Mojo Monday Challenge #158 with some Cameo Coral.

Happy Monday everyone.

I am so happy to be back on my blog. I missed not having the time to sit down and share my thoughts and cards with you. For some of you your Mondays will be a new week. It is like 'Saying good bye' to the relaxing days of in the weekend. I am not sure what happened to my weekend.. I was busy! Very busy.. that's all I probable need to say..

Don't all days as a mom sometimes feel the same? Sigh.. But it's all good! We had lots of sun and happy kids running around having a blast..

Oh and I have to tell you.. My weekend really wasn't all that bad at all.. Yesterday in church I was able to see one of my dear friends Lisa.. Wow.. was it ever way to long ago since we connected. I love hanging out with her. She has such beautiful spirit. So sweet and kind and wise at the same time. I really hope we can connect soon (Hi Lisa :) and make some cards.

I was also on the phone with my dear friend Ellie from Holland. Oh.. how I enjoyed that one! She makes me laugh and think.. She inspires me in so many ways. I wish my arms were long enough so I could give this sweet woman a hug.. But that's not going to happen. But she knows that I love her.. even when we don't talk every week.. or 2 weeks.. or month.. sigh :) Hi Ellie :)

So yes .. Today is Monday.. So happy I am able to post the card I created this morning for the Mojo Monday #158 challenge. I looked at the challenge and thought.. I can dot it.. So here it is.

I don't think I used these colors a whole lot in this card making-chapter of my life :) But these colors are so cute! There is Riding Hood Red, Cameo Coral, Whisper White and River Rock.

They sure look great together.

Well.. I hope this Monday was a great beginning to your week. I'm going to soak up some sun in our back yard with the kids... while it is here..

So glad our tomatoes can ripen in the sun as well. They deserve it. After working so hard to become little tomatoes.. now they can get some color as well.

Blessings and hugs Pauline

Baby Steps by Stampin Up and me

Hi everyone. Hope you are having a good good Sunday. I loved going to church this morning and seeing all our dear friends again. Tomorrow 3 of them will swing by with their kids and were going to do some card making. Can't wait.. There is something about getting together and chatting and creating something new! The kids will have a blast and we will too.

I created this card with the 'Baby Steps' stamp from Stampin Up. You're right.. (smile) it is so incredibly cute.. I love that tiny little elephant.. and the mom who walks so lovingly and confident in front of her little one. I want my life to be like that.. guiding the way for my little ones.
My oldest son is now 6 years and he showed me his loose tooth this morning.. So cool! Can't believe it! His first loose tooth.. He told me that from now on, he only wants to drink his food and not eat it.. in case his tooth really comes out.. hummn.. Cute kid.

Have a great rest of the day.. and yes for my Calgary friends. This rain will pass!

Countryside by Stampin Up and me

Howdy everyone. So glad I had some time this morning to show you this card I made.

I have to admit, living for 28 years of my life in Holland in the city Woerden and Dordrecht, added a lot of 'country' to me. You know, Woerden and Kamerik and Oudewater have many, many farms. Friends of us made and still make the yummy dutch cheese 'Goudse Kaas'. You might recognize the name 'Gouda cheese' better. Did you ever give it a try.. (i.m.h.o) It is the best cheese out there. Gouda is a city in Holland. Many little towns and cities around Gouda are dedicated to making this fine cheese for this world famous 'brand'.. I actually helped out making this cheese at a friends farm in Kamerik.. Loved the whole process of it. It is so down to earth. And it is really an art.. Card making is an art, but making cheese is definitely one too.

It is hard for me to imagine Holland without its green pastures and gently grazing cows. They are as much part of the Dutch identity as clogs, windmills, van Gogh, Rembrand and tulips. Not surprising, when you consider that the Dutch have been making cheese since 400 AD. Nowadays, Holland is the largest exporter of cheese in the world. It red somewhere that Hollands dairy industry as a whole has a turnover of around Euro 7 billion. Now that's lots of cheese..

Anyhoo.. Farms, barns, cows, cheese and trucks.. No wonder I am loving this new stamp set that Stampin Up came up with.. Their sketched look give these beautiful stamps a nostalgic feel, that is perfect for calling up favorite memories and creating a country mood for my cards.

I used some different shades of blue, yellow and green water coloring to brighten up the image of this truck. I hope you get inspired to be creative today.. It's a good day for that.. Lots of rain here in Calgary. I miss the sun... sigh...

A big hug everyone and enjoy the rest of your day. Pauline

Owl Punch Play date card by Stampin Up and me

In about 9 hours I am flying out to Winnipeg from Calgary. For 4 days I will be able to visit, listen, laugh, walk and eat (Greek, Sushi, Ethiopian, yip the days and evenings are allready all planned :) with my dear friends out there who I missed so much. Like I said, many of them had babies of their own, but a couple of them were at that time in the process of adopting little ones in their families. Some are still in the process and some have welcomed those precious children into their families. I made this card and some like this one for them. Love what the little sentiment says. 'Adoption is when a child grew in it's mommy's heard instead of her tummy'.

I love that stampin Up thought of these woman and these families who adopted a little one. They so deserve a stamp set like this. And this one is right on!

Yesterday my dear friend Robyn came by with her 2 kiddos' and we had our crafting bee morning together. What a great time. She made one beautiful card. I will not post it .. because I am not sure if she send it to her friend yet.. Just in case that sweet lady takes a peek at my blog :) You know, Robyn has the patience and the talent to bring colors together and to finish everything of so nicely.. She has style! And is so sweet and encouraging to be around.

Love her!

Anyway, for todays PPA # 59 Challenge I used the New Play Date Designer Series Paper from Stampin Up. It has all the collors that this beautiful challenge asked for. Old Olive, Tempting Turquoise and So Safron. I love all the flowers in this paper. To bad there are only 2 sheets of this pattern in the package.. Although the other patterns are so cute as well. And then the little owl.. isn't he/she just priceless.

I punched it out 4 times from different card stock and puzzled it together.

I have to pack and prep this house for me being away for 4 days.. Weird.. no children with me for 4 whole days and nights. I will sleep so so well.. No interruptions.. hmmmm.. Love it!

Have a great day you all! A big hug, Pauline

'By Ones & by Twos' created by Stampin Up and me

This weekend I am going to visit my many friends in Winnipeg. Most of them I haven't seen in 2 years. Sigh.. I know.. I miss them so much. Ik think that 6 of my dear friends had a baby in the last 2 years. I started making these cute simple and elegant baby cards.. Love it. I just need to find the time to write somthing personal in them before I go.

In 2008 this cute stampset was available through Stampin Up. It is called: 'By Ones & by Twos. It is so perfect for quick cards. Here I stamped one of the images on one of the sheets of the Play Date Designer Series Paper from Stampin Up. I cut it out and glued it on a piece of Crumble Cake card stock. That piece went on a Baja Breeze Card base and voila!

Happy stamping everyone and enjoy the rest of your day. Pauline

And the mountains shall bring peace to it's people.

I love being in the Rocky mountains. It really gives me peace and a different look on things in my life. I just wanted to give you a glimpse on how beautiful it was here last night when we went fishing. Just stunning what nature can do. We had lots of rain these days. The wild fire / forest fires are all gone and what is left is just a crisp piece of nature, that had enough rain to last a couple of days. Nature is in peace here. So many birds, on our walk we saw the joy of a 3 year old bear almost dancing from bush to tree looking for fruit and eating it when he found it.. So so cute.. He looked at us a couple of times and was okay with some audience, I guess.

Here is another card I made with the Elements of style stamp set of Stampin Up. I used some other colors, for the rest it is pretty similar. Still love it. The layout.. speaks of peace as well.

Hope you see some beauty in today. It must be somewhere. Don't miss it!

Hugs, Pauline

Elements of style by Stampin Up and me for the PPA #58 challenge

Good morning everyone. I hope you are having a Sunday with lots of peace and rest and good moments to look back on. We are back in the mountains. Lots of rain though. But it's very alright with me. Yesterday there were thunder showers here and about 10 miles from here a forest fire started.. In my hunble opinion.. Rain is very welcome!!! I think the helicopters and fire figthers are working hard to get it under control.. So that's good.

Yesterday I used my 'Elements of style' Clear stamp set from Stampin Up to play along with the PPA #58 challenge. The card turned out so beautifully.

As a base I used the 'Peach Parfait' card stock and added a piece of Basic Grey card stock to make it pop. The Whisper White card stock I rolled through the Big Shot to give it this nice 'top note' cut. A cute little pearl was needed to give it that femine look.

I added some photo's for you to see how I am using those clear mount sets. In case you were ever wondering . I want to encourage you, because really.. it's not hard at all.

They come in a dvd case and after I take those stamps out, I breathe on them and.... then voila.. they will stick right on the clear mount block, so I can ink them up. You should give it a try. Buying these kind of stamps without the wooden blocks are way better for the enviroment and they take way less space in your storage area. + you can see right through the clear block to place them better on your cards.. That has sure been a help to me. Especially with the sentiments that I love adding on the cards.

All that to say.. thanks for stopping by and take good care. Pauline

Greeting Card Kids #3 and a bit of Winnipeg thoughts.

Hi everyone. I hope you're having a wonderful day. I sure am!

You know, yesterday I saw the first yellow leaves falling down our tree in the backyard. It was cloudy and rainy and I really had a hard embracing the thought of fall. I know Summer doesn't last forever in Canada. We have 4 seasons. Just the transition from Summer to fall, I find hard. We lived in Winnipeg for 7 beautiful years. Fall/Autumn in Manitoba (from my humble point of view) only lasted maybe 2 1/2 weeks. Within 2 1/2 weeks, the leaves went from green to yellow, to laying on the floor and then to be snowed upon. That quick transition from the heat to the cold, was each year a shock to me. There was like no time to try to locate all the kids winter stuff.. Their summer clothes would be still in the laundry, while I was packing them up in warm jackets and scarfs and winter boots to go outside.

I think that I am still recovering from our time in Winnipeg. It could get so cold in Winnipeg. Days with -45 Celsius outside, that would make the inside of my nose freeze.... I didn't even know that was possible. On days like that dogs could only be outside for 10 minutes and so could we. + I wasn't able to recognize anyone outside, because everyone was wrapped into puffy jackets hiding from the cold. Many times I thought to myself.. oh My.. we all look like sleeping bags walking around, pretending we are still in our warm and cozy beds..

I so dislike a world with no color, no smell, no sounds .. just white snow everywhere, the birds and their sweet songs were mostly gone, because it's to darn cold. I had to dress up my kids with so many layers, that they couldn't even move around anymore. Or skating.. on most of those winter days.. My feet would fall off.

You have to understand that this is all from a Pauline dutch point of view. I am not representing my hubby or anyone else here.

I don't think I ever embraced the winter there to the fullest. It was just to long for me. From October to the far end of April. I was used to maybe a couple of days of snow in Holland. Not the regular -30 Celsius.

I know many dear friends who I so love and admire.. do embrace the winter there. They love the blue skies, they go for walks, ICE Fishing.. winter camping.. My hubby did that once.. Building an igloo and sleeping in it. I am still impressed with him..

I did enjoy some days of winter, when it would go up to - 15.. I can handle that one. No problemos. But I am thankful to live in Calgary. We have Chinooks, warmer days and so many birds that are not scared to stay here.. My kids even walk sometimes outside without their jackets in the winter, because it is + something Celsius.. :)

I hope I am not offending anyone with my thoughts here. Winnipeg is a great city, love so many of my dear friends there. Love the Winnipeg Centre Vineyard Church we were a part of and I miss that community of people so much. I worked there at the Mainstreet Project. What a place. So many good people there that have their hearts in the right place to care for those that live on the streets... yes even in those cold winters.

So yeah.. Winnipeg, falling leaves, winter, friends.. and this card.. I like it.. But no winter for me yet.. Please ....

Pss.. On another note. Here is our son showing one of the Garder snakes he catched a week ago in Fairmont.. Don't worry, he let them go again, to the big surprise of his Grandma.. She was not to happy.. 6 snakes were let go in her yard.. Yip.. Not to good. Today it's his first day of school. 1st Grader.. It is a bit to quiet in my home. I think I am off for a walk.. in the SUN.. yes, there is sun today. Love it!

Greeting Card kids by Stampin Up and me #2

Good morning everyone. It's a new day. Love it.

I am still in my PJ's. I think I am trying to make a statement to myself. Tomorrow at 8.30 AM I have to drop off my son at school. No PJ mornings for me during the week. Sigh.. I know, there are worse things in the world.. But I so love.. not to rush, having my Chai Late.. well you get the picture. Even though my youngest daugther was up early this morning. 6.30 AM.. It feels different when I know I don't need to leave the house in a hurry and encourage the kids to get ready..

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Anyway. I am still enjoying my new 'Greeting Card Kids' Stampset from Stampin Up. Please take a peek at the other images of this cute stampset. Can't wait to try them all out and color them. Here is the little girl dressed in her orange jacket. I think that she's dutch (smile) Dutch people love Orange.. If it's queens day in Holland.. April the 30th.. then many people in Holland will wear something Orange. I love silly traditions like that.

Well. Have a beautiful day today. A big hug, Pauline