scrap-pit

meeting goofy and pluto ..

2012-01-27T18:41:00.004-05:00

TGIF folks!

I don't know about you but this week seemed never-ending! Wednesday felt like Friday and today was a day that seemed like it was never going to end. But it's now Friday evening and it's time to kick back and relax ... or get caught up on all the things I didn't get a chance to do throughout the week! :)

This weeks sketch over at Sketch Support is absolutely fabulous! I am all about shapes especially circles and stars and this one completely had my mojo going. Check it out:

I am so behind on my Disney album - one that I really want to create for Abigail and this sketch fit the bill. Here's what I made:

meeting pluto and goofy

Supplies Used - Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye; Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Alpha: American Crafts, The Girls Paperie; Tools: Creative Memories circle cutting system, Creative Memories star punch; Floss: DMC; Ink: Vibrance; Other: Dymo Labeling Gun

Another trip to Disney is coming up so I really want to get last years scrapped - I think I am going to have to turn to digital to whip some up! :) Templates can be a wonderful thing!

This weekend, I have scrapping on the mind - I have some deadlines to work on - have you seen peeks for the new Creative Scrappers ebook? It looks fabulous!!!!

Have a fantastic weekend!

you melt my heart

2012-01-20T19:27:00.003-05:00

TGIF!!

Wow, has it ever been a long week! I am so glad to say hello to the weekend. This week was add-on sketch over at Sketch Support. Check out the adorable sketch:

Here's what I made with it:

you melt my heart

Supplies Used - Patterned Paper: October Afternoon; Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Die-Cuts:Stickers: October Afternoon; Tools: Creative Memories heart punch; Ribbon: Bo Bunny; Button: Fancy Pants; Ink: Vibrance
October Afternoon;

To see more adorable projects, including some sock snowmen by Carolynn Wolff, be sure to check out Sketch Support this week!

Last week it was two pager week over at Sketch Support and this was the sketch Allison came up with:

And this is what I created with it:

presents galore

Supplies Used - Pattern Paper: October Afternoon; Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Stickers:Tools: Fiskars Threading Water border punch; Floss: DMC; Alpha: Bella Blvd October Afternoon;

It's some shots from Christmas morning ... Abigail was so excited opening her presents.

Well, I'm off to watch a movie - any exciting weekend plans out there? We are just going to do some errands, have a play date, go to skating and play some soccer! Maybe scrap a little too! :)

Thanks for dropping by!

quick and easy valentine's day projects

2012-01-13T08:39:00.002-05:00

Today it's my turn to post over at the TaDa Creative Studios blog.

I made some Valentine's Day treat bags. I picked up the treat bags at the dollar store and filled them with goodies from Bulk Barn.

Here’s a look at the finished pieces:

Here's a close-up of each:

I am bananas for you. Will you be my Valentine?

This one is my favourite and very easy to make! The bananas are Runts and I found them at Bulk Barn. I used the following TaDa products to create this project:

Balancing Act, Big Top collection
Happy Rays laser cut cardstock, from the Sizzlin’ Summer collection

Other products used include Bazzill cardstock, Carolee Creations letter stickers, Creative Memories heart punches, pop dots, Vibrance ink

You are doggone cute. Will you be my Valentine?

For this project, I used the following TaDa products:

Pink Paisley, BFF collection
Balancing Act, Big Top collection

Other products used include: Bazzill cardstock, Creative Memories heart punch, pop dots, Vibrance ink, Jillibean Soup twine, Fiskars border punch

Will you o’fish’ally be my Valentine?

For this project, I used the following TaDa products:

R&R Tag-a-ma-Jigs, R&R collection
Hook, Line and Sinker, R&R collection
Red cardstock

Other products used include: Bazzill cardstock, Creative Memories heart punches, pop dots, Vibrance ink, Jillibean Soup twine, Fiskars border punch

These projects are fun, easy and quick to make! Kids can work alongside you and make their own as well. If you want to check out the entire post, click here.

january sketch for canadian scrapbooker

2012-01-10T10:04:00.005-05:00

Happy Tuesday!

Today I want to share the January sketch I created for Canadian Scrapbooker:

I decided to use a winter theme .... I'd love to see what you create with it! If you do use this sketch, be sure to upload it to the Canadian Scrapbooker page located here: http://www.canadianscrapbooker.ca/?page_id=1058 and you may be published in an upcoming issue of Canadian Scrapbooker!

I wanted to share an amazing layout that my friend Luzma created with this sketch:

This is some gorgeous Pink Paislee and Luzma's amazing touch. Make sure you check her blog out - she is constantly creating and inspiring!!

Good luck if you decide to enter! :)

a look back on 2011 ...

2012-01-06T13:47:00.007-05:00

I always like to look back and have a peek at what I created over the past year and what teams I was on.

In 2011, I completed:

Layouts: 53
Double page layouts: 19
Digital layouts: 4
Cards: 33
Sketches: 10
Other: 2

which compares to 2010:

Layouts: 90 (including 5 two-pagers)
Digital layouts: 30 (including 4 two-pagers)
Cards: 14
Sketches: 4
Other: 2

I definitely created less in 2011. But I also had a lot more positive things going on in 2011, especially during the past few months. This has led me to make a lot of positive changes in my life and not be holed up in my craft room as much!! :) Who am I kidding ... I was actually all over the dining room!

In 2011, I was part of several design teams including Creative Scrappers (both as a scrapbooker and as a sketch artist), GDT for Canadian Scrapbooker, TaDa Creative Studios, Tina's Scrapbooking, Sketch Support, GDT for My Scrapbook Nook, GDT for Pixie Dust Paperie Kit Club, guest designer for Colourful Creations, guest designer for City Crafters Challenge blog, guest designer for Scrapbook News and Review Magazine, guest designer for Kristen Aagard Designs ... and as you can imagine, at times, it was a very busy year.

I also had several publications including 13 in Canadian Scrapbooker, one in Cards magazine, four in the Memory Makers Idea Book, and an article with two projects in the Scrapbook News and Review magazine.

I have a few projects I haven't shared yet from 2011 so I'll share them now:

rocket - altered item

This was created for their DT call. I never did get around to sharing this one. I really do love this project - I don't often do altered pieces but this one I loved doing! And Abigail loves playing with it.

Here are some close-ups:

In addition to that project, I also made the following:

unplugged

But I didn't make the cut! :)

My last Sketch Support assignment of 2011 was a one-pager and I created the following digital page:

the real deal

It's our annual children's Christmas party at my work - Abigail got to meet Mr. and Mrs. Claus. Mrs. Claus read them stories and Santa handed out books! It was so much fun!!

And finally:

homerun hitter

This was a Facebook project I did for TaDa Creative Studios that I forgot to post on my blog. It's of Dean hitting a homerun ...

That's it for me today - I hope you are enjoying the new year! I'll be back with my word for 2012 but I'm still having trouble coming up with one - loved reading what yours are! :)

top 11 of 2011 ...

2012-01-04T12:34:00.008-05:00

This is one of my favourite blog posts of the year to write. I love looking back on the year but it's so hard picking my favourite projects. I have 31 tabs open right now ... and twenty of them won't make the cut, lol.

Okay, well, let's get to it:

Sledding 'Mach 9' Style

I think this was my 2nd double page assignment for Sketch Support and I just love how it turned out. It's made with one of my all-time favourite paper companies: Echo Park and making the photos black and white really made them pop. To this day, it's one of my all-time favourite double pagers. Thanks to Allison for a wonderful sketch!

home grown

This was my very first layout designed for Canadian Scrapbooker, as their GDT. The assignment was to use Webster's Spring Market collection to make a layout. These photos worked perfectly ...

My Guy

This layout makes me smile. It's the first time I used paint drops on a layout (using a toothbrush) and Dean just makes my heart go pitter-patter in these photos. I love the design ... all those circles, random stitching, paint ... :)

Baby - Six Month Photoshoot

Oh sigh ... these photos take me back just over five years. I mixed manufacturers here (something I don't do well!) and really loved the result. This is another Sketch Support two pager sketch and assignment.

today was a fairytale

When I first got these papers in the mail, I wondered what I would do with them - they weren't really my style but funny how it turned out to be one of my favourite layouts of the year. I love seeing Abba with all the princesses ... and I love the soft, vintage feel of this layout.

Admit One

This circus invitation was DT work done for TaDa Creative Studios and it was featured at CHA ... my first work ever at CHA. These papers were so much fun to work with and I loved creating something just a bit different than usual.

Woody & Cowgirl Jess

My only digital page of the year! Just LOVE the colours and theme here. I can't wait for this one to go into the Disney album!!

she scored her first hat trick
in her first game of 2011

This one isn't so much about the design but about the content. Soccer in our family is big - we all play and are consumed by the sport. It makes me so proud to see little Abba out on the field, participating in drills and being a leader. Love it.

Believe

For me, 2011 was all about believing. I started off on a great note and ended on a great note. The year was pretty good! How could I not select this layout? :) It's one of my first ones made in 2011 and it was a DT assignment for Creative Scrappers.

happy halloween

I love all things Halloween. This was a hybrid card I made that was featured in Scrapbook News and Review magazine, using Kristin Aagard's Jeepers Creepers digital kit.

Santa's Helper

This was an assignment for Canadian Scrapbooker - to use the St. Nick paper collection by Fancy Pants. I just love these photos of Abigail from Christmas 2010 and they go so perfectly with the paper!

There you have it ... my top 11, I think. :)

happy new year!

2012-01-02T19:48:00.008-05:00

Happy New Year!!

(and a belated Merry Christmas!!) from my family to yours!

I hope everyone had safe travels, got to spend some quality time with friends and family and got lots of rest. We did quite a bit of traveling and visiting ... and I have done zero (z-e-r-o!!) scrapbooking since before Christmas. And for the first time in several years, I didn't get any new scrap supplies either! My mojo has decided to take a bit of a break I guess too ...

I'll be back with my top 11 of 2011 and a bit of a recap post. I'll have another post of projects that I never did post in 2011 later this week! I have to think of my one little word too ... last year it was Believe. Dean thought of it and gave me a rock with it engraved last Christmas. I have had it with me all year. On Christmas morning, I opened up the following gift from my mom:

She didn't know it was my word (or that I even had a word!) but it was so fitting - to receive gifts at the beginning and the end of the year with this word that means so much to me. Maybe it will just stay my word .... :) Do you have a word? If so, leave me a comment! I'd love to hear what they are.

Once again, Happy New Year and here's to a fabulous 2012 for everyone!!

Thanks for visiting!!

festive decor for your home

2011-12-20T10:21:00.003-05:00

Happy Tuesday scrappy friends!

Can you believe that Christmas is in just 5 short days? I have the week off and for once am not bombarded with a zillion things to do!

Today was my turn to post on the TaDa blog. Iposted my recent project - a very easy to make Christmas tree:

I used the Frozen Tozen collection here: Mosty Toasty and Tree Farm.

Other materials used: large button, wooden spools, wooden balls, star button, Scor Pal and a glue gun.

Directions and Close-Ups

To make the accordian flowers, I used five strips of paper cut from the Frozen Tozen collection. The first strip of paper is approximately 1.75 inches wide and each strip of paper is about a quarter of an inch smaller than the previous strip.

Once the five strips were cut, I used my Scor Pal to make even creases in the paper strip. You can use a Scor Pal or simply fold back and forth without the tool. Once you have the entire strip folded, glue the ends together and form into a circle. I cut out a small circle and placed it over the center of the flower and used my hot glue gun to secure it in place.

I then layered the tree - starting with the biggest circle at the bottom and adhering a wooden spool between each layer.

Close-up of layers:

The top:

That's all from me today - I am off to wrap some gifts!

fa la la la la la la la la ...

2011-12-14T21:01:00.006-05:00

'Tis the Season ....

What a great time of the year! I love this season!! There's always something fun going on. This past weekend, my work held their annual children's Christmas party. Santa and Mrs. Claus were there - check it out:

Santa and Mrs Claus reading Twas the Night Before Christmas to the kids:
Abigail getting her gift:
Having the little chat with Santa about how good she was this year (or not):
And lastly, a couple of photos with Santa and Mrs. Claus:

It was a great day - the kids had so much fun. They also had a cowboy doing some entertainment - juggling, magic, balloon animals. Abigail volunteered to go up and she said she spoke French!! He spoke to her in French and she had no idea what he was saying - hahahaha! I was a little embarrassed! :)

Have you ever seen those videos from Santa? I made one for Abigail - if you want to have a peek, you can click here. It's entirely free and you upload photos of your child(ren) and others and it makes one amazing video. Abigail was in shock - especially when Santa revealed that he knew she was naughty with her two twin friends and up popped their photo!

Now for some fun scrappy stuff! Canadian Scrapbooker is having some amazing giveaways this month!!!! All you have to do is go to their Facebook page and share their posts for a chance to win. Seriously - it doesn't get easier than that people! Wanna see some of the stuff up for grabs?! Check it out:

Some gorgeous Fancy Pants:

I have made a few things with this collection and let me tell you, it's divine. You want this! There are rub-ons, stickers, alphas and so much more! Perfect for scrapping your Christmas memories!

What about some gorgeous Nikki Sivils?

Uh yah, this is a must have for my collection!! She never disappoints! Those papers are just way too cute! Love! This has such a fun feel to it!

How about some super awesome Bella Blvd?

Who can resist this collection?! I want. I need. Another gorgeous collection to scrap your Christmas memories!

And some gorgeous Harmonie:

This collection is awesome for winter pics! I have some of it in my stash - love, love, love! You'll want it - the polar bears are oh so cute!!!

What about some Prima?

Can never go wrong with Prima's gorgeous papers!

And how about some Simply Pink?

Lovin' this colour combo - a fave!

How about some adhesive cause we always need some more!

Okay, that's only about half of the giveaways .... surf on over to Canadian Scrapbooker on Facebook, like them and start sharing their posts!! You may get an extra Christmas present out of it! :)

That's all for today - I have a few scrappy things to share tomorrow and Friday!
Thanks for visiting!!

canadian scrapbooker december sketch

2011-12-13T10:42:00.006-05:00

Happy Tuesday scrappy peeps!

Ack! I can't believe that it's already the 13th of December ... where oh where has the first part of this month gone?! I am happy to say that most of my shopping is done, a big part of the wrapping is complete and I feel like I am not too overwhelmed. Friday is my last day of work for 2011 (woot woot!!) so I have all next week to get to last minute projects and baking!

I totally forgot to share my December sketch for Canadian Scrapbooker with you - remember if you play along, you may be published in a future edition of Canadian Scrapbooker. How cool is that?!

Here's the sketch:
I went with a Christmas theme - I hope you play along and create something with it! I plan on making something on Saturday ....

I also have some more layouts to share with you that were featured in the Winter 2011 edition of Canadian Scrapbooker. First up is a wintery two-pager:

saturday night skating

This is one of the things we love to do on Saturday nights in the winter - go to the local arena and skate. It's inexpensive and a lot of fun ... we always meet up with friends so Abigail loves it!

The next one was an assignment to be inspired by the masters (i.e. Picasso, Van Gogh, etc). Wow - talk about tough. I struggled with this one but finally came up with this (using Picasso as my inspiration):

love birds

This was very difficult but I like the final result! :)) It's a timeline of the major events of my relationship with Dean - when we got married, big trips, birth of Abigail, etc.

I have so much more to share but time is slipping away on me! I will be back a couple more times this week to share some other things.

The finale of The Biggest Loser is on tonight - I can't wait ... who else is watching?! Go Antone! :)

merry christmas ...

2011-12-06T15:26:00.004-05:00

It's card week over at Sketch Support and Allison has come up with a fabulous card sketch!
Love the Christmas feel to it! I created the following card:

merry christmas

Supplies Used - Patterned Paper: Fancy Pants; Elements: Kristin Aagard's Merry Christmas digital kit; Cardstock: Bazzill; Ink: Vibrance; Floss: DMC; Pin: Unknown

For some more inspiration, be sure to check out the blog this week!

I hope you have a fabulous Wednesday! For me, it's going to be finishing up on work and then off to my second personal training session. My first was on Monday and it was pretty good. I definitely felt it the next day! I still feel it today! :) I got weighed (higher than I wanted) and my body fat was checked (22.5% - satisfactory) ... I really just need a good butt-kicking! :) And I need to stop indulging in all the bad things laying around the house .... :)))

Be back later this week ...

santa's helper

2011-12-04T08:28:00.004-05:00

Wow, can you believe that it is already December 1st? 21 more days to go until the big day! It's starting to feel a little festive around here! The tree is up as are most of the decorations around the house. Dean put the house lights up this past week and presents are starting to get wrapped. So much fun!

Today I have a Christmas layout to share with you:

santa's helper

Supplies Used - Patterned Paper: Fancy Pants; Elements, Titles, Rub-Ons: Fancy Pants; Cardstock: Bazzill; Ink: vibrance; Other: edge distresser, Fiskars bracket border punch, Creative Memories circle cutter

I just love those photos of Abigail. I've scrapped them before but I just love how excited she was. This was an assignment for the What's Cool in Canada article in Canadian Scrapbooker and appeared in the Winter 2012 issue.

Today we are going to a baby shower for our friends Pat & Sue. I picked up the most adorable present yesterday, I am so excited to give it to her. They are expecting a little boy so I made the following card last night:

it's a boy

Supplies Used - Patterned Paper: Echo Park; Elements & Sentiment: Kristin Aagard's Mom to Be digital kit (retired); Cardstock: Bazzill; Ink: vibrance; Other: DMC floss, pop dots

Isn't it adorable? It was so simple to make - I love when they come together like that, especially when I remember I have a card to make at 10pm and I want to go to bed! :)

Today is going to be a jam-packed day - we have the baby shower, soccer, errands and then Abigail and I plan to make some crafts this afternoon and this is one of them:

Cute eh?! I got it from Pinterest ... love that site. What a fabulous gift to give grandparents to adorn their tree!!

Have a great Sunday!!

woot woot!

2011-11-30T21:41:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, the 2012 design team was revealed over at Sketch Support and I am so happy to say that I will be staying for another year! I got the happy mail yesterday and I am very excited to stay with the team and see all the fabulous new sketches that 2012 will bring!

This is the team for 2012:

Returning Members

Carolyn Wolff
Christine Chain
Christy Arthur
Janette Kincaid
Jennifer Larson
Jill Sarginson ----> me, me, me! But you know that! :)
Katrina Hunt
Lynette Jacobs
Megan Bickers
Melissa Bell
Noey Hunt
Shari Thurman
Suzanna Lee

New Members

Andrea Friebus
Ashley Horton
Cherie Nymeyer
Michele Edwards
Penny Grimsley
Sue Althouse
Virginia Nebel

So welcome to all the new members and congrats to all! I can't wait to see what the new year will bring.

I have so many projects to share with you this week. Tomorrow is the day that Canadian Scrapbooker hits the shelves and I have a few projects in there. It was snowing here today - just a little bit so I'll leave you with a snowy project:

ski-doo ride

Last year, Abigail went over to her cousin's grandparents house and they got ski-doo rides galore - they really had a blast. This page was part of my Winter 2011 GDT assignment for Canadian Scrapbooker.

That's all for today - have a great one!
Thanks for the visit!

santa claus parade

2011-11-28T11:59:00.001-05:00

Happy Monday folks!

I have a couple of projects to share with you today; more to come later this week!

First up is one of my design team application projects for Sketch Support.

santa claus parade 2011

Supplies Used - Patterned Paper: Fancy Pants; Alpha: Rusty Pickle; Elements: Kristin Aagard's Merry Christmas digital kit; Cardstock: Bazzill; Tools: Fiskars bracket border punch

I absolutely loved this sketch - I modified it a bit to suit. It's of our annual Santa Claus Parade. This year was so much fun - we went with our friend's children and we made television, they got interviewed by the radio, we saw the Grinch on rollerblades, we got high fives from Spartacat, donated money to the firemen, saw Santa and tons more!!

A year ago, I scrapped our 2009 Santa Claus parade with one of Allison's sketches:

Santa Claus parade 2009

And I'm not too sure what happened to the 2010 parade. I thought I scrapbooked it. But it doesn't appear I have it - I guess that's on my to-do list! :)

I also have a digital layout to share, using Kristin Aagard's Merry Christmas kit:

so excited

It's of Abigail, on Christmas morning, face beaming. Just love it. I suspect she'll have another fantastic Christmas morning as I just figured out how much I have got her for Christmas already and let's just say it was a tad overboard. Just a tad. Eeek. Oh well ... :)

Isn't that kit super adorable? I just love it. I'll have more with it next week.

Hope you had a fantastic weekend! We spent ours Christmas shopping, putting up the Christmas tree, play dates, cleaning and purging ... !

Thanks for visiting!

apple of my eye ...

2011-11-23T21:19:00.005-05:00

I have a card to share with you today - it's one of my design team submissions for Sketch Support's design team call. It was a sketch that we had previously been assigned but I just wasn't crazy about my other projects so I started fresh. Here's the sketch:

and here is my 3rd take on it:

apple of my eye

Supplies Used - Patterned Paper: Lily Bee, Scenic Route; Alpha: Jillibean Soup; Elements: Kristin Aagard's Apple of my Eye digital kit; Cardstock: Bazzill; Ink: vibrance; Tools: Fiskars Scallop border punch; Other: DMC floss, pop dots

Ahhh, I like this one much better! I have a couple of other projects to share but I have to wait until Friday for those! And that's because they are part of this:
Yes, a new Christmas kit from Kristin Aagard. It is soooo cute - you don't want to miss it! In fact, if you go to her blog (hint, hint, nudge, nudge), and leave a comment, you could win this kit. And you do not want to miss the sale on Friday - the entire store at After 5 is on sale --> 42% off -- their biggest sale yet! I know where I'll be spending some time on Friday! So if you've liked my recent projects with Kristin's elements and/or want to try your hand at digital scrapbooking, this is the time - fantastic kits for a phenomenal price!! I think I'm off to make my wish list .. :)

Thanks for visiting!

coastal craze

2011-11-22T10:00:00.003-05:00

Good Tuesday morning!

This week it's one pager week going on over at Sketch Support. This is the sketch we were asked to work with:

While the sketch screamed Autumn to me, I had some summer elements from Kristin Aagard's Tropical Paradise kit that I really wanted to use so I made some modifications to the sketch and came up with this:

coastal craze

Supplies Used - Patterned Paper: Echo Park; Alpha: Thickers; Elements: Kristin Aagard's Tropical Paradise digital kit; Cardstock: Bazzill; Tools: corner rounder

These are photos from our vacation to Florida last year - when we did a drive-by of Daytona Beach on our way home. It made our trip home about five hours longer but it was totally worth it! :)

A couple of reminders and fun things:

You still have time to play along in November's It's a Sketchy Challenge going on over at Canadian Scrapbooker. Play along and your project could be included in a future edition of Canadian Scrapbooker. Here's a reminder of the sketch:
The design team call for Sketch Support ends tomorrow ... if you are planning to apply, you better get busy! :) I still have one layout to finish up!
Cardabilities and Sketchabilities have a great giveaway going on right now - simply become a follower and be eligible to win some fantastic paper packs!

I hope you have a fantastic Tuesday! :)

woody and cowgirl jess

2011-11-13T07:55:00.005-05:00

Words cannot contain Abigail's excitement when she saw Cowgirl Jess at Disney! We went there not really knowing what to expect - we knew we'd see princesses and Mickey & gang but we didn't really think of the other characters! Abigail spotted Cowgirl Jess and she was so focused on meeting her that she barely had a hug for Woody ... I mean, seriously, it's Woody! He's the star of the show!

Here she is posing with Cowgirl Jess:

In fact, Abigail likes Cowgirl Jess so much, she has decided to be Cowgirl Jess for Halloween next year - and Dean is going to be Woody. It's going to be so cute.

Last weekend, I was surfing the web for some Disney inspiration at mousescrappers.com and spotted the cutest Toy Sheriff kit. I had to buy it and check out what I created yesterday:

woody and cowgirl jess

Credits: Toy Sheriff kit by Britt-ish Designs, Lovin' Those Curves Template 1 by Natalie's Place Designs

Here is a photo of the three of them together. Soooo cute!!!

Creating this layout has renewed my desire to get this Disney album completed - we have so many fantastic memories waiting to be re-lived on my scrapbook pages!! In total, we met 53 characters (that was a lot of line-ups!!) and we had so much fun!

Have a great Sunday!!

sweetest thing in the orchard

2011-11-11T11:05:00.004-05:00

TGIF friends!! I am happy it's the weekend but sad as this means my stay-cation has come to an end! Boo! But I got what I needed - rest and some time off. Despite the fact that I battled a nasty cold, I really had nothing to do this week (except some deadlines) so overall, I had a good week! I put a dent in the Christmas shopping and Dean is coming home from hunting today which will be nice!

My project is up today over at Sketch Support. It was two-pager week but the pictures/supplies I had in mind just weren't going to work with the big sketch so I used the sketch to make a one-pager. This was the sketch we got to work with:

and this is my take:

sweetest thing in the orchard

Supplies Used - Patterned Paper: Kristin Aagard's Apple of my Eye digital kit; Alpha:Elements: Kristin Aagard's Apple of my Eye digital kit; Cardstock: Bazzill Kristin Aagard's Apple of my Eye digital kit;

This is a hybrid layout - with all the elements, alpha and even pattern paper coming from Kristin Aagard's Apple of my Eye kit - everything else is paper. This kit is so adorable - check out that tree! This kit makes me sad we didn't get a chance to go to the orchard this year!! I want to scrap more photos with it! :)

I have been creating up a storm this week - five layouts in total and if you are into Disney at all, watch for some Disney layouts that I'll have up soon hopefully. I have decided that I really need to put a dent in those photos as in just 2-4 short months, we'll be making another trip to Disney! I have so much left to scrap from last year! I have decided to go digital for some of these pages and I bought some super-duper cute kits last weekend on Digital Scrapbook Day ..... I can't wait to scrap them!

Okay - off to see what those crazy kittens are into upstairs and then off to my workout class! Enjoy your Friday!

creative team call!!

2011-11-09T21:13:00.005-05:00

Do you love sketches? Do you love a variety in sketches - cards, one pagers, two pagers and add-ons?! Well, you might want to check out the creative call going on at Sketch Support right now! That's right - Allison is gearing up for 2012 with a new team of designers - this is one of the best design teams ever. Allison is amazing to create for and there are some pretty cool perks. Have a peek at the call and put your name in if you love sketches! There are four sketches for the call and you need to create three projects with them - get creative and submit!

I have a layout to share from last week that went up on the TaDa Creative Studios blog:

hockey: 4 year old style

This was made with the Frozen Tozen collection - absolutely perfect for scrapping any of your winter pics!!

While on the subject of TaDa Creative Studios, I want to take a second to extend my deepest sympathy to Katie Renz's family, a fellow designer for TaDa. Katie passed away from cancer and my thoughts and prayers go out to her husband and her little boys. This is truly heart-breaking and while I did not personally know Katie, I have seen her work and admire her strength. Sending thoughts and prayers to her family.

I am battling a nasty cold - figures as I'm on vacation this week. My energy has been at zero and I just can't seem to get anything done. I have been to the gym twice and have created 4 layouts but that's about it!

Kitten news! I've been very bad at updating my blog on these kittens ... they are six weeks old now and so completely adorable. Check this little one out:

Seriously, who couldn't love that face! And take a peek at the four of them together:

heeheehee! Aren't they the cutest?! I'm afraid I have a battle on my hands when giving them up though - Abigail is already crying at losing one of them - let alone all of them. :( She thinks we are keeping one and I've already told her if we do, it will be my favourite - who is litter trained, has the strongest bond with all of us and with momma cat ... however she has a favourite (scaredy cat) and she wants to keep him. It's going to be tough letting them go but they officially went up on Kijiji today! I'm completely sad to let them go but realistically we cannot keep four kittens and the mommy ....

I think I am headed off to bed to try and sleep this cold off. That is, until the kittens wake me up in the middle of the night while running and jumping on me. Oy.

Thanks for visiting!

november sketch for canadian scrapbooker and card week for sketch support

2011-11-02T08:37:00.003-04:00

Happy Wednesday!! We are mid-week ... yay! I am on vacation next week - or more like a stay-cation so very excited to have some time off!

I have a bunch of stuff to share with you today - first up is the November sketch I created for the It's a Sketchy Challenge over at Canadian Scrapbooker:
This is my favourite sketch that I have created so far - I hope you will play along. To read about this challenge, click here. If you play along and use at least one Canadian manufacturer on this layout, you could be published in a future edition of Canadian Scrapbooker!!

It's also card week over at Sketch Support and I made a traditional card and a digital card:

congratulations card

Supplies Used - Patterned Paper: Crate paper; Ink: Vibrance; Stickers: Crate paper; Cardstock: Bazzill

and my digital take:

halloween card

Supplies Used - Digital Kit: Kristin Aagard's Jeepers Creepers kit; Font: DJB How Cute Am I?

Have a great Wednesday! Thanks for the visit!

some halloween pics ...

2011-11-01T19:41:00.004-04:00

We love Halloween ... besides, Christmas, it's my favourite holiday. We get into it - we decorate outside quite a bit and make a spooky walkway up to our house. I always dress up too. I wanted to share some of my favourite photos from Halloween.

Abigail dressed up as Tinkerbell:

Dean painted her face and he did a really good job. I gave up on the Halloween make-up and went to the drugstore - I found Halloween make-up by Wet n Wild - who knew?! Some glitter eyeshadow and eyeliner worked much better!! :)

I did my regular witch costume:

I was ready for Abigail when she came home - let me tell you, I scared her good! Dean told her I wasn't home and she opened the door and I jumped at her with my hands out and said "I'll get you, my pretty!" and she jumped so high ... of course I immediately reassured her it was me and she laughed and said "Mommy, you scarded the heck out of me!!!"

Here are some pics of us together:

This last one turned out so good - I was pretending to be a scary, mean witch - oblivious to what Abigail was doing. She was making faces and this was the result ... too funny.

I'll be back tomorrow with the November sketch for Canadian Scrapbooker and some projects for Sketch Support!

boo!

2011-10-31T13:28:00.005-04:00

Happy Halloween!

I am so excited it's Halloween! It's one of my favourite days of the year! We got up and got Tinkerbell out the door:

This is her partial costume - I hope to have her face painted better tonight plus she'll have her hair done better, with ringlets and stuff ... at 7am, you get what you get and you don't get upset ... :)) I couldn't get the make-up to do what I wanted it to do whatsoever ... maybe Dean can do a better job! I'll have more photos to share later - I am dressing up as a witch - this year I even have a costume. I am very excited!

I have a project to share. Last week, it was one pager week at Sketch Support and I shared my digital page but I also made a page for the product challenge (Simple Stories Happy Day collection) and here it is:

celebrate!

Supplies Used - Patterned Paper: Simple Stories; Ink: Vibrance; Stickers: Simple Stories; Adhesive: Pop dots; Miscellaneous: Dymo Gun

We were celebrating Dean's big 4-0 ... :) It was a fun but low-key day! :) This paper is perfection for birthdays, I loved working with it. To see some other birthday pages with this collection, click here.

I thought I had something else to share but my mind is in lala land dreaming of our night tonight!! Happy Halloween!!!!

Thanks for the visit!

scrapbook news and review featured artist

2011-10-26T21:03:00.004-04:00

I am very excited to announce that I am the featured artist this week over at Scrapbook News and Review - the world's largest online scrapbooking magazine! My article is on hybrid scrapbooking and you can read it here.

I made two projects for the article - the first was a card:

happy halloween

Supplies Used - Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Patterned Paper: TaDa Creative Studios (Just Chillin’ collection); Ink: Vibrance; Elements: Kristin Aagard’s Jeepers Creepers kit; Pop dots

The elements here were printed onto white cover stock, cut out leaving a small white border and then adhered to the project.

and the second was a layout:

wicked witch

Supplies Used - Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Patterned Paper: Pink Paislee; Elements: Kristin Aagard’s Jeepers Creepers kit; Alpha: Kristin Aagard’s Jeepers Creepers kit; Adhesive: Pop dots

The elements here were printed onto white cover stock, cut out leaving a small white border and then adhered to black cardstock and cut out again, and finally adhered to my project.

All of the elements on both projects are from Kristin Aagards' Jeepers Creepers digital kit (as well as the title on the layout) - I printed and cut them out. Here is a preview of the kit:

If you like what you see, make sure to head on over to Scrapbook News and Review as Kristin has very generously given SNR readers a coupon for her store. You don't want to miss it!! :)

Hope you are having a fabulous week!!!!
Thanks for visiting!

mojo monday!

2011-10-24T07:33:00.005-04:00

Happy Monday!!

Today is a bit of a catch-up post and I hope that it helps your mojo - I have a few projects to share including a couple of sketches. I had a very busy week last week and didn't get a chance to post some of this.

This week over at Sketch Support it's one pager week and we were given the following sketch to work with:

and I decided to make a digital page:

halloween traditionsSupplies Used - Digital Kit: Kristin Aagard's Jeepers Creepers kit; Font: DJB How Cute Am I?

Every year, we bake cupcakes and decorate them into monsters and ghosts and anything else we can think of. I typically dress up as a witch and Dean puts in his fake, rotten teeth and tries to be scary.... of course Abigail gets to dress up and last year she was a princess during the day and a scary witch at night.

I have another Sketch Support project to share with you - last week was add-on week and I made two projects - this was the 2nd one, using the Simple Stories product challenge (Happy Day page kit):

happy day - birthday card

Supplies Used - Cardstock: Bazzill Basics, DCWV; Patterned Paper: Simple Stories; Tools: corner rounder; Ink: Vibrance; Stickers: Simple Stories; Floss: DMC; Adhesive:
Pop dots

On the weekend, I had another project go up on the Pixie Dust Paperie blog:

tranquility

The soft colours and beautiful papers in the October Blue Moon kit are just perfect for scrapbooking some of the sweet and quiet moments in my life (which are rare but occasionally happen - haha!). The little touches added to the kit are what puts it over the top in regards to kit clubs - I just loved the dictionary page that was included in the kit. I used mine as a layer and finely distressed and inked it. It really fits so beautifully with the papers.

And, last but not least, I have my last sketch for Creative Scrappers to share with you today. If you are looking to join a challenge, I encourage you to surf on over and give this sketch a try! As usual, the design team knocked it out of the park so if you are looking for inspiration, make sure to take a look at their creations! Also, the prize is from Boys Rule Scrapbook club - their October kit - you don't want to miss out on that! Good luck!!

Creative Scrappers sketch 179

Have a great Monday!

it's your day!

2011-10-18T11:58:00.002-04:00

This week it's add-on week over at Sketch Support. This month we had product from Simple Stories to work with (their Happy Day collection) so all of our sketches this month are birthday themed.

This is the sketch we got to work with:

and this is what I came up with:

it's your day

Supplies Used - Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Patterned Paper: Pink Paislee (Hometown collection); Tools: corner rounder, Creative Memories star punches; Twine: Jillibean Soup Ink: Vibrance; Stickers: Simple Stories; Adhesive: Pop dots

I really love how this card turned out ... !! It's the first time I have used Jillibean Soup twine to stitch with and it was awesome. The balloons, stars and sentiment were pop-dotted to help give the card some dimension as well. Surf on over and check out Sketch Support - there's some fun sketches and prizes up for grabs this month!!

Thanks for dropping by!

sharing some halloween projects...

2011-10-16T19:19:00.001-04:00

Happy Sunday everyone ...

If you are looking for the Get Picky blog hop, it's the post below.

Today I have some Halloween projects to share with you that I made using TaDa Creative Studios pattern papers and Kristin Aagard's Jeepers Creepers digital kit.

First up is a card:

witch way to the candy

Isn't that little witch so cute?! I love her and the cauldron - both elements were printed from the Jeepers Creepers kit. All the pattern paper on this layout is Tada Creative Studio's Just Chillin' line. The stickers are also stickers from the Just Chillin' line. The cardstock is Bazzill and is punched with the Fiskars border punch.

Next up is another card:

hocus pocus

Once again, the witch hat is printed out using Kristin's Jeepers Creepers digital kit. All pattern papers are Tada Creative Studio's Just Chillin' line. Can you believe that this is a boy line but how perfect is it to create Halloween projects with?

And finally, I created a layout with the Just Chillin' paper:

r.i.p.

It's Abigail last year, dressed up as a witch, and holding an RIP sign. She looked so spooky!

Just a quick drive-by post - I started this post this morning and we've been gone all day visiting spooky Saunders Farm (photos to come!) and playing soccer, getting groceries! Abigail is anxiously waiting for me to print her some digital elements to make a farm card!

Hope you had a fabulous weekend!!
Thanks for stopping by!!

get picky blog hop

2011-10-14T21:12:00.001-04:00

Welcome to the Get Picky 1^st Birthday Blog Hop!

We are celebrating our first year with a very exciting reveal as we unveil our 13^th Sketch with you today and share the beautiful creations of both present and past designers from our first year! Some of the team members will be offering prizes so you will want to visit all of the blogs to increase your chances of winning a prize. We are also offering a major prize along with the chance at a Guest Designer spot for the month of November if you visit and leave a comment at all of the blogs in our blog hop and participate in Sketch Challenge #13. The Blog Hop starts today and will remain open until midnight (Australian Eastern Standard Time) on October 28^th so this will give you all plenty of time to visit everyone’s blogs and create a layout for the sketch challenge.

Here is Sketch #13

And here are my layouts (yah, I made two) ...

three of a kind

precious moment

As we mentioned, there are lots of great birthday pressies up for grabs along our hop today. Some of our designers will be offering a RAK of their own and of course there is the chance to become our Guest Designer for November....but what's a celebration without that very special gift.

We are so very excited to also announce that Imaginisce have been kind enough to sponsor us with an awesome prize for our very special birthday celebration.

and the prize....

Get Picky is the first stop of our birthday journey where you will find the complete list of all blogs in case there is a glitch along the way. If you would like to play, just follow along the blog path in order so you don’t miss anyone.

Remember, if you want to be considered for the Guest Designer spot in November, once you have visited all the blogs and uploaded your entry for Sketch Challenge #13, please make sure that you go back to the Get Picky Blog and leave a comment on the challenge post.

The blog hop begins here: Get Picky Blog

Your next stop is here: Kathie Link

Thank you so much for joining us for this very special birthday celebration and for your continued support!

1st trip to the dentist ...

2011-10-14T09:00:00.000-04:00

TGIF friends! It's Friday, it's Friday ... the weekend is here and I have a whole lot of nothing to do ... that is, except for: shopping for a birthday present, exchanging a coat (?), some scrapbooking assignments, budget, groceries, birthday party, soccer and the gym ... hmmm, k, I take it back. Regardless, it's Friday and that's always a good thing!

This week, over at Sketch Support, it was 2 pager week and this is the sketch we worked with:
Since I am also designing for Kristin Aagard this month, I decided to combine the two challenges and came up with this layout:

1st trip to the dentist

Supplies Used - Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Patterned Paper: Pink Paislee; Ink: Vibrance; Embellishments: Kristin Aagard's Toothy Grin digital kit; Adhesive: Pop Dots; Title:Tools: Fiskars Bracket border punch
Kristin Aagard's Toothy Grin digital kit;

How cute are those embellishments? The dentist, mouthwash, dental floss and toothpaste are all from Kristin Aagard's Toothy Grin kit. It's so adorable; I just love creating with her stuff.

She also has an adorable Halloween kit that just came out: Jeepers Creepers and I'll have some stuff up on my blog this weekend and throughout the next week or so showcasing it. These embellishments are perfect for Halloween cards and Halloween projects and the best part? It's on sale right now and the elements are reusable!!! You definitely get your money's worth.

I also realized that I forgot to post one of my creations that went up on the Pixie Dust Paperie blog earlier this month.

sweet 'n sassy

These photos were shot from our annual family reunion - the girls posed pretty for a photo and then made faces for the 2nd shot - usually, it's the only way to get a decent photo of everyone; promising that they are actually allowed to make funny faces typically results in a photo full of expectant smiles! To make the layout softer and prettier, I punched a lace border around the cardstock.

Believe it or not, this layout was made with next to no pattern paper. Not only are the kits from Pixel Dust Paperie full of beautiful patterned paper, they are also full of beautiful packaging! :) The pink/white layer is the background sheet from some Melissa Frances embellishments. And again, I used the dictionary page - I actually cut a chunk out so that I could use some more on some of my other projects. The only pattern paper on this layout are the 3 butterflies and the two circles.

That's all I have for today - stop by tomorrow as there will be a fun blog hop going on, with some amazing prizes!!!

Thanks for the visit friends!

today was a fairytale ...

2011-10-11T16:00:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned a few days ago, I am guest designing this month at Pixie Dust Paperie, a kit club that has an amazing amount of product in their kits. I have been working with their October kit: Blue Moon.

I created one of my all-time favourite layouts with this kit ... I am so excited to share it here today:

today was a fairytale

It's of our recent trip to Disney - I've included some of Abigail's visits to her favourite princesses: Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Ariel, Cinderella and Belle - of course this was only a handful of the princesses we actually met!

Now aren't these papers absolutely beautiful? One of the things I loved about working with this kit were the extra touches included - things such as the sheet music. That's always something I want to include on my layouts and I just love how it turned out here - I distressed the edges and inked them ... which was a bit hard to do (see the tears!) but the paper was very fine and it all fits into the vintage-y feel to the layout! This is definitely going into Abigail's Disney book!!

If you like what you see, be sure to surf on over to their blog and have a peek at the other projects done by their talented DT.

Thanks for visiting today!

guest designer: colorful creations

2011-10-10T11:59:00.006-04:00

Happy turkey day to my fellow Canadians!

This week I am a guest designer over at Colorful Creations. Colorful Creations is a great site full of fun stuff like sketches, challenges, prizes ... there's a gallery and a great group of scrapbookers over there!

I was given this sketch to work with:

and this is the layout I came up with:

apple orchard

It's a couple of my favourite photos from our trip to the apple orchard last year. Be sure to stop by Colorful Creations to say hi! Even better, participate in the sketch challenge - you have until October 16th to do so!!

Now I am off to work this turkey off! :)

from the tooth fairy ...

2011-10-07T13:01:00.004-04:00

Today I am posting my first GDT project I did with Kristin Aagard's Toothy Grin kit. It's really such a sweet kit and I love that it covers such so many topics that happen throughout a child's life: teething, first tooth, dentist, cleaning, loosing teeth, brushing teeth and even scrapping events like getting wisdom teeth out (ow!).

For my first project, I saw the tooth fairy in the kit and I had to make a tooth fairy card!

from the tooth fairy

Isn't that the sweetest tooth fairy? How sweet is that to tuck under your child's pillow with a loonie, twoonie, or bill in it?

I have a two pager to share next week using some other Toothy Grin elements, documenting Abigail's first trip to the dentist!

I also have a card to share that went up on the Sketch Support blog today. It's card week and we were sent a fabulous kit from Simple Stories to make some projects with this month.

let's party card

Supplies Used - Cardstock: Bazzill Basics, DCWV; Patterned Paper: Simple Stories; Ink: Vibrance; Stickers: Simple Stories; Adhesive: Pop dots

I have two other fun projects to share this month using this paper line! Isn't it fun and bright? Perfection!!

TGIF - hope you have a fabulous Friday!

october sketch challenge: canadian scrapbooker

2011-10-06T12:00:00.000-04:00

Happy Thursday scrappy peeps ... this week is just chugging along and I have another fun scrapbook challenge/project to share with you.

In case you haven't heard about it, Canadian Scrapbooker magazine has a new monthly sketch challenge - this challenge is open to all and if you particpate, you have a chance to be published! All entries go into our online gallery and those that use a Canadian manufacturer/product(s) will be considered for publication in an upcoming issue of Canadian Scrapbooker!

This is the sketch I designed:
And this is the layout I came up with:

wobbly legs

This is Abigail trying to skate last winter - she's oh so cute. She was only interested in keeping to the center of the rink and letting everyone else whiz around us. She wasn't that stable on her little legs and when she went, she did this funny walk/wobbly sort of thing! :)

All products used on this page are from Harmonie! Isn't this line adorable?!

I'd love to see what you come up with for this sketch! Surf on over to Canadian Scrapbooker and play along!

Thanks for stopping by!

guest designer: pixel dust paperie

2011-10-05T08:17:00.005-04:00

Happy Wednesday scrappy friends .. wow, this week is flying by!!

Today I am sharing with you one of the projects I made with the Pixel Dust Paperie October kit: Blue Moon.

I honestly have to say that this is the biggest kit I have ever worked with and the contents are beautiful. It has beautiful papers by Websters, Prima, Teresa Collins and more!! The kit also has cardstock, G45 tags, flourishes with blooms, Prima flowers, buttons, gorgeous epoxy stickers, Thickers, chipboard birds, Pixie signature crinkled ribbons, old lace and some other items such as note paper torn from old books and a strip of material torn from jeans!

Pixel Dust Paper October Kit: Blue Moon

This photo does not do it justice - be sure to click on the above link to see close-ups of the kit. I really was amazed at the contents and I have created one of my all-time favourite layouts with this kit. I cannot share that with you yet so today I will share a card I made:

thinking of you card

Hope you are having a terrific week!
Thanks for visiting!

warm wishes ...

2011-10-04T22:06:00.004-04:00

As part of World Card Making Day, the design team over at TaDa's Creative Studios was asked to make a card. I decided to use the Frozen Tozen collection:

warm wishes

To see the rest of the design team cards, click here.

I have a lot of fun stuff going on this month!! I am guest designing at three places, am participating in an anniversary sketch challenge, am taking part in a Sketch Support product challenge + the regular sketches and have a couple of fun projects created with TaDa Creative Studios products. Oh and I almost forgot - I am doing a project/article for Scrapbook News and Review and of course am doing the Canadian Scrapbooker monthly sketch challenge!! Phew - that's a lot of scrappin'!! :)

I am super excited to announce that this month I am designing for my favourite digital designer of all time: Kristin Aagard. Check out some of her beautiful kits:

The thing I love about Kristin's kits are that they are very practical. Check out toothy grin - it has the tooth fairy in it!!! And a dentist! You can't find that in traditional products (or any that I've seen!). And a Thanksgiving Day kit ... very cool. I love to use her embellishments to print and cut out - super easy to do and pretty cost effective since they are reusable! Stay tuned for some hybrid projects coming this month with some of her fabulous elements!!

Thanks for visiting!

world card making day - canadian blog hop

2011-10-01T06:00:00.002-04:00

Hello friends!

Happy world card making day!! We have a Canadian blog hop going on - featuring cards made with by Canadians using Canadian manufacturers ...

I chose to create my card using products by Harmonie. I chose their Shabby Love collection:

i love you card

Your next stop is: Tara

Make sure you check out the rest of the cards along the way:

Nicole
Seriously Creative Challenges
Graphicat Designs
Heather
Connie
Karey
Kelly
Tracey
Chelle
Barbara
Janet
Chris
Sarah
Kerry
Me - you are here! :)
Tara
Kim
Becky

If you are still looking for more Canadian creativeness, go to Tara's blog and there's another hop going on :- there were too many people for us all to be on one hop!!

But before you go, I wanted to share a card that Abigail made. She loves to create with me and she is pretty creative ... the other day I was making this card and she really wanted to use the same paper as me (pink and green work well with a 5 and a half year old!). This is what she came up with:

I love you Terry Fox

It's a card for Terry Fox. She did the run on Thursday. I felt I had to explain to her that he died but I also explained all the good that has come out of everything he did. She's really sweet and thoughtful.

Happy creating! :)

hook, line and stinker

2011-09-27T16:00:00.000-04:00

Happy Tuesday folks!

This week it's one page reveal week over at Sketch Support. I absolutely LOVED this sketch!
and this is what I created with it:

hook, line & stinker

Supplies Used - Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Patterned Paper: October Afternoon, My Little Shoebox; Tools: Fiskars border punch; Ink: Vibrance; Letters: American Crafts; Embellishments: Kristin Aagard's Fishing Hole digital kit; Floss: DMC; Tag: Scenic Route

haha! I love that title ... but warning ---> if you are going to use that title, do not tell your child! It results in tantrums and a lot of yelling. Abigail was very mad I made a layout saying she stinks (insert a lot of giggling here). I couldn't help it - I saw the title in the resource section at scrapbook.com and thought it was so cute. She however, is not a fan.

Anyway, aren't the little embellishments oh so cute? They are images from Kristin Aagard's Fishing Hole digital kit. I simply printed them onto white cardstock, trimmed and adhered to brown cardstock for a small border. If you like these images, make sure to check out her store - she has some amazing kits for sale. The best thing is you can use the images over and over.

And now for some news about the kitty ... we may have a name for her: Minnie. We wanted a Disney character and since she is black and very small, Minnie seemed to fit but finding a name is taking some time as none of us can decide.... and look at what happened last night at 3am:

Minnie had her babies. Four cute little things. They are so adorable.

Anyone want a kitten? :)
have a great Tuesday!

fun stuff from canadian scrapbooker!

2011-09-22T12:49:00.005-04:00

If you are interested in playing along with Canadian Scrapbooker's first Get Sketchy challenge, you still have time to do so! The contest runs until September 30th. Simply make a layout with your take on this sketch:

For more information, click here. This is my version of the sketch:

triathlon

I flipped the sketch so it suited my photos better. Check out the rest of the entries here. So much inspiration! Remember that you have to include at least one Canadian manufacturer to be considered for publication in an upcoming issue!

This weekend it's the 4th annual Great Canadian Scrapbook Carnival!

Are you going? If you are in the Calgary area, then make sure you head on over there.
Here are some of the fabulous stuff that's going on:

Shopping at many on-site retailers!
Learn and be inspired by Canadian manufacturers!
Play at our Make & Take Loonie Bar!
Join our on-site layout contest!
Enter to win exciting door prizes!
Be inspired to create!
a 2 day crop!
amazing, inspirational classes
and SO MUCH more!

For more information, click here.

Thanks for dropping by!

a whole new world ...

2011-09-20T09:06:00.003-04:00

This week, I am GDTing over at City Crafters challenge blog and the theme is music. I had some trouble coming up with a theme and then it hit me ... Disney theme songs. I have so many Disney photos to scrap! This challenge was perfect for me!

I chose to go with Aladdin and A Whole New World. If you've ever been to Disney, it really is a whole new world. It's absolutely amazing.

a whole new world

Why don't you drop by and play along? Simply make something (anything) with something music related included. It could be a charm, a sheet of lyrics, a song title ...

You want to play because the prize is awesome! It's a $10 gift certificate to use at Pixel Dust Paperie (which is a super duper kit club - I know because I am GDTing for them in October and let me tell you, their kits are superb! Absolutely jam packed with goodness, including some very unique items that Kirsty adds!). Check them out!

The challenge ends September 26th so get going! :) And make sure that you check out City Crafters challenge blog because there is a fabulous deal on there for readers and it has to do with the Pixel Dust Paperie and past kits at a phenomenal price!!!

Have a terrific Tuesday!
Thanks for visiting! :))

is it a van, is it a trailer ...

2011-09-19T12:00:00.001-04:00

So this weeks assignment at Sketch Support was to use the add-on, which was a camera:

I prefer to make cards for add-on week because I find it easier and faster. So this is what I came up with:

capture the moment

Supplies Used - Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Patterned Paper: Scenic Route, Lily Bee; Tools: Fiskars bracket border punch; Ink: Vibrance; Letters: Jenni Bowlin; Flowers: Prima; Twine: Jillibean Soup

I showed it to Abigail and I asked her what is was (kind of proud of myself - I used scraps so that's always a bonus!) and she blurted out:

"A VAN!".

Um, no. Not a van. Try again.

Abba: " A trailer!"

Me: "NO! It's a camera".

She just looked at me, dumbfounded. Like, what kind of camera is that?! She was totally not impressed. ha!

She's a tough critic though. :)
Have a great Monday!

tgif!!!! sharing some layouts today ..

2011-09-16T11:39:00.004-04:00

TGIF!! It's been a looooong week!! I am so happy to say hello to the weekend!

I have some stuff to share - finally able to catch up a bit on some blogging this week! The weather is turning colder (boo!); it was 5 degrees here this morning!! But that always makes for more time to do scrap-related things.

I still have to share the rest of my layouts that were published in the Fall edition of Canadian Scrapbooker so here they are:

Layout using canvas
1st sleepover

Our assignment was to use canvas. I had a million and one different ideas floating around in my head but finally decided to use it as a layer and frayed the edges and misted it. It's of Abigail going to her 1st sleepover. So cute. Not so cute the next morning! haha!

Layout using candy bar wrappers
Confessions of a chocoholic

This assignment was to use candy wrappers- no problemo -I have enough floating around. Eeek. Actually, I had to go out and buy this candy ... but that's okay since I love it! :) That's me - a bit of a chocoholic.

Write a letter to yourself
From a Time Past

This assignment was to write a love letter to yourself. This one was tough - made me face a lot of things I'd rather ignore but it was therapeutic and I am in such a better place these days ... it'll be nice to look back and feel free from these feelings!

Using bleach on a layout

4 Generations

Say what? Yes - use bleach on a layout. After many, many false starts, I finally decided to use some bleach with a template I had ... the ideas the other designers had were fabulous!

Make sure to pick your copy of Canadian Scrapbooker up today!

Today I was browsing Two Peas and looky, looky:

There's my Growing Up Cute layout! (to the far right). So fun!! :))

Okay, the craziness has entered the house so I am off to spend some time with them! :) Have a fabulous weekend!
Thanks for visiting!

labour day fun

2011-09-15T12:00:00.001-04:00

Labour Day was the last weekend at the cottage for us ... always a sad time as it's the weekend we say goodbye to the summer and the cottage and after 20 years, you'd think I'd get used to it. I don't though and I always find it tough!

This week at Sketch Support, we worked with a two page sketch. It was a great way to document our Labour Day fun:

labour day fun

Supplies Used - Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Patterned Paper: Pink Paislee (Hometown Collection); Tools: Creative Memories circle cutting tool; Ink: Vibrance: Letters:Journaling: Dymo Gun; Embellishments: Pink Paislee (Hometown Collection) American Crafts;

based on this sketch:

We had so much fun swimming and hanging out! And we came home with a little sweetheart:

She was a stray kitten who showed up at our cottage - she still remains nameless but sort of responds to kitty kitty ... our best guess is she is around six months old and she is pregnant! That's not what we bargained for ... eeek! She is settling into her new house and routine very nicely except she scratches! Sigh! :(

I have lots of scrappy things to share coming up in the next little bit!
Have a great Thursday!

it's a sketchy challenge

2011-09-14T12:00:00.000-04:00

It’s a Sketchy Challenge brought to you by Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine!

Want to be published? Of course you do!

Welcome to the NEW monthly sketch challenge! Design a layout inspired by the sketch below and email it to: sketchy@canadianscrapbooker.ca. Canadian Scrapbooker will post your layout in the gallery for all readers to enjoy!

Canadian Scrapbooker will be looking for one, two or three layouts to be published in an upcoming issue of Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine – in order to qualify to be published you have to use ONE Canadian manufacturer on your layout! That’s right! Doesn’t matter if you are from Canada, England, China or Africa – if you use one Canadian manufacturer on your design you could be the next person published in an upcoming issue!

If you decide to not use a Canadian Manufacturer on your design – no problemo! Canadian Scrapbooker will still post your layout for all readers to see in our Sketchy Gallery! Sounds cool eh?

This is the sketch, designed by yours truly:

Need help figuring out who a Canadian manufacturer is? There is a list here.

So, go on - do the sketch and submit it - your layout could be in an upcoming issue of Canadian Scrapbooker magazine!!!

Good luck!
Have a great Wednesday!
Thanks for visiting!!

sharing a couple of published layouts

2011-09-09T12:00:00.000-04:00

TGIF!! I am so happy it's Friday! Even though it's been a short week, it's been a loooong week for me! :)

I wanted to share a couple of layouts I made for my guest design spot at Canadian Scrapbooker. The Fall issue came out on September 1st so I finally got to see them in print this week and I was so excited!

The first layout is using some Webster's Pages products:

Home Grown

Supplies Used: Webster's Pages patterned paper, alphabet and stickers, Vibrance ink, Zig pen, Fiskars bracket border punch, Close to My Heart edge distresser

Seriously, how cute is she! With a lettuce on her head! When the photographer came and took these ridiculous photos, I didn't buy one! There was no way I was buying these photos! They wanted $500 for them too ... in the end, he came down to $75 for all the 5x7 versions and my husband insisted on buying them so I relented. I am glad I did now because they are so funny.

The next layout was to use cards so I used some Bella Blvd:

growing up cute

Supplies Used: Bazzill cardstock, Bella Blvd patterned paper and embellishments, Sassafras alphabet stickers, The Robin's Nest Dew Drops, Zig pen, Creative Memories circle cutter

I used the cards to indicate her age and I listed my favourite memory of her from that age. I just love this layout!

Speaking of her growing up, my baby started senior kindergarten yesterday. This is the first big jump for her because she attended junior kindergarten at her daycare last year so besides the fact that she was in JK, there was no actual change for her. This year she still goes to daycare but then takes the bus to school ... here are some pics of her first day:

All smiles, getting ready to go to daycare:
Of course I have to get a shot of the oversized backpack:
Getting ready to get on the bus, with two of her closest friends:
Getting on the bus:
It was quite an experience and thankfully I was there. First off, they didn't have her outside to get on the bus and I happened to be there to catch it. Then they put her in the wrong bus line-up (going to another school). Once she got to school, according to Abigail, there was no one there to greet her and she cried and was so upset. It broke my heart! The poor little thing. Dean followed this morning and she saw him, ran up to him, face full of tears and told him she loved him. Change is always so hard.

Hope you have a fabulous Friday!

card week

2011-09-07T12:45:00.000-04:00

Hello hello fellow scrappers!

I have a couple of cards to share today - and a ton of layouts coming up. I wanted to share those today but I don't have them on this computer so it'll have to wait! :) One of them is an all-time favourite so I cannot wait to share it!

This week, over at Sketch Support, it's card week reveal. This is the sketch that Allison came up with:

September card sketch

And these are my takes on it:

Merry Xmas

Supplies Used - Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Patterned Paper: The Robin's Nest; Tools:Ink: Vibrance: Letters: Jenni Bowlin; Pen: Zig Writer; Adhesives: Scrapbook Adhesives foam dots Creative Memories corner rounder;

and I decided to make a digital card too:

birthday fishes to you

Supplies Used - Digital Kits: Kristin Aagard Fix Me Up Doc, Kristin Aagard Pond Play; Font: CK Ali Edwards

There's quite a bit of fishing that goes on in my family so it'll definitely be put to good use!
Aren't those digital elements just adorable? Digi Delights currently has a sale on now (30% off all kits), ending tonight so go and have a peek and pick up a kit or two! The elements are perfect for cutting out! I am going to get a couple! Click here to check it out.

I have a few busy months coming up - guest designing for a few places and so much scrappy goodness going on! :) Hopefully with the fall around the corner and the crazy summer sports schedule coming to an end, I can get more regular with my scrapping and my blogging! I have tons of projects to share ... ! :)

An update on the kitty cat ... we have her safely at our place now. And guess what? She's pregnant! Will post photos soon! She still doesn't have a name (we did toss around Irene, thanks for the suggestion!!!) but not quite sure yet ....

Have a great Wednesday!!

getting crafty with harmonie

2011-08-31T15:59:00.004-04:00

Happy Wednesday crafty peeps!

I hope your week is going well - I'm on vacay, having a bit of a staycation - hanging out at home, getting caught up on things. Been doing some scrapping - I can officially say that my mojo has been found! Yay! :)

Last week, I decided to participate in a card contest that is currently being held by Harmonie. This is the card I made:

congrats card

For details of the contest, check out their Facebook page here. If you have time to create a card and have some Harmonie product, make sure to enter!

I had another sketch go up over at Creative Scrappers this past Sunday:

The layouts that the design team did with this sketch are jaw-dropping! You have to go and check it out here. If you like this sketch, make sure to play along and you could win a prize from Crop Chocolate!

The fall edition of Canadian Scrapbooker hits news stands tomorrow and I seriously cannot wait to get my hands on a copy! It's my first design team issue with them and I cannot wait to see my layouts in print - I'll be back tomorrow to share a few!

We also have a new edition to our family - last weekend at the cottage, a kitten showed up. A little black and white cutie, who appeared to have been dropped off at the side of the road! It was so lovable and we decided that we would bring her home! But she disappeared Saturday night and didn't return ... I was heart-broken! The winds from Irene were really strong so I was hoping that she was just hiding away. We left Sunday night at 8pm after waiting for her to come back ... sure enough, about an hour after we left, she showed up - thankfully my parents are staying at their cottage so they took her in for the week. But - she doesn't have a name yet so help me out! I need to name her ... she is black and white and the most affectionate kitten! Any ideas out there?! :) I'll post a photo next week after we get her home! :)

Thanks for the visit!

broken!

2011-08-24T09:08:00.006-04:00

I have a few things to share today. First up is my layout for the weekly one-page reveal over at Sketch Support.

This was the sketch we were given to work with:

And this was my take on it:

broken

Supplies Used - Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Patterned Paper: Jillibean Soup; Tools: Close to my Heart edge distresser; Ink: Vibrance: Letters: American Crafts; Embellishments:
Fix Me Up Doc digital kit by Kristin Aagard

These photos were taken last year when Abigail fell and broke her arm. Poor thing - she walked around for four days with her arm in a sling before we took her to the doctor's only to discover it was actually broken! :( She was such a tough cookie, we had no idea it was broken.

I also wanted to share with you a sketch that I did that was up on the Creative Scrappers blog a few weeks ago:

There are lots of creative takes on this sketch here. If you decide to try it out, leave me a comment, I'd love to check it out!

I owe you a winner for the e-book of sketches! I went to random.org and got this result:
and this is the lucky commenter:

Danielle, email me your info and I'll get you the information to download the book!

(note that I had 15 comments however, one person left 3 comments. I just skipped over the multiple comments and that's how I got this winner).

I think my mojo is about to make an appearance! I cleaned up my craft room yesterday and boy, was it a mess. It was impossible to create in that space however I spent a lot of time cleaning and organizing and my mojo has decided to come out of hiding! :) Tonight I have a date with Abigail to make some cards!

Have a fabulous Wednesday! :)

an invite to share ...

2011-08-19T10:01:00.004-04:00

TGIF folks!

I hope your Friday is going well! I have the day off and am very happy because the weather is beautiful, I get to work out, I get to scrap and I get to watch Dean play soccer. A perfect day! :)

This week over at Sketch Support, it's add-on week reveal and Allison came up with the cutest party hat. It's so versatile, I thought about using it as a birthday hat (of course!), a Christmas tree or an ice cream and decided to go with my first idea ...

birthday invitation

Supplies Used - Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Patterned Paper: American Crafts; Tools:Ink: Vibrance: Floss: DMC;Button: unknown, Fiskars Scallop Sentiment border punch, circle punch, Creative Memories circle punch;

As usual, I stuck pretty close to her sketch here! If you want to see some creative takes, hop on over to Sketch Support - Allison posts daily reveals all week long.

I, like so many other scrappers, seem to have lost a bit of mojo due to summer and gorgeous weather! Right now, I have very little motivation/desire to create. Boo! We all need a break sometimes and I definitely over-committed to things in the Spring but I've been able to give myself a bit of a break over the last 6 weeks and I feel good. I've been enjoying my summer - taking Abigail to the park, playing a ton of soccer, watching Dean play soccer, camping ... and it's been great. My time on the computer has been drastically reduced and the time in my craft room has been almost zero. My mojo is still pretty much awol but I think I'm coming around! :) I'm always able to devote more time to the craft in the fall and winter months.

If you want a chance to win the ebook sketch, you still have the rest of today - it closes at midnight today est (see post below to comment). Good luck!

Have a great weekend!

Sassy Lil' Sketches: The Sassy Lil' Sketches Ebook is here! (and giveaway!!)

2011-08-15T10:32:00.004-04:00

Love sketches? Want inspiration? Look no further! The Sassy Lil' Sketches eBook is now here!

Yours truly is one of the designers in it. I was given a sketch to use and came up with this layout:

catch a wave

This layout is pretty much all Echo Park papers. Love them! :) And aren't the little fishies cute? They are digital elements, designed by Kristin Aagard. Unfortunately, this kit is no longer available. Be sure to check out her shop as she has tons of super cute kits, with amazing themes!

NEWS RELEASE

At Sassy Lil' Sketches, we are happy to announce the first Sassy Lil' Sketches Ebook has been released!

The Sassy Lil' Sketches Ebook features about 70 brand new sketches designed by Cherie Averill!

You'll find sketches for layouts with one, two, three & multiple photos! You'll even find double page sketches! Plus, sample layouts from talented designers that will spark your creativity!

Most of the sketches use standard photo sizes (4x6, 5x7, 8x10). To get extra mileage out of the sketches, switch it up! Use the sketches to create cards, double pagers, etc.! If you need ideas for "switching it up", check out the cards in the Sample Layouts section or stop by the Sassy Lil' Sketch blog on Saturdays.

The Sassy Lil' Sketches Ebook is available for online viewing or you can easily download and print it. It's your choice!

Visit www.sassylilsketches.com to get the Sassy Lil' Sketches Ebook & get scrapping!

Do you want a chance to win this Sassy Lil' Sketch book? Just leave me a comment and I'll draw a winner on Saturday - draw closes Friday at midnight.

Thanks for visiting today! :)

card week reveal

2011-08-03T11:59:00.000-04:00

It's card week over at Sketch Support - this is turning out to be one of my favourite reveals, I just love the sketches Allison comes up with!

Here is the sketch:

Isn't the the best card sketch ever? And I was in luck because Dean celebrated his birthday on Sunday so I created a card for him:

Supplies Used - Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Patterned Paper: American Crafts, October Afternoon, Doodlebug, My Little Shoebox; Tools: circle punch, Creative Memories circle cutting system, Bazzill In Stitz circle stitching template; Ink: Vibrance: Floss: DMC;

There is tons of inspiration over at Sketch Support, if you are so inclined to check it out! There are daily reveals, all week long.

That's it for me today - just a quick drive-by post! The two page sketch book has been claimed - now just waiting for the one-page winner to claim!

Have a fantastic Wednesday! :0

great canadian scrapbook carnival!!!!

2011-08-01T12:08:00.003-04:00

Come join us at the 4th Annual Great Canadian Scrapbook Carnival! Everyone is welcome to shop, learn and get creative! This year we have our own hall filled with paper crafting exhibitors ready to meet you! Various local scrapbook stores, consultants, demonstrators and Canadian manufacturers will be on site surrounding 100 excited croppers! Get ready for a fun and inspirational weekend in both Calgary and Edmonton! We can’t wait to see you!!!!

Some of the fun that is going on:

The Creative Market Place – open to the public!
Join the fun and creative excitement and of course shop!
Day pass: $8.00
Weekend Pass: $12.00
12 years and under: FREE

2-Day Crop
Join us for 2 fun-filled crop days with inspiration galore and exciting prizes!

Brought to you by:

The Great Canadian Scrapbook Carnival is in Calgary and Edmonton in September/October 2011.

Click here for in-depth information on classes, teachers, locations and so much more!

my first triathlon ... ! (winner accounced too)

2011-07-31T08:39:00.010-04:00

I recently changed jobs at work and the manager I am working for is a triathlete. Well, I am always up for new adventures, especially if they are related to sports or anything active. We got chatting about triathlons and I basically decided to Try a Tri this past weekend.

Here are some pics of the event:

The swim:

I am in there somewhere, really! I'm right near the top of the photo, near the back. Lots of room for improvement here - my swim was 9+ minutes. Need to cut that down! I got kicked in the face a few too many times! :) And I swallowed half of Mooney's Bay.

The transition after the swim:
We had to run from the beach (barefoot and in bathing suits) to our bikes. I could not get my tank top on because my bathing suit was wet and it felt like this part took forever - Dean said four minutes! eeek! Way too long! I am totally grumpy in this photo ... lol ...

The cycling stage, my favourite part:

I caught a lot of people on this stage, this was by far my strongest and I didn't even sprint, I just cycled hard. Room for improvement here too.

The start of the run stage:

Dean was trying to get a picture of me and Abigail stepped in front - I love that though. I thought I was going to die on this stage - it wasn't a long run but man, I almost lost it. I actually stopped for a moment, thinking I was just done and a guy ran by and said "Come on, you can do it girl" and it motivated me. So a shout out to the helpful guy! :)

Coming into the finish:
And post-race:

Dean is trying to convince me to eat a bagel or a banana. I am honestly just trying to not lose it all here! haha!

So the result ... I was actually disqualified! I couldn't believe it! I missed a lap on the cycling stage, which is too bad because it was my strongest (I thought the cycling stage was half of what it actually was)! 5 of us made the same mistake! It definitely made my stomach drop and was upsetting but ... it's just a race and I can do it again. So, I chalked it up to experience. After I came home, I wanted to figure out how well I actually did so I doubled my bike time and added 2 minutes (which I felt was generous) and looked at the results. I probably would have come in top 10 of women.

I think I am going to sign up for one two weeks from now and Abigail wants to participate too - how much fun!! :) I have a bit of training to do before then though!!

Alrighty, I've got my winner of the Sketch Support book! Here it is:

And the winner is:
Email me your address atmailto://jill_sarginson@hotmail.com and I'll arrange to have the book sent out asap. Congrats!!! :)

the big 4-0 ...

2011-07-31T07:25:00.003-04:00

Wanted to write a special post today for Dean ... he turns the big 40 today.

This is the cake we picked out for him - ice cream + a soccer ball. Can't beat that in this household! :)

Abigail calls Dean "Deanie Weenie" all the time (as the rest of the kids at daycare - for the record, I am Jilly Willy). So, she wanted it written on the cake - haha! Dean thought it was hilarious.

Abigail made him a card:
It's a love birthday card, as she says. Lots of hearts. He loved it. I made him one as well but it's part of the reveal for Sketch Support this week.

And of course we had to spoil him just a bit:
He was happy to get a fish finder and a boat cover for his boat, as well as some bait and chocolate ...

While I had all these plans to do something big for him, in the end we've just had a quiet weekend. We are always on the go so it's nice to have nothing to do, for once. Today is officially his day so I think we may go to the beach, go out for dinner and just enjoy the day, with nothing much to do! :)

Happy birthday Dean-o! :)

one page reveal and a giveaway

2011-07-26T15:12:00.006-04:00

It's one page sketch reveal over at Sketch Support this week. And guess what .. I have a giveaway of Allison's brand new Sketches for Scrapbooking: One-page Sketches, Volume 1 to one lucky commenter!

Check it out:

There are 30 one page sketches in this book - now doesn't that look like a book you want to get your hands on?

This is the sketch for this week:
and my take on it:

kaden

Okay, it's a tad crooked. I would say it's the photography but I honestly think it's a bit crooked (and a teeny bit photography/cropping)! That's what happens when I scrapbook at 11pm before going on vacation! Oops!

This is one of my good friend's little boy - I have so much Little Boy paper by Echo Park, I thought I'd actually use some for a boys page, for a change! :)

Remember to leave a comment and I'll draw a winner on Sunday. You must enter a comment by midnight on Saturday est to be eligible for the draw. Good luck! :)

a bit of a catch up post ...

2011-07-24T21:14:00.007-04:00

I have been awol from my little 'ol blog! We just got back from a week long vacay in northern Ontario and had a fantastic time ... we went up for a family reunion and then stayed the rest of the week to have a little r&r, which was much needed. It was so awesome - the swimming was fantastic! The lake was cool and so clear and there was a river with a waterfall that you could raft or swim down. The only downside was the bugs!

I feel like I am many posts behind on my blog so this will be a catch-up week! :)

First up is last weeks reveal for Sketch Support. It was add-on week and the add-on was fireworks. This is what I came up with:

best seat in the house

It was from last year's Canada Day - we tried to return to the park to see the fireworks but didn't quite make it. So, we pulled over to the side of the road and Abba got on Dean's shoulders and we watched from there! Better than nothing! :)

There were SO many creative ways that the design team came up with using the fireworks. For some more inspiration, surf on over to Sketch Support.

On July 10th, my first sketch was revealed over at Creative Scrappers:

The takes on the sketch were absolutely amazing! Check out these two:

Felicitas Klink

Machiko Matsuura

If you like the sketch, surf on over to Creative Scrappers and have a peek at the loads of inspiration!

I am overdue on announcing a winner for Scrapbook Generation's 8th sketch book!! I left the comments open until about 10 minutes ago! 26 people left a comment and this is the winner:
which was:

kimmcc69 said...: I absolutely LOVE your soccer ball take on this sketch. I can definitely see a scraplift in my future. Both my sons play and this will be perfect.

Please email me with your mailing address and Allison will have your book out in the mail in a jiffy! :) Please note that you have two weeks to claim your prize and then I'll re-draw.

This week it is one pager reveal at Sketch Support and guess what ... there will be a one page sketch book up for grabs!! :) Stay tuned ....

Thanks for popping by! :)

one sketch, two ways and a giveaway

2011-07-13T10:19:00.005-04:00

This week it's two page sketch reveal over at Sketch Support. Okay, I seriously LOVE this sketch! I think it's my favourite two page sketch to date!

Have a peek:

Isn't that one rocking two page sketch?

I couldn't help but do two takes on it!!!

canada day in kanata

Supplies Used - Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Patterned Paper: Jillibean Soup, Pink Paislee, Scenic Route; Letters: American Crafts; Tools: Fiskars Scallop Sentiment border punch, Martha Stewart maple leaf punch, Creative Memories circle cutting system; Ink: Vibrance; Templates: Maple Leaf (from google images); Journaling:Adhesive: pop dots Computer generated (Tahoma font);

This is a layout of some of my fave photos of our Canada Day in Kanata ... the maple leaf was found on Google images and used as a template.

she scored a hat trick
(in her first game of 2011)

Supplies Used - Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Patterned Paper: Pink Paislee (Hometown collection); Floss: Anchor; Letters: American Crafts, The Girls' Paperie; Tools: Fiskars Scallop Sentiment border punch, Creative Memories star punch; Ink: Vibrance; Soccer Balls: Google images; Adhesive: pop dots; Journaling: Computer generated (Tahoma font); Star embellishments: My Mind's Eye

Love, love, love seeing my daughter in action on the soccer pitch! :) This was her first game of 2011 and she scored a hat trick! I was so impressed with her! Since then though, she has gone back to chasing butterflies and watching the clouds go by! :) The soccer ball was found on Google images, blown up and then used as a template to re-create this one using cardstock. The mini balls were also found on Google images and printed onto cardstock. The biggest variation for this sketch was making 10 mini photos out of the placeholder for 3 photos.

And now for the fun news! Scrapbook Generation has come out with an 8th sketch book!

and I have a copy for giveaway for you! Just leave a comment and one lucky commenter will win a copy!

Have a great Wednesday!

sharing a couple of cards ..

2011-07-08T22:15:00.005-04:00

Just wanted to share a couple of cards for card reveal week over at Sketch Support this week!

To be honest, I found this sketch difficult to work with. As linear as I am, I found it tough! Anyway, I ended up getting two cards out of it!

hello card

Supplies Used - Cardstock: Recollections; Patterned Paper: Lily Bee (Picket Fence collection); Floss: Anchor; Letters: Carolee's Creations; Tools: Fiskars Scallop Sentiment border punch, Martha Stewart butterfly punch; Ink: Vibrance; Templates: Bazzill Basics In Stitch'z Cardstock Stitching Template 8x8 Circle; Ribbon: Maya Road ruffle trim

This card was made with the June kit from My Scrapbook Nook kit. The kit is never-ending, I still have enough for another layout or two and maybe a card! If you are looking for a kit club, it's worth looking into!

sail away with me

Supplies Used - Cardstock: Bazzill Basics, Recollections; Patterned Paper: Echo Park (Little Boy collection); Floss: Anchor; Letters: Cosmo Cricket; Tools: Fiskars Bracket border punch, edge distresser; Ink: Vibrance; Other: Pop Dots

I flipped the sketch for this one - this card is just "ehhhh" to me! :) It hasn't grown on me, lol!

I haven't been spending as much time on Pinterest these days! It's Friday and my Pinterest post should go up - I've missed a couple of weeks but the days are absolutely flying by right now! Between all of our soccer games, I realized that we only don't play soccer one night - Thursday! That's crazy .... And that doesn't include ball schedules ... I am wondering how I'm even finding time to scrap! :)

But I do have 5 for you ...

#1: Sketch

I just love this sketch - totally calls to me ... now, will I ever have time to do it? At this rate, no ... :D

Source available here.

#2: Layout
Seriously, how awesome is this layout? I am in love.
Source here. Artist is: Nancy Damiano. Seriously, have to check out her blog.

#3: Kid craft

Foam pieces glued to lids for homemade stamps! How genius! You can get foam pieces at the dollar store! Love this idea!
Original source here.

#4. Workout idea

4 minute workout? Seriously? Sign me up! Love this idea but have yet to try it. I won't tell you when I pinned it though ....
Source found here.

#5: Sweet treat, of course .... ahhh but LOW CALORIE!

Must try this, yummy.
Source found here.

Good ideas huh? I just realized that someone asked me to email them a pinterest invite and I think I forgot ... I am so sorry! If I can find, I'll go and do it now!!!!

Enjoy your weekend! We started ours off watching Dean play soccer - he scored a goal (yay) and we have a water park trip planned for this weekend! Total fun!

oh and p.s. .... stay tuned for some giveaways coming up!! :)

our weekend in photos ...

2011-07-04T16:00:00.001-04:00

We had a fabulous Canada Day weekend! The weather couldn't have been better and we took advantage of it! We did Canada Day in Kanata and then went to the cottage because it was sooo hot in town!

I don't have much scrappy to share but here are some snapshots of the weekend ...

Friday: Canada Day in Kanata
On Friday, we spent some time at the fair, Abigail got her face painted, we spent some time on the bouncy castles, met some princesses, saw Spiderman, played some games and hung out with friends:

A $6 face paint (not sure this was worth the hour long wait in the sun! ha!)

Meeting the princesses (this is definitely the year of the princesses!! We've done Disney, Ariel was at Abba's birthday party and now this!)

Aurora

Belle

Jasmine

Snow White

Then we moved onto the cottage - where the weather was just as hot but we had the river and a breeze!
Abba and daddy, playing frisbee. Oh my gosh, the shots of Abigail trying to catch the frisbee are toooo funny ... double pager coming soon I think! :)

Abigail found the only flower on the beach ... my mom wouldn't let her pick it so she decided to let me take a picture instead while pretending to pick it.

Happy Canada Day! :)

My parents ...

I really like this shot of Dean on the beach, nice colours in the sky, reflection in the water.

My little piggie. Four marshmallows on a stick. And what fun it was to brush the marshmallow out of her hair the next day. Eeeeek!

Abigail is catching pollywogs here ... we caught 30+ in a little tiny swampy area by the cottage. They were small and this is definitely going into a 2 pager soon!

While we were catching pollywogs or tadpoles or whatever they are called, Dean was catching some fish ... they got their limit - not bad, eh? :)

Now, some scrappy goodness!!!!

This week, TaDa Creative Studios shared some sneak peeks of their upcoming lines! You can check out the announcement here. Have a look:

BFF Collection:
I lovvvve the bright colours here! That pink is awesome!

Frozen Tozen Collection:
Okay, this collection is just awesome for all the winter activities!! Ice skating, skiing, anything really ... I have some ideas for this as well!

Just Chillin' Collection:
Perfect for a teen boy or husband even! My fave is the camo paper! LOVE IT!

What do you think? What's your favourite?

And one last note:

Happy 4th of July to my American friends!

Thanks for the visit! :)

happy canada day ... !!

2011-07-01T08:47:00.003-04:00

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!

Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians! We are having a lazy start to the day but we are off to celebrate Canada Day in Kanata!! There will be a fair, magic show, puppet show, story time with the princesses, concerts, face painting ... and so much more!

Enjoy the day!! :)

trio of mischief ...

2011-06-28T12:00:00.000-04:00

I'm back again with another June layout for the Nook. The colours in this kit couldn't be more perfect for scrapbooking little girls ... and a tea pot to boot? Perfection.

trio of mischief

These three appear so sweet but really, they totally look like they are up to no good! haha! Truthfully, I couldn't ask for them to get along better - they are so close but boy can they be mischevious. On their first sleepover, they decided to take Abigail's lip gloss and put it in their hair! Gobs of it. On another sleepover type of night, they killed one of the twin's goldfish because they took it out of the tank and wanted to pet it! :( When they had a sleepover at my place, they decided to paint their toes in Abigail's bed ... well, her Tinkerbell sheets are now covered in nail polish. And that's just off the top of my head ...

If you like the colours and papers in this kit (Lily Bee!), be sure to stop over at the Nook and check out the rest of the design team creations! You will be blown away by the creativity and amazing layouts!

Have a great Tuesday! :)

circus anyone?

2011-06-26T21:01:00.002-04:00

Today was my turn to post a project on the TaDa Creative Studios blog and I decided to play with The Big Top Collection papers and make a fun little circus invitation.

Here is what I came up with:

admit one invitation

Supplies: The Big Top Collection: Balancing Act, Side Show, Clowning Around, Big Top Mini Mes, Big Top Snippets & Clippets, Step Right Up, Bazzill Basics black and kraft cardstock, Maya Road thread spools, Vibrance ink, Modern Romance push pin, Thickers, Jillibean Soup baker’s twine

Don't you just love the papers? Abigail is in love with this project - she keeps playing with it, reading it to her pretend class (the teddy bears all lined up against the wall). She's so cute.

To read how I made this invitation, check out the post here.

I will be back tomorrow to share my latest project with the June Nook kit!

Also, if you like stitching, be sure to check out Sketch Support this week - all week long, we are showcasing different ways to stitch on your project!

Hope you had a great weekend! We completely lazed the weekend away! I can't remember the last time we were so lazy but it's well deserved! I played one game of soccer and did a couple of Jillian workouts .... speaking of which, I am doing the Jillian Michael's Ripped in 30 video session and if you are looking for a fast, effective workout, then this is it! The entire video - including warm-up and cool down is only 24 minutes. Less for me, since I don't do the cool down ... :D You do 4 different workouts - there is one per week and you do that one 5-6x per week.

I just started week two and it's a step up from week one but I.LOVE.IT. It's basically circuit training ... anyway, if you are looking to tone up or lose a few pounds, give it a try - it's only $10!!! You can view a sample of it here. I love the 18 minute (or so) workout but I also like to push it to the limit so I've also started doing another one of her videos ... but can't remember the name. I think I'm going to really punish myself and get one of her ab videos for tomorrow - the 6 week ab one ... yikes! She's a drill sargeant but she's effective.

Enjoy what's left of your weekend!! :)

so much to share ...

2011-06-24T21:50:00.004-04:00

Wow, what a busy week!

Four games of baseball, three games of soccer, two dinners out, one lunch out, JK graduation ... and Abigail was sick. What a fast week. And it's been raining like crazy here - our power just came back on after being out for a few hours.

I'll start off with my weekly reveal for Sketch Support. This week is one pager week and I sort of struggled with this one a bit.

This was the sketch:

And this was my take on it:

2,983 photos snapped

Supplies - Patterned Paper: Studio Calico (Documentatry collection); Ink: Vibrance; Alphabets: Thickers, Jenni Bowlin; Fibre: Anchor floss; Bling: The Robin's Nest; Tools:
Fiskars bracket border punch

That's how many photos I snapped while in Florida ... I thought it was more but annnyway ... :) Think I'll ever get around to scrapping them? ha! :)

I have another project to share that I made with my June Nook kit. We had these cute wooden spools to work with and I couldn't get the image of a car out of my head so I just went with it!

for my love bug

Excuse the crookendess!! :) I often have to straighten my photo in Picasa but then it sometimes makes part of the layout/card look crooked. Or maybe it is crooked! :)

Big news around here this week is that Abigail graduated JK! (okay, in all honestly, I really had no idea they did a graduation ceremony ... until this week! Bad mom ... but I did get her a single rose and a new dress/shoes!)

Isn't she sweet! She was ALL business walking up to get her certificate. It was clear she was on a mission - very formal, she did pause to make a tiny wave at Dean but I think she had to do it before her fears took over. There were almost 50 children graduating so there was 100+ parents, siblings, grandparents, etc in the crowd looking up at them!

Here's a photo of her and her twin pals, Jessie and Riley:
Today, I was surfing the gallery over at the Pod and I saw this:

My Ferris Wheel Fun layout made it up on the Most Liked list! Wow ... I was really happy to see that! It doesn't happen often (um, once before!) so when/if it does, it always brings a smile to my face!

I don't have my Five Fave Friday Pinterest pics ready to go (and I missed last week too!). I'm going to blame it on the power outage, it really hampered my plan to accomplish a bunch of things tonight! I haven't had a lot of time to surf Pinterest this week anyway - way too much going on! I am completely overwhelmed with our ridiculously crazy, busy schedule right about now ....

I'll be back on Sunday to share a fun TaDa project I was working on tonight ... pre-hydro failure! :)

Have a great weekend!!

june nook kit ...

2011-06-20T15:02:00.005-04:00

I am so happy to be guest designing for the Nook this month! This is the kit I got to work with:

Is it not pretty!??? It's filled to the brim with manufacturers such as Lily Bee, Websters, Petaloo and more! :) The colours and embellishments are just fabulous!

Here is what I created so far! I still have tons of paper left over:

mom. baton twirler

This is my mom at 15. Isn't she hot stuff? lol ... She twirled the baton and I just love these pics!!

birthday buds

This is the birthday party Abba went to last weekend - her twin friends Riley and Jessie. They are so cute as mini chefs.

If you haven't popped over to the Nook, I urge you to do so. The gallery is SO full of inspiration over there (my Google reader is bursting because of it!) ... and the forum, well the forum is hopping and the girls are oh so friendly. Come on over, chat a bit and get to know everyone! :)

Now, I must give a shout out to Dean-o and say Happy Father's Day ... I meant to do a special blog post yesterday about him but ummmm .... well I was spending time doing family things!! :)

Instead I'll share my favourite recent photo of him with Abigail from our last visit to the cottage:

and say that he is an awesome dad! Abigail couldn't ask for more! :) Now speaking of Abigail, she filled out a questionnaire about Dean for Father's Day and the answers had me laughing!

Question	Abigail's response
How old is daddy?	89 years old
How tall is daddy?	He's tall like a big dinosaur!
How much does daddy weigh?	He's big like he can step on a big flower!
Who is daddy's favourite person?	Mommy (awwwww)
What is daddy's favourite food?	Spaghetti

I love reading little questionnaires like this!

Have a great Monday! :)

the big top collection ...

2011-06-14T14:59:00.006-04:00

I have a couple of DT projects to share with you today. First up is a two-pager using TaDa Creative Studio's Big Top Collection. This is what I came up with:

ferris wheel fun

(you'll have to excuse the photo - it's a bit crooked!)

Supplies - Patterned Paper: The Big Top Collection, TaDa Creative Studios; Cardstock: Bazzill; Ink: Vibrance; Alphabets: Doodlebug; Embellishments: Big Top Snippets and Clippets

What is that ferris wheel you say? Well, it's an Oooh La La Layer - a laser piece of cardstock that TaDa creates! Isn't it awesome?

Here is a better peek at it:And that's how I got the title of my page ... :) What I did with mine was mount a piece of white cardstock under it - this allowed the ferris wheel to stand out and not get lost on top of my photos.

Next up is my add-on for Sketch Support. This week, we were given an argyle pattern to work with and I'll be honest - I'm not sure I knew what argyle meant prior to this week (and I even have an argyle sweater upstairs!) :)

This is what I came up with:

sweet baby

Supplies - Patterned Paper: Crate Paper (Emma's Shoppe collection); Cardstock: Bazzill; Ink: Vibrance; Alphabets: Carolee's Creations; Fibre: Anchor floss, Forever in Time lace ribbon; Bling: The Robin's Nest; Adhesive: Glue Dots

A friend of mine recently had a baby so it was the perfect fit.

That's all I have for today - hopefully you are having a fantastic day!! :)

projects to share!

2011-06-13T09:56:00.008-04:00

Good morning

I have a couple of DT projects to share with you ... but I think I'm going to leave those for tomorrow and sum up my weekend and weekend-related projects instead.

Two of Abigail's best friends had their 5th birthday party on the weekend so that meant getting some cards done! Abba LOVES to make cards with me - the girls are twins and their present was Strawberry Shortcake so that only means one thing ... :

happy birthday card

I drew the strawberry and printed the Strawberry Shortcakes off (courtesy of Google Images). I just flipped one of them in Photoshop. It's not quite what I wanted but I ran out of room so just went with that ... :)

And Abigail's version:
I totally have to give her major credit with this card! My mom cut out the Strawberry Shortcakes for her but she totally did her own thing. She even opted to stamp with the cupcake stamp. She copied a couple of my ideas (i.e. the bling) but I totally think that she is pretty creative ... I love how she spelled Jessie's name ... backwards! haha! She even dressed up the back of the card and signed the inside.

The inside of her card:

haha! I love that she signed it backwards! And she started at A ... it's so cute but I don't get how she can write like that! :)

My sister graduated from law school last night so of course I had to make a card for her!

and the inside:
The shoe template was made courtesy of google (I just googled high heel shoe template, picked one and printed it).

Here is a pic of the graduate:
My parents, older sister and myself went out to celebrate the evening with her:
So a big congrats to my sister ... if I get into trouble, I know who to call. ;)
Have a great Monday!!!

winners announced!

2011-06-13T09:40:00.006-04:00

Happy Monday!!

Here's a fun post to announce the winner of the $30 giveaway and the winner of the sketch book!

The $30 giveaway goes to:

Congrats Sophia!! Email your store choice to me and I'll get a gift certificate set up!

Onto the sketch book:

Congrats Glynis - email me your address and I'll get that shipped out to you.

Thanks for all the wonderful comments you guys left me! They made me smile! :)

five friday faves ... and more

2011-06-10T09:51:00.009-04:00

TGIF fellow scrappers,

I hope you've had a great week! I wanted to say thank you to all the readers who left a comment - I am really touched by what a lot of you said. It definitely has been a highlight of my week!

There's still one more day to get in on the giveaway if you'd like.

Onto Pinterest. Loving it! Have you joined yet? (if you want an invite, just send me an email and I'll invite you). It is so hard to do these posts on Friday - I try to keep them crafty but ... then I get sidetracked by the fabulous food ideas and everything else! :)

Pin# 1: Scrapbooking

Okay, I cannot tell you how much I love this layout by TanishaRenee! Talk about some eye candy! It's older product but makes me want to go out and buy it again! You can check out her blog here.

Pin #2: Kids craft idea (Valentine's Day)

How incredibly sweet is that? Little shovels! I am so doing that next year!!! The original source can be found here.

Pin #3: Food ... can't resist ...

Artichoke bread. Like spinach and artichoke dip that you don't need to dip. Um, genius! Original source and recipe can be found here.

Pin #4: Sketch

Okay, how cute is that sketch? Heather did a fabulous job with it - just love it. Heather's blog can be found here.

Pin #5: Photo idea

Seriously cute! And what a great idea for a scrap page! Love it! Original source can be found here.

There you have it, my five Friday faves ... what do you think?

I finally scrapped last night - I think my mojo may have made an appearance! :) And I hope it's here to stay - it's been seriously lacking the past few weeks. This weekend is jam packed for us .. take a look at our schedule:

Friday night:
6:15 - baseball tournament game #1
9:30 - possible game #2 if we lose the first game (Dean and I are both playing)

Saturday
9:30am- baseball game
10:30am: parents are coming down. They want to shop so lots of errands to do with them.
12:30pm: baseball game
1:30 invited to a bbq for my sister's graduation
3:30 final baseball game if we advance
3:30: soccer game (which I will go to over baseball! :)
6:00 pm - BBQ at my place
evening: invited to a graduation party for my sister

Sunday
11:15 am - Abigail's gymnastics
2-4pm - birthday party for two of Abba's closest friends
5:00 pm - Abigail's soccer
7:30 pm - my sister's graduation - she is graduating from Law school! YAY!

So, somewhere in there I have to make her a card, wrap gifts for the birthday girls, buy my dad a father's day gift, go to physio for my ankle .... scrap (haha!), pin?!, and find my sanity. We are triple booked in some places on Saturday ... this will be one insane weekend!

Hope you have a nice calm weekend, with lots of scrappy plans! :)
Thanks for the visit - totally behind on blog comments but once I can come up for a breather ... like next week, I promise I'll be by all the blogs to catch up and leave some love! :)

giveaway ... !!!

2011-06-08T08:32:00.003-04:00

Oops - I am a little late in posting my giveaway for getting to 300 followers ... !! But it's here now!

The Rules? Simply leave a comment and tell me what you like about my blog and you'll be entered to win a $30.00 gift certificate to an online scrapbooking store of your choice!

I also have a Volume 7 Sketch Book by Allison Davis up for grabs:

In order to be entered into the sketch book draw, please specify so in your comments. This is a sketch book of thirty 2-pager sketches.

And, of course, you should be a follower since this giveaway is because I am at 300 followers. The draw will be open for 3 days so I'll close it Saturday morning at around 9am est and will post the winners shortly thereafter.

Good luck! And have a fantastic Wednesday!!!

sharing some pubbed layouts ...

2011-06-06T09:57:00.002-04:00

It feels like it's been forever but last March/April (2010 that is), I submitted six layouts to an Idea Book call by Memory Makers. I was completely surprised and very excited when I found out they had picked up four of my layouts for publication.

My favourite of them all is this layout:

she loves the fair

Abigail LOVES the fair. I mean, she REALLY loves the fair! And when we go, we are prepared to stay all day - she will go on every single ride at least 4-5 times. She even wears high heel shoes so she can get on the bigger rides! She went on Mount Everest at Disney which was the scariest coaster there (mind you, she did cry on that one!).

Next up is a layout of our daily routine - morning time, which is not so fun at our house! lol ... always running behind!

our morning routine

and finally, two more simple styles (which is not my forte whatsoever!). But they worked:

so much for the nap, grandpa!

This one makes me giggle. Here, grandpa (my dad) is having a nap on the couch (notice the baby on his belly! ha!). The kids were being little pains and were bugging him .. they were hugging him and making faces. I couldn't resist a group shot.

beyond bored

This layout makes me chuckle too. It's Abigail and her cousin and they were watching the boys race go carts down the street. Like, really ... how fun can that be (what they don't know yet!)? :) I think it's hilarious because they are both clearly not impressed by this and are even sitting in the exact same pose.

This book is now available in craft stores and online. Amazon has it here (with a sneak peek of several pages). It is jam packed with inspiration!

Anyone else have any layouts in this book? :)

super excited to share ...

2011-06-04T12:39:00.004-04:00

That I am guest design team member for Canadian Scrapbooker for the next year.

Someone pinch me. This is seriously a dream come true for me. My bio is posted here. I've been working with them for about two months already, creating layouts for the Fall issue! I still cannot believe it .... but am so excited to be part of this fabulous magazine!! :)

I wanted to say a big thank you to Jackie for this opportunity. Speaking of Jackie, be sure to check out her blog for a chance to win some giveaways, great techniques, product and more!

I can't resist posting some soccer shots of Abigail playing soccer earlier this week:

Posing with her number, #7, just like mommy:

Her first goal - look how happy she is!

Her 2nd goal, which happened to be from a well-earned breakaway:

Her 3rd goal:

Some intensity:
A super cool move:

Pretty good form:
Getting taken out:

I have so many soccer shots - you'll be sure to see some soccer layouts in the future!! :)

I hope you are having a fabulous Saturday - now I'm off to play some soccer myself!

five friday faves from pinterest!

2011-06-03T13:16:00.005-04:00

TGIF fellow scrappers!

I am back with my Friday faves from Pinterest this week! I didn't do a lot of scrappy searching but I still have some great things to share with you!

#1: Kids art display

Okay, how cute is that?! I've photographed Abigail's stuff before and put it on my blog but never thought to arrange it in a frame. I am so doing this. I love it. Adorable!!! Source can be found here.

#2: Cookies
Clearly, I have a sweet tooth. But these are hailed as the top pick in the New York Times. So, hello ... they must be good, right? They certainly look good! Must try these! Source can be found here.

#3: Scrapbook sketch

Okay, when I saw this, I was drawn to it ... just love it! Check out Sketchy Thursdays for more inspiration! Source can be found here.

#4: Fun photo idea

Haha! How great is that?! Love that idea ...
Source can be found here.

#5: Art for the home

Made with various butterfly punches and pop dots. Really, it's adorable. Such a great gift idea too! Source can be found here.

What do you think of those? Anything strike your fancy?

It's now June (even though the weather doesn't entirely feel like it, boo!) and I wanted to share a project I made for the Canadian Scrapbooker Cover Contest.

It did not make the cover however it was featured in the top 5. That said, the cover was absolutely amazing! Gorgeous work! :)

Hope you have a fabulous weekend - I'll be back shortly with my giveaway (one more follower and my announcement!)!!

cards on tuesday

2011-05-31T11:06:00.003-04:00

I never thought I'd be making this many cards but Sketch Support has some fabulous sketches that keep me inspired!

That said, this week's sketch stumped me a little ... I wasn't so sure about the rounded squares and I couldn't think of anything so I procrastinated and procrastinated ... and then it came to me. A sketch is a sketch - a starting point. You don't have to follow it detail by detail. So I decided to go to my trusty circle and what do you know ... ? Two cards in less than an hour.

This is the sketch:

My first take on it:

Happy Bee Day

(notice the little bee?)

Supplies - Patterned Paper: Echo Park (Walk in the Park collection); Kraft Paper: Recollections; Tools: Fiskars Bracket border punch, Creative Memories circle punch; Stickers: Echo Park Paper; Alphabets: Echo Park Paper; Miscellaneous: chipboard, Anchor floss

I decided to flip the sketch here and go with circles vs. rounded rectangles. I really love how this turned out. I love working with kraft paper and I have an inexpensive tip for you on how to get it for a good deal. Micheal's sells 8.5x11 paper packs of kraft for only $4.99 (there is a lot of sheets, can't remember exact count - and also available in white or black). You can run them through your printer for journaling strips or other, use them for cards, strips on layouts, etc. If you buy them with a coupon, it's only $3. Such a deal! I buy my kraft and white like this all the time.

And my second take on it:

happy bird day

Supplies - Patterned Paper: Echo Park (Walk in the Park collection); Kraft Paper: Recollections; Tools: Creative Memories circle punch; Stickers: Echo Park Paper; Alphabets: Carolee Creations; Ink: Vibrance; Miscellaneous: chipboard, Zig pen

When my daughter was smaller, she always said "Hap bir-day" when it was someone's birthday, so cute. I really should have taken the "d" off the bird ... oh well! Anyway, this sketch was kept pretty much exactly to the sketch with the substitution of circles vs. rounded squares. I also used the scraps from my first card to make this one. :)

If the circles don't do it for you, make sure to check out the blog over at Sketch Support all week to see the fabulous takes by the other DT members.

I'll be back tomorrow with some super duper exciting news to share! I've been keeping a secret for what feels like months and months and months!!!! And some photos of Abigail playing soccer in her first match of the year - oh my gosh - soooo cute! She played her first game on Sunday night and had a breakaway ... hehe, she was edging a little boy out. It's such a great photo. Apparently, according to Dean, I was shouting just a little too loud on the bench. Okay, whatever! I can't help but be proud of her and I SO wanted her to get a goal that I could catch on film (she did and I got it!). She is a miniature me on the soccer field - looks like me, runs like me and we even have the same number .... I looooooove it!

Happy Tuesday scrappy peeks ... oh and only two more followers until we get to the giveaway! :)

fantastic fridays: fave five pinterests from the week

2011-05-27T13:05:00.010-04:00

Okay, I'll start off by explaining Pinterest to any of you who don't know --> quite simply, the best place to go for inspiration! Food ideas, craft ideas, DIY ideas, fashion ideas, scrapbook ideas, wedding invite ideas ... and basically anything else you can think of!

You can sign up yourself or get someone to invite you. If someone invites you, it's automatic - if you sign up, it takes up to two weeks.

Narrowing my favourite pinterests down to five is going to be hard this time around, especially since I am a new member and have been slightly addicted. There are so many cool things I've found! I have been a member for less than a week and have 48 pins ...

So, these are my fave from the week:

Favourite Dessert

Cookie Dough Cheesecake bars

Um, one word: YUM!
The original post including recipe can be found here from mybakingaddiction.com.
I am so making these this weekend!

Favourite Layout

This was much harder to select my favourite layout - I had three that I found and just loved! Funny enough, they all had photo strips. I think I settled on this one because it's bright and cheery!
This was originally posted to the American Crafts blog here. The designer is Poki Nobeno but I couldn't find her blog.

Favourite Fashion Idea

I seriously love this. Seriously. I want to buy it right now! How cute is it?!

Favourite Crafty Thing

How cool are these paper clouds?! These are available on Etsy for sale here.

Favourite Kid Craft

How cute is that? Make the leaves with some scrapbook paper and tada, a super cute piece of spring/summer art for your walls! The original blog post can be found here.
That was another tough category that I had trouble picking just one ...

So, since it's the first week of my fave pins, I thought I'd throw some honourable mentions out there!

Another Kid Craft

Hello cuteness!!! Seriously! The original blog post can be found here.

Another Amazing Layout

I completely love this layout. Very elegant ... this was featured on the Crate Paper blog, under one of their Reader's Gallery posts. The designer's blog can be found here.

Another Fun Food Item

Having a hard time getting your kids to eat lunch? Well, this is your answer. Like, how cute is that? I want it for my lunch! The blog that this was posted from is here and you seriously have to check it out! Look what else I found:

You can find more ideas like this under her Fun Food Fridays post: available here.

I hope that inspires you to create something this weekend!! :) If you are on Pinterest, add me and I'll follow you - I love to see the different pins!
Have a great weekend!

i've been ...

2011-05-27T08:42:00.008-04:00

Taking a bit of a break. Lost my mojo and feeling a little out of it when it comes to scrapping! :) The past 8 weeks I've only been completing assignments but I hope to change that this weekend! Life has just gotten really busy with sports - I play soccer 2-3x per week, Dean plays soccer and baseball plus has a weekly meeting he attends and Abigail has swimming and soccer! Phew!

I also haven't really been editing my blog to include family details - one of the reasons I like to blog is to record memories - whether it be scrapbooking or family. I then plan to turn it into a book that I can print and look back on our lives. I've been terrible with that lately! If you've never heard of this, you can check it out (including trying it) here.

This week it's one pager reveal over at Sketch Support. I loved the sketch but wanted to change it up a bit to better match my style. This is the sketch:

This is what I came up with:

she loves this dress

Supplies - Patterned Paper: Crate Paper (Emma's Shoppe collection); Tools: Fiskars Bracket border punch, Creative Memories heart punch; Stickers: Crate Paper; Alphabets: Thickers, Carolee's Creations; Miscellaneous: Glimmer Mist, brown acrylic paint, Anchor floss, pop dots, staples

I bought this Crate paper last week at my LSS and fell in love with it. I am quickly becoming a big lover of Crate! I started with misting the background with some glimmer mist - I used a doily and misted it but really did not like the results! So now my background paper was ruined. I then decided to put some acrylic paint on top and I think it worked. I proceeded to shrink the sketch to fit my style and tada ... this is what I came up with! ;)

Our first long weekend of the summer was pretty awful with the weather! We went to the cottage and there was one beautiful day but we only arrived late afternoon so we didn't really get to enjoy the hot sun. But that didn't stop us from having fun:

fun by the campfire

sitting by the campfire under the canopy
in the rain with BAD bugs!
(notice the girls are absent! aka smart!!)

paddle boating (first time the boat has been out, excuse the dirt!)

some fishing on the beach (since the water is so high, no boats in yet)

abba and her high heels (she seriously brings them everywhere)

tractor ride (long ago promised by our neighbour!)

and last ... but not least ...
crazy dean taking a dip
yes - swimming
in water in the low 50's
a little insane if you ask me
I could barely walk in the water. My feet went numb.

I've also recently become hopelessly addicted to Pinterest. Have you been? If not, you should. The inspiration over at the site is absolutely amazing. Because of this, I've decided to make a weekly Fantastic Friday post dedicated to some of my weekly findings over at Pinterest. It could be crafts, desserts (oh my gosh, I will have some later!), other food ideas, home decor, fashion ... stuff that floats my boat! :)

I am almost at 300 followers! Don't forget when I get there that I will have a giveaway for a $30 gift certificate to an online scrap store of your choice.

TGIF!
Thanks for the visit! I'll be back later with my pinterest post!

the dynamic duo blog hop continues ...

2011-05-22T06:00:00.001-04:00

A TaDa Creative Studios and Punky Sprouts mini-book bonanza!!!
Day 8!

Today it's my day to show what I made with the Punky Sprouts Alfafa Sprouts album and TaDa Creative Studios Goody Two Shoes line!

It has been a long time since I've shared a mini - I'm overdue!

A Dream Come True: Meeting the Princesses
Mini Album

Aurora and Belle

Cinderella, Ariel and Prince Eric

Rapunzel, Flynn Rider, Beauty and the Beast

Tinkerbell, Terence, Rosetta and Vidia

Princess and the Frog
(aka Tiana and Prince Naveen)

Alice in Wonderland, Pochahontas

Notes about my mini album:

this album has room for up to 14 pages! I chose to tie my album together with ribbon - you could separate the album and use the spiral to bind one half and ribbons to bind the other half and get two mini's out of it!
The canvas is inserted twice into this mini album - I used acrylic paint on one of my pages, I stitched my page title on one page, stitched around the edge on one of the canvas pages and adhered lace to the other canvas page.
There are also two acrylic sheets - I am a bit afraid of acrylic so I opted to cover them! If you have some neat ideas with acrylic, leave me a comment and link me up! I'd love to see!

TaDa Creative Studios Goody Two Shoes paper collection is the perfect paper collection to scrap your little princess! The Fancy Schmany piece of paper is perfect for adding little embellishments to your pages! And they are circular so it doesn't get any better than that! Consider inking and pop dotting them for added interest and dimension to your page. The Snippets and Clippets piece of paper has many options for cutting embellishments out or for journaling spots.

Each day of this blog hop, you can go to the following two blogs:
TaDa Creative Studios blog
Punky Sprouts blog

and leave a comment. At the end of the hop, leave a comment on each blog saying which album and paper line are your favourite and you could win one of three prize packs! :)

Good luck!
Thanks for visiting!

announcing the dynamic duo blog hop!!

2011-05-19T11:52:00.004-04:00

Don’t miss out on this awe inspiring blog hop!

TaDa Creative Studios’ and Punky Sprouts’ design teams have paired up to bring you this Mini-book Bonanza.

Rules for a chance to win FREE products
Each day go to the following 2 blogs:
http://tadacreativestudios.wordpress.com/
http://getpunkysprouts.blogspot.com/

Post comments to show your participation. Punky Sprout mini books, created with TaDa product, will be posted daily. Additional links to DT member blogs will contain tutorials of the projects.

The hop will run from May 16th thru the 27th.

At the end of the 12 day hop, please go to each manufacturer’s blog and post a comment telling them your favorite album style and favorite paper collection used in the samples shown during the hop. Your name will then be entered in a drawing to win both! 3 winners will be picked!

I will be back on Sunday to share my mini ---> YES, I made a mini -- album showcasing some fabulous TaDa papers and a mini album from Punky Sprouts!

Good luck!

how about a little invite?

2011-05-16T15:11:00.005-04:00

Happy happy Monday peeps ... okay, if you are a regular reader, you know I'm not being truthful. Not only is it Monday but it's cold, wet and really dreary out! But one of the bright parts of my day is that today we start the weekly reveals over at Sketch Support and today my project is up! :)

This week it's add-on week. An add-on is something you can add to your layout or project. I have been making cards with mine lately.

We had a fun little sketch to work with:

Our family reunion is coming up and I just couldn't the whole family tree concept out of my head so I opted to go with an invitation:

family reunion invitation

Supplies - Patterned Paper: Echo Park (Walk in the Park collection), Bo Bunny, Dream Street; Tools: Creative Memories circle punch, Marvy Uchida circle punch; Vibrance; Stickers: Scenic Route, October Afternoon; Alphabets: Jenni Bowlin; Unknown:
Ribbon, Flowers, Brads

I really like how this one turned out! Used all scraps too which you have got to love!

Another bright part of my day is that outdoor season (soccer) is starting tonight! Yay ... I am so excited! I play all winter long but there's nothing better than getting out on the grass to kick the ball around!

I am getting very close to my $30.00 giveaway - only 7 followers to go! I might also have a sketch book up my sleeve ... :)

Thanks for the visit!

cartwheels, cake and princesses ...

2011-05-12T09:30:00.000-04:00

Doesn't that sum up a 5 year old princess birthday perfectly?

cartwheels, cake & princesses

We held Abigail's 5th birthday party at Starr Gymnastics and they had so much fun on the trampolines, ball pit, swinging rope ... and then Ariel showed up for the 2nd half of the party and the girls enjoyed singing with her, she read them a story, played games and did their make-up. So cute! We also had a Jasmine cupcake cake made - chocolate and vanilla!

This week is 2-page sketch reveal over at Sketch Support. At first I was totally intimidated with this sketch. But I was able to work through it and I really like this layout now! :)

How about a chance to win now?
Simply visit Canadian Scrapbookers' latest webisode (subject: metallic transparencies) and leave a comment! The fantastic prize package includes manufacturers such as: Harmonie, Clearsnap, Prima Marketing and Judi-Kins!

Remember leave your comment on the Canadian Scrapbooker Website under Webisode #17 Metallic Transparencies for your chance to win! Good luck!

And while you are surfing around, why don't you go to Facebook and like Canadian Scrapbooker. They have fabulous Why Not Win It Wednesdays!!! Go check them out!

Have a great Thursday everyone! :)

and the winner is ...

2011-05-09T08:52:00.003-04:00

Happy Monday folks.

Okay, really, I am not a fan of Mondays!! My typical Monday consists of us getting up too late, eating breakfast too slow, hair that is impossible to brush which takes eons to untangle and traffic. Today, Abigail decided to play with my badge for work and lost it. Add that to an already stressful Monday morning and it results in my love for Mondays being diminished that much more!! :) Oh well, I'm only an hour late for work! :)

I wanted to give a huge thanks to everyone who played along in the blog hop!! I loved reading each and every one of your comments!! I went to random.org to get the winner and this is what it generated:
And this is the winning comment:

Congrats Joanne - send me an email (jill_sarginson@hotmail.com) with your mailing address and I'll get the book sent out to you!

If you didn't win, don't worry, I have another draw coming up! I will be at 300 followers soon and I'm going to be offering up a $30.00 gift certificate to an online store of your choice! I'm almost there ... 286 ... so the moment I get to 300, I'll put that RAK up!

Have a great Monday!

sketch support nsd scavenger hunt blog hop!!!!!

2011-05-07T06:00:00.010-04:00

Happy NSD!!!!

Sketch Support is kick-starting NSD off with a scavenger hunt blog hop! You need to hop through the creative team's blogs and find items on each of our blogs - they are posted at the bottom of this post or over at Sketch Support.

Simply find all the items and enter a comment on Sketch Support for a chance to win an AMAZING PRIZE (details below)! And along the way you may find a giveaway or two or ten ... :)

We were given a two pager to work with and of course I stuck to the sketch! Here is what I created:

a dream come true: meeting mickey and minnie
(click to see larger)

Supplies used: Pattern Paper: Echo Park, Alphas: Jillibean Soup, American Crafts Thickers, My Little Yellow Bicycle mini letters, Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Minnie Mouse Chipboard: Disney; Mickey Mouse Iron-On: Disney; Digital print out: Mickey ears with journaling; Other: scalloped ruler; Ink: Vibrance

This is my first official Disney layout and I just loved how the papers in Echo Parks "For the Record" paper collection matched up! (okay, and ignore the horrible photo - it's totally crooked!)

And here is the sketch:

Now, you should have arrived here from Shari's blog and next up, you will be going on to Carolyn's blog!

But before you go, make sure that you leave me a comment because I have a giveaway for you! One lucky commenter will win this:

It's Scrapbook Generation's Volume 7 book - filled with 30 awesome 2 page sketches! Good luck!!

To be eligible to be in the draw for the blog hop, you must leave a comment by 11:59 p.m. EST on Sunday, May 8, 2011. I will post the winner on Monday morning and you will have two weeks to claim your prize so check back!

Also, I am going to be having a big giveaway when I get to 300 followers ... we could have awhile to wait but if you don't want to miss out, become a follower.

The grand prize

"The Ultimate Scrapbook Generation Kit Club Sampler"

The winner of this giveaway will receive:

• The May Super Sketch Club kit - includes the materials and sketches to make five two-page layouts. The May kit includes products from BoBunny and My Mind's Eye.

• May Boy Crazy kit - includes the materials to create a two-page boy themed layout with Fancy Pants products and a sketch.

• May Girl Crazy kit - includes the materials to create a two-page girl themed layout with Fancy Pants products and a sketch.

• May Generation Page kit - includes the materials to create a two-page layout with BoBunny products, a color photo of the layout, and directions.

• May Hall of Fame Page kit - includes the materials to create a two-page layout with Cosmo Cricket products, a color photo of the layout, and directions.

• May Generation Card kit - includes the materials to create four cards with My Mind's Eye products, color photos of the cards, directions, and a cutting guide.

To sum it up that's seven sketches and the materials to make nine two-page layouts and four cards!
There are two ways to be eligible for "The Ultimate Scrapbook Generation Kit Club Sampler" and yes, you can do both for two chances to win the giveaway. (Just make sure if you want two chances that you post them in two separate comments.)

The first way to enter is to leave a comment at each Creative Team member's blog. After you do that, come back here and let us know in the comments on this post.

The second way to enter is to participate in our scavenger hunt. Below you will find a list of items to hunt for as you hop along to each blog. The items you are looking for will be on the layouts on each blog with one item per blog. After you have found them all, come back here and tell us what you found and which creative team member's blog you found it on.

Scavenger Hunt items

1. waves
2. a jeweled star
3. a wood chip border
4. Title: "Surprise Visit"
5. watermelon
6. gears
7. the word "grace"
8. stitched flourishes
9. a bicycle
10. a picture of Play-Doh
11. a swing
12. Mickey Mouse
13. a layout with four photos

Happy NSD!!!!
Thanks for the visit!

hello sunshine!

2011-05-02T09:25:00.003-04:00

Today it's card sketch week over at Sketch Support. This is turning into one of my favourite reveal weeks. I love the cards that I've been creating.

The sketch this week was a sun and I couldn't see any other way to do this but a sun however, I'm sure the girls over at Sketch Support will come up with some creative ways to put this sketch to use! Make sure to check back during the week!

hello sunshine!

Supplies - Patterned Paper: Echo Park (Walk in the Park collection), Bella Boulevard (clouds); Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Tools: Creative Memories circle cutting system; Ink:Font: Computer-generated (DBJ How Cute Am I); Floss: Anchor Vibrance;

The stitching took awhile on this one but it was well worth it! :) And it's something you can do in front of the television! Why don't you have a try with the sketch and drop by Sketch Support and let us see what you made! :)

It's anything but sunshine today - dreary and now rainy! This has been a cold, wet spring and I'm so ready for the warmer weather!! I got up this morning and put on sandals and capris just because it's May but now I'm freezing! Sigh!

Can you believe NSD is this week! Leave me a comment and tell me what you are going to be doing - cropping? Shopping? Online crops? The last two years, I hung out at scrapbook.com and participated in their events ... I'm not sure what I'll be doing this year yet !

Have a great Monday!

a little colour inspiration (plus a little design team call!)

2011-05-01T08:56:00.003-04:00

Good morning! Happy May!! What a beautiful day today ... the sun is shining and it looks gorgeous out .... finally!

Yesterday was my last reveal as April GDT for Get Picky, a fabulous challenge site for multi-photos! The challenge was this inspiration challenge:

The colours totally called out Easter to me so I made this:

egg decorators

Make sure to swing by their site - the DT reveal is amazing, as always and if you want to play along, you could be GDT for them in May!!

Design Team Call!!

If you are a fan of sketches, then surely you know about a little someone named Allison Davis? She is probably the best two-page sketch artist out there ... and not only does she design two pagers, she also makes one page sketches, add-ons, and card sketches. She runs the website Sketch Support and she is currently looking for more designers to add to the team. You can see the call here.

If you are on the fence about applying, I strongly urge you to do so. Allison is the sweetest person and such a pleasure to design for. And with weekly sketches, there is inspiration every week! :)

Speaking of Sketch Support, we will be having a blog hop to celebrate National Scrapbook day so stay tuned for that. I'm sure there will be a giveaway or two .... :)

Well, I need to get my day started .. it's a lazy day around here. Abigail and Dean are still sleeping (and it's after 9am!). We had a late night last night - we were out celebrating our friend's 40th birthday party. It's been a long time since I've been in a bar ... gee, I am getting old! :)

Off to get my busy Sunday started - have a fabulous day!!

sweet treat ...

2011-04-29T08:25:00.003-04:00

TGIF fellow scrappers! So happy it's Friday! I am ready for a weekend!!

This week was my first reveal over at TaDa Creative Studios. This is my layout:

sweet treat

Supplies: Abode a la Mode Collection, Goody Two Shoes Collection,, Fiskars Scallop Sentiment border punch, Fiskars Bracket border punch, EK Success Circle Large Edger border punch, Vibrance ink, Carolee’s Creations mini alphabet stickers, Doodlebug alphabet stickers, edge distresser

Isn't this paper collection adorable? It's the Abode a la Mode collection and it's full of papers perfect for scrapping your young ones enjoying a treat! I also think it's perfect for scrapping Easter pics! The blues, whites and pinks are perfect for Easter!

If you'd like to check out some tips on how to distress to this level, how to make a lollipop flower or how to print on a tag, check out my post here.

I have been very busy creating behind the scenes lately ... lots to do and eventually, lots to share! :)

Thanks for the visit!! :)