scrapfreakintastic!

New Class and some sentimental stuff...

2011-11-14T19:15:00.001-08:00

Hope you are all having a good start to your week. Here in lovely Alberta, we are in the midst of our first snowfall of the season... you know the day where traffic is ridiculous because all the people who drive for half of the year in snow suddenly forget how to do it? Yeah... that day....

We are finally all healthy in this house. My daughter that had pneumonia also tried to tell me she had an earache while she was on antibiotics and this silly momma tried to tell her that wasn't possible.... WRONG! Turns out her ear was badly infected and she actually burst her eardrum :( Another round of antibiotics and we finally seem to be back on the normal track - whew!

I have been busy busy busy creating and actually really enjoying it! I have a star wreath class coming up at Creative Scrapbooks on Monday November 21st. Spots are limited so make sure you sign up quick!

Here is a sneak peek for you...

It is full of sparkle (which the picture doesn't show very well) and I love the vintage look of it... Hope you can join me!

And I have to send a very special thank you out to a lady named Malynda. While we were at Remembrance Day ceremonies on Friday, she had asked to step in front of us to take photos of her daughter who was with the Girl Guide group. When I could see that she had also captured my daughter in her photo, I asked her if she would mind emailing me the photos. I quickly scribbled my email address down and hoped for the best.... and today received some awesome photos from her!

To be honest, I didn't take my camera as I have a really hard time with Remembrance Day... This is my daughter's first year in Girl Guides and I felt nervous for her to attend the ceremonies... because I am a MESS when it comes to soldiers and war and .... all of it.

We met up with a friend and my first words to her were a warning... "I WILL cry" I told her.

I was pretty good until the Last Post was played on the bugle...

and then I sobbed....

My heart breaks for military families - I have no idea how they do it. They send their loved ones off and never know if they will come home. Or maybe they come home but are never the same....

My grandfather served in the war and never really talked about it with us. I often wondered how my grandmother handled it... a newborn baby, living in a new place... and her husband in another part of the world serving his country. In the days of no emails and probably no phone calls either...

As I sat next to an amazing family during the ceremony, I overheard a man about my age ask his elderly mother if she had brought a chair. When she mentioned that she had forgotten it, I quickly told them I would run to my vehicle and bring her one. I admit it, I LOVE elderly people.... I spent much of the ceremony admiring this woman and the stream of family that continued to arrive during the 2 and a half hours.... When I spoke with her, she told me that all of her family came every year (from near and far) to honour her husband who had served. I felt honoured to speak with her... and when her family was the last one to lay a wreath in honour of her husband, I cried even more.

I am so proud of my children who were very serious with their questions and their respect.

God Bless every single person who has ever served or loved someone who served -

and thank you for your sacrifices.

Happy Halloween Eve!

2011-10-30T19:23:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post tonight as we are scrambling to be ready for everything tomorrow! My daughter is on the mend so thank you everyone for your well wishes :) We spent most of the day today making treats to take to school tomorrow. Check out these cool eyeballs!

And when I say "day"... I'm not really exaggerating that much because we ended up making 80 of them!

Other than that, I have been brushing out wigs, planning my face painting and .... hoping for a day that isn't too cold! Stay tuned for the costume pics tomorrow!

And thanks to everyone for the nice comments on the giveaway post! Thanks to random.org, I have a winner!!

So Erin - please send me your address to icecheeks@yahoo.com and I will send you your prize!

Wanna Peek?

2011-10-25T21:45:00.000-07:00

DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE GIVEAWAY BELOW!!! Go here and leave me a comment for some goodies!

So if you aren't on Pinterest.... I'm not sure whether I feel sorry for you or happy for you... because I am ADDICTED to the freakin site and it keeps me awake for hours! A friend had a baby last month and when I found this, I was dying to make one. So today, I went out and bought all the goodies and made this...

Isn't it CUTE?!!!!
And speaking of cute... check out my class at Creative Scrapbooks on Thursday:

This is a really unique mini album to celebrate the exciting new arrival of a brand new baby! Whether you are expecting or you want to give it away as a gift, it is perfect for recording all the milestones in a new baby's life! A few spots are left so call the store if you are interested!

Other than that, I am tending to my daughter who was just diagnosed with pneumonia tonight... so if you have a sec, please send her some good wishes! Have a great week everyone!

A Whole Lotta Classes Goin On!.. AND A GIVEAWAY!!!!

2011-10-13T14:20:00.000-07:00

Yep, classes are going crazy.... T'is the season I suppose but yikes, it is hard to keep up sometimes! I spent two hours cleaning off the top... JUST the top... of my scrap table because it was getting to the point where I could only see the two front corners of it! If you live close, I have the following classes at Creative Scrapbooks coming up:

Monday Oct 17th - Glitter Christmas Card Class - FULL

Sunday Oct 23rd - Mistables Frame Class

Thursday Oct 27th - Baby Mini Album

(picture to come soon!)

Tuesday Nov 1 - Advanced Copics

Sunday Nov 6th - Cardinal Christmas Watercolour Card Class

Monday November 21st - Star Wreath Class

Tuesday November 22nd - Beginner Copics

Tuesday November 29th - Advanced Copics

Yowza huh?

Oh... and if you live in Lloydminster, I am there this weekend to teach Copics and Alcohol inks at a retreat with Scrapbook Studio! I feel very honoured to have been ask to come join Jackie, Shauna and the rest of the gals ... and I hear there are very few spots left open if you are looking for some fun!

Last month, we did monochromatic colouring with Advanced Copics and I have to admit that they are some of my favourite cards to date. They look easy but it is a bit tricky colouring with unusual colours! I realized that I have 2 of the same stamp so... tell me which card is your favourite and one lucky commenter will win that stamp (and maybe some other goodies from the stuff that I cleared of my scrap table)!

SEPIA - (warm grays)

BLACK AND WHITE

SEPIA (brown tones)

Contest will close on October 28th!

Sadly, summer has come to an end...

2011-09-26T10:42:00.000-07:00

Sigh..........

Yep, it's true, summer has come to an end. We spent a fabulous 2 weeks on holidays in BC - Kamloops, the middle of nowhere, Whister, Vancouver and Vancouver Island. Each year, it get's harder and harder to leave "home" (what BC will always be to me even though I have lived here for 12+ years) and come back to Alberta. I am not quite back into the swing of things but hoping this week will allow me to catch up on housecleaning and class prep!

So, without further adieu, please enjoy some of my favourite pictures from our holidays this year... and stay tuned for upcoming class details!

Danika giving Grayson a smooch goodbye - the boys all went horseback riding while her and I hung out with this pretty little thing...

Her name was Mia and she was so sweet. Danika fed her a carrot and they became the best of friends... she followed us everywhere!

Pavilion Lake- the prettiest lake in the middle of nowhere. They have these neat little formations in them that have NASA and UBC scratching their heads and studying them as they apparently represent some of the earliest life forms on ancient Earth.

I wish I could tell you the name of this place....it was a rest stop on the way to Whistler and it as stunningly beautiful. But, I neglected to see a sign with the name of it... Google and I will let you know when we find it out!

The three amigos as the same rest stop - the sun was glaringly bright, hence the squinty eyes, but still beautiful!

Grayson riding his bike at the bike park in Whistler. He learned how to ride without training wheels while on the trip and it's all I can do to get him to walk now as he wants to ride everywhere!

The Olympic rings at night in Whistler. We ventured down to the Village late one night for ice cream and it was crazy busy with a free concert going on but I still managed to sneak a picture!

Spencer learned how to ride the quad this year at Mom and Dad's... all by himself... Momma got a little teary eyed realizing how fast he is growing up! He only crashed once...into Grandpa's fence...but shhhhhhhhhh.. we didn't tell!

Sunset in BC - do I need to say anything else?

My ever so serious Dad..... good thing he doesn't have a clue about blogs and such or I may just get in trouble for this one!

That's it for now... hope you all have a fabulous week!

How Dumb Am I?

2011-08-02T16:05:00.000-07:00

Or how to enjoy your summer....

First off, when you think you have the flu, and a stinkin fever that lasts way too many days, take heed of your friends' advice and go see the doctor. Because if you are a stubborn fool and ignore all smart advice, by the time you get to the doctor, you think you may be dying from the pain. Turns out it was a kidney infection but I am still not feeling up to par quite yet.

The good news is that I did manage to teach a Copic class and also make it out to the beach yesterday! I haven't put Copic cards on here for ages but thought I would share the three that we did this week in our advanced class - our focus was on backgrounds and we had a really great time. I have to admit that I really do love teaching Copics still... every class is different and people just love to colour - just like me!

Here are the three that we did:

These are all made with stamps from my new fave company, LaLaLand Crafts.
I just love colouring their images! This month's advanced class will be focusing on skin if you want to come play!

Busy Busy Busy!

2011-06-20T14:18:00.000-07:00

Oh how I long for the lazy days of summer!!! Or maybe it is the sun I am longing for as it has been raining here for what feels like forever!

Just a quick post today to tell you all to have a peek over to the right hand side there and see my flashy new Copic button! I have an awesome boss at Creative Scrapbooks and she sent me to the very first Intermediate Copic Certification Course (in Canada) this past Saturday with the very lovely (and hugely talented) Sherrie Siemens.

We spent a lot of time colouring...so much so that my hand actually ached by the end of the class... and it was incredible! Sherrie did an incredible job and I came away feeling so inspired and just wanting to colour like crazy! I haven't been putting my Copics up here on the blog (long story so I will save you the details :) but think I might start again. It was a really nice getaway with my co-worker Michelle and I think we need to find more courses so we can do it again!

If you are in the Edmonton area, I have an Advanced Copics class at Creative Scrapbooks this Wednesday so come on out!

New Class... and strong hope!

2011-06-15T07:20:00.000-07:00

So I have a huge dilemma....
The Canucks did not win game 6 and we are headed for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals tonight...
the dilemma?
I HAVE A COPICS CLASS TONIGHT!
I think I could cry...
I love teaching Copics but this will be so hard tonight :(
Normally I have someone text me during the game but I just can't do it tonight...
I want to tape the game and watch it when I get home
or do I?
Such a dilemma.... sigh....but I will say this

And speaking of classes, this is my next class

It is a painter tray (from Tim Holtz's line) - I am so in love with these things that I can't make enough of them!! I did this one as generic as I could so that it could be used for Family photos or wedding photos or pretty much anything! It is jam packed with other Tim goodies and techniques galore! There are a few spots left so give the store a call (780-944-1441) and come out and play!

Hope you are all having a great week!!

What Makes Me Happy Wednesday

2011-05-25T16:17:00.000-07:00

Hello blog readers ... if you are still around, thanks so much! It has been a busy week around here... but no better day than today to make a "what makes me happy" post!

1. First off.... THIS makes me OH SO HAPPY!

This would be my Vancouver Canucks celebrating a goal... it is not the game-winning goal in double overtime last night that had me bawling like a baby (in happiness) but alas, it is celebrating a goal! Because I AM A CANUCKS FAN! I have been for as long as I can remember - and to be going to play for this

Makes me BEYOND happy!!! Go Canucks Go!

2. I am from Vancouver Island - and when people hear that, the first thing that I usually hear about is the rain. But believe it or not, I love the rain.... and miss it immensely! The only thing better than a good rainstorm is one that has lots of thunder and lightening to go with it!

3. New Tea - if I am having a quiet and gloomy day, I love treating myself to some new tea that I have never tried before. A good day is spent cuddled up with the kids and new tea :)

4. Hot showers - I love making the shower so hot that I have to work myself into it! And once in a while I treat myself and stay in that burning hot shower until the hot water tank empties itself! Now if only I had that fabulous rain showerhead to go with it!

5. And you, Trevor Linden... you still make me happy! I'm not sure what made me cry harder - when you were traded from Vancouver in 98 or when you retired in 08. You were an amazing leader, team player and humanitarian - an inspiration to many. And now that the Canucks are headed to the Cup finals, I wonder where you are and if you are as glued to the tv as I am!

I would post more but need to get my butt in gear for a Copic class this evening... thank goodness the Canucks have the night off! Have a great week everyone!

10 Things Tuesday

2011-05-17T15:54:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot it was Tuesday today! And I am needing to write a happy list ... just to remind myself that all is well :)

Today's 10 things are from Pinterest! If you haven't caught on to this crazy site, I warn you that it can be very addictive! I have always been a blog surfer... clicking and clicking and clicking and finding the coolest things... well this is basically a website based on what people like - if you like something, you "pin" it to your board... and you can look at other people's boards too! I hadn't caught onto the craze until I realized that I was getting all these people visiting my blog from there - all because of this post that I did about my 10 favourite childhood games and someone "pinned" the photo that I used!

So here are some of my favourite pins - be sure to click on the links under the photos to check them out!:

STICK WREATH

AFFIRMATION STONES

CREPE PAPER FLOWERS

TREASURE JARS

WASHER ART
(wouldn't this look awesome in a boy's room... all grunged out?!)

HEARTS ON CANVAS

RUFFLE APRONS

OLD WINDOW ART

KIDS' WALL ART DISPLAY
(can I hear a BRILLIANT?!!!)

HOUSE ART
which I am IN LOVE with... simply beautiful!

Please share your pin boards with me too!!

Haven't Posted These in a While!

2011-05-13T16:28:00.003-07:00

Some of my newerish (and yes that is a word!) and favourite layouts!!

Hoping to get some more done tonight... maybe...lol. Have a great weekend!

**Edited** - note to self, check email before blogging!!

What Makes Me Happy Wednesday

2011-05-11T08:35:00.000-07:00

Oh it's a beautiful day here - supposed be 24 here today... Summer is on it's way!! I am doing a quick post because my parents are on their way for our yearly visit and I need to be cleaning!!

5 things that are making me happy today:

1. My Mom and Dad will be here sometime today - if you had told me 15 years ago that I would have the relationship that I have with my mom, I would have probably said some not so nice words. But I love that I have matured and she has changed some too and we respect and admire each other. I have always been a Daddy's girl... and it's helpful that he likes to ask me for a todo list while he is here! I love that they will get to be here for G's birthday this year - an extra treat!

2. Sprinklers - I am hoping it will be warm enough today to pull out the sprinkler. There is something about watching the kids run through it with reckless abandon that just makes me smile. I have to admit that I love it when they make me hold their hand and do it too!

3. Vicki Chrisman's blog - Appropriately titled "This art that makes me happy"! And it does - go check her out... especially THIS POST if you are looking for some crazy inspiration!

4. Sarah - Sarah is a friend that I made in bloggy land... turns out we actually live very close to each other and we have met up a few times. If you read her blog (she actually has two) you can't help but catch part of her positive attitude. Sarah was the first person to come back to my long neglected blog (and send me a nice email to check up on me!) This is our year Sarah - we WILL meet up at a park this year!

5. A clean floor - I would show you a picture but I haven't done it yet! I love the look, smell and feel of a newly washed floor... so I am going off to do it!

Have a great day! DON'T FORGET TO ENTER FOR THE BLOG CANDY GIVEAWAY HERE!

10 Things Tuesday

2011-05-10T07:37:00.000-07:00

Today's list is comprised of 10 of my favourite films - I don't get to see many movies lately so a lot of them are older... but goodies none the less!

1. To Kill a Mockingbird - Probably my most favourite book ever written and happy to say that I enjoy the movie even more! I actually really wanted to name my daughter Harper after the author Harper Lee but didn't win that argument!

2. Robin Hood Prince of Thieves with Kevin Costner - I used to have this huge crush on Kevin Costner and this movie sealed it for me! Favourite line in the movie is when the sheriff says he will cut out Robin Hood's heart with a spoon... because it would hurt more than an axe!

3. A Knight's Tale with Heath Ledger - admittedly another actor I had a crush on and was very sad when he died... but I loved the whole renaissance stuff and the actor that plays Wat in the movie (I just googled, his name is Alan Tudyk) was very funny!

4. Big Fish - if you haven't seen this movie, it is super hard to explain... it is basically about a man who's father is dying and he grew up with his father telling him all these wild and crazy stories. The man is reliving the stories and learning whether they were true stories or just "fish" tales. Ewan MacGregor (no crush there) is exceptional in it.

5. Good Will Hunting - okay...another crush... on Ben Affleck this time.... This is my "glue" movie - you know the kind where if you see it on tv, you are glued to it and suddenly an hour has passed and you haven't moved? I have seen this movie so many times I can't count but I still could watch it again and again and again.

6. Ratatouille - My newest favourite Disney film - triple love it! Unfortunately it is not my kids most favourite one so I don't get to see it enough!

7. Gran Torino - not a huge Clint Eastwood film but this is an incredibly powerful film and his is amazing in it.

8. The Money Pit - oldie but a goodie. Seeing Tom Hank stuck in the carpet in the hole in the floor cracks me right up. EVERY TIME!

9. Juno - LOVED this!!! Ellen Page is incredible and I really look forward to more from her (plus it's a bonus she's Canadian!)

10. On Golden Pond - I watched this when I was maybe 11 or 12... and it has always pulled at my heartstrings. I haven't watched it in years but when I think of my favourite movies, it always comes back... I would like to see it again to see if I still love it as much as I think I do!

That's it folks - please share your list with me too! Have a great week and don't forget about the BLOG CANDY GIVEAWAY BELOW!

Look - it's back!!

2011-05-09T06:29:00.000-07:00

It sure feels good to be blogging again! I was sitting avoiding some other work last night and actually did up a SOTW! Yep, I really did!

See? A real sketch! And that pretty background paper is from Cosmo Cricket's new line Odds & Ends... it hasn't shipped yet but I will be watching for it as I love the look!
And...to thank those of you who nicely nudged me back into blogging.... a little RAK to give away! If you leave me a comment, you will get a ticket entered into a draw for a goody bag (I will take a pic later today and post) ! If you do the SOTW, leave me a comment where to find it (or send me an email at icecheeks@yahoo.com) and you can get another entry. And... if you're new to my blog and sign up as a follower, you will get another entry! Don't worry, if you're already a follower, I will give a ticket too! Deadline for entry is 11 pm, Sunday May 15th!

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-08T15:33:00.000-07:00

Today I celebrate the best gift ever given to me - my three beautiful children. As hard as life can be, these 3 make everything worth it. I don't know where I would be without early morning snuggles, bone crushing hugs, sloppy wet kisses and the best care-free conversations in the world. Thank you to Bean, BooBoo and Stink for making me a Mom - I love you to the moon and back!

JELLY (BEAN)

BOO (BOO)

(STINK) ERBELL

And Happy Mother's Day to those of you who are blessed with your own babies - be they 4 legged (and furry) or 2, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

PS - Check back tomorrow, I HAVE A SURPRISE!

Bear with Me

2011-05-05T13:58:00.000-07:00

Please?
I hadn't blogged in so long that I thought I would get all smart and give it a makeover... never do this when you have about 5000 other things to do on the same day!
Needless to say, after panicking that I had completely mucked things up, I think I am now happy with it until I can figure out how to move that little bit up at the top outta the trees!
And if you are desperately seeking a new makeover, I strongly suggest this fabulous post I found today!

http://mamaof3munchkins.blogspot.com/2009/05/cute-blog-templates.html

What Makes You Happy Wednesday

2011-05-05T10:57:00.001-07:00

This is my new Wednesday post - things that make me happy and hopefully you will share with me what makes you happy too!

This is what makes me happy.

Oh wait - you can't see anything? Right .... well about that..... There is supposed to be a picture of beautiful gerber daisies in that blank spot. Because getting flowers definitely makes me happy! I never get them and my friend Michelle was so thoughtful that she sent me some for my birthday and I took gorgeous photos of them.... GORGEOUS.... and then my son took my ds card for his Nintendo ds and..... ERASED ALL MY PHOTOS!!!!!! This does not make me happy :( but I am not going to dwell on it because this post is about what DOES make me happy. So please know that gerber daisies from an awesome friend really make me happy.

And a few other things that make me happy...

The Book of Awesome by Neil Pasricha - totally light reading but guaranteed to put a smile on your face!

Pedicures - I only do them about a few times in the summer ...and had my first one this week! My feet are so pretty and happy when they are rubbed and shaved and scrubbed and painted! I love that I can now take my daughter with me (she was the hit of the nail salon last week!) - the only thing that could make it better would be to have this

That, my friends, is deliciousness in a pretty glass bottle!!! Ogopogo's Lair Pinot Grigio by Prospect Wineries.... try it, you will like it!

And last but not least, I am hoping that this will also make me happy

Recuva

File Recovery

Accidentally deleted an important file? Lost something important when your computer crashed? No problem! Recuva recovers files deleted from your Windows computer, Recycle Bin, digital camera card, or MP3 player. And it's free!

HERE'S HOPING! HAVE A GREAT DAY!

10 Things Tuesday

2011-05-03T10:42:00.000-07:00

It's been a while hey? So let's do this one nice and easy and tell you about 10 things I would like to learn to do:

1. How to crochet from a pattern - I have known how to crochet for years but get kind of bored with only making blankets. My daughter got the cutest hat ever and I need to know how to make one!

2. How to make a great omelet. I suck at this... truly suck. Somehow my omelets always turn into scrambled eggs and not the wondrous cheesy concoctions that I love at Sunday brunch. A friend just told me the key is in using a smaller pan so I will attempt it and see if it helps at all.

3. How to play a guitar/violin. Probably won't ever happen but it is one of those things I would love to learn. I can play quite a few instruments but these 2 elude me.

4. How to say No to things I don’t really want to do. I just can't say no. I try... but I'm not very good at it. And I hate that.

5. How to make sushi. I love sushi... but not the raw kind.... and I see all those cool "make your own sushi" kits and think I could do it... maybe.

6. How to make my own wine - because I keep hearing everyone tell me about their wine-making experiences and I feel jealous!! I hope to make something that doesn't taste like nail polish remover like homemade wine I tasted years ago but I figure if I learn how to do it (and not home brew it in the bathtub) chances are good!

7. How to look after my heart better (emotionally, but physically too). I am on a new eating plan and working out and things are going good in that department.... emotionally needs some sort of plan tho too.

8. How to take really good photos with a professional camera. The slight hitch in that plan is the professional camera... but it will happen one day! For now, I will settle for my Kodak :)

9. To make this bracelet - http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2011/04/remake_it_soda_can_tab_belt_or.html because that is so cool! Hmmmm... but I don't have any pop cans......... stay tuned!

10. How to use an ereader - because I REALLLLLY want one of those darn things!

11. I forgot, I have a number eleven so today is actually 11 things Tuesday - I really want to figure out how to change my font to a way cooler one than Blogger lets me use. I have tried and tried but no luck as of yet.... if you have a cool font and an easier tutorial than the ones I have found, link me up!

That's it for now - have a happy Tuesday :)

Important Day

2011-05-02T07:40:00.000-07:00

Today is an IMPORTANT DAY! Go out and place your vote people! Canada needs to hear your voice - even if I may not agree with the party you vote for, your vote is still important! I just got back from dropping off kids at school and marking that little X on my piece of paper. .. and was a bit disappointed not to see more people at the voting station. Please get out and do your part!

And to wake up to the news that Osama Bin Laden is dead......... walking my son to the bus today, he saw the headline on the newspaper and asked who he was. It is so hard to explain how one man changed the lives of so many people... and not in a good way. While I find it hard to "celebrate" someone's death, I can't say that it isn't a good thing.... and finding the right words to say are really hard - so instead, I send you to read Stephanie Howell's blog... because she sums it up perfectly!

Have a great week!

Don't fall outta your chair....

2011-04-29T09:08:00.000-07:00

I am alive!
And yes, I do still scrapbook... and cardmake.... and create.

A lot has happened since I last posted - I will do my best to fill in but I will list a few highlights in the creative department....

1. Taking a class with TIM HOLTZ! He is an awesome teacher and it was even more fun to take it with some great friends. I also got to take some great classes with Graphic 45, Bo Bunny, Little Yellow Bicycle and much more!

2. Flying out to New Brunswick to join the APOS girls at a retreat and teach some classes. These girls are so much fun and it was an honour to join them. No sleep for 3 days almost did me in but it was the best time. Thanks Alissa again :)

3. Copics Copics Copics - I am teaching Copics like crazy. A beginner and advanced class every month and they are going great. Our store (Creative Scrapbooks) has a lot of new teachers and the classes are building like crazy. If you live in the area, don't miss out!

4. I just finished teaching my first online photo editing class through A PILE OF SCRAP!

We realize not everyone will have Photoshop - so one class will be Photo Editing with Photoshop ($30)
and one will be with a free program that I will provide you with links for the free download.($20).

These to lessons will teach you how to do the following:
Cropping a Photo
Changing a Photo to Black and White or Sepia
How to Use Text on your Photos
How to Use Photoshop Brushes
How to use Photo Masks
How to Eliminate Unwanted Objects from Your Photos
Focal Black and White (colouring parts of the photo but leaving the rest black and white)
How to Use Photoshop Actions
How to Use Photo Plugins
How to Create a Photo Collage
How to Brighten and Sharpen your Photos
How to Create and Place a Watermark on Your Photos

You will receive the 10 lessons in your email so that you can work at it on your own time. Only those that have paid for the class will have access to the information. The information will stay there for you to refer to after the class is done and I will do my best to answer any and all questions! If you are interested, please leave me a message and I will send you the info!

And that is it for now - but look out, I may go post crazy this week!

Friday Funnies with Grayson

2010-10-01T13:44:00.000-07:00

This was a longggggggggg week.... but thankful that Friday is here and for once, I am not working at all this weekend and have nothing major on the agenda! Sleeping in shall be rewarded tomorrow methinks!

Thought I would share with you a few funny things that happened this week... It seems as though my kids are currently obsessed with a few things - Danika is obsessed with Strawberry Shortcake, Spencer is obsessed with music, and Grayson seems obsessed with asking me about things that I did or didn't do when I was little - things like "did you cry when you got needles when you were a kid?" or "did you watch this show when you were a kid?" ...and he was horrified to discover that I only had one channel as a child and really only watched Mr Dressup, Friendly Giant, Hockey Night in Canada, and Wonderful World of Disney (I did leave out Dallas as I wasn't sure how to explain that show just yet). But the best one came yesterday - a while back we were talking about how my mom had a rule that we all had to move out after high school graduation. Yep, we were given about a week and then she happily helped pack our stuff and sent on our merry way. It wasn't a mean thing, we knew it was coming for our entire last year at home... it was supposed to teach us independence. However, when Grayson found out about it, he was quite traumatized by it. He constantly asks if I will "kick him out" when he turns 18 and if so, where will he live and yadda yadda yadda. Normally I deal well with these questions...up until yesterday.... We were playing at a park waiting for 2 of the kids to get out of playschool. I was having a nice little chat with a Grandmother at the park when suddenly, across the field, Grayson yells

"Hey Mom? Did you play at this park when you were a kid?"
"No honey, remember I didn't live here??"
"Oh right.... well where did you live?"
"At Grandma and Grandpa's house... remember?"

And as soon as I said the words, I felt myself holding my breath because I KNEW he was gonna say it....

"Oh, that's right... you lived there until she kicked you out, right?"

As I scrambled to explain it to the friendly Grandmother I almost died of embarrassment...

The other thing Grayson is currently loving is cooking shows. I wish we had the Food Network but I can't bring myself to spend so much money on a few extra channels so we settle for the odd show on CBC. He will sit quietly with me and ask me all kinds of questions about what they are doing/cooking/burning etc. So the other night, when Hell's Kitchen came on, he was drawn right into it. Now please understand that I would not normally let my child ever watch this show but since the other kids were upstairs playing and it was just him and I, I thought it would be a good time to explain to him how Gordon Ramsey didn't treat people very nicely and also enjoy cooking at the same time.

After watching about 3 minutes of it, Grayson asked me if the tv was broken. A bit puzzled, I asked why -

"why does it keep beeping Momma?"...

oh that. Well... that would be because they are beeping all the bad words that the mean man keeps saying.

"Ohhhhhhhhh... like the S word???"

(the S word btw, is "stupid" and a banned word in our house"). Yes honey, like the S word.

I no sooner get that out of my mouth and suddenly, we hear Gordon screaming at one of the poor chefs "get out of my kitchen you JACKASS" Ack!!!!!!!!! No beeps!!!!!!!!!!!! I gasped and Grayson quickly asked what the word meant.

"It's very bad word G... a word we don't say. It's like calling someone the S word, only 10 times as bad!"

"Oh... okay Momma, I won't say it"

Now flash forward to the next morning while we are all running around in our morning routine and somehow or other, Spencer did something to annoy G. Just as dayhome mommy has come into drop off dayhome girl, Grayson shouts

"JACKPOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I turn and look... ??? What Grayson???

JACKPOT!!!!!!... JACKPOT, JACKPOT, JACKPOT!!!!!!!!
(did my son suddenly develop Tourettes Syndrome overnight?!)

Before I could say a thing he quickly reminded me

"Remember when the mean cook said that on tv last night????"

Oh right.... jackPOT. Yep, I remember. But you aren't supposed to say ... ummm... jackPOT honey..... it's a bad word (seriously stifling hysterical laughter at this point).

Okay Momma, I won't say it.

So tell me.......... should I have corrected him?!

Hopefully that gave you a little giggle - have yourself a fabulous weekend1

10 Things Tuesday - Things that cheer me up

2010-09-28T20:48:00.000-07:00

So I am having a kinda poopy day.... well not really kind of, a full on poopy day. And so I did my best to cheer myself up and thought I would share 10 things that usually help me do that (and truthfully, I also asked some other friends to do the same so it might rub off on me too!)
So... here are my 10 things....

1. Glee -

yep, just call me a Gleek. It can still be sad sometimes... but it is a show that doesn't make me think too hard and often makes me sing along... So thanks to the wonderful writers who come up with crazy lines like "You wear more vests than the cast of Blossom" or "I don't brush my teeth. I rinse my mouth out with soda after I eat. I was pretty sure Dr Pepper was a dentist" ...

2. Reminiscing -

is there anything better?? Tomorrow is my friend Alissa's 10th anniversary so tonight, we chatted on the phone about how crazy it all was - the phone call on Monday night in which she asked myself and the roommate at the time which days we were off... when it was discovered we were both off on a Friday, a Friday the wedding was to take place. The crazy stagette where we discovered why Alissa really shouldn't drink (but what a truly hilarious discovery it was), the forgetting of the wedding dress clear across town and my insane drive to retrieve said dress, the rushing of the ceremony so that we could watch the very first ever Big Brother finale.... ahhhhhhhhh good times they were. Thanks for the chat dear friend :)

3. Spiced Pumpkin Lattes -

thank you Starbucks for the comfort of fall in a drink. Non fat, half sweet, extra hot if you please!

4. Favourite Photos -

There is nothing better than a favourite photo. I often look back through old files at my old pictures and they always seem to put a smile on my face. It may not be the perfect photo, it might even be blurry, but they always seems to cheer me up. So thanks to the brilliant person who invented digital cameras and made it that much easier for me look back at a whole wack of photos! This is a favourite from last week :)

5. Books -

whether it be a new book for me (just started The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo last night) or my most favourite...snuggling with my kids and reading their favourite (current fave is There's a Dragon Downstairs) reading just makes me forget my troubles and takes me to another world. I took a break from reading for a while and it feels good to be back so thank you to the many talented authors who can do that.

6. Cheese -

cheese is my comfort food. Hot, gooey, melted yummy cheese. I was smart and avoided the fridge downstairs tonight but I am not making any promises for tomorrow! Thank you to all the lovely cows who make cheese!

7. Bubble Baths -

take me away Calgon. Okay, so I have never used Calgon, but do have to say that my kids bubblegum/strawberry/fruit punch/whatever is sitting on the shelf works just lovely!! One day, I will have my own bubble bath but for now theirs does the trick just fine! Thank you kids for sharing so nicely! (PS did you notice the names of these?? How cool are they?)

8. Pajama Pants -

I don't ever wear them to bed or I would probably die from over heating but when I am having a poopy day, there is nothing better than putting them on and just being cozy. I am currently sitting in a lovely pair of penguin flannel jammy pants that Cheryl surprised me with on one of my trips to New Brunswick and they are C.O.M.F.Y.... and penguins always put a smile on my face! So thanks to Cheryl for my awesome jammies! (PS, while these are cool, the ones that Cheryl made totally outdo these!)

9. My Kids -

even though they can drive me crazy... and today one of them came home with the first ever notice from the Principal about misbehaving... my kids cheer me up. Their snuggles can melt away my blues and their kisses can make my heart swell with love. Thank you to God for 3 amazing blessings in my life. (and this pic is about 2 years old but one of my faves!)

10. Did you see yesterday's post? Because that song just does it for me. And so thanks to Meg for finding the file and sharing it with me - you rock!!!!!!!!! Just in case, here it is again for you!

I WILL REWARD YOU!!!!!!! (oh and a SOTW)

2010-09-27T19:22:00.000-07:00

Okay people out there in blogland, I NEED YOUR HELP!!!!

I stumbled across the most amazing song today and I NEED NEED NEED it on my Ipod!!! I have searched and searched and searched to no avail to find a download.... so I am offering up some sort of RAK for the first person to find me a download for this lovely song.... check out the video!!

Isn't it the greatest?! I am going to check with my son's music teacher tomorrow about teaching it to the kids - what a great message it is!!!

So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE send me a link if you can find one!!! I promise to send you goodies in return!

Oh and... in honour of my friend Michelle, this week's SOTW is all about polka dots! I must admit I have more polka dotted patterned paper than anything else...so Michelle's obsession is not just her own apparently!!!

Have a great week!

10 Things Tuesday - Weird Things I Know

2010-09-21T07:51:00.000-07:00

This one is a bit of a challenge for me...let's see if I really can think of 10 things!!

1. Starfish have eyes at the end of each of their legs - how weird is that? I only learned this thanks to dayhomeboys end of the year book from Kindergarten when his TA wrote that is something she learned. This summer we were at a festival that had some naturalist society people with all these tubs full of marine life and I was teaching my son this little tidbit...made me feel pretty darn cool when I even taught the naturalists this little ditty too!

2. 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12, 345, 678, 987, 654, 321 - Honest!! My math teacher in grade 4 taught me that and I have never forgotten it.... that and what a google was but somehow that didn't seem as weird to me.

3. A duck's quack cannot echo - not that I am a duck but this summer when we were at the lake for a holiday, we spent one day teaching the kids all about echoes. When a friend's dad told us this, we all spent the next half an hour trying to quack like a duck. Our quacks echoed but apparently if we were real ducks, they wouldn't. I'm sure the neighbours thought we had all lost our minds but luckily it was the middle of the day... which gave me some comfort in hoping that they didn't think we were drunken fools, only crazy parents.

4. And speaking of crazy parents.... no one can lick their elbow. I told this to my daughter one day and spent the next hour in hysterics while she tried...and tried...and tried. It was honestly one of the funniest things I have ever seen. And right about now, if you didn't already know this, you are trying to do it yourself or making someone else try it!!

5. If you wipe out your bathtub with a Bounce sheet you won't get a ring in the tub! Thanks to Alissa for this cool tidbit, I tried it out and worked like a charm!

6. I have no idea where I heard it but it's one of those things that sticks in your brain.... way back when, in Ancient Egypt (?) they used to brush their teeth with... wait for it... urine!! Bleckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!! And here I thought Crest was gross!

7. Peter Pan and 101 Dalmations are the only two Disney movies where someone has both parents and they don't get killed. This was discovered way back in University days...after a serious (yet somewhat drunken) discussion about Disney and how bad words appear in clouds in The Lion King and how parents always die or are dead. The crazy Disney fanatic informed me of this and now every time I watch a classic with my kids, that is the first thing I look for in the movie!

(and yes, this is not either one of those movies but does happen to be my new favourite!)

8. The human head weighs 8 pounds - yep... according to the kid in Jerry McGuire! I have no idea if it's true but for some reason I always remember this line... and then Tom Cruise tells him some stat about football and then he replies with "did you know my neighbour has three rabbits?" Yep... I loved that movie. Still makes me laugh.

9. Race Car spelled backwards is Race Car! When I can't sleep at nights, I do these dumb word games in my head and this one was a recent one! My stupid other game is finding 7 letter words and seeing how many 3 letter words I can make out of it.... insomnia does great things to my brain!

10. Griffin means "very wide" in Filipino. When I was pregnant with my oldest, I loved this name and had my heart set on it. Then when I told a mom that I had just met (who happened to be Filipino), her eyes got huge and she told me in broken English what it meant. So, hormonal me, went home and cried and vowed to find a different name. And now looking back at it, what a dumb thing that was! I loved the name and no one in my family would have known the Filipino meaning of it! Oh well, I now have a Spencer instead and I just can't picture him as a Griffin (although I really do still love the name!)

Whew..........that was tough! I am one of those people who normally rocks at Trivial Pursuit because I have all this useless trivia in my head...but trying to find 10 of them to write about today was tough!! Can you do it???

SOTW Sept 20-26 and a few other things...

2010-09-20T09:10:00.000-07:00

Hello!!!! Is this thing on??.....

I think I almost forgot how to log on to my poor old blog. Last week, I made a new best friend - his name is Buckley... if you haven't met him, be thankful....but when you need a friend, let me tell you that you won't find a better one... he looks just like this:

And let me also tell you that the pillow that my Momma sent home with me in the summer was also well loved last week - but the good news is, I am back and raring to go!!

I did a quick sketch this week after a bunch of girls were chatting over on the forum about using your well-intended saved up scraps....

You know that big box that we all fill with leftovers and then somehow never use?? It's kind of like leftovers in my fridge - I can't bear to throw it out but then getting around to using it just seems like it's never what I'm wanting... but my new rule is that I must use scraps to create cards so I will see how well it works for me. In the meantime, I am gonna do this sketch three times over this week (one for each of the kids) and see how different I can make each one look.
APOS has also started carrying a new brand of chipboard embellishments so Alissa decided to offer up a contest on both Facebook and the Forum - they aren't in the online store just yet but if you're lucky enough to be able to get some in your hands, be sure to enter!!
I am off to teach another Copic class tonight - this time it is a nice little class so it should go a lot quicker than normal! I have some more exciting Copic news to share.... as soon as I get all the details!!
Have a great week!!

10 THINGS TUESDAY - PreWinter Wish List

2010-09-07T18:32:00.000-07:00

It has been miserably cold this week - we even saw our breath this morning!! And so, sadly I must admit that fall is on its way...but I am not yet ready to think of winter...other than the things that I want to get done before winter hits!

Camp - we only managed to get 2 camping nights in this summer...not super successful ones at that but still, I must be a sucker for punishment as I want to try it one more time before I am ready to put the gear away for the rest of the year. However, I do need the weather to co-operate a teeny tiny bit.... anyone know how to do an Indian Summer dance??
Clothing Clean Out - ugh.....I so do not enjoy this job but I am in serious need of a clean out of the kids clothes. This year, I will have Tuesday afternoons all to myself (!!!) so I am hoping to tackle that somehow.
Declutter the Toyboxes/Downstairs - The kids are finally getting old enough that most of the toys can move to the upstairs level... but the job seems a bit overwhelming at times and I just need a swift kick in the rear to get it started!
Paint Danika's room - in the softest shade of lime green.... the colour that I can't seem to find in any google searches! I have been wavering about doing it for the last 2 years but have decided this is the year!
Get Grayson's Training Wheels Off ... again...because we weren't too successful the last time and somehow he suckered me into putting them back on again. And I really want to get some more good bike rides in!
Win the Lottery - you know I had to put it in there...but if God is thinking that he can't grant me that until after winter hits, I'm good with that too!!
Take down the blinds and put up curtains - grrrr I hate those stupid cheap blinds...a lot. I think Ikea is calling me!
Family Pictures - did I just say that?? Hmmm...weird...I actually mean it! I think it is time to get pictures of the kids AND me..... honest!
Find a Good Hiking Spot - there has to be one somewhere in the city? One that won't kill me or the kids but still be a challenge?? If you know of one, please tell me!
Figure out Life - simple as that. Simple.... right?

JUMP RIGHT IN

2010-09-03T13:29:00.001-07:00

Ahhhh summer, how I miss you already. We got back from holidays about midnight on Monday, spent Tuesday running around like a chicken with my head cut off and then got my oldest off for his first day of school on Wednesday.

So much to share...

our holidays started out not so well when my Mom fell and broke her hip, but it ended up with a fabulous week at a lake with some special friends.
APOS! got a new Inspiration Team and I am excited to see all the new changes coming down the line with that! Be sure to check out the blogs of the fabulously talented DIANA, MEG, TAMMY, CHERYL, VALERIE and BETHANY (who is working on a blog so stay tuned for the link!!)
And some new changes happening in my life that I am really happy about but just not ready to share quite yet!

Look for some online crops happening soon over on the APOS! forum - but in the meantime, enjoy a few of the vacation pictures!

10 Things Tuesday - What I Love About Summer

2010-08-10T15:21:00.000-07:00

In the middle of glorious weather here, I was inspired to write today's list about the 10 things I love about summer! It would be easy enough to say pretty much everything (minus the blood loss to those pesky mosquitoes) but I will get a bit more specific....

1. No socks!

I can go without socks and don't get weird looks about it. I hate socks...hate them. I only wear them in winter if I absolutely have to and often get weird looks for that. Once I get in the house, I can't get them off fast enough and so summer is true freedom for my always hot feet.

2. Reading Time

Im not sure what it is that makes me read more in the summer - maybe it's the fact that we are at the park pretty much every day and I need something to occupy my time. Now that the kids are getting older, I can actually sit and relax instead of constantly chasing kids and doing head counts. Oh and please note that adorable baby is not me...but could have been!

3. Road Trips

Oh how I love them! Little road trips to find a new spray park or even to check out the brand new Prehistoric Forest that just opened up (on the schedule for tomorrow). I love being able to pack up a picnic and head out.
4. Friend Time

It seems as though everyone's schedules calm down and I am far more likely to be able to meet up with friends during the summer. It may just be to meet up at the park but once in a while I get lucky and I even get to go to an adult movie...without kids!! Oh wait, not that kind of adult movie...I just mean one without the words Disney or Pixar involved.

5. Sun Tans

Why is it that once my skin turns that lovely shade of brown, I feel so much better? The funny suntan lines of my sandals or even my necklace feel comforting... although the white skin that isn't tanned could truly blind someone!

6. Salads and Fruit

My two favourite food groups and I love how easy it becomes in the summer time to make it a meal. We eat salads almost every night and can eat 4 or 5 different fruits and make it a meal. I truly think cherries and blueberries should be in season all year long - it would make me a very happy Momma!

7. Fans

I love fans...I find the constant noise comforting and love the feel of a cool breeze of one blowing at me. I have found that I sleep much better when the fans are on - but more because of the noise than the cooling off of them. Here in happy Alberta, we have a thunderstorm almost every night which really helps to cool things off but I still love the comfort of a fan. I hate when it starts to turn cold enough that the fans all get stowed away until next summer :(

8. Long Days

You may have just read that and wondered what I like about long days...but I like the long of it. I love waking up to a bright sunny morning and having it still be light out at 11 o'clock at night. Long days are the best.... especially knowing that soon winter will be here and the days get so short and it is pitch black dark out when we wake up... making it really hard to get out of your nice warm bed.

9. Water

Oh clean water, how I miss you... Being a BC girl, I came from the land where lakes were aplenty and CLEAN! C.L.E.A.N.
Not like the swamps in this province (ugh).... So instead we settle for spray parks. And those make me happy!

10. HOME

Yep, this is the true best part of summer. I get to go home. To family. To the ocean. To the mountains. To clean lakes. To awesome beaches. To the Island. To friends.
Home...
(PS I leave for this special place on Friday! No computer access for a while so catch ya on the flip side!)

10 Things Tuesday-Favourite Childhood Games

2010-07-21T07:48:00.000-07:00

I am a few hours short of making it on Tuesday...but I was a bit caught up in colouring...honest! I am prepping for my first Copic course this weekend and the colouring is a bit out of hand! And so without further adieu, here are 10 of my favourite childhood games.

RED ROVER

since we grew up without television (ok, I can't lie...we did have CBC... on cloudy days...), outdoor games happened a lot. We had a "Guest House" in the camp that we grew up in (it was for visiting bigwigs of the logging company) and it had a fabulous back yard that was the meeting place for all the kids. We spent hours playing Red Rover and British Bulldog - now that I am older, I don't really remember the difference...but basically it involved 2 teams and one person running like a madman trying to break through the chain of arms on the opposite team. I am amazed that no one ever broke an arm! Please note that I do not know those people in the picture...but since I wasn't a scrapbooker when I was 10, I had to rely on google to provide the image for me!

2. SORRY

Technically, we didn't own this game...but my Granny did. She would play this (or Yahtzee which was not my favourite) with us and do everything possibly to avoid "bonking" anyone elses men back to the home square. And when she did have to "bonk", she would repeat how truly sorry she was!

3. MILLE BOURNE (card game)

I have no idea where we ever got this game. I am the only one in my family who speaks French and this was a French card game... It was only ever played when we were on our boat (which was a lot of the time) while we were waiting to catch something. Somehow, we got this crazy rule that we couldn't eat until we caught something that we could keep (if it was too small or a dogfish, it didn't count)... so we spent a lot of time starving and a lot of time playing this game.

4. KING'S CORNERS (card game)

So yes, poor television deprived me usually spent the majority of the summer either at a cabin at a lake (let's be honest and call it a shack...running water came from a macgyver-like invention my dad rigged up to the creek, no electricity, and our toilet location changed depending on which bush was closest to the cabin without getting us in trouble for going too close!) or on our boat in the middle of the ocean. We played a lot of cards. A lot. But this one I usually only played with my Grampa C. He was good and would give a little cough when I was missing an opportunity and he loved to tease me when I got down to last my last card, he would pretend like he was going to say it first but always let me get away with it.

5. MASTERMIND

Remember this fun little game? Such a simple game but provided hours of fun...and I think in later years, they made a version with only black and white pegs and it was just as much fun!

6. DONKEY KONG by COLECO

I have no idea how we ever got so lucky as to get the Coleco when it first came out but I don't think you have ever seen 4 more excited kids in your life! Seriously! I can honestly only remember Donkey Kong so it is quite possible that was the only game we ever got for it but then again, my memory isn't the best lately. The difference between video games now and then is quite simply incredible...but the biggest difference I remember? We didn't sit for hours and play it, we sat as a family on a Friday night and played...as a family. And I still remember the little ditty that went with it!

7. TRAINS/FORTS

Okay so not really a game, but I sure spent a lot of time building forts. We would sneak dishes and books and pretty much anything we could get away with to make our fort more like a home. I seem to remember my mom going crazy about the broom missing until I decided to bring it back from the fort before I got caught! And we hit the motherload of all forts when we got brave enough to venture into the train yard and build a fort on an old train.... we were so cool!

8. TOWTRUCK

So you know how you get older and you think about things you did as a kid and wonder how you ever survived it?? Yeah...this is one of those games.
As a kid, pretty much everyone had dirt bikes. And I waited for the day till I was old enough to get one...and then my brother had to go and ruin it all by playing chicken with a friend, crashing and getting his finger cut off. Gone went my dreams of a dirt bike. I was not happy. But then a new girl moved to camp ( woohoo, we went from 3 girls my age to 4!!) and she had one. I got caught riding it once, got severely punished, and decided not to try that again... but then one day we got this brilliant idea that my rather long skipping rope would work really well to have her tow me on my pedal bike! Yeah... you see where this is going right?!
We tied up my hot red banana seat bike to her little dirt bikes and we rode around the back roads of camp (which is funny if you knew that camp was all back roads) thinking we were so smart.... My hair blowing in the wind, feeling the need for speed but yet I wasn't breaking the rules, I wasn't riding the dirt bike.... but gravel roads are not made for bicycles to be going that fast. The wipeout was spectacular - but how on earth was I going to explain the blood all over my body? No need...because as I lay on the ground bawling, my dad decided to drive down the back road and find his daughter caught up in a mess of gravel, blood and a bright pink skipping rope. Towtruck ended. And I vowed never to spank my child when they were bleeding.

9. BATTLESHIP

You sunk my battleship! I hated saying those words...this was one game I hated losing. Hated. So I got smart enough to figure out if I bent the pegs of the battleship just a little bit, I could actually get the battleship in on a diagonal...hence fooling anyone I played with! But it didn't take long for my brothers and sister to catch on. Looking back at it now, I don't think I ever knew that the battleships were war ships...wonder what I thought they were?

10. PET MANIA
Okay, so I made up the name for this game... because there wasn't really a name. I loved pets and loved doing anything with them. My friend Lianne loved dressing her cats up in doll cloths and I thought it was the coolest idea I had ever seen. Two problems with that though - I didn't have a cat and I hated dolls so didn't have those either. I once came home on the school bus with a cat in my backpack thinking that once my mom saw how cute it was she would let us keep it. Wrong.
So usually we borrowed whomever's pet we could - we played veterinarian, dress up, and somehow I even got the brilliant idea to do a pet parade. I think it only happened once because untrained pets (we lived in camp, who had a leash?!) should not be brought into close quarters with other untrained pets. But here for your viewing pleasure, is the picture of the famous Nimpkish Pet Parade in 1977 - can you figure out which one is me?!

10 Things Tuesday

2010-07-13T09:12:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I am trying to get back into the blogging thing...and so I thought I would try to do up some regular stuff (other than SOTW) and have been seeing a lot of other bloggers post about things they love... And so Tuesday's posts shall be all about 10 things - this week it is things I am currently loving! Join in the fun and do a post like this - make sure you leave me a link!!

10 THINGS I LOVE

Summer

I triple love summer - it is such a nice break in our routine and I love it. I am thankful this summer to be able to do this

as my one dayhome child usually arrives at about 930ish.... Although as a mom with 3 little ones, sleeping in never really happens but it sure feels good to lie in bed until I feel like getting up!

2. Starbucks Dark Cherry Mocha

Seriously yummy! I don't buy them all the time as they are $5.20 a pop but yummmmmmers!! Venti non-fat dark cherry mocha, less 1 pump (because it is a bit too sweet for me if not) , extra hot please - my daughter can recite this for me whenever I pull into the drive thru! And it doesn't help that there is one right beside Creative! Try it... trust me!

3. The Black Crowes - Shake Your Money Maker

Downloading music the other night and suddenly remembered how much I loved this album back in the day - it has suddenly taken Miranda Lambert's place on most played on my Ipod right now. She Talks To Angels makes me crank it up!

4. Asiago and Artichoke Dip from Safeway
Heaven in a little tub! My kids eat it faster than I do but be wary as there is enough garlic to scare away all past and and future vampires but wowsers is it yummy. No picture for you as we ate it all and I don't know who makes it but you can find it in the deli section at Safeway.

5. Bath and Body Works Mango Mandarin lotion

I am a lotion girl to start with but once summer hits, it seems like I am putting it on non-stop. And this bottle is my new favourite. It's non greasy and it smells so good that my daughter actually thought licking it might be a good idea....which it wasn't.

6. Echo Park Paper - A Walk in the Park
Now I know that most of you that know me are wondering if this is the wrong picture...because its not my typical style of paper but I love this line. I have a deep love for polka dots and so I think it started there but yep, I am loving it. I did a sample layout for the store so may try and get a picture of it to share. Echo Park is a new company and I look forward to more good stuff to come!

7. Myxer
So what the heck is Myxer? Well, when I finally broke down and got a new cell phone, it came with all these cool things that it could do, but I had no idea how to do them! Well as it turns out, most of those things cost money and I am too cheap to pay for it.....so a little searching led me to Myxer - which lets me create and upload ringtones and I think some other cool stuff too that I haven't yet tried out. For now, Micheal Buble sings to me but the cool thing is I can change it whenever I feel like...for free!

8. Bubble Shooter
This one is a love/hate relationship... I love playing this crazy addicting game but hate that I have yet to win it! I can thank Alissa for getting me into this game...often times we will be "chatting" on the phone while we are both playing it. I am determined to beat it...and who cares if I lack sleep because of it?!

9. Playing in the Rain

The weather here has been miserable. Yesterday my son had a birthday party on the other side of town and we got absolutely drenched just running to and from the van. As we were heading home, I told the kids that once we got home, I would run in and get the camera and they could play out in the rain. Something about it just makes me feel like a kid again and gives me warm fuzzies on the inside. I will always love a good rainstorm and hopefully so will my kids!

10. Glee

Yep, I am a Gleek. Even though the show is on hiatus for the summer, I still get excited when I see it's coming on...and I am not normally a rerun girl. I have all 3 soundtracks on the Ipod and personally think that
THIS VIDEO
rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Long live the 80's)

And that is my 10 loves...what are yours?!

Happy Weekend!

2010-07-09T08:28:00.001-07:00

It's here, it's here!!!
It has been a long week for some reason...but I shouldn't complain because soon enough I will complain about summer being at its end :(
A quick little post today with a few tidbits.

First off, check out the FREE FONTS! I am a bit of a font freak and I love finding good stuff like this - loving the Garden Shower Notes...thinking about cool things to do with those!

Second, help me wish the girls over at A PILE OF SCRAP! a fun time with Jen Starr this weekend! I am so envious that I am not there to play but looking forward to seeing pics and hearing all about it!

And just a quick blurb to let you know about upcoming events at Creative Scrapbooks

I have a crop on Friday July 16th from 6-12
I have an all weekend event on July 23-24th
I have a Copic markers class on August 11th
and I am planning a mother daughter crop sometime soon - stay tuned for details!
and there will be an upcoming summer sale!!!

And sad to say, no one left me any fun links on my last post :( Surely you must have some fun sites you visit?? Please share!

And the other stuff too....

2010-07-02T14:35:00.000-07:00

Hello, my name is Cori-Lyn and I am a blog addict.
I have been addicted for a while now.
And try as I might to not bookmark them, I just can't help myself.

I have 15 different categories for my bookmarked blogs - and I would tell you them but then you might get the idea that I was a little off my rocker....so let's just leave those up to your imagination. But today, I thought I would share some of my favourite blogs...but the non-scrappy ones! But I will forewarn you....they may or may not induce some of the following emotions:
1. Laughing so hard that you spew your morning coffee all over your monitor.
2. Panic - as you whip your head around (and get self-induced whiplash) to make sure that no one catches you reading a very politically incorrect post. And perhaps also when your children walk in while you are reading the posts and you are doing your very best to cover up some of the words.
3. Self pity that you are not as amazing as some of these bloggers seem to be. But that may be quickly replaced by desire to be a better person ...
4. Warm fuzzies - these come often when reading posts about babies or pets or kids or..... okay, I will just say it, Nienie....... but then again, her blog is unlike any other... trust me on that... she is an amazing individual with an amazing blog.

So enjoy my links and leave me more if you would be so kind!

Ashley - I don' think she even knows that I read her blog....she is fairly new to blogging but dang she can write!! She is actually family - but they up and moved so I haven't seen her in ages and am loving reading her blog...but she needs to post some more pics because her baby is growing way too fast!

The Meanest Mom - okay, I think it is seriously funny that one day I will be able to tell my children that this name has been taken and they need a new one for me.... but besides that, I love the blog too!

BHJ - warning about language and humor....lots and lots of humor...so much so that when he shut his old blog down, I stalked everyone I could think of to find his new blog.....

Twins for the Twins - I stumbled across this one day...simply by clicking "Next Blog" at the top of a Blogger blog...and wow. A surrogate mom who had two sets of twins for the same family - her blog is nothing but honest and heartfelt and.... wow.

Filth Wizardry - okay, so this one is crafty...but for playschoolers and... crazy crafty. Check out the post about the Tinkerbell house!

Metro Dad - funny dad wit... He took a bit of a break but it is good to see him back.

Sleep Talkin Man - wWARNING that there are a LOT OF SWEAR WORDS in here.... I actually saw this couple on some morning talk show and couldn't believe my ears. This man is a sleep talker and his wife tapes him and OH MY!!!

Crazyland - isn't the name enough?!

Henry the Frog - So his blog description said this "A lucky father of four, living the dream. Making readers laugh or roll their eyes since 2004" and it sucked me in!

Nienie - I mentioned her earlier but need to remind you to go read - she is nothing but pure inspiration.

And this is a smattering of my bookmarks - hop on over, have a little read and let me know what you think!!!
Have a great weekend!

Sketch of the Week June 28-July 4

2010-06-28T09:59:00.000-07:00

So I decided to do up a sketch this week mixing up old and new - vintage with funky.... I found a link to some amazingly beautiful vintage papers that are printable and I am feeling inspired by them - check them out here VINTAGE PAPERS aren't they beautiful?!!!
I am only doing a quick post today as we have a grade 1 year end party to attend today, a playgroup party to attend tomorrow and then our own little "It's the beginning of summer" party on Wednesday!!! I think I am more excited than my kids that school is out for the summer!!!
I am really hoping to get back to some scrapping as it feels like it has been way too long - let's hope this sketch inspires me too!! Have a marvelous Monday! Check back tomorrow for some cool links that I have been meaning to share!

Some Faves

2010-06-25T19:34:00.001-07:00

Hope you enjoy!

Ahhh...welcome to Beautiful BC (why thank you mr. heron)

My not so little 5 year old ... who normally doesn't sit so nice for the camera.

This bench on the seawall in Vancouver stopped me in my tracks. While everyone else was walking and not being so happy about the rain, I was thrilled...and barefoot...and loving every second of it. And then I saw the bench (and think that the lady that was sitting on it may have thought I was a little off my rocker)

One of the best parts about having some time to myself...getting the time to take pictures of nature until I finally got "the" shot.

Some of the amazing fruit at Granville Island - a feast for my eyes!

Hello Birdee!! Stay tuned for a layout to come with this little pic!

A little sparrow who befriended me (I think he only wanted me for my donair but I was okay with that)

My handsome S - who only has 2 days left of grade 1...and has had a great year. He has mastered French, reading and math; riding without training wheels; and is a very kind-hearted loving boy. I am really looking forward to spending more time with him over summer break as Mommy really misses him when he is at school every day!

My newest accessory......isn't it purty?!!!

DayhomeH and miss D in their new matching dresses....which somehow made them the snuggliest of friends!

Watching the boys run off...and still being snuggly friends.

And lastly, some cool shots taken at the spray park today...taking the time to play with the settings on the camera for a change!

Have yourselves a great weekend!!

I Need a Kick in the Pants.....

2010-06-25T08:43:00.000-07:00

To get back on the bloggy/scrappy train!

So much to do.......and somehow the blog gets to the bottom of the list :( And scrap...what is that again?? I feel like I haven't scrapped in ages and I miss it. I am hoping to do some this weekend so keep your fingers crossed!

And the blog...well, it was driving me crazy how the last template I installed wasn't working for everyone and so I avoided it...because I am an avoider....that's what I do!

So, after playing around yesterday, I ended up installing two different templates at the same time and ended up with this look - which I am kinda enjoying!

Things that I have been meaning to blog about and just haven't:

1. Went to Vancouver and took the Copic Course - what a fun day and I learned so much that I cannot wait to teach the classes! Note the pretty little new Copic Certified box that I can now keep up on the blog! I have to say that Sherrie Siemens was a great teacher - there is talk of an advanced Copic class and I am really hoping that she will offer it!

2. Went to Vancouver and simply had an amazing 4 days - time to myself, time with an amazing friend and his family, time with nature and ..........just a perfect weekend. I cannot wait to go home again this summer - the count is on!!

3. Had a friend suffer a tragic loss and watched in amazement to see what an incredibly strong woman she is - I was so thankful to know that her faith in God is helping her through this incredibly tough time.

4. I am trying to get some more camera time in - I seem to have been neglecting it lately but Vancouver gave me the time to really focus on me and it reminded me how much I love taking pictures. I got some great ones of my daughter and dayhome girl in their cute matching dresses as well as some really pretty nature ones in Vancouver so I will probably post them later.

5. School is almost done here for the year - only two more days!! (yes, we have to go back next week and do Monday and Tuesday...dumb!) G finished up playschool last week - we had a carnival on Thursday and then one of the moms invited us all over (yes, all 14 kids + their siblings + their mommies and one really brave dad! + the world's most amazing 4 year old playschool teacher!!..well she's not 4...but she teaches the 4 year old class...just needed to clarify that!) and we had an amazing afternoon. It really feels nice to have things slowing down a bit for the summer.... I love not having to rush around so much! Plus the exciting news that all 3 of my kids plus my one dayhome child will be in summer camp at the same time which leaves me with.......wait for it......... AN ENTIRE WEEK OF AFTERNOONS TO MYSELF!!!!!! One could get used to this alone time thing!!

6. I am ever so thankful for my Monday morning coffee ladies - it is a great way to start off my week and I enjoy each of them so very much. A true blessing :) I think we are all so very different in many ways but find that I learn so much from each of them. Looking forward to Tuesday morning park dates with them this summer!

7. And last but definitely not the least.......the winner of the scrappy contest that I posted. So four lovely ladies played along...... thanks Tammy, Marie, Pam and Dana! And the winner is......
Congrats Dana!!! I have sooooo many things that need to be sent out that way so I am vowing to have it done by Monday! Pinky Swear!

And that is it for now - I am going to post some pics later on tonight. Hope you come back and check it out!

I can't scrap - will you?!

2010-05-25T21:49:00.000-07:00

First off, if you are having a hard time reading my blog...like you get a big long list of other blogs and have to scroll thru 2 pages before you see my post, it's because I went and installed this beautiful new template. But little problem with it, it only seems to work in Firefox :( So if you know how I fix that, I would love some help!!!!

And now back to regularly scheduled programming....

Alright ladies.... here's the scoop!
So I am going away and will probably not scrap while I am away...so I thought maybe you could all scrap for me! I did up 3 SOTW (to catch up for the last bit!) and decided to throw them all to you at the same time.

The rules - simple - complete all three sketches by midnight (in whatever time zone you live in) Tuesday June 1st.
If you play along on the A PILE OF SCRAP! forum, upload them there.
If you aren't playing along there, YOU SHOULD BE!! but if not, please email them to me at icecheeks@yahoo.com
And then wait to see who the winner is!

Winner, you say? Yup, a winner!
There will be one of these

and some goodies from the scrap store that I get to visit while in Vancouver - but the rule for me is that I can only buy something that I can't buy at APOS or at my LSS that I work at!! And if for some reason, that scrap store hasn't yet opened in Vancouver, you will have to be satisfied with some kinda cool thing I find while I am roaming about (did I mention ALL BY MYSELF??!!!!).

And without further ado, here are the sketches!

Try out some doodles on your page!

And then use some of that notebook paper that I love.

And then ink it up for me!

Happy Scrapping - can't wait to see everyone's creations!

The last 3 weeks

2010-05-19T07:09:00.000-07:00

Have been a little busy around here....and so the first thing to get neglected is always the blog :( Sad but true.

I thought I would share a few pictures today to catch you up with what I've been up to and then try to get some regular blog goodies to share with you later this week (including some new techniques!).
So...... be prepared for the photo heavy post!

So we have been doing our fair share of this:

And then we had this to plan for

And then we have been doing our fair share of this too

Yep, the nice weather has hit!!!!! It was so beautiful here for the last two days - it made it hard to scrap and get my LOAD done. And if you have ever thought about doing LOAD in the past and thought you couldn't do it, I am so sorry that you missed out this round. There have been some AMAZING challenges put out by Lain that are making me step out of my inky/misted box and I am loving it!!!

I am a little sad that I don't know if I will be able to finish up because at the end of the month, I am doing this

and going here

So that I can learn how to colour!!!

Honest!! With these...

I am thrilled to be going out to take a Copic Marker certification course!!! I can't wait to learn all the cool tricks - have you seen what those puppies can do?!

And it is definitely a bonus to be going home - I won't make it to the Island but Vancouver is definitely part of my heart and home.

And to make it even cooler, I get to see a great friend that I haven't seen in way too long AND.... wait for it.....

I GET AN ENTIRE DAY ALL TO MYSELF!!!!!!!!!!!

Said friend has to work the first day I am there so I get to spend the day doing whatever it is that I wanna do!! No chasing kids, playing referee, making meals......nutthin!!

Although....... there is a brand new scrap store opening up very close to where I am staying... so I may go play for a bit there!

If you live in Vancouver, or have been recently, tell me what I need to add to my very long list of must-dos! I want to hear about the little things most people don't know about as I already have Granville Island and the Aquarium on the list!

And that, is my little update - hope you are all having a fabulous week!

Whew.....

2010-04-22T08:12:00.000-07:00

An appropriate title for a crazy last week or so!

I had a little ... okay...kinda big... birthday.
This was the first time that I was not really happy about aging...but I am learning to embrace it.
And the weekend of my birthday, I ended up working about 20 hours in 2 days - just in case I didn't feel old with the birthday, I thought I would add some exhaustion in the mix and see how that felt too!
And then there were a few deadlines thrown in for good measure......
but all turned out well.

And then last night, I read a blog post. Sometimes those bloggers out there really know how to capture every emotion they are feeling and put it into words. And she did....
and made me feel - really feel - her tremendous heartache and overwhelming sadness.
And I didn't sleep very well because I was also feeling kind of overwhelmed by it.
So this morning, I went to send her a message, but she already had a new post up...and the title of it?

Chasing Happiness.

wow.

If that isn't a kick in the pants? A reminder that tragedy is all around us but to pick yourself back up and carry on.

And I felt ridiculous for caring about things like turning 40 or
searching forever to find the right blog background
or about all the other ridiculous things too.
And so today, I am going to chase happiness and see where it takes me (maybe Vancouver?!)

and onto lighter things - here is the SOTW...
The challenge this week is to cut up your die-cut paper but still use all of it - a new favourite thing for me to do! I will post my layout later today :)

Please note that I am not sharing the link for the blog post - if you want it, please send me a message and I will send it privately to you.

DESIGN TEAM REVEAL AT A PILE OF SCRAP!

2010-04-06T12:45:00.001-07:00

We had our design team reveal at A PILE OF SCRAP! on Wednesday and once again, I was blown away by how talented the design team is!

We were all given a different colour of the Lush line by My Mind's Eye - gorgeous paper that comes in both patterned and flocked designs - and asked to create a mixed media mini-album.... and I love all the different ideas each scrappy gal came up with! I decided to do a mini-album called "Miss D. at 3 (and a half)" all about my baby girl. When I was done, I decided I really want to do one for each of my kids every year... so I am now halfway through another one!
I was thrilled to receive the red line and quickly discovered that Red Velvet Glimmer Mist goes with it beautifully - as did denim! Hope you enjoy it :)

THE COVER

I ended up cutting a pair of my son's brand new jeans that were way too short (and I couldn't find the receipt) and had saved them in the scrappy pile as I knew they would come to good use one day!) I made the flower out of tulle and some heat - will post how to make it later this week! And of course, you know I had to finish it off with a little Glimmer Mist!

FIRST PAGE

FIRST PAGE (with acrylic overlay)
We had done this with a Fancy Pants class that I took a while back - painted the outside edge of an acrylic/acetate overlay and put it over a full page photo - and I loved it. I took it a step further and stamped into the wet paint and removed the stamped image. Sorry about the sun shining in it... but it is great to say that the sun is shining here!

FIRST PAGE (just the photo)
Just a little bit of ink around the edges.

SECOND PAGE

SECOND PAGE (left)
This is some of the gorgeous flocked paper that comes with the line. I tried to do the whole album neat and clean but when I was done, just had to add the ink....because that is just me!
The ribbon is also from the line and the gems are from a Prima stamp that is used later in the album. I embossed the "Dream" right on the photo but be very careful if you do this as it is really easy to overheat and ruin your photo!

SECOND PAGE (right)
Done on denim that is over chipboard. I stitched the paper onto the denim before gluing it down to make it easier on my machine. The bling brads are also a part of the line- such amazing embellishments!

THIRD PAGE

THIRD PAGE (left)
My 6 year old son took this pic of my daughter and I, isn't he good with a camera?! The little chipboard piece is from Magenta and glimmer misted with Red Velvet. The brad is part of the line.

THIRD PAGE (right)
Done on an acetate/acrylic piece. The stitching is done by machine.

FOURTH PAGE

FOURTH PAGE (left)
Ugh...sorry the shadows are so bad on this picture. The was done so that you cannot see it from the front side of the acrylic piece. The ribbon is part of the line.

FOURTH PAGE (right)
One of my new favourite stamps from Magenta - I always thought of it for card-making but it went perfectly in this album. Of course I had to grunge it up... just a little...

FIFTH PAGE

FIFTH PAGE (left)
I like how this page looks, with the flocked images cut out from the paper but I just feel as though it needs a little something more...but I haven't figured out what just yet. It is hard to tell from the picture but there are splashes of glimmer mist on there too.

FIFTH PAGE (right)
A plain piece of chipboard glimmer misted out and stamped with a Heidi Swapp stamp.

LAST PAGE

LAST PAGE (left)
My favourite photo of my daughter - she was giggling and it just melts my heart this picture.... The background was stamped with a Prima stamp (LOVE it!) and the flower started off white before being met with more of that Red Velvet glimmer mist.
Oh and if you have noticed the Dymo labeller throughout my project, it is a new one called the Dymo Caption Maker that I got last week that I am loving! It has 3 different cartridges so you can do 3 different fonts and even has some doodles on it - hoping they come out with more!

And if you made it all the way to the end, thanks for looking! We will be running a little contest over on the forum all about mini-albums so hope you can come join us! Be sure to check out what Cheryl and Candace did with the green Lush and what Jen and Valerie did with the pink!

SOTW April 5-11, 2010

2010-04-05T19:30:00.000-07:00

What a fabulous week it was......... I love holidays!! I had a fantastic Spring Break with my kids with a few kid playdates and even an adult playdate thrown in for fun!

I had a fantastic all-day crop with some really fun ladies and even managed to get a few layouts done (a first for me!)
And...I finished up my Design Team reveal for A PILE OF SCRAP! and am quite pleased with it. I will take pics out in the beautiful sunshine and post tomorrow. We had a fabulous Easter - the Easter bunny was crazy enough to leave hockey sticks for the kids but so far so good!
And without further ado, here is the SOTW - happy creating!

Hurray for Holidays and a SOTW!

2010-03-30T13:42:00.001-07:00

Oh holidays, how I have missed you....
It is Spring Break here and the weather couldn't be better!! We spent the day at the park today and running some errands and it felt so good to be in capri pants and sandals! (although, I do have to admit that this is Alberta and I could be pulling out the snow pants by next week). Since the summer of 2008, I haven't had more than a day or two off in a row and it feels really great to sleep in, eat at irregular times and just see where the day takes us. I do miss my dayhome kidlets though so we are setting up some playdates and planning some fun.

For the SOTW and COTW this week, I basically did one sketch and then used it to make a smaller version for a card. I have really been doing a lot of one photo layouts lately so need to challenge myself to try to use a few more photos on a layout...hence this week's sketch!

A little take off from SOTW, but your challenge is to make a SQUARE card - so make it 4 x 4 or 3 x 3 .... just make it square!

Tune in tomorrow for our Design Team Reveal for APOS. I created a cool new flower and liked it so much that I made another one and glued it to my daughter's headband - here is a sneak peek!

And now I am off to go play out in the sunshine a bit more - have a great week!!

Wednesday Words (and a SOTW)

2010-03-17T11:21:00.001-07:00

A quick update and SOTW that I forgot to post on Monday.... I have no idea why I manage to do that so often?

Things are rolling along here - I have a canvas class next week at the LSS and a Glimmer and Distress class 2 weeks after that so all my deadlines have been met so far! I am working on a project for Mother's Day and finishing up my DT stuff for A PILE OF SCRAP! - look out for that one because we are really being challenged this month and I am going a little crazy!!! I even pulled out the sewing machine and the Crop-a-dile.... EEK!

Speaking of A PILE OF SCRAP!, the girls are having a retreat this weekend and it will be my first time not going :( I am surviving but sad to be missing out on the ridiculous amounts of fun that we all seem to have. They don't have internet access while they are at the retreat so I think I will have to liven up the forum a bit while a lot of them are away - come join in the fun!

And last but not least, 2 quick sketches using Cosmo Cricket's brand new "Garden Variety" line... use up your scraps!!

SKETCH OF THE WEEK:

CARD OF THE WEEK:
And that is my update - have yourselves a fabulous week!

I am not an artist... or am I?!

2010-03-04T08:17:00.000-08:00

So after reading the title, you are probably wondering what on earth this picture has to do with it? Well.... it's a little something like this....

When I first started scrapping, I was a matchy-matchy/everything must be perfectly straight kinda girl. Looking back at those layouts, I still love them but boy are they different from my style now! I don't find that I have a dedicated style but I truly do enjoy pulling out the ink and the mist and playing with messy stuff until I am happy. Some people seem to think I am crazy when I do it.....but meeting Liz Hicks at a retailer's event made me realize that it is okay. Perfectly okay.

And thenI was scrapping last week with some ladies who love to cut stuff out - which I detest doing - and it made me think about it even more. I detest cutting out because it is meticulous and time-consuming....although I think it is pretty, I just don't like it....which is kind of funny as I will spend hours sanding and painting and misting and inking and love the process. The messier the better for me! I have always said that I am not an artist - I could not draw to save my life - but I think I am finding more and more that I love the artistic side of scrapbooking. The part where I long to create something that looks totally different every time and it excites me even more when it turns out how I pictured it in my head.

And then this morning I read Stephanie's post today and it hit home even more for me - how it won't matter 10 years from now if I used the same colour mist on projects, or if it was the latest and greatest punch or whatever....I am simply striving to preserve my memories. And maybe they aren't all happy memories either - like the few layouts that I did for LOAD that I am too afraid to share with others. But I am feeling that it is time for me to create MY album - one for me...one that has sad and happy memories. One that I keep for me. Because I sure feel like a weight has been lifted after doing one of those scarier layouts - it is an incredible release this scrapbooking thing. Then I read what Pinky posted this morning that is gut-wrenchingly honest layout ....... it brought me to tears - for her bravery for doing the layout, not only posting it. If that isn't a creative release, I don't know what is.

So tonight I am going to clean up the scrappy place and pull out the ink and the mist and the scraper and the sandpaper and whatever other messy stuff I can find and CREATE! And I am going to totally enjoy the process!

Oh ... and if you're wondering why Liz's hands look like that? It's because she so kindly let us paint her hands with Tattered Angel's new Glimmer Glam so that she could "autograph" this for me! YOU ROCK LIZ!

SOTW Mar 1 - 7, 2010

2010-03-04T08:04:00.000-08:00

Sorry this is late this week - I did post it over on the forum but forgot to post here....

So......... I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!! I finished up LOAD with Lain - 28 days of layouts!! This time went a lot more smoothly than last time and I think next time will go even better! I tried super hard to scrap old pictures and use old products and I think I did pretty well! There will be another LOAD in May and I can't wait for it! This time around there were 147 of us and it was a great group - lots of inspiration and support and a whole lot of fun.
So this was my very last layout for LOAD - a digi one as my scrap table is in serious need of a cleanup. I did the layout first and then took off the photo, title and the journaling and used it for SOTW - hope you enjoy it!

SOTW Feb 23-March 1, 2010 and an update!

2010-02-23T22:31:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe how much scrapping one can squish into 3 (technically 4) days!

I spent the weekend with Alissa and Luanna from A PILE OF SCRAP! and Jane (a coworker from Creative Scrapbooks) at a retailer's event at Memories Wholesale here in Edmonton.
I was thrilled to be able to see and play with some amazing new products from Bo Bunny, American Crafts, 7 Gypsies, Ranger, Tattered Angels and many, many many more!! There were some incredible instructors there - Liz Hicks from Tattered Angels, Jen Starr from Ranger, Vicki Boutin who did the most beautiful 7 Gypsies mini album with us and many more - I will post some photos as soon as I get them!
It was an extremely fun weekend where I learned a lot and can't wait to share it in some upcoming classes!
I was super tired from the weekend but it was well worth it - and then last night had an alcohol inks class and even had more fun! A great group of ladies who made it fun to teach! And I am really looking forward to teaching a canvas class next month...the good news being it is already up in the store! (I am usually a bit behind in getting up my classes so I think this made my boss even happier than it made me!)
I am also happy to say that I am still playing along over at LOAD - where the inspiration is the best part of it all! I am already looking forward to the next one where I am vowing to do NO DIGI LAYOUTS!!!! However, I did do a digi today.......so that I could use it as SOTW too - and here it is!
And my layout...
And if last weekend wasn't enough....Creative is having an all weekend event this weekend and I am working the Saturday - thank goodness the kids have no school on Thursday and Friday because I am really looking forward to some Mommy/kidlet time!
Have yourselves a great week!

FEBRUARY DESIGN TEAM REVEAL AT APOS!

2010-02-16T17:29:00.001-08:00

Well nothing like leaving everything to the last minute.... It has been a crazy busy hectic time around here, thank goodness for scrapbooking to take my mind off of things!

This month, the Design Team at A PILE OF SCRAP! all got some different Valentine's lines and decided we wanted to do our reveal a bit early to send out some inspiration for those looking to create a unique gift for the big day. I was thrilled to receive My Mind's Eye's "Irresistable" line - a great mix of classic and funky! I will apologize in advance for some of the pics as my camera batteries were dying and the lighting is not the best in my scrap area - I am hoping to retake some of the pics at some point. I ended up with 2 cards and 4 layouts and still have some paper left to create more if I can squeeze it in.

First up, I decided to play with my new Spellbinder's dies and some glimmer mist/stamps to alter a white flower.
I adore this stamp! And although it looks like holes around the scallop in the picture it is actually black bling. I ended up giving this card away to my son's little friend who is moving next week.

Then I did a little card that was inspired by a layout at LOAD that I absolutely adored. This is a great card for scraps that are left sitting in your scrap area!
This is her layout (her name is Errlee on LOAD but she doesn't have a blog as of yet)

And here is my card:

This layout came together very quickly
BLISS IS FOUND
Oh those Jenny Bowlin bingo cards.... LOVE THEM! And the little Maya Road pins too! I added a wee bit of Basic Grey's Indian Summer line to change it up a little and a little bit of the Kaisercraft tiny alphabets always add a nice touch.

My next layout came together thanks to a LOAD challenge to use our stash.
SURPRISE
these were 2 scraps in to top of the scrap box and I opened an embelly drawer and found a box of old Making Memories flowers...so I used the whole box in one shot!

My next layout took quite a while for me...
LOVE STORY
This is one of the photos that I inherited from my Grandparents and they have sat there for a while as I was feeling quite intimidated by them...but am finally starting to scrap them. I have noticed however that I put the wrong year in the journal tag as it is actually 1940 - this is my Grandma and Grandpa and my Dad the day that my Grandpa left for the war. I have only put the photo down lightly as I want to scan it and save the original. This also has some 7 Gypsies paper and Jenny Bowlin C'oredinations cardstock on it. The flower was originally a newsprint beigey Prima one....a few different shades of Glimmer Mist and some ink to change it up a bit.

YOU MAKE MY HEART SING
And my last layout - Is this not the freakin cutest paper ever?!!!!!!!!
I only got one sheet so I cut out a heart from behind the photo in order to pop it up. I also used some Jenny Bowlin notebook cards and my ever favourite Heidi Swapp alphabets (who says I don't like stickers?!)

Hope you liked my projects - make sure you head on over to see

Latest Creations and Some Blog Candy!

2010-02-04T10:31:00.001-08:00

Well I have been a scrapping machine lately! LOAD definitely helps as did the online crop at A PILE OF SCRAP! - I finally got the chance to take some pics in better lighting so I thought I would share today....and...

I think it's time for a little
Blog Candy!
So here are the details - for your chance to win a $20 gift certificate at the A PILE OF SCRAP! online store and some extra goodies from my stash you can have your name entered by
- Telling me which of these is your favourite and why
- Follow my blog
- Send a friend (make sure they tell me that you sent them!)
Simple as that ! I will leave this contest open until Sunday at Midnight :)
And without further ado, the creations!

We have a cool game on our forum that we play every month called Crop Circle where the winner from the previous month picks 5 elements you must have on a layout - this month we had to use punches, stitching, die cut paper, bling and ink. I am using up old pictures as I seriously need to get some pictures developed and my printer is out of coloured ink...
Next is the online crop stuff - we had an all 80s theme and some pretty cool challenges came out of it.
The Barbie Girl (remember the song by Aqua)- use some plastic on a layout
The white wedding challenge- use white cardstock as your base
The AIDS challenge - use red ribbon on your project
The Dirty Dancing Challenge (nobody puts baby in a corner so no corners on the base cardstock)
And the last challenge that I was able to get done was a Strawberry Shortcake cupcake card - this was a template that I found somewhere and forgot to take note - so if it yours, please let me know and I will make sure to let others know! I seriously need to take another pic of this as the background paper and my "mist box" are a little distracting!!

And this one was one that I played with at the LSS, experimenting with embossing powders and the Clearsnap design adhesives (that is the words under what is supposed to be the photos - I freaking love these!!) Scrapping without pictures is a rarity for me but I like how this one turned out.
And lastly are my LOAD creations - awesome prompts from Lain to use my stash has motivated me, now let's just see if I can make it through a shift at the LSS tonight without buying anything!

LOAD 1 -No Title Needed (all scraps)

LOAD2 - Vintage (me as a baby!) (old photo)
LOAD3 - Two (old stickers that I used as a mask with Glimmer Mist)

LOAD4 - Field Trip
Whew! And that is it! Hope you are having scrappy week too! Don't forget to leave a comment!

SOTW Feb 1 - 7 2010

2010-02-02T06:53:00.000-08:00

Well I had a rather productive weekend .... I LOVE ONLINE CROPS!
Over at A PILE OF SCRAP! we had a lot of fun - we went a little crazy and had an 80s theme which is always good for a laugh :) I managed to get 3 layouts, a card and a headband done (yep, a handband is considered a scrappy creation when you glimmer mist and glue flowers on it!!)
I have really been having difficulties getting a good shot of my work but I think that is because it is so late and I am in my dark room. A friend suggested a light from Costco so I am hoping I can pick one up and see if my results improve.
The SOTW is a super quick one (and I will prove it to you!) - just using your scraps and pulling out some rubons! I used to be rubon crazy but haven't used them in a while so decided this would be the week. That and a little suggestion from Lain to use my stash - because I was crazy enough to join LOAD again!
I have to tell you how much I enjoy LOAD - yesterday I was really not feeling well at all. I put the kids to bed and was going to crawl in bed myself but remembered that it was day 1 of LOAD and I wasn't giving up that easy. As I sat down at my scrap table, I remembered Lain's LOAD prompt about using our stash...so I pulled out the top 5 pieces in my scrap box, pulled up the SOTW on the puter and TADA...a layout in about 20 minutes which is a MAJOR miracle for me!
So day 1 down, 27 more to go!! If you are looking for a fun and really inspirational way to scrap, LOAD is where you should be!
Well I need to go and pack up some stuff as I pulled the kids out of school today so that we could use up our waterpark passes before they expire - have a great day!
And now, the SOTW:

And my quick and painless layout:

Sorry for the picture quality...but if you were skimming, I did explain it earlier ;)
Have a terrific Tuesday!

How Does it Happen?

2010-01-26T13:38:00.000-08:00

How on earth does a whole month go by in the blink of an eye?! I got a gentle reminder yesterday that I haven't updated in a while...and I honestly thought it was maybe 2 weeks at the most...OOPS!
Life continues on here - haven't done a lot of scrapping for myself but still getting some stuff done. My boss at the LSS is down at CHA and will be back tomorrow - I am excited to hear about all the good stuff to come! I like to look online but find it just isn't the same as seeing it in real life. I am pretty excited about Tim Holtz's new paper to come out as I love the look of it! There is a new cutter from Craftwell that looks mighty interesting and last night discovered that Slice has some pretty cool tricks up their sleeve too!
In other news, I took my middle son to see a specialist about a concern with his foot and am waiting to get some tests and results back so trying to stay positive about it all. It is amazing how supportive online friends can be - prayers and hugs are always a nice thing!
I am off this weekend so we decided to do an online crop over at A PILE OF SCRAP! - come on over and join in the fun!
And a few sketches for the week - a SOTW and new this year, a card sketch of the week as well! Hope you are having a great week!

The SOTW has very limited patterned paper in it...something I am trying to do more of this year - what do you think?
And the COTW, a quick little sketch....would love to see more layers addedto this plain old sketch tho! I think I may actually do this one tonight as it would give me a good reason to clean up the scrap area in preparation for the online crop this weekend!

Top 5

2009-12-29T10:41:00.000-08:00

So this post is influenced a little by some other great scrappy blogs... First up, Lain's new blog where she does some great lists of 5 things - and I love reading them! Oh and if you are crazy enough to join me, I am signing up for Lain's LOAD again in February!!
Secondly, over on Moxie Fab World blog by Paper Crafts magazine listed their top 10 paper lines of 2009 and so I thought I would post my own faves.... so here they are!

MY TOP 5 PAPER LINES OF 2009

5. Earth Love by Cosmo Cricket
All the right colours with that little bit of cutesy thrown in there - loved this one!

4. Indian Summer by Basic Grey
Oh this one got me........a lot! The grunge with the very different colours just called out to me and I couldn't buy enough of it!

3. My Mind's Eye - Whirlybird
Not my usual colour choices but I adored this line! It helped satiate a little bit of my birdie obsession and I loved how it was great for both boy and girl layouts.

2. Flutter Butter by Bo Bunny
Soft yet masculine....isn't it beautiful??!! And the die cut papers are to die for!

And......

are you ready for it?
My fave line of 2009 is.........
Cosmo Cricket's Early Bird........... oh how I loved this line!!!!!! A little bit vintage, a little bit whimsy and a whole lotta BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!! The polka dots just put it over the top for me...

So what were yours?!

BLOG HOP WINNER!

2009-12-29T10:29:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everyone for playing along, it was great fun!
Things are winding down a bit here - I hope you all had an amazing holiday season with your loved ones. I tried to pry my kids away from their toys long enough to help me pull a winner out of a hat video but no such luck... so thanks to random.org, we have a winner!!

Congrats Tams! A gift certificate awaits you!!

HAPPY BLOGHOP!!

2009-12-23T10:58:00.000-08:00

Welcome to A PILE OF SCRAP'S! first ever bloghop! You are almost at the end of the hop, I hope you have enjoyed all the girls' creations.

Hopefully you have made your way along the path and linked here from Vicki's blog... if not, make sure you go back to Valerie's blog and follow your way through the links! If you have left a comment on everyone's blog and follow the instructions at the end of the post, your name will be entered for a scrappy prize!

First up, the card sketch:
I asked all the girls to stick with this colour combo - but they were welcome to use any shade of the colours... I opted to make my own coloured paper with 4 different shades of Glimmer Mist as none of the cardstock I had on hand matched! And since I was sparkly already, I figured stamping with a little glitter wouldn't hurt! And this was the perfect opportunity to use my new Spellbinder's die that I picked up...
And the second sketch was for a layout - this is a pretty plain sketch for me but I really wanted the girls to show their styles!
And so.......I scrapped!!! Yep, I did! For me!!!!! I haven't had a chance to do that in way too long and it really felt good! And to top it off, my scrap area is now cleaned up so I may get to do a little more over the holidays! Not only did I scrap, but I actually scrapped holiday pictures!!!! It's a Christmas Miracle!!!!! (I honestly tend to avoid all holiday pictures as I feel there is too much pressure...but I am happy with how this turned out). We had a little scrappy swap on the forum and I received my parcel today...so I had to use my new Starfish Glimmer Mist and the pretty red bling from Bazzill - thanks so much Cheryl for my goodies :)

I hope you all enjoyed our very first blog hop! Make sure you head on over to the forum and look for a post called "Blog Hop Finish Line" and leave your final comment there for a chance at the prize!

Wishing you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas!

And the winner is.....

2009-12-10T14:56:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the delay folks! Thanks everyone for your kind words about the publication call - you really made my day a lot better :)
My daughter was too happy to help draw the winner - check her out!

So congrats Jenny! Lemme know your wish list...you never know what I might find you!

We are off tonight for Christmas concert #1 - the playschool one. You know... where all the kids start singing a song...in all kinds of keys.... and all kinds of songs... and someone misses singing the song because they are too busy looking for Mom/Dad/Grandma/baby sister (who has decided to sing her own version of "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" ...the kind where families tend to win America's Funniest Videos with... Should be fun!

Check back tomorrow for the video!

Happy Snow Day!

2009-12-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

I woke up to a whole lotta snow this morning...was feeling a bit grumpy about the whole thing and decided to sneak away from the kids for a bit and check out my morning reads on the computer... and got an email that made my grumpies go away!
I got a publication call from Canadian Scrapbooker!!! Yippee!!!
Sooooooooo.... now the challenge is on to see if anyone can find the "out for publication" call on my blog! (hint... it's ORANGE!)
And to make it worth the search, how about a little prize?

I will give you all until Sunday evening to email me at icecheeks@yahoo.com with your answer AND something you love about snow! Then, leave me a comment here telling me that you have emailed me! (Please don't leave the answer in your comment and make it too easy for everyone else!!) All the answers will go into a draw for a fabulous prize that will include:
Marshmallow Glimmer Mist!
Flowers to play with the glimmer mist!
A distress ink pad!
And............
something from your wish list!!!
Happy Hunting!

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!!

2009-12-02T13:54:00.001-08:00

Yep. BUSY. No other excuses, no big story, just busy!

Tonight is my Christmas Party with the gals at the LSS - I am really looking forward to a nice night out, some good laughs and some great food! I left everything to the last minute as far as gifts go but I managed to get them done today so at least I won't go empty-handed! I am off this Saturday and am contemplating decorating....will let you know if I actually get it done! While I was avoiding gift-making last night, I did manage to get a Sketch of the Week done so I will share that with you as well as the gifts that I made for tonight - have a great week everyone!

First up, the SOTW:
And then the gifts... For those of you that don't know, I do a little candle and coaster business (check out my website that I finally updated a bit! ) so I decided to make a little penguin candle (I collect penguins so I thought I would share the love!)

I made a little coaster for the candles to sit on with one of my new stamp sets that I love!

And finally, a Hanukkah candle for my boss - I hope she likes it!

WHO KNEW?

2009-10-29T22:04:00.001-07:00

Who knew how hard it was to get eyeliner on a 4 year old? Not me. But let me tell you, it is near impossible!! Painting his nails black however, was much simpler than I thought....

Meet my son. The Rock Star.

And now see him doing his best Rock Star impression after I told him that Rock stars don't say cheese but are grumpy...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE !

I am old...and a SOTW!

2009-10-26T22:45:00.000-07:00

Howdy ho scrappy friends!
So I have finally recovered from my fabulous trip to Fredericton... and have discovered that I am discovering that I am old...yep. old. dang it.

5 days. 24 hours of sleep. tired. tired. tired.

But SUPER FUN! Those APOS girls really know how to have a fun time! The canvas class was fabulous and the retreat was fantastic! Thanks so much to Alissa @ APOS - what a treat to join in your fun! And if anyone in Edmonton (and Fort Saskatchewan doesn't count) can tell me where in this city I can find a donair panzerotti like the one I had in Fredericton, I would be grateful FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been super busy since I got back - my baby turned 3, the LSS had a weekend crop, and I had a Glimmer Mist class tonight. So I am hoping to wind down a bit as November is looking just as busy! My son's playschool has an all weekend crop on November 20 and 21st and then I have one at Creative Scrapbooks on November 27 and 28! Send me an email if you want any details!

And finally....the SOTW! Would love to see some play-alongs! Have a great week!

I wish I was singing...

2009-10-14T07:34:00.000-07:00

I wish I was singing a couple of different songs....like maybe
Summer Loving had me a bl-ast...because then maybe I wouldn't notice THE SNOW OUTSIDE! (insert grumpy face here).

Or maybe I wish I was singing...
All my bags are packed and I'm ready to go ........

But the little problem with that is... MY BAGS ARE NOT YET PACKED (insert panicky face here)

But the good news is that I can sing the other part of that song !!

I'm leavin' on a jet plane (insert happy face here!).

Because the count down is on and I am getting on an airplane and heading to New Brunswick tonight to hang out with some scrappy peeps this weekend! A PILE OF SCRAP! was oh so generous and is flying me out for the retreat AND I get to teach a couple of classes while I'm there! I am looking forward to seeing some of the gals again and meeting some new ones. It will be a HOOT, I am sure of it!
Until then, my chickies, I'm outta here!!

I'm such a cheater?

2009-10-07T13:07:00.000-07:00

Okay.....so for those of you that don't know how crazy (aka dumb) I am, I signed up for LOAD with Lain. This means I need to do a layout a day and post it before midnight.... Right. This also means that my scrap area needs to be clean enough every day for me to sit down and do said layout. Right..... I was doing well with it......but then I had to get my class projects up at the LSS and well...that kinda blew the whole clean scrap area right outta the water....... so

I got a brilliant idea.... since I already do a sketch of the week using Photoshop, why not do a few digi-layouts?!

And so this is where I feel like a cheater.... but isn't cheating supposed to make things easier?! Because let me tell you, this didn't make things any easier for me! Sure, I can continue avoiding cleaning up the scrap area but man oh man does it make the process HARD! H...A...R...D!

I will blame this on two things:
1. I really like the texture of real-life scrapbooking. I like adding the layers and the ribbons and the buttons and the whatever else I can find. If I had time to download all the digi stuff, I know I could add a boatload but for right now, I have a few files and somehow they just aren't floating my boat as much as I would like.
2. I like techniques...a lot. I like grunging it up with ink... or spraying it with glimmer mist....or adding dimensional pearls...or (are you getting the idea yet?).

But, I shall persevere. The great thing about LOAD is it is getting me to scrap pictures that I have been meaning to get to and haven't. When I scrap in real life, there is always some sort of rush to get pictures developed and now I am going through old files and finding the ones that I loved but just never got around to developing. And the 0ther great thing? The inspiration! Not only from all the other scrapper's works, but their words AND Lain (and I think Tami too??) send out a great email every day to get me thinking and ready to create. I love it!

I love it so much, I may even be brave enough to do it again! (although feel free to ask me this at the end of the month!)

And without further chitty-chatty, here are the three digi layouts I have done so far - honest opinions welcome!

SEPTEMBER DT REVEAL @ APOS!

2009-10-04T18:58:00.000-07:00

Yikes September sure got away on me! We were given a beautiful package from A PILE OF SCRAP! this month with Bo Bunny's Calypso line, Heidi Swapp masks and invisible paper, and a Prima stamp. However, this month there was a twist as we were all informed that we could do anything other than altering items or 12 x 12 layouts! I really thought that the paper just screamed mini-album to me but I just ran out of time...but do hope to do one up soon!

The first layout I did was a 11.5 x 8 layout which seem to be all the rage lately. I have to admit that they are not my favourite but I think that may be due to the fact that we always do them for my kids' playschool albums at the end of the year and we always have to keep them fairly simple as we have a budget....however, when you have freedom to do whatever, it actually is fun!
MOMENT - I used the Bo Bunny paper on the right and the Heidi Swapp mask on the left and again on the corner of the photo. And I have to say just how much I love this particular Thickers font - isn't it beautiful? I think I need more!!!

And because I am a last minute kind of girl, I did these next two items today.... I had seen a layout in an old scrap mag that was hanging out in my bathroom last night and when I sat down to do one this morning, I had an email from the LOAD team telling me to go scraplift something...so I did! Really this layout doesn't much resemble the original but the one thing that stuck in my head was the ribbon through the photograph so that was what got lifted! The original layout is by Shelley Laming in Creating Keepsakes July 06 edition. I tried to find her blog but no luck so far? If anyone knows of it, please send it to me so I can give her a link.
NERD BIRD - a few scraps, some beautiful ribbon by Jilliebean Soup and some Smooch added to some dollar store foam letters. Simple yet I like the overall look!

And last but oh so not the least....

I finally got over my chicken-itis and did a canvas! I had it all thought out in my head....but trying to find chicken wire this morning was impossible so my idea changed a little bit.......but I am thrilled with the outcome!

This canvas has so much Glimmer Mist, paint and ink on it that I think it may have gained a few pounds! I added some masks and brushes to the photos in Photoshop, the black mesh is from a screen door replacement kit (because apparently people only buy chicken wire in 25 foot rolls!), the silver piece was in Michael's as I was wandering the aisles trying to find something to appease my chicken wire dream (it was in the jewelry making section-this is the back side of it as the front was way too shiny), the heart is Riff Raff (did I mention how much I LOVE Riff Raff??), a couple of eyelets and twine and believe it or not, that paper is from the Calypso line (it is amazing how grungy you can make things!) and was almost a florescent green when I first started! It is now hanging on my wall and I think canvases could become my new obsession!

Be sure to check out Cheryl's beautiful round wedding layout, Valerie's stunning mini album made from the Heidi Swapp invisible paper, Jen's gorgeous star album, Candace's funky and inspiring canvas, and Vicki's inspiring 8.5 x 11 layouts - great job ladies! Hope you enjoyed the reveal - have a great week!!

DEAR LAIN

2009-10-02T09:20:00.000-07:00

This is an open letter to my dear friend Lain - CEO of Ella Publishing/creative marvel/phenom writer/inspiration giver over at LOAD

Dear Lain
I hope this day finds you well. I wonder if you are able to find this email in amongst the massive emails you have been receiving lately.... I am writing to apologize for my part in that.

You see Lain, when you moved to the other side of the country, you dashed my hopes of inviting you up to my frozen part of the country. Gone were my crazy ideas of maybe meeting up with you at a crop one day..... and so I decided to settle with reading your blog (daily...in hopes of an update) and admiring your works of art. I thought about signing up for your last LOAD but I was scared that I would sign up and be the only one that didn't complete the daily part and I hate disappointing people.... I was thrilled when you announced you had a kit coming out - and decided to break my "I'll never buy a kit" motto, thrilled with the goodies that arrived in the box! Your Snippets book sits by my bedside table and I read it often when I have a deadline looming and need to remember the fun side of scrapbooking. I spoke often with my friend Alissa who owns A PILE OF SCRAP! telling her how jealous I was that you now lived closer to her. I actually panicked at the thought that you may one day decide to go for a little drive and wander into her store and she would get to meet you first. Panicked. And then...

They invited me back for a crop in New Brunswick. I was so excited to go back and meet the ladies again and then it hit me. Lain. She would be thisclose. THISCLOSE. Sooooooooooo why not invite her? So I calmly sent you an invitation...and then checked with Alissa to make sure it was okay... good thing it was because when you sent back a request for more information, it was all I could do to contain my excitement!!!!!!! And then, after contemplating LOAD, I was actually lucky enough to win a spot from Tami.....surely it was a sign??!!

And so here comes the apology part....... I got really excited..... SUPER DOOPER EXCITED.... so I kinda let it slip on our scrappy forum.... and kinda encouraged the gals to tell you how wonderful the store is and how much fun the retreat would be.....and I think you know what happened from there. Can you feel the excitement?!

But the good news out of all of this is....... I am vowing here and now to behave myself. I won't hide under your scrap table and jump out with my camera to take pictures. I won't follow you around the entire weekend so that you may wonder where exactly the lake is to push me in. You won't even know I'm there (okay...once we get past the meeting part. Could you give me half an hour to get over it?!).

I realize you have a lot on your plate. Family makes it hard for us to get away sometimes so I do understand that. If you need any help persuading anyone else in your family, let me know and I'm sure we could [strike] send emails their way [/strike] find some sort of exclusive Canadian goodies to send home with you to help make up for it - have your kids ever had Smarties? Or an Aero bar??

I hope this letter will help you to forgive me and my craziness (ok, slightly stalking-ish). I must run as I need to get a layout done for LOAD before I head into work this evening...would hate to be the only one who didn't get day 2 done! Oh, and this is just to help you have a great day:

SCRAP PINK!!!!!!

2009-09-26T08:02:00.000-07:00

It is going to be a fun-filled day today! I am heading out to a Scrap Pink crop - what could be better than a whole day of scrapping AND raising money for breast cancer?
We have a lot of fun games and yummy food planned and it should be a great time.
I am scrapping today in honor of my brother-in-law's Mom (Gunna) who passed away from breast cancer and an old friend (Kym) from Victoria who is currently battling breast cancer as well. These two people show just how breast cancer can affect anyone - Gunna was a grandmother and Kym is younger than I am. When I read on Kym's facebook status that she was gearing up for chemotherapy, I was shocked. We typically think of cancer affecting older people...but unfortunately, cancer has no discriminations. So hopefully our crazy group of scrappers can raise some big money and make a difference today!

IT'S HARD WORK BEING A

2009-09-22T16:18:00.000-07:00

DIRTBALL!!!!!!!!!!!

So we are in the middle of a very odd heatwave here...and the kids were just overheated today. We played in the backyard and funny enough, my delicate little flower of a daughter was the dirtiest munchkin of them all! She is so her mother's daughter! My mom loves to tell stories of me covered in some sort of grime/mud/dirt. I'm thinking this one will make a great layout!

I couldn't resist this one! I snuck up behind her when she wasn't looking!
And her traditional pose, head tilted to the side....she will make a great supermodel one day (she already has the attitude for it!)
I had to crop this one in order to get the full effect...there is a reason they call toes piggies don't ya think?!
See? I told you it was hard work getting this dirty! Now to wake her up and try to get some supper in her and soak her in the tub! I would post a pic of the tub afterwords but I think that may make even me feel a little nauseous!
Hope you are having a great week!

SOTW Sept 21-27 and a little update!

2009-09-21T21:18:00.000-07:00

Okay okay....so I kind of fell off of the scrapping/blogging wagon....

Life just seemed to interfere with my social life......oh wait, I don't have one of those! I meant scrapping/blogging life!
School is finally getting us back into the routine of things, the online store is up and running, the job at the LSS is definitely keeping me busy and ........life goes on!
I had a techniques/card class at the LSS tonight - a lot of fun and a good group of ladies! I really do enjoy teaching as it gets me out there trying new things. I really forgot how much I missed of the adult conversation part of a job! I love having a dayhome but it is nice to be able to talk to other adults without children interrupting me 540 times a minute!! My next class will be on October 27th and it will be on Glimmer Mist - if you are interested, please send me an email or leave me a message here and I can give you more details.
And now for the long lost sketch! The paper this week is Basic Grey's new Indian Summer line. I am head over heels for this paper - the colours and the patterns are simply gorgeous!!! Enjoy the sketch and have a fabulous week!!

READY? SET?? ...... SHOP!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-09-04T11:17:00.000-07:00

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We have finally got A PILE OF SCRAP!'s online store ready to open!!!!!! Come check it out at www.apileofscrap.ca/zencart and welcome to a scrapbooker's oasis!!!

The grand opening will be Saturday, September 5th so get ready to shop! There are over 1000 items in the store and a great deal on shipping!!

As an added bonus, there is a coupon for the grand opening which will give you 10% off your total bill!!! Simply enter GRAND_OPENING in the coupon area and you are good to go!!!

And....if you post this on your blog and leave me a little comment, your name will be entered in a draw for a $10 gift certificate to the store!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Shopping Everyone!!!

APOS DESIGN TEAM REVEAL FOR AUGUST

2009-08-31T08:47:00.000-07:00

What a crazy month this has been! This month, we were all given various Crate Papers from A PILE OF SCRAP! - some cute lines with really great rub-ons and die cuts that really add to your creations. I was in a bit of a time crunch and only got started 2 days before the deadline but did manage to complete 4 projects (with one more almost done!).
Some of the goodies given to me included:

We had a little staff meeting/going away party/staff crop at work on Friday night so I quickly printed off some Canada Day pictures to work with. The only problem was that as I was holding this beautiful little 7 month old, he managed to grab a hold of my wine glass and spill it....getting a little bit on each picture....but it worked out okay as I managed to create some embellishment clusters to cover it up!
The first layout I did is my new fave....can you tell where the wine got on the picture?!

The squirrel is part of the glitter die cuts, how cute is he?!
And the next layout also had some wine spillage...any guesses where?

The owl, the journaling tag, and the "hoo's the little cutie" are also from the die cuts....I don't think I have ever bought die cuts before but they sure can add to a page! The chipboard heart was coloured with my new obsession (Smooch ink) and then stamped, and the Prima flower was inked and glimmer misted....after I took out the middle of it because I wasn't crazy about it.

Next up were two birthday cards for a little birthday party (for my dayhome kiddies) we went to yesterday. The kids had a great time and it was actually quite a relaxing birthday party! The cards were made from the rubons and snippets of paper and even a bit of the packaging from the rubons - can you tell where I used that?!

And that is my reveal - hope you enjoyed it! Make sure you check out Candace's unique "Beach Days" layout, Cheryl's super-cute "Monsters Under the Bed" layout, Vicki's adorable "1 Cute Shirt" layout, Valerie's beautiful flower box, and Jen's "Just Ducky" layout!!

Can't wait to see what this month brings us.... will be back later tonight with the Sketch of the Week!

WHERE AM I?

2009-08-21T09:51:00.000-07:00

No seriously...what day is it? Who am I again?

Me...chicken with my head cut off....

Whoever said summer was calmer? Because lately it definitely has not been for me.

I wanted to let you know why I have been MIA lately........because it's for a reallllly good reason....

I have been super busy making felt pieces that 2 stores will soon be carrying...and also..... all you shopaholics out there - get ready!

I AM IN THE PROCESS OF SETTING UP AN ONLINE SCRAP STORE!!!

A PILE OF SCRAP! has decided to bite the bullet and open up an online site! I have to admit that this is all new to me and I am learning a lot (and ripping my hair out a lot too!). I have been up most nights (mornings) till 1 am trying to get it all done and it is looking great!

It has some super cute stuff at some even cuter prices!! And shipping won't cost you an arm and a leg either!

So my apologies if you haven't seen much of me lately...but now you know it is for a great reason! I have 3 deadlines quickly approaching so look for me here and there until I can get caught up. And don't panic that I haven't shared the store link with you - it's coming soon!!!

SKETCH OF THE WEEK AUG 17-23

2009-08-19T08:45:00.000-07:00

Why is it that I seem to forget to post this darn thing on Monday? I seriously need to do that thing where you set it up to post on the right day.... Anyhow, how is your week going? We are finally in for a touch of nice weather so we are hoping to take advantage of it in the next couple of days.
I find that I have been doing a lot of layouts lately with one or two photos so thought I would change it up this week and see if I could fit 4 on there! The paper this week is courtesy of Bo Bunny's new Delilah line - great pinks and browns....can't wait to get my hands on it!!!
Have a fabulous week (or what is left of it!!)

SKETCH OF THE WEEK AUG 10-16

2009-08-11T12:48:00.000-07:00

Thanks everyone for the congrats! I have been a busy beaver lately.....trying to get everything caught up before the kids go back to school and I feel like I am nowhere near there yet!

This week's sketch features the beautiful new Cosmo Cricket line called "Earth Love" - my friend Alissa is completely addicted to this line so I made this one just for her! I would link you to her blog but she hasn't ventured there yet! I signed up for a Jessica Sprague free online course about editing pictures but haven't had time to go through them yet, but did find time to download the free goodies that came with it, including a beautiful brush set from Heidi Swapp's House of 3....so that is where the "Celebrate" came from on the photo. If you aren't a picture editor, a rub-on right over your photo would work great! I did that on one of my last layouts so I will have to take a pic :)
Hope you are all having a great week!

A Little Yippee!!!

2009-08-09T18:13:00.000-07:00

I had to go change this post - and just wanted to share!!

SOTW Aug 3 -9

2009-08-04T14:29:00.000-07:00

Sorry it is a day late, it was a holiday here yesterday and that always throws me off! We had a fairly uneventful weekend - spent some time at the big mall yesterday and decided to buy our first pet! Thought the kids could use it as a test pet in preparation for the big pet that will one day come (I promised my son we could get a dog when he turns 9!!).... While standing in line to pay for said fish, my 4 year old announces that he would like to name it Kitty - while everyone else laughed, my mind immediately flashed to a super-cute layout called "Hello Kitty!" but by the time we got home, he had changed it to Kit...so Kit it is.....until in the tub he tells me that really it is Kitten or Kitty but everyone laughed......so I am now convincing him that Kitty is a fabulous name!

Tonight I am being a real grown up and going to a real grown up movie at the theatre with 2 dear friends - one of which I haven't seen in a VERY long time! I honestly cannot remember the last time I went to the theatre and didn't see a kids movie! Very exciting life I lead huh?! The other friend (Karina) that I am going with is heading to Salt Lake City tomorrow for a Stampin Up convention and has generously offered to lend me her Big Shot dies while she is gone - Karina is the one that first got me into stamping and I just love seeing her creations! If you ever have the chance to take one of her classes, JUMP ON IT!!!
And without further adieu....the SOTW featuring Belle Blvd. paper!

Scrapping with the SOTW

2009-08-02T14:54:00.000-07:00

I finally got the chance to play last night...although it really was a toss up between crawling into bed or scrapping but I am glad the scrapping won out!
Busy day yesterday as my ds had his birthday party - to the movies to watch Up (who knew it would be so sad/scary?) which I really enjoyed, then supper at Denny's (oooh...aaaahhhh..) and home for some cake and Wii.....ahhh the life of a 6 year old!
It was super hot yesterday and when we came out of the theatre, the skies were so dark and you could just tell something was in the air. We had to drive about half an hour to get to Denny's and you could feel the wind picking up and then the torrential rainstorms started......it got a bit scary but when we got home and turned on the news, it was much worse than I was expecting - the local country festival in Camrose was hit hard by the storm, causing a death and a lot of hurt and scared people - thoughts and prayers to all of those affected. Summer storms always seem so cool to me...until such things like this and tornadoes hit :(
So after getting all the munchkins wound down and into bed, I turned on all the fans and scrapped.......quite muggy but I did manage to get one layout done using the Sketch of the Week:
All this done using only scraps from my scrap box......I am working hard on not being so matchy-matchy and like how it came out! And did you notice more of my new felties? More on that to come soon.........
Oh and I wanted to thank Sarah for playing along - go check out her blog and see what she did with the sketch!

JULY DT REVEAL!

2009-07-27T08:44:00.000-07:00

Oh how good it felt to create again! This is our first reveal with our brand new DT over at A PILE OF SCRAP! and what a job everyone did!!! Alissa gave half the team "Wisteria" by Basic Grey and the other half got "Early Bird" by Cosmo Cricket - I LOVE Cosmo Cricket so I was very excited to see it peeking out at me when I got my package. Each month, we are asked to create 4 pieces with our package but I ended up with 3 layouts, a mini project and 2 cards - the scraps are amazing for card-making! Here are my creations:

PLAYTIME - A little bit of everything on this layout! Even a little doodling...still hard to get my pen to do that! I liked the look of the naked Riff Raff dino so I let him be. Still lovin those Jenny Bowlin cards :)

BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED - A very simple yet fun layout. I got a new scalloped oval punch and thought it would make a nice flower...and then the layout just kind of grew from there! The inking is all done with Tea Dye distress ink (my fave!).

BE HAPPY - 7 different patterns on this one! Cosmo Cricket makes it so easy to mix up the patterns. I found that the Bazzill Swiss dot paper went so nicely with this line. I used a little bit of glossy accents on the Be Happy strip just to make it stand out a little more.

What is this you may ask? Well it was my Mom's birthday so I made a cd holder for her and then burned a cd with pictures of the kids. This is the front of the cover - I used my ScorePal to do a little embossing on the front cover (for a frame) and my ever handy pokey tool!

This is the inside of the case.

And the inside with the cd in it. I went to Cosmo Cricket's website to get a picture of the paper so that I could make the label on the cd with the matching paper. I didn't tell my mom what was on the cd so when they got home, it was a nice surprise for her :)

And to fullfill my birdie obsession, I made this cute little card with my new Slice cartridge "Big Kids". I think you may be seeing quite a bit of this birdie! The cream strip (that looks white) was embossed using the new Cuttlebug embossing strips, some ink and my brayer!

And last but not least,

A birthday card for my son who is turning 6 today! The lizard is courtesy of the Big Kids cartridge again - love him!
Hope you enjoyed my creations, make sure you head on over to Vicki and Jerusha's blogs to see what they also did with this line. Then check out Cheryl, Candace, Valerie and Jen's blogs to see they beautiful projects made using the Wisteria line.

Have a great week!!!!!!!!

SKETCH OF THE WEEK JULY 20-AUG 2

2009-07-26T23:01:00.000-07:00

Hope you all had a good weekend - we had a major heat wave here this weekend and unfortunately, my scrap room is the hottest room in the house :( Last night, I wanted to scrap so bad but after 10 minutes of trying to stay in the room, I gave up. Today was much cooler and I happily made 6 cards today! Sketch of the Week today is inspired by numerous layouts in magazines and even some of the cards and layouts over on the APOS forum - a great way to use up some of your scraps (and a hint to pull out the sewing machine!) Be sure to check back later today for the APOS Design Team reveal - some BEAUTIFUL stuff!!

WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER!!

2009-07-24T07:30:00.001-07:00

And now for some contest winners! My biggest apologies as I had totally forgotten about the contest for Following Me until I (ahem) cleaned my desk off and found this stash of goodies! I had my son draw a name for me and the winner is:

CHUXFOX!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats!!!!! If you would be so kind as to email (at icecheeks@yahoo.com) me your address, I will happily send you out some goodies!

And to send out more goodies, the winners of the felties are

So that would be TraceyT and Sarah! Tracey is off to CHA so when you get back and a chance to catch up yourself, let me know where to send to :) Sarah, please send me an email and we can make arrangements too!
Have a great weekend everyone - we are in a heat wave here so I'm not sure how much scrapping I will get done as my scrap room just happens to be in the hottest room in the house :( Big DT reveal coming up on Sunday - stay tuned!

I honestly didn't think summer would be this busy..but with weddings, my parents coming for a visit and my new job at the LSS, somehow, bloggy gets a little neglected. On the plus side of things, I did teach my very first class this week and had the best time!!!!!!!! I can't wait for the one next month!

I did forget to post the last 2 of the Sketch of the Week so thought I would add those here!

ANOTHER CRAZY IDEA

2009-07-12T09:40:00.000-07:00

I tend to get these crazy ideas every so often....and I happened to get one last week. I haven't decided whether or not to jump on it yet so last night I took a small leap.

Felt..........

I see all these really cute little felt embellishments and I just think that rather than spending the money to have someone else make (AND ship) them to me, that I should just start creating them all on my own. Well, as luck would have it, we found this mystery strip of white felt in the toy box yesterday! I have no idea where it came from and I am hoping it isn't anything important because I cut it up last night and created this:

So now I have it in my head that I am going to create some felties! Other than birds (which YOU just know will be my first creation, what else do you think will be popular?) If you leave me a comment and tell me your top 3 "wants", I will send 2 lucky winners some! I made this card for Cheryl's challenge on the APOS forum - to hand stitch on a card....you should go check out her cards!

And my other creation last night was for Candace's Tool Challenge which was to pull out the stamps! This is a shot of my son and his kindergarten teacher on their last day of school - he goes to French Immersion so that is why this is a french layout :)

I do have some awesome Kenny pics to post but want to save them until I scrap some of them....they are SO CLOSE AND SOOOOOOOO HOT!!!!! sorry, got a little excited there!

Gotta go get in the shower...my parents are here for the weekend and are on their way for a visit! Enjoy what is left of your weekend :)

Leave me some Love!

2009-07-09T08:55:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Sarah I found out late last night that my comments were not working....and here I was feeling sad and dejected with no love..............It was a bit of a rough day yesterday as my best friend T's grandmother passed away.... It is so hard to watch people you love suffer :( Last night she said she was really at peace with everything which left this warm fuzzy on my heart - almost her entire family was there to help each other and it was really nice to know that she wasn't alone.
I slept in this morning...kind of dreading the yucky weather outside and just feeling kind of blah....but then I found some love from Cindyon my blog and it is a great start to my day :) The other great part to my day?? I get to go out tonight with T and see.... Well....he looks something like this:

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!! Yep, I'm goin' to see Kenny tonight! Although, as luck would have it, it is an outdoor concert and it is cold, windy and rainy here today......but I'm up for it!
Have a great day y'all - hopefully if my camera doesn't get confiscated, I will have some fab pictures of the hotty to post tomorrow!!!

TECHNIQUE TUESDAY -(aka NO MISTAKES, ONLY OPPORTUNITY!)

2009-07-07T20:39:00.000-07:00

Woohoo....Technique Tuesday!!!
Today, I am showing a technique that is great for making your own patterned paper. This technique is called Emboss Resist. With it, you can create pretties like this:

You will need:
glossy cardstock
stamps
Versamark
clear embossing powder
heat gun
reinkers
paintbrush
paper towels
wax paper
water
cardstock (optional)
iron (optional)

STEP ONE:
Stamp designs with watermark (Versamark) ink on glossy cardstock. Sprinkle clear embossing powder and set with heat gun. I used holographic embossing powder so there is a bit of sparkle in it.

STEP TWO:
Squeeze a few drops of reinker onto wax paper - always go darkest to lightest. I used red, magenta, orange and yellow. Dip paintbrush in water; lightly blot on paper towel so your brush is wet but not dripping wet. Dab onto glossy cardstock, smooshing your brush around, going right over top of the embossed images. Notice that the ink resists the embossed areas; the ink will stain and bead up a little giving the look of a watercolor. Repeat in three or four areas on the cardstock as shown.

STEP THREE:
Clean brush very well and change your water - if you don't, your colour will bleed and you will end up with mud! You are now ready to apply the next colour. DO NOT apply ink right next to the first color - leave some space between colours as you will fill in with your final and lightest colour.

STEP FOUR:
Apply the last colour (yellow) in between the other colors, sort of like a bridge between two colours. Apply the yellow in the available white space and then overlap some of it into the other colors...the results are layered and blended and quite beautiful! You can let it dry or hit it with your heat gun. Rub a damp Q-tip or paper towel over areas of the embossed design that has ink spots on it to get rid of any ink there.

STEP FIVE: (OPTIONAL)
You could be done now if you like the shiny embossed images or if you want to make it look more like patterned paper, simply put the glossy cardstock in between two pieces of white or cream cardstock. WIth a hot iron, iron over cardstock until you can begin to see parts of the embossed images coming through. Keep ironing until you can lift the top sheet of cardstock off without it sticking. What you are doing is removing the embossing now, but it will still leave the white image behind.

You now have your own patterned paper! You can stamp on it or use it however you would regular paper... So what did I create? Well, I did a layout (with the Sketch of the Week) and a simple, yet elegant card.

Now you may have noticed that the second half of my title had something to do with mistakes... well I seem to have made quite a few in the last projects I was creating. My friend Alissa tells me that there are no mistakes in scrapbooking, only opportunity for embellishment....and let me tell you how true that is!
When I was creating this technique, I got it all done and went to stamp on it and the darn acrylic stamp fell of my block and right into the middle of the pretty butterflies! EEK! Well, I managed to salvage a small piece of it and that is how the card came to be! Then, on the layout, I had smudged some ink so that is how the pinkish smudgemarks came to be...yes they were in the sketch but I hadn't intended on putting them there but I am somewhat (did I just say somewhat? Okay, I TOTALLY am ) of a messy scrapbooker...so smudges are nothing out of the ordinary!
Some other mistakes this week...
I made this card for Vicki's colour challenge (brown, green, orange and cream)

I was happily creating....got almost done....went to stamp the "believe" and darn if I didn't do it totally crooked!!! Grrrrr.... but, it was a piece from my scrap box and the only one in there....so that is how the button and ribbon came to be! And in my opinion, it totally made the card!
And if you have made it all the way to the end of this long post, thanks!! If you would also be so kind as to show me any creations that you make using this technique, I would be so happy, I might even attempt a cartwheel! Annnnnnnnnnd... if you showed me some of your embellishments that were created from a mistake, I would definitely do a sommersault! Definitely!!!!!
Have a scrapfreakintastic week would ya?!

SKETCH OF THE WEEK JULY 6-12

2009-07-06T09:49:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I have a little secret to tell.... I have never enjoyed digital scrapping. I open magazines and see a digital layout and think "oh..those poor people, they are so missing out on the creative side of things". However, the more that I play with Photoshop, the more I get that you really can be creative with it! Learning how to import paper patterns definitely helps - this week I was inspired by the new Lemonade line by Basic Grey. What a gorgeous line - lots of grunge but still bright colours! I actually sat down and scrapped last night so hoping the mojo train keeps chugging along - have yourself a great week!

#$%@!$&*&% - or WHOOPSIES!

2009-07-04T21:09:00.000-07:00

Um so yeah......had a not so great moment today when I decided to play with the blog a little bit. I spent some time this afternoon while everyone here was napping and decided to create a new banner with Photoshop. I am learning more and more with it and can get lost in playing with it but was happy (for the most part) with the new banner.... However, I then decided to play with the background - MISTAKE! I put a new one in, loved it but then it didn't match the background so I thought, no problem...I will just put the old one back....
PROBLEM!!!!!!!!! It erased everything from my main page except the dorky picture of me and my 2 sentence blurb that took me days to write!

So I did a lot of this -
And then wanted to do this -

But I sucked it up and fixed it for the most part.... however, if you know of any blogs that I forgot to add in my blog list, please be so kind as to let me know! I think that was my biggest panic of all.... my daily reads are like my daily "fix" if you know what I mean! I can't seem to figure out the colours like I want it to be but it will have to do for now.

So yeah, how do you like the new banner?!

MEET THE NEW APOS DESIGN TEAM!

2009-07-04T10:25:00.000-07:00

Whew...finally a few moments to sit down and gush all about the new gals that have joined the Design Team at A PILE OF SCRAP! I have to tell you that helping Alissa choose the girls was extremely hard as there is a lot of talent out there! One thing that I really respect is the fact that she chose scrappers of all different styles and levels and I think that is a great inspiration for the every day scrappers out there. To the girls that didn't make the Team (this time!!), I am so proud of each and every one of them and honestly hope that they try again :) Without further ado...come meet the girls!

Valerie (aka Petite) - a detail-oriented scrapper. A crisp and clean style but with a lot of care and attention to detail. Check out her blog and if you don't speak French, be sure to hit the translation button on there! (it does give a good laugh as the translation can be wayyyyyyyyyy off sometimes!)

Cheryl (aka Alleycat) - I had the privilege of meeting Cheryl when I flew out to New Brunswick in February. It is amazing what this lady can do with a needle, thread and beads....simply amazing! She has a great sense of humor and is always willing to teach anyone who wants to learn. The pictures of her layouts don't do them justice because once you see them in person, you would be gob-smacked (isn't that a great word?!).

Candace (aka Colormehappy) - Another Edmonton scrapper!! It is nice to have someone out here in the same time zone as me :) Candace and I have known each other through our kids playschool and I have always liked her style - Alissa calls it very "Love Elsie" style. Kinda funky and she likes paint as much as I do!! She is a newbie to the forum and fits right in with the rest of us crazy scrappers!

Vicki (aka PrincessPea) - I think a great way to describe Vicki is enthusiastic! Although we have never met, I can feel her enthusiasm for her scrapping, for new products and especially for the chance to share and learn anything and everything about scrapping. With the new challenges coming, I can't wait to see what she comes up with!

Jen (aka Scrappinmama) - I was surprised when Jen entered the DT call...not because I didn't think she could do it but because she is a pretty quiet scrapper....and her version of the DT sketch rocked my socks!!! Jen has really impressed me with how much she tries new things and I think her style appeals to a lot of scrappers. Her first challenge that she posted on the forum yesterday is simply BEAUTIFUL and I can't wait to see what else she has up her sleeve! Make sure you check out her first challenge layout called Music!

And those are the new girls - I hope you add their blogs to your fave list! Deedee is on a kinda-sorta maternity leave (she will play with us whenever she is up to it) and Jerusha and I are proud to still be part of the team...but in new ways :) We came up with new and exciting challenges and the forum girls are eating them up! 3 new challenges will be posted every Monday (I will still be doing SOTW every week and then a technique every other week!) come check them out!!

SKETCH OF THE WEEK.......(or AW MAN, I FORGOT AGAIN!)

2009-07-01T09:17:00.000-07:00

HAPPY CANADA DAY! I hope you are all getting to spend a great day with your family - I slept in this morning and am happily drinking a Tim Hortons...not sure what the day will bring us but hoping the weather stays nice so I can take the kids to the fireworks tonight!

So school finally ended.... I had my last day with my regular dayhome kids yesterday (I will miss them but hopefully we manage to make more playdates with them than we did last year!) and the new summer dayhome kids have started. I have been doing a lot of work over on the forum to get our newly chosen Design Team girls ready for the adventure - be sure to come back tomorrow and check out my post with all their links!

It has seemed a lot less chaotic but somehow my brain is still not working at top speed! I posted the Sketch of the Week on the forum a day early but somehow forgot all about posting it here until right now! Actually I did remember last night but I got a new printer (YIPPEE!!!) and spent last night playing with it! That and I did some blog surfing that I haven't done in a while...be sure to head over to Pinky's blog for a look at a funny layout and a chance at a some great goodies! (If you tell her I sent you, I get even more chances!). And while you're over there, I think you should also tell her that she should run a contest and make the prize be a layout made by her for ME! I just love her work - her style is truly her own and absolutely beautiful!

So the sketch...I was trying to highlight some new paper lines so this is courtesy of Fancy Pants new Kraft Kuts line. A lot of my faves in this line - birdies, kraft paper and die cuts!!

Have a great day - if you are Canadian, I hope you shout it loud and proud!

One More Day

2009-06-25T21:38:00.000-07:00

Yeehaw!!!! One more day till school is out! I cannot believe how busy life got this month. It honestly feels like it was just June 1st and here it is almost over! I spent last night frantically making teacher gifts so they are ready to take to school tomorrow - God bless my girlfriend Tanis who got me in gear and had me over to her house last night where we made some beautiful cards! I will try to post tomorrow as the pictures are somewhere other than my regular folder!!
Other than that, lots going on - school projects, school parties, birthday parties (galore!!), and a brand new Design Team at APOS! I would love to tell you all about each of the talented ladies but have decided that tonight shall be the night that I make it to bed before 1 am! So instead, I shall send you off to check out their blogs: Cheryl, Valerie, Vicky, Jen and Candace (and am happy to tell you that Jerusha and Deedee are still with us!!) . I am hoping for an energy building weekend - finally one weekend where I can relax....I may even treat me to a pedicure!!!! Hope your week has been fabulous and your weekend is even better!

SKETCH OF THE WEEK JUNE 22-28

2009-06-22T14:29:00.000-07:00

So I have somehow wandered away from 2 page layouts....I'm not sure why but I seem to find that I am enjoying spending more time on the detail of a 1 page layout. Is it just me or does that seem crazy? You would think that 2 pages would give you more room for detail but I tend to put more photos on the 2 pages and less detail...anyway, enough of that rambling....

So the girls on the forum had asked for a 2 page sketch this week and I was happy to oblige...but in a cheating kind of way.... I had the latest issue of Canadian Scrapbooker nearby and remembered a layout that I loved. It was by Jennifer Hottinger-Sloan so I googled her name and found her blog so that I could email her and let her know that we were using it. I am on the countdown to all the crazy year-end stuff almost being done so this was a big help in saving me a little bit of time! The paper in this sketch is courtesy of My Mind's Eye this week and you can check out Jennifer's blog at http://lifebescrappy.blogspot.com/ - enjoy!

SKETCH OF THE WEEK AND OTHER GOODIES!

2009-06-19T19:35:00.000-07:00

Oh I am a bad blogger...but sometimes life just gets in the way and I have to prioritize in order to keep up! We had a fabulous day today - my youngest son had his year end carnival at playschool and we had a great time. The rain managed to hold off for the most part and I kept oldest son home from school so he could enjoy it too.

So...Sketch of the Week was done and posted on the forum but I did forget to post it here. I discovered on Photoshop how to create new patterns so I borrowed some cute pp from Little Yellow Bicycle for this sketch - I don't yet have this paper but thinkin I may need it!! This is a great sketch for scraps so pull em out!
Other goodies I worked on this week were the year end scrapbook/yearbook for playschool. It was 32 pages but done in 8 1/2 by 11 and I have to say that I just don't enjoy working with that size. It works great for something like this as you have to try and put a lot of pictures on a page but no room for techniques!
I also got my kit up at the LSS - and it is selling super well! I am happy and the owner is happy so all is good!
And last but not least, I got all the goodies done for my first class at the LSS!!! I am going to be doing a class on Alcohol Inks and can't wait! I did 2 layouts and 2 cards so that we could start out super basic and work our way up to advanced...and there seems to be a lot of interest so YAY!!
The first layout will probably end up being a Father's Day present for my Daddy as it is a picture of his mom in 1913 at the age of 1.... although I love it so much that if I do give it to him, I will have to reproduce one for myself! This one will help teach how to colour transparencies, stickers and flowers with AI. This is that layout:
And the other layout is using some different techniques with stamping and alcohol ink, colouring foam letters and acrylic and then altering buttons. If you notice the denim flower, that is courtesy of my sons new cutoffs!!!
If you are interested in the class, please pop into Creative Scrapbook and sign up or send me a message and I will give you more info!!
Don't forget about the Design Team Call for A PILE OF SCRAP! Deadline is Tuesday June 23rd and I would love to see so many entries that we don't know what to do with them all!!!
And that is all my goodies for the week ! I am hoping to go to bed early tonight as I am tuckered right out. I think I shall work on my son's teacher/busdriver gifts tomorrow as the weather isn't supposed to be super nice.... Hope you all have a great weekend!!!

SKETCH OF THE WEEK JUNE 8 - 14

2009-06-10T08:37:00.000-07:00

Ack!! Life is super crazy, busy and hectic around here! I took last week off from the Sketch but did have good intentions this week....but apparently I didn't remember them until this morning!

I have an album due tomorrow night that I need to finish, I still have to pick out the goodies and get my kit done for the LSS and then plan my first class! In between the scrappy stuff, I need to fit in real life stuff like parent helping at playschool tomorrow, oldest son has a school bbq on Friday and a birthday party on Saturday, next week is a carnival at playschool and I'm sure there's lots more I am forgetting! So hopefully, I can squeeze in time to do a layout for the sketch - enjoy and have a great week!!!

DESIGN TEAM CALL!!

2009-06-09T14:04:00.001-07:00

CALLING ALL DESIGNERS! – DESIGN TEAM CALL – DEADLINE JUNE 23/09

A PILE OF SCRAP! is looking for some new Design Team Members for our next term, running from July 1st/09 to January 1st , 2010!! Come check out our forum and play!!

At A PILE OF SCRAP! we are:
first and foremost, a business but we understand that it's the people who make our business. We are eager to make being on the Design Team as positive an experience as humanly possible for all involved. We are deeply committed to bringing creativity & joy to the lives of those who share in our passion for scrapbooking and have great respect for what others share with us.

You are:
creative, passionate, committed and know the importance of deadlines and also that your best work is what you want others to know you by.
If you are a new scrapper or you've never been on a Design Team before, don't let that stop you from applying. We want to see everyone's work! Show us what you're made of!

DESIGN TEAM REQUIREMENTS
* Submit 3 layouts and 1 project per month, or 3 cards and 1 project, or 4 layouts for each monthly kit and complete them on time.
* If requested, submit complete instructions on how to complete lo's or project.
* Participate on our forum at least 4 days per week.
* Participate and help run one online crop during term.
* Create and maintain a personal gallery on our forum.
* Create a weekly challenge that is unique to our forums.
* Create or maintain a blog that is updated at least once a week. Your blog must contain a blinkie, links to other DT members and a link to our forums. If you are not yet a blogger, there is lots of help available!
* Communicate with Owner and Design Team Coordinator about absences due to illness or vacation.
* You will not post pages created for the DT anywhere on the web until they have been published on our Forum first.
* Be available to possibly create a unique layout for forum members – this is a new contest that will be announced soon and more details will follow then. You may not be creating this every month but you do need to be available to do so.
* If you need to terminate your position, please try to give us as much notice as possible so that we can find someone else to take your place in the team.

DESIGN TEAM REWARDS
* Your own customized Design Team Blinkie that you can post on your blog and anywhere else!
* Design Team business cards with the pretty APOS logo on them!
* A scrappy package every month – sometimes with extra goodies shipped out to you or picked up at the store!!
* A store discount!
* The chance to learn from and inspire lots of really cool scrapping ladies!

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
* 3 of your best pages/cards, one of which needs to be brand new (never ever published anywhere) and created from the sketch found at the bottom of this post. We politely request that you refrain from publishing it elsewhere until you hear back as to whether or not you are invited to join our team. We want that page to be a big surprise to all our faithful forum followers!
* Write a brief blurb about yourself including your scrapbooking interests, as well as links to your blogs/online galleries.
* Please email all submissions to alissa@apileofscrap.ca by Tuesday June 23/o9. We do not have a set number in mind for our DT and look forward to all of you inspiring us to make it huge! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to send me a quick email with them!