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Fun and Games Friday | 100DayProject Day41

Fun and Games Friday

I did a short walk with Luna checking out how the neighbourhood spring perennials were progressing. A few new tips were popping up. I really need to get back on track with getting to bed early. Enough of staying up late to work on blog posts. I was quite tired when my alarm went off at seven so I didn’t leap out of bed and I managed to (very easily) talk myself out of heading to the pool for a swim. I even briefly crawled back into bed after getting dressed with a vague notion of getting some more sleep. I expect I will end up having a nap on our way to Heidi’s team’s 10:30 ringette game.

Rather than starting to make a card, I decided that I need to focus some of my 100DayProject efforts on getting my craft room disaster back into order. I have a reasonably good system for organizing my supplies, I just have a very poor record with putting things back where they should go and establishing a ‘home’ for my new things. So, I spend way too much time when I am working on a project trying to find things, moving stashes around to find a good spot to work, etc. So I set my timer for 5 minutes to put some things away. Then I started to work on cataloguing and filing a few new products for 5 more minutes. It took me a few minutes to figure out what the weird light pattering sound was. It turns out that water was dripping from my overhead light fixture in my craft room onto my very crowded work surface. I am really glad I was down there working at my table when the water started to come in. I was able to grab a plastic painting drop cloth to cover it up and we added a few plastic containers to catch the drips. It seems to be coming from the washing machine which is above it since the water is soapy. And, so Roland is trying to figure out what’s wrong with the washing machine during the spin cycles. We’ll wait for it to finish before pulling off the light fixture. Fun and Games! So much for my new found resolve to get and keep things in better order in my craft room.

In addition to watching Heidi’s ringette game we’ll also be playing a game of curling. I wrote a few cards before heading out to her game. It was a very good and exciting game with her team tying the score with 6 seconds left but unfortunately losing after 2 -1/2 minutes into the first overtime period. Heidi spent the afternoon and evening with her teammates, having lunch then watching the two semi-final games together. Roland and I dashed from her game to a brief practice ice session we had at our curling club since we hadn’t been on the ice at all yet this week. I baked some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies then it was time to pick up Karen and Peter to head to the Navy curling club. We won our first game and really enjoyed our après game drinks, snacks and conversation with our opponents. Then we went to Pub Italia in Little Italy for dinner.

100DayProject Day 41

I didn’t do any cardmaking today but I did watch the next few lessons in my Altenew For the Guys course. I look forward to getting on with making an Interactive card for Lesson 4, a Pop Art style card for Lesson 5 and a Gaming card for Lesson 6. I did do some google image searching for a few inspirational pop art images to help me with the design of my card for Lesson 5.

https://creativetreats.club/2025/04/04/oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookies/

I did take off the plastic that’s covering the worksurface in my craft room just now before heading to bed so that if I have a bit of time between our 2 curling games tomorrow I will have a spot to work on those cards. I think that the reason my overhead light stopped working a few days ago is likely because water had been gradually accumulating in the light fixture for a while until it overflowed today. There were some wet spots on the table which has a wood surface so it is a good thing I took the plastic sheet off the check things out tonight rather than later in the day tomorrow.

Throwback and Thankful Thursday | 100DayProject Day 40 | Card 28 | Card 29

100DayProject Day 40 | Card 28 | Card 29

Card 28 | Altenew For the Guys Lesson 2 Artistic Techniques

I started this card a few days ago. There were a few vector images of the Ottawa Skyline that I really loved. This is one of them. I was inspired by the curve when I created the stenciled skyline on the envelope, back of card and inside of the card. https://stock.adobe.com/ca/images/vector-ottawa-city-skyline-design/117472716

And this is the one that I used to cut out my silhoutte. https://www.vecteezy.com/vector-art/17518445-outline-ottawa-canada-city-skyline-with-modern-buildings-isolated-on-white

I used a Spellbinders die cut for my sentiment. I had been looking for a ‘welcome’ die cut sentiment because I thought I could give this card to a university friend who lives in Texas now who is coming to visit us in the summer, but I came across this ‘from me to you’ banner sentiment which I think is perfect for this card. I will definitely make some more of these in the future, with this particular sentiment this card will be perfect to send to friends and family who live outside of Ottawa. I also do want to try to make it with that curved lower edge and reflecting upon water with fireworks stamped in the sky and reflecting in the water. But that’s way more ambitious that I currently have the energy, creativity or time for right now. I’m only on Card 28 on Day 40. I’m hovering at about 70% on keeping up. So, I’m off now to watch lesson 3, Cards for Boys, of the Altenew For the Guys course.

Card 29 | Altenew For the Guys Course Lesson 3 Cards for Boys

Between game and when I got home from the curling club, I was able to make Card 29. I was definitely not feeling very creative when I made this one, but it is kind of cute. While I think it is totally suitable as a card for a boy, I actually made it with Heidi in mind. Teal and purple are the City of Ottawa Ringette Association (CORA) colours. While she’s currently playing for the Gatineau NRL team, CORA is where she spent most of her many, many years playing (and coaching) ringette. So, I think this cute fellow giving hugs seems appropriate to make for her since she’s approaching the end of an era.

End of an Era

Nancy dropped me off at Brewer after we walked Luna (of course I forgot to take my usual photo in the morning since I was so busy talking with Nancy while we were out with Luna). I had about 1/2 hour swim and was ready at the pool entrance at 9:00 for Roland to pick me up to head to Ray Friel for Heidi’s team’s quarterfinal game against Montreal. It was a good and fairly close game, but unfortunately they lost 7-5. That was a team they had played several times during the season, most of them being very close and with one win against them. So her team moved into the consolation division and will have another quarter final game in that division against their most frequent opponent, Nepean.

Her team’s loss against Montreal really brought home to Heidi that the very long, very important chapter of her life in which she’s a competitive ringette player is really quickly drawing to a close.

It would have been nice had they been able to win another game or two in the championship side of the tournament playoffs and we certainly believe and hope that her team has the talent, ability and hopefully remaining energy to win the consolation side of the tournament. Regardless, we will definitely enjoy watching these upcoming games. It was a very close game in the evening against Nepean which Heidi’s team won in overtime, 9-8.

Roland and I stopped at Loblaws to buy some Canadian made dog food since Costco, where we usually buy her food, only carries brands that are made in the States. As an individual I mostly feel powerless and that I can’t do very much to help the current and upcoming tariff situation, but working to shift our purchasing habits to try to buy more Canadian products is at least a small thing that we can do. And so we’re trying. Then we went to the curling club to join our fellow Learn to Curl classmates after they came off the ice. I guess that would be referred to as après-curl. We were able to book 1/2 hour of ice for tomorrow afternoon to practice a bit since we missed being on the ice tonight and we have the first game of the Navy Curling Club Bonspiel Friday night.

Throwback Thursday | 2010 04 02 Birthday Celebrations

Friday: Oma and Babu left Toronto about 10:30 and, unfortunately, ran into lots of traffic. The Carrancos joined us for dinner (BBQ shrimp and baked salmon; very tasty). We took advantage of being together to celebrate Heidi’s and Babu’s birthdays early. Babu loved the framed photo from Mexico of the children with he and Oma. Heidi was absolutely thrilled with her early birthday gift: a laptop. She’s been using the computer a fair bit for school work and the old laptop was either slow or its screen wouldn’t work. After dinner we watched the excellent video that Kurt had made of our Mexico trip; what a great vacation it was. Stefan commented on how the travel video is better (than others Babu has made) since he’s in it (meaning that he’s actually been there too).

How this compares to today: Sadly it has been a bit more than a year since Kurt passed away, so there will be no more shared birthday celebrations for Heidi (whose birthday is in May) and Babu (whose birthday is in April). We still have the Carranco’s as great neighbours although we tend to not see them quite as often as when the children were growing up. That trip to Mexico is still the only family trip that we’ve taken south. And family trips are far less frequent than they used to be. I do want to try to get both children to commit to coordinating a family trip every couple of years. While we do have time together on weekends in Ottawa, Toronto, at our cottage and at Castle Oma, it’s not the same as all being away together on vacation. It’s been a while since we’ve watched any of the videos Babu made. In addition to scanning in old negatives, Roland is gradually uploading old videos to YouTube which is great because it will make watching them so much easier. It’s kind of crazy how lazy we have become and would prefer to simply stream rather than load in a DVD.

And a photo from the ones that Roland has been scanning from his parents’ old negatives. I am pretty sure that given the yellow forsythia’s and a cake on the table that they are celebrating Kurt’s birthday. How fun that the photo from April 3, 2010 was also a photo of Kurt celebrating his birthday.

Thankful Thursday

Since it’s also Thankful Thursday I made sure that I wrote a Thank You card and have it all ready to pop in the mailbox tomorrow morning. I also got an Easter card ready to mail to my brother. I am so lucky to have a huge number of cards designed by Vicki in my stash. She generously makes so many card kits for the classes that I give for the Dementia Society. Usually she makes the kits by herself, sometimes we work on the kits together, often we work on the assembly instructions together and always I really enjoy putting my copy of the card together in class. And the best part is actually getting around to sending the finished cards to someone.

Mail It Monday | 100DayProject Day 37 | Card 27

Card 27 | Altenew For the Guys Lesson 1 Geometrics.

Mail It Monday

It’s 10:30 and I’m just getting started with writing some words for today. I haven’t even yet written my cards that I’m going to mail, but I have picked the cards and recipients out. In addition to working on my 100DayProject to create cards, I am also trying hard to get cards sent out into the world, too.

I skipped Pickleball this morning to try to put a bit of order into all the crafting supplies and tools that I haul between home, the cottage and my different crafting classes. It is very out of control; I am always loading too much into the car and bringing it into the house, cottage and carrying it up and down the stairs from my craft room. I really do want to get some more duplicates of some tools to lessen how much I move around and how much time I spend packing and unpacking. But mostly I need to get my projects more organized so that I’m only bringing the supplies that I need for each project.

We had 3 participants in our in-person Card Crew program at the Dementia society with 2 volunteers. Everything went well making cards similar to ones that I had made with my Spellbinders Advent calendar supplies. The husband of one of the participants gave me a card that his wife made last week to take home in which he had generously included a gift card. It was so lovely to see his wife’s shaky signature; I remember how my mom’s handwriting gradually deteriorated until she was no longer able to sign her name. It’s not easy aging, and living with Dementia adds an extra level of challenge and caring for a person with for Dementia is even more daunting. I love seeing how much the husbands of two of my participants are so patient and loving with their wives and hearing from the wives in class how much love and appreciation they have for their husbands.

I stopped on the way home at a participant of my online Creative Cards and Crafts program to bring her the most recent kits for her and her sister. She gave me some homemade Chinese dumplings which were perfect for my dinner after I had a nap. I was feeling quite tired and knew that if I didn’t have a nap it would be a real struggle to stay away heading out to Orleans for Heidi’s 7:30 ringette game and back home again. I get very sleepy in cars, even when driving; I’ve been known to pull over into a parking lot for a 10-15 minute nap on the hour drive to the cottage.

Then Luna got her second solo walk of the day with me after my dinner. Roland had an early morning shift at the ringette Nationals tournament and has another one tomorrow.

One of the sample cards I had to show my program participants. I made this during my Spellbinders Advent Calendar project.
The other sample card I had to show my program participants. I also made this during my Spellbinders Advent Calendar project.

I made my Card 27 based on the first lesson in the Altenew For the Guys course entitled Geometrics. But seemed to not find the time to post about any of the recent cards that I’ve made.

It’s now 11:17 and I am still struggling with my Google drive not synching properly to my laptop so I’ve done a bit of a workaround to get a few photos included in the post. But I need to get to bed so I can go swimming at 8:00 tomorrow morning. I’ll update this post tomorrow to add in some more photos.

Sleet on Sunday | 100DayProject Day 36 | Card 25 | Card 26

100DayProject Day 36

I made 2 cards today: Card 25 based on Lesson 5 of the Altenew Easy Ink Blending Techniques which covered Faux Watercolouring. Card 26 was a slim shaker card using the technique in Lesson 6 of the Altenew Easy Ink Blending Techniques course entitled Putting it into Practice. Since it’s almost 11:00 p.m. already I won’t be posting the details of how I made the cards. I do hope to get those posted tomorrow since I’ve been trying to use the colour scheme in the Color Throwdown Challenge #289 to which I can link my cards using that colour combination until tomorrow.

Card 25

I have been using my Gardenia Duo stamp set quite a bit lately for my class assignments. I need to get busy making thank you cards to send out to everyone who so kindly made donations to the Dementia Society in my mom’s memory. I have quite a few nice card designs featuring the Gardenias that will be perfect for those cards. Gardenias were my mom’s favourite flowers.

At 26 cards made by the end of Day 36 I’m at about 72% completion rate. I definitely have some catching up to do, both on making cards as well as posting about them. If I continue to do 2 a day for the next week that would put me at 40 cards by the end of Day 43. Definitely an ambitious goal! I did get one lesson from my next course, For the Guys watched entitled Geometrics.

Card 26

Sleet on Sunday

As forecast, there was freezing rain today. Luckily it turned to just rain later in the day and we didn’t get nearly as much freezing rain as they had been forecasting earlier. We opted to take Luna for a short walk on the road followed by a short walk in the woods when we realized that it wasn’t raining too hard and that it was actually slipperier on the roads than on the forest, especially because we stopped back at home and put on our spikes. We definitely had a sluggish start to the day. And Luna came back rather soggy from our walk. We packed up and headed home before lunch in case the roads got icier. I did some grocery shopping at Costco and Farm Boy for Heidi who has a big week coming up with her ringette Nationals here in Ottawa starting tomorrow. I also made her some pasta sauce and will make a few more things including some soup early in the week. I’ve got the carcass from a Costco chicken boiling with some celery, carrots and onions overnight. She had a practice this morning and did some school work before opening ceremonies then had lots of laundry and other prep for the week to tackle before making her egg bites, getting her smoothie ingredients packaged into baggies and back into the freezer, boiling her pasta and assembling pasta and sauce containers.

Forest on Friday | 100DayProject Day 34

This photo wasn’t taken in the forest, but rather is of my one house plant at the cottage.

100DayProject Day 34

I completed cards 20, 21 and 22 but will only post about card 20 today and will save the other 2 to post later on the weekend.

AECP Card 20 (Clean & Simple Boutique Cards Lesson 6: Envelopes, Packaging and Creating Gifts

Boxes for A2-sized cards

The lesson had a few great ideas for decorating a clear acetate box which I want to try when I have the materials at hand. It also suggests some decorative ways to wrap a stack of cards to give as a gift which I will also eventually try. But for today I opted to make and decorate a box which is my favourite way to give away cards. In addition to sharing my process for creating a box to hold A2-sized cards I’ll share how I create envelopes for A2-sized cards. And then, of course, I had to make a coordinating card to go with the box and envelope I created. I will add the photos for the envelopes and card to this post tomorrow.

Forest on Friday

I slept in since I had stayed up way too late last night so I missed the morning walk with Luna and Roland. Roland came home saying that Luna loved her time in the forest. Plan A had been to go on the road but he reported that the forest was free of snow so they walked there. I was thinking about making my theme for the day Free of Snow Friday, but it actually isn’t free of snow, there’s just a lot of it’s gone on the south-facing side and the rest was frozen but not slippery so easy to navigate. So, my theme for the day is Forest Friday because I really enjoyed my excursion in the forest with Luna around lunch. We took our time and tried to find a few interesting things.

The stream had some very pretty ice formations and while I was admiring them and trying to take a few photos Luna did some stick foraging.

It won’t be long before some fiddleheads appear but for now just the green of last years ferns do a nice job of brightening the forest floor.

It will definitely be quite some time before any mushrooms are popping up from the forest floor but there are always interesting fungi to be found on the sides of trees.

Since I had won a buffalo plaid hat at the Rideau Bonspiel last weekend I was keen to see how well it went with my buffalo plaid cottage jacket. Luna wasn’t keen to be close to me in that attire.