Wild Flower

Primaries Only

2012-02-23T10:38:00.000-04:00

And by Primaries I mean the colours, not my son's classroom at school. This card is for a challenge I did over on CropChocolate.com, and it was to use primary colors only.

I found the idea for this card on Pinterest last night, made by Sylvia Brown of www.sylviastamps.blogspot.com and immediately added it to my Card Stylings board for a future scraplift....who knew it would be so quickly.

Pattern paper is Echo Park's A Boy's Life, Kraft Core Core'Dinations cardstock, stamps are My Mind's Eye Follow Your Heart Be Amazing, and I also used Distress Inks in Walnut Stain and Festive Berries, Glimmer Mist in Red-Nosed Reindeer, Memento Tuxedo Black, Hug Snug seam binding, My Mind's Eye burlap twine and brad, and an Idea-ology Fragment charm.

Another Sketch....

2012-02-15T12:24:00.000-04:00

This is a card I did based on another sketch challenge that My Stamping Studio is doing. It's another PageMaps sketch.

This is made with the new Miss Caroline Collection by My Mind's Eye....this one is the Fiddlesticks collection. Quick and simple and cute!

Snack Time - PageMaps Sketch LO

2012-02-14T14:35:00.000-04:00

My Stamping Studio is running a sketch contest right now using a sketch from Page Maps, and Echo Park is running a contest on their FB page asking for projects made with their new A Boy's Life collection to be posted on their wall...so I combined the two!

Made with Echo Park Paper A Boy's Life, Tim Holtz Kraft Core cardstock, Vintage Photo Distress Ink, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher, My Mind's Eye pearl brad, Tonic paper distresser, American Crafts Black Precision Pen and sandpaper.

Vintage Valentine Challenge with May Arts

2012-02-10T19:04:00.000-04:00

I have another project over on the May Arts blog, this time it's for a Vintage Valentine challenge and these were the ribbons we were given to use on our project....as per rules, we need to use all 4 ribbons on our creation.

This is what I came up with:

I took a old tin, mod-podged antiqued book pages to it, went over them with some Victorian Velvet, Spun Sugar and Tattered Roses Distress Inks, then toned them down with the Picket Fence Distress Stain. I wrapped the outside edge with one of the ribbons from May Arts.

The large pink flower, I cut out with my Slice, 3 of the same image, just a half inch smaller for each layer. I formed the flower, and added an old earring as my flower center. I used the May Arts cream crinkle ribbon to make a rolled flower, added the heart center with my Epiphany Crafts Shape tool and coordinating Bubble Cap. I used a stick pin and one of the die cuts from the My Mind's Eye Love Me collection to make a pennant and then I stuck it in the flower. The May Arts beige silk was tied in a double bow and added to the large paper rose with a smaller Harmonie paper rose for the center.

The key was silver, but didn't look right, it was too bright. So, I took some gold and brown embossing powders, mixed them up, took the key and pressed it into my embossing ink, sprinkled the powders on, heat it up, let it cool then flipped it and did the same to the other side, then attached it with the May Arts lace ribbon. I used a paper doily, some fussy cut banners, vintage postcard stickers and some MME pearls to finish the cluster of embellishments. The lettering is Amy Tangerine Thickers.

If you like this, feel free to vote for me over on the May Arts Blog by leaving a comment on this blog posting. Thanks for looking, feel free to leave me a comment!

Non-Traditional and somewhat Masculine (except for of course the organza flowers and tulle)

2012-01-12T11:57:00.001-04:00

WARNING: Photo heavy blog post today!! LOL!! Okay, carry on!

You've already seen the layouts I did with the Kraft Funday Happy Days collection. This is a mini album that I made using the other collection from that release...the Everyday Fun collection, the black, white, grey and kraft line. I made a mini album for my hubs for Valentine's day...sorta non-traditional, as in, not a drop or pink or red to be seen! In case you're wondering...the blank spots are for yet to be printed pictures, which I will fill in later before I give it to him.

Front cover

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9

Page 10, last page.

I used pretty much everything that came with the collection, except for the stamps. The black paper on the front cover and as most of the mats is from Core'Dinations. It's the Tim Holtz Distress line, this particular one is Black Soot, and it has a grey core...works perfectly with this line. I'm pretty stoked about the way this turned out, I hope hubby likes it!

I love Kraft....and MME

2012-01-09T23:25:00.000-04:00

It's been awhile sine I posted....I know, bad blog owner, naughty, naughty. After Christmas, I lost my crafty mojo...I was so Christmassed out (what, that's a word!) But, I'm on a roll again, now that we're back to routine around here, my mojo has found me again!!

I've been playing around with the new My Mind's Eye Kraft Funday collection, and I knew I wanted to use it in the new year for my sketch class I teach at My Stamping Studio. Of course the week I picked it up, my mojo, pfffffftttt........gone!! So there it sat, all lonely for a week, and me looking at it longingly, wishing for some creativity to hit....and then it did, at 11:30 at night.

So this is what I came up with...this is January's Sketch Class.

Using a combination of the 2 collections, stamps, twine and border die cuts, I came up with these 2 pages that can be loaded with pictures.

This is the left side, and can either hold 3 - 4"x5.5" photos vertically, or 2 - 4"x5.5" photos horizontally with space to journal across the bottom in the open whitewashed area.

Hand made rosettes pepper both pages, so much fun to make. These ones are not very thick, only 1/4" so there's a bit of dimension, but I think they lend themselves great to this paper (which by the way is SO thick, it's like thin chipboard...my adhesive wouldn't hold very good, had to bring in reinforcements!). This is the right side, and it's designed to hold 4 - 4"x4"photos within the yellow box, with a spot for journaling on the whitewashed spot to the top right.

Sign up for this class for either Saturday January 21st at 1pm, or Thursday January 26th at 6pm....call Kelly at the store to register!

Cards for my Stash

2011-12-29T22:14:00.000-04:00

I was taking a break from my December Daily the other day, when my oldest son came up to me and asked me if we could make his little brother a get well soon card. He'd had a fever for the last 2 days and I think my oldest was missing his playmate.

We came up with this card together...I actually let him use some of my good supplies and stamps, he was thrilled! We used My Mind's Eye Lost & Found Portobello Road papers, and the stamps are from Lost & Found 2 Breeze collection. He loved to do the stamping and inking and loved being able to use my Tiny Attacher too!

At work today, I made all the rest of these cards. The lighting isn't that great, but it's so dark out here by the time I get home from work that this is the best I could do! The above cards are made with My Mind's Eye Love Me 6x6 papers and the diecut sheet and twine from The Twinery.

These cards are just some everyday cards and they are made from My Mind's Eye Lost & Found 2 Rosy collection and coordinating stamps, buttons and brads. I also used twine from The Twinery on them too!

It's nice to get a bunch of cards made up for my personal stash. I definitely have to get some more made for a bunch of other occasions! I have some great masculine papers that I could make male cards with, those seem to be so hard to come by!

"Deck the Halls with Burlap"

2011-12-16T17:29:00.000-04:00

Do ya like this? Maybe a lot?

It's for the May Arts November "Deck the Halls with Burlap" Challenge.

If you'd like to go vote for mine, I'd be ever so happy!!

A winner will be chosen from all entries on the 21st! I'd love to win...thanks in advance!! You can see it here, and vote by leaving your selection in the comments section!

Cute Little Candy Cane Pockets

2011-12-12T09:39:00.001-04:00

My oldest, who just started school this past Fall, has been asking me if we could make some treats for his classmates for Christmas, a couple of them have already brought in cards and some Hershey Kisses, things like that, so of course the Pinterest loving, crafty person in me said "Absolutely!" I went online to find some cute project ideas that weren't too time consuming and fairly inexpensive and this is what we came up with:

Candy Cane Pockets!!

I seen these pinned on Pinterest from Better Homes and Gardens but of course I had to throw my own twist onto them, so this is what we came up with.

Charlie helped me pick out the papers, cardstock and twine from My Stamping Studio, and then when I got home, I got out my sewing machine and got to work. I cut all the cardstock at 3"x6" and the pattern paper at 3"x4", laid the pattern on top, and zigzag stitched around the outside to make the pocket. Then I punched out a bunch of 1 1/4" circles and stamped the snowflake on them, punched a hole in each one and then tied them onto the pockets with baker's twine. Super cute, super easy and he loved them! The back will be stamped with Merry Christmas and my son will sign his name on them, he can't wait to give them to his classmates!

Pattern Paper is My Mind's Eye 12 Days of Christmas, cardstock is from Harmonie, twine is from The Twinery and the snowflake stamp is from Echo Park's Season's Greetings stamp set.

Quick CAS Cards for a friend

2011-12-12T09:24:00.000-04:00

One of my very good friends is super, super busy right now with starting a new job and all kinds of training...as she said, it's not an ideal time of year, but it has to be done. So I'm helping her out and made a dozen Christmas cards for her to use when she's back in the land of the sane (well, sorta sane, I mean she is friends with me!)

I kept the design really simple and did them assembly line style. The doily stamp made a great "wreath" with the addition of Stickles and Baker's Twine. In total I think it might have taken me about 30 minutes to whip these cards up and she absolutely loves them!

Here's a close up. The doily stamp is the "Girly" set from the My Mind's Eye Stella and Rose Gertie collection, the sentiment is from Magenta, the twine is from The Twinery and the Stickles are Xmas Red.

I love these and even made a few for myself using cream colored cardstock and baker's twine from the My Mind's Eye Kraft Funday collection (red and kraft colored, looks antiqued!).

Star Wreath - Another home decor piece

2011-12-12T09:14:00.000-04:00

I seen this pinned on Pinterest and this is where the link took me. I thought it was pretty cute and didn't look to complicated to make and made me want to pull out my new (to me) Cricut Expression to cut out all those stars!

I used assorted papers, some Christmas, some not to make this. So many stars were cut out to make the base, in 3 shades of green no less. Then all the stars were cut from pattern paper a half inch larger then the base stars were. After they were cut, I scored them at every point..or from what I read, peak to valley, all the way around the stars making 5 score lines to fold on...that's what gives the star it's dimension. I pierced the center of each one and added a rhinestone brad for a bit of extra sparkle, then finished it with a tulle bow with a satin bow over top! This is going to work with my mom to decorate her office door for Christmas. Thanks to Pinterest for another great project idea!!

Noel Banner

2011-12-12T09:06:00.001-04:00

Long time no post...Christmas preparations are well under way and I've been a crazy thing lately, so excuse the absence from the blog...I'll have 4 posts today!

This is a banner I made for a class at My Stamping Studio.

It's made with the Bo Bunny father Christmas papers, Core'Dinations cardstock, sookwang tape and Glitter Ritz...it's sparkly and glitzy and a great addition to Christmas!!

November Guest Designer Feature over on Crop Chocolate

2011-11-21T11:07:00.000-04:00

I was chosen to be a Guest Design Team member for the month of November over on Crop Chocolate's Blog...today is the day my project and video (yes, gulp....my very first video EVER) are being featured.

These are just a couple of pictures of my project. For more detailed instructions on how I made it, a list of products used and to see the video, go check it out here.

And remember....it's my first video, I don't know how to do all the fancy editing, I was just getting over bronchitis and I did it in one take because my batteries were just about dead (oh yeah, and I had my boys locked in their room playing together....or they would have been out every 2 seconds "Watcha doing Momma?"....lol!!)

Go check me out and leave me some love, or come back here and do it!

Reveal...Handmade Advent Calendar

2011-11-13T18:33:00.000-04:00

So here is the reveal to the previous picture of all those matchboxes. The finished product, a handmade reusable Advent Calendar.

I used a cookie sheet from the dollar store and misc. scrapbooking supplies...I'll list them as we go through all the pictures.

The most time consuming part of this was making all the matchboxes. Each one was traced out, cut out, scored and glued by hand...took me almost 2 days to do that (between chasing after a 3 and 5 year old.) I probably could have gotten a bunch of matchboxes filled with wooden matches from my dollar store or hardware store, but I didn't want the treats smelling of sulfur from the match sticks.

Here's some close up detail of the boxes. I used Echo Park's Season's Greetings paper collection to cover the front of the cookie sheet, and to cover the fronts of all the matchboxes. I used some of the sticker elements from that same collection as well. All the numbers are from the Paper Reverie line from Making Memories as are the rhinestones and the rhinestone brads.

Some of the stamps I used were from the Echo Park's Season's Greetings set, along with some from My Mind's Eye Lost and Found Christmas collection. The buttons on some of the pieces came from the Bo Bunny Father Christmas collection. The twine is from The Twinery and the other ribbons are from my stash.

The chipboard laser cut pieces are from Harmonie and I used my Distress Stains to color the chipboard and then some Vintage Pink Glimmer Mist on the red pieces and Emerald Sprinkle Smooch Spritz on the green pieces. All the "snow" on the pieces is a white Sakura Glaze pen with glitter sprinkled over it while it was still wet.

The little snowman stamp is from Your Next Stamp company, and I colored him in with my Distress Inks and I used the Sakura Glaze pen on his body, so he looks like porcelain.

All of the boxes had rare earth magnets glued to the back and will be plenty strong to hold treats of any kind. My idea is to do treats in some, and little scrolls that share either scriptures to reflect on or family activities to do together during the holiday season. I had a lot of fun making this, it's a gift for another family member, but I might make a similar one for my boys too!

Hint on what I'm working on next....

2011-11-07T20:21:00.000-04:00

This is a little something I'm working on for my mom for the holidays.

I've traced, cut, scored and glued every single one of these little matchboxes

There are 25 of them in total...any guesses as to what they will end up being part of?

I'll have the answer for you by the end of the week!

Stay tuned!

Paper Bag Mini Album Class

2011-11-05T17:53:00.003-03:00

I love Echo Park Paper, and their 2 new Christmas lines are super cute! My Stamping Studio carries both lines, and I've done one sketch class with Season's Greetings and the next class I'll be teaching will be this little Paper Bag Mini Album with the Holly Jolly Christmas collection.

Front cover...that reindeer is so cute!

First page...a journaling spot and a spot for a photo.

2nd page, with a tag pullout.

3rd page with another journaling spot and a photo area.

4th page with a spot to write out your wish list.

And the last page with another photo spot.

Back cover....there's that cute little reindeer again!

These are the inserts for each paper bag...place to put another 4 pictures...lots of room for photos in this little book.

I'll be teaching this class on Sunday November 13th, and my class is FULL!!

Bring on Christmas - Sketch Class Time

2011-11-04T16:17:00.001-03:00

I've already done one Christmas Sketch class at My Stamping Studio, and this is the second one (there may be a third, I'm not quite sure yet!) The sketches for this come from Scrapbooks Etc. and I used the new My Mind's Eye 12 Days of Christmas Collection

Loving the bright colors in this!

Here's a close-up of the first page..

and here's it is with the bottom flipped up! Lots of room for pictures!

Here's a close-up of the other side!

If you're interested in taking this class, call Kelly @ My Stamping Studio (902) 472-3303. Classes are on Saturday November 19th at 1pm, and again on Friday November 25th at 6pm. We always have a bunch of fun in this class! For a list of other classes we offer, go check out the My Stamping Studio blog, all classes are listed in the right column!

Spooky Papercrafting

2011-11-04T16:07:00.000-03:00

I did manage to get some crafting done while I was down and out for 2 weeks. This is a paper bag mini album I made using the new Authentique collection "Glowing".

Every page was distressed and inked to add that vintage spook factor. I used Hug Snug for the tie, and I stained it with Antique Linen Distress Stain, then rubbed it with Black Soot and Vintage Photo Distress Inks. I used Tim Holtz Core'dinations cardstock for my photo spots inside, and made sure to sand and distress all edges. I think it looks fantastic! I might need to change the date on the spine and use it for next year, since I didn't get very many pictures this year!

Halloween Fun

2011-11-04T15:50:00.001-03:00

Happy Halloween....a little late, but oh well!! We had a touch and go Halloween around here, didn't know if anyone would end up going out or not. My boys hadn't decided on their costumes until about 4 days before, and then my youngest one had what we think was an allergic reaction to his medicine (he broke out in hives all over his little body!). We were late getting pumpkins and getting our pass-out candy, but we made it!

Usually we each carve a pumpkin, but this year we did just one big one, here's Charlie helping me scoop the gunk out of the inside...Owen didn't want to have anything to do with this part!

All carved up and ready for the candle! Yeah, I'm sort of a traditionalist, especially when it's 8:30 at night and the boys need to be in bed!! I stuck to a basic design this year, but maybe next year if we aren't all sick and I get my gear together, I'll do something a bit more creative!

Most of my spare time was spent making my son's costume. He finally decided to go as a mummy...so I got some inexpensive broadcloth, dyed it in tea, tore it all up and hot glued the strips to an old hoodie, pair of old sweats and his rubber boots. Put on a little make-up and there ya go, one mummy, good to go!

Despite the fact that Owen wasn't feeling good, he still got a good haul, his brother and I made sure he got taken care of! This is Charlie sharing a portion of his haul with his brother....a LOT of this has been put away out of reach or in the chest freezer for later on!

I hope you all had a fun and spooky Halloween!

Catching Up

2011-11-04T15:35:00.000-03:00

Sorry for being absent from my blog for so long! Me and my boys have been sick with bronchitis and pneumonia for the last 2 weeks....'tis the season! We're all feeling better these days, so now I'm playing catch up!

We've had Thanksgiving here....my boys and I went to one of the local pumpkin patches here (on a day where I kept my oldest home from school for a Dr.'s appointment....shhhh, don't tell anyone!), it's actually home to the Dill's Atlantic Giant, pumpkins that can weigh in access of 1000 pounds!!

I love this picture of the 3 little turkies! This is a great display that's right at the entrance to Dill's Pumpkin Farm.

Here's Charlie sitting in a pumpkin, it grew this way, so they displayed it as a seat!

Owen needed a wagon to carry his heavy pumpkin in....seriously, that's the only one we got there that day (well, a couple of them that size, no big 1000 pounders for us!)

Here's me and my boys at the front porch of the Dill farm, with a great selection of Fall squashes and gourds...great place for a photo op!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Next post will have some Halloween stuff posted, then it's on to Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2011-10-07T20:20:00.000-03:00

I just wanted to do a quick blog post to wish all my Canadian family and friends a very Happy Thanksgiving!! I hope you all have a fabulous long weekend and get your fair share of turkey and pumpkin pie!

I love this little table top arrangement my friend Jane made for me. This was last years arrangement, and I know I won't be getting one this year because she's due any day with baby #3...I'm sure she'll be thankful for being able to hold that baby in her arms sooner then later!! Best of luck to her!!

This is a gluten free pumpkin pie I made for my mom last year and I will be making another one of these this year for her too! I love that we've been able to find some recipes that are standard Thanksgiving recipes that we can do for her so she doesn't feel excluded!

I'm thankful for my family...my hubby, my boys, my mom, my dad and of course my brother and his family. These people mean so much to me and I hope that each and every single one of them has a very Happy Thanksgiving as well!! I hope you all do too!

World Card Making Day and my First Scrapbooking Retreat!

2011-10-03T10:34:00.001-03:00

I've been a scrapper for 8 years now....and have never been to a scrapbooking retreat. The store I work for, which is also my LSS and where I teach my scrapbook sketch classes, hosts a Scrapbooking and Card Making Retreat every Spring and Fall. I was able to attend the one that was held this weekend, and even though it was only less then 5 minutes away from my house and I came home for supper and to tuck my kids into bed, I had so much fun and it was great to just get out of the house and have some "me-time". I forgot to take some pictures of me with some of the ladies there, but I thought I'd post some of the cards I made....yeah, I made cards! I'm not a card maker, except for the occasional birthday and at Christmas some years, and it just so happened to be World Card Making day on the first day of the retreat. Here is a taste of what I made:

The paper I used on all of these cards was from Echo Park's "Season's Greetings" collection. The car stamp is from Harmonie and the Triple Tree stamp is from Inkadinkado. I stamped them with Versamark Watermark, then used Black Detail embossing powder and heat embossed them. All images were colored in using my Distress Inks and a Tombow Blending Marker. Twine is from The Twinery, buttons, pearls and bling from my stash, ribbon is Hug Snug, some dyed with Distress Stain, some left plain. The Season's Greetings sentiment is from the EP stamp set that coordinates with the paper. I used a scallop edge square and rectangle Spellbinders Nestabilities to back my stamped images and the scallop edge die on the pattern paper is from Die-Namics.

I had a whole lot of fun this weekend and am looking forward to the one in the Spring!

Playing along with CS "Sketchy Challenge" for September

2011-09-23T11:10:00.000-03:00

Canadian Scrapbooker magazine does a Sketch Challenge every month. If you use at least one Canadian manufacturer of scrappy supplies, then there's a possibility of your LO being chosen for publication! I thought, perfect, I'm gonna try it, nothing like waiting to the last minute, maybe I work better under pressure...lol!

Here's the sketch for September:

And here's my take on the sketch:

The Canadian manufacturer that I used was Harmonie, the green and blue cardstock are from them as well as the orange stitched ribbon. The rest of my supplies were from MME's Lime Twist collection, Crate Paper Inc.'s Farmhouse Collection, Sassafras Lass Paper Whimsies and Alphas, Distress Ink and Tonic Distressing Tool, and Thickers from American Crafts! Keeping my fingers crossed!

Guest Design Post for Making Memories

2011-09-21T07:36:00.001-03:00

Making Memories did a post on their Facebook page about a month ago, asking if anyone was interested in being a guest designer on their blog in the month of September. If you were, then you were to leave your blog address in the comments...I jumped at it, and told them how much I LOVED my Slice Machine! I kinda thought it was a long shot that they would pick me...I mean it's Making Memories, they are huge in the industry! I didn't hear anything back right away so I had kinda given up on it, then a week later I got a message saying "Yes please create something and send me the pictures, showcase the Slice if you can!" Ummmm...OKAY!!

Now I'm on Pinterest too, and I had recently come across these projects for Yarn Wreaths...I pinned one I liked and it immediately came to mind for this project....it was done in brighter colors for Spring and with felt embellies, but I thought the basic concept would work. I got a straw wreath at M's, a twig spring with glass berries on it, a roll of thick chunky wool yarn (think fall sweater) and pulled all the fall colored Making Memories papers I had in my stash.

Here's what I came up with! I wrapped the wreath with wide ribbon first, then wrapped the wool yarn around it twice to make it nice and full and thick. The thin brown ribbon is from the Making Memories Vintage Findings Mini Fall Kit, as are the sequins and a few of the leaves stuck in the cluster.

I used my Slice and 3 different cards to get all the leaves cut, and yes, that is a dryer sheet you see in there as well...I wanted it to look like the skeleton leaves you see in the fall. Just cut and misted with Smooch Spritz. I used paper that came with my Slice Machine, so it's from various Making Memories Collections, but for the most part it's from Vintage Findings and Just Chillin. I used my Basics/Season card, Vintage Findings card and the Remember This card to make all the cuts.

I cut all my leaves out in varying sizes from 2 inches up to 4inches, then I misted them with water, crumpled them and let them air dry while I did more cuts. After they were dry, I used more Smooch Spritz and made them sparkle.

Here's a close up shot of the layers...about 5 or 6 of them! The pumpkin was cut out and then I traced it onto thin chipboard, cut that out and glued it to the back of the paper for stability. I added the gold leaves and the wire vine stem, also from the Mini Fall Kit, and for the lines, I used Copper Stickles.

I love the way this turned out and will very happily have it hang in my house until it's time to put up the Christmas decorations! I hope you'll pop over to the Making Memories Blog today to check out my post! I'm pretty excited about it!!

MME Challenge #27 ~ "Back to____"

2011-09-19T16:52:00.001-03:00

I haven't participated in a blog challenge for awhile and thought it was about time! Since about 90% of the paper I currently own is by My Mind's Eye, I thought doing their monthly blog challenge would be the one to do. The winner gets 3 whole collection of their choice...sounds like a sweet deal to me!

Here is the sketch and the theme was "Back to ____"....you fill in the blanks!

Here is my take on the sketch!

I used a combination of lines here..some Lime Twist and Stella and Rose. I had some of the L&F 2 pulled, but I don't think I used it. All pattern paper, buttons, brads and twine are MME as are the tiny round alphas and the "baby boy" sticker. The cardstock is Tim Holtz Core'Dinations, and I used Tim Holtz Distress Ink and the Tonic by Tim Holtz Distressing Tool on the edges of all my main papers. The Bottle Cap Calendar comes from Pretty Little Studio, the scrabble like letters are from Echo Park and the "2" chipboard comes from Sassafras Lass, the paints come from my stash of craft paints and are watered down and added to spray bottles.

I'm trying really hard to get good pictures, but my house always seems dark. It doesn't help that it's cloudy almost every day. In case you can't read the journaling, this is what it says:

"Go Back 2 Being my Baby Boy.... You started school this year and I'm not sure how I feel about this. Can we rewind time, go back to those early days of snuggles and complete dependence, back to nap time and mommy's playgroups? Just for a few more days? You've always been my little sidekick, my little buddy. I know you'll love school and are going to excel at it, make new friends and learn all kinds of great things...just don't grow up too fast! <3"

Sigh....anyways, there it is...I hope you like it. Leave me some love!

More Handmade Fall Decorations

2011-09-15T12:12:00.000-03:00

I have another quick project that I made for Fall from something similar I seen on Pinterest. I pinned the picture but never went to the blog for the instructions, I just winged it from the image I seen. These are the basic supplies I used: Reclaimed lumber (good use for the old deck pieces), heavy duty jute, craft paints, kraft paper (filler from a scrapbooking order I just received), some sandpaper, small pieces of broken up twigs, hot glue gun and Vintage Photo Distress Ink...most of these items came from the dollar store.

I rummaged through our deck rubble pile until I found 3 pieces the same width and in a bit of differing heights. I mixed a bit of black craft paint with a lot of orange and painted all sides except for the bottom (don't want it marking up my shelves with orange paint) and then set them aside to dry. Once they were dry I took the sandpaper to the edges and scuffed it a bit, then took my Distress Ink and rubbed over the scuffed edges and along the front to catch the raised grain of the wood...just added some dimension. After the ink dried, I used hot glue to glue the twig and jute twine to the top of each one and then added a paper leaf cut from the butcher paper.

Super easy project, took me maybe an hour, plus drying time for the paint....and I painted these while my son was getting dressed for school. These might be part of the reason why he *almost* missed his bus this morning...maybe. Anyways, there you have it...primitive pumpkins made of reclaimed bit and pieces! I'll have another project to post in the next day or so that uses a couple of these same items I used for today's project! Stay tuned!!

Pumpkin Specimen Art ~ A Pinterest Project

2011-09-14T14:36:00.000-03:00

I am a huge fan of Pinterest...seriously, so much inspiration from pinners all over the world! I recently (as in, this morning) was looking for ideas to do handmade Fall decor items and found this super cute project. I followed it back to the blog it came from and lucky for me there was a tutorial! I did mine a bit easier then that using what I had on hand...no burlap or spray adhesive here. This is what the original piece looked like:

And this is what my version looks like:

It's a much smaller and simpler version using a frame that my hubby picked up at a yard sale. For my papers, I used Crate Paper Inc. new Farmhouse collection, some Echo Park For the Record alphas and my Making Memories Slice machine. I LOVE the way this turned out and can't wait to display it for the upcoming season. Keep on the lookout for more Pinterest inspired projects from me!

BOO!! Did I scare ya?!

2011-08-23T19:11:00.000-03:00

Since I started working at my LSS, I've been able to come up with some class ideas. My Stamping Studio has gotten in the newest Halloween collection from Echo Park called "Apothecary Emporium" and I've created this banner using a few of those papers.

It measures just almost 2 feet long and about 8 inches from top to tip. I used lots of layers of Distress Inks, some Stickles, some fun chipboard shapes from Magenta and lots of different fibers and ribbons. I'll be teaching this at My Stamping Studio on Sept 11. @1pm and again on Sept. 25th @ 1pm. Give Kelly a call at the store to sign up for it!!

Mini Challenge

2011-08-19T15:38:00.001-03:00

I'm part of the Crop Chocolate Focus Group and each month we are going to be doing mini-challenges. This was the inspiration picture that Paula put together:

and this was my take on the above picture:

All products except for the eyelet, clear embossing powder, green distress ink and the bling on the butterflies was purchased or can be purchased on Crop Chocolate. I'm linking this to Paula's blog and entering it in the challenge she's got going on over there....enter if you'd like!!

Online Classes and Fun ~ Big Picture Classes

2011-08-16T17:17:00.000-03:00

I'm playing along with the challenges over at the Big Idea Festival over at Big Picture Classes this week and next....we'll end up with a book completed with inspirational and meaningful words. Here are the last 2 days projects that I did:

SHARE was the word for Day 1

& WONDER was the word for Day 2

Both of these were made with MME products and my Making Memories Slice machine....I LOVE that thing!!

I can't wait to see what the 2 weeks are going to bring in the way of inspiration! If you're interested in playing around, be sure to check it out here, it's free and there are some great sponsors and the chance to win some great prizes!!

Change up

2011-08-02T13:44:00.000-03:00

I know I posted my design pages for my WITL book last week, but I've decided to change it up a bit. I'm not much of a clean and simple scrapbooker and as much as I like Ali's look, it's her look, not mine, so trying to mimic it, just wasn't working for me. I do love that look, I just don't have an easy time with clean and simple....seriously you should see my house...lol!! So I've opted to change it up a bit. I'm gonna keep the 4 page a day design and the baseball card page protectors, but I'm switching up the colors and the design on the 2- 8.5x11 pages. I'll be working on it this week, and I'm sure it's gonna take a while to get finished, so stay tuned!

WITL ~ Sunday

2011-08-01T17:38:00.000-03:00

So it's finally over....one whole week of documenting and journaling what goes on in my everyday. It's bittersweet for me I think. As much as I've enjoyed taking pictures of all the stuff that goes on around here, I'm kinda happy to put the camera down for a bit.

I forgot how bad bedhead can be with short hair.

My mom enjoying some snuggles with Owen...took a LONG time for him to warm up to her, so she's relishing every single snuggle and huggle he wants to give her.

Hubby making some lunch.

The swarm of ants in our living room....so seriously gross, like something out of a horror flick, must have been about 1000 of them.

The lane at my In-Laws house....the boys call it the forest.

Hummingbird feeders, they love them out there. My MIL says she has 5 pairs that fight between the 4 feeders she has set out.

The family together for my BIL's birthday.

My boys going for a hike with my MIL.

My shadow.

Calf with it's momma in the pasture behind my in-laws house.

Deer on the side of the road on the way back home. Gotta get home to get ready for the fireworks.

This was the best I could do....pitch black and the flash was so bright, every time it went off we all blinked. I tried about 5 times to get a good one of the 4 of us together!

Fireworks for the Summer Fest....what a way to end the week!

WITL ~ Saturday

2011-07-31T11:06:00.000-03:00

Saturday was a busy day for me. Most times the weekend is because I haven't had usage of the car all week since hubby takes it for work. All of the things I need to get done, end up waiting until the weekend.

My boys seem to be on a SpongeBob kick right now!

Freshly scrubbed outta the shower.

Before picture...off to get my hair cut off. I usually get a short cut in the summer then let it grow out for the rest of the year, only to get it all cut off again the next summer.

Gas prices today...$1.30L.

Stopping for a large double, double and a tea for Tracy, my good friend and hairstylist.

After I had my hair done and had a quick bite to eat, the boys and I and my mom all went down to see the parade in town...Summer Fest in on this weekend.

Not so summery though, pouring down rain the whole time...buckets of rain, we were soaked.

They snuggled up in their raincoats, a blanket and had an umbrella, but were still soaked.

My momma.

Parade kicks off...

A favorite in this house

Pipe and Drum band...loved this!

Me and my youngest...trying to stay dry.

Owen's favorite, but it was too loud.

My haircut after....short and funky.

So that's that...I spent the evening cleaning up my scrapbooking area to get my WITL the life stuff sorted and to start working on the book for that.

WITL ~ Friday

2011-07-31T10:31:00.000-03:00

Friday was a slow day around here, again, not so many pictures....some days I have lots, some days, not so much.

Hubby leaving for work at 5:30am.

Foggy morning out there, it'll burn off though.

Same shot 2 hours later...fog almost gone.

Having a promised to them Timbit for their pre-breakfast snack.

I've said it before and I'll say it again....

....boys are weird!!

Laundry....it's never done.

The mess my 3 year old makes. Mega Blocks and Mr. Potato Head stuff.

Me having an evening of scrapbooking....page for a challenge entry and for a focus group entry all in one.

Daddy reading the boys a bedtime story...note the title of the book.

That was my day, a few challenges along the way, seems to come with the territory of being a stay at home. Some days are extremely frustrating, some are rewarding, almost all of them exhausting.

WITL ~ Thursday

2011-07-29T08:03:00.000-03:00

Here's a glimpse into my Thursday. I was still a bit grumpy, bad headache from the weather (that's the Maritimes for ya), and it's getting close to a new moon....moon phases really affect my family.

Watching the garbage man take the garbage/recycling away....a weekly thing.

Helping me get breakfast ready.

Pouring out his own Cheerios.

Yummy breakfast!

Bedtime buddies for my little boys..."Raffi the Giraffie" and "Periwinkle" from Blue's Clues.

Turquoise crayon on my yellow couch...apparently my 3 year old wanted it a different color.

My big shaggy black lab....this is Tien.

My chunky little monkey of a beagle....this is Cricket.

My feet in the driveway.

Nursing a headache....had it on and off for 2 days now!

Time for some scrap therapy.

After supper, my mom got the boys and took them to a movie down on the waterfront.

While they did that, hubby had some chill out time, while I taught a class at my local scrapbook store.

These are the ladies in my sketch class....one side of the table

and the other side of the table. I always have so much fun teaching here, these ladies are a hoot!!

After the movie it was playtime with Daddy before bedtime.

Some fun shots...this was Daddy's idea...will be interesting to see how much bigger they are next year!

My big 3 year old boy brushing his teeth all by himself (I did a once over after he was done.)

My oldest having his traditional bedtime meltdown....such a tired boy, been a long day!

Today I took more pictures then yesterday. I just wasn't feeling it on Wednesday...I'll go back and add more journaling and thoughts, to go along with the few pictures I have, and for today, I have lots to choose from and a few stories to tell...each day it's different and I like that. I was having issues with the monotony of my days, but Ali gave me some advice and told me to see if I could try to see things differently through my lens and to celebrate the boring and mundane, because all to often these things get overlooked.

WITL ~ Wednesday

2011-07-28T12:19:00.000-03:00

Here's Wednesday...I was grumpy, kids were frustrating and it was raining....today I took far less pictures then any other day so far, but I'm okay with that, it is what it is. Here's a few of them:

5am Advil for a toothache...not looking forward to that root canal!

Sweeping the kitchen

Making the beds...some days I feel like Cinderella.

Chatting with my girl Jane....she makes me laugh, and I needed that yesterday!

Doing up Tuesday's blog for WITL...loading pictures.

Bread machine loaf for supper tonight.

Cooking up a storm...spaghetti, sauce and meatballs.

And there it is...so yummy!!

After supper treat of chocolate pudding....dig in boy!

The after math of supper...I left it to deal with tomorrow, too tired to do anything about it now!

WITL ~ Tuesday

2011-07-27T12:52:00.000-03:00

Here's a look into my Tuesday. It consisted of basically the same thing I did on Monday, just no baking this time around...more laundry, more dishes, more cooking, more diffusing fights between the kidlets, some frustrations and lots of hugs and kisses!

Morning coffee in my favorite mug....all my favorite mugs have chips in them!

Laundry that needs sorting and folding.

Playing with their wooden train tracks...and not fighting (for like a second!)

Snuggles with my youngest boy.

Getting lunch ready.

Silly boys at lunch time!

Mission completed!

Next mission....dishes!

"Reading" one of his favorite books.

Playing horsey...only he's to heavy for Charlie to actually move!

Taking off on my own for a while after supper.

Back from a walk with Daddy after supper, showing me his "fossil" he found, it's a rock that looks like a potato! lol

Prepping hubby's lunch for the next day...lunch and love notes!

Could ya do me a favor?!

2011-07-26T15:51:00.000-03:00

I have a LO in a contest of Facebook right now over at the American Crafts page! If I get the most "likes" on my picture, I could win approx. $100 in American Crafts goodies!! I am currently in the lead, but would love to stay that way, if you could go over and "like" the American Crafts fan page, then "like" my picture that would be awesome!! Here is a direct link to the AC page and here is the one to my picture if you're already a fan of theirs...I would greatly appreciate any help I could get on this, the contest runs until the 31st of July. Thanks so much!! Oh, and here is the picture I've got posted if you'd like to see if before you go vote:

WITL ~ Monday

2011-07-26T11:07:00.001-03:00

My computer didn't want to cooperate last night, so here's a glimpse into my Monday, just a typical day in our house! I'll post Tuesday pictures tomorrow (Wednesday)

Jonathan getting ready for work, eating his breakfast alone at 5 in the morning.

Proof of that nasty time....ugh.

My boys waking up for the morning....Owen

and Charlie.

Almost 30 degrees at 10:30am...another scorcher of a day.

Me doing what I normally do....dishes

and laundry

Cleaning up spilled milk....typical of Owen

Charlie in a time out...typical of Charlie

Fresh made cinnamon buns

Jonathan home from work and all of sitting down to eat together...it was almost 7pm at this time. Tuesday we have to eat earlier then that, boys were both pretty tired!

WITL...How I've designed my pages

2011-07-25T20:34:00.000-03:00

My first post today is to show you how I've designed my pages for my WITL album. I didn't have a 8.5x11 album on hand, so I opted to make a chipboard album instead. I might decide after the fact that I want something a little more sturdy and then if that's the case, I might just go over to the Dollarama and get a cheapie binder.

So the first picture is the front cover of the album, paper is MME Stella and Rose and the lettering is from Echo Park's Everybody Loves Christmas line....I think they look great together.

Inside page...or opening page of the album. This will have a picture of me or even one of me and my whole family, I haven't decided yet!

This is the Monday page...the basic layout for all the pages is the same...the day and date on one side with room for lots of pictures followed by.....

a page full of 2.5x3.5 pockets (baseball card page protector, or in my case ATC's) that will hold more pictures and handmade journaling cards.

A close up of the Monday page....papers by MME, lettering by Glitz Designs and the number by Pretty Little Studio.

This is a close-up of the journaling card...I made quite a few of these to stick in the baseball card page protector wherever I want to add extra quotes, little odds and ends and whatever my little heart desires!

A lot of these basic ideas came right from Ali Edwards blog on the designs she did for her 2010 pages, which you can see here. I loved the overall simplicity of it, but can't do digital designs, so I opted to mimic the design the traditional way....again, it's what I know! Later on tonight after my boys are asleep and if my computer wishes to cooperate, I'll be posting some of my pictures from today (Monday). Please, let me know what you think of the look of it so far!

Week in the Life with Ali Edwards

2011-07-22T09:56:00.000-03:00

I've decided to try doing the Week in the Life project this year from Ali Edwards. I've gotten most of my stuff together already, printed her daily sheets for keeping track and journaling on and have gotten the basic idea of my pages prepped. I want to do the December Daily, but a month seems a little overwhelming, so I thought I'd try a week first and see if that was do-able for me. You can find out more about it on her blog here and feel free to participate. She has lots of digital overlays and templates you can purchase and download, but I'm opting to do it the traditional paper way...it's what I know! I'll be posting some pictures and my thoughts about the process next week..hopefully I'll be able to keep on track. My life is not overly exciting, but I like the idea of being able to look back a year from now and see how much things have changed, or stayed the same...it might be a good way to see if there are things about my life and routines that I'd like to change too!

More Beautiful Glitz!!

2011-07-07T18:42:00.000-03:00

Here's another one of the new collections put out by Glitz Design....isn't this one gorgeous too?! The colors are so pretty and would be so versatile for many projects. Weddings, thank you cards, friendship, Anniversary, Birthday or just because....so much potential!

Go check them out over at their blog, check out all the new releases and make sure you follow the directions to comment to win...contest is open until July 20th!!

Graphic 45 Sneak Peek

2011-07-06T13:42:00.000-03:00

Loving this cute little tease from Graphic 45's FB page this afternoon!

It's an ABC Primer tag and it's from a new collection of theirs. This would be a cute one to have since my oldest is starting his first year of school in the Fall! Hopefully I'll get spotted and win a prize package!

Glitz Designs Sneak Peeks!!

2011-07-05T18:44:00.000-03:00

It's that time again!! New sneak peeks from some of my favorite scrapbook companies have been starting up this week. This one comes from Glitz Design and it's there new line called "Dance in the Sunshine"....aren't those colors gorgeous?!

Get a better look at the collection in it's entirety over at the Glitz Design Blog and enter for a chance to win the whole collection too!!! Awesome hey?!

July's Sketch Class for My Stamping Studio

2011-07-04T22:35:00.000-03:00

July is upon us and that means a new sketch class for My Stamping Studio!! This one uses My Mind's Eye as well, but with a more vintage look to it....we're using the Life Stories collection! This time we're doing a double page layout instead of 2 different ones.

Lots of inking and distressing and staining on these 2 pages....we'll be playing around with Tim Holtz Distress Inks and Stains...and Hug Snug ribbon too!

Like last month we'll be offering the class on the 3rd Saturday and the last Thursday of each month...this month it's the Saturday July 16th @ 1pm and the Thursday July 28th @ 6pm.

Register with Kelly at My Stamping Studio today, space for each class is limited. The fee for this class is $25 and that includes all supplies and copies of the sketches to be added into your book! Call 472-3303 to register today! Hope to see you there!

The WINNER is....

2011-07-04T21:06:00.005-03:00

First of all, big thanks to everyone for coming along on this hop with all of us....what a great turnout. I got a huge amount of comments on my mini album and a few new followers too! Awesome! Secondly....to all the participants of the hop, great projects posted and thanks for the great ideas (and yummy recipes too!)

So on to the fun stuff! The winner of Day 1 Blog Candy as drawn by Scrappy Canuck from the comments left on her blog was: Gina Flowers who said:

"this is some of my fav stuff ever. There is ALWAYS a bottle of one or the other on my desk and it was one of the first things unpacked when I started sorting out my crafty boxes! I don’t think I have any water based inks, but I will be trying that soon!"

Congrats Gina!! Send me an email over on CC or through FB and send me your address info and I'll get your prize out to you as soon as I can!!

To see who our winner of Day 2 of the Blog Hop and the Christmas in July blog candy, make sure you check out Scrappy Canuck's blog!!

Welcome to the 1st {Unofficial} Crop Chocolate Blog Hop!!

2011-07-01T12:03:00.004-03:00

Welcome to the 1st Unofficial Crop Chocolate Blog Hop!! If you haven't heard of Crop Chocolate yet, you need to click the link above and go and check them out! They sell great scrappy products at awesome discounts!

I am the first blog on the hop today, so if you came here first, you're in the right spot!! There are a few ladies playing along today, so you're bound to see some great projects....make sure you comment on each blog as you do the hop so you can get your name entered in to win some great blog candy, make sure you leave an email address so we can contact you if you're the winner. And if you want to become a follower, that would be awesome!

So here are the gals playing along today:

Jasmine ~ You are here right now

So let's proceed! this is the project that I did for the hop....it's a 6x6 chipboard mini album using Echo Park Papers "Splash" Collection.

These papers are so fun for summer pages and albums, the colors are so bright and vibrant and the images just scream beach/pool fun.

I made this book so that I could record 3 different day trips with my family to the beach, lake or to the local pool. The front inside page has a place to write all the details of the day, the little insert is a pocket with a spot for lots of pictures...more on that later.

The next page has a spot for journaling more details or a small story about the trip, the things we saw and things we did.

The next pages are similar to the first ones, a place for the trip details, the pocket album.....

and another journaling spot for more stories and thoughts of the day.

The last section is just like the first 2....

This little album holds a lot of information in a small space. I love making minis that are more then meets the eye once you start looking in and opening it up.

These are the little pocket inserts in between each section, they are made to look like envelopes with the tops cut off, so a mini tag album will fit inside.

Each mini tag album within the album will hold 8-3"x3" pictures....see what I mean by lots of stuff in one little album?! I love this one and hope to create more like it soon. Our weather hasn't been very conducive to trips to the beach just yet, but we're getting there.

Products Used:

~ Echo Park Paper "Splash" collection, including papers, mini alphabet stickers, regular alphabet stickers, journaling spots, and sticker elements. (which was available at Crop Chocolate!)

~ Glossy Accents by Ranger

~ Crop-A-Dile, Wide Eyelets and large eyelets by We R Memory Keepers

~ Mandarin and Lemondrop twine by The Twinery

~ Dark Turquoise twine by My Mind's Eye

~ misc. ribbons from my stash

~ misc. orange and blue gems from my stash

So let me know what you think of my project in the comments! I'd love to hear your thoughts....leave me some love and you're entered in to win this:

An assortment of goodies including American Crafts Brads, Making Memories Glitter Alphas, some fun May Arts and Making Memories Ribbons, Basic Grey Bitsy Stamp set, My Mind's Eye Rub-On alphas and a fun Prima Page Accent!! Lots of great items!!

So from my blog you're gonna hop on over to see what Amber has in store for you! Enjoy the rest of the hop and remember to leave those comments, and if you get lost along the way, just come back here and check out the list above for where to go next!!

PS: HAPPY CANADA DAY to all my Canadian hoppers!!

Upcoming Blog Hop

2011-06-29T19:22:00.002-03:00

On Friday July 1st, I will be participating in my first ever blog hop, the Unofficial Crop Chocolate Blog Hop. The fun starts here at 10am MST (so that's like 1pm my time here in Nova Scotia). It's going on for 2 days as there are quite a few participants, 9 on the first day alone!

Crop Chocolate is an on-line scrapbooking multiple deal a day store that I regularly shop at. It's a great place to chat and get to know other crafters too. I've made quite a few friends from sharing and chatting over there, and this weekend we've decided to do a blog hop....so make sure you come back around on Friday to check out the designs of some pretty talented ladies!

The fun starts here and make sure you leave a comment...if you're not a follower of mine, please become one!! There will be some great blog candy...I'm just saying!! Stay tuned!!

I {heart} You!!

2011-06-28T08:51:00.003-03:00

This is a cute, simple, quick little card that I did for my DT weekly project over at Crafting Family.

I used Echo Park Paper's "Playground" collection, alphabets and element stickers. I hand cut the blue border which took all of 5 minutes, applied the pink paper then layered on the rainbow and heart papers on top of that. I fussy cut the Polaroids and the camera, and then popped them up with foam tape on top of the card. For finishing touches I applied the alphas and the heart sticker, which I epoxified with Glossy Accents, tied Honeydew twine from The Twinery on and applied the little red gem to the camera....done and done!! Super fast, super easy and I think...super cute!!

Garden Notes....a handmade journal.

2011-06-21T09:46:00.008-03:00

I love making mini-albums, and even though I've just started making them I've been following this blog called Bursts of Creativity for awhile now. Her creations are fabulous and she has an awesome Esty shop too, which you can access from her blog.

She inspired me with a post she did back in the winter about reusing children's board books that you could get at the Dollar store to make mini albums from. I thought that was too cool, so I decided to make my own. This is going to be my gardening journal and I'll explain the pages as we go....lots of pictures on this post! This is also my weekly posting for The Crafting Family, which you can find here.

This is the front cover, images come from the internet and from blogs like The Graphics Fairy, one of the best places to get images to use for personal usage. The papers I used were from Echo Park Paper, and the collection is For The Record.

The second and third pages: the 2nd one has a pocket for tucking receipts or pictures into with some little tags to write notes down on. The 3rd page has a glassine envelope to store the tags from my plants and their growing instructions.

4th and 5th pages: Page 4 has a fold out which you will see in the pictures below, and the 5th pages has another pocket for keeping notes or pictures.

Here's the fold out, I've used the twine wrapped around a brad to keep it closed when I don't need to access the information.

It could hold pictures, more notes about flowers, or whatever you wanted...I'm going to use it to draw a garden plot on so I know where to plant items and what's planted in the sunny side of my yard, what's by the house and all that kind of fun stuff.

Here it is all opened up....lots of room for drawing in the pictures of my raised garden beds and all the yummy fruits and veggies we'll be growing (next year...the growing season has gotten away from us already!)

Onto the 6th and 7th pages: On page 6 I have more vintage images from the internet, and a little seed packet envelope for more notes or tags. The 7th page has a little notepad on it for more pictures of the garden or of my flowers and shrubs on our property.

Here's what that little note pad looks like all opened up....lots of room for all kinds of goodies!

and these are the last pages in the book. I love that bird sticker from the elements page of the For The Record collection. I wouldn't have thought that paper with a vintage theme like the one that For The Record has, would have lent itself so well to gardens and flowers, but it does and it's beautiful!

The final page has another vintage seed packet image from the internet, and then a series of large tags for putting more notes and/or pictures from my garden in. I had so much fun putting this mini album together and can't wait to make another one....I'm thinking it's going to be beach and ocean related. Thanks for checking out my mini book! Let me know what you think.

New Monthly Sketch Class

2011-06-09T12:08:00.002-03:00

I love sketches, they make figuring out a page so much easier! When I'm in a slump, or can't find my mojo, I turn to sketches to get me back on track!

I've been asked by Kelly, the owner of My Stamping Studio in Windsor, to teach a Monthly Sketch Class at her store. She's had some interest from people asking about scrapbooking classes, so here we are!

The following 2 layouts will be the first ones I will teach. You'll get a copy of the sketch as well as all papers and materials to do the both layouts.

This layout is made with My Mind's Eye Lime Twist "Life of the Party" collection and Harmonie cardstock and brads. I'll show you how to make those super cute flowers too! The twine on the layout is the "Together" twine from the Lime Twist collection.

This layout is also with My Mind's Eye Lime Twist, but this is the "Fly a Kite" collection. Cardstock is from Harmonie, as are the green brads and the twine is from The Twinery.

If you live locally and are interested in taking this class, please call Kelly @ 472-3303 today to register, or go down to the store, located at 204 Gerrish Street. The cost for this class is $25, all materials supplied and the fee is due upon registration. Space is limited and the class is scheduled for Saturday June 18th @ 1pm. Hope to have a great turnout...I think this is going to be the start of a fun summer!!

"Make Some Noise!"

2011-05-02T09:50:00.003-03:00

I love music...I don't play an instrument, I just love to listen to it. Growing up, all through my teen years, I listened to a lot of grunge and alternative music. It's hard to find on radio stations that don't play a lot of classic rock too. Don't get me wrong, I like the old stuff too, but I'm really getting tired of Rush and Nickelback...and that seems to be all the stations were playing....until: Live 105 came on the scene! The newest radio station in the city, they play all modern rock (and pride themselves on being a Nickelback free station----that's friggin awesome!!) They play the stuff I grew up listening to and all the new modern rockers too...lots of Soundgarden, Beastie Boys, Smashing Pumpkins, RHCP, Tragically Hip, etc., mixed in with some Muse, Arcade Fire, The Decemberists, Death Cab for Cutie, Adele, Cage the Elephant and Awolnation...just to name a few.

The Beastie Boys have a new album dropping tomorrow called "Hot Sauce Committee Part Two", and Live 105 was having a party to celebrate the release and previewing a 22 minute uncut version of their new "Make Some Noise" video...I just so happened to win a double pass to go!! I was so excited, but knew that my hubby wouldn't be able to make it (with working in the city, having to drive home to get cleaned up and being back by 6pm, it was impossible for him to do without losing work. No work= no money!) So I asked my friend Jane to come with me...she was all over that!!

We got to have some free eats, free food, free swag and got to meet the DJ's of the station and watch the video...so damn funny!

I took some pictures and was able to get another one off the Live 105 FB page of Jane and I with Cub and Christina, so I decided to make a Lo about it. I experimented with it and I love the way it turned out...so here it is:

I used a bunch of Glimmer Mists and Smooch Spritz's on this page, along with Distress Stains to do the bricks. The lettering is a combination of Thickers by AC and Felt Alphas by MM. I love the way this turned out with the bricks and the messiness of it...totally fitting for a Beastie Boys night out!!

Crafty Steals

2011-04-10T15:20:00.003-03:00

Stephanie of Crafty Steals fame has a Facebook page, and has just hit 19,000 fans! She's got a huge giveaway going on once she reaches 20,000, but has a little incentive giveaway to help her get there faster . Place her blinkie on your blog, then report back here and let her know....your name will be entered in to win a a flat rate box stuffed with goodies...easily over $100 in product!! How awesome is that? I've done it----->, isn't it cute?! Watcha waiting for?! Go do it...you have until tonight!!

Changes ~ A LO for Sketchy Thursdays

2011-04-01T09:34:00.004-03:00

I did this LO in honor of my hubby, who is working his last day at his current job. On Monday he starts a new career, one that takes him away from us for longer hours out of the day, away from us at lunch time and working 45 minutes from home instead of 5! It's gonna be rough, but it was time for a change....

I used My Mind's Eye Stella and Rose Mabel papers, trims, brads, die cuts and cardstock stickers. The brown ribbon on the bottom is May Arts and the cream crochet flower is by Prima. This is also a LO I did for Sketchy Thursdays 3.31 Challenge, which is this sketch here. Based on the sketch, there was no place to do journaling, so I included a tag under the picture that pulls out with some personal journaling on it. Thanks for looking!!

2011-03-28T14:05:00.005-03:00

I've been on a roll the last 2 weeks! I've gotten 5 LO's and 1 name banner done, and another name banner started. The last LO I did was one about my youngest son, who I swear is gonna think he's adopted because I haven't done any pages on him. My oldest son was gone for the day and the youngest was here playing on his own, he's so quiet when it's just him, I had to keep checking on him to make sure he hadn't fallen asleep. He had taken all of his cars out of his toy drawer in his bedroom and lined them all up on the couch....this is the LO that came from that!

I used Echo Park Little Boy and Everybody Loves Christmas, some twine from The Twinery, a bottlecap calendar from Pretty Little Studio, zipper remnants from my stash and a playing card and tickets from my local dollar store. I love all the elements in this LO and all the bright colors.

I also think my photography skills are getting better. It helps using a decent camera. My husband got a new camera for Christmas and he's been letting me play around with it....must actually take the time to read the manual, I might be really good at photography!

I loved using the zippers as frames around the title and the top picture...I will have to do that again! This went together really quickly for me...less then 2 hours ---yes that's a fast LO for me!! Sometimes it can take days to get a LO just right, sometimes, like this one, it just comes together really fast and the results, in my opinion, are awesome!

My Boys ~ Webster's Pages Page Maps Challenge

2011-03-25T14:16:00.004-03:00

I follow PageMaps on Facebook and through their blog....they always post great sketches for LO's and cards. Earlier this month they posted this sketch with Webster's Pages as their sponsor:

The challenge was suppose to run until the 20th, but a mistake on the blog meant the challenge would run longer, to the 30th to be exact....which is good, because I just seen this posted yesterday!! So I got my butt in gear and came up with this LO:

All of the pattern papers are My Mind's Eye...some of them are Stella and Rose Mabel ones, and most of them are Fine and Dandy True Blue, the blue cardstock is Harmonie, ribbons are MME Stella and Rose Mabel, twine is Cappuccino from The Twinery, all the chipboard elements are Fine and Dandy, alpha stickers are from Echo Park's Everybody Loves Christmas line, heart shaped brads are Making Memories and the mini flashcard in the lower left corner is from Pretty Little Studio. Love the brightness of this LO!!

Mucky Muck!

2011-03-25T13:56:00.005-03:00

So the other day I promised you a LO with mud involved! Here's the story behind the layout: I took my boys for a walk in the empty field beside our house a couple of days ago. It was nice out, beautiful Spring day, so off we went. I knew it was gonna be muddy since all the snow had melted off and the teenagers had been through the field mud-bogging. We hiked up through the field and on our way home we decided to follow the path that the cars had made, but that meant MUD! I asked them to try to avoid the mud, but boys will be boys...like a magnet to mud! Charlie stepped in a slick mud spot, and his boot got stuck...it even made that slurping sound "SHLLLLUUURRPP!!" And down he went....boot still stuck in the mud, and him in his sock feet. When he fell back, he was in another mud patch...so he was literally head to toe in mud!! I couldn't help but laugh! Part of me wanted to get mad at him because I told him to stay out of it, but then I grabbed my camera and got these pictures. So here's the LO:

I made this using Echo Park Little Boy papers, Alphas and Sticker elements. The brown on the paper is brown paint splattered to look like mud, and then I free hand cut a "mud splatter" and did my journaling on that....I love the way this page turned out! Both of my boys are getting rainboots and raincoats for Easter, so I'm hoping to get some great puddle jumping pictures done...hopefully we'll get some good April Showers!

Best Buddies

2011-03-23T09:10:00.005-03:00

So the other day the weather was nice enough outside that I could take the boys out so they could blow off some steam....believe me, it was much needed!! They played around in the backyard for awhile, then we went for a walk in the field beside our house....they like to say that we're hunting for dinosaur bones and fossils, I say, sure, why not?! While they were playing and hunting, I was playing too...with hubby's new Christmas present....a new camera! I still need to learn a lot more about it, I was just pointing and shooting, but I know I need to read the manual. This is a complex piece of machinery!! Anyways....as the boys were preoccupied with playing, I was snap happy and they were completely oblivious!

This is the LO I made using some of the day's pictures and the Abbey Road "Stomp" papers, brads and die-cuts by My Mind's Eye...the colors are great and I love all the little die-cuts that come with it, perfect for pages of my boys!! Oh and it also includes my new twine from The Twinery, this is one of their new colors called Honeydew, I LOVE this color!! Stayed tuned...there are more pictures from this day which equals another LO, that one will incorporate Echo Park Little Boy papers and elements...and involve mud, which for anyone who has little boys, that's just a given!! Thanks for checking out my work!

Feeling Lucky?! (said in my best Clint Eastwood voice)

2011-03-17T10:24:00.002-03:00

Hello...top o' the mornin' to ya! Okay, I know that was really bad, I can't even pretend to do a fake Irish accent! Okay, so here's the deal today, and it's a gooder too! Glue Arts is having a great sale today on their adhesives! Go check out their website for all the details on the sale!! Also, if you go to their blog, by clicking on the little Glue Arts Shamrock located over there ------> you can see that they are having some fun and games in honor of St. Paddy's Day!! Have a great St. Patrick's Day...enjoy your green food, green beer and any other Irish foods you'll be having!!

Playing around with Flowers

2011-02-25T09:50:00.005-04:00

I've been playing around with different types of flowers again, I go through these stages, check out blogs, get inspired and gotta try something out! I got these fabulous stamps from the My Mind's Eye Stella and Rose Collection yesterday, and they are these beautiful doily stamps from the "Gertie" line. Doilies are huge lately, so many companies are doing them...Echo Park with For The Record, October Afternoon with Thrift Shop, Maya Road with their Kraft Doilies and the list goes on and on. So here's what I used to make them:

So the stamps from Stella and Rose, the Hazel 6x6 paper pad, Hazel decorative brads, super sharp pointy scissors and my Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Walnut Stain. This is what I was able to come up with last night while I was watching CSI :

My lighting is not the greatest, is overcast, cloudy and about to pour buckets for the next 2 days, so this was the best I could do! I think these turned out fabulous and I can't wait to make some more of them.

I also started playing around with zippers and using them to make different styles of flowers too. In the My Mind's Eye Stella and Rose Hazel trim pack, there was a length of zipper trim, I pulled the 2 sections apart and got out my needle and threads and after checking out a few tutorials, was able to make these:

The 2 darker ones are made with the trim from MME, including the turquoise twill and brad, and the turquoise flowers are from scrap zipper remnants that my husband brought home for me from the theatre. The pearl button on the little swirl flower is from my stash (which I think also came from the button box at the theatre)...shhh, don't tell them! lol

So that's my newest flower creations....now to put them to use!! Thanks for checking them out!

My MME Winnings!! :)

2011-02-17T14:36:00.004-04:00

So I posted on January 26th that I had won the Stella and Rose collection from My Mind's Eye during their CHA sneak peeks! Well, my prize was delivered today, and I tell ya, it's GORGEOUS!! I am so excited to start using it! I had to take pictures of all the stuff I got! 2 collections! 2!! Check it out:

This one is the "Hazel" collection...it includes double sided papers, buttons, trinkets, die cuts, cardstock stickers, acrylic stamps, brads, dimensional stickers, frames, frame transparency, trims, 2 die cut sheets of paper and a 6x6 paper pack!

This one is the "Mabel" collection. It includes the same as the other set does...a whole bunch of yumminess! Seriously, it's like Christmas at my house right now!! My boys are looking at me like I'm crazy!

YUMMY PEAS!!

2011-02-15T10:23:00.003-04:00

Oh my silly boy! This is a LO inspired by a sketch from Sketchy Thursdays that they posted on their FaceBook page, which you can see here. I just got my hands on this paper collection from Echo Park called "Little Boy"...of course being the mom to two boys I had to have it! Love the colors, love the alphas and the cardstock stickers! Here's my LO:

The pattern papers, journaling spot, sticker on photo and the alphas. are all from the "Little Boy" paper kit. The orange epoxy brads are from My Mind's Eye "Fine and Dandy ~ True Blue" collection, and the painted brads are misc. from my stash. The green velvet rick rack is from Making Memories "Just Chillin ~Boys" trims collection, the dark blue, baby blue and orange rick racks are from my stash. Thanks for looking!!

My take on MWM #28

2011-02-03T10:17:00.003-04:00

MWM means Mid Week Mojo and it's a weekly sketch challenge done over at www.scrapbooksteals.com (another deal a day site that I frequent). I've just started playing along, this is my second week participating, but from the looks of the sketches, I think I'll go back and do some of the older ones too, because they look great! On their Facebook page, fans upload their renditions of the MWM and then you can link your picture up to their blog for a chance to be entered into a weekly draw. You can also link from your own blog to the ScrapbookSteals blog too, and that's what I'm doing. So without further ado, here's the sketch for this week:

And here is my take on it...pretty much identical to the above except for the strips for the journaling:

It's a really bright page, and it's about my 2 furry gals! I haven't done a LO about them in ages! The paper is all Sassafras Lass from their "Sweet Marmalade" collection (except for the turquoise cardstock, which is from my stash). I used the "Confection" pattern paper as my background, then fussy cut the flowers, hearts and clouds from the "Handmade" pattern paper. I also used some of the "Sweet Treats" cardstock stickers and popped them in with the cut outs. On the center of some of the smaller flowers, I used orange gemstones for more femininity. Lastly, I used some of my precious (and quickly dwindling) baker's twine from The Twinery in a bright yellow they call "Lemondrop"...it was the perfect finishing touch! Thanks for checking it out!

Woo Hoo! I'm a winner!

2011-01-26T23:02:00.003-04:00

Yes! I just found out tonight that I won some new as yet to be released My Mind's Eye products!! My prize is from their new Stella and Rose ~ Mabel & Hazel line, which you can check out here! They were generous enough to choose 2 winners for each of their new releases, one from their Blog, and one from their Facebook page..I was lucky enough to win from their FB page! My Mind's Eye is one of my all time favorite scrapbook companies. I created SO many projects using their "I Believe" Christmas line...I went back to my LSS about 5 or 6 times to stock up on it. I'm hoping to get my hands on their Fine & Dandy line, which my LSS carries too! So excited for this....yay for me!!

Last Day over at Maya Road ~ Day 5

2011-01-25T09:01:00.002-04:00

Today is the last day of CHA Sneak Peeks over at the Maya Road blog. the last few days I've been enjoying seeing bits and pieces of their new product that they will be showing off at CHA in Los Angeles. The pretties up on the blog today consist of some beautiful canvas pieces and some new colors of their Maya Mists....the canvas pieces are mistable too! How awesome is that?! I've been playing around with some canvas myself the last few weeks, so this is right up my alley right now! The same as the last 4 days, go over to their blog here, and check out the new goodies, and see how you can enter to win $35 worth of new product!

More from Maya Road ~ Day 4!

2011-01-24T08:50:00.002-04:00

Day 4 Sneak Peeks are up on the Maya Road Blog...I'm digging the Ornate Botanical Blooms and the Daisy Vintage Trims the most today! As per the last 3 days, go and check out their blog and see how you can be entered to win $35 worth of some of these new yummies!

CHA Maya Road Sneak Peeks ~ Better and Better!!

2011-01-21T08:38:00.003-04:00

Day 3 of Maya Road Sneak Peeks!! Man they just keep getting better and better! I am seriously loving everything they are posting! Today my favs. are the zippers for making those fabulous flowers, the button jewels that you could use as the flower centers, absolutely gorgeous ribbons and trimmings, and oh my, some of the coolest stamps...retro bikes, doilies and the funky lightbulbs are my favs. of those!! Seriously, you need to go over and check them out if you haven't yet!! Go here, and drool like I have been the last 3 days (seriously, my wish list is getting VERY long right now!), and while you're there, check out how you can enter to win $35 worth of new stuff!

CHA More Maya Road Sneak Peeks!

2011-01-20T09:01:00.004-04:00

This is Day 2 of Sneak Peeks over at Maya Road....again, so much yumminess!! Their design team is showing off this stuff so well, makes me want it all! My favs. today, are the Jumbo Bottlecaps, the Jonathan Numbers, the Chipboard to go with the Kraft Flowers from yesterday's sneak peek and the Silhouettes....you can check them all out here, and check out how to enter to win a prize pack valued at $35 worth of their new products!

CHA Sneak Peeks!

2011-01-19T13:49:00.002-04:00

Loving all the sneak peek we get to see on Facebook with all the scrapbooking companies. One of the ones I'm most excited to see is Maya Road! I love their stuff...I really need to convince my LSS to carry their stuff, or get the owners of CC to bring their stuff on! So much awesomeness. Today they posted DAY 1 of their CHA Sneak Peeks...this is only day one? I can't wait to see what else they have up their sleeves!! Check them out here!! I am loving the Beach Pail and School Bus albums and the Die Cut Kraft Doilies.....go over check out all the new releases, check out the examples by their talented design team and scan down to see how you can enter to win a $35 prize pack of some of their New Releases!! Pretty Cool!!

3D Challenge

2011-01-15T11:00:00.004-04:00

I'm playing catch-up on Challenges this week....this is the last of the challenges I need to do at Challenges From The Attic. Paula's challenge was to make a 3D object and I'm cutting it close, because this one has to be up by noon today!!

For Christmas my hubby and his co-workers have a Yankee Gift Swap and this year he ended up with a big basket of goodies from Starbucks, which included a mug (which I have claimed!), hot chocolate mixes, cookies and a few other yummy items. All of the stuff came in these little 3D boxes, and I asked him to save them for me so I could use them as patterns to make my own....I was thinking ahead! There were about 5 different boxes, and this was the one I chose to use today (this is the box dismantled, I think it held 2 oatmeal cookies):

I took the pattern, and traced it on to my paper then started the cutting and making the score lines....thank goodness for my Martha Stewart Scoring Board, or this would have been a pain in the butt! It didn't take me any time at all to get it cut out and scored, just the adjusting of the box took a bit of doing, but here's the box together:

I used the BG Lemonade paper (Cabbage Roses) that I used in my V-Day card below...they could go together as a set for someone special. And here is the box all assembled and decorated for Valentine's Day:

It could hold a couple of homemade cookies, some Hershey Kisses, Hot Lips Candies, Cinnamon Hearts, Conversation Hearts, or a little homemade gift of some kind...I'll have to think about it a little bit more. Anyways that's my little box, and I can't wait to make some more of these, especially since it wasn't as difficult as I thought it was going to be!

Loving You....Challenge

2011-01-14T18:32:00.003-04:00

This is another challenge from my friend Paula over at Challenges From The Attic. This one is a pretty simple one: Make a Valentine's Card or a Love Card...I'm working on a few different things for V-Day already, since it's a month from today!! Here's my card I'm entering into the Challenge:

I used some BG Lemonade paper (the pink on pink flowers), MM Just Chillin (pink with white polka dots), Pink Sorbet Twine from The Twinery, Bird brad from MME, flowers, fabric "love" tag, and pearls from my stash (unknown). The big pink flower is actually a coaster that I got last summer from my local Dollarama...I thought it would make a great flower, so I stuck it in my stash for later usage! the other one I have will make great mask for misting with! Anyways...thanks for looking, and get started on those Valentine's Day crafts...1 month from today folks!!

Seeing Red Challenge

2011-01-14T16:10:00.004-04:00

Paula at Challenges from the Attic has this Challenge going on right now too: Seeing Red, create a completely (or as much as possible) project all done in monochromatic red!! I don't usually use red, don't have much of it left from Christmas projects either. But this is what I came up with:

Just a quick, simple card, 2 different patterns of red paper with cream accents! Dewdrops on the polka dots up top (I wanted to use cream colored pearls, but I don't have any left ~ must get more!!), cream colored twill topped with red and cream gingham ribbon, little "Love" stamp in the lower left corner and a heart epoxy sticker pop-dotted up for dimension! Thanks for looking!!

Potato Stamping

2011-01-13T11:52:00.004-04:00

So I was looking for a snowy day project to do with my boys and one of my friends had said that her mom used to do potato stamping with them when they were younger. I was like "WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT BEFORE?" We always have potatoes in the house (something that EVERYONE will eat!), so I ran down to the cold storage room and grabbed a few different size potatoes.

I free handed a couple of different sized hearts on them and cut them out, got the boys set up with their brushes and Valentine paint colors. While they painted everything they could get their hands on, I was at my computer searching online for silhouette images of birds..I had this whole "lovebirds" thing in my mind and wanted to do it with a black image. Found one I liked, printed it off, jetted back out to the kitchen, wiped down the paint from the table, wall, and the back of hubby's chair, then cut out my bird and used it on a stencil.....they kinda looked like this:

I used my inks and some acrylic paints, so nothing is permanent, but I was just playing around with it to see what the images would actually look like. Below is some more of the images I stamped, these will end up being little ornaments, once I get them cut, stitched and stuffed:

And this is what the birds and the heart look like once I got the muslin cut, glass seed beads stitched on for eyes, the "lovebirds" written on the bottom and the ribbon stitched down the side:

My boys did have a lot of fun with this project and I think the oldest one said he was thinking of taking some of his hearts he stamped, cut them off the big sheet of paper and then make some little cards for his grandparents for Valentine's Day. Here is what their finished projects looked like:

The one on the top is my 2 year olds....he got bored with the potato after a while and just used his hands and his paint brush. The one on the bottom is my 4 year olds...a lot of them turned out pretty good, once he figured out not to put so much paint on the potato...in his words: "Man that's a slippery little sucker!" Anyways, it made for a fun snowy day craft project, and once the little ornaments are done, I'll post a picture of them too!

One Little Word

2011-01-10T10:37:00.004-04:00

So many of my scrappy friends are familiar with Ali Edwards: The genius behind The December Daily, Big Picture Scrapbooking and 365:Project Life. One of the classes she teaches at the start of every year is something called One Little Word.

I've decided that MY Word for 2011 is going to be PATIENCE. I'm not going to take her online classes, as much as I would love to, just because of finances, but I am going to participate in my own way.

I'm going to practice it every chance I get, listening and observing what happens as I do, and I'm going to really work on it.

It's very challenging to me, because I'm very impatient by nature, and because of that I'm quick to anger, and when you have young children, all that teaches them is impatience and anger. I'm seeing that reflected back to me daily, and our life has become quite challenging because of it....I take the blame for that because I know that as primary care giver (stay-at-home mom), I'm the example for them, the role model....that's challenging, but by practicing PATIENCE, things will get easier.

I'm also still struggling daily with my weight loss....I'm not someone who gives up everything to eat and goes to the gym religiously. I need to learn moderation, but I've also had to stop going to the gym, again because of finances, so this is going to be a longer process...I'm okay with that. I know I'll get their eventually, I just need to have PATIENCE.

Our housing and financial state is not the greatest. We have a roof over our head (although it does need re-shingling badly), and my husband has a great job, and for that I am grateful. We just have no "extra" money for emergencies, car problems, dental...things of that nature. Some months, groceries are tight, but the bills get paid and my boys don't ever go without. I just wish it was easier. Again, this is where PATIENCE comes into play....I know I'm not suppose to have an "easy" life, I know there are bumps in the road along the way, or even spots where the road seems to be washed away....but by having PATIENCE and a bit of understanding, and a heaping pile of empathy knowing we are not the only ones going through this, and we do have it better then others, seems to put things into perspective.

PATIENCE: I think I'm going to learn a lot this year.

My First ATC ~ All About Me

2011-01-07T11:52:00.005-04:00

My friend Paula over at Challenges From the Attic, has a new challenge up...make an ATC that's all about you!

I had a hard time with this one, mostly because I kept thinking....I'm a stay-at-home mom of 2 boys, the only things I do are play, break up fights, cook and get groceries...I don't "do" anything else besides scrapbook and craft, but I didn't want the ATC to be just that.

I think I was thinking about it too much, and then it came to me...like a "wave". I LOVE the ocean, it's in my blood, it's the reason why I moved back to Nova Scotia 1o years ago. The sand, the beach, the heat from the sun, the sound of the waves crashing, the shells you can find, the color of the water and the sand. All of it!

I also thought about what else I loved....flowers, the color blue, my hubby, my boys, and shabby chic/vintage looking stuff. So this is my ATC I created that's all about ME!! :D

Let me break this down for you, so you can understand it better. We have the waves, the shells, the color blue, and the color brown to represent the beach and the ocean. The bee in the corner is to represent my hubby (it's his nickname) and the 2 flowers represent my boys, they are also cause I love flowers and the color blue. The stitching around the edge, the "dirty" lace across the bottom and the distressed and inked edges are to represent my love of all things shabby chic and vintage! Oh, and of course the "J" stamp in the center of it all is me! Thanks for looking and I hope you like my first attempt at an ATC!

ATC's

2011-01-04T22:04:00.003-04:00

So my girlfriends over at CropChocolate (love this place, have I mentioned that before? Seriously, some of the best ladies I "know" over there!!) and I have decided that we're gonna do an ATC swap.

I have wanted to try making and trading ATC's (Artist Trading Cards) for a little while now, and one of my New Years "resolutions" was to try some new crafty things this year....I was thinking more along the lines of knitting or crocheting....but this works too! I still wanna learn how to do those other 2 things though...can't put too much on my plate all to once, or it will topple over.

First things first....ATC's!

We've decided on a Valentine's Day theme, so now I am busily scrounging around in my stash of scrappy stuff, trying to find anything remotely "valentinesy" (yeah, that's a word...it is in my dictionary!). To no avail.....a trip to my LSS is in store soon I think. I have a couple of things leftover in my Glitz Designs "Love Nest" collection, maybe I can find some stuff that will work with that stuff...I'll keep ya posted with what I make. I'm looking forward to this!!

Simple Things

2011-01-03T16:26:00.003-04:00

Today I am thankful for simple things...fresh clean flannel sheets to sleep on tonight, 2 loaves of fresh bread from my bread machine, my boys played together for almost 2 hours this afternoon without fighting, and hubby is making supper tonight....ahh, bliss.

Last night, my hubby and I went through all my photos and sorted them....it was a mess, but it only took us about 2 hours. Now they are neatly organized and ready for albums or for scrapping....more bliss.

Yesterday I mentioned about my scrapbook albums...I chose to finish my Wedding Album first, so today I pulled out my scrapbook, and was able to find all the papers, rub-ons, cardstock, paper flowers, metal signage, and ribbons that I used before. I couldn't believe I still had it all, I haven't worked on that album for almost 5 years! I've given myself 2 weeks to get it done so I can move onto something else. I don't have that much left to do in it, so 2 weeks should be lots of time...should be! ;) I just need to stay focused!

My resolution....as far as crafts go.

2011-01-02T17:14:00.002-04:00

I claim to be a scrapbooker.....but I have yet to finish a single album! I know...go ahead and laugh, you have my permission!

I have recently gone through all of my albums that I have started and realized that NOT ONE SINGLE BOOK IS FINISHED! I couldn't believe that! It seems as though I enjoy starting projects, but lose interest so close to the end of them, it's such a waste!

I have about 3 or 4 more 2 page LO's to do and then my Wedding Scrapbook is done....it's been sitting on my shelf like that for going on 5 years now.

My oldest son's baby book(s) have been started, then abandoned about the 8th month into his first year. My youngest son also has a couple of baby books started, then not finished. I fear I'm starting to forget a lot of important information that I didn't write in them when I should have...and now I don't remember!

I did a special album for each of my boys for their first birthday's....Charlie's album needs 2 more pages done in it, and Owen's still needs about 5 or 6 more pages done...but again, so close to the end, I lost interest!

I have our house renovation book started....not finished (but in my defense, neither are the reno's....that's a whole other story!!).

I have an anniversary album that I started for my hubby....not finished.

I started an album for a girlfriend to document her pregnancy with her first child, she sent me all the pictures she had, and I was gonna do up the album. Her son is now almost 2, and I have 4 pages done in her album!!

I have a serious problem!!

My resolution is to finish up all those books....my boys deserve to have completed baby books, even if it documents just their first year. My husband and I deserve to have a wedding album completed, that we can show off proudly. My friend deserves to have the album I promised her three years ago!! I am not ripping books apart to re-do them, I just need to finish them.

Here's to keeping this resolution, even if I have to force myself to get them done....I know I will have personal satisfaction in the completion of them, and I know that having them done will make other people happy too!

2011 is here ~ Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T13:41:00.004-04:00

Happy New Year friends! I hope 2011 brings you all the happiness you desire.

My wish for myself and my family is for more patience, and the opportunity to exercise it (with 2 little boys that shouldn't be too hard ~ the opportunity I mean!).

I wish us more understanding and empathy in dealing with others, and putting the needs of others before our own, but also knowing that we each need to make time for ourselves and need our own space once in a while ~ it will make us better parents, and a closer family.

I wish us less stress in dealing with the everyday obstacles we will face because we will face them, and some days it will feel like we're taking two steps forward and one step back, but knowing that God doesn't give us what we can't handle, will help us get through those difficult days.

The last couple of months of 2010 were kind of trying health wise for my family with common flus and colds, bronchitis and sinus infections that didn't want to leave us alone, so I wish us better health in the coming year....we don't have as much to complain about as others do I know, but everyone wants healthy kids and family members when they aren't feeling good.

Above all, I wish us lots of happiness in our everyday, and lots of love in our hearts....and when all else fails, I'm gonna try laughing a lot more, and be controlling a lot less. After all, we may not have it all together, but together we have it all!

Fevers, Colds and SketchMania #24

2010-12-20T17:58:00.004-04:00

We've been hold in up in our little house for a week now with fevers and colds, and were all pretty much miserable. My boys are feeling better...finally, but now it's my turn to be sick. Sore ears, sore throat and a bit of a headache. So to distract myself, I thought I would work on SketchMania #24 and I also made an ornament for a very good scrapping friend of mine, but I can't post that on here yet since it's her Christmas gift. Okay, so onto DeeDee's sketch #24:

Now I have been doing LO's, but I felt like doing a card this time around. it came together pretty quickly for me...less then 30 minutes. I didn't hum and haw with it like I do with layouts, mind you I was also making supper at the time, so that's probably why! So here's my take on the sketch:

I flipped the sketch sideways and used a banner instead of a bracket on mine. The picture was taken without natural light, so excuse the acidity of the green, it's really not that yellow looking. This was made using the My Mind's Eye "I Believe" designer pattern papers, Maraschino Bakers Twine from The Twinery, and some cute plastic snowflakes from my local dollar store...I can always count on them for some cute embellishments (pack of 60 in 2 different sizes for $1.00...can't go wrong with that!) Thanks for looking, and I'll be back later on to post a picture of the ornament I made for my friend!!

Another one for SketchMania ~ Love & Cherish

2010-12-14T16:06:00.004-04:00

I'm on a roll...maybe it's because I decided that I wasn't going to make my Christmas cards this year, so I have more time to do what I WANT to do...not that I don't like making cards, but I really wanted to spend more time with my family instead of a slave to my craft...which also means having a bit more fun while I'm crafting instead of the same old thing over and over again....whew! Okay, done...onto the Sketch from DeeDee at UmWowStudio...sketch #23:

Again, for the most part I did a literal interpretation of her sketch, and about the only thing I changed was embellishments on the lower right corner. Anyway, here's my 12x12 LO:

This is a picture of my Great-Grandparents on my mom's side of the family...this is from their 50th Wedding Anniversary, which just so happened to be the year I was born. I was lucky enough to know both of them, they lived a long and happy life, married for 68 years before my Great Grampie Arthur passed away. My Great Grammie Esty went on to live by herself for about 5 more years, then moved in with her daughter (my grandmother) for another year or so before she passed away....she was 92 years old! I miss them very much, they were very loving people and are the best example I have of a love ever lasting...they were best friends and loved each other and their family so much!

Most of the design elements on this LO are from Glitz Designs, beautiful papers, stamps, stickers and all kinds of embellishments! The flower was fussy cut from one of the papers, the "Love & Cherish" and "Memories" are their cardstock stickers, the pink damask sticker is a Glitzers, all from the "Love Nest" collection..which I just happened to receive as a prize pack from a FB contest they ran...love it all, I received so much stuff!! The journaling block was taken from my Great-Grandfather's journal...spare blank pages, I thought it appropriate to use on this LO. Thanks for letting me share with you, I hope you like my take on the sketch!!

SketchMania #22 ~ Too Cute to Spook

2010-12-11T14:23:00.004-04:00

I'm playing along with Dee Dee over at UmWowStudio again and this is what her sketch #22 looks like:

I know it's close to Christmas and my mind should be on the holiday season at hand, but I'm someone who scrapbooks as I'm inspired, and it's not usually seasonally. My LO for SM #22 was no exception.....think ghosts, goblins and skeletons!! Here's my LO and it's pretty much a direct interpretation of Dee's sketch:

It's of my oldest boy's first Halloween, he was almost 7 months...the cutest little pumpkin I ever did see! I showed it to him this morning (he's almost 5 now!! :( He's growing so fast.), and he loved it, and thought it looked great!! This was made using almost all BG Eerie Collection, the only things not BG are the orange polka dot paper and the strip of orange paper, which is from the MME Blackbird collection. Thanks for looking and if you get the chance to play along, head on over to UmWowStudio and check out Dee Dee's great sketches!!

Santa Stops Here!!

2010-11-21T10:25:00.003-04:00

I'm playing along with Paula and friends over at Challenges From The Attic. This challenge is #9...A Banner Day. The challenge was to either make a banner, do a LO or a card with a banner....banners are uber cool right now. Seeing them everywhere! Christmas is just around the corner, the countdown is on so I decided to make a banner to hang up for the holiday season!!

I am so happy with the way it turned out!!

Close-up shot of the "N" with the banner with-in the banner!

And the final picture is just to show the detail and the dimension...I loved using the little jingle bells on the ends of the pennants....adds a bit more cheer!!

My boys love to stand there and shake it....I might have to move it to higher ground so it stays in tact! Leave me some love!!

Challenge #5 ~ Scraplift from Someone else on CC!

2010-11-08T17:03:00.002-04:00

For the next challenge, we had to "scraplift" from another friends work on CC. There is s section in Sweet Talk called "Share Your Sweetness" where other crafty gals post their projects from things they purchased on CC. My inspiration came from this picture....I did a very literal lift from her page, just flipped it a bit and changed the papers and embellishments! Here's mine:

Challenge #4 ~ Altered Word Art

2010-11-08T16:44:00.003-04:00

Altered Word Art was the name of the game when it came to Challenge #4....this one tested my patience BIG TIME! For a while I thought I bit off more then I could chew....although to be honest, it was my design, so I didn't have to do something so time consuming I suppose. This project would have been a LOT easier had I had a die cut machine or a Cricut machine....which ironically is the prize for this challenge!! This was the inspiration, and this is what I did with it:

This will end up hanging up in the boys room...hopefully they won't destroy it!!

Challenge #3 ~ Easel Card

2010-11-08T16:38:00.003-04:00

Challenge #3 for the weekend Crop at Crop Chocolate was an easel card. I have never made one of these before and it was a LOT easier then I thought it was! This was the example shown to us, and this is my take on it:

And this is the inside of the card:

This was a lot of fun to make, and I will definitely be trying this technique again when I make cards!

Challenge #2 ~ A & B

2010-11-08T16:27:00.003-04:00

This next challenge of the weekend was a kind of surprise, a venture into the unknown, a box of chocolates if you will....first off, there was a menu...of food items, and whatever you chose from that menu corresponded with scrapbooking supplies. Whatever you chose as your menu, was what you had to incorporate into your scrapbook page....So this is what I chose: Chicken Pasta, Potato Skins, French Onion Soup and Chocolate Mousse. When the menu was revealed, my menu items translated into: Black, Square, Ribbon, and Chipboard Title...easy peasy! Thankfully I didn't choose shrimp and cheese sticks (the color orange and a star shape....?). Here's my take on Challenge #2 A&B and make sure you leave me some love!!

The photo is a family portrait of my brother Levi, his wife Betty, and their boys Nicholas and Collin. The portrait is courtesy of Blair Phillips Photography in North Carolina.

Challenge #1 ~ Ad Challenge

2010-11-08T16:22:00.002-04:00

The first challenge this past weekend was an Ad Challenge, based off of this picture. We could use the colors, the grid design, the way the journaling was done...whatever, as long as when your layout was done, you could tell by looking what the inspiration was. I chose to use the colors and the grid pattern for my LO.....here's my interpretation, I hope you like it!

SO.MUCH.FUN!!

2010-11-05T17:05:00.002-03:00

I'm really looking forward to this weekend! It's the first ever 48 hour On-Line Crop at CropChocolate.com!!One of the best places to buy scrappy supplies at seriously discounted prices!! You have to go check them out! They have some fantastic prizes to give out, including 2 Cruise Tickets, Cricut Expression, Slice Elite, a bunch of Basic Grey Collection Packs, and 100's of dollars worth of CropCredit!! How awesome is that?! Check out CropChocolate to find out more information. All you need is to have an account with an active email address to join! Sign-up today...you'll get to meet some great ladies, and gets tonnes of inspiration!! Once you join, go checkout Sweet Talk for more information!

Christmas is in the Air!!

2010-09-18T10:31:00.008-03:00

I know, I know...you're thinking, what the heck is she talking about?! ALREADY??! Aren't we missing out on some Thanksgiving (Canada style) and Halloween (and then Thanksgiving, if you're in the US!)?

I'm being inspired early this year, thanks to Cath Edvalson over at Moxie Fab World! She's got some great projects that she's been posting from inside the covers of the new Paper Crafts Holiday Cards & More Vol. 5 magazine. All week long she's been showcasing gift wrapping ideas, gift giving ideas, card making ideas and lastly, home decor ideas. Each time she showcased one, she challenges you to create something to correspond with the idea. Love it!

This is my project inspired by the Decor to Make the Season Bright Challenge. I love traditional Christmas, and am really loving vintage inspired stuff too lately! This combines them both, and I can't wait to hang this up in my house this holiday season! I removed the glass from the Shadow Box so I could take a decent picture...the reflection was causing me some grief!!

(sorry these last 2 are so blurry, darn camera!)

Supplies used:

12x12 Scrapbook Shadow Box
vintage inspired postcard ornaments from dollar store
Cream cardstock
Melissa Frances "Noel" PP (green w/ornaments)
Cosmo Cricket "Everafter" PP in "Something New" (green leaves in paper flower)
digital image of Christmas sheet music
gold crinkle paper
misc. red check ribbon
misc. lace
misc. hemp twine
Tsukineko Walnut Ink
Smooch Spritz in "Emerald Sprinkle" and "Vanilla Shimmer"
Stickles in "Crystal"
misc. adhesive pearls
gold leaf pen
chipboard letters from DCWV Inc.
misc. buttons from LSS (bulk)
berry and leaf spray from local hardware store

Go check out Moxie Fab World and play along with the challenges! I always have a lot of fun with them! Thanks for looking!!

Sketch Mania #10

2010-09-16T09:03:00.005-03:00

DeeDee over at UmWowStudio has another sketch up and I'm playing along again! I love the way this one turned out and I loved working with the squares within the circle...I don't normally "do" circles, but I just might have to now!

Here's DeeDee's Sketch #10:

And this is what I came up with...oh, and it's a 12x12 LO...something I haven't done for sketches or challenges yet!!

I switched it up a bit, and instead of using squares, I used rectangles, but that's the fun of these Sketches...they are open to interpretation.

Details: 12x12 LO made using Sassafras Lass' "Sweet Marmalade" collection including PP, Alpha Stickers, Brads, Stamps, Journaling Sticker and Diecuts, Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Antique Linen, Adirondack Ink in Ginger, Tim Holtz by Tonic Paper Distresser, Black Zig Writer, LePage Glue Stick (need to get more adhesives, that was ALL I had left!), and dollar store Foam Pop-Ups.

Thanks for looking...and feel free to pop on over to UmWowStudio and play along with DeeDee's Sketches....some great items up for the prize this month!!

Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger: Lipsylicious!!

2010-09-12T10:42:00.005-03:00

It's time for another Tuesday Trigger from Moxie Fab World! This time it's these beautiful shades of Lipstick from the September 2010 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine.

When I looked at these, I though of the richness in the colors, and about getting dressed up to go out with girlfriends....I don't wear make-up that often, and when I do it's more of a "natural" look, so to me these colors seemed really glamorous, totally fab and super girly!! So this is my take on the Trigger picture:

I wanted it really fun, kinda flirty, and super cute and girly....and I think the sentiment works great for this card too!

It's a 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 card, misc, purple cardstock for base, misc. pink cardstock, MME Pattern Paper, MM Pink Twill with Silver Flecks, recycled white organza ribbon, pink and purple pins from my sewing collection, computer generated sentiment, rhinestone swirls from dollar store, and Sparkle embossing powder.

I'm really happy with the way this card turned out...thanks for looking!!

Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger and SketchMania....can I actually do both?!

2010-09-01T23:10:00.008-03:00

You bet your butt I can!!

It's time for another sketch from DeeDee over at SketchMania. This one is a gooder, so I thought I would play along this week!

Here's her Sketch #9:

I thought I would combine it with Moxie Fab World's Tuesday Trigger: Light & Bright

I love the colors in this picture, and all the white space...so fresh and clean!! That Blue is so yummy...my favorite color!!

So here's my take on both:

A cute, simple, quick little card. Made using misc. white and turquoise cardstock, MME Rub-ons, MM Trim, Basic Grey PP (yellow), misc. brads, turquoise water color pencils and misc. ink! TFL!!

Bottle Cap Magnets

2010-09-01T11:30:00.004-03:00

I was Facebook-ing a while back and came across this post from DCWV's blog. I thought this was a super cute and easy project to make....initially I made these ones:

These were made using random bits of everything really. K & Co's "Wild Saffron" PP and chipboard pieces, word magnets, buttons and gems, all sealed with Glossy Accents.

My DH was cleaning the kitchen the other day and suggested I make some more for our fridge so everything matched, and was more "us". I was totally excited that he said that he would clean and I could craft...WOOHOO!! So I rummaged through my stash again and starting pulling stuff out and creating.....I got a little carried away and made a bunch more, but am still loving this and could keep making them in different colors/seasons/themes, and have even made some for my mom as little frames with pictures of all her grand-babies in them! Here's how the newset bunch turned out:

More buttons, some glass seed beads, metal signage, epoxy stickers, gems, cardstock stickers and metal words all sealed with Glossy Accents....I love that stuff!!

Little Snippet of my Life

2010-09-01T10:16:00.004-03:00

Okay, so I go forever without adding any posts to this this, and then today, I add not one, not two, but at least three posts (and maybe four, time permitting!!) So this is post 2 for today!

I am a SAH momma to 2 little boys, ages 2 and 4. They are the loves of my life (next to their Daddy) of course, and they are so full of energy and love! They can be quite trying at times and somedays I feel like they purposely see how far they can push before momma goes over the edge...but I understand that they are just doing it to learn their boundaries. Those are the days when I say that it's a good thing they are so cute!! Anyone who has kids knows what I'm talking about.

Anyways, I love to craft and would do it all day long, but somedays that's not possible!! Creativity always takes a back seat to life, especially when your life looks like this:

6 loads of laundry waiting to be folded and put away!! Or how about this:

Breakfast dishes waiting to be cleaned off the table...it's like they come, they eat, they scatter!! Then there's this....my least favorite of all household duties:

The DREADED DISHES!! I swear they multiply on my counter every night...and yes, I leave dishes on my counter overnight! Oh, the horrors of it all!! I hate dishes!! All I've ever wanted since we moved into this house is a dishwasher....but I digress, maybe when (if) we move I'll get one! I am pretty sure there are a lot of crafters, whether they be paper crafters (like myself), or those that like to sew or knit or whatever your poison is, all have houses like this....they would rather craft then clean!! One of the reasons I love to craft is this:

My sweet boys!! I craft to preserve moments like this: Being good boys, being quiet, getting along and enjoying each others company. I like to preserve the not so good moments too...but these ones are my favorites! They make me happy....they inspire me!!

Holy Humidex Batman!!!

2010-08-31T14:33:00.002-03:00

Okay, so we are having a heat wave this week...right now it's +36 degrees Celsius with the humidex and it's suppose to get worse as the week goes by (like +43 by Thursday)! If the weather keeps holding the way the forecasters say it is, then we are going to be hit by Hurricane Earl this weekend....'tis the season!! Speaking of 'Tis the Season....I was thinking what better way to try to stay cool, then to work on my Christmas Cards? My kidlets are sitting on the couch in their undies (to keep cool) watching Christmas movies, so I think I'll get a head start on my cards!! Check back later on, I'll be posting a picture of one of them!!

And another one for SketchMania!

2010-08-18T18:14:00.004-03:00

Here is another card I did for SketchMania. This one is for Sketch #7. It's a 6x6 card (again), made using the MM Passport Kit (from CC). Everything on this card is elements from MM Passport, from the ribbons, to the paper and the stickers. The card base is cream Bazzill cardstock and my adhesives are from Dollarama. TFL!!

Crop Chocolate and SketchMania ~ Oh what Fun!! :D

2010-08-18T16:55:00.015-03:00

So it's been awhile since I posted and have some catching up to do. I'm going to try more diligent about posting on my blog....I have all kinds of projects floating around in my head, and not enough time to do them (and a 2 year old and a 4 year old that sometimes prevent me from doing them too!!)

Okay, so I'm a scrapbooker/papercrafter/dabbler of paper products and embellies...I came across something called Crop Chocolate. It's a multiple-deals-a-day-site. They have some really great deals from companies like Making Memories, Sassafras Lass, Basic Grey and Fancy Pants. I open it in a separate tab and leave it open all day, come back to refresh quite often as some things (BG) go quite quickly! They also have a section called SweetTalk where you can post questions, ideas, and information about projects and products that you like. One of the ladies that is a frequent shopper and poster has a weekly sketch that she shares with the ladies. You make a project based on her sketch and then link it from your blog to hers for others to vote on....the prize is a $15 crop credit to Crop Chocolate!! Her blog is called UmWowStudio and you can find it here, and her sketches can be found here.
This is my take on Sketch #5:

The background on this card is from MM Just Chillin' Girls paper pack (from CC), the polka dot is Melissa Frances as is the Pumpkin Patch sticker cardstock sticker, and the paper behind the sticker. The cream lace is from Dollarama, and the brown lace is from MM Passport line (from CC). The brads are misc. from my stash. The brown ink is ColorBox....this card came together really quickly and I love how it turned out!!

Bookmarks

2010-07-08T10:18:00.002-03:00

So I made these bookmarks after seeing a tutorial on Splitcoaststampers.com. The one on the left is a basic bookmark made with BG LilyKate paper and misc. cardstock, Prima flowers, MM bling brad and some random dollar store ribbon.I took a white glitter Thicker alpha and used my ColorBox Chalk Inkpad (Blue Iris) and rubbed it over the letter, then topped it with some Ranger Glossy Accents so the ink and glitter didn't come off on my books.

The bookmark on the top right used some MME(?) pattern paper scraps, Core'dinations cardstock, Bazzil cardstock, dollar store lace, Prima flowers and MM bling brad. The alpha letter on this one is a random dollar store one, and I took it and added the Ranger Glossy Accents to it as well, just to keep the glitter on the letter and off my book pages! It's a little large to use in standard paperback books, but works great for hardcovers! This particular one is the one that I saw the tutorial for which you can see right here: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/cornerbookmark/

Both of the bookmarks use my brand new Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page punch set. I only used the edge punch for these, but it still looks really pretty!!

All girl!!

2010-07-06T14:05:00.003-03:00

So this is the first really girly page I've ever made! This is a picture of me when I was about 3 1/2 years old and it was the Summer of 1984.

I used lots of product and embellishments on this page and I'm really happy with the way it came out!

I used the BasicGrey 6x6 LilyKate paperpack, Making Memories {note} worthy paper, Stickles, Stamping Bella journaling stamp, Tim Holtz Distress Ink, American Crafts Thickers chipboard alphabet stickers, misc. ribbon, lace, pearls and buttons, and misc. itty bitty bug stamps.

I handmade all the flowers and free-handed the flourishes with Stickles. The lace frame under the picture was all done by hand too....this weekend I purchased a Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page punch set, in the Eyelet Lace....so those handmade lace frames will be a lot easier to make now!