Happy Valentine's Day!

It's Valentine's Day already!  February is zipping by and spring will be here before we know it.   I hope you will be able to be with your valentine today.

Our snow is melting - it's amazing to see how the nearly three feet of fluffy snow compacts down to about a foot of dense snow.  We did have some rain which hurried the process along.  While I am still catching up from being away so much last month, I have been able to do a little bit of designing this week and last night I made this card for my valentine. 

Here is the inside with some extra hearts (the flip side of the hearts cut from the top frame on the front of the card).  I'll share more details about this card in another post since I am writing this late at night.  It was nice to finally get back in my craft room and make something!

If you enjoy stamping - or want to learn more about it - I want to remind you about the True Stamp event coming up on March 9th - just three weeks from Saturday.

Lain Ehmann, the scrapbooking superhero organizer of Layout a Day (LOAD) and True Scrap, is hosting this one day internet event.  True Stamp is a full day of six live classes taught by instructors from six sponsor companies - Paper Smooches, Technique Tuesday, Unity Stamp Company, Raisin Boat, Simon Says Stamp and Lawn Fawn.  You will have access to all of the classes after the event as well so you can watch them over and over again.  There was a special early sign up discount offer that was good until February 8th but some of you may have missed that deadline.  If you missed it, I have good news for you!

Lain is offering a Valentine's Day special.  You can use the discount code "SWEET" at checkout to receive a 50% discount.  That makes the price only $48.50 - about $8 per class.  Click on the True Stamp image above or click here to view more details.  This offer ends at midnight Pacific Time today, February 14th, so don't miss out on your second chance!

Here is one more look at my card.  I designed the circle of hearts and bows to cut with the Silhouette Cameo.  The words were welded and cut from the font "Script MT Bold" on my computer.

It is taking me longer than I hoped to get "back to normal" but I am making progress.  Most of the Christmas things are finally down but I do have to make a lot more trips to the attic to get everything put away. We may get some more snow but only an inch or two...   Are you celebrating Valentine's Day today or waiting for the weekend?

Subscribe to Capadia Designs if you would like to have new posts delivered directly to your email.

Valentine's Week

Valentine's Day is just around the corner.  If you haven't made cards yet, today would be a good day to get them done.  I made this card a couple of years ago and it is still a favorite.  A Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page set and a Punch All Over the Page heart punch were used to make the design.  You can find detailed directions on how to make this card HERE.

Just a quick post today.  I think I am feeling the effects of the fresh air and shoveling so I had a lazy Sunday, took a nap and finished a book I started reading ages ago.  I hope that your weekend finished well.  Have you made your valentines already?

Subscribe to Capadia Designs if you would like to have new posts delivered directly to your email.

Blizzard Pages

The storm was officially a blizzard.  Boston's final total was 24.9 inches, making this the fifth largest storm by amount of snowfall.  The record was 27.5 inches from February 17-18, 2003.  I remember that storm very well.  We were on vacation in Florida and my husband and older son were supposed to fly back home for work and rehearsal for the high school show.  They were "stuck" in Florida for a couple of extra days and didn't get back home until Thursday.

We had about 28 inches here in Concord (yes - that is all that shows of the full yardstick!)  There are places where the drifts are much taller.

 I did a few digital layouts about the snow.  Digital scrapping is fun because it is so immediate.  I took the photos, edited them and had layouts done just a few hours later.

 Here is the before and after looking at our house from the street.  The snow was light and powdery so it was easily handled by my husband with the snowblower.  I did the shoveling around the porch and front walk and the snow wasn't too heavy but you had to do five or six shovels full in each spot to get down to the ground!

If you don't live in a snowy place, you may not have seen this tool before.  It is a roof rake to get the snow off the edges of the roof so it won't melt and form ice dams.  There are sections that fit together to make it extend up to the second story and it is tricky to control.

 

Here is the view from the front porch on Friday before the snow...

...and after the storm was over on Saturday.

During the second round of snow clearing our little neighbors stopped by.  The banks of snow formed by the town plows along the side of the street seemed like mountains to them and they had a lot of fun climbing and sliding (and throwing snow!).

You can see how tiny they look as they walked back up the street with their mother - those banks of snow are tall!

Claire spent most of her time going up and down the snow piles.  She was so bundled up that I didn't get very many photos that showed her face.

Emma's favorite thing was throwing snowballs.  She was all smiles and laughed every time she managed to find a chunk of snow to throw (with remarkably good aim).

We were very fortunate and never lost power.  The areas closer to the ocean were hit much harder with flooding from the tides and power outages.  The ban on driving was finally lifted at 4 p.m. Saturday but we haven't gone anywhere yet.  No flights or public transit were expected to start until sometime on Sunday and it make take several days to get the "T" running again. 

I hope that all of you who were in the path of the storm are doing fine.  The predictions were very accurate and we had plenty of time to take precautions which made it much easier to weather the storm.  It will take a while for all of this snow to melt!

Subscribe to Capadia Designs if you would like to have new posts delivered directly to your email.

Valentine's Freebies and Finds

Webster's Pages

We watched the snow accumulate all day Friday - I don't know how much there will be by the end of the storm but it was falling fast through the evening.  The wind has caused so much drifting.  I am sure we will have our hands full trying to clear the drive and walkways today!

While I was catching up with some of my favorite sites I found lots of great freebies for Valentine's Day - so I thought I'd share some links in case you are trying to get some projects finished for next week.  All of the images in this post are low resolution screen shots - please follow the links to get the actual files from each source and be sure to say thanks if you can!

Webster's Pages has lots of great digital freebies - you'll find them HERE.  The beautiful sheet of Printable Valentine's Cards at the top of this post can be found HERE.

Twisted Papers

Russell and Stan at Twisted Papers have posted a number of freebies on their Facebook Page HERE.   They have over 1,000 images just for Valentine's Day on their shop site HERE.  Most images are just $1.00 but they offer a super deal with a 30 day subscription for $24.95 that allows you to download up to 500 images - making them about 5 cents each!

ScrapNfonts

ScrapNfonts has free printable bag toppers(above) and bookmarks (below) available on their blog HERE.

ScrapNfonts

ScrapNfonts also is offering a beautiful set of doilies on their store site - free until Valentine's Day.  You can find this set HERE.  The files are available as 6 individual .png files and one Photoshop .abr (brush) file.

ScrapNfonts

I was able to trace the .png images to create cutting files in the Silhouette software (I haven't tried cutting this yet).

The images can also be used in digital scrapping programs.  I took the same image into my Creative Memories StoryBook Creator 4.0 program, added some digital papers and 3D edges to make this fancy doily!

Creative Memories offers digital freebies every Friday - here is a sample from a few weeks ago that would work well for Valentine's projects.  You can find the freebies on the Project Center blog HERE (scroll down to the post dated January 11th to find this set).

Creative Memories

Jodie Lee does beautiful vintage digital papers and embellishments.  She offers quite a few freebies on her blog.  You can find these cute Valentine's HERE.

Jodie Lee

Jodie Lee

Jodie Lee also has a Facebook page HERE and when you like her page you can download a beautiful set of papers called "Butterfly Garden."  She designed the new "Divine" papers for Prima.  I just bought the A4 pad of paper at my local scrap shop, Ink About It, and I hope to make something with these pretty papers this weekend.

Lettering Delights

Lettering Delights

These cute cupcakes are the freebie at Lettering Delights - available until Sunday at midnight.  Click HERE to go to the page and add them to your cart and check out some of the other new items while you are there.  All of the Valentine and Love products are only $1 or $2.

Lettering Delights

 Sherri McCulley has some beautiful new graphic and cut it sets called "Lockets of Love"

Lettering Delights

If you buy $30 worth of products, you can use the code "Punderful" to take $10 off - this is a good deal since the sets are already reduced to $1 or $2 so you can stock up at a great price.  You can see all of the Love and Valentine sets HERE.

The Silhouette Online Store is offering all Valentine shapes for 75 cents until Valentine's Day.  You can find the sale shapes HERE.

SVG Cuts

SVG Cuts has pages and pages of free designs.  The pretty lace borders above are the most recent.  You can find their freebies HERE.

Here is a little peek at the snow conditions...

beginning of the snow

just before dark

sometime after midnight - lots of wind and drifting

The Governor of Massachusetts issued an executive order requiring everyone to stay off the public roads from 4 p.m. on Friday.  The conditions are extreme, especially along the shore and on the Cape.  I hope that all of you who live in the areas affected by this storm are snugly inside.  We still have power...I hope it lasts!


Subscribe to Capadia Designs if you would like to have new posts delivered directly to your email.

Snowstorm on the way!

I am back home in Massachusetts.  Thanks to all of you for the kind messages of sympathy and your thoughts and prayers.  The services for my Dad were held last Saturday.  While the circumstances were sad, it was wonderful to have the family together for the weekend.  We gathered in Pennsylvania from California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Virginia, New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts. 

I got back here just in time to prepare for a major snowstorm.  We are predicted to have blizzard conditions and over 24 inches of snow on Friday and Saturday.  I hope all of you who are in the path of the storm have taken precautions and will stay safe inside.  The photo at the top of this post is a reminder of a sunny vacation in Florida a few years ago.  Sometimes you need to keep things in perspective - this storm will pass...

I am tackling the long-delayed task of putting away the Christmas decorations now that I am home.  I haven't been in my craft room yet but the storm will keep everyone inside so there should be lots of time to get creative.  There are a couple of things I wanted to let you know about - one with a deadline of today...

I wasn't able to start on the Layout a Day (LOAD) class while I was away so I am going to have to get busy to catch up.  I know that some of you were also taking this class - how is it going so far?  Lain Ehmann, the scrapbooking superhero organizer of LOAD and True Scrap has some other events coming up.

 Next Wednesday, February 13th is Lain's monthly FREE "Scrapinar" and the topic this month is "Sewing on Scrapbook Pages."  I have always admired the look of stitching on cards and pages but I never seem to pull out the machine to try it.  Jennifer Larson will be sharing tips on adding both hand and machine sewing to your papercrafts.   To sign up click on the image above or click here to view more details.  Remember - it's free and if the time doesn't work for you there will be a recording available - but only if you sign up ahead of time!

True Stamp is the other event with a full day of six live classes taught by instructors from six sponsor companies - Paper Smooches, Technique Tuesday, Unity Stamp Company, Raisin Boat, Simon Says Stamp and Lawn Fawn.  You will have access to all of the classes after the event as well so you can watch them over and over again.  The regular event price is $97 but if you sign up by February 8th (that's TODAY) you will get a huge discount of $50 off!  That makes the price only $47 - less than $8 per class.

I have so many stamps - I just can't resist buying them!  I am looking forward to finding out about new ways to use them and to learning from some experts.  There are prizes and a virtual goodie bag and you don't even have to leave home - take the classes in your PJs - I won't tell!

No coupon code is needed for this discount, just click on the True Stamp image above or click here to view more details.  Today is the last day to get this special offer.

I have missed blogging and I am looking forward to getting back into the usual routine - with some new twists.  My "Blogoversary" date was February 1st and I am planning another celebration but it will be delayed for a couple of weeks.  Thanks again for your support over the last very difficult month.  Your prayers and caring messages were a great comfort during this time.


Subscribe to Capadia Designs if you would like to have new posts delivered directly to your email.