maria's craft room

Loonie Stampers Challenge - Back To School

Hi there!  It's that time again!  We Loonies enjoyed our summer break (especially me...a whole summer off from work:) and now we're back with our weekly challenges.  It was Wendy's choice to pick the theme and she went with back-to-school.  A little ironic for me since that's what I've been doing for the last two weeks!  Ahhh...there's nothing quite like walking back into a school building at the end of August.  It's so fun to see all of the kids returning and to see how much they've grown over the summer.  I do love my job.

And guess what?  Wendy's BFF Rhonda agreed to join our crazy group!  She makes beautiful cards...Welcome Rho!!  Let's see what the girls did:

Char   Dee  Regan  Rhonda  Wendy

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Until next time...M

Loonie Stampers Challenge #149

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Hi there:)  TGIF...and happy Canada Day to my Loonies!  This week's LSC was Regan's choice and she went with gray, ocean tides and aqua mist.  I've been continuing my reduce and recycle attempts and so I took the sparkly aqua tissue paper my Verve stamps arrived in and glued it down to some white card stock.  You would not believe how awful I am with taking pictures (err...well, you might have some idea at this point) but I was determined to get those sparkles captured on camera!

And you would not believe the crafty DIY things I've been up to.  I've been re-finishing furniture, painting walls, sewing (and my crewel sampler kit from Alicia Paulson should be arriving shortly so I can start on that, too!), repurposing items around the house...having the summer off has been so much fun so far!!*  And guess what happened two days ago?  I picked the first tomato from my garden!  Yes!  

Let's go see what the girls did with the color selection:

Char   Dee  Regan   Wendy 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Until next time...M

*The Loonie challenges are taking a summer vacation, too.  We will start up LSCs again at the beginning of September.  Until then, I'll be posting some of my crafty summer creations!!!

 

Loonie Stampers Challenge #148

Hi there!  This week's challenge was Char's pick and she went with alphabets.  Huh?  What?  Come again?  Yes, use alphabets somehow in your creation.  For some reason this threw me for a huge loop!  Of course I complained to Char and know what her suggestion was?  Put a 'c', an 'h', an 'a' and an 'r' on a card and call it a Char card!  Pfft.  That girl.  Love her.

Anyhow, inspiration struck overnight.  I was in the process of making some homemade liquid hand soap, and I thought that if I used an alphabet stamp set to create a label that would count for the challenge...right?  Right!  Darn the overcast skies this morning - I swear this is pretty in person.  And I was eco-friendly and recycled the container and everything.  I am AWESOME!  lol

So my husband is a hand-washing fanatic and we go through gallons of liquid soap in the blink of an eye.  The soap I usually buy for us to use is the least expensive one I can find, but it still costs us quite a bit each month and it dries out our skin.  So - drumroll please - I researched different recipies for making my own economical, eco-friendly moisturizing soap.  I told you I'm awesome :)  I've been messing around with different recipies, but here's what I'm currently doing:

Ingredients:  1 3.1 oz (90 g) bar Ivory hand soap, 3 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon honey and 4 cups of water

Directions:  Finely chop or grate the soap and put it in a pot with 3 cups of water.  Bring to a boil but constantly stir to avoid overflow.  Stir until melted and then remove from the heat.  Whisk in one and a half tablespoons of the olive oil and then let the pot sit on your stove overnight.  In the morning it will be like really heavy gelatin.  Break it into pieces and put it in a blender along with one cup of water, one tablespoon of honey and the remaining one and a half tablespoons of olive oil.  Blend well and then pour into soap dispensers.  Yields approximately 5.5 cups of liquid soap.

It's fun to do and costs mere pennies compared to what I had been paying for liquid soap from the store!

And for more fun, let's go see what the girls did with this week's challenge:

Char   Dee  Regan   Wendy 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Until next time...M

 

Loonie Stampers Challenge #147

 Hi there!  This week was Wendy's choice and she picked a Father's Day theme for us.  That Wendy is a timely girl!   On my own I decided to go all bright, cheery and alternative.  Hey...the twine and the brads are sort of manly!  And would you believe that my sewing machine is still not fixed?  Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I didn't take it to the repair shop yet.  Hmmm.  Perhaps.

I'm off to climb Mt. Laundry, but before I do, I think it would be fun to check out what the other girls made:

Char   Dee  Regan   Wendy 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Until next time...M

 

Loonie Stampers Challenge #146: Uh Oh

Hi there:)  Ok, so I bought one of those Papertrey Ink color flip book things (because, yes, I was too lazy to make one for myself).  WARNING:  those flip books can result in horrific color challenges.  Yes, I blame it entirely on the flip book.  The colors looked absolutely fabulous together...but I dare you to make anything with them.  Yikes the girls must be hating on me...and I don't blame them.  I cursed myself this morning.  And yeah, I waited until this morning to put something together.  But hey, it's my first day of summer vacation!!!!  Yes, just another opportunity to hate on me some more.  Pfft!

And what the heck happened with my focal piece?  I think my craft supplies deemed it not to be sponge-worthy.  Ha!  Remember that Seinfeld episode?  I crack myself up.  Well I'm off to check out what the girls made.  I'm almost afraid to check my email for fear they let loose on me!  I'm sure their blog entries will be bad enough!!!  :)

Char   Dee  Regan   Wendy 

I usually say play along.  But this week I can't say that!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Until next time...M

 

Loonie Stampers Challenge #145

Hi there:)  Happy Friday to you...it's the last Friday of the school year for me.  Wahoo!   And check out the cool (she'd say kewl) colors that Dee chose for us this week...and that graphic...it's positively groovy.

So yeah...I disappeared for a bit.  I need to stop doing that.  All is finally well - - I had a parent in the hospital for the better part of a week, I had my busiest time of year at work, and our puppy had a reaction to shots.  Fabulous.  So you know me...I picked up my Kindle instead of my computer and tried to pretend all was normal.  Nothing wrong here!  At least that's finally true.  I also gained two pounds.  You should hear my inner monologue about that!

So sometimes the cutest things happen in the stressiest of moments.  Our puppy, Sloane, went for  her one year shots.  This was the first time we were taking her for shots and little did we know that she would have a bad reaction.  Would you believe that our 'old man' Deuce went and laid down on Sloane's dog bed and cuddled with her for hours?!?  Deuce is the dog that demands to spend his days on the LaZBoy leather sofa and his nights laying next to me with his head on my pillow.  He NEVER lays in a dog bed.  And he laid there with Sloane for hours, letting her rest her head on his until she felt better.  Oh I could cry.  I am crying.  It really was so sweet.  Here's a picture:

Dogs are awesome.

And so are my Canadians.  Let's check out what fabulous things they created:

Char   Dee  Regan   Wendy 

Play along!  Link up your creation to the comments section under any of our blogs...we love to come visit you.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Until next time...M

 

Loonie Stampers Challenge #143

Hi there!  Oh holy crap how I cheated this week!!!  Ok, when Char chose denim (a very cool challenge) she made sure we all said we had some.  I was convinced I had a stack of old jeans in my closet.  Surely one of them would be perfect to cut up for craft projects.  So as I went to look for them last night (yeah, it's really busy at work so I'm sorta hurting for time) I had all kinds of creative ideas flowing through my mind.  And then I'm standing at the closet looking in and my mind goes blank.  There are no old jeans.  What?!?!  So I tear through everything in my closet, tear through the dresser, tear through David's things...and then I remember I donated to Goodwill.  Argh!  So then I tear through my papers because I am now convinced that I have denim paper (!)...so yeah this is the closest I could get.  And now I have a messy closet, messy drawers AND a messy craft room.  My mama told me there'd be days like this...

I bet the girls didn't cheat!

Char   Dee  Regan   Wendy 

Play along!  Link up your creation to the comments section under any of our blogs...we love to come visit you.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Until next time...M

 

 

Loonie Stampers Challenge #142

Hi there!  Happy Friday the 13th to you...and check it out:  Wendy chose for us to use script!  So the only script I could think of was that embossing folder...and while I was at it I threw a vellum butterfly in there.  :)

Let's go see what the girls did:

Char   Dee  Regan   Wendy 

Play along!  Link up your creation to the comments section under any of our blogs...we love to come visit you.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Until next time...M

 

Loonie Stampers Challenge #141

Hi there!  TGIF:)  This week's challenge was my pick and I went with birds...but how cool is the graphic that Dee created?!?

Anyhow, I'll make this quick as I am running late to get out the door for work and the puppy is walking back and forth across the laptop.  Well what else did you think a lap dog would do?!?!

Let's see what the girls did:

Char   Dee  Regan   Wendy 

Play along!  Link up your creation to the comments section under any of our blogs...we love to come visit you.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Until next time...M

 

Loonie Stampers Challenge #140

Hi there!  It's Friday...Loonie time!  This week was Dee's pick and she went with challenging us to use patterned paper or stock as our card base.  Fun:)  So much fun, in fact, that I made two cards for today.  It was easy to do so considering I've been up since 3am watching the Royal Wedding coverage.  *sigh*  I  am such a sucker for these type of things.  In fact, I am wearing a tiara that I bought just for today.  Seriously!  I have been wearing it as I watch the wedding on the tv in my craft room.  The little girl in me still dreams of being a princess and wearing a dress with a long train and riding away in a horse drawn carriage.  And while I did marry a prince of a man, sadly, I am currently transported about town in a Subaru.

Anyhow, as I was going through my stash I found some October Afternoon paper that had a map of London.  Appropriate for today, no?  So I put this guy together:

Let's check out the girls - - wonder if any of them have been wearing a tiara today?  *snort*

Char   Dee  Regan   Wendy 

Play along!  Link up your creation to the comments section under any of our blogs...we love to come visit you.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Until next time...M

 

Loonie Stampers Challenge #139

Hi there:)  Happy Easter to you!  This week's challenge was Reg's pick, and she went with wood.  Very cool, no?  I wimped out and went with woodgrain paper.  But hey - extra credit for a polka dot tree, right?  *wink*  And I am so excited because today marks the first day of spring break...Wahoo!  It's been a tough week around here but we made it through just fine.  We even had to handle having our oldest dog, Deuce, have emergency oral surgery yesterday.  He is doing well, but is now minus one cracked molar, another molar, and three other teeth.  And yes, I was a mess about having to put him under for surgery.  But he is absolutely fine now and milking the situation for all the attention he can get.  Here's a picture of him as he cuddled on David's chest this morning:

Oh how I love this dog.  But you already knew that.  What else do I love?  My Canadians.  Let's see what the girls did with wood:

Char   Dee  Regan   Wendy 

Play along!  Link up your creation to the comments section under any of our blogs...we love to come visit you.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Until next time...M

ps.  Are you surprised the challenge was wood and I didn't make a single off-color joke?  I am!

 

Loonie Stampers Challenge #138

Hi there!  Happy, happy Friday to you.  This week was Char's choice, and she went with some pretty snazzy colors.  Frankly, I'm excited to do any color challenge with this bright blue.  It just screams 'summer' to me and right about now I'm darned focused on summer!  Things are going well at work (a high school...I work in the College Counseling department) but it's my busy time again.  Spring break starts at the end of next week and I will be dancing with excitement until it arrives:)

And for those fabulous friends who want an update, the current number is 32.  Thirty two damn pounds off of my body.  And counting!  I'm working on planting a large garden right now so that I will have something to do this summer that will require me to go outside and bend and twist, etc. AND I will have plenty of fresh veggies of my own to eat.  Fingers crossed that at least one of my thumbs turns green soon.

Enough about me.  Let's go check out the girls:

Char   Dee  Regan   Wendy 

Play along!  Link up your creation to the comments section under any of our blogs...we love to come visit you.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Until next time...M

 

 

Loonie Stampers Challenge #137

Hi there:)  Hope you're doing well...after all, it's FRIDAY!  Wahoo!  This week's LSC was Wendy's pick and she sketched out another winner.  And yeah...I voluntarily used shades from the purple family.  Why is it that I complain when anyone picks purple for us to use but then go there on my own?!?  Oh, and the faux stitching?  It's because I jammed my sewing machine so badly that I might have to take it to a repair shop to get it working again.  So NOT winning, lol.

Let's see what the girls did this week:

Char   Dee  Regan   Wendy 

Play along!  Link up your creation to the comments section under any of our blogs...we love to come visit you.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Until next time...M

Loonie Stampers Challenge #136 - Use Flowers

Hello there.  It's LSC time and also my turn to pick so I went with FLoWeRs!!!  I'm so tired of winter, and Mother Nature is still playing with me.  It's April 1st and it's snowing outside right now.  Seriously.  Where does she think I live...Canada?!?!  lol

I made this card with all of my girlfriends in mind.  You know who you are...you're the ones reading this.  Thank you for being my friend, even when I fall off of the face of the earth.  Know that you are always in my heart and my thoughts.  And that I'm fine.  And that I cheated a bit on my diet and caused a plateau at 28lbs.  (But I had loads of fun doing it!!!)  I can't wait to catch up with and visit with all of you.  And Wendy - yes, I Skype.  I'm all kinds of technologically cool like that.  

Here are my girls:

Char   Dee   Jewels   Regan   Wendy 

Play along!  Link up your creation to the comments section under any of our blogs...we love to come visit you.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Until next time...M

 

Loonie Stampers Challenge #135

Hi there!  TGIF, no?  And hooray for Dee picking a free pass Friday!!!!  This couldn't come at a better time.  Luckily I had something post-worthy lurking in my camera (and yeah, I did the ultimate no-no and photographed using a flash!).   I'm so excited today...I get to meet my newest niece in person (Skype only does so much).  My sister is doing what I'm going to call a flyby...she'll be in and out of town so fast I'll probably be wondering if she merely left the plane on the tarmac with the engines running.  

Let's do our own flyby and see what the girls did:

Char   Dee   Jewels   Regan   Wendy 

Play along!  Link up your creation to the comments section under any of our blogs...we love to come visit you.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Until next time...M