Sunday, February 28, 2010

Oh, Canada...well done!

With the 2010 Winter Olympics wrapping up this evening I just wanted to say...
Way to go, Canada!

Friday, February 26, 2010

Scrapbook Trends for free!

Hey, did you know that right now you can check out the December 2009 issue of Scrapbook Trends for free? Yep. All you have to do is click on this link and it will take you to a downloadable version of the magazine. The best part? On pages 22 and 23 you can see a feature about me and the layout below that I did about the Hodgkinson Christmas of 2008.

Supplies: Core'dinations cardstock, Jillibean Soup patterned paper, felt flowers, twine, calendar sprout, Making Memories brads, Tsukineko ink, Print Master Gold photo-editing program, Autumn Leaves stamp (date circle), Quickutz dies (Diesel Grand), Wizard die cutting machine, Font: Another Typewriter, other: layering tape, sewing machine and thread.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

For Matt's new room

It's been four months since we moved into our new house and I was looking for something for Matt's new room to help him stay organized. He's 8. Organization is something he is working on.
  1. I dropped into my local Home Depot and found a 12" x 24" metal sheet and some pretty cool looking clamp hooks.

  2. With my handy-dandy Crop-a-Dile by We R' Memory Keepers, I punched a couple of holes in the top and began decorating it.

  3. I embossed and sanded some Core'dinations' French Roast brown cardstock and lightly sanded it to reveal the light brown core (a very close match to kraft paper).

  4. Jillibean Soup has just come out with a great line of products - New England Chowder. My EK Success circle punch did a nice job of punching out the cards and then I mounted them onto magnets. I also used Jillibean Soup white corrugated alphas to add "Matt".
Matt's Message Board


Supplies: Core'dinations cardstock, Jillibean Soup patterned paper and corrugated alphas (white), Work Savers/Home Depot steel sheet metal (22 gauge - 12" x 24"), Mibro anchor shackles/Home Depot (1/4" and 1/2"), Sizzix texture plate and embossing machine, Making Memories sanding block, Elmer's magnets, EK Success circle punch, We R' Memory Keepers Crop-a-Dile, 3L layering tape (behind "matt"), other: sheet magents (for large signs).

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Good grief

Surely it's not just me.
Surely I am not the only mother in the world that points the camera at her children and has to BEG for a normal photo.
No crossed eyes. No tongues out. Is it too much to ask?
Here's the "Stop-looking-like-goobs-and-just-smile" photo:


Here's a glimpse of pretty much every shot before that one:

I tell ya, we mothers aren't paid enough.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Now here's something...


Jillibean Soup is pairing up with a few of their friends:
Nikki Sivils
and
Bella Blvd
We would like to invite you to join us for a MASSIVE blog crawl!
When:
March 5th, 2010
Where:
Start at the Jillibean Soup blog and they'll post where to go next!
Not only will you have a chance to win large product packs from each of the manufacturers...
Many of the Jillibean Soup design team members are having HANDMADE gift giveaways on their blogs. Close to 50 members will be participating! That's a ton of giveaways!
There will be links and more links for you to check out on each of the manufacturers blogs starting on
March 5th, 2010
Be sure to mark your calendars!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Casper, the mostly-friendly cat

This was a project that I created for Jillibean Soup for winter CHA. It features their new line called "Chicken Noodle" collection. The line also has coordinating cardstock stickers and stamps. I had posted it before but without detailed shots of the journaling. Enjoy!


Supplies:Jillibean Soup patterned paper, kraft, cardstock stickers and letter stickers, corrugated alphas, button and twine, Epson Presentation Paper (white), 3L layering tape, Glue Dots (to adhere button), Font: Mason, other: sewing machine, thread. Based on a sketch by Erin Roe for Scrapbooks Etc.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Happy Valentine's Day to all!
I used the random number generator thingy and here's what it said:

True Random Number Generator
Result: 16

That means the winner of the two packs of Core'dinations and the five sheets of brand spankin' new Core Impressions is....

little_empresssu said...
Those are super cute Valentine's day cards! And a nice giveaway too.
Wendy
Wendy, if you can please drop me an email at: thehodgees@yahoo.ca and let me know your shipping address that would be swell. I will also need you to check out the new Core Impression collection packs and let me know what five sheets you would like to have as well. You will need to travel to http://www.coredinations.com/ and then click on "Products" and then "Collection Packs".

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Core'dinations Valentine's Day giveaway!!!

Alrighty, mighty...
It's a Core'dinations giveaway...and it's pretty sweet.
- one full package of Chocolate Box (fat-free, no calories, guilt-free - 20 sheets in total)
- one full package of Ebony & Ivory (WhiteWash, Black Magic and Core Essentials....60 sheets in total!)
- AND five sheets of brand spankin' new Core Impressions that you get to pick! Yeah. Boo-yah!!!

Here's an image of the two complete collection packs you will win:

Don't worry if you're not located in Canada. All you need to do to enter is comment on this blog entry (not on Facebook) and tell me what you are hoping to get on Valentine's Day....besides a wack of Core'dinations. You have until 12pm EST on Sunday, February 14th.

ETA: Want another chance to win MORE Core'dinations? Head to this fellow Core'dinations' DT member's blog, Heather Bowser. Yeah, baby!

Since tomorrow is the last school day before Valentine's Day I thought I would share what I made for Ema's kindergarten class. Each child gets a little bag with chocolates in it and a card that she signed. The card is yet again based on a super little card that Alicia Thelin had published in the CardMaker's Sketch Book: Birthday Celebration.

Supplies: Core'dinations cardstock, Jillibean Soup patterned paper and kraft, October Afternoon stamps (pig, Hogs & Kisses), American Crafts ribbon, Tsukineko ink (VersaFine), Avery tag rim, EK Success scallop circle punch, 3L layering tape, Glue Dots, other: white paper bags in size 1.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Core'dinations meets Cosmo Cricket

Yesterday was nothing short of devine. Mel and Kim, my two dear friends, over ALL day scrapping. Ema held her own and created quite a few cards once she got home from school. Devine, I say, devine.
Here's what I made:

Supplies: Core'dinations cardstock (Core Impressions / Cosmo Cricket Classics Collection), Cosmo Cricket pattered paper and chipboard, Jillibean Soup kraft and twine, Stampin' Up! heart punch, Cricut Doodlecharms cartridge and Cricut machine (for trunks), 3L layering tape, Making Memories eyelets and sanding block, Tsukineko ink, Font: Mason, EK Success circle punches (large, small) and corner rounder, Fiskars circle punch (medium), other: sewing machine, thread. The layout is based on Sketch #4 from Ella Publishing Co.

Here's the delicious collection that the cardstock came from:

Here's another lookie-lookie at the layout and card separately:



Also, I discovered something quite wonderful yesterday. I had known that you can create a scalloped border using an EK Success corner rounder when you pop off the surrounding paper guide BUT did you know that it cuts Cosmo Cricket Farmer's Market polka dot paper from the Early Bird Collection perfectly? Yeah. Pretty exciting for me. Where was a lot of "Wheee"-ing!
Be sure to visit this blog on Thursday, February 11th. I have a dandy of a giveaway that will end on Valentine's Day. Oooo.... Wonder what it will be???

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Some CHA cards

For winter CHA in Anaheim a few weeks ago I was asked to create three cards using a new line of paper by Jillibean Soup. The line is called Chicken Noodle Soup and I think they assigned it to me since I live in the dairy capital of Canada. Moo.


Supplies: Jillibean Soup patterned paper, stamp, kraft and journaling spot, Tsukineko ink, 3L layering tape, Stampin' Up! heart punch, Epson presentation paper for stamping, other: sewing machine, thread.

Supplies: Jillibean Soup patterned paper, letter stickers, kraft, and twine, Xyron Sticker Maker (to adhere twine), We R' Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Font: Mason.

Supplies: Jillibean Soup patterned paper, twine, kraft and cardstock sticker, 3L layering tape, Creative Memories oval shape cutter, Xyron Sticker Maker (to adhere twine).

Friday, February 5, 2010

Hope and love

Here are some projects that I whipped up over the weekend that I can finally share. The projects were made using Core Impressions from the *NEW* Jenni Bowlin Brown and Cream Collection:
The layout is based on Sketch #1 over at Ella Publishing Co. They are running a weekly contest right now (even though it's too late to enter Sketch #1) to win a Cricut Expression. For more details, visit their blog.

Supplies: Core'dinations cardstock, Jenni Bowlin patterned paper, Jillibean Soup kraft paper, Quickutz letter dies (Diesel Grand), Stampin' Up heart punch, 3L photo corners and layering tape, Making Memories sanding block, Font: Mason, other: thread and sewing machine.

The card was made from the scraps that I had left over from the layout. Friggin' love that!

Supplies: Core'dinations cardstock, Jenni Bowlin patterned paper, small letter stickers and coaster, Jillibean Soup kraft paper, We R' Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Quickutz letter dies (Diesel Grand), 3L layering tape, Making Memories sanding block, other: sewing machine, thread, "Deckle" decorative scissors.

ETA: Today, over at 2Peas in a Bucket these projects were selected as Featured Project.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Valentines with Hannah

Yesterday afternoon I had the pleasure of helping Hannah (a grade 6 student) design and create 16 Valentines for her friends and family. Hannah, as some of you may remember, debuted on my blog last year in March with a delightful mini-album that she created about her dog Pete.
First we flipped through this book for inspiration:

We found a great little bird card that Alicia Thelin had made on page 17. Hannah took that idea and changed it into a Valentine using a sheep stamp instead. Perfect!

Supplies: Core'dinations cardstock, Jillibean Soup patterned paper, ribbon and kraft, Epson Photo Presentation Paper (stamping), Hero Arts stamp (sheep), October Afternoon stamp (i love ewe!, heart), Tsukineko VersaFine ink, Avery tags, Crayola pencil crayons, EK Success scalloped circle punch, 3L layering tape, Glue Dots.

I made a layout and card over the weekend as well using the *NEW* Core Impressions and will try and post it within the next few days. Stay tuned! Until then, here is a teaser of one of the photos that I used for the layout. It's a shot I took of our neighbour's dog, Hope, when we babysat her a few weeks ago. This was a gift to our neighbours with a promise to take a shot of her in the spring, summer and fall as well....since she's such a cutie pie!