Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Sketch of the Week - Mar 30 - April 5

Whew...this took me some Photoshop playing time! I tried to do this sketch for a friend who was looking for some ideas for a layout of her husband's Grandfatherthat recently passed away so I tried to make this masculine, masculine, masculine! Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!


Sunday, March 29, 2009

Design Team Reveal - February

Our Design Team package this month was the beautiful new line from Basic Grey titled Marrakech. A gorgeous new line with amazing colours - perfect for fall pictures and masculine stuff! Be sure to hop on over to Annik's, Jerusha's, and Deedee's blog to see their creations too! Without further adieu...
SO HANDSOME
A Tim Holtz mask, some dimensional pearls and the handy dandy blending tool! I was really wanting a dark craft paper but couldn't find one so I stole the cardboard backing out of a paper pack!
GRAYSON
Look at that beautiful Marrakech patterns! Handstitching and a new journalling technique that I read in one of the latest magazines (using paint and cardboard). The tree was part of the package but it was way too light for my liking so I ripped off the pattern and crackle painted it instead! I was really wanting a birdie for my tree and so lovely Alleykat (aka Cheryl) handstitched it for me!!Next up, when I went away last week, I took wallet photos of my kids but had nothing to put them in. I was sure that I could create something so I took my son's spiderman wallet apart and measured it and created this!


Outside of the wallet.Inside of the wallet (closed) - embossed

Inside the Wallet (open) - printed on the computer


Laugh - embossed, pierced and a little bit of ink and buttons.
Blank Card - Cuttlebug on C'oredinations and a bit of tearing and ink.
Scraps Card - a wee bit of scraps!

Saturday, March 28, 2009

A Quick Post

Just to show you some of the layouts that I accomplished at the retreat last weekend. I have a couple more but they have to wait till tomorrow as part of the Design Team Reveal. Hope you are all having a great weekend!
Kissin' - a layout of my daughter tackling my son for a smooch! This ribbon technique is so fast and easy and really makes an impact on a page!
Best - a layout of my best friend Tanis and my daughter. Tanis was in the delivery room when Danika was born and has been there through everything - an amazing friend whom I cherish. This layout was done based on a challenge by a DT member Jerusha who left the sketch as a challenge for the girls on our forums who couldn't make it to the retreat. This is one of Beggahuna's sketches.
Dogpile - from the Sketch of the Week March 9 - 15. The gears are from Riff Raff...LOVE me some Riff Raff!
Ready 2 b 3 - My son just before his 3rd birthday. This wasn't supposed to be a grungy page but I touched somewhere with ink on my hands (or arms...cause I'm a very messy scrapper!) and went with it!

PS - I am on the lookout for Blog Candy to share...and maybe get some ideas about what I need to put in the giveaway basket! Go check out Catt's Scratching Post for a great giveaway!

And I recently found another Canadian Blogger (love finding those!) who is giving away a very unique prize...I would tell you about it but I want you to go read her blog On the Funny Side of Life

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

SKETCH OF THE WEEK March 23-29

A little late but I am trying hard to recover from the scrap retreat! I was going to sit down today and do a sketch but remembered someone Jerusha had posted about last week on our forums and decided to go have a peek. This lady's name is Beggahuna and she has some seriously beautiful sketches - go check out her website! So as much as I would love to take credit for this masterpiece, it is my easy way out this week as I put the spotlight on her sketch! Can't wait to sit and do this one myself!!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

I AM ALIVE!!

I am alive and well....well kinda....

I just spent the most amazing weekend at a scrap retreat on the other side of the county! I had known for quite a while that I was going but it was a big secret so I was careful not to post anything on here :)
The incredible owners of A PILE OF SCRAP! flew me out to their very first weekend retreat (can I just say how grateful and honored I was?!) and what a time I had!!!
I am exhausted today....20 hours of sleep in 5 days .........I am definitely not young anymore!
I have so much to share with you but am just too tired to get it all out - if I can catch up by tomorrow, I will try to get at least some of it out.......There's just so many things I want to write!!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Sketch of the Week Mar 16-22

I have a sleepy, coughy, grumpy 2 year old curled up on my chest so Photoshop and I didn't have time for one another tonight :( I was hoping to do a collage sketch but this is as close as I could get. Somehow, the clickety clack of the keyboard makes grumpy girl even grumpier.... so sketchy is a little barren....just think of all the good stuff you can add!
Hope your week goes much better than my weekend did!

Oh the Fun....

Um... not really....
My oldest son was just not himself on Friday. He actually had asked not to go to school but when I reminded him it was his Winter Carnaval, he quickly changed his mind. We went out for McDonald's lunch and he had no desire to play with the other kids and when he actually decided not to eat a single thing, I knew I was in trouble.... Friday night turned into a night of really high temperatures and my son was just not himself.

Saturday morning I thought I would take him in to the medi-centre as I figured the temperature was probably an indicator of an ear infection. The no-nonsense doctor quickly diagnosed strep throat, 2 ear infections, and......a rash.......

A rash?! I had no idea!! Bad mom moment..... The doctor then informs me that it is Scarlet Fever :0 My mind instantly flashes back to the scene in Little Women when the sister dies of that....panic moment!!!! I have so much going on this week - lots of dayhome stuff and trying to plan for Spring Break coming up......... ackkkkkkkkkkkk! The doctor was so amazing though - in her no- nonsense manner, she explained to me that it was just a rash caused by the high fever of the strep... nothing to panic over but definitely contagious. Crap......

I think she saw the look on my face because she suggested going back and grabbing my other kids so she could swab their throats and have them tested so we didn't have to come back in - brilliant! So, I head out of the extremely crowded waiting room, run home and grab the other two. My youngest decides to play along for fun when I tell her I am taking her to the doctor, she grabs her tummy and starts repeating "ohhhhh, I sik!" Seriously, no prompting at all!

Back into the medicentre where the friendly nurse takes us straight into a room and no-nonsense doctor comes back in and inspects all ears and throats available. Turns out daughter also has infected ears so I get another prescription to add to the collection. I think I have discovered that the trick to getting out of that long wait at the medicentre is to merely look panicked!

So it has been a weekend of lots of Tylenol, cuddles, naps and movies. Not a lot of food and a timer going off to remind us all to wash our hands every hour. I am normally not a germophobe but I am determined to get rid of this bug without everyone else catching it!

So I now sit here wondering if it is nerdy to make that no-nonsense doctor a thank you card? Do I make it funny, flowery, plain.... I need some sort of idea to stike me in my sleep.... Gimme some ideas please?!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Masking With Glitter

Technique Tuesday on Wednesday yet again! I had this all done but just didn't seem to find the time to load it up .... losing your debit card suddenly frees up allllll kinda time! Anyways...where was I??!! Oh right...techniques....

So I originally set out to do a post on masking. I have learned some cool stuff with masking but as I sat down to do it last night, I had just bought a new tray to put all my glitter and embossing powders in, and there it sat.... and it suddenly started screaming at me to use it! So, I played around and came up with these!!
When I was done, I discovered that the Glitter Fairy had exploded in my house but I was pretty happy with the results! Sooooo...here is my technique for Masking With Glitter!

1. Tape a piece of wax paper to cardstock and cut out various shapes using your punches. I tried to cut out just the wax paper but it was too flimsy so I decided to put the cardstock behind it and voila!
2. Using double sided tape, cover white cardstock with it. Try not to touch the tape as it will lose its stickiness and the glitter will not stick where you have touched it. You may need to push firmly on the tape to make sure it is stuck - you can do this by putting a piece of wax paper over the whole thing and pushing on it.
3. Place your wax paper shapes randomly over the sticky tape. Use tweezers if you need to so you keep your greasy paws off the tape! Once you have them all down, pour your "basecoat glitter" over it. Shake off the excess.
4. Peel off a few of the wax paper shapes and pour your next colour of glitter over the cardstock. Tap off the excess. Remove more shapes and pour your next colour over cardstock. You can use as many colours as you want but I did remember after doing this one very important lesson.... When I first started stamping, my instructor Tanya (hey, I wonder if she has a blog?!) always told us to START with the darkest colours first..... Definitely good to do when you are using this technique. The second card is not as clear as I would like because I forgot this rule!
5. Once you are done, give your cardstock a good flick (on the back!!) and get rid of the excess glitter. Starting at the darkest colour, rub your finger in a circular motion to "set" the glitter. Make sure you clean off between colours :)

You can also do this by using stamped images - simply stamp on your wax paper with Staz-On Ink (my daughter's personal favourite!!!) and cut out the shapes. To save time, fold your wax paper several times and cut out lots at the same time!
And since we're on the topic of Staz-On, that little plastic thingy inside drives me crazy....You aren't supposed to throw it away but it is a pain to have to take it off all the time and then try to find it in my scrappy mess to put it away. Throw a popdot on the ridge across the top of it and smoosh (very technical term) your lid back on and easy peasy, lid is never lost again!

And that is my new masking technique! You could also do this with flock (if you didn't hoard it like I do) or even micro beads!!! I stamped the THANK YOU on the second card with my glue pad and used the same glitter as the flowers .... cause I'm a matchy-matchy kinda gal! I would love to see any creations you come up with! Have yourself a fantabulous week!

Monday, March 9, 2009

Sketch of the Week - March 9-15

This weekend brought even more snow and freezing cold weather.... I am so tired of winter :( I sat down to do a sketch today and just felt the need for something bright and cheery. I played more with Photoshop (which is a lot of fun but takes a lot of time...and I need more practice!) and came up with a sketch I am happy with. Now I just need to dig through the photo box and find some bright and happy pictures!!! Have a great week :)

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Whew!!

So continuing on with the online crop, I decided to venture into beading, thanks to a member who makes the most amazing cards and layouts using beadwork. Okay so I am cursing her because...whew......what a lotta work!! I hand drew the badge (what exactly do you call these shapes?) which took me forever to get the right shape. Then, I hand punched the holes allllll around it, then I hand beaded. That alone took me 2 hours and had me up way too late last night. I couldn't find a needle that would fit into the beads so I had to do it all by hand! I got that much done last night but when I started to put the ribbon on this morning, I realized that I wanted it under the beads so I had to redo part of it.... Did I mention this is a lot of work?? I don't think you can see the title up along the left side of the photo, I was trying to make it very unnoticeable but I think it is hard to see...It is called All I Ever Wanted. I found the perfect quote to put on it but just couldn't find a spot for it. I think this one is going to be framed and hung...

Saturday, March 7, 2009

On Line Croppin'

Us crazy gals are on-line croppin' over at A PILE OF SCRAP! If you haven't done an on-line crop, they are a lot of fun! The best part about it is that you can work at your own pace...which works well for me....in between, feeding, playing and refereeing my 3 children! Right now there are 7 challenges, a bingo and a photo scavenger hunt going on - come on over and join in the fun!! This is my first layout for Annik's challenge - the challenge was to do a monochromatic layout. This layout came courtesy of the top of my scraps box! And I have to admit, once again, that messy sewing is realllllly hard for me! Hope you are all having a fabulous weekend...and that it isn't snowing at your house like it is at mine! Where is spring?!!


I finally finished a second layout.....this one took a lot of time and doesn't look like it should have but there were a lot of little details. The printing on little pieces of paper always takes careful measurement (that and I seem to take forever to find the right font I want). This was one of my challenges that I posted - do a layout of "Top 5 or 10" things... I always wonder what my kids will think of these when they are truly old enough to appreciate them :)

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Ask a Silly Question

So yesterday, a friend emailed me this list of questions that you should ask your kids. I read it (and almost busted a gut laughing) so I decided to print it off and ask each of the dayhome kids and my 2 boys each of the questions. I asked each one separately so they couldn't hear each other...their answers are so funny!!! I sent dayhome kidlets home with their answers but I am SO doing a LO of my boys' answers somehow!

I will put Spencer's, who is 5 and a half, answers in blue and Grayson's (3 and a half) in red.

1. What is something mom always says to you?
I love you
No being rude. I think I say this A LOT!! :pmp:

2. What makes mom happy?
When I do what I'm told.
If I'm happy.

3. What makes mom sad?
Not listening.
When I growl (did I mention he is my moody kid?!)

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
Tickles me and makes funny faces.
Tickle me.

5. What was your mom like as a child?
Happy
She had a bike.

6. How old is your mom?
31 (YES!!... :rofl: )
47 ( Sad )

7. How tall is your mom?
(arms way up and on his tiptoes)
up to here...where is here I asked...just here

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
play
play with me

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
work on the computer
read some books

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
I don't know, what does famous mean?
Are you famous now?

11. What is your mom really good at?
Taking care of us.
Painting ( I am??!!)

12. What is your mom not very good at?
Nothing - that answer won a lot of brownie points!
Hard things.

13. What does your mom do for a job?
Takes care of us.
Cleaning up.

14.What is your mom's favorite food?
Blueberries
Pizza (nope, not really)

15.What makes you proud of your mom?
She can do lots.
She's nice.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Little Red Riding Hood :pmp:
Lightening McQueen

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Make crafts
Help clean up :rofl:

18. How are you and your mom the same?
We both blink ( :pmp: I think this was my favourite answer)
She's funny - just like me

19. How are you and your mom different?
She does big things and I do small things.
Mommy has a computer but I don't.

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Cause she likes me
Cause she loves me to the moon and back

21. What does your mom like most about you?
That I can show her my tricks.
She likes all of me

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Wellllll...I have 2 answers - can I have 2 answers?? One is to Grandma and Grandpa's house and the other one is scrapbooking
To Walmart :pmp:

Monday, March 2, 2009

Sketch of the Week March 2 - 8

Holy mokers is my TO DO pile ever getting big.... I am feeling the need for a 2 page layout. That used to be all I ever did but somehow jumped over to the 1 page/1 photo train and need to mix it up a little. If you aren't a 2 page kinda scrapper, feel free to create 2 separate layouts or just pick the one side that appeals to you the most! I will try to get to posting some layouts later tonight and get a new technique up tomorrow...notice that I said try tho! I am hoping to get some catching up done because we crazy gals are doing another online crop over at A PILE OF SCRAP forums on this Saturday - come join in the fun!!