Photography Scavenger Hunt

It's time for a photo scavenger hunt at my photography class through ScrapAbility. As our final assignment, we were given a list of things to capture, and need to try to take a picture of as many of them as possible. Here are a few that I have found so far.





My first entry is in the category "colour". I love this vibrant purple dress on my girls, and I thought Vanessa looked adorable in it with the multiple layers of colourful jewellery.
For the category "footwear", I took this picture of shoes that Alicia likes so much that she is afraid to wear them, since she doesn't want them to be ruined.
For the last category, "biggest pout", the photo pretty much speaks for itself. Do you think Evan was interested in having a 7th birthday photo shoot??

Any comments or suggestions completely welcome!

Composition Homework

Evan was happily much more co-operative this weekend as the subject of the homework for my ScrapAbility Photography course.

He was pleased to pose for me - if I let him include the collections that he has most recently become attached to.

The first photo, featuring his Yu-Gi-Oh card collection, is my favourite of the shoot.

Evan has been collecting rocks for a while now, but recently received a rock polisher, so he can frequently be found lining up and analysing his assortment of gems.

I think he is the nicest gem of all! (Is that a corny Mom thing to say, or what!)

These photos were for an assignment on photo composition and illustrating the rule of thirds, and I am quite happy with the result.

It's not Quidditch, but...

...maybe it's the next best thing?

Since there doesn't seem to be a Quidditch pitch in our vicinity, Evan settled for taking a few friends to play laser tag for his birthday instead.

He and the girls were thrilled that our cousins from out of town were able to make it here at the last minute to spend the weekend. Everyone had a fantastic time!

To make up for the lack of a Quidditch match, we did have a yummy Harry Potter birthday cake, complete with the young wizard aboard his Nimbus2000 atop the icing, to help us celebrate.

Evan was overheard saying excitedly that "this is the best birthday party ever!", so I think it was a success. I expected the girls to be too frightened to play, but they weren't, and they had a lot of fun.

Evan was also thrilled late last week to find that he had a loose tooth. It's his first, so there will be much pomp and ceremony when it finally wiggles free!

It was a super weekend, but completely exhausting. I think I need a nap.

May Scrapalicious DT Creations Revealed!

Here we go! Three LOs for May. In addition to these pages for the Scrapalicious Icing Crew for May, we each also created a "mystery" LO. Details will follow. Do you think you can tell which designer created which design?

You are the Sunshine of my Life, by Stevie Wonder, was our first dance as a married couple, and it is very special to me. This is probably the least patterned paper I have ever used on a LO. This LO features Cosmo Cricket Dutch Girl pp and American Crafts thickers, one of my favourite stamps by TTs - French Quarter; also a few sticker letters and stamps by EK Success. Doesn't hubby looks handsome? He's a bit shy about being on display on my blog - much less on the wall of the store. Love ya, hun!

Having twins, I couldn't resist the pun on counting blessings twice! I'm happy that my girls are still willing to be dressed alike - as I am sure the day will come when they won't want to do that anymore. These were their Easter dresses.

In addition to the Cosmo Cricket Dutch Girl and American Crafts felt arrows, I used stamps by MSE and Autumn Leaves on this LO.

Tag pulls out with some personal journaling about blessings.

Nothing disappoints a 3 year old like thinking that her play date has been ruined by rain. Alicia might look sad, but in no time at all, the sun was out and she was splashing up a storm.

Once again, this LO features Cosmo Cricket pp and American Crafts, as well as stamps by EK Success and Autumn Leaves, and chipboard letters from the Crillon collection by Li'l Davis.



BTW, if you're a drum corps nut like me, you know that You are the Sunshine of My Life was also our opener for the Freelancers 1982 show, another reason the song is special to me, tho' my hubby is the main reason. At least that's what I tell him! {{wink!}}

May Scrapalicious DT Peek

Well, it's 23 degrees Celsius out there today, and I guess I've got the summer sun on my mind. Without even realizing it, I created three LOs with my Scrapalicious Icing Crew DT kit that talk about the sun.

Want to see them? Well, they'll be coming soon - and they feature Cosmo Cricket Dutch Girl collection papers - yum! Until then, here is a little peek...

There is a great opportunity this weekend to save a bundle on scrapbook supplies at the Scrapalicious Garage Sale. If you're in the area, drop in, take a look, and save!

For some reason, I've had comments turned off on my last few posts. I don't know exactly what's up with that {{insert red face here}}, but I've fixed it now. Thanks, Howard, for letting me know. So feel free to add your two cents; I would love to hear from you!

First Garage Photo Shoot

The homework for my photography class at ScrapAbility for this week was to set up a photo studio in my garage and take some photos. This was a fantastic learning experience for me! I had heard of doing this before, but frankly had no idea that people used their garages as studios because of the opportunity for ideal lighting conditions, and not simply because other spots in their homes were covered in toy clutter!

Here are a few of the shots I captured in my mini studio. I'm quite happy with how the shoot went, from a lighting standpoint, at least. I do wish that Evan would co-operate a bit more, but the girls had fun posing, so I can't complain.



I welcome any feedback you have to offer, so please feel free to comment. I also had a productive weekend, scrapping-wise, and should have some LOs to post with my Scrapalicious May DT kit sometime soon!

Have a Happy Victoria Day!

A Few Faves of my Birthday Dude!

In honour of my little guy's birthday, I thought I would share a few favourite LOs featuring the dude himself!

I made this LO last year just as Evan turned six, as I was sad to see him leave five behind. Journaling says: Evan, five is such a perfect age for you. Old enough to love Star Wars, but still young enough to snuggle with your sisters and watch Treehouse TV. Big enough to want to look “cool”, but still small enough to want Mommy to kiss your boo-boos better. You want to go fast on your bike, but still need the training wheels. You want to cut your own pancakes and pour your own syrup, but still want your milk in a sippy cup. And you love sleeping in the tent with Daddy, but not without your Ted and Blankie. I would love to freeze time now, and keep you here forever, my sweet five year old boy. Or at least slow time down. I know I can’t. I need to let you grow up. And away. But I can still savour this moment. This boy. My Evan. A fine five.

Learning to play cricket at my uncle's cottage last summer and having a bit of a hard time sharing the spotlight with his cousins! Master of the Pout, journaling at the bottom says: Still a lot to learn about taking turns. Summer 2006.

Ever the jokester, this guy is great at quick comebacks for his age! Check out this one! Quick Wit. Question: Evan, would you like to try some fish? It's very good for your brain. Answer: No thank you, Mom. I already have a good brain!










Happy Birthday, Dude!

Happy Birthday to my Little Dude!

I can't believe my little guy will be turning 7 soon! Wow! Just where does the time go?

He is - naturally - quite excited, and is looking forward to taking a bunch of friends to play laser tag to celebrate. We let him pick his birthday dinner destination, and his gourmet choice was......Pizza Hut!

I took this photo of him as homework for the outdoor photography assignment in my ScrapAbility Photography course, and I think he looks adorable. I may be a smidge biased, however!

Happy Birthday, Dude!

Don't Worry! It's NOT Snowing Here!

There's no snow here, but it might be a snowy day in July before I receive an updated photo of my brother, Howard!

You see, I've been ribbing my bro and SIL about sending me some recent pics of their sweet little family, but to no avail! So, now that I want to wish Howard a happy birthday, I am forced to do so using a photo I took when he was visiting us in the winter of 2004! Look how tiny Evan is! That's almost how long it's been!

Even though this photo is - what - four years old, Howard's not really looking much older. I'm hoping that I'll have a new picture to post by his next birthday, though, since it's going to be a milestone! (Won't say which one!)

Have a wonderful birthday, Howard! And hey! Send me some pictures! Tee hee!

You Go, Girl!

Are you ready for a tiny peek at my Scrapalicious DT kit for May?

I almost flipped when I saw this fantastic Cosmo Cricket Dutch Girl collection paper. I am completely in love with it!

Add to it some CC Buck Naked Buttons and some AC felt embellies, and I'm ready to go, girl! Stay tuned!

Mothers' Day by my Little Guy

The fact that my little guy loves photography makes me happy! He is dangerous with those little disposable point and shoot cameras that Grandma likes to buy him at the mall, as he can shoot an entire roll very quickly. It's fun to develop the film and see what he felt was so important that he had to capture it in a photo.

I do occasionally let him play with the "real" camera, which he finds a real treat! This photo is probably one of my favourites of all of his shots. The girls had picked some Mothers' Day flowers for me, and around the corner came Evan with the camera. Every time I look at this photo, I can smell the lilacs! I love it!

I am so grateful to my kids for making this world a happier place for everyone that they touch. I hope every mother out there had a Mothers' Day as wonderful as mine!

A Scrapalicious Crop

I had a fantastic time at the first ever crop with the other Scrapalicious Icing Crew design team members this week.

Here we are at the end of the night. Sitting, left to right, are Mary and Virginia (DT coordinator), and standing are Angie, Jen and Holly. We chatted about scrapping (a lot!), ate pizza, and cropped like crazy. The gals were pretty productive - I think I was the only one who didn't actually complete a project of any sort, but it was a blast nonetheless.

And guess what? We also received our May DT kits that night too, and mine rocks! Stay tuned for a litle sneak peek - hopefully tomorrow!

Happy Birthday, Grannie!

My Mom is celebrating a birthday this week, and we all want to wish her a happy one! The kids really wish they could be with Grannie on her birthday to smother her with hugs and kisses. They will be talking to her on the phone, but it's just not the same thing!

She's already had one birthday dinner with Chris and Lisa, and will be having another celebration at a favourite Chinese buffet restuarant with Howard, Trish and Jared this week too.

Mmmmm, I know she will enjoy that!

Have a super birthday, Grannie! We love you!

I'm really looking forward to picking up my May DT kit from Scrapalicious tonight, and scrapping with the other DT gals. Once I have my kit, I will be posting a sneak peek of the cool stuff I have to work with this month, so stay tuned!

As promised - one last April project!

Did someone say May? Wow, where did the month of April go?

I had one remaining project planned for my April DT kit for Scrapalicious, and here it is. I managed to get it complete and bring it in to the store last week, but haven't had a second to get it posted until now.

This altered hatbox from the be line by Creative Imaginations, started out plain white, and ended as a sweet little spot to store those first tiny tap shoes.

Together with the fun and pretty papers by Imaginisce, this project features lots of Making Memories paint in Cornflower, die cut starts from MME, a chipboard star from AL's Playtime collection, a Fancy Pants chipboard scroll and tag (with ribbon on the top of the box) and a BG tag (inside), Heidi Swapp Chipboard letters and dots, a blossom by Prima and misc tissue paper and ribbon. I protected the paper and paint with a ton of Matte Mod Podge for Paper.

The girls totally loved this project - so it looks like I will be making one more at some point in the future!

Making a Spectacle of Myself!

Well, there comes a point in time when denial becomes futile - I need bi-focals. I wasn't surprised when the optometrist told me what I was facing; I had secretly been wearing magnifiers over my regular glasses for a while already - particularly when reading or doing detailed scrapping work!

At least with modern technology, no-one can tell these are bi-focals if I don't mention it - and outside of this (and a couple of posts on my favourite scrapping boards), I don't plan on advertising the fact.

But now that you know - what do you think? DH and the kids seem happy with them.

And as far as my photography class is concerned, with this self-portrait, I am no longer in detention!

Me? Class Clown?

OK, my on-line photography class at ScrapAbility just stared today, and I am already the official class delinquent!


We had a homework assignment for the start of class - to take a self portrait as a sort of baseline for the class - and I was so crazy busy this weekend that I did not get around to doing it. I plan on getting to it in the next few days. Since my new glasses (bi-focals - can you believe it!) have arrived, maybe I will post a photo sporting my new specs!


In the interim, here are a few pics of the kids I have taken over the past couple of weeks. I'm really looking forward to learning more about my camera settings and about lighting, so that I can improve my pic quality.

It was National Scrapbook day this weekend, and (shamefully), I didn't scrap one little bit! I did, however, spend some time on scrap-related activities. My friends Kimmie and Janice came to town today to help break Janice's spending freeze. Janice didn't spend a cent on scrapping products for the entire month of April. Can you believe it? So, once April was over, we thought we would help her remember what scrap shopping was all about. I had a wonderful day with these great gals, picked up some fun new products, and can't wait to do it again.

I'm looking forward to cropping this week, though, with the other gals from the Scrapalicious Design Team, Angie, Jen and Mary. We are picking up our May DT kids and doing some scrapping together, and I'm really looking forward to it.

And as soon as I get a chance, I'll post a little peek of that Scrapalicious May kit. I can't wait! Stay tuned!

I'm Lovin' It!

OK, who needs Facebook when we have scrapping message boards?

After hanging out at some of the same online scrap places for a couple of years now, we JUST figured out that Connie, a really fun gal, talented designer for scraptivity and contributor to Canadian Scrapbooker magazine, and I, are literally twins!

It turns out that we spent a number of childhood years living a few blocks apart, and went to the same elementary school. Then later, even though Connie's family moved, we worked at the same fast food joint in high school, and knew plenty of the same people back then! She even remembers working with the guy who was my date for my high school prom! What a hoot!

This all came to our attention when Connie was planning a trip out my way, and we were PMing about meeting in person. Turns out we had already met, just didn't know it.

Here we are, so many years later (I won't mention how many!), and we now have a passion for scrapbooking in common.

I'm really looking forward to hanging out with her once she's here, and maybe even meeting her kids. Have a super flight, Connie, and see you soon!