Scrapaholic Anonymous

Easy point for Iron Scrapper 2!

2011-07-02T09:43:00.000-06:00

I'm loving seeing all these new avi's everyone is sporting over at Scrap Orchard. The first challenge is up, and it's super easy - sport an "Iron Scrapper" avatar! I had fun with mine, making my dh take a picture of me (while he rolled his eyes) doing an 'Iron Woman' pose. See those muscles? Ya, neither can I LOL!

Bad blogger!

2011-07-01T07:42:00.000-06:00

Apparently when I took my holiday to the USA, I forgot all about blogging - oops! We've had a busy month, sold our house (while we were away!), decided to build and had to find a place to rent for the next 6ish months. It's been a whirlwind, and I can't wait for July 15th when we'll be all moved and things will settle down!

I have a lot of pages I haven't posted, I will do that over the next few days but for now I want to share a super exciting challenge over at Scrap Orchard - this is the first week so I'll keep reminding you about it til you go and enter some of the challenges! It's fun, and you could win AN IPAD2!!!!! It's a non-elimination contest, you get points for everything you complete, every point gets you an entry into the draw for the prizes. Last year I won the iPod Touch on the staff side of the contest, very exciting!!!

So go check it out!!!

Random pages

2011-05-22T12:48:00.000-06:00

Just a couple of random pages. Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

Better Together

My friend's twins and their older sister.

Credits:
Better Together kit - Jady Day Studio and Eva Kipler
Serenity Templates - True Blue Studio

I Rock a Mazda 5

Credits:
SwaggerWagon vs. The SUV - Graham Like the Cracker
SwaggerWagon vs. The SUV: The Word Art - Graham Like the Cracker
Eat Cake Alpha 3 - KimB and Jen Reed
Gimme Layers Lite Vol. 2 - Cluster Queen Creations

Biggest Loser -Orchard Style

2011-05-21T10:18:00.000-06:00

This is my page for the first Mini challenge at Scrap Orchard's Biggest Loser contest. It's a weight loss contest/challenge, and my team is rocking it! The challenge was to create a page about why you need to lose the weight and how it affects your life.

Biggest Loser

Journaling: My weight has always been an issue, ever since high school. If I knew then what I know now, there’s no way I would have thought I was ‘fat’ back then - but I did think that. And now, years later when I am needing to take off half my weight, I NEED to do it. For me, so I’m not tired and I feel healthy again. For him, so I can be a better wife and have the energy to do things again. And most importantly, for her - so I can be the mom I want to be. I want to be able to chase after her and not be out of breath after 2 seconds. I want her to live in a house where there CAN be cookies and chips on occasion and mommy doesn’t eat them all. I want her to have a normal life and have a mommy she can look up to and want to be like. I want to be able to get pregnant again and give her a sibling, and at my current weight that’s not looking like it’s going to happen. Right now, sadly, I don’t want her to be like me - I want her to be healthy, and to do that, I need to show her how. So that’s why and how I’m starting the Biggest Loser challenge at scrap Orchard - for me, my hubby and for her. ~May 2011

Credits:
Moments like This kit - Captivated Visions and Micheline Martin
In the News Alpha - Tracie Stroud
Templates: All stacked up samplers - Captivated Visions
Font - DJB Lizi

And a week goes by ...

2011-05-20T08:31:00.001-06:00

And a week goes by just like that! I was so tired from NSD I took a little break from scrapping, but I'm back and raring to go now! I've done a couple pages this week, and I'm so excited because one of my friends, Lita, has gone back to designing! She retired a few months back and I'm so happy to see her back to designing. See yesterday's post for more info!

For now, here are a few pages I have done this week, and a few from April's issue of Scrapbook News and Review. Thanks for visiting!

Toy Story 3

All about taking my dd to her first theater experience

Credits:
Me time: Chick Click kit - Jenn Barrette and Kristen Cronin-Barrow
You've got a Friend kit - Mandabean
You've got a Friend add on - Mandabean
Gimme Layers with Words Vol. 1 - Cluster Queen Creations

Our Princess

Journaling: Kaitlyn at 6 weeks old with her first photo session at Grandma’s photo studio. You are already our little princess and we love you so much.

Credits:
Fairy Princess kit - Happy Scrap Girl and GG Digital Designs
Bordered Vol. 1 - geniaBeana
Font - DJB Christy

Stay True

Credits:
Moment kit - Red Ivy Designs
Sidekicks Pack 10 - Fizzy Pop Designs

Litabells Designs is back!

2011-05-19T10:41:00.000-06:00

Litabells Designs is back to designing! I was so excited when I saw on her personal facebook page that she was coming back to designing, I just had to ask her for a spot on her CT - and she said yes! :) I was a guest for her late last year, and then was asked to stay on, but the next month she retired so I was totally bummed. Now, she's back and better than ever with an amazing new kit and some older goodies in her new store at The Digi Chick. Check it out! Here are a couple pages with what she's released this week.

Capture the Moment

Credits
Moments kit - Litabells Designs
May Flowers templates - Busy Bee Designs

Can't See Me

Journaling: You make me smile when you are three. You like to play hide and seek with us, but you constantly give away where you’re hiding because you giggle and shriek. Mommy just has to say “Kaitlyn, where are you? I can’t find you!” and you’ll yell out “I’m hiding!” If you don’t run of and hide when we play you cover your eyes and you’re so silly you think we can’t see you if you cover your eyes. We play along because it’s funny and because you love it when we play along like that. Silly goose, we love you!

Credits:
Spring Blooms - Litabells Designs
Head Start Vol. 2 - Litabells Designs
Font - Kristen ITC

A 2-pager

2011-05-11T09:26:00.000-06:00

I don't do 2 page layouts very often, usually only when I have to or I find a template I love. This is the template one :) I did this for a friend of mine, Carley.

Credits:
Lost in Rio - Joyce Paul
Alpha - Inkabet Alpha - Faith True
Get 'em Scrapped 2 - ChrissyW

The post monster

2011-05-11T09:13:00.000-06:00

The post monster ate this post.

You know the one I'm talking about - when you're just about finished your post, you go to hit save and you accidentally hit the wrong button? Ya, that one.

I had a HUGE post with all my iNSD scraps on it. The great (and not so great) thing about Blogger is that it auto-saves your posts for you so you don't have to worry about it.

But when everything gets highlighted and your daughter types over it, and it auto-saves a second later, everything gets lost.

Sigh.

So this post is pretty boring now - I'll have to redo the other one, but I just wanted to post about the post monster - well played, PM, well played.

Post Monster 1
Trina 0

Til next time...

Bring It challenge

2011-05-04T15:42:00.000-06:00

I'm hosting the 'Bring it' challenge at Scrap Orchard this month. It's mean for you to bring your A game and think outside the box and I like trying to find attainable challenges that stimulate your creativity every time I get to host this challenge. This month, I decided to make the members do a page using NO SOLIDS. Yes, that's right, only patterened paper. I love papers and I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with! This is my page for my challenge, a RAK for my friend Carley.

Credits:

Birthday Boy - Faith True

All Stacked Up Clusters Vol. 6 - Captivated Visions

Photo: Carley Hague

Go vote! Please?

2011-05-02T09:45:00.000-06:00

It's Election Day here in Canada, I hope if you're Canadian and reading this that you get out there to vote today! I am voting after work, I'm interested to see how the dynanics of Canadian politics are going to change (if at all) from this election. I'm a bit tired of voting, as this is our 4th federal election in 7 years, but I'll get out there and vote anyways.

I have a couple pages I did over the weekend to share! I'm really into photo-less pages right now, which is why 2 of the 3 of these are photoless lol.

Tumor

A page about the scariest word I've ever heard in relation to my health. Thankfully, it turned out to be benign.

Credits:
Back Off kit - Captivated Visions and Laura Banasiak
Sassy Starters Tell it - Nanie's Designs
Font: Myraid Pro

Cousins

Journaling: Kaitlyn and Kenner - you two are cousins that don’t get to see each other very often as you live so far apart, but when you do get together you always seem to have fun! Kenner takes good care of Kaitlyn and keeps her amused, and both of you love chasing each other around and making funny faces and laughing. It warms my heart to see how the two of you interact. These photos are from June, 2009 when Lacey, Bill and Kenner came home to Canada to visit and the two of you played in the playhouse for a long time.

Credits:
iGrow bundle - Ziggle Designs and SuzyQ Scraps
All Stacked Up Clusters Vol. 2 - Captivated Visions

Bookworm

Credits:
I Luv 2 Craft - KimB Designs
iGrow template - SuzyQ Scraps
Font - Ganite

Digi-scrapping friends

2011-04-30T09:16:00.000-06:00

You know when you really love something, you want everyone to know about it and do it? That's how I feel about digi-scrapping, and I always love when people ask me how to get started in it because they love my pages. I sat down with a local friend yesterday to try and show her the ropes - she already had photoshop experience with her photography business, so it was a breeze, really, she understood the concepts, just had to put them together. I'm excited that if she keeps being interested I'll have a local friend to scrap with - while I'm part of a few digital communities, I haven't had many friends I can scrapbook with in the same room. So I'm excited to get to do that hopefully soon :)

I have a few pages I could post this week, you can see them all here.

Cool Dude

This is my nephew lookin like a Cool Dude :)

Credits:
Scrap Orchard May Mega

Sunshine Day

Journaling: July, 2009 - we went on a road trip to Spokane, Seattle, Vancouver and then home. It was really hot out (because it was July!) but we found some fun things to do, including riding a gondola over the Spokane Falls in downtown Spokane, Washington. It was stifling hot in there but you thought it was fun to crawl around on the floor of the gondola. You were pretty good natured about the heat (even though mommy and daddy were complaining about it) and you looked so sweet playing in the sunshine. You stood up using mommy’s legs (you weren’t walking yet) and gave me this smile as if to say “It’s OK mommy, life is all about the sunshine.” You are so adorable, my sunshine girl!

Credits:
Me, Myself and I - Eva Kipler and Kate Hadfield
Maths Class Alpha - Kate Hadfield
Llightroom Preset - Aged Photo
DJB Marla Script

Lift of nietis' One Spring Day: http://scrapmatters.com/gallery3/sho...38/ppuser/5162

RAK for a friend.

Credits:
Raining on Sunday kit - Jennifer Fox
Scraps to Go Vol. 12 - Jennifer Fox

Playing Dressup

My DD playing dressup when my mom and dad were babysitting a couple weeks ago TFL!

Credits:
Shop Til Ya Drop kit - Angie Kovacs and ChrissyW
Shop Til Ya Drop Add-on Papers - Angie Kovacs and ChrissyW
Sample Pack 19 - ChrissyW

Adorable

Credits:
Home is ... by Meg Mullens, ScrapKitchen and Eva Kipler
Gimme Layers Lite Vol.3 - Cluster Queen Creations

Fun in the Sun

Credits:
Soak up the Sun - Meg Mullens
Gimme Layers Lite Vol. 4 - Cluster Queen Creations
Photo: Carley Hague

You are my Sunshine

RAK for a friend.

Credits:
Sun Kissed Sunrise - Jenn Labre
Hello Spring templates - True Blue Studio

Paperclipping Digi Show!

2011-04-27T10:43:00.000-06:00

I am so excited to share this with you (albeit a bit late, as it came out late last week). Last Thursday I got to do something super neat and I'm SO stoked about it! The Paperclipping Digi Show is something I listen to on my iPhone (although I'm a few months behind, they're all sitting there lol). It's a roundtable discussion on topics that have to do with digital scrapbooking, and Steph from The Daily Digi asked if I would be a guest on it.

I rearranged schedules, played hookey from work (I took a vacation day) and I had a BLAST with it. The other panelists were Steph (from the Daily Digi), Katie the Scrapbook Lady, Aaron Morris (Sir Scrapalot), and Izzy from Izzy video. It was a lot of laughing and they made my nerves go away (although I was scared I'd miss one of my creative teams when listing them!). If you want to check it out and hear us chat about using Patterned Paper in your scrapbooking, you can do so here. And if you do listen, note that I've updated my CT's on my blog (blush).

It's rather fitting that the day I decide to get my act together and post about it, I have a bunch of layouts that use, what else? Patterned Paper.

Tutu Cute

Credits:
My Year kit - Meg Mullens and Traci Reed

Happy Easter 2010

Journaling:
You were so cute in your pink Easter outfit and bunny ears for Easter, 2010. You weren’t quite sure what the fuss was about, but you sure liked the chocolate you got from the Easter bunny!

Credits:
Hoppity hop... Easter's on it's way - Jenn Barrette
Purple Haze templates - Queen of Hearts - @DSB @MScraps
Font - CK Penman

Every Little Thing

Credits:
Every Little Thing - Girls - Meg Mullens
Fuss Free Gimme Layers Spaced Out Vol 1 - Cluster Queen Creations and Fiddle Dee Dee Designs
Photos: Carley Hague

He is Happy

Credits:
Every Little Thing - Boy - Meg Mullens
Sweet Spring Set 6 - True Blue Studio
Photo: Carley Hague

Live Life

Credits:

The Joy of Life kit - Captivated Visions
Damask Alpha - Captivated Visions
Sassy Starters - inspired by Paper Vol.1 - Nanie's Designs

The Alphabet of Me!

2011-04-22T17:03:00.000-06:00

I got this from my friend's blog - Sarcastically Bitter - and thought it was neat so here it is!

A. Age: 31

B. Bed size: Queen. I sleep to the right of my hubby.

C. Chore you dislike: Vacuuming! I would much rather clean the bathroom than vacuum or sweep or mop.

D. Dogs: We had a couple dogs when I was growing up, Sophie (a Springer Spaniel), then Willy (a Bichon), and my hubby and I got a Bichon cross Shih-tzu (Kasey) after we got married, and we gave him away when he was almost 3, we couldn't train him nor handle him.

E. Essential start to your day: Tea. And more Tea. I check my email and Facebook too, but I need my tea in the morning.

F. Favorite color: Blue, and lately purple.

G. Gold or silver: Gold!

H. Height: 5’3"

I. Instruments you play(ED): Piano, and Clarinet in school.

J. Job title: I don't really have a title. Office Guru?

K. Kids: 3 year old Kaitlyn.

L. Live: I don't understand the question lol Where do I live? Alberta.

M. Mom’s name: Yvette

N. Nicknames: Treenie - which I hate ... Treen (which is tolerable), my hubby calls me babe/honey.

O. Overnight hospital stays: Once when I was a kid I think. 3 nights when I had my daughter (by C-section) and 3 nights in January when I had surgery to remove a tumor/ovary.

P. Pet peeves: People who overuse the word 'Like,' bad customer service, rudeness

Q. Quote from a movie: "You had me at hello" ...

R. Righty or Lefty: Righty.

S. Siblings: Lacey

T. Time you wake up: 6:00 am or earlier if Kaitlyn gets me up.

U. Underwear: Yes. ??

V. Vegetables you don’t like: Mushrooms, Spinach, cabbage (and others)

W. What makes you run late: If I'm late it's because of other people! Especially my daughter.

X. X-rays you’ve had: Teeth, arms (both, I've fractured both), and one when I was 38 weeks pregnant to see which way Kaitlyn's head was (she was breech).

Y. Yummy food you make: Spaghetti

Z. Zoo Animal Favorites: Giraffes, Lions, Hippos

Blast from the Past

2011-04-19T13:45:00.000-06:00

I've been busy backing up my photos onto my Flickr account, and because I'm doing this I keep seeing adorable pictures I haven't scrapped (or haven't scrapped LATELY), so I decided to do a blog post with some layouts featuring long-lost pictures I forgot I had and decided to scrap.

Here Comes Trouble

This is my nephew, Kenner, and I don't remember if this was his 1 year or 18 months pictures - of course I don't have it labeled, so I will have to ask my sister so I can put some journaling on it. Isn't he a cutie?

Credits:
Eco Mama - Meg Mullens and Traci Reed
Titlework - Shawna Clingerman
Freebie 4 - Cindy Schneider

Beautiful Sunshine Day

Journaling: You had so much fun on this sunshine-y day in August, 2009. You had just learned to walk and decided to show off your new skill by walking up and down Granmom and Grandpa’s deck while we were visiting.

Credits:
Here Comes the Sun kit - Digi Files 28 - Libby Pritchett
Rough & Tumble Templates - Queen of Hearts
Font: Linenstroke

H is for Happy

We were really lucky with you as a baby, you were always really happy. You never really had much in the way of crying or colic, and you slept thru the night (6 hours anyways) after 6 or 8 weeks. You really were a happy, easy baby. You`re still pretty happy as a toddler, and so, so silly which makes us smile. We love you so much Katie!
Photo - August 2008
Journaling: April 2011

Credits:
Alphabet Collection - H is for ... by Meg Mullens
Easy Breezy Templates Part 15 - Busy Bee Designs

Happy Monday!

2011-04-18T11:25:00.000-06:00

How was your weekend?

Mine was pretty good, although busy! I didn't have much of a chance to scrap - or upload to my galleries even, I'm just getting caught up now. We're finishing up the finishing touches of the basement today and tomorrow, my inlaws are here helping us, I'm so excited that it will be getting done SOON! No scrapping for me for the next few days while they're here, but here are some that I can finally post.

Fun Fun Fun

Journaling:
It’s always fun to run outside and play, especially in the early Spring months! April, 2011 We went for a walk and jumped in a bunch of puddles, you had a great time playing and having ‘fun fun fun’ til Mommy made you go home!

Credits:
Just for Fun Grab Bag - Jennfier Fox
Just for Fun Mini kit - Jennifer Fox
Just for Fun - Tinted Krafties - Jennifer Fox
Wonderfully White Alpha - Jennifer Fox

Lovechild Templates - Queen of Hearts @DSB @MScraps
Font: DJB Heather E.

Rhinestone Cowgirl

Journaling:
I love your little cowgirl hat! You loved wearing it too, you didn’t want to take it off when mommy put it on you to take some pictures - so of course I let you wear it for a long time more! You’re my little Rhinestone Cowgirl.

Credits:
Yee-haw Combo - Chelle's Creations
Sweet Spring Set 5 - True Blue Studio
Font - DJB Sissy

Love Many Things

I love this photo of me, my sister and a friend when we were kids.

Credits:
Knowing Life kit- Simply J Studio
Sweet Spring Set 5 - True Blue Studio
Font - ck Letter Home

March's SNR layouts

2011-04-15T07:34:00.000-06:00

Just catching up some pages I did specifically for Scrapbook News and Review's March issue.

Live Life Out Loud

Credits:
Love Who You Are kit - Captivated Visions
Wordart: Unwritten kit - Penny Springman
All Stacked Up Clusters Vol. 4 - Captivated Visions
Font: Mason

Free Spirit

Credits:
Royal Dalliance - Siamese Studio
Holey Moley templates - ChrissyW
Bohemian Spirit Inspiring Words - Captivated Visions

Hugs & Kisses

Credits:
Sweethearts kit - Suzy Q Designs
March 2011 SNR Staffer Template by Katherine Hanson

Light bulb!

2011-04-14T09:37:00.000-06:00

Yep, it's snowing. And that's all I have to say about that.

I heard something on the radio the other day that made me think, and I've been thinking of it ever since - apparently North Americans eat out 50% of the time. I thought "Wow, that's a lot!" until I really thought of it. I eat only one meal a day at home, which is supper, and sometimes we go out for that too. Breakfast and lunch, at least during the week, I eat at my desk at work, and we tend to go out for supper about once a week. So that's about 70% of my meals I eat away from home. That's a lot.

In my adult years, I've always struggled with my weight - I thought I was big in high school, but I wasn't now that I look back on it. Now, I'm definitely overweight and I hate it, and always seem to be starting one diet or another. But hearing this on the radio made things sort of 'click' for me - if I'm eating out of the house 70% of the time, that could be a large part of the problem. I can't do much about lunches as I don't have a long enough break to go home for lunch every day, but instead of trying *another* new diet, my resolve is to eat more at home, and pack a lunch for work instead of picking something up. I'm hoping the end result is a healthier (and thinner?) me, and it can't hurt my bank account either - the $3/day I spend at Timmies on breakfast and tea alone adds up to almost $1000 a year. The other part of this is that we tend to go out when we can't think of anything else for supper, so completing meal plans ahead of time is the other part of this - if we know what we're having and have it planned in advance it'll be cheaper for one, and healthier too. I'll let you know my progress as far as this is concerned!

I do have some layouts to show you too!

Sleeping Beauty

Journaling:
I love watching you sleep. I’ve loved it since you were just a newborn, you look so peaceful and I wonder what’s going on in your mind. I love when you first wake up too, when you’re trying to figure out what’s going on and you look so content and rested (until the crying starts that is).

Credits:
Drowsy Town - Irene Alexeeva
Drowsy Town Alpha - Irene Alexeeva

Chatterbox

Journaling: You are such a chatterbox at almost 3 years old. You are stringing more and more words together to make sentences, adding words like ‘the’ and ‘in’ and other words like that to tie the words together. It is so cute to hear you come out with new sentences every day, and our favorite by far in January 2011 is “Come play me” - you love it when we play with you and you’re always urging us to do it. We love you, our little chatterbox!
Credits:
Teenage Dream kit - Laura Banasiak and Micheline Martin
Wordart - Blah Blah Blah - Jenn Barrette
You Said What templates - Queen of Hearts
Font - Mason

The Sweet Life
Journalling - This is the sweet life - hanging out on a warm summer day with my sweetie, enjoying the sunshine and the nice warm breeze.

Credits:
One Sweet World kit - EH Studios
Clean and Simple 6 templates - Sabrina's Creations
Font - Bodoni MT

Smile Today

Journaling:
I love when you smile! Finally, at age 3, you are starting to smile for the camera again - Daddy says mommy takes too many pictures and that’s why you ran from the camera for over a year. But mommy thinks that you were just going thru a phase - at least that’s what I like to think anyways! Whatever the reason, I'm so glad to be catching your beautiful smile on camera again.

Credits:
Chasing Rainbows - Jenn Barrette and Dani Mogstad
Voodoo Templates - Queen of Hearts ~ part of DSA's the Fix, April 2011

Credits:
Perfect to me - Meg Mullens and Traci Reed
Font - DJB Coffeeshoppe Tall Skinny

Lift of this paper layout.

I jinxed it ...

2011-04-13T15:38:00.000-06:00

My current facebook status:

Trina is EXPECTING!! I know, I know it's crazy isn't it? I can't believe it myself. I wasn't going to put it on here because it's obvious but wanted to make it official. I mean who would have guessed that we are expecting?!?! Yup it's official. My family and Friends in Alberta are expecting *SNOW* AGAIN today and tomorrow!

Too much talk of Spring I guess. We're expecting 5-15 cm of snow overnight. I saw this awhile back on someone's status and just had to copy it today, since we're expecting snow and everyone knows we've been trying to get pregnant for a long time now. We'll see what the response is :)

Spring's a Hoot

2011-04-11T08:14:00.001-06:00

I don't want to jinx it, but I think we may actually be getting that season called 'Spring.' It's been a long time coming, but hopefully there's no more snow in our future until October or even better, November! I know that won't happen - after 31 years of living in this province I know we always always always get a snowstorm sometime in May. But a gal can dream, right?

One of the fun activities of Spring is jumping in puddles! Last year Kaitlyn was too timid to do it, she was scared of the puddles

March 2010

This year, she was timid for the first puddle, then jumped right in - literally. It was so fun to watch her and remember that life, sometimes, is all about the biggest splash.

Spring's a Hoot

Journaling:
You had so much fun jumping in puddles when we took you for a walk in April, 2011. The first few you were scared of but after that you figured out it was fun to make a big SPLASH as you jumped “really high” into the puddles. Spring is such a “hoot."

Credits:
Spring's a Hoot kit - Meg Mullens
Springtime and Sunshine templates - Cindy Schneider
Font - CK Buddies

Top 3 Layouts of March, 2011

2011-04-10T10:21:00.024-06:00

One of the things I wanted to do this year was pick my top 3 layouts of each month, and I'm a bit late at getting March done, but here they are! If you'd like to see the other months Top 3, see here.

Just a reminder that these are not neccessarily pages I created in March, but ones that I was able to post in March in my DigiShopTalk gallery Logistically, this just works better for me finding which ones I really love.

#3 - Sweet or Sour

This kit just makes me think of summer and heat. I love the pic of Kaitlyn too, her obsessions with lemons is so weird! I loved the template too, it just fell right together easily.

#2 - Beauty

Another picture I've scrapped a few times, because I love it. I really love how the template and the side border worked together so well, every time I see this page I get a "warm fuzzy" as they say.

#1 - Fabulous Las Vegas

I have been wanting to scrap my Vegas pics since I got back in October, but there is just SO many of them. Plus, there are actually only a handful of kits for Vegas pages, and I didn't like any of them enough to buy one. So when the Orchard Girls made a Mega Collab about Vegas that I loved, I was all over it and made this page - I love how I was able to incorporate some of my fave times in Veags all in one page.

March Roundup

2011-04-09T09:35:00.000-06:00

I've been following Katie the Scrapbook Lady's blog for a long time and I love that she does a monthly Roundup with prompts for everyone to do one too. Here is my March Roundup! To check out past roundups click here.

March Roundup

What books and/or magazines did I read this month?
Treachery in Death by JD Robb
The Hunger Games trilogy - I literally could not put them down. I can't wait until the movies come out now!

What movies, television shows, plays, etc. did I watch this month?
Nothing out the ordinary, although I did watch Grey's Anatomy for the first time with my mom's group at the end of the month. It was a good show, I may take up watching it.

What fun things did I do with my family and/or friends?

I hosted my mommy groups' wine & cheese party on the last Thursday of the month. We do this every month and so far it's been the same 4 girls that go, but it's fun to get out and socialize and have some bevvies and appies! I made WAY too much food (as usual), and we played the game Bubble Talk. It was really fun!

I also went to an Undercover Wear party - it's a home party for lingerie and adult toys. My friend (from the mommy group) is a consultant and another friend had a party. I didn't buy anything but I enjoyed spending time with the other ladies.

We also tried Kaitlyn on dance lessons. That didn't go too well. Although she looked adorable in her leotard, tutu and tap shoes. We decided after 2 lessons to try again in the fall - she wouldn't leave my side and had her hands in her mouth both the classes (she puts her hands in her mouth when she's scared or worried). I would have kept going with her, but the 3rd class she had a 15 min. tantrum before I even got her dressed for the class and she told me she wanted to "STAY HOME MOMMY!" while banging on her bedroom door and refusing to come out. I think she may still be a bit too small/young for it.

We also went to an Oilers/Flames party - I call it a party, it was just us and another couple watching the Oilers vs. Flames hockey game on March 26th. My hubby and I are both avid Oilers fans, as is the one half of the couple whose house we went to. The other half of the couple is a devout Flames fan, so we had a fun time ribbing each other and letting the kids play. We left before the game was over, and the Oilers were winning. When we woke up the next morning we found out the Oilers had lost in OT. So that sucks lol.

What gifts did I give and/or receive?

Nada! This month we didn't have anything in the way of birthdays, anniversaries or other occasions.

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

We bought carpet for the basement, which was a good chunk of change. We had other renovation expenses and paint too, but other than that we didn't spend much.

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

We all got a cold this month. It started with Kaitlyn, quickly went to Mark and then 2 days later to me. It lasted 2-3 weeks for all of us, and I went home from work one afternoon because I felt so icky (I rarely go home from work sick).

What were my accomplishments this month?

3-13 GSO Blog for my Reality TV layout
3-16 GSO at DST for Fun in the Sun layout
3-25 GSO at 9th & Bloom for Born to Party layout
I had a few layouts (and articles) published in Scrapbook News and Review. I will add in the number once the site is back up and I can count them, they're having technical difficulties.

What were my disappointments this month?

My mom's group was supposed to do dinner & paint-your-own pottery one night this month and it didn't happen, schedules were just too hectic. I really want to try and plan this for a night in the near future though! I also *really* wanted to head to Las Vegas for the weekend of Mar 31st/Apr. 1st because of Digiscrap-apalooza, but we just weren't able to afford it. The weather was a huge disappointment, as it continued to snow and be cold right thru the end of the month (and into April!).

How did I do on my goals for the month? (Or any current short or long term goals)

We joined the new gym in town, so that's one step closer to my healthy goal. Although now I suppose I need to actually GO. Too bad just having a membership doesn't make the lbs fall off!

Weekend roundup

Mar. 5-6

Saturday I had to wait for the drywaller to come and then we went to the city to find Kaitlyn some tap shoes and an outfit to wear for dance. We found both and then headed back home and relaxed for the rest of the day/night. Sunday was a waste of a day, we waited for the drywaller to show up because he said he was going to and he never did, so by the time we decided he wasn't going to, it was nap time for Miss K, then supper and we decided to go out for ice cream at about 7 pm to get out of the house.

Mar. 12-13

The one big thing about us doing renovations is that we're at the point where we had to pile the rest of our junk from the basement in the laundry room area - making it impossible to do laundry. We usually do a load every day or every other day at most, so this left us with a pile of laundry. Since we were still having issues with the contractors not showing up, with no end in sight, I packed it all up and spent 3 hours at the laundromat. Super funny way to spend a Saturday, no? Sunday we did our usual shopping trips to Costco and Wal Mart, nothing too special. Again, we were at a standstill with the contractors and couldn't work on the house.

Mar. 19-20

Friday we picked out a new carpet for the basement (the original one was sold out by the time we made up our minds on a date to get it installed). We had friends over on Saturday night for some drinks and to let the kids play, and earlier in the day I spent a few hours at the laundromat (see previous weekend for why). It was fun to just relax and have the kids (their 2 and K) be occupied with each other. We spent Sunday in our PJ's - literally. All of us didn't change, it was a nice, relaxing day.

Mar. 26-27
We went to the Oilers/Flames get together that I said above and worked on the basement. Not very exciting, but it's what we did!

There is my roundup for March!

Finally Friday!

2011-04-08T10:05:00.000-06:00

I love the end of the week! Not just because it's the weekend, but because I get to share layouts I've been working on all week (or earlier than that!). I didn't get a chance to scrap much this week, as we were staying at my parent's house while we got new flooring in our (only) bathroom. I did manage to do a few pages for this week's releases from my designers though, and here they are!

This first layout is for the "Make Mine a Double" challenge at Scrap Orchard - I'm hosting it this month! I'm not usually into double page layouts, but I love how this one turned out!

Sweet Katie
Journaling: I love these photos of you that I took in June, 2010 at Granmom and Grandpa’s house while you were looking at the flowers. You were so intent on seeing what they were and smelling them., it was really adorable!
Credits:
All a Flutter - Pastels - Julie Bullock
Alpha Beads - Julie Bullock
Fun with Opacity Masks - Scrapping with Liz

Journaling:
You’re our little princess! Not because you’re spoiled rotten but because you’re our sweetheart. When you are 3 you love playing dressup and smiling for the camera - not to mention trying to be BEHIND the camera. You pick up everything and pretend it’s a camera by telling whoever you’re looking at to say “Cheese!” You love picking out your own clothes, too - especially when one of your 3 pink Dora shirts are clean, you’ll always pick those or your cupcake outfit.

Credits:
Everything from the Birthday Bash Grab Bag by Designs by Kat, Captivated Visions, Tracie Stroud and Nanie's Designs

Journaling:
I never get tired of seeing your smile! Sometimes you make me laugh because you’ll be playing, then start giggling, then full out laughing, seemingly for no reason! It tickles my funny bone so to speak that you amuse yourself so much! I hope you’re always so happy and smile-y!

Credits:
Fever kit - Meg Mullens and Amanda Heimann
Gimme Layers Vol 4 - Cluster Queen Creations
Font - Pea Alicia Script, Pea Gretchie Print

Journaling:
I wish I could be 3 again after watching you when you’re 3. You make the clouds go away when the sky is gray, you really do. On this day in April 2011 it wasn’t that sunny but we decided to go for a walk in the melting snow and every puddle you came across you had to jump in. I love how you love life and the simple things - like jumping in puddles. You remind me what life is about, and I love you!

Credits:
~New 4/9~ Happy When skies are Gray kit - Jenn Barrette and Laura Banasiak
Gimme Layers Vol 4 - Cluster Queen Creations
Font - DJB Tracey Script

Credits:
Sweet Garden kit - Digi Files 28 - Studio Q
Template: Nikki Epperson
Font - Pea Daisy Doodles

Journaling:
April 2011 - you had a bad couple of days with your tummy being upset, we went thru a whole bunch of pull-ups (because you’re still not pooping on the potty yet). Mommy felt so bad for you but all I could keep telling you is that tomorrow would be better.

Credits:
One of Those Days kit - Jennifer Fox
Blueprints Set 4 - True Blue Studio
Font - Eric Extended

I'm a guest, I'm a guest!

2011-04-05T20:33:00.001-06:00

I'm a guest! For some reason every time I say that I think of that song in Beauty and the Beast ... anyways, I thought April would never get here, but it finally is, and for the whole month I get to be a guest CT member for Wild Dandelions designs (aka Meghan Mullens) at Sweet Shoppe Designs! I'm so excited, she's one of my fave designers. Here is the first page I did for my guest stint, using Meghan's collab with Cindy Schneider (although I didn't use the template part - yet!).

Journaling:
August, 2009 - we were visiting Grandma and Poppa and you had fun in the yard playing, but you didn’t like the grass, so you wandered over to the step, which is where you stayed for a long time. It was so cute watching you take everything in (especially the
dogs) and have fun in the sunshine. Like most kids, you love spending time outside in the fresh air and sunshine. I hope you never stop loving being outside - although I hope you start to like the grass more! Photos - Aug. 2009, Writing - Apr. 2011

Credits:
Springtime and Sunshine kit - Meg Mullens
Color Pops Vol. 6 - Queen of Hearts
Font - Myriad Pro

This is the kit - I just LOVE the colors.

Catching up

2011-04-03T15:18:00.000-06:00

We have been doing renovations like crazy! We spent the weekend painting the basement, all ready for carpet on Monday now! I have a few layouts i need to catch up though, so I thought I'd post them while the paint is drying (way more fun than watching paint dry, as they say!).

This is our Life

Journaling:
Cowboy hats and princess shoes, singing at the top of your lungs and running “really fast” - that is our life with you at 3 years old, but I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Credits:
Everyday Moments - Jenn Barrette and Lauren Grier
Gimme Layers - Singled Out - Cluster Queen Creations
Font - Pea Missy

Favorite Photo

Journaling:
This is my favorite photo of you at 2 years old. I toook this while we were playing on the deck one day when it was nice, in June 2010. I love how innocent you llook and how cute your piggie tails are too! I love you sweetie!

Credits:
Scrapparazzi kit - Ju Kneipp
Gimme Layers Lite Vol. 1- April Template Grab Bag - Cluster Queen Creations
Font: Pea Missy

Strike!

Journaling:
We went bowling with you for the first time when you were almost 2, for Auntie Deanna’s birthday. You loved it so much you didn’t want anyone else to have a turn. You screamed when your turns were over because you wanted to keep bowling! So cute, maybe you’ll be a pro bowler!

Credits:
Strike! by The Design Girl
Sweet Starts Vol. 19 - April Template Grab bag - Nikki Epperson

Live

I did this for a challenge I hosted at Scrap Orchard to use 4 of everything (and only 4 of everything).
4 flowers with buttons
4 pink stars
4 blue stars
4 letter title
4 pink flowers
4 white flowers
4 photos
4 buttons
4 frames
4 papers (1 of them for frames)
4 letter title

Credits:
Kit and template: iLive bundle - SuzyQ Scraps and Ziggle Designs

Credits:
Time to be Happy - Queen of Hearts and Studio Basic - @ DSB @ MScraps
Free Love templates - Queen of Hearts

Oopsies

2011-03-31T10:18:00.000-06:00

Ever forget to hit 'publish' when you do a blog post? Oopsies - all of these are from last week, I just forgot to hit the publish post button.

Happy 3rd Birthday

Journaling:
Your 3rd Birthday party was really fun! We rented the pool and had your party there, swimming for an hour and then having pizza and cake in the party room. You enjoyed the swimming (like you always do) and barely ate any pizza, but when the Diego & Dora cupcake cake came out your eyes just lit right up, you dug right in and ate all the icing first, then the cake part after that. Happy 3rd Birthday Kaitlyn, we love you so much!

Credits:

Birthday Bash - Girl - Jennifer Fox and Christy Lyle

Sweet Spring Set 2 - True Blue Studio

Font: CK Anecdote

Born to Party

Journaling
Nate had a great time digging into the cupcakes at Kaitlyn’s 3rd birthday party. He seemed to love them, if the state of his messy face is an indicator! February 2011.

Credits:
Birthday Bash: Boy - Jennifer Fox and Christy Lyle
Spring Blooms 4 - Busy Bee Designs
Font: Arial

Jeans & T-shirt girl

Journaling:
Every time I see this picture I think you look like you were transported back to the 80’s. I don’t know if it’s your jeans or your T-shirt or just the combination of both, but you remind me of myself when I was a kid in the 80’s. You’re my little blue jean baby, you love wearing your jeans and you like to pick out your t-shirts to match (or sometimes not). I love you sweetie! September 2010.

Credits:
Denim Darling - Jennifer Labre Designs
Page Formers 1 - KimB Designs
Font - Century Gothic

Beauty

Journaling: You are such a beautiful little girl! Everyone tells us how cute you are and we just have to agree (we are pretty biased though since we love you so much and you’d be beautiful no matter what you looked like). Some people have told us you could be a model, too, but we’re not sure about getting you into something like that. you’re so shy you probably would hate it, and we don’t want you to do anything that you hate (except eat your veggies, that’s not negotiable!). Whatever you grow up to look like or be we will always love you and you will always be the most beautiful thing on this plant to us.

Credits:
Spring Symphony kit - Lindsay Jane
Spring Symphony Borders - Lindsay Jane
Sweet Spring Set 1 - True Blue Studio
Font: Century Gothic

Viva Las Vegas!

2011-03-29T15:34:00.001-06:00

I'm finally getting around to scrapping my Vegas pics! :) This may be because the Orchard girls have come out with this fantastic Viva Las Vegas collab - free with $10 purchase this weekend (starting Mar. 31) as part of Scrap Orchard's 3rd Birthday celebrations!

I did two pages so far with the kit, it is seriously MASSIVE and perfect for scrapping any trip to Vegas, poker nights, Ladies' night out, etc etc. I am so jealous of all my digi-scrapping friends who are headed to Vegas this weekend for the Digiscrap-Apalooza conference. I wish money grew on trees, because I would SO be there if it did! Oh well, maybe next year!

Here are the pages I did with the kit:

Journaling:
On our first trip to Vegas, in October 2010, I won big playing Let it Ride. It was in the wee hours of the morning and I was tired, and down to my last $5 chip on a $10 minimum table. I told Mark I’d play my last hand and then I was going back to the hotel. Of course, that’s the hand that I won big - I had a full house! That won me almost $400 and I was quite awake after that lol! I decided to play a bit more and the very next hand I won another $200. I played until I stopped winning, and I walked away with $600. and I made Mark take a picture to prove it. I spent the money the next day on a Coach purse and
leather coat for Mark.

Credits:
Viva Las Vegas - Scrap Orchard Designers

Fabulous Las Vegas

Journaling:
Things to do in Vegas (starting at top left corner): Get a big ass drink. Drink it on the street. Because you can. See the fountains at Bellagio. Meet the President. See the Statue of Liberty. See a Cirque de Soleil Show. Meet Elvis. See New York (and the Brooklyn bridge). Go to Paris. See a giant M&M. Go on a Gondola ride. See Fremont Street. Walk down the entire strip. Win some money playing cards. See the Coke store (and get eaten by the bear).

Credits:
Viva Las Vegas Collab - Scrap Orchard Designers
Lots to Say 3 - ChrissyW
Font: Pea Randa

No-Style-Sally

2011-03-24T10:56:00.001-06:00

I don't mean no-style in the clothing sense, although I don't have that either (I'm probably a good candidate for What Not to Wear!), but I've noticed lately that I have no set style for my scrapbooking pages. Some days I like to be minimalist, others I cluster like crazy. Some days I'm into white space, and the very next layout I use the entire page. I guess that means I'm multi-talented? I've turned into pretty much a one-kit scrapper, and I think the style of the kit I'm working with makes a huge difference in HOW I scrap. Since I have access to a ton of great products through all my creative teams, I think the kit influences me a lot.

Here's an example - the first two of these pages I created in the same night. A bit different, eh? And the other page I created the day before - 3 very different styles (although the last one is more similar to the second than the first). I also decided to try something different, putting the info to the side of the layout instead of on top/underneath - do you like it?

Sweet or Sour

Journaling:I am so not cool. And I know it. I’m a geek and that’s OK with me, but it’s funny to bug my cousin Ryleigh (who is a teen and *is* cool by pretending to be just like her. In July, 2009 I stole her uber hip sunglasses and told her to take a picture - just another reminder that I *so* cannot pull off the hip look. I’ll leave ‘cool’ to someone else!

Credits:
Pretty Much the Coolest Kit Ever - Laura Banasiak
Template by tjscraps (hey, that's me!)
Font - Century Gothic, Chasm Extended Heavy

Sweet or Sour

Journaling: We’re not sure why, but you sure do like lemons! Every time we go to a restaurant and get a lemon - in our water or on a caesar salad - you grab it and start sucking on it. Of course you make the puckered ‘sour’ face but you keep sucking it most of the time and we think it’s so funny. We’re not sure if you think they’re sweet or if you just like the taste, but I think you may grow out of it eventually! We took this picture of you when you were about 18 months old and we went on a road trip to Seattle. On our way back we went thru Vancouver and found the only Olive Garden around, and that’s where you stole the lemon out of mommy’s glass. You chowed down like it was a popsicle. You are so silly, girl!

Credits:
Summer Squeeze kit - Tracie Stroud and Decrow Designs
Sassy Starters Vol. 15 - Nanie's Designs
Ck carefree

Happy

Journaling: You are such a happy girl now that you are 3. Not that you were unhappy at 2, but at 3 you seem to be figuring things out more, especially potty training and putting sentences together. You`ve also started relay noticing people`s feelings, and you`re so sweet trying to cheer up people who are sad or play with those that are happy.

Credits:
Your True Colors kit -Orchard Spotlight Free'bee - Captivated Visions
Spring Temps - Scrapping with Liz
Font - scrap Round

Blah

2011-03-22T15:34:00.000-06:00

Blah. That's kind of how I've been feeling since last week. Since the cold I can't relieve my sinus pressure, which just causes a headache, but I'm just feeling 'blah.' Not great, not bad. I would really love it if it would stop snowing outside, we've had snow every day for the last 3 days, and last week too - the snow banks still haven't melted and the snow in my yard is still a good 2-3 feet high. We've also been dealing with contractors, which is NOT fun as they can't seem to communicate with us, and we finally just got our furnace fixed yesterday after months and months of having to re-light the pilot constantly.

I'm hoping that warmer weather comes, stat, so we can get out of the house and make things exciting again! I'm also 'blah' because I really had my hopes up that I could get to Digiscrap-apalooza (a digital scrapbooking convention in Vegas) next weekend, but alas it's not going to happen.

I have gotten a few pages done lately, I thought I'd share them with you here (after such a depressing blog post lol). Really, I'm not that depressed, just tired of winter and renovating!

Daydream Believer

Credits:
Beautiful Dreamer - Jenn Barrette and Traci Reed
Spring Blooms 3 - Busy Bee Designs

Journaling: Easter, 2010 - you wanted to go outside and spend some time in the nice sunshine and we ended up in the swing at Granmom and Grandpa’s house. You loved swinging and were laughing and squealing the whole time. I had a hard time getting you back into the house so we could eat supper (which you didn’t eat anyways).

Credits:
So Happy Together - Jenn Barrette and Shawna Clingerman
Spring Blooms Part 2 - Busy Bee Designs
Font- KF Dimples

Ringtone

Journaling: My ringtone rocks! It’s the theme song to Super Mario Brothers. Everyone recognizes it but it takes a couple minutes before they can place it, like they’ve heard it before but they just can’t figure out where.

Credits:
8 Bit kit - Laura Banasiak
8 bit Clusters - Laura Banasiak
In the News Alpha - Tracie Stroud

The following were all in Scrapbook News and Review, February 2011. There were a few others, but these are the new ones.

Top 5 Right Now

Credits:
Delicious Papers by Studio Basic
Template: Delicious by Studio Basic
Font: Augie

Vegas, Baby

Credits:
Waiting for Something kit - Lauren Grier and Shawna Clingerman
Wishlist Alpha - Alyson Penington
Font - FB Adventure

Love You

Credits:
Love me kit - Robyn Meierotto
Tickle Alpha - Doodelle
Wishlist Template - Amy Martin
Font - Digs my Heart

Fun in the Sun

2011-03-18T08:43:00.001-06:00

It is finally starting to warm up here! Last week we were still in the -25'C range, and this week we've got highs above O'C (freezing) all week - yay for the very early part of spring! It always seems funny the first time we get nice weather after the winter, +4, 5, 6'C seems almost tropical in comparison and I run around without a jacket and with the sunroof open on my car. Of course, when we reach these temperatures in October, I'm bundling up, but for now I think I'll just enjoy the nice weather!

I did this page reminiscing about days spent at the park, and Kaitlyn had a lot of fun on this playground. I saw this kit by Jady Day Studio and Kay Miller and I just had to do a page about the park that day - the only problem is I forgot to journal on it before I saved for web! I did end up journaling around the outside red border but was too lazy to re-save it.

Fun in the Sun

Credits:
Park Play - Jady Day Studio and Kay Miller
Jan. 18 Tuesday Template @ ScrapMatters - Mye de Leon

Here's another layout I did of us having fun outside- at the Lacombe Corn Maze.

Corn Maze
Journaling: September 2010 - we took you to the Lacombe Corn Maze, and you had so much fun! You were a little scared at first, and then you were telling mommy and daddy to ‘RUN RUN RUN’! It was so cute and it tired you out so much you slept for a long time when we got home - the combination of running and fresh air I guess! We’ll go back again next year.

Credits:
EIEIO kit, Felties and Blog Freebie - Chelle's Creations
Brackety Templates Vol. 1 - geniaBeana

I hab a cold.

2011-03-17T10:56:00.000-06:00

AAAAAChoooooo. Oops, sorry. I hab a cold. And it's snowing. Not the best St. Patrick's Day ever lol. But I did get a page done last night - and here it is for you to see!

Gorgeous

Journaling: I love this picture of you, when we were on holidays in July 2009 we stopped at a park in Spokane to just relax and let you play. You were enthralled with the Clover growing in the grass and the grass itself. You were almost 18 months old and you weren’t yet walking, but you liked to walk with your feet up and hands on the ground - it still makes me smile, almost a year and a half later. You had a lot of fun in the parks we stopped at all over our trip, and I had a lot of fun taking pictures, this is just one of many!

Credits:
Fantasia kit - Captivated Visions
Fantasia Templates - Captivated Visions
Fantasia Borders - Captivated Visions

Jennifer Fox Designs: Template Pack Giveaway!

2011-03-16T08:49:00.000-06:00

I made a template for Jennifer Fox Designs' CT Giveaway, it's a huge 6-pack of freebie templates, you should totally check them out, they're awesome, and free - what's better than free?

Jennifer Fox Designs: Template Pack Giveaway!

Here is a preview of it:

And this is a preview of the one I made:

Shutterfly Book for cheap!

2011-03-15T09:31:00.000-06:00

I just bought my first Groupon - thanks to The Daily Digi tweets! I saw on their tweets that Shutterfly had today's Groupon in Seattle, and it's a 20 page hardcover 8x8 book for $10. They are regular $29.99. Plus shipping and all that jazz, but that's a fantastic deal and something I'd actually use! I thought I'd share here just in case other people are looking for a photobook deal :)

You can sign up for Groupon here (this is a referral link, I'll get credit for it, so if you sign up please use my link pretty please) and then check out the Seattle page to get the deal - it has 2 days left on the deal, so you have to be quick! I subscribe to the one in my area, but you can buy them from any of the pages, so for online deals like this it's great!

If you don't know what Groupon is, from their website: "Groupon negotiates huge discounts—usually 50-90% off—with popular businesses. We send the deals to thousands of subscribers in our free daily email, and we send the businesses a ton of new customers. That's the Groupon magic."

Monday Morning Funny

2011-03-14T10:54:00.000-06:00

My friend Kim sent me this, I thought it was so funny I had to share - it really brightened up my "Daylight Savings Time Hangover" day. I think I may move to Saskatchewan, changing time really messes me up and they don't do DST.

Reality TV junkie

2011-03-13T09:04:00.000-06:00

Yep, I'm a reality TV junkie. So how do I show it? By doing a layout of course! :)

Reality TV

Journaling: I love me some reality TV! I started liking it about 1/2 way thru the first season of Survivor, oh so many years ago. Since then I just can’t get enough. My faves in 2011 are Hells Kitchen, The Bachelor, Big Brother, Cake Boss, Celebrity Apprentice and the original Reality TV series Survivor and the Amazing Race.

Credits:
Couch Potato kit - Jennifer Labre
Font: DJB Lizi, DSP Box

Lotsa Patterns

2011-03-11T08:53:00.000-07:00

Every once in awhile I find I love using patterned paper - a lot. This has been one of those weeks! Here are some new layouts I have to share, and the common theme is all PATTERNS!

Can't Help Falling in Love
Journaling: I’ve loved you from the moment I found out I was pregnant, I promised then and there to always take care of you. I knew I’d love you no matter what, but I was surprised at how much and how instantly that love came after you were born. I can’t imagine not having you in my life, and I love watching you grow!

Credits:
I am - The Digi Files 27 - Penny Springman
Titlework - Lovey Dovie - Shawna Clingerman
Cindy's Layered Templates #84 - Cindy Schneider

Photos Taken by Gwen Morrison (aka Grandma)

This is Love

Credits:
It's About us kit - Captivated Visions
Sassy Starters Singles Vol. 2 - Nanie's Designs
Font - DJB A Bit of Flaire

Stitched with Love

Credits:
What Matters Most kit - KimB and Jady Day Studio
Page Formers 3 - KimB
Font - Century Gothic

Full of Memories

Journaling: Sometimes when I look at you it just strikes me how much you take after me! People keep telling me how much you look like mommy, but some days I think they’re crazy because you look just like YOU. But the occasional time I look at you and see a flash of myself looking right back at me - such a weird, bizarre, wonderful feeling. Love you monkey!

Credits:
Remember This Year - Digi Files 27 -Scooty's Design
Creator template - Crystal Livesay

Top 3 Layouts of February 2011

2011-03-10T09:52:00.000-07:00

One of the things I wanted to do this year was pick my top 3 layouts of each month, and I almost forgot to do February! My January top 3 are here if you want to see them..

Just a reminder that these are not neccessarily pages I created in February, but ones that I was able to post in January in my DigiShopTalk gallery Logistically, this just works better for me finding which ones I really love.

These are my favorite for February, 2011. I posted 27 layouts during the month. The pages are linked for credits.

#3 - What a Difference

I can't believe the difference one year makes, and I loved how this came together.

#2 - Kisses

I love this photo, but I knew I'd have to crop it pretty close in order to scrap it, and I loved the way the template let me add some fun elements to it and that the kit wasn't themed towards kisses or dogs.

#1 - Laugh

I always love when I can use patterned paper as a background and this one worked so well with the photos and the template. I've scrapped these pics a number of times, but this is my favorite one so far!

And there you have my top 3 layouts of February, 2011!

I Love my sister

2011-03-09T09:32:00.000-07:00

There were times as a kid I probably never would have guessed that I'd be friends with my sister. We fought, like most siblings to, and I have always loved her, but we were never really close friends until we grew up. Now, she lives far away and I miss seeing her - and this week I must have been really missing her as I scrapped about her twice! lol We are going to visit at the end of May/beginning of June and I can't wait to see her and her family!

Love my Sister

Journaling: You’ll always be my big sister, the one I look up to and always strive to be like. I miss being able to see you every day, ad I always look forward to those times we get to spend together. Luv ya sis!

Credits:
She's my Sister - Jennifer Fox
Spring Blooms part 1 - Busy Bee Designs

Love Sister

Weren't we cute?

Everything from Amy Stoffel's March Extravaganza grab bag

Sweetest Thing - Amy Stoffel

Sweet Templates - Amy Stoffel

Sweet Splats - Amy Stoffel

White Flower - Buttoned Flowers - Amy Stoffel

Font - Scrap Sister

Things I've been meaning to do

2011-03-08T14:20:00.001-07:00

If you're like me you've probably got a long list of things you keep 'meaning' to get done but they fall thru the cracks or when you do have the time to do them you forget what it was you 'meant' to do. I thought I'd share with you some of my list, as I went one step towards accomplishing one of them today.

Things I Have Been Meaning to Do - Mar/2011

1) Donate Blood. The last time I donated blood was on my birthday, 2001. This was also my first time donating blood. I keep meaning to go back because I know it's a good thing to do, I just keep getting busy and forgetting. Today I called and asked them how long you have to wait after surgery. As long as the results I get today are good, I should be good to go, they said. I also said they could call me to set up an appointment and reminders so I can't forget anymore!

2) Clean out my linen closet. It's a disaster, but not a priority (obviously, as I keep forgetting to do it).

3) Get a Library Card. I've been saying for at least 2 years I should stop buying books and get them from the Library instead, save money and all that jazz.

4) Watch Star Wars. I have never seen any of the Star Wars movies, the original 3 or the 'new' 3.

5) Print my layouts. It has been way too long and money's been tight. I will print them again soon!

6) Organize Photos. My daughter is lucky enough to have a professional photographer for a grandma, and she has a ton of portraits done - I bought a book to put them in (instead of the folders we got them in) and haven't gotten around to it yet.

7) Put Wedding Photos away. Similar to #6 - I have been married just about 5 years and I haven't got my wedding photos in an album yet. Right now they're in a box in the basement, I can't accomplish this til after the drywall is up and we unpack everything.

8) Clean out my closet. 'Nuff said.

9) Go thru baby stuff. Not to sell or get rid of everything quite yet, but I have been meaning to go thru Kaitlyn's clothes and toys from the last 3 years and keep only what I think we'll really use (we kept EVERYTHING). She had so many clothes as a baby she didn't get to wear some of them before she outgrew them, and I need to go thru her bins and bins and bins of clothes to see what we really need to keep. If I didn't love it when she was wearing it, chances are I wouldn't love it with a new baby too, right? (If/when we get pregnant again). Things I don't want I will sell or give to the women's shelter.

Phew, that's just the things off the top of my head. What's on your list?

Here is one of the reasons I haven't accomplished any of the above - I keep scrapping lol!

Sweet Grandma

Journaling: You love your grandma Morrison so much! While you still don’t like talking on the phone to her at the age of 3, you love it when she visits and you get to play with her. When Grandma and Poppa came for your 3rd birthday you didn’t leave Grandma’s side the whole two days they were here, and we finally got a smiling picture of you with her.

Credits:
3 Little Birds kit & Banner Alpha - from March Extravaganza grab bag - Amy Stoffel
You complete me templates - Fiddle-Dee-Dee and Fizzy Pop

Journaling: August 2010 We went for a picnic supper at the park and you were so excited about the playground you refused to eat. When we finally decided you had eaten enough (all 3 bites) you were ecstatic to play in the playground and watch the other kids.

Credits:
Everyday Life kit - The Digi Files 27 - Gina Marie Huff
Polyester Bride Templates - Queen of Hearts
Font - Arial

Journaling: You are a silly goose some days! In fact, I think we may call you that too often, because when you had just turned 3 you started to repeat it, except you’d forget the ‘silly’ part and just go around and call us “Goose!” all the time It makes me smile that you do that! On this day in February, 2011, you were singing at the top of your lungs and mommy got the camera out to record your expressions. The result? Some definitely “Silly Goose” pictures!! I love them all, but the one on the bottom left really cracks me up.

Credits
Everything new 03/04 at Scrap Orchard!
Raindrops and Rainbows Bundle - SuzyQ Scraps
Template Grab Bag - scrapping With Liz and Nanie's Designs
Font - Scrap Sister

Destination Unknown

Journaling: I can’t wait to find out where your destination in life will fall. While I want you to stay little forever, I want to see you grow up and discover what you’ll be like.

Credits:
Free As a Bird - Jenn Barrette
First Steps Vol. 18 - Tiny Toes Designs
Font - Fusi

February Roundup

2011-03-01T16:54:00.002-07:00

I've been following Katie the Scrapbook Lady's blog for a long time and I love that she does a monthly Roundup with prompts for everyone to do one too. Here is my second ever Roundup! To check out past roundups click here.

February Roundup

What books and/or magazines did I read this month?
The Innocent Man - John Grisham
Bitter is the New Black - Jen Lancaster
Anyone But Him - Shelia O'Flannagan

I also read The Best of Digital Scrapbooking by Creating Keepsakes.

What movies, television shows, plays, etc. did I watch this month?
My hubby and I had a date night this month! We went to see No Strings Attached. We enjoyed it and thought it was funny, but it was a bit bizarre in spots. I started watching a few new shows this month with "sweeps" and all, one of them is Mad Love, which I am really liking. I tried to watch Mr. Sunshine with Matthew Perry (I was *so* in love with Chandler Bing in high school), but I just couldn't get into it. Of course, I'm also watching Survivor: Redemption Island, The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business and (gasp) The Bachelor. I started watching American Idol again - I said I wasn't going to, but then with me being home for pretty much the entire month I got bored and ran out of stuff to watch, so I started taping it just to have something to watch.

What fun things did I do with my family and/or friends?

We had a super busy month! Kaitlyn had her 3rd birthday so we celebrated that with friends and family (see the weekend recap, below). We also celebrated our friend's daughter's 3rd birthday, and this last weekend we celebrated my friend Carley's birthday. Not so fun, but it took up a lot of time, was working on our basement - we have it to the point of drywall now! We are just waiting for the drywaller to come, and then we can get busy with carpet and the finishing details (and paint, that too!)

What gifts did I give and/or receive?

We gave Kaitlyn an easel for her birthday, and a new Dora chair (one of the foam ones). For Adele's Birthday, we gave her a baby doll that you can feed and do other stuff with - hoping it trains her to be a big sister because she will be one soon enough (to twins!). I received some great flowers for Valentine's day from my hubby and some flowers as a 'get well' from my friends Carley and Myrissa.

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

We spent a lot of money in February!!! I ended up having to buy a new laptop (see here), we bought a new stove over the last weekend (it hasn't been delivered yet), and we picked out some great carpet for the basement. We also bought a bunch of construction stuff - not the brightest plan we ever had, to renovate while we only had one income.

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

I was recovering from surgery for the majority of the month. It was at times painful, but not as painful as before I had the surgery with the issues I had. I thought I had a bladder infection (from the surgery) around mid month but when I went to the doctor he said there were no indications of it. Of course, it took a few hours sitting at the walk-in clinic to find this out.

What were my accomplishments this month?
This was the month of GSO! I don't think I've ever gotten so many in one month!

Gallery Standout at Me So Scrappy - 2/15
Gallery Standout blog - 2/16
Gallery Standout at DigiShopTalk 2/18
Gallery Standout blog - 2/24
Gallery Standout at Me So Scrappy - 2/24

I had 9 layouts (and 3 articles) published in Scrapbook News and Review.

What were my disappointments this month?

I had a rough time handling my emotions/hormones for part of the month and I think I could have done better at being a mom and wife while recovering, but I know both of them have forgiven me if I was short or a bit b*tchy during that time. I didn't get paid from EI for a long time after my surgery, so money issues made me a bit cranky too - In March I'm going to be happier, a conscious decision!

How did I do on my goals for the month? (Or any current short or long term goals)

I joined Weight Watchers this month, and I did well the first few weeks, but have been kinda bad (not tracking) the last two weeks. I am going to get back into it though, I want to lose about 25 lbs before I go to visit my sister at the end of May.

Anything else noteworthy to include?

I made the spring Creative Team at ScrapMatters!

Weekend roundup

Continuing on from January's roundup, here is a roundup of the weekends in February.

Feb. 5-6 Saturday was my princess' 3rd birthday! Oh where has the time gone? We had a party for her at the local pool, swimming for an hour (which I couldn't do, but she had fun with Daddy), followed by pizza & cake. We had 16 kids and 15 adults. It was fun, but pretty hectic to get the 'party' portion of it done in just 1 hour! Sunday we worked on the basement.

Feb. 12-13

Friday night we went out for Valentine's Day. My mom and dad babysat and we ended up going to Costco first and bought me a new laptop (yay!). That made it so we didn't have enough time to eat before the movie (No Strings Attached), so we pigged out on popcorn (not very Weight Watchers friendly), and then went for a late supper at Kelsey's. Saturday we hung out around the house and Sunday Mark and my dad worked on the basement, and got a lot done.

Feb. 19-20-21

We went to Edmonton Friday afternoon on a whim and got to meet up with a really good friend of mine, Elise, for supper. Then we checked out her new place and saw her boyfriend briefly (he was working while we went for supper). We checked into the hotel and Mark headed out with some friends for a beer while Kaitlyn and I rested (the traveling tired me out, I still wasn't operating at 100%!). On Saturday we went to visit with friends Deanna and Corey and went to their daughter Adele's 3rd Birthday party. Adele is the little girl who is 9 days younger than Kaitlyn and the daughter of one of my best friends since high school. Kaitlyn loves playing with her, and they had the same type of party we had - swimming and pizza. We spent the night at the Chateau Lacombe and drove back early Sunday so that we could get some work done on the basement. My parents came for supper as well, I made a really nummy lasagna. Monday was a holiday (Family Day) and Mark and my dad worked on the basement, then we hung out as a family and went for supper at Boston Pizza.

Feb. 26-27
It was my friend Carley's 30th birthday on the 23rd and we went to her house for a birthday party on Saturday night. Kaitlyn had a blast playing with Ashlyn, Carley's daughter, and the other kids there. We didn't get home til 10:30 (that's 'late' in 3 year old terms!) and she actually slept in for us on Sunday (until 7:45!) On Sunday we got the basement completely ready for the drywaller, I helped Mark put the insulation up and we poly-wrapped it and I did a lot of the cleaning that needed to be done, with Kaitlyn's help.

There is my roundup for February!

Just some pages ... part deux

2011-02-27T11:13:00.002-07:00

We are busy finishing the basement, which is taking up this whole weekend so I don't have much to say (the drywaller is coming Tuesday or Wednesday so we HAVE to get it done). I'm just flying in to show you some of my pages from this week :)

Best Friend

Credits:
My Best Friend - Jennifer Fox
Not so Crazee Templates - Queen of Hearts
Font - Lindsay Black Dress

Hello

Journaling: Cheeeese! This is your cheesy photo grin! We had people over for a visit and you were happy to play with other kids. While you were playing you saw me with the camera and came over and looked so cute!

Credits:
Hello kit - Designs by Anita and Ange Designs
Birthday Bash Blog Train Freebie - Queen of Hearts
Font - John Handy LET

I Heart You

Journaling: We got these photos of you when we visited Grandma and Poppa in July, 2010. You were playing in the back yard and you looked so cute, with your hair wavy from the french braid that was in your hair the night before. You loved playing by the pond and looking at the Koi fish.

Credits:
Crazy Love kit - The Digi Files 26 - WM Squared
Fun & Funky Vol. 1 - WM Squared
DJB Tweenybopper

Journaling: I can’t believe the difference one year makes! The photo on the left is one of your one year photo pictures, and on the right is a picture of you just before you turned two. You changed so much in just one year, I can’t believe it! I want you to stay little forever but time just won’t slow down!

Credits:

Love Junkie - Queen of Hearts
MScraps Birthday Template - Queen of Hearts
Fonts - Kristen ITC and CK Ali's Hand

100% Sweet

For this month's Liz's Template challenge at Scrap Orchard that I am hosting.

Credits:
Cuppy Cake - Lyndsay Riches
Feb. Template Challenge freebie - Scrapping with Liz

Did you hear the news?

2011-02-26T08:36:00.000-07:00

I know, when someone my age who is married with a 3 year old says that, everyone immediately thinks "Pregnant!" ... sadly, not the case ... this is scrap-happy news! :)

Do you see a certain someone on there? I know I do! My name is right there between Tanya and Tronesia, I'm now a proud member of the ScrapMatters Creative Team - from March thru August! Yay for that! I'm so excited to create for another store! And now I REALLY need to stop applying for CT's, that brings me to a total of 10.

2011-02-24T16:09:00.001-07:00

Some people really have no tact. I've discovered that in the last few weeks. Yesterday while grocery shopping (where my hubby works) I had someone say to me "I guess your holiday is almost over, eh?" Holiday? Um, no. Let me trade you YOUR holidays this year for what I had as a 'holiday' and see if you still think I had a holiday. Yes, I've taken time off work (dr's orders), and yes I've had time to have coffee and visit with friends during those 5 weeks, but I would much rather have been at work than deal with the pain and worry of the first 4 weeks of that 'holiday, not to mention the pay on 'holidays' really sucks.

This last week I've been feeling MUCH better, very little in the way of cramps, still just tired out by little things. My surgery was 5 weeks ago today and I'm going back to work on Monday, so not quite the 6 weeks prescribed by my Dr, but I think I'll be ok - I'm lucky enough to have a desk job in that respect! But the next time I see that same person take disability (for the third year in a row) in the summer, I'll have to ask her how her HOLIDAY is going, since that's what she seems to think it is.

While on my 'holiday' the side benefit is being able to create occasionally! This last week I have been feeling pretty creative, I've done a whole bunch of pages I can post between today and Saturday, here are the first few of them.

Crazee Kinda Love
Journaling: I love watching you be a dad and see that crazy love that you have for your baby girl - and how much she loves you too! I can’t wait to see how much your love grows for her and if we have another baby watch your love grow to be a fantastic daddy to that baby too.

Credits:
Crazee Kinda Luv - Captivated Visions
All Stacked up Clusters - DSD Freebie - Captivated Visions
font: FB Boutique

Laugh

Credits:
iLaugh bundle - SuzyQ Scraps and Ziggle Designs

Not Outgoing At All

Journaling: You are definitely not an outgoing little girl. You are shy around other people, although we can’t get you to shut up at home! I think some people may think you’re not friendly, but we know the truth - you’re such an affectionate and happy little girl, until you’re outside your comfortable surroundings. I love you so much and I hope you grow out of your shyness - just a bit, so you make some good friends!

Credits:
Social Butterfly kit - The Digi Files 26 - Meg Mullens
Template - Color Pops Vol. 6 - Queen of Hearts
A Little Offset Alpha - Christy Lyle
Font - Augie

Canasta

Journaling: I had never heard of Canasta before I met Mark, and it has easily become my favorite card came to play. We play frequently with Gwen and Dave, Lisa and Troy and sometimes others (although we`we've tried to teach others, no one seems to love it as much as we do.) Using 4 (or more decks), you play in groups of 2. You must play with your partner in order to meld one hand to make Canastas - groups of 7 of the same number of card or 4 of the card and up to 3 wild cards (which are Aces and 2’s). There are 2 types of Canastas - red and black, the red ones being pure (made up of the number cards only) and black being impure (made using one or more wild cards). The purpose of the game is to go out (use al your cards) after you have at least one red and one black canasta. There are 5 rounds and the team with the most points at he end of 5 rounds wins. The points are from the canastas themselves (300 for black, 500 for red) and each card has a point value as well. If someone goes out, the cards in your hand count against you. While the rules sound a little dry, it is a lot of fun to play and we have had some great games - although Mark and I can’t seem to win a game if we play together.

Credits:
My Words Only Vol. 2 - Feb. Template Grab Bag - Captivated Visions
It's All Fun and Games - Jenn Barrette, Julie Billingsley and Libby Pritchett
Miss Messy Alpha - Shawna Clingerman
Font: DJB Jenna

Maiden Name Game

2011-02-20T08:36:00.002-07:00

A friend of mine sent this to my e-mail and I though it was funny so I'm posting it on here.

Rules: It's harder than it looks! Copy, erase my answers, enter yours pass it on (your blog or email, whichever).

Use the 1st. letter of your Maiden name (for you boys...just use your last name) to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real places, names, things, nothing made up. Use different answers than the person before you.

1. What is your maiden name - B*******
2. An animal - Blue Whale
3. A boy’s name - Brad
4. A girl’s name - Brenda
5. An occupation - Bee keeper
6. A color - Blue
7. Something you wear - Bra
8. A beverage - Berry jucie
9. A food- Blood sausage
10. Something found in the bathroom - Bathtub
11. A place - Bahamas
12. A reason for being late - Baby's diaper needed changed
13. Something you shout - Back off!!

The person who sent it to me had the letter 'H' and I love her response to #12 - A Reason for being late. Her answer? Having sex. ROFL!

Just some pages ...

2011-02-19T17:00:00.000-07:00

I'm currently enjoying a 3 year old's birthday party, but I thought I'd leave you with some layouts while I'm away :)

Not So Unique
Journaling: I don’t claim to be the most unique person in the world. In fact, I know I’m perfectly ordinary and “Plain Jane.” And you know what? I’m ok with that. Some days, especially when I was younger, I would have loved to be famous or important, but now I couldn’t be bothered to try - I’m much more happy living life with my little family in a quiet town Unique? Maybe because I’m happy right where I am...

Credits:
Crazy cool kit and templates - Queen of Hearts
Font - Segoe UI

Four Years

Credits:
Cotton Candy bundle - Dunia, Loreta Labaraca, Studio Basic

Every Moment

Journaling: This is one of my favorite pictures of you. I took this shortly after we started dating. I love your cut dimples and gorgeous baby blues! Every moment with you is one to cherish and I’m so glad we found each other. I love you baby!

Credits:
It's About him - Captivated Visions
All Stacked Up Clusters 1 - Captivated Visions
Font - CK Cool Serif

Fairytale

Credits:
Love Who You Are kit - Captivated Visions
All Stacked Up Clusters Vol. 6 - Template Grab bag - Captivated Visions
Photo by Click Chick Photography by Gwen (aka Grandma)

Our Story

Journaling: May 2004 - We started talking online every day. June 4, 2004 - our first phone call - we talked for more than an hour. June 20, 2004 - we met in person! October 2004 - We said “I love you” for the first time. January 4, 2005 - We decided no more long distance. February 4, 2005 - we moved in together in Red Deer. May 28, 2005 - We got engaged! June 24, 2006 - We got married. September 15, 2006 - we bought our first house together. November, 2006 - we got our first puppy (who we had to give away in August 2009). June 14, 2007 - we found out we were going to have a baby! February 5, 2008 - our baby girl Kaitlyn was born. June 24, 2011 - we will be celebrating our 5 year wedding anniversary. After almost 7 years together and 5 years of marriage, I’m so excited for what is to come in our lives and spending the rest of my life with you. I can’t wait to grow old with you!

Credits:
Wedded Bliss - mle Card
My Words Only Vol. 2 - Template grab bag - Captivated Visions
Font - Latha

This page was a remake of this older page, from 2006 (a little bit updated too lol)

My windows are open!

2011-02-15T14:14:00.000-07:00

It's February 15th and my windows are open! It's super nice, sunny and warm (-3'C) outside and I decided to let some of the air in to help the stuffy-ness of the house from it being winter. I know it's supposed to get cold again starting tomorrow, so I thought I should take advantage of it. When my princess wakes up we'll go for a walk too - another way to enjoy the weather! Things are going well here, still recovering and having issues with how long it is taking because I feel great, bored, sitting at home doing nothing, and then I try to do something simple (like grocery shopping) and I'm so beat I need a nap. I know in my head these things take time, and that time is the only thing that will make me feel 100% again, but I just want to GET THERE already lol.

On a positive note, I got a new computer on Friday night! I had enough of my other laptop (the work one) shutting down on me, and went looking on Friday with my hubby for date night (that was our Valentine's Day). We ended up getting one, with me using the money I had from Christmas and my Birthday. My hubby says the other part is from him for Valentine's Day lol. It is working wonderfully and it is so nice to have something that works like it's supposed to! Here are some pages I've done with it (and catching up some layouts I did for the magazine for January that I can now post).

Cupcake Girl
Journaling: For your 3rd birthday party we had a cupcake cake. It was made up of 24 cupcakes, with icing connecting them all on top and made into the shape of a ‘3’. The theme was Dora & Diego, and you really loved how it looked - but not as much as you loved how it tasted! You dug right in, licking all the icing off first, then finally eating the cake.

Credits:
Totally Rad Birthday - Jenn Barrette
Scrap Like Me Vol. 1 - Jenn Barrette

To the Moon and Back

Credits:
To Beloved kit - Sabrina's Creations
To Beloved Add On - Sabrina's Creations
Bunch of Templates 2 - Dunia

At 3 Years Old

Credits:

Heart Attack Blues kit - Suzy Q Scraps

Scrapper's Bowl template - Captivated Visions

These pages are ones I created for Scrapbook News and Review Magazine in January

Adorable

Journaling: Yep, that’s a bikini on top of your clothes. And you showing of your “I don’t care” attitude. You decided on this outfit and were determined to wear it no mater what Mommy and Daddy did to try and convince you otherwise. You’re such a little stinker, and ... Adorable

Credits:
Easy Page Vol. 2- Loretta Labarca
Family Portrait - Boutique Cute Dolle
Baby love wordart - Gina Marie Huff
Font - Temus Sans ITC

Cherish

Journaling: I hope we always cherish every moment with you the way we do when you’re two. I love being with you and playing and learning from you. You teach me to take the time to smell the flowers, so to speak and enjoy life as it comes. There’s nothing I love more than listening to you playing or laughing and having fun.

Credits:
Family Time kit - Mom 2 Moo Designs
Baby Steps Vol 4 - Tiny Toes Designs

Little Princess

Credits:
Girly kit - Joyce Paul
Titlework: Girls - Shawna Clingerman
Clean and Simple 6 templates - Sabrina's Creations

Painfully Creative

2011-02-09T21:18:00.000-07:00

It's been almost 3 weeks since my surgery. I'm starting to feel really good, until I do too much or leave the house (then I get tired really quickly!). But that's not what this blog post is about - it's about creating painfully. As in, my computer needs a Dr. painfully. That may be one of the big down sides to Digital scrapbooking - if your computer doesn't work (or doesn't work well), you're out of luck when it comes to being creative. As I mentioned in my previous post, I have/had a virus that causes my computer to turn off randomly. I don't know if it's gone, I've tried to get rid of it thru Norton (found 7 viruses) and MalwareBytes (found 23 issues), and it still turned itself off for no reason awhile ago.

I really hope it doesn't continue, I lived without my laptop for 6 out of 8 weeks late last year, and let me tell you I was CRANKY. I still had use of my hubby's, but seriously, we're not meant to share. Between him playing poker and wanting to surf and me wanting to scrapbook and keep up with my CT's - well, it didn't go well. My laptop is 3 years old now (same age as my princess), it's starting to show its age, but I hope it lasts a bit longer, I love it (even when it's being cranky).

Anywho, thru all this I've managed to create a couple pages - and here they are!

Live Love Scrap

Journaling: Yep. I love to scrap! It’s my outlet, my ‘me time’ and something I try to do almost daily! One of the reasons I love scrapbooking so much is that I have a really bad memory, and scrapping helps me preserve the memories for myself and my family. I sometimes wonder if in 5 or 10 years I’ll still be scrapbooking or if it’ll be a thing of the past. I hope I continue to scrapbook, or if not find something I love to do even more!

Credits:
All we Need is Scrap - Studio Basic
Acid Rain templates - Queen of Hearts
Chunky Chipboard Alpha - White - Amber Clegg

Easter 2010

Journaling: You had so much fun running around outside at Granmom and Grandpa’s house on Easter, 2010. It was a nice day out, only a light sweater needed, so you got to run around screaming and playing. You may not have liked the big super afterwards (you never do well with family dinners), but this part of the day, you loved

Credits:
Girl Thing kit - Lauren Grier
Template - The Digi Files 26 - Nettio Designs
Font - Pea Catherine

Fail: Anti-virus

2011-02-09T13:57:00.000-07:00

Since last week my computer has been randomly shutting itself off when I use it, totally annoying, especially while trying to create layouts (not enough time to save most of the time!). I've run virus scan after virus scan with AVG Free and nothing has popped up. We used to have Norton, then when I got my laptop the tech had put AVG free on it, and I thought "Wow, a free anti virus - cool." Now? Not so cool.

So I googled Norton coupons and found a 25% off one - bought it, downloaded, installed, and when it turned on it INSTANTLY came up with 3 viruses, in less than a minute. One of them was called timer.(some random extension). i'm thinking that's what was making my computer turn off - since it's been a couple hours now since Norton found it and it hasn't turned itself off yet.

I'm doing the full scan right now and so far it has a total of 8 viruses (7 of them trojans) and 175 warnings. That might explain things - ugh! Stupid people with nothing better to do than create viruses bug me! And I bug myself too, since I wasn't smart enough to realize my anti virus program sucked. But hopefully it's all better now and I can get back to the business of scrapping without saving after each step.

I'll be back tomorrow with some layouts I've managed to create!

Swagbucks! (my own personal push ...)

2011-02-04T08:15:00.005-07:00

Ok, first - I rarely do this. So you get to put up with me doing it this once LOL! Lately I've had a few people ask me in e-mail or Facebook message what this whole Swagbucks thing is about. I thought I'd do a random post to explain it best I can and if you're interested in trying it out, please consider using my affiliate link - I get referral swagbucks if you sign up using it.

Swagbucks is the online reward community that works. You get swagbucks (their 'point' system) for searching the web, doing surveys, answering polls and sometimes when there is a bonus code out (a few times a week). You can then trade these Swagbucks in for prizes - the ever-popular $5 Amazon card, or other items in the Swag Store (unless you're Canadian, they don't ship to Canada). I have been collecting Swagbucks for 9 months and in those 9 months I have gotten 5 - $5 paypal cards and 2 - $5 Amazon cards. $35 isn't much in the grand scheme of things, but it's money just for doing what I'm doing anyways - searching things online. I could have gotten an extra 2, $5 Amazon cards instead of the paypal ones (which are more expensive) - so that's $45, by the time a year is up I'd expect that I will have gotten $60 in gift cards.

How it works - instead of googling something, I use the swagbucks search engine thru their toolbar. It randomly gives you swagbucks for doing so. I also do the daily poll and use the toolbar, which get me a guaranteed 2 SB a day. If I remember, there are also 2 more ways to get 1 SB each day and I try to do those but I forget (oops lol). I'm not seriously gung-ho about it, but it's neat to find the codes sometimes, and getting free product for searching the web sounds good to me! So, if you're looking for a way to maybe pay for a Christmas present or 2 on Amazon (.com or .ca), sign up for Swagbucks and start searching, your rewards will be on their way!

Now we return to our regularly scheduled blog posting ...

2011-02-03T14:27:00.001-07:00

It's a sunny day out! I know that most of the USA is going through Snowmageddon 2011, but we're chinooking right now, it's a balmy +3'C - after the -30'C of earlier this week, it is a nice, refreshing change! I spent the morning with a friend who came to visit with her kids, it was a good time! I love having adult conversations instead of talking to myself or Kaitlyn all day lol. Today is also my 4th day on Weight Watchers Online, and so far so good I think! Hubby and I are both doing it, and I'm loving the new Points Plus system - although I can't get it in my head that things are so different in point values than they used to be (the last time I joined). The goal is to get healthy - our weigh ins are on Monday, I'll let you know how it goes!

I managed to get some of my creativity back (despite thinking it must have been attached to my ovary! lol). Here are the pages I've created so far this week.

Cheese!

Journaling: You are so adorable when you actually smile for the camera! It has taken awhile, but you’ve finally warmed up to it again, I guess Mommy took too many picture up til this point, it made you hate the camera. Now you smile and say “Cheeeeeeese” whenever you see a camera, and you love looking at it on the screen afterwards.

Credits:
All a Flutter - Brights - Julie Bullock
Alpha - Birthday Boy - Faith True
Feb. 2011 Freebie Template - ChrissyW

My 3 Year Old

Journaling: 3 years old! I can’t believe that in a few short days you will be 3! You are growing into quite the little girl, so adorable and with quite the distinct personality! You love Dora and Diego, you don’t like eating supper, and you demand hugs and cuddles constantly, which we just love! While we want you to stay little forever, it’s been quite the journey so far and we can’t wait to watch you grow up!

Credits:
Birthday Girl kit - Faith True
Cute Clusters 3 - Nanie's Designs

Beautiful Day

Credits:
Spring kit - Designs my Kat
Simply Stated 1 templates - geniaBeana Scraps
Font - DJB Brittany

Unique

Journaling: You are definitely unique in the way you want to dress when you are just shy of 3! A week before your birthday you found your bathing suit and stripped down to put it on. I guess you must have been cold though, because the next thing you did was put on your toque and mitts. It would definitely make a statement if you were to go out dressed like that - although we did get you to change your clothes before it got to the point of leaving the house! Silly, unique girl!

Credits:
In the Air - Jennifer Fox and Nikki Epperson
Jumper 53 - Crystal Livesay
Font - Century Gothic

Top 3 layouts of January 2011

2011-02-02T07:57:00.000-07:00

Remember way back on January 18th (I know, SO long ago) when I posted my Top 10 of 2010? I said I'd like to name my top few every month, and look at me, actually doing it!

Now a lot of pages I do I can't post for awhile, so I figured the best way for me to do this would be to look at my DigiShopTalk gallery and pick from the ones I *posted* in January - much easier, otherwise I may have to wait a few months to tell you which of the ones I created in January I love the most.

These are my favorite for January, 2011. I had a 'light' month, I only posted 20 layouts during the month. The pages are linked for credits ☺

#3 - Oh Snap!

I loved the colors of this kit and the cluster template, so bright and cheerful!

#2 - All Boy

I don't get to scrap boy pages very often, but I love how this page about my nephew turned out.

#1 - Silly Girl

I love this picture of my princess, even with her hair in her face.

January Roundup

2011-02-01T14:34:00.000-07:00

I've been following Katie the Scrapbook Lady's blog for a long time (a year? Maybe more?) and I love that she does a monthly Roundup with prompts for everyone to do one too. For months I've been thinking I should do that, and this month I'm actually going to put my money where my mouth is and do it! This months' prompts can be found here (they're pretty much the same every month).

January Roundup

What books and/or magazines did I read this month?
I read a lot this month! I re-read Confessions of a Shopaholic by Shophie Kinsella, The Confession by John Grisham and My Favourite Goodbye by Sheila O'Flannagan. I read some 'smut' magazines as well when I was in the hospital, but nothing noteworthy for magazines.

What movies, television shows, plays, etc. did I watch this month?

We went and saw Little Fockers earlier this month, it was so funny. Not as funny as the second in the series, but funny nonetheless! We did this for 'date night,' going out for supper at The Hideout (a bar/lounge) first. I decided to skip American Idol this year, which is a first in recent years. I wasn't that into Simon leaving, I just lost interest a bit last year (in fact, at this moment I couldn't even tell you who won, and I watched the whole last season!) We rented the A-Team just the other day and it was pretty good too!

What fun things did I do with my family and/or friends?

Nothing really stands out, which is bad I guess but a lot of the month was taken up with prep for my surgery and recovering from it.

What gifts did I give and/or receive?

Nada! I did spend some of my gift cards from Christmas though :) And I got some really gorgeous flowers from my parents when I was in the hospital.

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

A whole bunch of wood and renovating supplies!! We also bought an electric fire place for when we get the basement finished in a couple months. We started dismantling the basement on Jan. 2nd, and have since framed in most of what needs to be framed down there, just a small hallway left (by the laundry room). I can't wait til it's finished!

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

January was 'surgery month.' My surgery was originally scheduled for Jan. 5th, but got canceled after I was down in the OR. The new date was Jan 20th, and the surgery happened then. You can read about it here. I haven't heard anything back, so I'm hoping the tumor turned out to just be a mass and nothing worse than that! Since the 20th I've been recovering.

What were my accomplishments this month?

I got 1 Gallery Standout, and had 8 layouts (and 3 articles) published in Scrapbook News and Review.

What were my disappointments this month?

My biggest one was when my surgery got canceled the first time, I was pretty upset about it (but got over it).

How did I do on my goals for the month? (Or any current short or long term goals)

I didn't get started on my weight loss plan like I'd hoped until the last day of the month. I did lose almost 6 lbs in a week just from the surgery, but I'm hoping to piggyback on that and start to lose some more, which is why my hubby and I both joined Weight Watchers Online yesterday. I'm loving the new program and that my hubby is doing it too - makes it a lot easier when he's not eating the bad stuff and then it tempts me just by being in the house. I'll let you know of any progress!

Anything else noteworthy to include?

I chopped my hair off on the 13th - went back to short, which I love! I wasn't really trying to grow it out before, but it started looking bad so I got it cut super short again. We got a ton of snow this month and it was really super cold for a lot of it, I didn't enjoy that! I had to miss my mommy group's monthly night out, but I'm looking forward to the next one in a few weeks. We had some visitors the last weekend as well, my inlaws came and visited for a couple nights, sleeping in the living room since our basement is torn apart.

Weekend roundup

And here is something I want to add to Katie's roundup - I love Peppermint Granberg's idea to scrap a year of weekends, but I haven't scrapped any yet, so I want to 'roundup' my weekends so at least I can remember what we did☺ We don't lead incredibly exciting lives, just the usual family stuff!

Jan 1-2 - Saturday we steam cleaned our carpets and went shopping in the city to spend our Christmas gift cards. I got a bunch of books and hubby got a new set of golf clubs and shoes. Sunday we dismantled the basement (with help from my dad). It made a super big mess! That mess is now sitting on my deck and back yard until it warms up enough to go to the landfill.

Jan 8-9 Mark and my dad renovated on Sunday, but other than that we were snowed in. We didn't go anywhere or do much because we feared we'd get stuck. My dad has a good truck with 4x4, so he was confident. Our little Mazda 5? Not so much.

Jan 15-16 We honestly didn't do much. Some renovating on Sunday, and a lot of relaxing and veg'ing. I did a lot of cleaning to get ready for my surgery so Mark wouldn't have to do it.

Jan 22-23 I spent it in the hospital. Hubby and DD came to visit me once Friday night, twice on Saturday and then I was released on Sunday. After hubby picked DD up from my mom and dad's on Sunday we just hung out as a family, and I enjoyed the Tylenol 3's (lol). Miss Kaitlyn was quite the little nurse for me!

Jan 29-30 - Hubby's parents came down to visit, arriving Friday and leaving Sunday mid-day. Friday night is when we rented the A-team, and Saturday they did some shopping while I rested and we all went for supper to Tony Roma's, Sunday after they left hubby did some more reno-ing with my dad, and we went to my mom's house for supper (cabbage rolls and perogies - nummy!!).

Phew - and there's my first ever Roundup / weekend review!!

All Boy and SWAK

2011-01-31T09:35:00.000-07:00

I still haven't created anything since my surgery (makes me wonder if my creativity was stored inside that ovary they took out?), but lucky for you, I have some pages I still haven't shared, so today you get to see them! :) I'm feeling a lot better today, and I can't wait to get the staples out later today. I'm hoping I'll get at least one page done today - that's the goal anyways, since my daughter is at the dayhome and my hubby is at work, I'm all by myself with the computer :)

All Boy

This page is about my nephew, who is getting so big, I can't believe he's 7 already!

Journaling: Kenner, at 6.5 years old you are “All Boy.” You love playing baseball and basketball and playing all sorts of Video Games. You love playing with Lego too, although you need help from mommy or daddy sometimes for that. I love watching you grow up and get new interests, every time I see you it’s something new that you love. I wish we could see each other more often so we could play together more often!

Credits:
A Boy Named Trouble - Jennifer Fox and Nikki Epperson
Snowflake Clusters Vol. 6 - Busy Bee Designs
Font - Arial

SWAK

A blast from the past, this pic is from Katie's first birthday - I love this photo, my mother-in-law took it in our basement. If you like this page you can get it as a quickpage with the Scrap Orchard mega (linked in credits).

Credits:
Love Bug Mega kit - Scrap Orchard Designers

Jennifer Fox Designs: Lulu Photobook Product Review and Giveaway

2011-01-30T14:06:00.000-07:00

Jennifer Fox is giving away a Lulu Photobook! It's a great deal, and from the pictures of how hers turned out, it would be wonderful! If I won it I'd get some of my 2010 pages printed in a book. I've never done a photobook before, I like the idea but I scrap out of order, so I'd hate for there to be a page I did after printing the photobook that needs to be in there. But since half my pages aren't sitting in albums anyways .... maybe photobooks are for me!!!

Jennifer Fox Designs: Lulu Photobook Product Review and Giveaway

You can get up to 7 chances to win, so check it out, you could be a big winner - but hurry, the giveaway closes tomorrow night (Jan 31) at midnight!

For those of you wondering how I'm doing, I'm doing ok! Still sore, and I can't wait to get these staples out - they're super itchy. People tell me that's because it's healing. Either way it's annoying. I get them out tomorrow, and hopefully the stretchy-tight feeling will go away! Besides that I'm still taking it easy. I think it's possible that my creative bone was inside my ovary though, I haven't had any mojo since they took it out lol I'm going to try and scrap something (anything!) later, wish me luck!

Gallery Standout at Me So Scrappy!

2011-01-26T12:55:00.001-07:00

I made the Gallery Standout blog today at Me So Scrappy! Totally made my day, check it out! They highlighted my Silly Goose layout from the previous post. Yay - my first GSO of 2011!

Gallery Standouts 1/26/2011

Catching up ...

2011-01-26T10:21:00.000-07:00

I'm healing well, still sore and tired, but getting there. I can't wait til the staples and stitches are removed, they rub against my sweats (the only thing I can get into right now) and it hurts when they catch. We ventured out yesterday, my hubby took me on some errands he had to run, I was pooped by the time we got home lol. Today I'm by myself for awhile, then *really* by myself tonight, hubby is going to poker night and I'll have to get the princess to bed - I'm a bit worried I can't handle it, but she's been good with me so far, I just have to remind her I can't pick her up.

There's a few pages I should have posted before I went to the hospital, but I didn't have time. So here are a few pages I've done recently I can share now :)

Silly Goose

Journaling: I love when you are being silly! You are almost 3 and you love laughing when mommy does silly things just to make you laugh.. You love being silly too, making mommy laugh as hard as possible. I love you, silly goose!

Credits:
Silly Girls kit - Jenn Barrette and Valorie Wibbens
Pink Sugar templates - Queen of Hearts
Font: Augie

Love

Credits:
Robot Love - Jenn Barrette and Jenna Desai
The 2 of us Take 2 - ChrissyW
Font - DJB Get Your Fix

This is for the January My Favorite Things challenge at Scrap Orchard - scrap something that ISN'T your favorite. For me, that's fish. I can't deal with fish lol

Not For Me

Journaling: I simply cannot do it. I can’t bring myself to put fish to my lips. Not just fish - anything that lived in water. Fish, seafood, shrimp, scallops, lobster, crab, even those icky fish sticks. They won’t pass these lips! I don’t know what it is, every time I try to eat it I can’t do it, I think it’s a phobia of some sort. Everyone tells me I am missing out on so much by not eating it, but you know what? I think I’m ok with that.

Credits:
Great Outdoors kit - Ziggle Designs
Brushed Alpha - Faith True
White Alpha - 24/7 kit - Faith True
Page Edger Templates - Scrapping With Liz

How I lost an ovary ...

2011-01-24T11:30:00.000-07:00

I know, it goes without saying that surgery isn't a 'walk in the park' so to speak, but this hurts more than my c-section did, my only frame of reference I have for surgery or ever having been in the hospital. They did a vertical incision from just below my belly button to just below my c-section scar, it's going to take some time to feel normal again.

So the surgery went well according to the Dr, they were going to bump me again because they took my OR (and my dr, other surgeon and anesthesiologist) for an emergency C-Section so that put me behind the time limit. According to his receptionist that I talked to today, she said the Dr, the other surgeon and the anesthesiologist staged a bit of a revolt and said they weren't leaving til they did me, and the hospital had to find some nurses to do it, end of story. So I got in about 4:00, after they had taken me down to the OR at 12:30. My hubby was flipping out at about 4:30 because noone had told him yet I was delayed, they had told him it would be 2 hours or so so he thought something was going wrong. He finally got ahold of someone who was coming out of the recovery room and asked and she told him I had only been in surgery 20 min. He was pissed, but glad I was ok (lol). I don't remember anything except "Take some deep breaths" and then I woke up and couldn't remember why I was in so much pain and they were telling me to stop panting because that wasn't helping.

Once I got up to the unit where I was staying, about 30 min. after I woke up, it seemed like the nurses were pissed off at me because they said I had to get myself from stretcher to bed. I was still in a ton of pain, I had been split open from belly button to hoo-ha and couldn't move an inch, let alone off a stretcher and onto a bed. I tried and got about an inch and a half and was bawling and they finally got some more nurses to help and slid me onto the bed (none too gently). I know I'm heavy, but I thought it was just a bit ridiculous to expect me to do that. They thought I was there for gallbladder surgery and just had a Laparoscopy, not fully cut open. I only know this because when they did my vitals and then the one nurse said she had to check my tummy, and when she saw it she went "oh ... I didn't know you had major surgery." Nice. That was about 6 pm.

They kept saying they were going to come and wash me up, then at about 8 hubby decided to go home and get the princess. Just as he left a student nurse came in and said she was going to help me wash up. She then proceeded to swing my legs off the freakin bed and tell me to stand up. I said uh, no, I don't think I was ready for that and she brought in 3 really bitchy nurses (one of them the charge nurse) who said the sooner I got up the better and I had to do it. I remembered what it was like after my c-section, so I had a panic attack because even after my c-section they didn't get me to stand up for 6 or 8 hours and it hurt like a SOB then, I couldn't imagine standing 2 hours after having my pelvis opened. Anyways, I did it - bawling the entire time, she took me over to the bathroom and gave me a cloth and said "Here, wash some of that stuff off." Have you ever tried bending to see your belly/legs just after having surgery so you can wash yourself? I wouldn't recommend it. I finally got back to bed and asked for drugs because I hurt and they brought some about an hour later. They didn't make me get up again til morning, thank god.

Anyways, rant over (sorry, needed to get that out, I still don't think they treated me very well). I know they have a job to do and it's a busy hospital, but a bit of compassion would be nice. I didn't expect to be babied, but the tone they were using was like they thought I was just another one of those things that had to be 'dealt' with so they could get on with their day. They could have explained it a bit better or in a better manner, just my thoughts.

I saw the dr next day and he said the surgery went well, but they had to take the ovary and tube out on the left side, the tube was wrapped around the tumor (about grapefruit size he said) and there was no saving it. He said my right looked great though and he could tell I ovulated recently. So he gave us the 'go ahead' to try and get pregnant after 6 weeks of no hanky panky. He still doesn't have the report back from pathology if it was malicious, but it looked benign to him and he said he would call personally if something he didn't like came up. I got the ok to go home early Sunday and hubby came and got me, the drive home hurt because of all the bumps on the road, but it's been ok since I've been home. I don't know what to with myself though, I'm under strict orders from my hubby to do nothing. I don't much feel like doing anything anyways, too tired. I had to get up when hubby left, I can't get out of bed myself yet. I'd like to go to bed but hubby is at work, so I'm relaxing on the couch and trying to do my deep breathing, they told me my oxygen was low the whole time I was there. My princess is so cute, she keeps randomly kissing me on my arms and legs and saying she's making mommy 'all better.'

So that's the story of how I lost an ovary. It never should have happened, as the Dr who did my c-section should have dealt with it when it was still a cyst, but he 'forgot' is what he said when I asked him afterwards. My current Dr said that's no excuse and was mighty pissed when he heard that. No harm, no foul as we should be able to get pregnant again with just the right ovary. Although had he done his job right 3 years ago, it would have saved a lot of tears about BFN (big fat negatives) tests, and a lot of pain from the last year.

Just Train Crazy

2011-01-19T09:47:00.000-07:00

So over the summer, we went on a local "Travel Alberta" vacation instead of doing a bigger trip to the US or BC. We went to my inlaw's place in Peace River, and spent a few days in Edmonton. Kaitlyn was SO crazy about all the trains there! We found out that under 3 is free at Galaxyland at West Edmonton Mall, and an accompanying adult is ALSO free. We tried her on several rides, but by far the train ride. I took her on it twice, and Daddy took her on it ... well ... 27 times. That's how long it takes for Twilight: Eclipse to be finished. See, I went to the movie and left Mark to entertain Kaitlyn, and that's ALL she wanted to do. The next day we went to the Edmonton Valley Zoo (another train) and Fort Edmonton Park (a BIG, real steam train). So she was all "train"ed out by the end of the weekend! This page is for that - the only good pictures we got were at the zoo, so these are from there.

Just Train Crazy

Journaling: Kaitlyn, July 2010. You are very “Train Crazy” at 2 years old. When we went on holidays you were in your element, you were able to go on so many trains at the zoo, Fort Edmonton park and Galaxyland at West Edmonton Mall. In one weekend, you went on probably 30 train rides, you were so excited! Every time we saw a train you started yelling “Train!!! Train!!!” and pointing. Who says trains are just for boys?

Credits:
Making Tracks kit - mle Card and Dawn Inskip
Sassy Starters Vol. 3 - Nanie's Designs
Font - Arial

Top 10 of 2010

2011-01-18T13:05:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, 2010 is so 'yesterday.' I'm just now getting to this, so bear with me even though it's quote-unquote late. I saw this idea on Katie the Scrapbook Lady's blog, and I thought it was neat, highlighting her favorite 10 projects she did in 2010, so I thought I'd do it as well.

To start, let's just say picking only 10 was HARD! I counted (because I'm a geek like that), and I created 354 projects in 2010. That's 1 a day! Wow, apparently I have a problem lol. Some other random facts about my layouts in 2010:

♥ I was published 119 times in 2010 - 113 in Scrapbook News and Review, 1 in Canadian Scrapbooker, 1 in Scrapbook Trends, 3 in Log Your Memory Yearbook, and 1 in The Artisan Notebook.
♥ I made the Gallery Standout blog 4 times
♥ I made the Gallery Standout thread at Digishop Talk 9 times
♥ I got 3 Layout of the Week noms at 3 different sites

That's quite the year!

Now onto my faves of 2010! All are linked to the page in my DST gallery for credits.

#10 - Not Just a Game
This isn't just a layout, but the whole memory of it is easily in my top 10 for 2010. Syd the Kid wins the game in overtime for Canada - priceless!

#9 - Katie
I love the way this turned out, with the over-the-top large alpha for the title, and I love that picture of my Kaite-bug. Katie is definitely the perfect name for her!

#8 - Beautiful Girl

This is a recent one, from the beginning of December. I love the photo and the template with all the circles, this one came together perfectly as well.

#7 - Things you Say
I love the story behind this one, and the photo of Katie with the adorable cowboy hat. Even more, I love that my little princess is now telling us she loves us! ♥

#6 Remember When
These pictures are from my baby girl's second birthday - since she's almost 3 now, man does time ever fly! I really love this layout because it's the first one I've used a bold patterned paper as the background and LOVED the result. This was the beginning of a couple-month obsession with me and bold patterns.

#5 - Evolution

Another photo-less layout, and I just love how this turned out - I saw this kit and my first thought was how my daughter will never know what a "Record" is, nor a "Cassette Tape," heck she probably won't even know what an MP3 is.

#4 - Juicy
This was originally a 2-pager I did when I hosted the Make Mine a Double challenge at Scrap Orchard. To be honest, I didn't much like it as a 2-pager. But I condensed it onto one page and fell in love with it.

#3 - Stole My Heart
Easily my current favorite picture of my husband and I. I love this kit, and I love that it's lovey-dovey without being pink and red, and since both of us love the color blue, it's perfect for a layout about 'us.'

#2 - I Love You
Another trend I loved this year was the wavy papers and papers peeking out from behind other papers. I love this photo of Kaitlyn too, I've scrapped it at least a dozen times in many different ways, but this is my favorite.

#1 - Inkle Star
Another example of using patterned paper as the background, I did this layout recently about Kaitlyn's cute way of singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. This came together exactly as I imagined it, and it is my favorite layout of the year - it may not be the best, it didn't get a gallery standout or pubbed - but it was completely, 100% for me - not a single Creative Team product is on this layout!

And there you have it, my faves of 2010. If I'm organized this year, I'd love to pick my top 3 every month, I'll try and do that with my Roundup every month (if I remember to do that too!)

Blue Monday and rambling thoughts

2011-01-17T12:44:00.000-07:00

It's apparently Blue Monday today - the most depressing day of the year. I can understand why - I'm not really in the mood to do, well, anything. Feeling 'blah' and not wanting to drive to work in the dark and get home in the dark, fight with a cranky 2 year old, don't even feel like being on the computer much. Doesn't help I've been feeling sick yesterday and today, trying to fight it because I'm scheduled for surgery on Thursday.

I've got mixed feelings about the surgery - I'm looking forward to my pain going away, worried about the unknown and what I'll wake up to (2 ovaries? 1 ovary? No ovaries? <-- worst case scenario as I really don't want to go thru menopause at 31). And god forbid they get in there and it's something more malicious than just a huge-ass cyst. I'm not worried about the surgery itself, I know I'll be in good hands, and after the fiasco a couple weeks ago I know what to expect a bit better, but I'm worried they'll cancel on me again (even though my dr says they can't 'bump' someone twice). A bunch of mixed emotions really! I didn't like sitting there waiting for the OR, no glasses (re: blind), not knowing what was going to happen next. But now at least I know what to expect, and we won't be wasting another $30 on parking until we're sure I'm there for a few days! (last time we paid up front for the week's worth of parking, I'd never heard of them canceling a surgery AFTER you get to the hospital and down to the OR). I'm worried about my princess and if I'll be able to handle her after the surgery, and I don't want to scare her if she visits me (but selfishly I know I'll miss her and want to see her!). What I'm wishing for is best case scenario: we'll still be able to get pregnant after all this is done. So if you could keep me in your thoughts on the 20th, that would be much appreciated! :) I have gotten a few layouts done in the last couple weeks, trying to stay on top of CT requirements and all - you can see them below.

This is Love

Journaling: This is the epitome of the word love- mommy, daddy and baby, cuddling on the couch together. Life is now complete that we have you. Kaitlyn - 3 weeks old.

Credits:
Blue Valentine kit - Faith True
Sassy Starters Vol. 4 - Nanie's Designs

Besties

Credits:
Hey Girlfriend kit - Studio Basic and Kaye Winiecki
Oops I did it Again - Templates - Studio Basic

Lil Cutie

Journaling: You were so cute when we went to Grandma and Poppa’s house in July 2010. Grandma was playing with Sadie the puppy and telling her to ‘SIT” It was so funny because as soon as Grandma said that you sat down as quick as you could, thinking she was telling *you* to sit. Silly girl!

Credits:
Frolic kit - Jenn Barrette
Blooming Morning Add On - template - Queen of Hearts
Font - Courier New

Messy Munchkin

Journaling: You’re my messy munchkin! At 8 months old we gave you strained carrots for the first time, you loved it and got it all over your face. You were so adorable!

Credits:
Little Daredevil kit - Misty Mareda and Micheline Martin
Embrace Simplicity templates - Dunia
Font: Arial

Pouty Princess

Journaling: You weren’t happy for part of the day on Christmas, 2010. You get cranky when there are a bunch of people you don’t know or when we try to feed you potatoes. This day, we did both, so naturally you were a pouty princess.

Credits:
A Girl Named Trouble - Jennifer Fox and Nikki Epperson
Sidekicks Pack 14 - Digi Files 18 - Fizzy Pop Designs
Font - Century Gothic

Sleepy Head

Credits:
Goodnight Moon kit - Captivated Visions
Traditional Templates - Scrapping With Liz
Font - Franklin Gothic Book

The second Saturday

2011-01-08T09:45:00.001-07:00

Happy second Saturday in 2011! This weekend is hopefully going to be a bit slower paced than last weekend! Besides it being a holiday last weekend, we also did a lot around the house - we steam-cleaned the carpets in the living room (it's been a week and they're still clean!) on Saturday, and did some shopping in the city for Boxing Week sales. Then Sunday we demo'd our basement. My dad came over to help my hubby and they took out the makeshift bedroom that was down there, and started reno'ing it. We are hoping if we put 2 bedrooms and (Cross your fingers) a bathroom down there it will make it easier to sell this place! And if not, well, at least we have 2 more bedrooms and another bathroom! I am going to try and do "A year of weekends," which I heard about on Peppermint Granberg's blog, Frick on a Stick. I still need to do a page for last weekend, but first I need to take some pictures of the ~~destruction~~ construction.

I did get a few pages done this week! I was supposed to have surgery on Wed. and be in the hospital until Saturday, but the surgery got canceled after I spent 4 hours at the hospital (and I was already down at the OR before they canceled it). I was a bit of a mess, after getting myself psyched for the whole thing only to have it canceled. So I tried to throw my frustrations into scrapping! I lost my mojo for a little while, but I got it back late in the week :)

Follow Your Heart

Credits:
Resolutions kit - Scooty's Designs
Outlines are Great templates - Studio Basic
Advice Wordart Pack - Erica Zwart

Je t'aime

Credits:
Mademoiselle papers - Jenn Barrette - guesting @ The Lilypad this month
Mademoiselle elements - Jenn Barrette - guesting @ The Lilypad this month
Color Pops Vol. 4 - Queen of Hearts
Font- SBC Designer Notes

Cutie Patootie

Credits:
Stand by Me kit - Dunia
Blueprints Set 8 - Studio True Blue

Happy New Year!

2011-01-03T09:41:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year! I hope you brought in the New Year surrounded by family and friends!

We have never really been big on New Years Eve festivities, and this year was no exception - we made it to 11:30 and we were both pooped, so we went to bed. I fell asleep right away but woke up at 11:57 for some reason, but still don't remember midnight, so it was pretty uneventful. We had a busy busy busy weekend - we steam-cleaned the carpet in the living room (it now looks FABULOUS instead of dingy), did some shopping - books for me for later this week, and golf clubs (using gift certificates) for my dh.

Sunday we started early and emptied our storage room in the basement, then at 11 my dad came over and we demolished the basement. Ha. You think I'm kidding. I'm not! We took down the walls that we had, and started building the closet in one room. We're renovating it, hoping it will make our house sell (and if not, then at least we have more space!). We're nuts, with the timing of it as I'll be in the hospital from Wed. - Sat. for surgery, but that's the way we roll lol. The basement is now a gigantic dusty mess, but I'm hoping it will all be worth it! We're putting in 2 bedrooms (there used to be a makeshift one), and hopefully a bathroom if we have enough money left after we do the bedrooms and family room. Pics to come once the progress starts - I can't believe how crazy different it looks already, just taking down a few walls!!!

Here are some of my recent layouts :) A New Year, a new set of layouts :)

Old Me

Credits:
Fresh Start kit -Jennifer Fox and Amy Stoffel
December Freebie Template - ChrissyW
Font - DJB Trina (my handwriting)

Little Bug

Credits:
Little Buggy kit - Ziska
Alpha - Wanderlust kit - Ziska
Font - SBC Pool Noodle

This Day

Credits:
Celebrate a year of Memories Collab kit - The Digi Files 25
Clean and Simple 5 Templates - Sabrina's Creations

Oh Snap
Journaling: You love pretending to take pictures with mommy’s point and shoot camera. It’s so funny how you do it because you look into the lens part instead of the view finder, like you think it’s going to take a picture of your eye. I can’t wait til you start taking pictures and mommy gets to to see the world thru your eyes. June 2010

Credits
Mamarazzi kit - Laura Banasiak
All Stacked Up Clusters 1 - Captivated Visions
Font - SBC Pool Noodle

Journaling:
Your bib says it all - sweet pea. I love these photos of you, especially the one where you’re looking sideways at me with the camera. You did this a lot when you were 9 months old, look at us sideways like we were crazy. It is so adorable! Your face is messy here because you were enjoying a banana-chocolate-chip muffin. From the smiles, I think you liked it!

Credits:
Celebrate a year of Memories Collab kit - The Daily Files 25
Former Freebie Templates - Cindy Schneider

All Girl and Cute as a Button!

2010-12-21T13:39:00.000-07:00

Are you ready for Christmas? I'm about as ready as I'm going to be :) I'm taking a break from blogging until the new year, so I'll see you in 2011!

All Girl

Journaling: June 2010 You are becoming such a girlie girl, you love playing dress up and getting your hair done. You also love being outside and smelling the flowers - quite literally. You are all girl, and all ours! We love you baby girl!

Credits:
Make a change kit - The Digi Files 24 - Laura Banasiak
Tag You're Stitched Alpha - Amber Clegg
And I Quote Template - Connie Prince

Font - DJB Trina Print

Cute as a Button

Journaling: You look so adorable in this sweater-dress that Uncle James got for you for your first Birthday. I don’t know what it was about that hood, but you love playing with it and trying to get it on your head. You fought with it a lot too, when you couldn’t get it on your head. You got a lot of compliments on how cute you looked when you wore this. You are definitely “Cute as a button”! Kaitlyn, March 2009

Credits:
Cute as a Button - Girl - Meg Mullens
Cookies for Kids 2010 - Sweet Shoppe Designs - Template by Aly Hall
Font - DJB Joan

I love collabs!

2010-12-16T11:22:00.001-07:00

Collab kits are always fun, and I love working with them - that way you get 2 (or more!) different styles in the same kit. This week I was lucky enough to get to work with FIVE different collab kits! Sweet!

Friends

Journaling: I love watching Kaitlyn and Adele grow up together as friends. At first we thought they wouldn’t like each other, they really didn’t want to have anything to do with the other one, and they certainly didn’t want to ‘play’. But now that they are 2 years old (going on 3), they love it when we get together and they can play. While they are only 9 days apart, they are so different in every aspect of their personalities and looks. Adele is head and shoulders taller than Kaitlyn and talks in complete sentences while Kaitlyn still strings 2-3 words together. Eventually they will even out, and it’ll be fun to see how this friendship grows!

Credits:

Forever Friends kit - Captivated Visions and mle Card
Building Blocks 4 - Tracie Stroud
Font - DJB Melindas

I Got All I Wanted

Credits:
Navidad - DeCrow Designs and Studio Tangie
Bundle 13 templates - DeCrow Designs

Year in Review

Credits:
Template, Kit, Date strips and Wordart all from:
A Year in Review Grab Bag - Suzy Q Designs and Captivated Visions

Bundled Up Tight

Credits:
Build me a Snowman - for the girls - Laura Banasiak
Build me a Snowman words - Laura Banasiak
Color Pops 3 - Queen of Hearts

Crabby Kid

Journaling: You have your bad days - just like everyone else. Most of yours at age one are due to teething, like this picture here. I felt so bad but I didn’t know how to make the pain go away.. Now, at almost three years old you still have your bad days, but mostly you get cranky for just a couple reasons - you’re hungry, tired, or mommy and daddy said the word ‘No’ to you about something. You’ve started to have tantrums at age 2 when you’re not happy with something we’ve said or done. They started with you just being quiet and pouting, laying on the ground completely still, but now there is more screaming and carrying-on involved. Terrible Two’s is right, some days - but we hope you grow out of it soon!

Credits:
Crabby kid - Jennifer Fox and Laura Banasiak
Caffinated - Queen of Hearts
Font - CK Carefree

Have you got your Digi Files yet?

2010-12-14T11:07:00.000-07:00

It's that time of the month - my public service announcement! lol Seriously, if you haven't got your Digi Files yet, what are you waiting for? If you don't know what they are, you need to start following The Daily Digi. They offer all sorts of fabulous ideas, tutorials and chatter on what's going on in the Digi-scrapping world (The best in Digital Scrapbooking in a Daily Delectable Dose!).

I'm not pushing them just because I'm on the CT - in fact, I'm such a fan I have ALL the digi files, right from number one. When Steph asked me to be on the CT I was, of course, thrilled, but even better because it's something I really believe in! The Digi Files gives you 7 full size products from different designers - reputable ones. So you can try out new-to-you designers without the worry of the cost. All 7 products are bundled up and are only $5!!! If you want the playbook too (I highly recommend it! It's like a 'How To' for all the layouts you see on the website all month!) it's $7.50. And they just started doing a subscription thing so you don't have to worry about forgetting to get it one month, you'll be sure to get them every month. Here are just 2 of the layouts I've created using this month's Digi Files - I created 7 so far altogether! You can get a glimpse of what's been revealed so far by following The Daily Digi or going here.

You're Still Little

Journaling: You are growing by leaps and bounds, but I still think of you as my little girl. At two and a half years old you don’t look or act like a baby very much, but I still see you as the baby you were when you were brand new, and I love you more each day, if that’s even possible.

Credits:
For the 'From the Files' challenge at The Daily Digi. Everything from The Digi Files 24
Font - CK Bella

What a Blast

Credits:
Steamboat Dreams - The Digi Files 24 - Kim Lund
Baby Steps Vol. 1 - Tiny Toes Designs

Just some pages ...

2010-12-10T22:12:00.000-07:00

It's been a long week, not much else to say ...but I do have some pages! :)

Love is You

Journaling: This is one of my favorite pictures of you - Yes, I have many, but I love how this one turned out. You look so cute with that headband on your head, you remind me of I Love Lucy for some reason, it’s so cute! This is the only time you would wear the headband Auntie Deanna got you for your 2nd Birthday, you’re suck a stinker!

Credits:
Merry & Happy kit - Scooty's Designs
Wordart & Alpha - Hello I Love You kit - Dunia
Flowers - Pretty in Pink kit - Lorea Labarca
Template - Color Pops V. 2 - Queen Of Hearts

Molly & Me

Journaling: You love your baby Molly! You found her at Granmom and Grandpa’s house in mommy’s old toy chest and you just had to have her. We made you leave her the first two times we went to visit, and then we decided you could bring her home with you. You haven’t let go of her since. Some days mommy thinks that she has two babies - Kaitlyn and Molly. You have to sleep with her, eat with her, go to the potty with her, you even want to have baths with her! By December, 2010 Molly was by far your favorite toy. You even have to take her to the dayhome! Mommy loves that you love the baby from her childhood. Although there is one thing I’d change about her - I’d make her wear some clothes (which you are totally against, every time mommy tries you take them right off!)

Credits:
Fresh Pieces Vol. 2 - Loreta Labaraca and Studio Basic
Inspired by Sasha templates - Stolen Moments Designs
Font - Parade

Simple Moments

Journaling: it is the simple moments like this one that I love. This is my favorite picture of you from our family portraits in October 2009. We tried all day to make you smile, and go figure the best picture we got of you is one where you’re not smiling. It doesn’t matter though, you are just as pretty not smiling as you are when smiling, and this shows your intense personality.

Credits:
Serenity kit - Joyce Paul
Honey Pots Vol. 5 - Busy Bee Designs
Moments 4 wordart - Studio Bethany

Capture

Credits:
Memory Keeper kit - Jennifer Fox
Blueprints Set 7 - Studio True Blue

When Trees were tall...

2010-12-09T14:25:00.000-07:00

Thinking about past Christmases because of Katie the Scrapbook Lady's posts over the last few days. This photo was taken during Kaitlyn's first Christmas in 2008. I loved that Christmas, not only because it was her first, but also because we forged our own tradition and hosted Christmas ourselves (instead of traveling with a baby). I came across this picture the other day and thought 'Wow, look how small she is next to that tree' and then decided to do what I do best - and scrap about it :)

When You were Small and Trees Were Tall

Journaling:
Christmas 2008 - you were in awe of the Christmas Tree and the train underneath it. You thought it was really neat, and you were amazed by it. I’ll miss this time when you were small and trees were tall.

Credits:
Deck the Halls kit - Jennifer Fox
Lickety Split - Ice Cream Sandwich Templates - Tiny Toes Designs
Font - Editor

Love/Hate

2010-12-08T12:08:00.000-07:00

I have a love/hate relationship with December and Christmas. I love this time of year and how it brings people together and how happy everyone is when Christmas gets here.

I hate that December is SO busy and SO many people are SO cranky, right up until Christmas actually gets here. I'm trying to be in a good, festive spirit but some days the other people (that are so interested in just getting stuff done) annoy the heck out of me and make me want to say "Merry-FREAKING-Christmas to you too!". I don't, but I want to. Where's the Christmas spirit, people? The sharing, giving, kindness and goodwill towards others? Some days I wonder ...

Anyways, I've had a good week, layout-wise! I have a few to share today and a few more tomorrow and Friday. For now, here's what I can post right now, using Scrap Orchard new goodies :)

Love my Family

Journaling: October 2010 - we hadn’t had a family picture taken in awhile, so when we got this one taken I loved it immediately! I love how Kaitlyn is feeling our cheeks and how happy she is (it took awhile to get that great smile!) After this, I want to make sure we get family pictures done more often, at least once a year with all of us (not just Kaitlyn!)

Credits:
It's About us kit - Captivated Visions
All Stacked Up Clusters 2nd Chance Vol 1 - Captivated Visions
Font - DJB Tweenybopper
Photo - Nichole Drevenak Photography

Beautiful Girl

Credits:
To a T - Laura Banasiak
Paper Garden 2 - Sara Gleason

Photo - Nichole Drevenak Photography

If you knew my family ....

Journaling: Don’t ask me. I don’t know what this thing on my head is. Mommy put it there. I think it’s supposed to be a Beret, but I don’t think I like it. I think it makes me look like I’m asking for some Grey Poupon. Mommy wises she knew what I was thinking at this point because my eyes are showing that I’m not exactly enjoying this. I guess at 11 weeks old if Mommy is doing this, I should be wary of what’s to come. Help me!

Credits:
Going Wild - On Land - Suzy Q Scraps
Twisted Wordart - Family - Pixel Geek Designs
Big Title Templates - Scrapping with Liz

Addicted to Digi

2010-12-06T09:59:00.001-07:00

I'm so addicted, I did a page about my addiction. Teehee. This page is done with a fantastic template available in The Digi Files this month by Crystal Livesay. I love her templates! Yet another thing I'm addicted to - tempaltes. And steeped tea. That's pretty much the list.

Addicted to Digi

Credits:
Digi Addicted - Designs by Kat
Circles of Fun - The Digi Files 24 - Crystal Livesay

Only 3 weeks?

2010-12-03T15:03:00.000-07:00

I can't believe there are only 3 weeks until Christmas. This year has just flown by so quickly, especially these last few weeks. We have a lot of fun and things to do in the next 3 weeks, and then we are spending the holidays with my hubby's family. We haven't been there for Christmas since 2007, so it will be fun to be there all together and watch Kaitlyn open all her presents. I'm really excited for this Christmas because she's now old enough to 'get' it.

Although I do have to say that Miss K is turning into quite the little teenager. In the last week she has made us laugh so much with things she's said. This morning when we were driving to the dayhome she was in her car seat and she kept telling me to "Stop it". This is usual, but then she started saying "Stop it WOMAN." I didn't' think I heard her right so I asked her what she said and she repeated it, clear as day lol. No idea where she picked that up, but it was pretty cute :)

Anyways, I have a couple new layouts for this week, they are below!

Beautiful to Me

Journaling: You will always be beautiful to me. Everyone always says how pretty and cute you are (and you are!), but even with messy hair that you tried to do yourself like here, a dirty face and food-spotted clothes, you will always be the most beautiful thing in the world to me. You are growing so big and mommy misses the times from when you were a little baby, but I’m in awe of all the things you say and do at age 2. Somewhere you started calling mommy ‘cute’ and you put your hands on my cheeks, squeeze them together and say ‘Mommy, cute’ . It’s so cute the way you do it, I love watching you grow!

Credits:
Hello I Love you kit - Dunia
An Easy Way 1 to 5 - Dunia
Titlework - Girls - Shawna Clingerman
DJB Tweenybopper

You at 2.5

Credits:
20 Questions kit - Jenn Barrette, Lauren Grier, Shawna Clingermann
Template - 4 Seasons - Winter - Queen of Hearts

Love You Forever

Journaling: Forever and always you will be my baby girl. I love you and love seeing you grow up! You make my heart proud, watching you grow into quite the little girl. We have our moments when we fight with each other, which makes me nervous for the time to come when you’re a teenager and hate you mom out of principle, but I hope you always remember that I will love you, unconditionally and forever.

Credits:
I Love Cocoa kit - Digi Files 24 - Kristin Cronin-Barrow
In the News Alpha - Tracie Stroud
Tag You're Stitched Alpha - Amber Clegg
Templates 71 - Cindy Scheider
Font - Nyala

A Christmas Survey

2010-12-03T09:08:00.000-07:00

I've seen this on 2 blogs now and thougt it was a fun idea. So I'm tagging YOU. Yes, you. Fill it out on your blog, come back here and link me up, I'd love to read it!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate! About one glass of Egg Nog all Christmas Season is about enough for me.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa wraps presents, and he has his own special wrapping paper. He did this even before we had children. He even wraps stocking gifts (to have more fun opening presents of course!)

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? We hung those icicle lights last year, but they hung down in front of our door and you had to push them out of the way every time you opened the door - major PITB. We didn't hang any this year because the house was for sale and we didn't want to have to take them down in the dead of winter if we ended up moving. Now that the house is off the market I kinda wish we had done it. Long answer short, I love colored ones!

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No - but my mom and dad have a plastic one they used to hang up.

5. When do you put your decorations up? Whenever we get time! My birthday is the end of November so I don't like doing it before then, but anytime after that is game. This year we put it up on Monday (Nov. 29), last year we didn't get it up til Dec. 18th.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? The turkey and mashed potatos with gravy. I don't need anything else. Except maybe pie (Apple or Lemon Meringue, please!)

7. Favorite Christmas memory as a child? I loved spending Christmas with my extended family, we'd always see all the cousins, aunts and uncles and it was a fun time. I remember the paper used to send out an insert with all the Christmas Carols on it and I was always so excited to get it, the one year I sat in the living room and sang all of them (to myself lol) I was so excited for Christmas to get there.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I don't remember when - I was 10 or 11 I think. I 'strung it out' for a year or so to get more presents, but I don't remember it being traumatic or anything.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes, and it's usually pajamas. I never could figure out as a kid how my mom always managed to pick THAT gift as the one we would open (for better pictures in the morning lol)

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Nothing fancy - we have a pre-lit one, so I put the beads (as garland) on first, then just place ornaments. We have a huge mix of ornaments, and we tend to get a few special ones each year and a 'family' one each year - eg the year I was pregnant we got an ornament with a male and pregnant female snowman, and got 'Merry Christmas 2007' written on it.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Don't love it, don't hate it. I like that it covers up all the icky brown leftover from fall, but I don't like the cold.

12. Can you ice skate? Yes, but not well. I took figure skating lessons as a kid, but haven't skated since I was in University.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I don't know that I've had a favorite of all time. My parents got my sister and I a trip to Maui one year (with them of course), and that stands out as a big one that I loved.

14. What’s the most important thing about Christmas for you? Spending time with family and relaxing and having nowhere else to be - it's the best feeling in the world!

15. What is your favorite Christmas Dessert? Pie! Apple or Lemon Meringue. We sometimes have squares after supper too, I love triple layer bars and rocky road bars. And I loved my grandma's shortbread - I'm going to miss it this year, it's the first Christmas without her.

16. What is your favorite Christmas tradition? I can only pick one? I love getting up early and opening presents with the family, taking turns and seeing what everyone else gave/got and seeing their reactions to gifts we got them.

17. What tops your tree? A star. Last year, nothing (because our star was broken)

18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving? Both, of course lol I love giving, especially when I know I've found a really cool or 'perfect' gift for someone. But of course I love presents too - who doesn't?

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? I love Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer lol It's not Christmas until I've heard that. I love Jingle Bell Rock too.

20. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum? Love em -especially the cherry ones.

21 Favorite Christmas Show?Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer (the TV special). Although The Polar Express comes in a very close second.

22. Saddest Christmas Song?No idea

23. What’s your Wish for Christmas. Same as last year:

Me No Scrappy.

2010-12-01T13:58:00.000-07:00

Me No Scrappy. That's cavewoman for "I haven't had a chance to scrap this week". Or at least, not as much as usual. I've only done 3 pages in the last week, one of which I can't share til Friday. I have been so busy getting ready for Christmas festivities, putting up the tree, celebrating birthdays, and having a mom's group party.

I've also been organizing my 'stash' a bit more, and hitting that 'delete' key. That's what I did last night while watching The Expendables with my hubby. There are a lot of kits I have that don't fit my style anymore or I just don't see myself using them again, so I got rid of them. I did the same thing earlier this year, and it was so liberating to delete some of the very first freebies I was hanging onto for years and years. I figure if I really want them back, I can buy them (or something similar) again. I did hang on to ones I love that I haven't used yet, and others I love and can see myself using.

Tonight, I'm planning on scrapping to my heart's content! My hubby has poker night on Wednesdays, and after the munchkin goes to bed I'll be able to scrap with no guilt lol. Here are 2 layouts I've done this week so far:

Doooooooood,

Credits:
Dude Man Whoa kit - Laura Banasiak - Guesting at Scrap Orchard in December!
[All Stacked Up Clusters Vol. 4 - Captivated Visions

Love You at 2

Credits:
Being With You kit - Tracie Stroud
Captivated by Jacqueline templates - Captivated Visions
Font - DJB Get Your Fix

October's Pubbed Layouts

2010-11-30T11:24:00.000-07:00

Bad Blogger. Baaaaaaaaad blogger. I kinda went MIA after DSD, didn't I? I was too busy scrapping (and organizing!) all my new goodies I guess. But today I'm back to show you the pages I had published in Scrapbook News and Review's Oct. issue. Earlier in the month I thought that maybe I get published a liiiiiitle bit too often - I completely forgot that I had been published in the Artisan Notebook! It was a nice surprise to get that email :) Anyways, here are the layouts I had published in October:

Juicy

Credits:

Strawberry Sunday kit by Ziska
Mask: Background Masks 1 by Scrapping With Liz
Font: CK Neat Print

My Sunshine

Credits:

A Day Like Today kit - Jennifer Barrette and Lauren Grier
Template: SNR October 2010 Template by Julie Enriquez

ROFL

Credits:
Teen Spirit by Kristin Rice

Spring Clean

Credits:

Cleaning Day - Pamela Donnis
May Daze Template Challenge Freebie - Connie Prince
Font - Century

Thanksgiving 2009

Credits:
Fall Whimsy by Jennifer Labre
Alpha: Jester by Kaye Winiecki
Template: Autumn Morning by Connie Prince
Font: Century Gothic

Yellow Boots

This was for my ''Ugly Duckling" article challenging people to remake one of their first (or one of their ugly) layouts.

Credits:
Honey Bee Mine - Bella Gypsy Designs
Scribble Schmibble Alpha - Bella Gypsy Designs
Hot Hot Hot Templates - Connie Prince

Here is the original that I gave a makeover to - one of my very first digital pages

You Make Me So Happy

Credits:
Happy Hearts - Berry Sweet Designs and Sugarplum Paperie
Harvesting Memories Templates - Busy Bee Designs and Berry Sweet Designs

Fall Festival

Credits:
Darker Days by Joyce Paul
Alpha: A Day Like Today kit by Jennifer Barrette and Lauren Grier
Template: Try Me Template 1 freebie by Berry Sweet Designs

My Wish for You

Credits:
My wish for you kit - Tracie Stroud

Remember When

Credits:
The Reason Why kit - Meg Mullens and Kristin Cronin Barrow
Layered Templates - Wild Dandelions

Jennifer Fox Designs: Sneak Peek and Win It Wednesday!!!

2010-11-17T08:37:00.000-07:00

Jennifer Fox Designs: Sneak Peek and Win It Wednesday!!!

Check out Jennifer Fox' s Blog today to win a copy of her new release - it's so gorgeous!

Here is the sneak peak:

And my layout using it:

Credits

So Thankful kit - Jennifer Fox
Scraps to Go Vol. 8 - My CT Rocks - Jennifer Fox

Lucky?

2010-11-13T08:38:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty luck the last few weeks! First, I won about $600 playing cards in Vegas. That's very lucky!

This is what I bought with it - a real Coach purse. I'll never hear the end of it from my sister and mom, who are both huge fans and I used to make fun of them for the fancy, expensive purses lol

Next, I won a Diamond Ring at the Dinner of Diamonds - a fall Ball for ladies only, held by the Kinnette Club in my town. I haven't managed to get a good picture of it yet, but it's pretty neat!

And last night I was surfing the forum at SSD and came across a post from Meg Mullens asking if anyone had time to scrap girlie colors right away. And I was lucky enough to be able to create a page for her! I really love how it turned out, and even though it's a Christmas kit I made it work for non-Christmasy colors :)

Credits:

A Fairy Merry Christmas - Meg Mullens and Mandabean
Honey Pots Vol. 2- Busy Bee Designs

This is what the kit looks like, in case you're interested :) And no, I'm not a CT member, just a fan!