i heart the Stamp Man!

and they heart their fans, too!
CHECK OUT WHAT'S GOING ON THERE!

the stuff on their blog hop is fantastic - gorgeous projects from the hostesses, and TONS of inspiration.

and i am supposed to choose a favourite project of mine from 2009, as a recipient of this award:



tough call, as my style has changed and evolved SO much, and so drastically, especially since i started my blog.
i think i have to go with this one (and be sure to click 'em to enlarge):







it was the first challenge i completed for Design Dollies when we kicked off, and it was my first time playing with a medium other than cardstock (and, for the record, i LOVE canvas!). it's also hanging in my room as a daily inspiration, and something of a mantra for a number of things in my life that could stand improvement. my first real piece of "art" (the junk i did in high school doesn't count), if you will.

oh, so yeah, i'm back from Canada. i had a great time, spent some fabulous hours with my Dad, my amazing friends, my cousin and her girlfriend, and enjoyed more down time than i'd expected with my wonderful hubbin.

yep, i'm back. and i'm SO ready to bust out the crafties!

see you soon!

looking forward to a fabulous trip back home for Christmas! hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

i'll be home monday night, and i can't wait to catch up with all of you and see what kinds of yummy crafties you've been creating, and what Santa's brought you (if you're the type to celebrate Christmas, of course).

take care, be safe, and MARRY CHRISTMAS from That Orange Girl! :D

can't believe i squeezed these in, and that i'm not ASLEEP!

i am online, when i should have been packed and in bed by now! we're heading up to Canada tomorrow after i finish my shift, and i have a BIG errand to run first thing in the morning, so i don't know when i'm going to get my packing done. lunch time?

anyway, thought long and hard about this, and wasn't planning to see my Dad's girlfriend's daughter or grandkids while i'm visiting, but i figured i should bring something anyway. and of course, i had no kid-appropriate cards, so i decided to whip up a couple of tags from the remaining scraps of christmas- or semi-christmas-themed crafties.

here are the tags:


here are the challenges:
Practical Scrappers - anything christmas
Simon Says Challenge - merry christmas
Our Creative Corner - let it snow
Kaboodle Doodles - sparkling winter

and with that, i wash my hands of this christmas business, until i get started with the weekly challenges at Susie & Vikki's Christmas Club - one christmas card per week ALL YEAR, so that i'll be finished BEFORE the holidays roll around. love it!

'night!

for the curious... wedding pics from last summer

hubbin and i were actually married on the beach on August 30th, 2005, in Cape May, NJ. because it was a small ceremony, and he and his family are very religious, it was important to us that we have our marriage blessed in a catholic church. on our 3-year wedding anniversary, we had this ceremony at a GORGEOUS old catholic church in St. Catharines, Ontario (the city in which i lived before i moved here).

here's the kissing pic from my Design Dollies layout (from THIS POST):



and a few of my faves from that day:

hubbin and i in the garden behind the church:




my son (who's now 16) and i in the garden:


from L to R - my best friend, my Dad, my son, us, my MIL and my FIL:


my friends!


et voila - zee orange dress! hubbin didn't see my dress beforehand, and i didn't know what he was wearing - i think we did well with the matching! :)

Happy Birthday, Papa l'Orange!

today's my Dad's birthday, and i'm so excited that we'll be seeing him TOMORROW! i haven't been up to Canada since May, but now, with passports in hand, and an extra long weekend, there's nothing standing in my way!

i saw this challenge at That's Just So Cute, and thought it had been a while since i'd done a seriously layered card, AND i had an excuse to make a birthday card, so this one's for my Dad! (the challenge is a birthday card with lotsa layers - makes sense, right?)
also playing along with the ANYTHING BUT CHRISTMAS challenge over at Charisma Cards - how WONDERFUL to be making something without snowmen or trees or candy canes or carollers on it! :)

doesn't this card TOTALLY match my blog?



i refused to take out any new PAPERS, and used only scraps for this... the pooch is cut from an already trimmed piece of Aggie paper from Basic Grey's Junebug line, and everything else was just floating around. there's some Rock Candy on the chipboard, but i don't know if it photographed very well, so you'll have to take my word for it. :) there's some BG Lime Rickey paper on there, as well as DCWV from the Baby Boy mat stack (which i probably bought two years ago now).

so excited to see my ol' Pa!

and i'll likely be back with another project or two throughout the day. ciao!

Dollies' TRIFECTA challenge and Cafe Mojo - last one!

you can play along with this one all the way up until January 3rd at midnight, EST. we know it's crazy-busy for so many people this time of year, so we've got all three challenges for the week posted, and you can have at 'er! :)

here's where you'll find it, and here's the rundown:

Colours -KRAFT, LIGHT BLUE, ORANGE

Elements - BUTTONS! at least 9 of 'em.

and Sketch:

i decided to attack the TRIFECTA, and combined all three into one project:

go to it! :)

you have until January 3rd - be sure it's a BRAND NEW PROJECT created specifically for the Design Dollies and add your link to Mr. Linky, and a comment saying which challenges your project includes. that's it!

and here's the last Cafe Mojo challenge before we shut the blog down... this one is to use the colours blue, purple and white. i'm so sad that we'll be shutting down, but it's been a fantastic run, and the Mavens have been amaving! ;)

here's my card for this challenge:


i thought the colours worked well with the whole christmas/snow theme. and, well, i finally have everything made, addressed, and the final batch ready to go out today. i am SO done with christmas cards until after easter!

so. come and play with the Dollies - new Trifecta is up!
and come and check out our extended Humble Pie challenge - the Bakers had a lot of fun with this one!
and come and bid us all a fond farewell at Cafe Mojo, play along with our last challenge so we can go out with a bang!

thanks for all your support, folks! you rock. in the big chair.

new HUMBLE PIE challenge!

oh boy, it's friday.
normally that's a good thing, right? well today it means we're down to the crunch, and i'm TOTALLY stressing. i have customers looking to get software BEFORE CHRISTMAS, which is highly unlikely at this point, and i have a million and three things to do this weekend (some urgent, some self-indulgent). mostly, i just want to lock the boys out of the house and tell them to GET STUFF DONE, so i can do some craftin'. :)

not hapnin'!

so i'll be back to the grind in a moment, but FIRST, we bring you another challenge over at Humble Pie!

we're taking a wee vacation, so this one will last until New Year's Eve... this time, we want to see your TAGS or BOOKMARKS! find the deets here!

i was pleased with this one, but the pictures somehow don't capture the fluffy stuff WHATSOEVER, so you'll have to take my word for it. fluffy glitter is scrummy!





can ya see it? well it may look like there's SOMETHING there, on the embossed piece at the bottom, but i don't think there's any hint of sparkle. SO disappointing. maybe i should ask Santa for a new camera. :)

so play with us HERE, and check out the other awesome creations from the Bakers! we've been busy little bees in the Humble Pie Kitchen! :)

HAD TO! Sketchy Thursdays BONUS...

'cuz have you heard of {ippity}?

OH
MY
GOOMIE.
YUM.

Unity is bad enough (drool, wipe, repeat), and now they've gone and yummed it up with a little subby stamp company? well my lovely friend Heidi, who is a brand new Dollie, is now SELLING this delish {ippity} line, and they have a set up for grabs on Sketchy Thursdays. i had to play with my new Unity stamp (tell me it's not the cutest thing since baby bunnies!)





here's their yummy sketch:


so you SHOULDN'T play, because then i'll have a better chance of winning, but you SHOULD play, because i do (heart) Sketchy Thursdays and i'm sure you do/will, too!

i'm pretty excited to get some GOOD light in this house for a change. the weather lately has been so DREARY.

REJOICING over here!

p.s. - Dear American Crafts, i am in love with your "REMARKS" stickers. i thought i loved Thickers, but i love these more. fickly yours, Leah the Orange.

Design Dollies have a new Sketch Challenge! (check out the PRIZE!)

okay folks, the TRIFECTA is yours to play with, once again!
but seriously, what the heck is WRONG with me? i'm seeing some of these yummy challenges, and rummaging through my supplies, and i'm coming up with SCRAPBOOK ideas for these things. never woulda thunk it! NOT ME!

anyway... Kristy-Dollie has a brand new Sketch Challenge for you to sink your teeth into, and i, personally, had a TON of fun with this one.

here's the story... we were up in Canada visiting a while back, and i challenged BFF to a game of Othello (i remember playing it back in GRADE SCHOOL, when we, the "gifted" group, would be allowed to leave the classroom to do whatever the heck we wanted in the hobby room). i'm usually pretty consistent with beating him, and he's SUCH a good sport, but this particular game was rather RIDICULOUS. he's always the black pieces (LULLZ!), and i, being so pure of heart and mind, am white (HARDER LULLZ!)

see the results for yourself. and yep, this was a real game, and he really did try.





and a blurry shot, but one that shows the effect of the yummy SHIMMERZ i used on the paper (which was a bland beige and white before i attacked it!) - click it to enlarge for the full effect! :D



the crown just makes me laugh - and he TOTALLY approved when i emailed him the pics, admitting that this was a victory that needed to be shared with the entire blogosphere (or at least those crafty folks who follow my blog).

here's the sketch, should you wish to join us:

i rotated it 90 degrees to the left and had my fun, but what will YOU do with this? :) feel free to rotate or flip or substitute some of the shapes, but we need to "see" the sketch in your project.

COME ON OVER! we can't wait to see your take on this fabby little sketch, AND if you'd like to combine all three of this week's challenges for a chance at EACH of these prizes...

COLOURS CHALLENGES:


ELEMENTS CHALLENGES:


SKETCH CHALLENGES:


you have until this SUNDAY, December 20th at midnight EST to play with the Trifecta, OR you can do the sketch challenge by next Wednesday, December 23rd at midnight EST if you just want to try that one.

MONDAY, however, the Design Dollies have something a little DIFFERENT in store for you. stay tuned! :D

goodness me, i'm behind!

it's been too long since i've posted! there's a new Design Dollies challenge, and it's a FUN ONE! i know there are some readers who LOVE their bevvies, so we want to see your DRINK OF CHOICE... i had a hard time choosing, as there are SO many that i'd enjoy, depending on the time of year, or my mood, or the event. ultimately, with the holidays around the corner, i'm going CHAMPAGNEY! :)



i'm rather looking forward to the ol' bubbly, especially ringing in a whole new DECADE!

here's where you can play along! trust me, the prize is a great one!

CHECK IT OUT:

yeah. tasty!

and i've been a fiend with my christmas cards, mostly just pumping out as many as i can, and only trying to play along with challenges for this last batch. here we go...

for Practical Scrappers - CHRISTMAS theme
Daring Cardmakers - going DOTTY! (they want "warmish", and i think all those bright colours help from making this card look too "chilly")




next, for Allsorts Challenges - "pearls and swirls" - there's ONE tiny pearl in the center of that big blingy flower, but there are swirls a-plenty!
Kraftin' Kimmie - BLING!





this little card for Simon Says Challenge - Merry Christmas





and this one, my fave of the bunch because of the colours, for Paper Cutz - SNOWFLAKES!



and this last one, for The Pink Elephant - they wanted Christmas or winter... i did the charm with a specific challenge in mind, but now i've lost the page where i had it written down, so OOPS! :)





RIGHT. there you have it! sorry for such a photo-heavy post, folks! i'll be back tomorrow with our next Sketch Challenge at Design Dollies! :)

win stuff with Design Dollies! and other ramblings.

DOLLIES!
new challenge HERE! yummy, bright colours, to win this prize:



yeah, i unintentionally opted for MARDI GRAS colours for this week... i was just hoping to brighten things up after all this christmas stuff! i know some of you are still working on christmas cards, so if you can incorporate PURPLE, YELLOW and GREEN into your projects, JOIN US! :)

i stepped outside the box a little (for me, anyway)... what's this about SCRAPBOOKING?! so not my thing, yet i find myself enjoying it (and i have a fabulous 8x8 scrapbook that was sent to me, so i must use it, right?).

here's my amateur attempt:

i know - weird, right?

i had altered a coloured photo from our wedding, (my dress was ORANGE, of course), and it's a good thing i liked the way it looked, because we have run out of coloured toner for the laser printer. must hit Staples later today, as i have more pages forming in my head, and black and white photos JUST WON'T DO!

anywho... come on over and play along with THIS CHALLENGE and check out what the other Dollies have done with it! you have until sunday, december 20th at midnight to link your project up. we'll have the next ELEMENTS CHALLENGE for you tomorrow, and another yummy SKETCH CHALLENGE on thursday, so if you're looking to combine challenges in one project, all the ingredients for this week will be revealed on THURSDAY! :)

in other Orange news... i think i've wrapped up my christmas cards, and i couldn't be more PLEASED. i can has normal life now, please? i always get so bored of making them by this time each year, and i'm vowing to get a head start in 2010, trying to get one or two done every MONTH. that might make things less monotonous, yeah? :)

there's still time for you to play along with this week's HUMBLE PIE DRY EMBOSSING CHALLENGE, for a chance to win THREE of the new Humble Pie CHRISTMAS STAMPS (and some yummy papers and embellies to match!), and the current CAFE MOJO HOLIDAY WISHES CHALLENGE, for a yummy surprise pack from our awesome hostess, Ashley! :) both challenges are perfect for anyone still working on their holiday cards, so swing by and play along!

heeeeeeeeeeeeere's GIL!

GILBERT the Christmas Ghost, of course! Gilbert is a fabulous little digi designed by the very sweet Chris, who had this great idea and just ran with it. tell me, just how adorable do you think this idea is?! i love it. i was afraid of colouring white, but i think i managed OKAY for a first time... i haven't rocked the snowfriends yet, either, but i don't think they suck.

anyway... i think Gilbert has become my favourite Christmas image thus far. i can see myself using him for absolutely ANYONE, especially those who are far away from me. now, Chris, how about a little BIRTHDAY spirit, too? hmm? :D



(PLEASE click on him to enlarge - he's SO much cuter when you can see more of him!)

used this week's sketch at Sketch Saturday, just rotated it 90 degrees.

i'm sure there are a ton of other christmas challenges going on right now, and i've written some of them down SOMEWHERE, but i'll toss the links up a little later... right now i'm just finishing up my workday and getting some big ol' quotes out, so i can have me some christmas fundage! :)

have a great weekend, chickens! xo

woot! NEW HUMBLE PIE CHALLENGE WITH YUMMY PRIZE!

that's right, another fabulous day in the Humble Pie kitchen! :)

we have a winner from last week's cardlift challenge, annnnnnnnd, we have a new one for you!

the prize? THREE of the new Christmas Humble Pie Sweetie stamps (you'll have seen the cute little maggie decorating the tree, plus all the sweet snowmen and decorations spattered about my blog, as well as those of the Bakers)! the winner will ALSO get a yummy selection of papers and embellies - consider it a Christmas gift from Humble Pie!

so this week, we'd like you to show us what you can do with DRY EMBOSSING. you can use your Cuttlebug or Sizzix or Spellbinders, you can use the Fiskars texture plates, you can do it the old fashioned way with a stencil and a stylus, OR you can invent your own special brand of dry embossing...

here's one of the Christmas Sweetie stamps now!



i've used the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder (a new acquisition, and i'm TOTALLY in love with it!), some KI memories adhesive felt trim, that YUMMY Heidi Swapp mirror, an image from i don't know where... and the little snowfriend is one of the Humble Pie originals, available exclusively from The Town Scrapper!

CHECK OUT THE CHALLENGE HERE, and you'll see what the rest of the very talented Bakers have done to inspire you! remember, you can use ANY stamped images, but if you have some Humble Pie, we'd love to see it! you have until next THURSDAY, December 17th at midnight EST to leave us a comment with a link to your embossing entry. have fun, and we'll see you in the kitchen! :)

yay, FRIDAY!

OH MY GOOMIE, BONI!!

seriously?! i sent Boni a bunch of coconut M&Ms, and she sends me THIS, in return?







so much wonderful yumminess! the book you made for me is just BEAUTIFUL - i'm going to have to find a REALLY special use for it. i can't believe the effort and thought you put into it... for coconut M&Ms! (you must really like them, yeah?) and look at that little SCREENIE! he's too cute. little panda will fit perfectly into our asian-themed living room, where my computer is located!

you are SO sweet, miss. thank you VERY very much! so many things in here that are very ME... Santa had better be SUPER sweet to you this year, because you are just too good to be true. i also know where i can still get the M&Ms, if you're ever jonesin'.

MWAH! xo


****EDITED TO ADD:

Boni - i had TOTALLY forgotten about the blog win! well regardless, it's still far more stuff than i could have ever imagined, and you ROCK. xo

little bit here, little bit there.

another christmas card! (can you imagine?)
a couple of them, actually.

the first is for the following challenges:

Cuttlebug Challenge - GLITTER!
2 Red Bananas - STAY WARM
Whiff of Joy Challenge - SPARKLE! SPARKLE! SPARKLE!
Die Cut Dreams Challenge - colours sage green, kraft and cream (hope the blue jeans and burgundy coat don't disqualify me!)
Stamp Something - GLITZY! (my second entry for this challenge - i like this card much better!) :)

okay, so the card...


this next card is for the following:

Quixotic Challenges - "seeing stars"
Simon Says Challenge - "let it snow"
Inky Impressions - SNOWFLAKES!
The Treehouse - make a tag



erm, that's about it for now, i think, although i have another card or two underway, so you may be looking at post #3 from me a little later today! :)

DOLLIES AND CAFE MOJO - new challenges and lots of news!

the Design Dollies are all set to go, with a brand new team for 2010's first quarter! GO HERE to meet the brand new Design Dollies, and GO HERE to meet our nifty Guest Design Dollies for January, February and March! such exciting, fabulous news!

and it's SKETCH CHALLENGE DAY at Design Dollies, and the talented Kristy-Dollie has yet another fun one for you! she's also holding out on us, because she has some fantastic news (something about being published), and she's so stinkin' HUMBLE that she hasn't bothered to share it with the intarwebs!

well CONGRATS, HOLMES! i am very proud of you, and now even MORE people will see how brilliantly artistic and talented you are! :D

okay, so here's her sketch for this week's challenge:

some interesting elements to this one, no? love those little strips at the top! i had a little play with some stuff i dug out of the abyss, and here's my cheery little card (i know it's christmas card overload here, but these challenges help me to GIT ER DUN, and i'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!):





all KINDS of craziness going on here -i used a Stampin' Bella image, some DCWV Christmas papers (the plaid, the dotted paper behind the frame, and the candy cane stripes), K & Co. paper (the darker green striped piece), a Pink Paislee frame cut out of a journalling card, some Kaisercraft bling, some old green notepad paper and some random beads and cord. i have no clue who makes that Merry Martini stamp (but LOVE IT!), and the yummy bright pink card is from my stash. (i'm terrible with breaking my card down to tell what i've used, because nothing stays in packages!)

come and join us for this SKETCH CHALLENGE! you have until midnight this SUNDAY, December 13th at midnight EST to combine all three of this week's challenge (for a chance at all THREE challenge prizes for the month!), or by next WEDNESDAY, December 16th at midnight EST if you're just playing with the sketch. be sure to link your project back to our blog when you post your project.

there is also a new challenge for you at Cafe Mojo! this should be an easy one, folks, and we should see a TON of participation, because... 'tis the season! we're looking for HOLIDAY WISHES for this challenge... i went simple, for someone a little LESS daring and feisty on my christmas card list (like my dad, for example!):





HERE is where you'll find the challenge - we hope you'll play along! you have until Sunday, December 20th at midnight to leave a comment with a link to your project... and please make sure you link to the challenge from your blog, so we can get more players!

and now for the sad news... the Cafe Mojo blog will close after the new year. we have one more challenge after this one, and unfortunately, we will be saying goodbye to the blogosphere. we'd love to see a ton of participants for these last two challenges as our final hurrah! i'm sad to see it go, but it's been fabulous serving with the rest of the Mavens on a really fun, creative design team. check out the Mavens' blogs for loads of inspiration, and be sure to add 'em to your favourites - the Mavens are a groovy group of gals! :D

now then. i have some work to do, i bid you all a fond farewell (until later today, probably). later, taters! :)