October WeScrap Kit

The big reveal for the October WeScrap kit Fall Festival is today and you should check out all the amazing work going into the gallery!

I had fun working with all the amazing goodies in this kit and it was wonderful to get to some of my own scrapping again after being so busy with classes!

I worked yesterday and then came home to a fabulous Thanksigiving dinner cooked by my darling hubby!  Tracy, Brian and the kids came over for dinner as well and brought the pumpkin pie!  It was a nice evening and we have so very many reasons to be thankful that is was wonderful to be able to celebrate together. 

A fabulous Thanksgiving Monday to everyone!  Enjoy!

Cheers,

WeScrap ABC Card Crop

If you LOVE to make CARDS, then weScrap has the Crop for you!

This was one I did for a challenge early in the month...

Beginning September 15th, everyday for 26 days, the iTeam will have a new alphabet card challenge for you! A to Z.... 26 challenges and 26 days of wonderful and inspiring cards!

Come and play along with the ABC Card Crop at weScrap.com!

We are now a FREE forum!!!! No membership required! Just register with the site and you are good to go!

myStamp BOX stamps are our crop sponsors and they have some awesome stamps for our iTeam to show off! You may even WIN a few sets of your own!

The closing date for all challenges is SATURDAY October 17th at 11:59pm PST (3 am EST, 2am CST, 1am MST).

Come and check it out along with the new kit!!  I'll post some more of my cards soon!

Cheers,

In Celebration...

We're deeply saddened by the loss of George's grandpa (Opi) at 101 years of age today.  We're thankful that he's no longer in pain though and what we can do is celebrate the lovely man that he was and how many lives he touched... 

One of the hardest parts was having to explain to Kyle tonight since he had developed a fairly close relationship to him while George's mum and dad took care of Kyle while I was working (before having Nathan).  There were lots of tears and cuddles...

It's already comforting to be able to look back at some of the layouts I've done with Opi in them and knowing that we'll have these (and some more I need to do) so we're able to talk to the boys about him as they grow up...  It's days like this that I'm reminded why I'm so thankful to be a scrapbooker and saving our family memories.

You're loved and will be greatly missed...
Colleen, George, Kyle and Nathan

Another layout finally!

This layout was done based on a sketch by Angie!  And the best part is that I used odds and ends that I had around and had fun playing with this clean and simple design!

We've had a crazy week around here since George is off on holidays this week and trying to get his truck all fixed and hopefully on the road again sooner rather than later!  This will mean that I have a car for getting the kids back and forth for preschool more than anything. 

This is also the first week that Matthew has been here with his sister, Sophia, and they're here 4 days a week since Tracy went back to work.  It's gone well, but we're not totally into our routine since George is home and we can cheat a little because he's been taking Kyle to school and picking him up and that means that Matthew gets a better nap!  He's a peach though and we're having fun!

Better run while things are quiet for a sec!

Cheers,

Fall Back into Scrapping Crop @ Scrapperie

It's finally here! I don't know about you, but I've been looking forward to a good crop for a long time!  Our Fall Back into Scrapping crop is based around the theme of this gorgeous time of year... You may notice that most of our challenges and games may revolve around that theme.

Participation in the crop is completely up to you. Play along as little or as much as you want. There will be ten challenges. Five challenges will be posted on Friday and the remaining five challenges will be posted on Saturday. You will have until Tuesday, September 22nd at 10pm CST to get the challenges complete. In order to get credit for completing the challenge, you must post to the Gallerie and then come link us up in the appropriate challenge thread. For every challenge, each person that participates will be entered into a prize drawing. Ultimately, there will be 10 challenge winners- one for each challenge. All prizes will be provided by Sandi, via the Scrapperie Boutique.

We'll also have tons of games, mini contests and other fun surprises to keep you amused all during the crop! Just simply follow the instructions that are listed in each individual thread.

Happy scrapping!
Cheers,

The First Day of School!!

This is my 6 year old going on 16 year old on the first day of Grade 1!

OK, so I'm a little behind in my blogging to say the least, but it's been busy around here.  And as far as school's concerned, I'm only late for Kyle because today was actually Nathan's first day!  It was a little crazy with getting up and getting both the boys ready for school and packing Kyle's lunch and Nathan's snack.  I also got up at 7 this morning, so I had to get myself all showered and ready this morning a little later too.  I figured that since I only had the boys though, I wanted to take advantage of it because with Sophia and Matthew here, there's no chance of me sleeping until 7 and being ready to get Kyle to school on time!!

Kyle's first day was only a half day and Nana was so excited for him that she came in to go with us too!  There were class lists near the office for the Grade 1 kids and we found out that Kyle not only has the same teacher that he did in Kindergarten, but that all three of the kids that he really wanted in his class are in there!!  He's very excited about having the teacher he does and so am I for that matter!  We were warned that there might be some movement during the first few days, but they've since confirmed classes and teachers and everything's the same!  Yeah! 

I think mum got some good pictures that I'll have to get from her too!

He's totally lovin' the being there all day and having his lunch.  It was sure weird for me the first day he was there all day!  My afternoon just felt all out of sorts and I felt like something was wrong and that I was late for getting him!  I'm still trying to figure out what to feed him every day for lunch, but we're managing!

I always ask him what his favourite 2 things were about the day and one is always recess or lunch and the other is generally "centers" where they can go and choose the actitvity they want to play/learn with. It's just hard for me to believe he's actually in Grade 1 already!

Nathan was quite upset when Kyle got to go school and he couldn't.  He had a good cry the first day when I told him we were taking Kyle, but that he had to wait a little longer for his school to start.  He was more than ready this morning though and even took his backpack to school when we went and took Kyle to school before he went!  He wanted his cheese stick that was going to be his snack in his backpack first thing this morning, but I was trying to convince him that it might not taste that good by snack time if we put it in there that early.  I compromised and put some raisins and his Rufus the dog in there first thing this morning!

I was actually on duty today as well after switching with another parent who couldn't go today.  She's taking my day next week!  It was only half the class today and Nathan was supposed to be going tomorrow, but went today since I was on duty!  An easy day for duty since it was a shorter day and they didn't get into as much.  At then end of class, Nathan for some reason decided that he wanted to stay at school and that he wanted a lollipop - neither of which was going to happen!  We had a few tears, but everything was OK in the end!  He certainly had a fabulous morning and was so much fun to watch!

It'll be interesting to see how all this goes next week with Matthew and Sophia here though I'll get a little help for the first 2 weeks I'm doing this with all the kids because George is going to be home on holidays!  He just needs a break and has more than enough holidays to take a little time!

Well, better go think about getting Kyle from school here shortly!

Have a fabulous day!
Cheers,

A Fabulous Family Day!

This is one of those days where I wish I had pictures, but I'm content to have the wonderful memories. It started with me sleeping in, which is a wonderful thing on it's own!

Afterwards, George had this idea of going out for a drive and trying the Weaver Creek fish hatchery. We didn't bother looking at the website or anything mostly because we wanted to just get out for a bit. Called mum and dad and said we were heading out in their direction and that we'd give them a call when we were coming their way.

As it turned out, we were too early for the fish hatchery as it doesn't open for about another 3 weeks. It didn't matter though because we'd have a beautiful drive and the kids we having fun and being silly. We decided to head towards mum and dad's, so I called them and they invited us for dinner. We made a quick stop to have a stretch and get a little something for the boys since they'd been good. Kyle chose another Bakugan and Nathan picked a book and some paints. Off we went to Nana and Grandpa's!

We had a really nice visit with mum and dad and it was just really relaxing. They made us a wonderful dinner and we had pie for dessert! George was happy because he got 3 kinds of meat for dinner and then 2lbs of hamburger to take home too! Mum and dad have been winning tons of meat at a local meat draw and they'd made meatloaf for dinner. George likes it and the boys ate it for the first time and enjoyed it too, so mum and dad gave us more hamburger (since they'd won 10lbs of it!) to make one at home!  We also took them a couple of treats (Triple Berry Bars) that were similar to ones from a bakery by their old place that they liked and dad said they tasted the same too. 

We left their place about 6:30pm and made one little stop on the way home for fresh corn on the cob and blueberries. The drive home was a little rainy, but all good. Nathan fell asleep and we managed to get him in and get his pants changed before he fell asleep again! Kyle watched some of Clone Wars with George and he's now in bed too. It was just a really nice family day and great to get out to see mum and dad at their place! Thanks mum since I know you're reading!

Have a couple of things to do before bed here and then I think I'm going to pack it in before too late since I work again tomorrow.  It'll be nice having Monday off with George again too and then it's back to school for Kyle on Tuesday!  Think mum might come for Kyle's first day too since she's as excited as he is I think!

**Note to self - remember to send mum more recipes for the family cookbook we're working on and try to get some pictures uploaded to the digital picture frame we're giving grandma!  Why is it that the list of things to do never ever seems to get shorter?

Have a fabulous Sunday!
Cheers,

Guest Designer Wanted @ WeScrap!

Guest Designer Call for weScrap.com (October)
School of Scrap Contest

Call Closes: Friday September 18th

Come and participate in the School of Scrap Contest for your chance to win a Guest Designer spot on the weScrap iTeam for the month of October.

As part of your Guest Designer position, you will:
- receive the October weScrap kit to play with and showcase with our iTeam
- you will contribute an article for the November newsletter
- you will get to post a monthly challenge in the forums
- you will participate in the daily functions as an iTeam member for the month
- get to have tons of fun!

For all the contest details, see here:
http://www.wescrap.com/forum/showthread.php?p=57470#post57470

Canadian, US and International submissions welcome!

Cheers,

Happy Anniversary Tracy and Brian!

Just wanted to wish my sister, Tracy, and my brother-in-law, Brian, a very Happy 5th Anniversary! This is the quickie card I whipped up this afternoon and I hope they like it!

It was quite the morning around here with Nathan having a couple of full-on meltdowns which isn't like him! Think he was tired and maybe on the edge of a bug or something since he's a little sniffly though not bad. My plan this morning was to go to the park, but I passed on that after Nathan was so miserable. It was so bad at point that I gave Kyle permission for the first time to go in his room to play Lego and lock the door to his room! Nathan just thought that meant it was time to kick the door. Oh well, he napped and all seems to be well again!

I'll be watching Big Brother tonight to see who gets booted and more importantly, who ends up HOH this week! The funny thing is that it'll be someone who hasn't been in that postition yet! Who do you think will go? Who are your favs to win now?

I need to get some work done on some upcoming classes as well, so let's hope inspiration hits tonight! Lots of Christmas cards coming!

Cheers,

Accomplishments!

I love days when you just have the feeling of getting lots done! I'm busy planning for October classes at work right now which means I'm right into the swing of Christmas here! I'm lovin' it though to be honest because I really do look forward to the holidays.

Yesterday, not only did I manage to get a bunch of chores done, but I also got 2 projects for October classes done. They're from Bo Bunny and are awesome. One is a fabulous card holder and the other is a mini album. The picture of the card holder isn't great because it actually hangs straight down and I'll try and get some better pictures later, but I'm hoping I actually get one of these! Keep your eye out in the store for my samples as I'll be bringing them in soon!

I was happy to get a little ahead of the game too and get some prep done for the Cupcake Crazy card class that has turned out to be so popular - thankfully! Just waiting for the rest of the Doodlebug paper to come in to finish my prep now! There are a few spots left if you're local!

I have some of the paper from the first card holder project that I'll be using for a set of cards as well and I'm working on that right now too. I'm doing Halloween and Christmas all at the same time and here the kids aren't even in school again yet! Crazy to think that Kyle's going to be starting Grade 1 in a couple of weeks and that Nathan will be starting preschool! At least our weather is still holding! I won't break out the Christmas music yet!!

Cheers,

A Boy and his Bricks

Yes, this is Nathan having a nap in our bed yesterday though it could be almost any nap or any night time sleep. He loves these big bricks that his Opa and Grandma gave him and along with his fleece blankie (great for the summer!) and his Rufus the dog stuffed animal, they must be in bed with him at all times. He generally plays with them for a bit before he falls asleep and then he packs them out of bed again after his nap. Sophia isn't really allowed to play with them either or he gets quite irrate sometimes. It's just so cute how attached he's become to these.

Had a nice visit this morning with Tracy and the kids. She needed to ship out and get something quick around lunch, so I gave her some money and she picked up Happy Meals with Lego toys in them for the kids. She told Kyle they were out of the Lego and only had girl toys and he was so disappointed that I thought he was going to cry! I quickly pulled one out of a bag to show him she was joking before we had a breakdown!

Nathan is having another nap this afternoon here, so Kyle and I had a little quiet time and I now need to go and get ready for work here too as I'm on for my usual Friday night shift once George is home from work.

We're going to play mini golf tomorrow because we promised Kyle after trying to get there last weekend and having it not work out. A day off for all of us though George does have a long overdue dentist appt! He's going to go start seeing my dentist, so he has an intro appt. and check-up, but has to wait for a cleaning for a little longer - busy hygenists!

OK, better get moving here! Have a fabulous weekend!
Cheers,

Thursday Thirteen

This is a Thursday Thirteen post and I decided that since I have been feeling very blessed in my life even though things are by no means perfect (and maybe that's why I'm extra thankful for these things) that I should put them in writing!

Things to be thankful for though not necessarily in any particular order...

1. my wonderful boys and George

2. my family

3. that my mum is a fighter and cancer survivor - this has been brought home to me in a few ways recently

4. being able to stay home with the boys (and help out Tracy and Brian a little in the process)

5. that we're healthy

6. that we have a home we love

7. that I have a hobby I love and that George and the boys tolerate all the picture taking and scrapbooking!

8. that I've found a part-time job I really, truly enjoy

9. that I'm teaching again because it's fun!

10. that there's still a lot to learn in this life

11. that I have made some wonderful friends both in person and online

12. coffee, especially my morning coffee with vanilla creamer!

13. my life experiences that have brought me here...

Scrapperie's Latest Kit

I was lucky enough to be one of the people up for design work this month with the fabulous Farmer's Market kit from Scrapperie. Sandi actually designed two kits for the first time this morning , so you should go and take a look at the other, Fruit Salad, as well! Here was the work that was part of the reveal yesterday...

I had a lot of fun with this and will have some more up soon with any luck! There don't seem to be enough hours in a day these days, but I'd like to do some more scrapbooking for myself. I'm teaching 8 classes next month though as well, so that's going to keep me busy for sure! I'll post some more on that later as well!

I'm off to work again here a little later this morning. Just relaxing with Kyle and having my coffee. Nathan is shockingly still asleep and George is, of course, sleeping in today!

We had a fun day yesterday after I got home from teaching in the morning. I had my Get 'Em Scrapped class in the morning, which Tracy came to as well the wonderful women who regularly take that class, so that was fun. I puttered around work with some other class stuff for a while, including an order of Jenni Bowlin that I'm very excited about, and then managed to get myself home in time for us to go back out! I wolfed down a sandwich when I got home and we were off out the door again to the airport!

Because George works for the city, we were able to get a ride on the new Canada Line Skytrain out to the airport before it officially opens Monday! They had all kinds of things going on as well - a Lego version of a Skytrain station, a food bank donation area (which we even remembered some things for!), a free teddy bear for the kids and ice cream for everyone as well as the Skytrain ride! It was fun and it really is amazing how much of it is underground. It'll be interesting to see how much it gets used by regular riders once it's open. We had a fun time and then headed back home with a stop at Denny's since kids eat free on Tuesdays and Saturdays!

So, I managed to get a little work done in the morning and still had a fun day with George and the boys! Today will be a full day at work though and hopefully a relaxing evening. I've been reading some of the Big Brother blogs (yes, I'm watching again! lol) and it sounds like the house has blown up emotionally since the last show and one girl even got booted, so we'll see what they actually show tonight!

Have a fabulous Sunday everyone!
Cheers,

Wow! So Surprised!

I opened my e-mail this morning to find this wonderful bit of news in my inbox!

Congratulations, Scrapbook News and Review, the leading paper crafting magazine on the internet, has noticed and is impressed by your blog. We appreciate the time, effort and creativity that you share with the crafting world and to show our approval, we’ve included this unique blog award for you to proudly display.

This award is possible only if you’ve been nominated by our staff or readers and have been approved by our editors. We encourage you to display it proudly and link it back to Scrapbook News and Review Magazine. We thank you for all you’ve given to the blogging world and encourage you to keep doing so. We’ll keep watching and enjoying.


All I can say is WOW! And thanks! I'm so excited to have been nominated!

They're doing an amazing job publishing fabulous scrappers and inspiring so many people in the process. Thanks so much ladies for the recognition! It's much appreciated!

Cheers,

AllyScraps Blog Giveaway!

Check it out HERE!

There are some really fun challenges too!

Surprise Treat!

OK, so the first time I had a Screamer was last summer when George heard of this place in Richmond called Danny's Market. We went in to try this tasty treat and loved it! It's Slurpee on the bottom and vanilla soft serve ice cream on the top. Sounds a little strange, but tastes great!

I worked today and came home to a great dinner that George made! That was nice in and of itself, but then he said he was taking us out for a treat, but that it was a surprise. Well, what he found was a place much closer to us that has Screamers! Mmmmm... So good on a hot day like today! I had lime Slurpee and the vanilla soft serve and it was definitely a treat! The boys thought it was pretty cool too!

Well, we both have the day off tomorrow, so not sure what we'll get up to, but let's hope the boys sleep in a little! Enjoy your holiday Monday if you have it off!

Cheers,