I Believe in You

For week 2 of the Gr8 Cre8ive Idol contest over at Just Cre8 our challenge was to build a layout using a rebus puzzle - that's using pictures or sounds rather than words. After spending time this weekend taking photos of the kids playing in the leaves, the rebus I B {leaf} N U came to my head pretty quickly, so I decided to go with it and to use some of the photos I just took. The girls are so sweet together; it melts my heart!
Then, when going through the photos, I realized that I had one of Alicia holding a large leaf, so I used it as part of the title. This was certainly a fun challenge, but I almost didn't get it done in time, since posted on Wednesdays by 10PM isn't easy at our house. I love the result though!
I B {leaf} N U!

Journaling reads: I love to watch the two of you play together. You know how lucky you are to have each other. You are best friends. You can’t imagine a day without playing and confiding in your twin sister. I know you will always bring joy to each other’s lives. I believe in you. Alicia and Vanessa, 5 years old, October 2008.

See everyone's entries for this week's challenge here.

Pumpkins and Drowned Rats!

Stephen was away on a course all weekend, so the kids and I were very busy with everything from ballet to hockey to the gym (for me!) to picking out the perfect pumpkins for Halloween carving. We tried - without much success - to get some fall photos taken too. No great shots, but lots of fun!
Unfortunately, the day we went to pick out our pumpkins called for rain, and rain it did! The clouds were dark and grey as we drove to the pumpkin patch, and while we made it through most of the afternoon dry, moments before it was our turn to load up our pumpkins, a downpour started.
Once we got home, we got a few pumpkins out and tried to take a few more photos, but we looked like drowned rats by that point, don't you think? At least the kids' spirits weren't dampened, as you can see - they were full of spunk in all of the photos! I'll have to try for a few more once we do some carving.

In the interim, I have to get to Scrapalicious this week to get some laundry started, and between that, the kids' school and activities, work, the next Cre8ive Idol challenge at Just Cre8 and Halloween, I don't think I can squeeze in anything else!

Stay dry, and have a great week!

Obey Your Thirst

Despite that our kids have been back to school and all of their activities for some time now, I still can't seem to accept how busy our lives are! I barely have time to scrap, and regardless, I couldn't resist participating in the Gr8 Cre8ive Idol contest over at Just Cre8. Our first challenge was to create a layout using a well known advertising slogan. I chose the Sprite slogan "Obey Your Thirst" to go with this photo of the girls drinking straight from the hose this summer.


Journaling says: Yes, we had apple juice, lemonade and freezies available to you, but on a hot summer day, nothing refreshes like water straight from the hose!

There is a ton of amazing talent in this contest, and now that this week's layouts are available for viewing, the gallery is packed with great pages. Take a look here. There will be a layout a week for 5 weeks for this challenge, and fortunately for me, I guess that means I will be scrapbooking a bit more often than I have been recently! Stay tuned.

The Harry Potter look

Here is our sweet dude's latest look. Doesn't he look smart? Evan is very comfortable with his glasses already, and doesn't seem to mind wearing them, thank goodness! He's had them about 2 weeks now, and has only forgotten them once so far. Thanks, JK Rowling, for making wearing glasses cool! It sure makes a Mom's job easier!

All Boy!

I spent a fair bit of time at my recent scrap retreat weekend at Camp Wenonah working on this gears mini album from Maya Road from my latest Scrapalicious DT kit. This album was a ton of fun to make, and with the gear shape, I couldn't help but make it a boy themed album. If you have a boy in your life that you want to make an album for, I highly recommend this one. Not only is it a great, unique shape, but it's just the right size for those 4x6 photos or wallet size photos we all seem to have.
I used a lot of sandpaper and metallic inks on this mini book, which went nicely with the concept of metal gears. I also love these sprocket gears from Tim Holtz, and thought they were the perfect embellishment for this album. Since I have a ton of photos of Evan, it was easy to plan this album. It took a bit of time, but was well worth it. I finally finished the journaling this weekend.

I put together a little slide show so that you can check out each of the pages of this album. Take a peek. These gear mini albums, as well as a variety of other shaped album from Maya Road, are available at Scrapalicious.

Accept No Substitutes!

This is our little Alicia. Five and a half years ago she and her sister took the world by storm, and she hasn't stopped since. She is a live wire, a loving sister, an affectionate daughter and a sweet friend. Alicia is one of a kind. This morning I looked at this photo of Alicia, being so perfectly her, and I just wanted to celebrate her.

Look at this sweet girl. Isn't she awesome! This is our one of a kind Alicia.

Accept NO substitutes!

Giving Thanks

I don't know about you, but to me it seems October is flying by us and I've barely had time to blink! I remember writing about gratitude so recently, on September 11th, and now it's Thanksgiving already and I feel like I've only written a few posts since then. Our life is busy, but certainly good, and we recognize every day how much we have to be thankful for.
We had a lot of changes in our family this school year, with plenty more pressure and responsibility falling on me for the weekday school and activity routine. To be honest, it's totally exhausting, on top of my full time work. For the most part, it's fallen into place, with the support of family and friends, but it sure hasn't left much time for scrapping!
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with friends and family. The kids had a ton of fun, and we managed to get quite a bit of work done around the house. Evan, as you can see, has been spending a lot of time with his MP3 player lately. I think he will be DJing our next party, so look out Stephen & Doug! And we all had fun watching (& playing) football.

On the scrapbooking front, I did manage to finish the Maya Road gear album that I've been working on, and should be ready to post it soon, once I have good light for photos. Stay tuned for that in the next few days.

I'm also taking my very first Photoshop course next weekend, so while it continues to be busy around our house, it's all good. Good for us, mind you - not quite so good for the blog! ;-) Thanks for hanging in there with me - I love that you check in here to see what we're up to, whether I've been scrapping or not!

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and God bless.

Annual Wenonah Weekend

It's hard to believe that just a year ago, I drove up to the Camp Wenonah's Scrapbooking weekend not knowing anyone there. Now I feel like I have a second family. I've had a fantastic time with these gals over the past year, and our recent scrapping weekend was certainly no exception. Where else could you learn the virtues of MSP, or laugh hysterically at the sound of an "electric toothbrush"? ;-)
In addition to (some of us) being reasonably productive, we also learned a new shortcut for making our own patterned paper. Ask Leanne! Simply place a glass of red wine on top of your cardstock pile. Then knock the glass over in the midst of an animated conversation. Voila! Instant distressed paper! And then there was Bingo - the photo of Nancie showin' her stuff is too *censored* to post online!
Seriously though, the weekend was almost more fun than I thought could be humanly possible. Thanks, Leanne, Violet, Mandy, Carole, Gina, Kim and Nancie! Other than the Maya Road gears album, I created 3 layouts, which I will post sometime soon (once I finish the journaling). And as for the unpacking, and putting away my scrapping supplies - well, that will happen - eventually! ;-)


I didn't get a chance to scrap this weekend, but will get my Wenonah creations posted as soon as I can. Have a great week and check back in soon!

Sneak a Scrapalicious Peek

Back at our house, I'm still getting caught up from being away last weekend at Camp Wenonah with a great gang of scrappy friends. To be honest, I still haven't unpacked my scrapping stuff, but at least it's still (mostly) organized! Anyway, here is a little look at one of the projects I worked on over the weekend. This is the fun little Maya Road Gear mini album that I've been working on for Scrapalicious. It's almost complete, and I had a fantastic time working on pulling it together. Once it's all done, I'll post more photos with it. Also coming soon will be a few photos (and maybe a few silly stories) of our Wenonah weekend, as well as a few layouts I completed during the retreat.

I have a bit of laundry to look forward to next . . . that's right, I said I'm looking forward to it. Hmmmm - do you think that's a hint? ;-) Maybe it means that I'm not just talking about doing my laundry from the retreat weekend! But more on that coming soon.