Well hello again!

Good morning everyone! Just a bit of an update on what is going on with me these days. As some of you may know I began another job about a month ago. I am managing a custom embroidery and laser engraving shop here in Hinton called Willow Creek Cresting. Other than being exhausted I am loving the new job. It is so nice to get out and see people for a change!
Some of you may wonder what I am going to do with my business but nothing is changing there. I have been doing up orders in the evenings and on weekends and it seems to be working out well. Maybe even better than before as wierd as that sounds. LOL I find that I do better when I am busy and so busy it is! *grin*
I am not involved in three different boards in town here as well. I am secretary for our local bike club (resigning in January), Secretary for a group starting a music festival here, and I am involved in a cultural group here that puts on the FOHN Festival during the Canada Day celebrations. No rest for the wicked they say ... LOL
In the new year I hope to have alot more time for creating artwork as the busy Christmas season will be over at Willow Creek. I am so looking forward to it!
I hope that this finds all of you well and looking forward to a wonderful holiday season!
Big hugs
Alanna

Okotoks Scrapbook Convention

Good evening everyone! Tonight I just want to make a quick post about something I was approached for today. I received a phone call asking if I would mind posting a link on my website to a Scrapbook Convention in Okotoks Alberta.

Now ... I get alot of requests for support of one kind or another but I am always happy to help if I can. I have posted a link on my website as requested and then I decided to put one up here as well (top right hand side), but I thought I would pop a little note in here about it as well. This is what they say on the website "We are a community volunteer group of women all working together to help the Rowan House Emergency Shelter. Lisa Slocombe, Project Coordinator has been scrapbooking for 8 years. She held a similar charity scrapbooking convention in Winnipeg , Manitoba in 2004 and has been a teacher at the local scrapbook store. She is so excited to be working on this project - when she heard Rowan House was operating out of a basement in a group home, she knew they needed a boost. "My heart reaches out to the women who attend the shelter and I want them to know that they are loved and thought of. I hope that through this project we can perhaps assist them in their courageous desire for a better life."

I do hope you will go and take a peek ... it looks like a worthy cause. So here's wishing you all the best in your convention girls!
Hugs
Alanna

Long time no see!

Well ... it has been awhile since I managed to find some time to blog but here I am ... again making an attempt to faithfully keep it up. I have been very busy with the business, loading new stamps, creating custom stamps and just generally working on orders.
After such a rough year I am eager to launch wholeheartedly into a new one with a fresh outlook. I am caught up on all orders finally and can now start advertising again knowing that I can get the orders out immediately. It has been tough without staff and any help at all, but I am managing again. *smile*
I loaded several new stamps today including some very gorgeous femme images with one of my favorites being this image of The Bride above. Isn't she beautiful?

I am also nuts over this incredible image of Santa!

I did a few new stamps with verses in regards to our best friend the dog! Very cute and fun ... love them! They were a request from a dear friend and I just loved doing them. I am a true dog person these days with THREE ShiTzu's in the house now. Yup .. you heard me right ... we just acquired a new little devil we have aptly name Furby, and man does he look the part! LOL Here is a pic of him:


And here is one of the new dog stamps I uploaded today. LOL .. Could not resist! I really don't have an issue with men but you have to admit it is cute! LOL



So on this note .. I am going to log off and go and get some sleep. Something tells me tomorrow will be a long day. *smile*

Big hugs to all,
Alanna

Jacobson's Chapel Card

Hi all .... I was stamping recently and I made this card using my Jacobson Chapel stamp. I was kinda happy with how it turned out, but not totally. LOL I am not really sure what I could have done with differently though. I will have to make another one and see what I can do with it. The background is simply brayered and then stamped with one of my tree stamps in green. I then stamped the chapel onto transparency with white Stazon and attached it to the front of the card.
I sent this card to Mom to deliver to the people who kindly allowed me to use this image for a stamp.
Hugs to all,
Alanna

ITS DONE!!!

Well ... mostly! The new website is launching as I speak! After many, many, many looooonnnnnngg hours of work the new site is about to be up and running!! According to the webmistress it may take up to 24 hours for you to actually see the new site. Apparently some will see it sooner than others ... not sure why that is ... 'cause I can't even see it yet at the address.

The new site will show on the same address we have always used: www.digitalprincessdesigns.ca so not to worry .... it will be there soon.

I am just so happy to have it done to this point although there is alot more we want to do with it and there will be alot of tweaking yet to do I am sure, it looks GREAT! All of the new stamps look amazing in the new layout and it certainly is more user friendly. Soon we will have the new forum up as well (the webmistress has one on there that I turned off as I am not too thrilled with it yet, so she is going to put a new one up), and lots of other fun and great things!

So ... with that all happening the timing could not be better ... all the new parts I was waiting on for the machine are in finally and I can get back to running stamp orders! Anyone who is waiting on orders can expect them shortly now! YAHHH!!

There will be some things on the new site that you will notice right away ... you will be able to see all products but if it is not in stock you cannot order. Unfortunately, with a lack of staff I can no longer keep up with the ón demand' orders, and for my own sanity I will run this way for the time being. If there is something you really want you can email me and I will put it on my list of things to run when I get time.

As well ... the site prices now include the GST so no more guessing. At this point we do not have the shipping modules set up either but we will get to it soon. So for the time being I will notify you of your shipping costs as I have been doing.

So many other things ... but ... go explore!! There is LOTS to look at now! And ... there is now a link to this blog right on the site!!

big big hugs
Alanna

And the winner is .....

.... First of all ... a huge thanks to all for the wonderful comments! I appreciate you all so very much. I apologize for the delay in getting this draw done but I have been sick since Saturday and not really up to worrying about much of anything.
And so ... without any further delay ... the winner is .... Paula Atkinson from the UK! Paula email me (info@digitalprincessdesigns.ca) to claim your gift! I need your mailing address and I need to hear from you by this coming Sunday, September 16. Congrats on your win!!!
Hugs
Alanna

How time flies!

... and that is no joke! It seems like summer is over almost before it began this year, and with it comes time to maybe play some more. I dream of play time .... *smile*

turned out and took a couple of minutes to do more of the IntuitiveSo .... while we were out camping this weekend I managed to sneak away back to our trailer and do a little more watercolour painting for my backgrounds. I am very pleased with how they Watercolour technique on some ATC's. The first two pics are of the backgrounds themselves. Again painted and kept very. wet and salt added to give a very textured effect to them. I love the dramatic colours I used !


Now ... these are the ATC's ... the first is one I call Autumn created using a piece of watercolour paper I made before, the Intuitive technique and then stamping the word Autumn from my Season's Set. I just seemed to 'see' the leaves in this one. Added three leaf brads to it and VOILA!


This next one is called Spring. Guess I had best do the other two season's! LOL

I found a duck!! LOL Sometimes the images just come to me and I saw this duck in this one with clouds, grass and even sunshine! Kind of a funny looking duck isn't he? *grin*



This last one is a fun one for kids I think! I found flowers and bugs and even some little critter! Not sure what he is ... but I like him! LOL I think I might still add some stamping to him and to the duck to add interest. Words maybe.

ATC Frenzy

BATHING BEAUTY in BLUE:
I created this one for the Wednesday Stamper site for which the request of the day be something BLUE. I thought my DPD Vintage Bathing Beauty might be appropriate with my Dutch Script over it. I then added a small piece of background cardstock with some contrasting colour and a little butterfly in yellow for added interest.


ENDLESS JOURNEY:
The first of these ATC's is one done with the Intuitive Watercolour technique. Not sure where I was going but I 'found' a dinasour in there! LOL So .... the words "where ... creativity is an endless journey" seems almost appropriate. You just never know where it will take you!

MOON and STARS:
The second ATC is done with a Watercolour and Salt technique for the background. I then stamped one of my favorite Digital Princess tree stamps over that, and then layered a small piece of background paper that I had created some time ago. Cannot recall how I did that now! LOL Onto that I attached a small charm with the moon and stars.



GLORIOUS:
Another ATC created using the Intuitive Watercolour technique. I saw a scene with the sky and foliage, leaves, flowers and thought it looked glorious. I added my Dutch Script to it (can you tell it is a favorite stamp? LOL), stamped my Wildflowers stamp several times, and then glued on some gold foil. I then stamped the word Glorious in black.

A wonderful productive day!

Well ... we had a wonderful productive day today, spending it with my brother and his wife laying down their beautiful new laminate flooring. Oh how I love it! Between about six of us we got the entire living room and hallway all done, along with painting and putting up all the moldings again so the whole thing is now complete. And oh so pretty!
Anyhow ... on with the art ... *smile* ... I am going to see what I can find to post new here tonight. I am so happy to be creating 'art' again and am enjoying the blogs and all that everyone has to share. There is so much to learn out there! If only a person could just create endlessly! But alas ... there is WORK to do ... and LIFE! LOL
This first one is an ATC that I created some time ago and I really liked. And I love Marilyn so ... this works for me! LOL The second one is a card I did recently using my new Mini Marigold stamp and my new Doodles. I love the effect of spotlighting and this seemed to work on just fine this way.
Anyhow ... off for a bit of rest now as 5:30 comes early and I have a TON of stuff to do tomorrow.
Hugs to you all,
Alanna

"Your artistic expression tends to show up in flamboyant bursts. When you are feeling creative, it consumes your every thought and action. But just as quickly as the muse shows up, it leaves you and you are back to your relatively normal self."

I am a Lily What Flower Are You?

Summer's Over!!

This is a poem I wrote many years ago when my boys were small. I know .. I know ... most of you do not know that I even write! LOL But I do ... or have. I am going to begin adding some of my writing in here every once in awhile and I hope you enjoy it. I will also add some of my favorite verses and poems that I have collected over time.
If you want to use any of MY writing please email me requesting it. I am most happy to share as long as you ask and give credit.
Anyhow ... this one seems appropriate at this time of year! LOL

Summer's Over

Silence is golden
So they say;
For school to begin
We parents pray.

July was hell,
August worse;
Kids fight
And parents curse!

"Quiet!" we yell.
"Shhhhh!!" we scream.
Of peace and quiet
Tired parents dream.

Alas the bell tolls ...
Let school begin.
Children laugh ...
And parents GRIN!

Alanna E. Campbell
Copyright August 18, 1988

Just a couple more ..... I am on a roll!!!!

Well ... okay ... these are the last two for today.
The SECOND card is another Intuitive Watercolour with one of my new DPD silhouette stamps on it. The corners are stamped with one my DPD Flourishes.

I created the FIRST card by scraping my ink pads across the cardstock in brown and black around the edges leaving the inside white. I then stamped the DPD Vetruvian Man stamp centered onto it in black, and overstamped with the DPD Dutch Script. A small piece of fibre completes the card.

Hugs
Alanna

Auntie Ruth's cards ... GORGEOUS!

These four cards are created by my husband's aunt Ruth Proud from Calgary Alberta. Both the drawings and the verse inside are her original work. I am honored that she has asked me to sell these for her, but am finding that I am concerned with calling them just 'cards'. Nothing against cards but these are WORKS OF ART! The detail in her work in incredible and these are finished inside with full colour printing as well (usually duplicating a portion of the image from the outside, and then they have vellum inserts with her own written text inside. So nicely done!

Here is what I am doing with them ... I am taking the cards and FRAMING THEM! Yup ... it is one way to get quality art prints without spending LOTS of money on them! Most of them measure 8.5" x 5.5" so they are a good size. The first one "Sometimes" is one that she made limited edition prints of a few years ago and many many of my friends and family really wanted it but it sold out, so this gives them a chance to still get it! So .. I figure they could be called FRAMEABLE ARTIST GREETING GIFTS!! Now how does that sound? And where can you get artwork like this for under ten bucks? LOL I think they would be awesome sent as a card for your loved ones to frame themselves or as GIFTS that are already framed!

If you are interested in purchasing them please email me at info@digitalprincessdesigns.ca and I will give you a link to see all the details on them. They are very Christian in nature and incredibly beautiful!

Hugs
Alanna
PS ... these are COPYRIGHTED 2007 CLAY POT DESIGNS so please please please do NOT copy them! The prices are more than reasonable so please respect her work as we would want others to respect ours!

And more ....

These two cards are created using the Intuitive Watercolour technique. I am really liking this! But it can get kinda funky! LOL
I am very happy with the first card. I found images of leaves in the watercolours and outlined them and then overstamped with black versafine and my Dutch Script stamp, and then stamped in my new Heron stamp behind. I love the effect!
The next one was fun! Again using the Intuitive Watercolour technique I 'found' the fish and seaweed. I hand lettered the words and added some little mini fish stamps that I have, and layered it up again, using a punch for the effect at the bottom of the blue.

Just a few more of my recent cards ...

These are two cards I did ... one was awhile back but I was quite happy with it. The Abstract Defined card was literally layers of torn background papers (some purchased, some of my own) and then layered over with the verse and ribbon. Three little brads added a little to it.

The second card is a more recent one. It was literally the garbage under my stamping. So ... when I am stamping I always have scrap paper on my table underneath my artwork. Any overstamping and so on ... practicing .. whatever goes on there. It can be a real mishmash of 'stuff'. LOL Anyhow ... I decided I liked this piece of it and tore it and layered it up. Voila ... LOL

Enjoy your day!

More new cards!

These are a few of the cards I have been creating in the past few weeks. I have several more and will add them over the next few days. I hope you enjoy.
The first and sixth cards were done using the Intuitive Watercolour technique wherein you randomly paint your watercolour and once it is dry you go back with a fine black pen and start creating images that you 'see' in the paint colours, hence 'intuitive'. This is a very kewl technique and I love that I can 'find' images in the paint colours!
The third card was stamped etc and then once the doodle bird was stamped on I used a real dragonfly wing over the image. I know it does not show up very well here but it looks kinda fun!
None of these cards show it but most have been accented with a clear shimmery pen which adds a very nice touch to them.
Hugs
Alanna

i'm baaaaccckkkkk!

Well ... here I am. After being away from my blog for a long long time I am hoping I will now have time to keep it up again. I have been pushing myself óutside' of my comfort zone and trying to have some fun creating again. Creating stamps is just not the same as creating a piece of artwork, be it a card, an ATC or whatever. I have always enjoyed using many mediums and sometimes think I am a mixed media or collage artist at heart! LOL So ... here are a few pages I have done in a 'journal' of sorts that I started. I bought a cheap hardcovered book and have started doodling and stamping and painting and embellishing pages. Not sure if it really means much ... LOL ... but I am enjoying it!

The page on the left was created using watercolour techniques along with stamping and just exploring what I can find for images out of the watercolours and drawing them.

The second page is again stamped but I smeared (literally) my ink pads across the pages first. It might be hard to see but the center piece is actually a piece of a napkin I had under my stamping that day that I just glued on. I then added REAL DRAGONFLY WINGS over the stamped wings on the dragonfly and covered them with a clear product to preserve them. And NO I did not murder the dragonflies for their wings! LOL They were actually pulled from the grill of my truck! *Grin* Okay ... so I guess maybe I did kill them! LOL ... but not on purpose!

The third page is a mishmash of images, stamped, painted, collaged. Not really sure I am happy with this one ... but live and learn.

Hugs
Alanna

I'm a Mazda!!! Go figure!

I'm a Mazda RX-8!

You're sporty, yet practical, and you have a style of your own. You like to have fun, and you like to bring friends along for the ride, but when it comes time for everyday chores, you're willing to do your part.

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

This is kinda funny! Mazda's are actually my favorite cars! LOL .. Thought this was cute and I would share it with you.
On another note ... I am busy busy ... trying to get the new website up and running. Egad ... what a ton of work! And I have to do that in my 'spare time' along with finishing the renos on the house. Oh ... and I am making a quilt! Okay ... so ... I should clarify ... I bought the stuff to make a quilt! And I washed the tapestry that I am using for the basis of it. Nothing more than that yet. LOL The skies are kinda grey here today ... but Sunday we went for a ride with a bunch of friends on a Mother's Day annual run we take to Nojak, about two hours from here. It was a great day but I was beat when we got home! LOL This is a pic I took from the back on our way home. It really was so pretty ... but the pic does not show up the gorgeous mountains and how beautiful they were!

Hugs

Alanna

A NEW BABY!!

I just HAVE to share! One of my very good friends here just emailed pics of their new baby! Isn't he PRECIOUS???!! This photo was taken last night when he was one hour old! I am just so thrilled to see this little darling and now I can't wait to go out and visit! He will certainly be a wonderful addition to their little family of horses!
So kewl!

Kent's Bday Invite

Well ... after getting some other projects finished today I finally got to play with an invitation that I dearly need to get made for hubby's 50th bday bash in July. The image and the birthday verse are both new stamps I have created, while the words SMILE and FUN (on the tab once it is pulled out ~Next pic), as well as the tab itself were created on my Cricut machine. I am really loving that toy! LOL Tomorrow I get my newest toy ... a Cuttlebug should be arriving! YAH! Now ... if I could just find time to learn more about my Wishblade that I bought LAST YEAR! LOL

Anyhow ... what do you think? Is this an invite that guys might like? LOL

It's a Sunshiney kind of day!

hey ... the sun is SHINING! What a bright fun day it is here today! My house renovating is coming along very nicely thanks to family and friends stepping in to give me a hand, and I am ready to start uploading some new stamp images I have been working on. There are more incredible vintage images along with some just plain FUN stuff! LOL I am anxious to see your response to the new images! Lots of new verses too~! The image you see here is one of the new stamps as well. An image of a little church in the Williams Lake BC area on the Jacobson Ranch. I just LOVE it! What do you think of this one?
Okay .. am off ... need to run more stamps ... lol ..
hugs
Alanna

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Hey! HAPPY EASTER everyone! I have to apologize ... I have just not had any time at all to post on here for weeks. And yes Nancy ... I am back! LOL I know ... you said you miss me! LOL ... Glad to hear it!
This has been so busy for me this past couple of weeks with work, renovating the house, family and all that entails Mom came out for a week and a half and per usual there were not enough hours in the days. We THOUGHT we would have time to play ... but no such luck ... it was all work! I had so many custom orders come in that I spent most of my time on the computer working, and then running stamps when I could. Poor Mom just bustled about me trying to do what she could. She is such a big help!
The renovating on the house is ongoing. This past year brought the new lino I had wanted for so many years, along with new appliances, and all new paint in the kitchen, living room and bathroom upstairs. I also painted the entryway and the downstairs hallway. This year so far we have redone the downstairs bathroom (totally gutted it and started over!), and are now working on the three upstairs bedrooms. New carpet is supposed be coming in on Thursday but I took a bad fall yesterday in the yard, and have doctors orders to stay off of my sprained left ankle. ARGGH! I have STUFF to do! I can't see it happening! LOL I still have to get the two guest rooms painted and scrubbed down for them to lay the carpet in! I have the ceilings pretty much done but the walls still need paint. Two weeks later we begin on the master bdrm and the living room!
So ... now that I am laid up ... I am hoping I can get doing something creative to post here! I REALLY miss being able to create!
Hope the day is sunny and bright for all of you, and that Easter Sunday brings you lots of family, friends and loved ones!
Big big hugs
Alanna

WHEW!! I am baaaackkk! LOL

Well ... where to begin .... ? Back from where? Well ... I have just had a very hectic couple of weeks with a TON of stuff going on and I don't feel like I have 'been here'...
First of all ... We had quite the scare in the last few weeks. I had sort of hinted at it previously but was sworn to secrecy and as such could not really get into it. Our youngest son who is 25 was diagnosed with lung cancer at Christmas time. The shock was unbelievable and I was devastated!I had a very tough time with this and had a terrible time coping. It seemed that my world was crashing in on me. Believe it or not ... after two months of diagnosis and actually prescribing Chemo ... the hospital called him to say that a terrible mistake had been made! Thank heavens he had not begun the chemo yet! It turns out that someone had put the wrong results into his file!!! I thought stuff like that only happened on tv! As relieved as we are we do feel awful for someone else as they SHOULD have been diagnosed and had not been til this came up. Such mixed feelings. Anyhow ... all that said ... it is over for us ... and we are saying a LOT of thanks right now.
Okay ... so what else? Well ... we are still renovating the house ... new carpets are coming in April and I have three bedrooms to get the walls and celings painted and ready. It means moving furniture in a BIG way ... so I am dreading this .. but it will be so wonderful to have the house all fixed up. Once that is done we can start with the new moldings on the doors etc. Yesterday brought a new furnace ... what a relief that is! We were never sure how long the old one (about fifty years old .. no lie!) was going to hold up. They will come this morning to finish this up.
And then ... last week I had a mishap with a light bulb! LOL ... I was changing a bulb and had shards of glass drop into my right eye! At first I thought I could just swish it out with water and be okay ... but it really began to hurt. Hubby had to come home from work and take me to the hospital to have it cleaned out. What a process. Two hours of sitting in the waiting room before they did ANYTHING. Then they put dye into it and took a look to see what they could find. It was FULL of glass! Oh ... and they froze it ... that felt WIERD. You should have seen my eye! LOL ... I was sporting one of my business colours ... BRIGHT ORANGE! hehehe ... too funny. I was orange to my eyebrow and half way down my cheek! Anyhow .. that goes away fairly quickly and they flushed it out and sent me on my way with promises to see them the next day again. That entailed a visit back to the doc and then to the optometrist to insure they had it all out. More flushing ... more glass. Anyhow ... the end result ... it gets tired still ... and has taken to twitching uncontrollably ... *aggravating!* ... but no more glass at this point and no permanent damage that we can tell.
Okay .. enough rambling ... am off to run stamps and try to get some artwork done today ... I bought new shelves for all my inks yesterday and am doing some clean up in the my studio ... hmmmm ... get to work Alanna! LOL
big hugs to all ...

BLOG CANDY WINNERS!!

DID YOU WIN? I had a tough tough time choosing the winner for the Blog Candy this time!! WOW !! Anyhow .. after much thought I would like Dianne Davidson to contact me to have her OH CANADA set shipped out to her! And ... because it was SOOO tough ... I am awarding a second prize of 20% off of this set to Peggy Ford if she would like this set!!! Please girls email me to claim your prizes! For the rest .. thank you for
Big hugs
Alanna

Dreaming with your eyes wide open ... ?

Well .. not much for dreaming for me last night! WOW! Talk about éyes wide open! LOL I did not get to sleep until after midnight last night and awoke to darling hubby Kent sneaking out of the bedroom at about 3:20 this morning because he could not sleep. Well .. that was it for me ... try as I might ... I was not wide awake and wheels turning. Up I got ... and he went back to bed! Shortly after ... son Shane was found prowling round the house! Had to be something in the air as they say! Kent slept til shortly after 5:00 ... while Shane and I got breakfast ready and lunches packed. Took them both to work at the mill at 5:45 and came home to see what I could accomplish today! It will be a busy day for me as I have meetings and appointments all day, along with finishing up some more orders, seeing the accountant, getting info on a 'new to us' car (the motor is done in our Intrepid which is more expensive to fix than to buy another one, hence me driving men to work in the early morning hours!), working on arranging a family reunion for hubby's family, and on and on the list goes! EEK ... and I am EXHAUSTED! Okay ... off for a bit of a nap before the first meeting!!!
Hugs
Alanna

About the Blog Candy!

WOW! you girls are gonna make this tough on me aren't you? LOL You all have such good reasons as to why you should win this, but I am glad I have some time to think on it. Now .. if I were rich I would be giving all of you one but seeing as how that isn't the case .... LOL ... only ONE set will be given for this. I am however giving another (key word being ánother') set away to someone very special who has earned this over and over again!! Diane Armstrong certainly worked hard on the Postcards for the Troops project and because of that I have offered to send her a set of these stamps. I am sure she will put them to good use! Conrats Diane on all of your hard work!!

I would also like to say a big thank you to all who have signed my guestbook and blog notes! It is always so very nice to hear your thoughts on my work. I hope you are all doing well and please stay in touch!
Hugs,
Alanna

Collage ... Princess Style

This is a collage card I did while teaching a class last year and I really love it. Not too often I am this happy with my work .. but I find this one really fulfilling. What do you think?
Hugs
Alanna

Good Evening!

Hey! What a busy busy day on my blog! I am so glad that everyone likes the new stamp set! After posting the Sale today with an offer of an ATC from Mom to go with each order I thought I should share some of her work so you can see ... I am NOT exagerating! Her work is AWESOME! This is a card she created using two of my giraffe stamps. Pretty nice hey? I love it!
Well ... this evening I will be loading up some new stamps to the website. Will get as many as I can up and then load more again as I get time over the weekend.
Hope you are all having a great evening!
big hugs
Alanna

MORE BLOG CANDY!

Well ... I struggled with this tonight ... What should I give for Blog Candy? I thought about a stamp ... from DPD of course ... and then I considered some cardstock packages that I have, but they are very heavy to ship ... so I then decided I would give away a package of a new stamp set I designed recently. When I designed this set I was thinking in terms of supporting our Canadian troups overseas. I will send the lucky recipient this set of stamps! To enter please go to my guestbook and tell me what YOU would do with them! Would you use them for cards? scrap pages? Give me some idea of what you think these would be good for and I will make a decision by Feb 28th to announce WHO will be the lucky winner! You can view this stamp set on my website at this address: www.digitalprincessdesigns.ca. Scroll down on the front page to see it listed at the top of the new products section! BE SURE TO CHECK BACK TO MY BLOG OFTEN TO SEE IF YOU WIN!
Big hugs
Alanna

Card Mapping

This is something I started recently on my yahoo group. People have lots of different names for them ... but they all basically do the same thing. The idea is to give you a starting to point to help inspire you to create! With mine I just want to see what YOUR take is on the outline I have given. Nothing more. If you deter from the original ... that is okay too. At least it gets you CREATING! I know for myself, when I put up a new one each week it gets ME creating! *smile* So ... I have put up week one on the bottom right panel here and will change it weekly. If anyone knows how I can set it up as a folder where I can upload the files continually and leave them there for future use, that would be awesome! I cannot for the life of me figure out how to accomplish that! LOL
Anyhow ... check it out ... and feel free to use it .. but please give credit to Digital Princess Designs for the 'map'.
Big hugs
Alanna

I TRIED IT! ....

.... digital scrapbooking!!! I have been rather intrigued by it and today I could not resist and attempt at it. Okay ... so maybe I am not the greatest and i did use elements I found online at a website called Digital Scrapbook Place. Very kewl ... neat stuff there ... and lots of freebies for those of us who are beginners. The artist is Pamela Clark and the set is called Girly Girl. Thanks so much to Pam for sharing with us!
I am not totally taken with this method of scrapbooking yet. I can foresee some 'issues' with it, at least in my opinion. First of all I LOVE real texture and dimension on all of my work, and although it LOOKS like it has all of that .. it does not. The other is with printing it. This layout is an 8.5 x 11, but I really 12 x 12 pages more. To print them is impossible baring buying a new high end printer, and I am not ready to do that at this point. Even to print the smaller format will not be cheap considering the cost of inks. So ... I have yet to be convinced although I do love anything graphically oriented. As I said ... I TRIED! LOL
hugs for today ...
Alanna

Creative Block ...

You know ... this is something i can usually fight through ... but right now i just seem to be struggling with a complete creative block. I have heard others talk about their "muse" ... hmmmm ... I am not Á- Mused! Okay ... stupid joke! Anyhow ... As much as i wanted to do some creative work in the line of cards and scrapbooking this weekend, so far I have achieved nothing. I know I am not the only person who struggles with this ... so tell me ... how do YOU get past it? Post here to let me know ... any help is appreciated! Do you find that when 'other' things are stressful in your life you create more? or less? For me it seems I create less when I am stressed out. I do have a TON of magazines and will pull them out for inspiration, and I have videos and DVD's ... and sometimes watch them ... but right now it is just not working. I started creating Card Maps as I call them for my yahoo group and I do find that helps somewhat. It challenges me to create something because of course ... if I expect my girls to use it ... I had best do it first right? LOL Okay ... so share with me ... what do YOU do to get past a block?
Hugs
Alanna

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Hey ... Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I hope that you can spend this day with someone YOU love! I am very fortunate in that I have my darling hubby and my youngest son here for supper tonight. Think I might just go out and buy some steaks and prawns! It is supposed to warm up here bigtime today (going from -18 this morning to +8 this afternoon!). It sure would be nice. Can't imagine doing the steak on the BBQ at -17! LOL

Anyhow ... I am off to run some custom stamp orders and then while they are running I am going to make some Valentine's and Bday cards. I am so far behind on my cards ... kinda like the mechanic with a broken down car! LOL

I will post once I get some done!
Hugs
Alanna

Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye.
H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Flying Proud

This is a scrapbook page I created awhile back. I was really pleased with how it turned out and am anxious to get to doing alot more scrapping. The photos were taking on a sunday afternoon cruise up to a place called Miette Hot Springs in Jasper National Park. The park gates are only about ten minutes from here and this is about a forty minute drive. I could not resist taking some shots of our gorgeous Canadian flag flying so high and proud against the Rocky Mountains.

I used my Blossom Alphabet set to create the 'Oh Canada' up the right side, several of my Real Flowers stamps were used to create the floral 'garden' across the bottom on the vellum, and my "Perfect Canadian" stamp on the left hand side. If you can't read it ... it says "I am not perfect, but I am Canadian and that's enough!". *smile*
I also stamped my "Home Defined" on the large photo and it says "Home ~ where the heart belongs".
Hugs
Alanna

Happy Birthday Mom!

Okay ... so I went exploring ... thinking about your birthday today ... and here is what I found ... "Happy Birthday" in several languages! LOL ... so here goes:
Dutch: Hartelijk gefeliciteerd! or Van harte gefeliciteerd met je verjaardag!
French: Bonne Fete!
Japanese: Otanjou-bi Omedetou Gozaimasu!
Okay ... that's just a couple! LOL If you want to explore it further here is the link to the site I found: www.shabbir.com/romance/bday.html
So .. in my exploring I also found another site of interest. As some of you know we lovingly call my mother the "Digital Queen Mom", of course in reference to being the mother of the Digital Princess! LOL So ... I found this interesting site about Queen Elizabeth and celebrating her 80th birthday. It looks quite interesting and so I thought I would share it with all of you ... www.royal.gov.uk
Not sure why .. but my links don't seem to want to work this morning .. anyhow .. addresses are there.
Okay ... off to work I go ... *smile*
Alanna

... and so the day begins ..

Yes ... it does ... already almost 7 a.m. and I have well started my day. 5:20 a.m. ~ up, get the coffee on and breaky for hubby, pack his lunch, get him ready to go to work, boil the kettle for my tea, get dressed and by 6 a.m. out the door to take him to work. Yes ... I do all of that first thing in the morning ... if I want my truck anyhow. The motor in Kent's car went in November so if I feel I might need to go anywhere I have to take him to work.
Now ... the day really begins! I will get stamps packaged for a customer coming over this morning for the new alphabet sets I did up for her, and then finish off some custom stamp orders and ship them all out today. Hmmmm ... what else? I have to run some of my new stamps again ... oh and I have to update the quantities on the website as son Shane and I counted the stock room last night. That will take most of the day just to update the numbers.
I picked up the mail this morning on my way back from taking Kent to the mill and found a package Mom sent with her Recipe Card Swaps in it. TOO KEWL, Mom! Love them love them love them!
Now, speaking of Mom ... today is her birthday!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!! You know ... I have the most awesome Mom in the whole world! I know ... you are thinking I might be a little biased ... and you are likely right ... but that is okay. *smile* She is one of my very best friends in the whole world! I wish I could be there with her today to spoil her. She certainly deserves it! So I hope she has a good day ... and that only good things happen for her today and always!
Well .. on with the day ... must get some work done ...
Hugs to all
Alanna

Some samples of my past works ...