More Cards and a Kid Video!

OK, so I managed to play with a couple more of the challenges at Scrapdango for their online crop.  The challenge this time was to make a feminine and masculine birthday card and I can always use a stash of these.  The feminine had to have at least 3 flowers (one of them could be floral paper) and the masculine card needed to have blue and green.  The masculine one is a design I often play with when I want a quick card!

OK and here's a little something that Kyle has been working on at school.  There is going to be a public speaking competition at school and they're memorizing a poem to do for that!  The Grade 1 and 2 classes will be presenting for their class rather than the school, but the couple of kids that do the best will also go to the gym to present.  I'm really proud of him for memorizing it and you can tell he's pretty happy about it too.  (*** Please excuse the raspy voice as I'm still getting over this bug and my voice hasn't recovered yet!)

If you can't see it here for any reason, try HERE!

PS Uncle Scott - he wanted to make sure that you inparticular got to see this!

Hope everyone had a great weekend and here's to a great week!
Cheers,

A Scrappy Card!

Even though I wasn't feeling great last night, I did manage to make a card and it was all done with some little scraps I had leftover from teaching a mini album class - a baby brag book using the Fancy Pants Little Sprout line.  The sentiment was done with my MM Slice machine and the Words and Expressions card.  The butterfly punch is by Martha Stewart and we're now selling them at the lss I work in!

This card was inspired by Kristina Werner and I've had this card in my mind's eye since I saw it.  Didn't actually go and look at it last night, but played with the design from what I remembered and it's amazingly similar really!  I did this for a challenge at Scrapdango and the New Beginnings online crop they're doing right now!

Need to get working on some class stuff for June classes believe it or not!  And this I can do even if I can't talk!
Cheers,

More Classes!

OK, so I haven't been very good about updating my blog of late and I'm now sick again if you can believe it!  Yeah, I know the picture isn't me, but I don't look that good when I'm coughing! 

The worst part is that I'm losing my voice and I have classes to teach a week from tomorrow, so this is not an option then!  It's 5 classes and about 225 people in one day!  I'm really looking forward to it, but not if I can't talk.  I should actually be at work right now, but felt crappy enough today without being at work all night and talking too!  Need sleep if I can get it with this ridiculous dry cough!  Think I'll be going to the dr in the morning to get things checked out!

For anyone local, the new class schedule is up and you can check out the May classes online HERE or go in the store and see it all in person!

Well, off to get some sleep here!
Cheers,

Busy! Busy!

OK, there's a lot going on these days it seems.  Keeping track of all the paper the kids seem to be bringing some lately is a full-time job in and of itself.  It'll be nice when they're at the same school at least and it's the same types of things they're bringing home though that's not for another year!

Don't have much time tonight since I'm off to get ready for a class I'm teaching tomorrow night.  There are spots left if you're local!  The best part about this class is that you get to take the set of Fiskars stamps home as part of the class along with some extra paper as well!  Love these classes!

The kids had a pretty good day though Matthew was into everything and trying my patience a little.  Let the kids play at the school for a bit when Kyle came out and that always help burn off some energy!  I managed to get some things done around the house too and I'm ignoring the tickle in my throat since I can by no means get sick right now!  TOO much to do!

Better go get busy and get some things done before I pack it in for the night.  No new pictures today since the batteries for my camera are recharging!

Cheers,

Happy Easter again...

Had another great family day today since George was off again.  Slept in a little bit (almost 8am) and then got up and did a few things around the house before making some cards, doing the candied sweet potatoes that I was taking to dinner and then getting ready.  The morning seemed to zip by, but it was a fun day!

The card above is another one that I did with some papers from TPC Studio (The Paper Company).  To see the first batch with these new papers, check out this post...  This style of card is one I go back to a lot when I need to do some quick cards and these papers were so cute for this!  The label shapes and sentiment die cut were done with my MM Slice.  I gave everyone these cards except my 94 year old grandma who got the card that was in the previous post since I knew she'd like the flower!

We went out to my aunt and uncle's place which is about an hour drive for us.  It was great to see my aunts, uncles, cousins, etc!  I went especially to see my grandma and she was really happy to see us and the kids!  My sister, BIL and their kids went too, so I think having everyone there for dinner made her day!  So, it was home after that and I need to go tuck the kids in since George went out to do a quick grocery shop for what's left of the week...

Have a fabulous week!
Cheers,

Happy Easter!

***Warning - this is a long, picture heavy post!

Well, Happy Easter everyone and I hope you're enjoying a long weekend of family and friends.  This is one of those weekends where I always seem to take a step back to look at all the wonderful things in my life that I'm thankful for...

It's been a busy weekend too though with me working all day Friday (since we were closed Fri night for my usual shift).  I came home with the intent of working on some cards for work, but the power went out because of this crazy, gusty wind storm we were having.  It ended up just being an early night to get to bed. 

I then taught 2 classes yesterday, so I was gone all day again!  We did manage to pop over to see our neighbour for a few minutes and take her a card and some flowers.  We also coloured some eggs last night.  Kyle was pretty much heading for bed when he suddenly decided we'd better leave some carrots for the Easter Bunny, so we got out the one big one we had and a handful of little ones! 

Didn't feel all that hot last night and didn't sleep too well, but the boys were up early this morning.  Kyle, in particular, was up at 6am though we held him off from waking up Nathan for about 40 minutes.  Kyle came in with a very loud "Happy Easter" this morning - very cute.  There was a trail of little chocolate eggs to a basket in the kitchen with a chocolate bunny, Lego for Nathan, a Bionicle for Kyle and a skipping rope for each of them.  The skipping rope was a big hit, especially since Kyle is getting ready for "Jump Rope for Heart" at school.  Then, there were a few plastic egss hidden that they went hunting for and there was money in a few and jelly beans in a few.  A really fun morning!

We decided that since it was still early, we'd trying heading out for breakfast.  It was a little after 9am when we got to IHOP and there wasn't a wait at all surprisingly though even by the time we were leaving, there wasn't a parking spot in the lot! 

Since it was a nice day, we thought we'd go for a little drive.  George had an idea of somewhere to go and he was nice enough to come home and get the camera first and I'm SO glad he did...

We stopped at Save-On to get some bird food and then went to the bird sanctuary.  We didn't even actually go into the sanctuary - this is the area around the parking lot!  The kids had so much fun feeding the ducks!  Nathan didn't want to stand while feeding them, but was lovin' it and kept saying over and over "They're coming to me!  They're coming to me!"  A great day to stop here and a $1.27 on bird food well spent!

On the way home, we stopped and rented a Wii game for the boys, so they're playing that now and George is puttering with some things.  I was checking out some stuff online and saw the new challenges at Challenge Masters and was inspired!  I have been seeing all these tutorials for "box flowers" and wanting to try them, so when I saw that the Technique Challenge was creating your own faux flower and then using it on something, I was all over this with my scraps (other than the card base!).

Used some little scraps from a recent class I taught.  It was the Little Sprout line from Fancy Pants that I did a mini bag book with and they were perfect colours for an Easter card.  May have to make a few more of them for Easter cards!  I can see more of these in my future though I have to say that you certainly couldn't mail them because of their dimension and they wouldn't work on a scrapbook page for the same reason!

Check out this little video tutorial (not mine!) if you're interested in trying these!

OK, well that's about the size of our day to this point.  Think I'm going to go relax for a few minutes and then I have creative work for upcoming classes that I need to be doing today as well! 

Have a fabulous day and Happy Easter once again!
Cheers,

A Few Quick Easter Cards

I realized suddenly yesterday after dropping Kyle off at school that it was the last day before the Easter long weekend.  This week (or maybe month) completely got away on me, so I decided to whip some up in the afternoon while Nathan and Sophia were at preschool and Matthew was napping!

These two were done with Bo Bunny dot papers as the base and some new TPC Studio (The Paper Company) papers.  The sentiment is from the MM Slice Words and Expressions card and was perfect for these!  Quick and easy cards!

This was a combination of a lift of a card I saw online somewhere (sorry, but it's escaping me now though I thought it might be Kristina Werner!) and the card I had done earlier.  Can't say it's a fav, but they can't all be, right?!  I do need to make some more cards as well for family we'll be seeing on Monday at dinner.

Well, better go grab a quick shower and get ready for work!  I'm working today since we're closed tonight and Sunday when I'd normally work.  George is home today, so he gets the kids and the nice thing is that we'll all have the next 3 days off!

Have a fabulous long weekend everyone and hope it's full of family, friends, good food and chocolate!!

Cheers,

Scrapdango Happenings!

Check out the upcoming crop at ScrapDango!

Christmas Cards in April!

OK, so it's the first again and reveal day for the Christmas Cards All Year Round blog!  I so need to catch up on some blogging, but we'll start with this!  I can't tell you how wonderful it feels to be puttering with these throughout the year rather than doing them all at one time.  I feel ahead of myself in this department at least...

Here is the challenge for APRIL...

Since spring is here, make a Christmas card with at least ONE soft pastel color on it. (could be baby blue, soft pink, pale yellow or pale green).

This was a line of paper from Imaginisce that I HAD to have and then has never used, so it was fun to break into that!

This and the next two cards were done with papers from Basic Grey from this past season.  I added glitter to all of these - on the tree I popped up above, on the tops of the trees and houses in the card below and then all over the Slice Machine cut snowflake in the following card.

I used a light blue card base in this one and the one above as well for something a little different that my usual cream or white!

If you took my All Occasion Cards class in March, you'll recognize this design!  It was a quick one to do with some scraps!

Please upload your cards to your blog, a gallery, or photobucket and remember to give us the EXACT links to see them. You can do 5 of the same cards or 5 different ones (as long as they follow the current challenge).  If you do 5 of the same, please show us a picture of them altogether. Thanks!

YOU NEED TO LET US KNOW IN THIS POST WHEN YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE 5 CARDS IN ORDER TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE MONTHLY PRIZE.

We hope you enjoy creating Christmas cards this month! Tell your friends about our blog and have them join in on the fun too!

Happy April Fool's!!
Cheers,

I scrapped!

OK, so last night I actually managed to start a new book and do some of my own scrapping.  I find with planning new classes and then prepping them that I'm not scrapping as much of my own stuff.  Last night, I needed to work on a layout for a challenge for the online crop at Scrapperie this weekend and I had so much fun pulling this together with a combination of new and old!

I fully admit that this layout was inspired by one I saw on Jana Eubank's blog and I'm all good with that.  When you want something to be fun and easy, then make it fun and easy!  I got to play with some new Upsy Daisy papers, a new Cuttlebug embossing folder and a new Fiskars border punch, but also got out some older Making Memories paper, stickers, buttons and lettering!

Anyway, here's the challenge I posted...

Recipe Challenge - use the following on a layout!

An imperfect picture - Feel free to add more than one picture and the other(s) may be perfect if you wish!

Buttons or brads - Your pick!
Journaling on a journaling spot of some kind
A paper technique - tearing, distressing, rolling, etc
Stitching - get out your machine, use a sticker or rub-on, do it by hand - it's all good!
Ink or Paint - Your pick!

Feel free to add other things to your layout as long as it has the items in the above list! I sure did!

My layout has...
An imperfect picture - Fea blurry picture, but it's the only one I have, so I scrapped it!
Buttons or brads - buttons
Journaling on a journaling spot of some kind - done on the block with my title as well
A paper technique - tearing, edge distressing, embossing and punching
Stitching - I used a sticker!
Ink or Paint - ink on a lot of the edges after I edge distressed

Check out this and all the other challenges as well as games and other fun going on all weekend at Scrapperie!

And, yes, I've been saying for ages that I'm going to start reading again and just can't seem to find the time.  Well, I picked up a new book on a whim the other day, The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly, and have started it and am really enjoying it so far.  I used to be a voracious reader and want to get back into it for sure!

The boys have gone to get haircuts this afternoon, Matthew is sleeping and Sophia and I are just kind of hanging out.  A nice quiet afternoon for now...  And then it's off to work for me tonight!

Have a fabulous weekend!
Cheers,

I've actually started!

OK, so I knew I had to make my in-laws a calendar this past Christmas since I hadn't made them one the previous year and got hints about it all year long!  I had given them one the year before that and hadn't realized quite how big a hit it was until I didn't make them one!  Lesson learned...

Now, I knew about this little project all year long and yet ended up creating almost all of it on Boxing Day before we went to their house for dinner!  I decided I wasn't going to do that this year and to help me, I offered to post a Calendar Challenge for Challenge Masters and then actually at Scrapperie as well!  If you play on both sites, it's a 2 for 1 deal!

The above page is the current challenge which is...
Create your page for the month of Fenruary (with or without pictures depending on the type of calendar you're doing) and include something that wouldn't normally be considered a "scrapbooking product". This could mean something recycled (like the packaging from a toy I used in my layout), an office product, a piece of fabric - it's endless! As long as you wouldn't normally find it in your lss, it's all good for this challenge.

I can't possibly tell you how good it feels to be working on this well in advance and know that one of my Christmas presents will be taken care of well before Christmas!

This was the page I did for the challenge last month for the first page of the calendar.  I thought I had posted it actually and realized I hadn't.  I can post the pages here without worry either since my in-laws won't see them. (No internet if you can believe it?!  Can't imagine!).  You'll be seeing more in the months to come!  Come and play!

Guess it's off to bed for me!

Cheers,

Scrappy Goodness!

OK, so is it just me or are other people having this problem with loading pics.  It only wants to load in this orientation and no matter what I do, I can't flip it?!  Weird!

So, I have some gift certificates from work that I have been "saving" for all the new CHA product once it started rolling in and it certainly has been lately!  I finally got a few things last night.  Look at all that lovely new paper and I love the new Cuttlebog embossing folder with the stars - perfect for boys.  And, of course, the always practical refill for the adhesive I recently got.

Of course, I still have a stash of things at work I need to get and I know there's more coming.  The hard part is the picking and choosing.  Well, and then there's finding the time to actually use it which is a whole other story!

This was posted at the beginning of the month, but better late than never - the new challenge at the Christmas Cards All Year Round blog!  The challenge for the month of March is to use mostly green on your card and ...snowmen!

Leave a comment if you do our challenge! Please only enter NEW CARDS that are made in MARCH.

*Remember, if you do 5 cards this month following the challenge, your name will go into a draw for a prize at the end of MARCH! (this challenge CAN be combined with any other blog or forum challenges that you do this month.)

Please upload your cards to your blog, a gallery, or photobucket and remember to give us the EXACT links to see them. You can do 5 of the same cards or 5 different ones (as long as they follow the current challenge) If you do 5 of the same, please show us a picture of them altogether. Thanks!

YOU NEED TO LET US KNOW IN THIS POST WHEN YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE 5 CARDS IN ORDER TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE MONTHLY PRIZE.

We can't wait and see what you create this month! Have fun!
Cheers,

Ramblings from Sick House...

OK, so I was reading blogs this morning and when I saw Nicole's title, I totally thought of our house and how things have gone of late.  So, yes, it's been ages since I blogged and after doing so well there for a little while too. 

We have literally been sick in our house (and Tracy's for that matter) for about a month now.  First of all, Matthew (my nephew who I care for 4 days a week) got sick with the flu and it slowly made it's way through pretty much all of us in both houses in varying degrees.  Then, just when everyone seemed to getting better I thought, Kyle came down with a nasty bug that turned into a trip to emergency last Tuesday only to find out he had pneumonia.  That was the end of the week of school for him and that was after being away a few days with the flu bug too!  Poor kid!

Now, Sophia didn't do very well either.  She had the flu quite badly and then this cold developed into croup for her, so she had a trip to the hospital this week!  The rest of us have had good days and bad, but I'm hoping we're on the other side for now!

It has been an amazing couple of weeks with the Olympics here as well!  I'm not sure I can even put into words what it was like and the energy and unbelievable patriotism that was shown here.  I know some people from other countries have claimed that it was "un-Canadian", but we're all very proud of what our athletes accomplished and how the city came together in so many ways to host a wonderful winter games!

I was also lucky enough to be able to go and see an event - speedskating at the Richmond Oval.  Tracy and Brian won a VIP package and were only going to be able to see part of the event because of an overlap with the hockey game they were going to, so she managed to get Dad and I in to see the speedskating and it was so much fun to be there.  We didn't see any Canadians medal that day, but we did see some of the women who would later medal in the games!  It was also the day that Maelle Ricker won her gold and the place went nuts when they announced it there!

- I've been busy with work and classes
- George was volunteering during the Olympics (driving)
- Kyle is still enjoying his Hip Hop dance classes on Thursdays
- the preschool has now been closed for 2 weeks due to a flood
- Kyle has his class picture taken this week and he came home with another wonderful report card this week
- totally happy that I finally managed to order PVR service today and they'll be here Monday for the instal!
- a 2 week Spring Break starts at 3pm today essentially
- the boys are registered for a one week karate class starting Monday

It just seems like there has been so much going on around here between school, classes, sick people, work, doctors, etc!  I don't know that Spring Break will slow anything down, but I'm hoping for a pj day in there somewhere, but without people being sick!

George was going to be away for Spring Break volunteering for the Paralympics, but that has changed and he's now working next week and will have the second week off to hang out with us.  Let's hope the weather is still nice!

I'll hopefully catch up with posting some scrappy stuff in the next day or two as well, but here's a layout I did as a class sample for the From Sketch to Scrapped Class that I do monthly now.  It was based on a great sketch (with permission) from the always fabulous Jana Eubank.

Have a fabulous weekend and hope it's healthy!
Cheers,