Scrapalicious Wedding Album

One of the coolest albums I have ever worked with is this Fancy Pants Mixed Media album. With a mix of chipboard, felt and clear pages, this dynamic album is a blast to work with. Paired with the gorgeous purples of BG's Wisteria collection, it was a perfect colour match for documenting our wedding day.

The 8" x 8" size of this album is perfect for trimming down 8" x 10" photos to fill a whole page, which I did for a few of the chipboard pages. Scrapalicious still has a number of these albums in stock, but hurry as I'm sure they will go quickly. My album will also be on display in the store for a while.

I also used a lot of Prima products in this album. I love the way the self-adhesive felt gate frames our faces in a heart on the cover of the album (top photo). I also just love the look of their bling frames (left). All flowers in the album are by Prima, including leaves, which are white flowers.

Title stickers and stamps in the album are from two different Basic Grey sets. The mini alphas are by Making Memories. The die-cut stickers are Wisteria to match the papers. I also used lots of Kaiser bling. Of course, my favourite part of this entire album is the groom - doesn't he look handsome?

I've created a slide show of the entire wedding album below. You can also click on the slideshow and select Full Screen if you would like a closer look. Thanks to Virginia, Lancia and Mike at Scrapalicious for their patience with me as I created this album during our move, which was one of the more hectic times for our family, causing the album to take a while! Good news though - I'm making great progress on my new scrapbook room, and will be able to scrap up a storm soon! More photos of that will be coming soon. :-}

Enjoy the slideshow, and have a wonderful New Year's Eve!

A Wonderful Christmas

I hope your Christmas was blessed with the chance to spend time with those who matter to you most. We celebrated our first Christmas in our new house, and the it feels so very much like home! Santa did spoil the kids a bit, but otherwise we've spent a lot of time at home and have had a very quiet Christmas.
After finally dropping my wedding album off at Scrapalicious, (and it's next on my posting list!), I pulled together a shadow box for Stephen for Christmas. We had a caricature done when we were on our honeymoon 11 years ago, and I had totally forgotten about it until I came across it during the move.
It was a ton of fun to watch Stephen open it, and he was totally surprised! :-}
Since Christmas I've been on a mission - getting my scrapbook room unpacked. It's still a work in progress, but here's a peek through the door. I think it's looking good, don't you? More to follow soon!

I took a bit of an (unintentional) break from posting lately due to how hectic the season has been, and thanks to those who dropped me an e-mail to check on me. I'm slowly coming out from under our hectic Christmastime, and once I get my Christmas cards in the mail (I know, I know!), I'll be totally caught up.

I've been quite diligent in taking my photo a day pictures for December, and am looking forward to a review of those pictures when I get a chance.

Sending you all the blessings of this wonderful Christmas season, heartfelt, if not timely! Merry Christmas!

Breakfast with Santa

It wouldn't be the holiday season without a visit with Santa Claus, and ours was wonderful! A few weeks ago we ventured out for an early morning breakfast with the grand old elf, complete with pancakes, fruit, chocolate milk and a few moments on Santa's lap to detail each child's wish list. Santa was as jolly as ever, and the kids had a fantastic time!

Wedding Album Sneak Peek

Remember the wedding album that I've been working on for a while now for Scrapalicious? It's finally finished! I'm thrilled with the final product, and if you're local, you'll be able to see it in person at the store one day this week. I've learned a few things through the labour of love that is this album.

First, no matter how committed you are to a project, no matter how much you love the photos and the materials that you are working with, don't think that you can move a family of 5 and their house full of furniture and beloved possessions without it seriously limiting your scrapbooking time!

Honestly! After two months in our new house my scrapbooking supplies remain partially boxed, I still don't know where my adhesive refills are, and the lighting in my scraproom is completely horrid! And getting ready for Christmas comes before all of the above, so now that this mini-album is complete, my next order of scrappy business over the holidays is to finally get my scraproom ready. I can't wait, because once my new space is set up, I'm going to be so much more productive and I'm going to totally love scrapping in 2010!

What's the second thing I've learned? See the bottom photo above? That handsome man, looking stunning and totally calm, minutes before our wedding? It's eleven years later and counting, and I would marry him all over again in a heartbeat! :-}

So stay tuned! I will post the full wedding mini-album as soon as I get a chance to photograph it in better light.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas...

We had a great time this year at our annual Santa Claus parade. This year, being in a much smaller setting, the parade route was shorter and much less crowded, but still a ton of fun. This clown, who took a picture of everyone who photographed him, was my favourite act! I'm glad his camera was real and not a squirt gun! :-}
The weather was just right for a parade, and with a bit of hot chocolate, mittens and toques almost weren't needed! There were plenty of great vantage points to watch the floats go by and the parade was just the right length. Many families brought their dogs to watch the show, and our kids loved that!
Of course, the highlight of the day was the jolly old elf himself. His sleigh was pulled along the parade route by a small tractor, a bit different than the giant sized floats pulled by semis that we are used to in the city, but the kids were thrilled nonetheless! It was the perfect ending to a wonderful family outing.

Are you ready for Christmas? We're surprisingly doing well this year, since we bought presents throughout the year, and were certain that when we packed for the move, we labeled the boxes well so that we could find them easily. The house isn't decorated quite yet, but we're hoping to get to that soon.

I also will have my wedding album ready to photograph in the next few days, so that will be finally coming soon! Until then, stay warm!

It's Starting to Take Shape

I promised that I would show you the progress (or lack thereof!) of my scrapbooking room, so here it is. This photo is from last weekend, and I have unpacked some boxes since I took it, so it is a bit more functional now. One challenge is that I'm missing one of my key pieces of furniture. It's in storage at the office right now, and will be a big help once it's in place.

It's a lovely buffet and hutch that my friend Leanne's daughter-in-law painted a lovely Cloud White for me. It offers both open and closed (aka hidden!) storage, and will look fabulous in my room, once we get a moment to move it in!

Something else I will be posting soon is the long-awaited wedding album I was working on for Scrapalicious before our move. I hope to have it finished in the next week, and will have lots of photos to post. I know it's taken forever for me to finish this album, and thanks so much to Virginia, Lancia and Mike for being so patient with my frenzied life this past several months.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas around here - we attended the local Santa Claus parade last weekend, and are meeting the jolly elf for breakfast and photos this weekend. Once again this year, I will be taking a Photo of the Day in December, and look forward to assembling them all into a summary of our Christmas season.

There's also Christmas music on my blog now! Look left! You'll notice that I've finally figured out how to mute the player, so it doesn't auto-start when you launch my blog! So Patricia, no more getting in trouble at work when you link here! ;-}

I've also been tagged by my friend Connie, and will be posting my response as soon as I get a moment. Thanks, Connie!

And thanks so much to everyone who is still checking in! Yes, this is still a scrapbooking blog! ;-} More is definitely coming soon! Happy December!

It Just Feels Like Home

It's the little touches that make a house feel like home, and our new house is really taking shape. While we know that there are rooms we need to paint, quite a bit of flooring that we want to replace and some furniture to buy, we have made the home our own through some of the personalized details, like this mantel, that we love.
One of the things we really liked when we saw this house was the openness of the living room and dining room. The way these rooms are bathed in sunlight in the afternoon totally lights up the house. You'll notice boxes leaning against the dining room railing - those are mirrors and prints for our walls that we haven't had time to hang yet. Soon, I hope!!
Are you ready for Christmas? It's hard to believe how quickly it will be here. We don't have snow yet, but here is a peek at what we see out our window each morning - frost! We're looking forward to our first Christmas in this house. I'm also trying to get my scrap space set up - more on the progress there (it's slow but steady!) shortly.

By Request - A Photo and A Tag

I had a few requests for a photo of our finished pumpkin after my Halloween post, but when I took a peek to find one I discovered that this was the only photo I took. Even though it's not a full view of Jack's face, it's enough of a look to give you an idea (and to show you how enamoured the girls were with him!)

This year's design was a composite: the scar was Evan's idea, the eyes are Alicia's design, the teeth are by Vanessa and the Star Trek replica nose was Stephen's contribution. By the time I realized that I didn't have a full on picture taken of this year's Jack, it was too late. He was too soggy and misshapen to photograph. Compost, here he comes!

I was also recently tagged by my friend and awesome scrapbooker Lori to complete this little quiz. I don't do a lot of these, but this one looked like fun, so I completed it last night after the kids were in bed. The trick to this quiz - you must complete it with a one-word answer. Hmmmm - not as easy as it sounds! You may want to give it a try.

RULES
- You can only use ONE word.
- Pass this along to 5 of your favorite bloggers.
- HAVE FUN!

Here goes...
1. Where is your mobile phone? charger
2. Your hair? ponytail
3. Your mother? far
4. Your father? Heaven
5. Your fave food? salmon
6. Your dream last night? forgotten
7. Your fave drink? chai
8. Your dream/goal? retirement
9. What room are you in? loft
10. Your hobby? scrapbooking
11. Your fear? illness
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? traveling
13. Where you were last night? home
14. Something that you aren't? bored
15. Muffins? bagels!
16. Wish List Item? vacation
17. Where did you grow up? west
18. Last thing you did? laundry
19. What are you wearing? pj's
20. Your TV? quiet
21. Your Pets? fish
22. Friends? treasured
23. Your Life? family
24. Your Mood? optimistic
25. Missing Someone? Cathryn
26. Vehicle? minivan
27. Something your not wearing? socks
28. Your fave store? Scrapalicious :-)
29. Your fave colour? purple
30. Last time you laughed? today
31. Last time you cried? forgotten
32. Your best friend? Stephen
33. One place that you go to over and over? work
34. One person who emails regularly? Leanne
35. Fave place to eat? home

OK, now to tag 5 of my favourite blogging gals, (a few who need a bit of a kick-start) . . .

1. Jennifer H-S
2. Connie
3. Mary
4. Kimmie
5. Tara C

Click on the links above to check out these great gals' blogs. And then check back in a little while to see their answers to this tag. Have fun, ladies!

Smooth Transitions

Happily, the kids have had a adjusted quite well to their new school and our new routine out in the country. Here's a peek at our weekday school departure.

This is a view of our street in the morning as we wait for the school bus. It's quite a change from what we were used to in the city; definitely more scenic and peaceful. Our street is long and straight, but very hilly. That's the bus arriving if you can make it out, and behind it in the distance is the beautiful Niagara Escarpment.
The kids thought it would be really cool to have the school bus stop at the end of our driveway. Then they realized that the walk to the end of our driveway is similar to what the walk used to be to the bus stop at the end of the block back in the city! Our house is set quite far back from the road, so it's a bit of a hike out to the street.
This photo was taken the first morning that the school bus stopped at our house. Because it took a while to re-arrange the bus route to accommodate us, I drove the kids to school for a few weeks. Their first bus ride to their new school was not until mid October. Notice that hats and mitts? It was already quite cold.
Going back in time a few weeks earlier, this was the kids' first day of school at their new school. Starting mid-year was a new experience for us all, and the school made the transition so smooth for them. The principal, vice-principal and their teachers all came to the office to greet us when we arrived. I'm quite pleased with how everyone has adjusted so far.

The arrival of winter is going to add an interesting twist to our new lifestyle, but one thing at a time! We'll cross that bridge as we come to it!

I've had a few requests to post a photo of our finished Halloween pumpkin, so I'll get to that soon. I also was tagged by my friend and awesome scrapbooker Lori, and will be responding to her tag in the next post or two. In the interim, have fun checking out Lori's answers here. She also tagged our friend Lee, whose blog is always a good read.

Thanks for checking in!

Halloween Fun

The whole family had a lot of fun on Halloween this year, and it began with creating the jack-o-lantern. The girls were particularly excited about creating the pumpkin's design, and were ready to start long before we were. Alicia even wore her costume for the task. Don't the girls look anxious to get started?
The final design was a combination of everyone's ideas, which we pulled from a rather large selection of sketches from the kids. While the pumpkin wasn't as frightening as Evan wanted it to be, it was scary enough to please him, while still being sufficiently cute enough to satisfy the girls.
That evening we headed into our town to participate in the community Halloween party. The kids loved the donuts hanging from strings that were intended to be eaten hands free, although a bit of cheating definitely happened! The crafts were fun, the cider was warm and we all had a great time.
I was totally thrilled when Alicia picked this pretty witch costume this year, as it's a favourite of mine and I've wanted one of the girls to wear it for years now. It was a natural for her, since purple is one of her favourite colours. She grabbed this little broom to make the costume complete, and had an absolute blast wearing it.
With the vampire craze so huge right now, Evan was intent on being Dracula, despite that he has such an aversion to face paint that - try as I might - I couldn't even get him to wear a few drops of fake blood dripping from his fangs! After the party, the events continued on the town's main street with trick-or-treating.
Vanessa was a genie this year, and she loved the glitzy pink and teal of her costume. The kids managed to collect enough candy to keep them in treats 'til Christmas! Nan and Ray had dropped by that afternoon with a treat - the Monsters vs. Aliens DVD, which we watched to round out the night.

We're feeling quite settled into our new home now, although our weekends are still filled with juggling furniture and drawers around until we really feel like we've got everything exactly where we want it. It's sure a long process, but we're enjoying it. The scrap room remains mostly boxed, but I (really!) hope to get to it soon.

I hope you all had a fantastic Halloween, too!

Finding the Perfect Pumpkin

I recall how badly it poured last year on the day we set out to find our perfect pumpkin. This year the weather wasn't wet, but it was definitely colder as we left for the pumpkin patch. This time Evan contributed by pushing the wheelbarrow while the girls ran ahead to look at their choices for the perfect jack-o-lantern.
We decided on this plump pumpkin, which Alicia guarded while Vanessa guided Evan through the maze of pumpkins to pick it up. The kids can't wait to carve it with Daddy. Evan is already creating sketches of the scariest faces he can come up with, and the rest of us will vote on which one becomes our pumpkin's.

Halloween, here we come!

You Know It's Almost Winter. . .

When hockey season starts, you know it's definitely time to break out the warm winter coats, scarves, hats and mitts. Our weekend schedule is now full of trips to the rink for practices and games. Evan is playing in a new league this year due to our move, and his new team has won both of their games so far.
One big difference this year is that the trek to our home arena for Evan's games is about a 45 minute drive away; a far cry from the 5 minutes we were used to driving back in the city! I guess we'll have to be planning really well on the weekends! Here's Evan's team ready for this weekend's game, which they won 5-1!

Scenic Badlands

We've been exploring the area around our new home and have been taking lots of photos, but as I mentioned in a previous post, it took a while to get our computers up and running so that I can edit and upload. Now that we have our network connected, I'll try to get caught up on what we've been up to lately!

I'm thrilled that we live close to a natural wonder like this. The kids comment that it looks like Mars, and although it's really the Badlands and not another planet, it's still fascinating to visit. Combining fun with a learning experience is so great for the kids. Here's what we learned at greenbelt.ca.
Badlands is the term for an area of soft rock devoid of vegetation that has become molded over time into softly undulating hills and gullies. The reddish hue is caused by iron oxide in the shale, while the greenish bands show where circulating groundwater has transformed the rock from red to green.
It was tough to get the kids to stand still long enough to get a photo of all of them. They were too busy exploring, climbing and creating their own funny games. We had a great time with Sue, Gary, Connor and Aili, and I feel so lucky that we've moved so close to Gary's parents, so that we can visit (and scrap together) often.

I still don't have any new scrapping projects to post, but I have started to organize my new room and should have that long-awaited wedding album ready sometime soon. More on that to follow as soon as I can. In the interim, I want to say thanks to you for continuing to stop by here while I get caught up from our move. I know I haven't been doing too much on the scrapbooking front lately, but hopefully I'll be back in the saddle soon! :-}

And on the topic of saddles, check out the Pioneer Woman's new cookbook, which was just released today and will be coming soon to a kitchen near me! Her cooking blog is one of my favourite sites. If you haven't yet, you should really check her out. Thanks, Jen, for the reminder to order her cookbook!

Sweater Weather

It's wonderful having a sight like this right in our own backyard! Now that fall has clearly arrived and the leaves are all changing colour, the beautiful landscape that is a backdrop to our country home stretches as far as the eye can see. Isn't it gorgeous? Just one look outside helps me to remember why we moved.
Our girls are definitely nature lovers, and the colder weather certainly doesn't stop them from spending time outside collecting - leaves, snails, bugs, branches - anything goes! This weekend we had fun making pine cone bird feeders and watching the birds visit our deck. The girls were totally in their element.

Back inside, we finally managed to get our computer network up and running last night and I have started editing my photos of our Badlands visit, so check back for those soon.

Giving Thanks

As Thanksgiving posts go, this one is significantly late, but nonetheless heartfelt. We've been incredibly busy with the new house, and I've barely had the one (ack!) computer we have up and running to myself, even for a moment. So while it's a bit delayed, I wanted to add some thoughts about Thanksgiving. The photo is from one of our last visits to the house before we moved in (it's certainly not that warm now!) Thanks for continuing to stop by here. I should be posting more regularly in the near future.

So much has happened in our family in the past year or so. Little did we know when I posted this post last year how much was in front of us - some of it good, some of it exhausting and trying, but we've weathered it all together as a family, and for the love of one another, we are all truly grateful.

Last year we really had no plans on moving, yet here we are, living in the country! We are still getting settled and unpacked, but love it so far. We've met neighbours already, had a play date on Saturday, and have already had friends and cousins to visit us here. This is already feeling very much like home.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend we were lucky enough to visit the Cheltenham Badlands with Sue and her family. We had a wonderful time together and took a ton of photos, none of which I have access to as yet, since we are still building our computer network at home and having challenges with our internet access for uploading. Once I can upload them I will post a few, as the landscape is so uniquely beautiful. If you've never seen Badlands before, they are definitely worth a visit. You can see some truly breathtaking photos of the area here.

My scrapbook supplies are still completely packed, but I hope to make a dent in that this weekend, as I'm getting to the point where the rest of the house is nearly unpacked. I can't wait to get back to doing some scrapping. I'll post some scrapbook room photos too, once the room is presentable! ;-}

Overall, as one of the first weekends in our new home, we had a fantastic long weekend. Despite that these wishes are late, I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and God bless.

Creative Escape Class Projects, Part 4

This is the fourth entry in my series of posts about the classes at Creative Escape 2009 in Chandler, Arizona. See other blog posts about the Creative Escape experience here. You can also read my coverage of the event on Scrapscene here.

I've always been a huge fan of 7Gypsies, and meeting Paula Cheney and Debbie Crouse, two awesome Gypsy Artists, was one of the perks of being at Creative Escape. Paula shared some hilarious travel stories including one about her new found phobia of hotel bathrooms with windowed doors. Very funny gals, but at the same time, the slide presentation that served as an introduction to their class was probably the most moving of the weekend. Their class didn't disappoint either, that's for certain. The only class in which we were asked to bring a photo, I loved seeing classmates' take on this art piece.
We put this project together using pieces of 7Gypsies book board. I love the way this turned out, and think the little key embellie makes this a perfect project for me as we christen a new house. The photo has a 7Gypies crystal book knob at the bottom and lifts up to reveal journaling beneath. See the knob in the close up photo, above.

The panel with the tiny flower vase also swings open for hidden journaling to be revealed. You can see the class sample made by the 7Gypsies gals here.

If you have an opportunity to take classes from any of the 7Gypsies Artists, I highly recommend it. If you're local, Gypsy Artist Vicki Boutin will have upcoming classes at Scrapalicious, so look here for updates.

In our final class, Debby Schuh led us in the creation of a souvenir album to house all of our Creative Escape photos, memorabilia, autographs and other collected memories. Debby's project was oriented landscape style, but I liked the idea of doing mine oriented in the portrait direction instead, and as a result, I didn't put my album together in class.

I'm going to think it all through and then punch the holes into the pages once I have a plan. As an extra little touch, I asked Heidi to sign a piece of cardstock for me to add to this book. She added the words "Once in a Lifetime" to her signature, and I thought it was a fitting sentiment for my memories of this fantastic trip.

Thanks so much to wonderful Virginia for being my traveling companion, classmate and general partner in crime on this trip. It certainly was a once in a lifetime event.

My Guys!

Moving can be quite a zany experience and we have had our fair share of craziness, as you can see in this photo. It's amazing the things you find as you are packing that have been long forgotten. Here is Evan's toque from when he was a toddler, found as we were packing away and purging some of our really old things. Stephen couldn't resist trying it on and showing it off. What a nut! Yes, these are definitely my boys!
We've had a relatively smooth move overall, and while we ran into a few glitches, they were all minor. We are in the new house now and functional, but very far from being totally unpacked.

So if I'm scarce in the next little while, you'll know why. I'm still up to my elbows in boxes. Wish me luck and see you soon!

Bittersweet

Isn't it crazy how life throws curves at us sometimes? Last NSD, I was at Destination Create with a fantastic group of ladies, and I created this home themed mini album with Caroline Lau from Maya Road. I used the album to document our family's love for the house that - at the time - we had no idea we'd be selling.
While we are thrilled to have found the house we will be moving to and are very excited about living there, our current house holds so many precious memories for us. When we moved in, I was 8 months pregnant with our girls (and didn't know that they were girls yet)! It seems like ages ago but also just like yesterday. We've really loved living here.
This photo from last Christmas is a family favourite, and it highlights for me that we don't know what the future holds. That night we had no idea it would be our last Christmas in this house. It's bittersweet leaving our home behind, but moving on is part of life, and I'm glad to have the most wonderful husband & kids to do that with.
We are truly grateful for the blessing of having so many who love us visit our home, and look forward to welcoming you to our new house sometime in the future. If there is one quote I've read that I hope will always apply to us, it is "May our home never be big enough to hold all of our friends". You each mean so much to us.

We thank you for your kindness and friendship, and hope we'll soon be seeing you at our new address. Until then, take care and God bless.

Creative Escape Class Projects, Part 3

It was fantastic taking a class from the amazingly talented Tim Holtz. Tim was so organized! He had a fantastic slide show introduction, provided everything we needed for class, was full of jokes, tips and inspiration, and at the end of it all we literally had nothing to throw away other than the holes punched from our crop-a-diles! And isn't this little album adorable?

Tim shows more photos of this project in his blog post about Creative Escape here.

There was not a moment wasted in Marah Johnson's class, from the moment we walked in the door 'til the second class ended. Creating this altered box which holds 12 mini books (perfect for a year in review, 12 school grades, 12 days of Christmas, or so many other ideas) took being very organized, and like Tim, Marah definitely is!
We had a lot of glimmer misting to do in this class, as all of the flocked paper was misted before it was adhered. While our paper dried, we had painting and inking to do, and if we ran out of tasks, Marah had us raise our hands so she could give us an idea of what to fill that second of free time with. As a result, most of us almost finished our boxes.
Once I ink the edges of the gold wings and attach a metal floral brad to the ribbon tab that opens the box, all I have left to do is complete the inside of each of the 12 little books. I think I'm going to do a year in review project. I have to say, I am so completely in love with Glimmer Mist now. We used 3 colours layered on top of each other, and I love the look.

Isn't this project beautiful? See what Marah posted about Creative Escape on her blog here.

I still have one more post about Creative Escape classes to go, so check back soon.