Quite a Week!

I have been away and have missed many of your posts so I thought I would let everyone know what has been going on.  My Mom has been very ill and was rushed by ambulance to Valley Regional Hospital, then on to the QEII in Halifax.  It was a scary week for us last week, but she is doing better now and showing improvement daily.  I have been staying with my brother in Halifax for the last week so I can be at the hospital with Mom. 

On top of all that, my best friend lost her husband last week in a tragic accident - my heart goes out to her and her family.  I wish I could be there with her....

And, I am anxiously awaiting the birth of my first grandchild and my niece is also expecting any day now.  So, I haven't done much of anything else.....hope to get home this week, hope to bring my Mom home this week too!

Trick or Treat!

These little treat bags were CASed from Pamela O'Connor, one of my CTMH sisters.  She used our 6 x 6 Kraft Die Cut cards, but I made mine from scratch, cut the ovals and label with CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge and stamped with the September SOTM "Wicked".  I can't wait to give these out tomorrow night!!

Card # 21 & 22 2011 Challenge

Good morning everyone!  Seems like I haven't had much time to scrapbook lately, although I have been making Halloween treat bags.  Once I get them all done, I'll post pix...they are so cute!  For today, I have a couple of really simple cards that I made from the leftover paper from my "Dinner Time" layout.  Sometimes I just put the leftovers into my card-making bin, but because it was World Card Making Day when I did that layout, I HAD to make these cards right away!

Cardstock is CTMH textured C/S, Patterned paper is Echo Park.  The die cut paper is from a Making Memories journalling book, the twine is from My Mind's Eye and the buttons were from my stash.  Edges of the papers were sanded and/or ink distressed.  The Happy Birthday is an acrylic tag that had the sentiment etched into it but it was hard to read, so I went over it with a souffle pen and backed it with cardstock. 

Liebster Blog Award

I have been so busy that I almost forgot that my CTMH sistah Carolyn awarded the Liebster Blog award to me!  Such an honour to have a fellow consultant award this to my blog.   Thank you Carolyn!!  Liebster is a German word that means beloved or favourite.  This award is for blogs with fewer than 200 followers.

Here are the rules to accept this award:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.
5. And most of all - have fun!

 

So now I bet you are wondering what my top 5 picks are?!  Here's a few of my favourite blogs:

 

Roxy   http://roxyrolla.blogspot.com/

Carla   http://carlacreates.blogspot.com/

Paula   http://paula-bees-space.blogspot.com/

Jenn J.  http://scrapperj.blogspot.com/

Jenn S.  http://scrappin-geek.blogspot.com/

 

Go check them out....wonderful artwork and lots of inspiration.   Have fun with your blog awards girls!!!

Layout # 36 2011 Challenge & 30-day Photo challenge

Hi everyone! Here's another quick layout that I did, very easy but I love it!  Fancy Pants paper and rub-ons, CTMH chipboard, a felt flower from Maya Road and I don't know if you can see them or not, but there are small felt flowers (from a set of Thickers) and bling all over the paper in the flower centers.  This paper was one of those papers that I absolutely loved and had stashed it away because I didn't want to  use it.  I'm over that now!! Those "special" photos never seem to happen often enough to justify hoarding all that paper. 

I have given up on posting the rest of my 30-day photo challenge pictures.  I have them taken and I'm working on finishing the coffee sleeve mini album, but I do have this one from day 29 - Purchased.  My mom & I went on a little shopping spree at Costco that day!  This was my haul, there are a couple of things from some of the other stores we hit too:

Layout #35

This is one of the layouts I created on the weekend and I am entering it in Scrapbookers-Anonymous long-title-mini-challenge.  This is a long title for me...I usually only use a one-word title and it is a little hard to see in the photo, but it says "It's Dinner Time in Mom's Backyard".  The papers are from Echo Park Country Drive....it took me forever to find this collection so I will be hoarding most of it!

I also have die-cut birds from Crate Paper at the top, so this qualifies for Scrapbookers-Anonymous October challenge!  I love SA's challenges as they get me to use up some of my stash that I might not otherwise think to put on the layout!

Layout 34 2011 Challenge

Well, my world has been crazy busy the last couple of weeks.  In addition to my Close To My Heart business that I am struggling to get off the ground here in Nova Scotia, I am now the Welcome Wagon lady too!!  I know this area very well, which is why I was hired, but I was originally going to develop the Business Welcome Program in this area and organize a 50 Plus Showcase for the spring.  I'm still going to be doing that, but have been asked to do Community Welcome visits as well!  So, I've been trained for that and have started my official duties.  I was also away all weekend at a crop in Windsor, NS - had a wonderful time although I didn't get much done.  I worked on a special order for a client most of the day on Saturday, but then did a couple of cards in honour of World Card Making Day and a few scrapbook pages.  For now though, this is a layout that I did while I was still in Winnipeg but hadn't quite finished it up....it needed a title and journalling.  So this is the finished product:

 I love CTMH's "Tinkering" collection, retired now, and the Jolee's embellishment...perfect for these pictures!  This layout is an 8 1/2" x 11" double page spread, a format I haven't used in awhile.  The pictures are from my now 21 year old's seventh birthday!  Talk about being behind in my scrapbooking! lol  I ink distressed the papers so I am entering this in Scrapbooker's Paradise Challenge # 35.

30 day Photo Challenge update

Here is my latest update with photos taken for the 30-day photo challenge:

Day 15 - my shoes (my favourite ones!)

Day 16 - What I Ate - Veggie Burger at Union Street Cafe (sorry, I guess I could have taken it before I started eating it! )

Day 17 - On the shelf

Day 18 - In my bag - scrapping' supplies of course!!

Day 19 - Where I slept

Still having lots of fun with this challenge, trying to think outside the box but not having much luck with that!!  Are you playing along?  Let me know so I can come check out your pictures!

Layout # 33 Multi-challenge!

I have not had a vehicle for the last two weeks, so have had lots of time to play in my scrapbook room.  I have also had lots of time to visit other blogs and have been keeping a list of some of the challenges posted on those blogs.  When I visited Scrap It With A Song's blog and the challenge was Coldplay's "Fix You", the lyrics inspired me to scrapbook this photo taken last summer of my brother and his daughter.  Then I visited Scrapbook & Cards' blog and Summer Fullerton has a colour challenge that fit perfectly with this photo as well!  (http://scrapbookandcardstodaymag.typepad.com/scrapbook_cards_today_blo/2011/09/the-colour-suite-challenge-september.html) 

Scrapbooker's Anonymous has a challenge to use anything that starts with "B" and one for using chipboard on your layout.

I've used a patterned cardstock base from Quick Quotes Paper - Khaki Collection and matted the photo with yellow, cream, and khaki.  The title is Basic Grey "Sweet" chipboard letters and the flowers are from Bazill bling and paper flower packs.  The "Love" bingo image is from Maya Road Mini Bingo Singelton Acrylic Stamp set and the Jewel flowers are also from Maya Road.   I used a brad in the center of the flowers and the ticket is from Tim Holtz's Ticket Tags.  Epoxy heart sticker is from the dollar store and the yarn was from my stash. 

I love the way this turned out....thanks to the challenges!!

30 day Photo Challenge

Today I have a few more photos to share, plus I will show you what I've been doing with all these photos!  Jim and I visited Gaspereau Winery (of course we had to sample and buy a couple of bottles for our wine rack!) 

Up Close - Grapes at Gaspereau Vineyards

Cape Blomidon (near Wolfville) is a beautiful spot.  

From a Distance - Cape Blomidon

My mother and I attended a Dahlia show - who knew there were so many varieties!!! They sold bunches of these beautiful blossoms after the show and I got the last bunch!

Flowers - Dahlia Show entries

When I started this challenge, I knew exactly what I wanted to do to "scrapbook" my photos.  A few years ago, I had read an article about using everyday items in scrapbooks.  One of the items featured was these:

So I've been "collecting" them ever since....I snagged a few when I was at the CTMH convention in Washington last year, a few from coffee shops in Fargo, ND, some in Winnipeg, MB, and a couple here in Nova Scotia.  Needless to say, I had quite a little stack building up, so I decided to make a mini-album with them.  First, I cut them all in to two pieces, then I sanded all the edges with my Distress-It-All (I just had to have one thanks to Tracy & Louise!) and then I misted every one with all my favourite colours!

Lots of fun, and these are the perfect size for each daily photo.  I still have some work to do, but you get the general idea!

Off to take a picture of "my shoes"!!  Thanks to everyone who have left comments - it's so nice to get feedback and kind words! Thank you!



30 day Photo Challenge & Layout # 32

Hope everyone had a great weekend, although yesterday was a day of reflection for most of us.  Most of us remember exactly where we were 10 years ago yesterday and the events of that day will be etched on our hearts forever.
I spent part of the weekend re-organizing my paper stash in my craft room. I had put stuff in drawers and boxes for the move and hadn't had a chance to go through everything. I couldn't find things and was getting frustrated. Why is it that we spend so much time organizing and so little time creating sometimes? It's all good now - and one of my pictures today will prove it!

Faceless Self Portrait

OK, so the self portrait is a cheater - I didn't take this, my husband did, but I like this picture and wanted to use it. 

Something I Made

Something Fun - In My Scrappin' Room!!!!

 I have also been trying to be more organized about some of the challenges that are out there.  I follow lots of blogs and see so many different ones and think "I can do that!" and then go on to the next blog....then later in the week, I can't remember where I saw the challenge I wanted to do! UGHHH!  So now, as I see them I am copying & pasting the details into a Word document titled Sept. Challenges so I can keep track of them all!  So far it's working...I've got one done.  This layout has lots of chipboard pieces on it which is the criteria for the challenge at Scrapbookers Anonymous, plus it is another towards my 2011 goal!  Don't you just love those little chipboad cars from Maya Road??  There is CTMH dimensional element chipboard from the Miracle kit on there as well, and chipboard pieces from Deja Views "Timeless" collection.  In total, 7 pieces of chipboard.

30 day Photo Challenge + Candy!

OK, so here are a few more for the photo challenge:

Childhood Memory - my Mom read to us from these books every night!

Something new!!

Something new too!!



 Now, the next category was technology and I have a little story about these pictures.  Don't get me wrong, I love technology, when it works!! Last night though, we had "issues" in our house!!  First we lost the Internet (although we supposedly still had an Internet connection!):

So my husband re-booted our router and it still was out.  After a few minutes, it just seemed to fix itself though.  With that little crisis over with, off to phone my Mom I went, only to discover that we now had no phone!!!

I had taken some photos of my son playing with his Playstation Move, but this was waaayy more entertaining!  (or frustrating in my case!!!)


And here's a little bonus for ya......one of my fellow CTMH sistahs is giving away some candy on her blog....go check it out!
http://annsnovemberrose.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-candy.html

30 day Photo Challenge Week 1 pics

Self Portrait
  

What I was wearing  

Clouds

Favourite colour

Someone I love

I have a plan......

Photo Challenge!

I'm a little late posting this, but I think it's still OK to play catch-up if you wanted to join in on this.  One of my scrappy friends, a very talented gal from MB has issued this challenge on her blog http://usdocumented.blogspot.com/2011/09/wanna-play-along.html and I am playing along....wanna join us?  Leave Kim a comment to add your name to the list. 

I will post my photos along the way, and I think I have an idea how I want to put them together!  I may have trouble with day 3 though - there is not a cloud in the sky today!!!  Hmmmm

Layouts 27-31 2011 Challenge - *Studio J*

I have had my Studio J membership for almost a year now and have really not had much time to play! I had to place at least one order before my membership ran out - RIGHT?! So these layouts were created over the past two evenings, spent about 1 or so each night and voila!, I have 5 beautiful layouts on their way to me as we speak! Each layout took me progressively less time to complete and it really is quite addictive. Now, don't go thinking that I am giving up the traditional scrapbooking 'cause that will never happen. But I do like to have the option of doing layouts like this when I am feeling behind in my scrapbooking, or for a gift. Christmas (I know, it's kinda early to be bringing up that!) is coming and if you have family far away, being able to post the JPegs on a blog or Facebook is a wonderful option too. Anyway, I had a great couple of evenings creating these pages....hope you like them!

Cards, Cards, & More Cards #13-20 2011 Challenge

I am finally getting back on track and getting caught up on a few things. I needed to place my order with Close To My Heart so I would stay active during this move! I can not wait to get my hands on some of that new product and start creating! In the meantime, I have been trying to finish up some of those layouts and cards that have been lying around for awhile. I've actually got them all organized in a CTMH Work in Progress album....so much easier! While travelling across Canada, I brought a few kits with me and these cards were all made from a Basic Grey card kit - Indian Summer. I love the colours and how the rub-ons were used to accent the chipboard pieces. I plan to use these patterns with some of my Close to my Heart papers and chipboard, along with my Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge.

Card 1 and 4 uploaded sideways despite everything I tried to do, turn your head to get a look - LOL!

Helloooo there!

Well, I am finally "settled" in my new home after being homeless for nearly a month! We left Winnipeg on the 2nd of July and didn't take possession of our new home in Nova Scotia until the 28th. Spent some time with my Mom, then went to Lake Pleasant for a week, then back to my Mom's. I was soooo tired of living out of a suitcase. I still have some work to do in the house, but it is coming together....we have way too much stuff and I am purging as I go. We have had to make some modifications to things to make them work for us which has slowed me down a little as well. When the sun is shining though, we are in the pool cooling off and enjoying summer - the boxes will be there when it rains! I haven't been able to scrapbook for awhile and I am itching to get my room set up so I can play. I will try to visit every one's blogs to get caught up over the next few days. Hope everyone is enjoying summer!

Layout #26 2011 Challenge

My family and I have been slowly making our way to Nova Scotia and we have been having a fantastic time. The weather has been wonderful, just one little rain shower in Toronto. Our Internet in hotels is coming to an end soon though - we are going to be spending time with my Mom and then going to a cottage on Lake Pleasant for 8 nights. Thought I would do a quick post before hitting the road today. This is a layout featuring some lovely "Go Scrapping" ladies at at retreat at the Nottawasaga Inn in Ontario a couple of years ago. The theme was the YaYa Sisterhood of Scrapbooking and we all were encouraged to make headdresses!