittsburgh are in a valley? Seemed that way as we were driving by. My memories were validified today as I drove thru this area. Henry and I drove thru here years ago on a trip to a sailing regatta in Washington. I remember it was thunderous, huge rainstorms as we drove by, We kept behind a transport truck as the radio was giving info on really bad weather, but we didn't know where we were in relation to it. So we thought, if it's really bad, the big trucks will get off the road. So we stayed close. :}

Anyhow, the kids had a great time at the zoo. it's on a mountain top. Interesting. Rafael was so excited to have a map to follow.Here are some pictures below to highlight our trip.



This pond of fish was really vibrant, considering the water was murky. THe elephants and giraffes were on the other side. Neve really liked the fish and wanted to touch them.

This next picture of Rafael is funny as I viewed it on the camera. He's sitting so proudly right in front of the "no climbing on rocks" sign.

In this pic, he is under the merkat cage. They have a tunnel system and a few places where the kids can pop out and the merkats are running around them. Cool.
As I write this, there are horns blaring and people whoopin' it up. Guess the Penguins won. Can you believe that the game wasn't broadcast here? It wasn't on the cable pkg the hotel has anyway. Drag.

and the last pic I wanted to add because it was a fluke. Don't you think it looks like a soft painting? I turned off the flash and put the camera on the glass window. I like it anyway.

So, that was our adventure for the day. It was 20 degrees celcius. Lovely, just lovely. Tomorrow is a short day here, we're back on the road to home. bleck. More adventures to find some shoes for Rafael. he grew too much in the last month. everything is too small.
Can't wait to get home and play with the new goodies.

Thanks for reading,
Amanda

Monday, May 12, 2008

1st card I ever made


And the 1st stamp set I ever owned! Loads of Love from Stampin' UP!.
This coming Father's day marks the 2 year anniversary of my introduction to stamping.

It is an annual visit to Ottawa for a sailing regatta. This time, I brought some pics to scrapbook with the help of a good friend, Chrissy. When I asked her to help, she did and then told me she was more into stamping now. When she introduced me to it, I was is love. i don't know if I breathed. i was so excited inside to do it. I was 8 months pregnant and 1 week before starting maternity leave early due to work stress. That weekend was the 1st time I felt relaxed in 8 months! It was so free and lovely to create.

Being pregnant, I didn't know how much time I would get to actually stamp when Neve was born. rafael was such a difficult baby, I imagined my time being stuck on my butt nursing. lol But she is her own, and she was a good baby. I had time to create and I wasn't so stressed out. Maybe it was being a mom for the 2nd time.

Anyhow, I ordered the Loads of Love set, white ink and 12x12 earth elements and off I went. As you can see, I used it a bit in the beginning. I still love to colour that set with chaulks and am looking forward to seeing what I'll make this year for Father's Day cards with it.




Sorry for the poor quality of photos. It was before my intro to the world of blogging and I was only taking pics to keep as an idea file.

Oh yes, I did get to shop tonight and picked up a few things at Joann's. They had great sales, but Michael's didn't have any. I did get Martha Stewart's butterfly punch though. Looking forward to using that one.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Still here

hi there,

I'm still around, just in Pittsburgh at the moment. Dh came for work, so we tagged along. Best part, the hotel is across the road from Michael's and Joann's!!! I make a quick stop at Jo's with the kids, but am hoping to go back to both after supper sans kidlets.

I didn't bring ANY stamping things with me. Can you believe it? I have a few projects to work on, but didn't have it in me to pack it all up when we were getting ready. I'll just have to buy new stuff and drool over the packaging. lol

I'll dig through my card file alter and post something you haven't seen. I'll probably blurf all night without stamping stuff here.

Thanks for looking/listening,
Amanda

Friday, May 9, 2008

Anniversary card


No, you're not seeing double from last post. After my hubby brought the cards to sell at work, (great idea, I sold enough for my shopping spree in Pittsburgh next week. So pumped!) someone wanted an anniversary card. like, today! So I copied the layout from the wedding card. Changed a few things, voila, an anniversary card. Think I'll make a few more of these. I have some other colours of this handmade paper. The love and wedding cake pieces are from Making Memories. This image is from Michael's.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Wedding Dress



I'm singing for a wedding this weekend and I made this card for the lovely couple from my church. Her colour is burgundy, so I went with it.
Image is from Stamping Bella. The cake thingy is from making memories, I think, or the dollar store. I know, quite a difference, but I bought it at a 2nd hand sale.

That's it for now.
Thanks for looking,
Amanda

MOre ElLA and LoOloO



Ellla and Looloo. I'll have to buy the other one. I so love this one. I made the hair orange in this one for my friend's daughter who is turning 2, just around the time of my niece.

Pendant is from the dollar store. I knew it would come in handy some time. Must go to bed...

thanks for looking,
Amanda

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

She's turning 2



yeah, lame title. This card is for my niece, Lauren. She's turning 2 next week, but we'll be away, so I'll have to put it in the mail soon. She's only 3 months older than my daughter. Wish we lived closer. They would have a blast.

Realized there isn't a lot of stamping on this one. And it has a polka dot theme. Elephant and #2 are Cuttlekids dies. The #2
is stamped with dots from the Dots and Paisley set from SU, then embossed with pink EP. The wagon is also done in pink embossing powder. The stamp is from Stamping Bella! yes, it's true. One of the 1st images I ever ordered. Weird eh? I had to cut the handle, it was in the wrong direction.

What else? Oh yes, background: Base is a sparkle card from a box I bought at Michael's last fall, bottom vellum is cuttlebug circle plate, soft sky is cuttlebug swiss dots. I tore the papers for some interest.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Pomegranate fern



I enjoyed making the wish book so much, I decided to try that technique in a different colour... purely pomegranate.
Upon a closer inspection of Nichole's original card, http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/capture_the_moment/2007/06/4.html
I copied it a little closer with the sewing and layers. I didn't have any word punches or matching buttons, so I used a quickutz die and a heart brad. I made a few of these for Mother's Day also.

I have an idea in my head for my niece's bday card. I hope it will work. Off to play.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Monday, May 5, 2008

Square flower hug



I decided I needed to start a Portugal fund. Did I tell you we're going in a few weeks!! Yikes.
So I'm going to make a batch of Mother's Day cards to send with my husband to work. I mean, he works with a bunch of men, who I'm sure haven't even thought of shopping for Mother's Day yet. D'ya think it's a good target market? LOL

Here is a similar layout I did with my children's picture for Valentine's day. I got this sentiment with the tree frog set I bought at the CreativFestival. (I'll look up the company later). Embossed it with seafoam EP on black cardstock. The card base is from Michael's. Comes already embossed. (Let me tell ya, it's half the price in the States, where I bought it last fall) Flowers are from a bag of primas I bought a year or so ago. I need more. My colours are not very plentiful. The bling is also from Michael's.

Thanks for looking, off to put the baby to bed and play... so glad my son likes to stamp!
Amanda

Friday, May 2, 2008

Origami shirt


Here is another plain, I mean clean layout.
The origami shirt template can be found quite easily if you google it. So easy to make. The button brads are perfect for this. I've also seen the shirt with a little tie. Cute. The brown paper is from Corelations and is embossed with my cuttlebug folder and sanded to bring out the inside colour of the paper.
The "For You" sentiment is quickutz. Ribbon, Michael's from a few years ago and the brad is not a brad. It's a snap like thing that you need a cropadile for. I'm not overly fond of them as they don't have much depth. It didn't even really catch the ribbon that well. Let's hope glue will keep it there. Maybe a glue dot for extra measure.

I'm thinking Father's day for this one, but left it generic so my workshop attendees can put what they wish.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Essence of Swiss dots


Here's another card with Essence of Love from SU.
I've been playing with water colour paper. I coloured the stamp with my marker, misted it with a fine mister and stamped it on watercolour paper. I tried another with making the paper wet first, but I put too much water and it bled too much. When I got an image I was happy with, I coloured the flowers with versa marker and put clear embossing powder on it. I'm also trying things on glossy cardstock. It is still a learning curve for me, so I'll share once I get a decent image.

The background paper is watercolour paper. I inked up the raised side of Swiss Dots Cuttlebug die and put it through. Liking the result. I wanted to keep the card simple. Maybe b/c I have no creative streak these days, so simple and clean is working. also equals plain for me. Sorry.

Off to the Fantasy fair with the kids and uncle in tow today. We had such fun last year and now Neve will be old enough to enjoy also. She was stuck in the stroller most of the time last time.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda