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,

Happy August!

I think I say this every month, but here we are at the start of another one! They seem to be going by so quickly lately and this week of crazy heat sure didn't help!

This is what happened to one of my poor candles because of the heat!!

The last week has been absolutely nuts! On Wednesday, our house was a balmy 81 degrees at 7am! The temp was supposed to be about 35C (95F), but we had this freak humidity thing going on, so they're saying it felt like about 43C (110F). This is soooooo not our normal weather and we had days of this! Not many people here have air conditioning at home and we sure don't. Our overnight temp of 21C (70F) is common for daytime this time of year. Wednesday broke all time heat records and then we broke the Wednesday record the following day! It has thankfully "cooled" down a little, but not enough for my liking!

Needless to say, we did do a whole lot this past week other than try and stay cool. We had thankfully bought the kids a pool to play in a few weeks ago and that was probably what saved us since we all spent time in there! The kids were in and out all day though I was trying to even keep them inside for a while in the afternoon when it was the hottest.

We did get the new dishwasher we ordered and George put it in! It's sooooo nice to have a dishwasher again and it cleans so well, actually dries everything and I can barely hear it when it runs! Gotta like that! We had a little scare again this past week though when the fridge started acting up again too, but we "fixed" it by cleaning out the build-up of ice again that was blocking the movement of air and preventing it from cooling properly. All seems well again there now.

I did get a layout done as well and this was for a layout tag (like playing "Telephone" with layouts so you only get to see the one done before you) at Scrapdango, so you can go and check them all out if you want!

*You'll have to excuse the piece of fluff that was on Nathan's "face" when I took the picture of the layout!

Well, think that's about it for today! Going to go see what else I can get done while it's quiet around here with the boys all taking my old dishwasher to the dump!

Cheers,


**OK, I am going to try the daily blogging again this month and we'll see what happens, so wish me luck!

Keeping Cool!

We've been doing everything we can around here to try and keep cool with the heat wave we're at the beginning of - unfortunately! Kyle and Nathan must have done this about 10 times before I got it on video! Kyle makes me laugh!



We're bracing for another hot one here!
Cheers,

Happy Mail!

This is what just arrived in the mail thanks to my wonderful friend Julie!! Yes, the author!! This is a book she wrote and that has been published in Australia where she lives, but we can't get it up here yet, so she kindly sent us an autographed copy with a little note in it for the boys! Very exciting! I just want to say a HUGE Congratulations to Julie on this amazing accomplishment!!

You can check out an interview with Julie about the book HERE!
There's some more information about the book as well HERE!

Thanks for the book Julie and can't wait to read it!
Cheers,

PS The kids love the "nibbble" out of the book!

Upcoming Classes for August!

Here are a few sneaks at the August classes I'm teaching...

Cupcake Crazy Cards

August Get 'Em Scrapped (paper only layouts)

Quick and Easy Cards!!! NEW!

This class includes the set of Hero Arts stamps!

Livin' is Easy Mini Album (Bo Bunny)
Fun in the Sun Mini Album (Bo Bunny)

Keep an eye out for the new Precious Memories class schedule if you're local and hope to see you at a class soon! All the samples are in the store if you want to have a closer look and to be able to see all the cards in the class!

Cheers,

Monday again already??

Yes, here we are at the beginning of another week after the weekend going by in a blur! Amazing how quickly a couple of days of work and a day of family and errands go by!

I went for another massage this morning and so far, so good. It's always a little sore after she works on it and I'll need to ice, but my sciatica is definitely better anyway! Hoping to have a little rest this afternoon and watch Y&R shortly while Nathan naps and Kyle plays for a bit. Nothing much else on today other than a few chores and some scrapping I hope, but we'll see how long I can stand/sit at my scrap table...

Here are a couple more cards I did recently that never got posted! I'll also try and post some peeks at cards I've been working on for August classes!

The papers are some from an SEI line a little while ago!

The die cut butterflies were done with my MM Slice.

Hope everyone has a fabulous evening!
Cheers,

Fabulous Friday

Yes, it's hard to believe we're at the end of another week, but here we are! The boys and I are just having a slow start to the morning and then we're planning on heading out to the park for a bit since the weather is nice!

Since I've been catching up with posting stuff on my blog that I've created, this was a card I did not long ago for one of Kyle's friends for his birthday!

Don't think there's too much else really! Work tonight and then just trying to take care of my sciatic thing that seems to be better or worse depending on the day...

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!
Cheers,

Another card...

I think this is another one of those cards I did a little while ago and never posted! I used a sketch for this one and really like the results with this Pebbles paper and goodies that came in my Scrapperie Winging It kit! Nice to have a few of these cards without sentiments around in case you need to drop a quick note to someone!

Glad to see the sun is out again here today! We're not up to too much this morning, but the kids are having fun playing and I'm getting a few things done, so it's all good. My issue with my leg and my sciatic nerve is still coming and going, but it seems better overall I'd say. I couldn't have said that after my massage the other day though it did help in the long run! I have to go back again Monday to have her work on it again.

Tracy is coming over after lunch today and dropping off Matthew for a bit, so I'll have the 4 kids this afternoon. It'll be almost nap time for him though thankfully, so I'll get a bit of a break there. Tracy and Brian have to go to BC Lottery because they won an Olympic prize package for Whistler worth $22,000 that they need to claim!! Crazy!

OK, well better go check on the munchkins and get a few more things done!
Cheers,

Christmas In July at WeScrap!

Come and join us for tons of fun!!

Land of Nod...

This was a layout I did for a challenge over at WeScrap a few weeks ago and I love how it turned out. These recent pictures I took of Nathan napping in our bed are just so sweet! I had fun playing with some masking for the title and with an acrylic heart on the right side.

Cheers,

Glimmer Mist's Fabulous NEW Look!

Glimmer Mist is the same great product with a Fabulous NEW Look! So, to celebrate, they're doing a giveaway on their blog!! There are also amazing new colours being released, so go and check it out! Check out all of their amazing products on their website - there are even little videos to give ideas on what you can do with Glimmer Mist!!

Cheers,