just a couple more hours and I'm outta here!

My fabulous dh offered to watch the kids for a whole weekend so that I could go away by myself to our families' cabin for my birthday. I loved the idea but opted to wait for September when I'd *really* need it. So this weekend is it! I've got way more stuff packed than I could possibly need but I'm going for comfort! I'll be back in a couple of days! Hope I don't freeze!

September Memory Workshop Kit

I was super thrilled to be asked to guest design the September kit for the Memory Workshop! Then I got the kit in the mail and was thrilled all over again! The SEI papers were so gorgeous that photos just don't do it justice.

Me and 2 page layouts don't usually get along just because I find I struggle to create unity between such a large area and the simple fact that I'm better with squares than rectangles. However I had some awesome photos of my daughter and my niece from our recent trip to the Calgary Zoo. I'm so thankful that these cousins are best friends no matter how often they see each other. I totally had fun with the coordinations cardstock and the beautiful canvas texture flowers.

This might be one of my favorite 2 pagers that I've done. The pattern paper that frames the entire layout was actually created with only 1/2 a sheet of pattern paper. I just cut them all the same size and made a "frame" I love the fact that photos of the butterflies allowed me to go a little crazy with my butterfly punch and sizzlets butterfly die :)

I love these photos of my wonderful mother in law and sister in law. Truely wonderful people, talented too!

As soon as I saw the chipboard word "mother" I thought of these great photos of my sister and her kids.

This has got to be my go-to photo placement. Two photos butted up together to create one unified photo. It just simplifies the whole design process for me. I figure why fix it if its not broke?

And because Sandra puts together a huge kit, I had leftovers that I created 3 cards with. To be honest I had enough to really create one more layout but my attention span being what it is, I was done ;)

Scrapshotz card crew

I was super excited to be a part of the Scrapshotz card crew for the next 3 months. Scrapshotz is my go to online scrapbooking store and my message board home since Scrapper's Haven closed. This week was my week to put up the card challenge!

So the challenge was to add some dimension to your card by adding dimension to your stamped image. Come and play along!

I borrowed my sil rose stamp set because surprisingly I didn't have a flower stamp that would work with this challenge. We laughed because this was the very first Stampin' Up! stamp she bought about 11 years ago! I stamped the image 2 times on different cardstock pieces. Then I colored in one completely with my new Bick Mark Its! (poor woman's copics) then I colored in the roses on the second stamped image, cut them out and used foam pop dots to put them on the same spot as the original stamp. The card was then finished off with purely pomegranite papers and ribbons from SU!.

dragging along as usual :)

Does it ever seem to you that you are always one day late and a dollar short all the time? This has been my life for the past summer. I had all these great plans of scrapping time, organizing my house, painting and renos and here it is August 23 and I'm hanging my head in shame. But this just means that I set my goals high :)

Our entrance renos are coming along, we are insulating as I speak and it won't be long before drywall and flooring go in. The best part? I can walk more than a foot and a half before I have to climb the stairs when I come in from getting groceries!

This past Thrusday I helped organize a scrapbooking/cardmaking night at a local place. So in going with my theme of summer, my dh wasn't able to come home to watch the kids. I was pretty ticked but then found out he had to work really late due to an accident on one of his roads. I was ashamed at myself for feeling so selfish when someone else clearly had bigger problems than mine. So I ended up having Ethan babysit his sister and his brother. I made 1/2hourly phone calls and ran home once to change a diaper and put Owen to bed. Needless to say I felt scatterbrained and generally out of sorts. I only got 2 cards done!

The first was a simple no brainer for me. I'm beyond thrilled that Stampin' Up! brought back Baja Breeze. It was a color that I had overlooked the first time around and now I'm planning on stocking up big time! I also got this cute new mushroom stamp set, which I can see me using a bunch.

This card was more of a stretch for me. I don't normall y do pretty/vintagey kind of stuff. And I know some would argue that this card really isn't vintage but for me its very much out of my comfort zone! Love love love the new brown, Early Espresso, from Stampin' Up! as well. You can't tell but I did use Versamark dazzle in champange which gave the brown flowers a very subtle shimmer.

My orignal intention was to work on the new Memory Workshop September kit. Yup you heard me right :) I was asked to Guest design again and I was thrilled to do so. When I sat down to work, I was so flustered with how the night was going that I just put it back in my tote. I ended up working on it in the comfort of my scrapbooking room. After working for most of the day and almost not feeding my kids (ha! just kidding) I completed 6 layouts including 2 double pagers which are usually the bane of my exsistance! The papers were gorgeous and so easy to work with! A big thank you to Sandra for giving me the opportuity to design again :)

restocking my card stash

Despite having a sick kid this past weekend, I was able to get some cards made. Poor little guy slept a lot and now is feeling better. Still a bit clingy but that's to be expected.

This was the only card that I used Bazzill on, it doesn't stamp very well but it was the color of grey that I wanted. Also the embossed paper was an old DCWV glitter mat stack.

For almost all the cards I made I used Stampin' Up! Cardstock and Stampin' Up! pattern paper. I got to play with my new nestabilites and my cuttlebug embossing folders.

Loving the new large size of cuttlebug folders. I almost didn't buy this one because I already have a polka dot one but I'm so glad I didn't resist. It actually embosses the whole front of the card not "most" of it.

This was one of those stamps where you need to line up the flowers with the stem. I really am not good at it so this is my second try. I made the decision to unmount my stamps and I can't wait until my ezmount foam comes in so I can begin. I'm mainly doing the unmounting for space saving purposes (in my scrapbooking room and my crop bag) and for ease of stamping.

This was just a quick and easy card made from scraps. I so love this Hero Arts acrylic set of stamps. Very clean and simple sayings for so many occasions.

If its hard to see the sentiment on this card says "Happy Anniversary" I used versamark and I'm thinking that I should have heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. Oh well, next time!

This card took me a few tries to get the butterflies just right. My markers are in serious need of refreshing and I think they will be on my next Stampin' Up! order form.

Ok I have to admit this is my favorite! I really think I'm going to do some varitions of this one, maybe different butterflies and different color schemes. I adore the simplicity of it.

This was one stamp set that I *had* to have. I have the matching embossing folder and to be honest I can't seem to use it very creatively. I stamped the green flower with old olive and then found that the water color pencils I had didn't work well with that color. So I ended up coloring in the flower with smooch. I think some water color crayons in a larger variety of colors in next on my list as well.

Party weekend!

So with the past 2 weeks being devoted to party decorations, swimming lessons and just general chaos I was quite happy for the weekend.

My sweet wonderful husband turned 40 on August 1st and I wanted to celebrate him. So I made 40 giant cupcakes and added 40 of my favorite photos of him on them. Thank goodness for my cricut because it took a while to cut those suckers out. I made copies of the photos so just in case some got ruined that the originals didn't.

I also created this sign with my cricut and one of my all time favorite photos of Ron (can we say yummy??) I really don't like the whole "40 and over the hill" mentality of it so I put my own postive spin on things.

This weekend was also the fishing derby at Beaver Lake which Ron and my dad entered leaving me to watch the kids with the help of my mom. 

So we hit the beach both days and the kids loved every minute of it!

 

 

They've never been to a real beach before (bad mommy I know!) and even though I had a hard time keeping Owen in the shade or even getting him to wear a hat he had a blast...and no sunburns thanks to some great UV suits!

The only downside to all this hoopla and traveling away from home is that Owen doesn't eat or nap so well. Making for a very tiring day for both him and I. I've since counted that since the end of May I've only had a total of 6 hours to myself. I'm starting to feel the strain and I'm starting to plan for a weekend for me soon before school and the real work routine starts.

quick update

Yup still alive. I've been busy making birthday decorations for my sweet dh's birthday hoping things go off without a hitch on Friday. This week is swimming lessons. Still working a few days each week. Packing the weekends full of renovations, uncluttering, some pool time and trying to get in some relaxing. Guess which one isn't happening enough? I'll be back soon with party photos.

Summer time scrapbooking

So with the more relaxed routine of summer I've been getting more chances to scrapbook which is very

 good.

I created this layout for a challenge at Scrap Shotz to do computer journalling, something I rarely, if ever, do. I even pulled out some of those "older" embellishments that have been taking up space in my drawers. The pattern papers are Cosmo Cricket.

This is a layout that has been in my mind for a while to create. Not so much the photo or the story but the design with the punched out squres. Pattern papers are American Crafts, as well as the thickers and plastic flowers.

I got a chance to make some cards today and I had so much fun playing with new papers (Basic Grey Green at heart 6x6 pad) I'm really liking the 6x6 pads for cards because you don't waste a full sheet and I find that some of the papers are less overwhelming.

Totally loving that Top Note die from Stampin' Up! by sizzix! This cute little SU! stamp set (Trendy Trees) is one of my all time favorites too. Add a few scraps of October Afternoon papers and a cute sentiment by Hero Arts and you're good to go.

Ok for some reason this blue backgroud looked way better in person. I might have to change it because to be honest its bugging me. Love this cuttlebug pumpkin and Cosmo Cricket Earth love papers.

I'm quite pleased with myself for using only paper scraps for all these cards! Almost finished up this Basic Grey pad! Plus these Hero Arts stamps are my go to favorite lately.

I had fun with this color combo, easy when you pull colors from your pattern paper. I made a mistake stamping so I added 2 rows of ribbon to cover my mistake. Gotta love flexibility!

 

This card may just be my favorite with cuttlebug embossing folder (happy birthday) and Basic Grey ribbon with my favorite butterfly embosslits (from SU!) All done with scraps again!

Some new scrapbooking

This past weekend I was able to get away to spend time with friends and do a bit of scrapbooking. Its so great to have a group of people who enjoy getting together to share ideas, food and laughter.

I used some crate paper for this layout. My sweet sister-in-law took this cute photo of my Abby and was kind enough to print it out for me.

I've been enjoying making collages in Picasa lately because it allows me to get quite a few photos onto a page. I do majority of my editing in Photoshop Elements but print and crop with Picasa. All the papers and embellishments used on this layout are Basic Grey and I found them in the discounted bin as a scrapbooking store.

For those that know I'm more of an everyday scrapbooker rather than one who scrapbooks events and holidays. For this reason I've always had a hard time doing birthdays, they are days that need to be recorded but I still struggle. I employed the same collage technique but made the photos wallet size, I'm happy with how it turned out. I used the Memory Workshop June kit featuring Crate papers.

Just a simple layout that I wanted to do showing the differences between Ethan playing ball and Owen attempting to play ball. Papers are American Crafts, October Afternoon and Jillibean Soup.

This was a favorite photo that I took in June. I finally managed to get a good photo of all my parents' grandkids, no small feat with 2 boys under 2. Papers used are October Afternoon.

My new favorite layout of Owen. I took these photos at Churchill park just after he got his super cute haircut. I dug into my scrap box and grabbed some October Afternoon paper strips, added a journalling block and some grungeboard stars and I was done. Love a layout that just falls into place.

I bought this Kasier Craft paper last November with hopes to use it with some summer pool photos. I used the collage feature again and printed some wallet size photos into a strip. Totally loving my cricut gypsy which allows me to weld my letters together, one of the better investments I've made.

Thanks & a new friend

Firstly I want to thank all those who come and read my blog and leave comments. I appreciate every one of them, just just brighten up my day! I love reading the postive things about the things I create and take time to do, so much better than suppertime at my house (ewww are we having that again?)

Secondly I found this cute camera idea on etsy a few weeks ago and promptly ordered one
http://www.etsy.com/transaction/30372853

however it can't get here before Friday which is when I needed it. I'm helping out my aunt and taking some family photos for her. Its a large group with 2 active children (ages 2 and 9 months) so I set out to make my own

Meet Fred

Owen thought he was so funny so I took that as a good sign. Hopefully Fred does his job well. I'm a little nervous about taking these photos :P

What's been taking over my free time (ha!)

So it all started when I found I wasn't happy with my paper storage and it all snowballed from there.I originally had my paper in wire shelves but the sheer weight of cardstock caused me some concern. So I moved all my paper to a new shelving unit. I also dug out an old cd holder

from Ikea that turned into an ink/border punches storage.

Then I wasn't too thrilled about all my paper scraps and to be honest my scrap storage broke so I found this fun little cart at Costco that organized my scraps plus gave me extra storage drawers underneath.

the drawers hold a variety of stuff like 6x6 paper pads, bling and pearls, extra adhesive and flowers.

then I found this cool shelf thing at a garage sale that looked like this

 

Ugly huh? But it has potential! A can of spray paint and volia!

Much better I think! It holds half of my stamps, card making stuff, things to alter and paint.

At this same garage sale I found this table top for $10! I brought it home and put on some legs and wow! New desk! I had to change over what I had because the old one would shake everytime I used my cricut. Not cool.

I also rearranged some shelves and used them in the closet. Here I have my albums, photos, my photo printer (high away from little fingers), markers, small embellishments, glitter glue, my cuttle bug, Christmas stamps and my binders with sketches, acrylic stamps and rubons in.

Here's the view from my desk. I took the closet doors off to create more room and to be honest I never closed them anyways. I hung the curtain just for looks. Behind the curtain is all my dayhome supplies for crafts and games.

And all the Mother's Day gifts from my kids. I labelled everything and got it all organized. What a job that was!

This is a new ribbon organizer that I got off of a daily deal site. It is by Simply Renee and hold spools on top, and clips on the bottom. I already had my ribbon organized in ziptop bags so I turned them upside down and clipped them that way. My felt pieces are the same way.

So that's my room. I do also have another rolling cart with 3 large drawers that holds my extra cricut supplies, my zutter binding supplies and my computer stuff like photo papers and inks. I guess I have no excuses not to scrapbook anymore right?