Do you ever get the feeling...

...that you're waiting for the other shoe to drop? Sigh.

First, I should start off by saying that Midnight Madness was a success, and as usual, a lot of fun. It feels like a long night by about 11:30, and since the market is only 3 hours long, a 6 hour sale really is a long time. The set up was a little different, and I had a different location for the first time since Cathy started hosting these sales, but I was squished in with some great people. I was super happy to be away from the doorway, which every year I somehow would manage to forget meant I'd be fixing things that had blown over all night long.

Supplies: Papers from Imaginisce; green layer embossed with Cuttlebug folder;
Santa stamp from Inkadinkado; red fun flock from Stampendous!;
huge snowflake from Spellbinders die; rhinestones from Dollarama

Now for the shoe! Last week Connor had a massive allergic reaction to something. Tuesday he started with a few hives, and I just kept an eye on it. By Wednesday after school the rash was huge and his eyes started swelling & off to the ER we went. The doctor gave him prednisone & benadryl, which seems to have stopped the reaction. Today is the last day for medication, so we'll see if it reoccurs when we stop. A referral is in for an allergist to do a complete allergy screening. I do not anticipate that being a pleasant experience. At all. We have a few other health issues circling around here too, and as a result between 3 of us, we had 5 appointments last week.

Supplies: Papers from Imaginisce; snowman & frogs digital stamp from Pink Cat Studio;
red and white (on scarf) fun flock from Stampendous!; rhinestones & googly eyes from Dollarama;
"Merry Always" sentiment from Hero Arts; flatback gift buttons from Dress it Up!

This isn't really such a big deal, considering, but more of a straw/camel's back sort of deal, but the washer just died. Again. We bought it in 2008, a front-load Kenmore, for about $700. Then in the spring of 2010 we spent another $400 on it when the brace holding up the bucket broke. That's not including the extra $100 we spent on a used washer to see us through the month we spent waiting for the replacement part to come in. Plus, I was in the middle of doing laundry! So now I have a soaking wet, stinky load waiting, and I can't get the water hoses undone so that I can switch the washers around. For once, I guess it's a good thing that we never throw anything away around here, as we still have that used washer. Knock on wood that whatever this problem is, it is easily fixed, and the last mechanical one for a while.

I think I need a nap! lol
xoxo
Jessi

I'm going Midnight Mad!

From the town of Sackville's website:

Midnight Madness, Friday, November 19th.
Live entertainment, horse drawn wagon rides, visits with Santa Claus, hot apple cidar {sic} and hot chocolate, sidewalk vendors and great Christmas shopping.

Now, what they don't mention, and what I haven't seen advertised this year, is that the annual craft sale at the Bridge Street Cafe is taking place once again, from 6pm to midnight. Even though it's been happening for the last 5 or 6 years it's still good to put the word out & let folks know what's there, so I hope some ads pop up in the next few days. This year will see some familiar faces - me of course! - as well as my dear friends Cheryl & Dee. Cheryl makes fantastic jewelry for all tastes & styles, and Dee does the most incredible things with fibre - visit her blog to see a bit of what she does.
For more information on Midnight Madness visit the Sackville community calendar and check out the various links for November 19th.

And now let's see if we can pull up a Christmasy card for you....

Supplies: papers from MAMBI;
snowman circle rub-on from Royal Langnickel;
button present from Dress it Up!;
"Season's Greetings" chipboard from my vast Christmas stash :)

xoxo
Jessi

Autumn birthday

Supplies: paper from Basic Grey Origins, 12"x12";
acetate butterfly by K&Co; Happy Birthday stamp from Digital Princess;
stamped with Peeled Paint Distress ink & covered with Sakura Stardust glitter pen;
yellow & black gems from Dollarama

It will take me a while to get the Christmas cards I'm working on scanned & edited - I have been creating up a storm & just haven't felt like sitting at the computer to do it. I don't think anyone would find it a stretch that I like the making part best :)
xoxo
Jessi

ETA: I swear this was pre-scheduled to post last week...so I will have to make sure I come & check up on my posts to see that they're going through!

Look familiar?

Supplies: white cardstock, embossed with D'Vine swirls Cuttlebug folder;
Spellbinders butterfly and oval die-cuts;
sentiment stamp from My Favourite Things, embossed with silver EP;
silver paint pen for edging; rhinestone swirl from $store;
 and LOTS of Martha Stewart silver glitter

This was the third of a run of butterfly cards that I *had* to make with the glittery butterfly. The pink one I showed a few weeks ago, and I made an aqua one prior to that for my friend Cheryl's birthday...that's what started the whole thing, so let's blame her. The glitter is horribly messy, but it just looks so fantastic in real life that I keep doing it. As usual, it's hard to capture sparkle in a scan, but I think this does show some of the texture the glitter adds.
We're off to hopefully finish the last of our Christmas shopping today - Monday we got the boys' lists done, and now to work on some grown-ups. We tend to do the easy stuff first since really, the boys do the work for us, and we just have to go looking.
xoxo
Jessi

Thank Ewe!



Supplies: Paper, Basic Grey's Urban Prairie;
stamps: sheep, sentiment from Pink Cat Studio, grass pattern from Stampin' Up;
Ink: sky is Broken China distress ink; grass is Citrus Adirondack ink;
Fun Flock on sheep by Stampendous.

This could be a challenge - I have Connor beside me comparing Thomas the Tank Engines and expecting a response every few seconds! Ah, you've got to love scripting in the morning.

The stripy paper above is one of my favourite patterns of all time (of all time!) and I bought extra, and then hoarded it. I'm trying to be on a 'use it or get rid of it' kick with crafty supplies, but it's a process. At least that's what I'm trying to convince myself. I didn't do anything foolish like make a pledge not to buy new supplies - that would be ridiculous. I picked up all sorts of gorgeous Christmas paper yesterday, and I can't wait to cut into it. Vintage is big :) Expect to see lots of lace & doilies in the near future!

Anyhow, about this card, of course I love puns. The sheep, from one of my favourite companies, Pink Cat Studio, was stamped & then masked so that I could sponge the sky & grass. After that, I covered the sheep with Fun Flock, because, seriously, how can you resist a fuzzy sheep? And I suppose that's about it. Now off to hear more about how James and Edward (Egward, he always says) are both useful and yet, they are different in very important ways. LOL!

xoxo
Jessi

Cute as can be!

Supplies: Paper from Basic Grey Oliver, 12x12 pack;
rub-ons from Making Memories & Daisy D's;
buttons from stash

I find baby boy cards hard to make - even ones that start out as gender-neutral often end up frilly and girly by the time I'm done. So, with this cute monkey & train I decided to not do too much to it & let it stay boyish. I hope! The "Oh Baby!," arrow, and "cute as can be" rub-ons are all from Daisy D's, and the orange "Celebrate!" is from Making Memories, and honestly was an afterthought. Once I had the buttons all sewn on, it just seemed to need another pop of colour.
Right now I'm buried in Christmas cards, preparing for the first of 2 Midnight Madness events that are held in Sackville every autumn. The first, if you're local, is Friday, November 19th. I'll be set up in the Bridge Street Cafe, the same location as the farmer's market, from 6 to 12 pm, along with lots of other crafters. Closer to the event I'll be sure to post relevant links to the Town of Sackville, which has plenty on the go during Midnight Madness, for families, for students, and definitely for shoppers.
xoxo
Jessi

Birthday Puppy

Supplies: papers, all Basic Grey "Max and Whiskers";
Dog stamp, Inkadinkado; birthday rub-on from Pebbles

I love these papers - check out all the little bones, doghouses, and dogs! This puppy dog is too adorable - the sentiment 'he' comes with says, "you make me so happy I have to wag my tail." I've stamped him on patterned paper, and then again on brown, and once more on white. Then, I've fussy-cut the whole dog out of the brown paper, and just the eye from the white paper. This allows the puppy to have that rakish patch over his eye.
Back to the Christmas Card {Salt} Mines~
xoxo
Jessi

One-of-a-Kind

Supplies: Rose stamp - Fifth Avenue Floral, Stampin' Up!, stamped with Colorbox
white pigment ink and embossed with white EP;
Sentiment stamp Hero Arts, stamped with Colorbox chalk ink & embossed with clear EP;
Rose coloured in with floating reinker technique, using Spiced Marmalade Distress ink.
Papers from "Nook & Pantry" by Basic Grey.

I hope it's OK to say that I love how this turned out, because I do! I love all the colours that I got from using just one ink, and I love how simple the layout stayed. Anything else on this card would be too much.
The boys & I are still riding our bikes back and forth to school, although we are almost the last ones. There are one or two other kids who ride a few days a week. Every morning this week it's been below zero when we start out - gloriously bright and clear, but CRISP is an understatement. Our plan is to ride until the snow falls, but from the creaking and groaning of the bikes in the cold, they may not cooperate.
xoxo
Jessi

A Little Piece of Heaven

Supplies: recycled card (moon & bear, cloud background);
rub-ons (green & blue stars, 'sweet baby') Daisy D's;
vellum quote (heaven) DCWV; mauve & mint cardstock

This was the very last of these sweet baby bear cards I had from a package I bought on clearance years ago. The moon is covered in glitter, and the little bear & duck look so cute snuggling up together.... The bear/moon piece is cut out & popped up on foam tape for dimension. The star is cut out as well, and carefully glued to a piece of bamboo thread so that when the card is standing, the star sways. The cloud background is from the back of the original card, and the vellum quote is free-hand cut into a cloud-ish shape to go along with the sky theme.
Things around here are fairly quiet - for now! Halloween was a lot more fun than last year, mainly because last year Riley had a fever, and both Connor & I came down with the same thing immediately afterward. We made it all the way down to the school, and even an extra block over, and they made out like bandits - 3 reusable shopping bags full of all kinds of goodies. I think what impressed them most was that by going down towards the school, they ran into some of their classmates out trick-or-treating. Usually we are among the first to go out, and so they only see their friends when they come by our house.
Sarah diligently pointed out that I have been a big slacker in terms of posting, so I am going to schedule a bunch of posts right now so hopefully there should be something to look at most of the week!
xoxo
Jessi

Well, that was a bust!

Ha! I must have done something wrong, because my pre-post was a no-post, even though everything seemed to be filled out correctly. Better luck with this one...we hope...
Hmm, so what to say today? The kids had a doctor's appointment yesterday - the doctor we have now is a complete tool. You would think that in a doctor's office, the DOCTOR would be least likely to stare at your autistic child tic-ing (how would you spell that, anyhow...ticking? doesn't seem right), but this guy just gaped at Riley like he had a second head. Plus, he has some sort of inability to converse with the kids, even with something as basic as Riley asking to go first. Now, you'd think, knowing my kids, that Riley would be able to wait, but no. He has always gone first at the doctor, and for some reason this guy keeps picking Connor first, and is unable to switch, even though all he does is check weight, blood pressure, listen to their chests. Doesn't seem like it would be important who went first, right? Ugh. Anyhow, everyone is healthy, and everyone's weight is headed in the right direction. Connor is up to 86 pounds, and Riley went down to 105. It's very hard to know what to say to Riley - Rob & I have to lose weight, and I am actively trying to, but Riley just needs to maintain where he's at, more or less. He was so excited to have lost 5 pounds that I'm worried about what message we're sending, even though I continually stress that what we all need to do is eat properly and exercise, and our bodies will naturally be the size they are supposed to be. Everyone is different, right? But when he's reading food labels and asking me if he should not eat bread because it has some fat in it....anyway, it's an ongoing issue.

Supplies: Papers all from Cosmo Cricket, Material Girl;
Flowers from Bo Bunny; button and letter stickers Basic Grey;
lace, ribbon, and embroidery floss from my crafty stash

This paper from Cosmo Cricket, Material Girl, is filled with so many awesome crafty patterns, and I drooled over it everywhere I saw it online for months before buying it. I bought it in May, and have made I think 3 cards. Every time I sit down to work with it, I just don't have any ideas that I like. I found the pattern for this sweet little dress with apron on a blog that I follow, called Fairy Blossoms and Life, by Alex Maldonado. She shared it in PDF format, which, if you print at the 'multiple pages per page' setting works out to be the perfect size for a card.
Off to make some apple granola crisp - I can't for the life of me remember where I got the recipe from, but if it's good I'll share it. It's got coconut, so I don't see how it could possibly fail :)
xoxo,
Jess