Bella's Challenge

So I did bella's challenge this week. It was a sketch.

I pulled out my bella's to decide which one I wanted to do and I ended up picking the bride and groom stamp. It is so cute, but also serves another purpose. My friend is getting married in September and she has her party coming up. I decided that I would make this card for her. It looks awesome, I am so happy with how it turned out.

I coloured the image with copics. It really adds to the stamp. I always said that I wouldn't get into them but they do, do a nice job.



Let me know what you think.

Croptopia - Saturday

I woke up after having the best sleep ever. It was great.

We all got ready and headed down to breakfast. It was great, I had oatmeal. I haven't had it in so long it was a great treat.

Today was filled with so much cropping and getting to know new people. I had an awesome time.

We had to name our table - we were the "space ballz". At night there was an "out of this world crop". It was great fun.

Here is what the gym looked like once everyone arrived.





Here is Veronica, Rose and myself.



...and Claire, I can't forget Claire.



Other girls got dressed up too!! They even put a little show on for us. Here they are:





It was a great night.

Croptopia - Friday

At four a.m. vern and I were up and getting ready to start our adventure to Croptopia.

Rose came to pick us up at 5 a.m. We brought out all our stuff. OMG, there was so much, most of it mine. Yes, I am a huge pack rat. However, I have learned my lesson for next year.

Vern packed the car, I can't believe that it all fit. Vern, you get the #1 packer award. About 5:20 a.m. were were off, and were lead by the Angry British Man (ABM) - Rose's Garmin GPS.

On the way to croptopia we stopped to cut some of the beautiful lilacs that were growing on the side of the road. Luckily, Rose and I got to stay in the car while Vern was being eaten alive by the bugs. Here's vern with her shears cutting some of the white lilacs.



In total it took us over three hours to get to Croptopia. We made a pit stop at a Tim Hortons to go to the bathroom and to get something to drink.

I kept falling asleep on the girls in the car. Here are Rose and I once we got to croptopia. Can you see how good a packer Vern is. The entire way Rose was sitting like a genie.





We got to Croptopia about 9 a.m. We then proceeded to unload all our cropping stuff and leave it at the gym. We then took our sleeping stuff and put it in our room. WOO HOO!! we were the only room to have our own shower and toilet. I felt like a queen. It was cool, especially since i was a croptopia virgin.

We parked the car in the parking area and found another beautiful lilac bush, the blooms were dark purple and georgeous. Here are the three of us.





Afterwards, we got down to cropping.

The camp grounds were astounding, they would take everyone's breath away.

We were served lunch and dinner by the camp.

We ending up going to bed about 11 p.m. It was a long day. Claire, Vern, Rose all headed up to sleep. Vern laughed when i was getting ready for bed. All the ladies brought sleeping bags and I brought my heavy blanket. Well I wrapped myself up good in that blanket, and Vern got a hoot out of watching me jump round so that i could cover my feet. It was pretty funny.

The Night before Croptopia

On Thursday I was dropped off at vern's with all my cropping bags in tow. Rose, Alex, Vern and I then went out to get mani's and pedi's. We got green toes and designs on the big toes.



We all had so much fun; including Alex, he loved having his feet done. It was really cute. Afterwards, Alex and Rose when home.

Vern and I had dinner at Marcello's. GREAT FOOD. I had pizza primavera with sun dried tomatoes, olives and pesto. I would definately suggest this to anyone it was really good. For dessert both Vern and I had tiramisu. Absolutely decadent.

The only thing that sucked about the dessert was that it kept us up practically all night.

Croptopia

So the time has come.

One more sleep before I leave for Croptopia with Veronica and Rose.

I am so excited it's going to be so much fun. I just have to remember to bring my camera, to take lots of pictures.

Croptopia - so close and yet so far.....

Only 9 more sleeps...I am so excited.

I get to spend with the weekend with my friends Veronica and Rose. It's going to be so much fun.

Here is a card I did for a swap last month.

The stamp is a StampingBella and I coloured the image using Copic markers.

Star Trek

Kaelyn and I spent Mother's Day at the movies because our Mom was working.

We saw Star Trek. It was awesome. The graphics along are worth the admission.

They truly did a terrific job. I was not a trekkie, but now I am converted. Atleast in regards to anything they do now. Still not too sure about the old stuff.

It was kinda funny, as I was talking to someone at work who saw it as well, she asked, "did anyone come dressed up?". My answer: "No", and I am thinking to myself, who in the world would dress up.

Then it comes to me. The die hard fans. I am now thinking, gosh, that would have been cool; To see someone who loved it so much that they got dressed up.

Niagara Falls

It turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous day for our trip.

I picked up Caroline around 8:15 am. It took us about two hours to get to Niagara. The drive was great as we missed much of the traffic down, plus that early on a Saturday morning no one is really out.

Our first stop on the day trip was to the butterfly conservatory. This place is amazing even if you have already been. The conservatory is very humid but the butterflies are amazing. We spent about two hours taking photos of everything we could see.

Caroline had a hard time try to catch on butterfly on her camera. He would not stay still long enough for her to get a photo. Here is the culprit taken with photo burst:



His colors are absolutely amazing.

Here is my favorite shot; this butterfly reminds me of Chinese butterflies; maybe it's just the red and black:



After Caroline and I were done at the conservatory we stopped at the Butterfly Cafe for lunch. Then we headed down to Clifton Hills by way of the "people mover". In no time were we down by the falls. The walk up to the main horseshow was great; a bit wet from the mist but great. This is one of my favorite pictures. Not just because the scenery is great but because all of a sudden this seagull was in my shot. It caught me off guard but it truly makes the picture for me.



Caroline and I walked around Clifton Hills for a bit before we decided to check out the Aviary. It wasn't worth the entrance fee but it was a neat experience. One of those once in a life time experiences. We saw all kinds of neat birds. I got to see a Kookaburra, which I had never seen before. A parrot danced with us too. It was great. Here is one of the neat photos I got of the birds.



After everything we did we ended up taking the "people mover" back up to the conservatory to go home. The lady who drove it was absolutely hilarious. She was a great ending to the day. We also got to see the Flower Clock. Truly exceptional.

Last but not least we toured the gardens around the conservatory, where the school of horticulture is located. They were termendous.

Here is my favorite - sort of a Mr. Darcy moment.

May 1, 2009 Card Swap

The Cards for the swap were amazing. The challenge was a sketch and that you had to base your card on that sketch. It could be any theme, paper, or embellishements.

All the ladies did absolutely wonderful work.

Here are the groups!! Hope everyone enjoys them as much as i have.

GROUP ONE

GROUP TWO

GROUP THREE

GROUP FOUR