What we did on our Summer Vacation

Hello, folks! Anyone still around? I really miss blogging, but I think Facebook has almost made it obsolete. The last time I posted using this blogging platform, everything looked different. So this post is almost an experiment to see if I still know how to use Blogger! :)

We spent a week in PEI this summer, and it was wonderful. In the evenings after the gorgeous sunset, we spent our time in the cottage and I was able to scrap 11 pages!

 

Above is the cottage we stayed at. We absolutely loved staying here, and definitely see us coming out here again in the future. Here are the layouts I created on the trip.

 

Looking forward to the Scraptiv!ty Reunion crop coming up at Scrapfest in Richmond Hill in September. We are attending Scrapfest as a group and celebrating the kit club and message board that most of us met through! It will be amazing to see some of the amazing and talented ladies that I first started scrapbooking with so many years ago.

 

I also hope to add more details to this blog once the kids are back in school. See you soon!

Peek at Remembrance Day Layout

I've been working on some layouts of Evan in his first year of Air Cadets. I don't have these ready to post in time for Remembrance Day as I was hoping, but at least here is a sneak peek!

As seen in Canadian Scrapbooker Fall 2013

Can you believe it's back to school time already?  Our kids went back today and they were all so excited about it.

To me, back to school season has always been a time for getting routines re-established.  Lists are a big part of the routine at our house.  That's part of the reason I was so excited to create a layout for the Leave Your Legacy article by Sue Sykes for the Fall 2013 Canadian Scrapbooker magazine.  Sue's article this month is all about Top 10 lists

This layout itemizes all of those wonderful things I love about this time of year.

The journaling, which is hidden beneath the large, focal photo, describes why each of the items illustrated is meaningful to our family.  It's too long to include here, but here's a quick snapshot.

1 - We love going to the CNE.  It really signifies the change from summer to autumn for us.
2 - Back to school.  I'm so glad our kids love this as much as I do.
3 - The splendour of the autumn colours.
4 - Picking a pumpkin to carve for Halloween.  It's good family fun!
5 - Decorating the house for Thanksgiving - inside and out.  It's part of how we recognize this special occasion at our house.
6 -  We try to hit as many of the local fall fairs around our area that we can.  We love the family time together it affords us!
7 - Halloween: the costumes, the fun with friends and the scavenger hunts.  (The candy - not so much!)
8 - Remembrance Day. It's so important to take part in activities that commemorate our veterans so we try to participate every year.
9. Yard work is a family affair around our house.  It's fun to see the kids contribute too!
10. We try to celebrate the start of the new school year with a Labour Day bonfire and fireworks. Having family and friends over to roast marshmallows and make s'mores adds to the fun.   Occasionally I manage to get a good fireworks shot too, which is a bonus!

If you haven't already, pick up a copy of Canadian Scrapbooker for more great Top 10 lists, and other fantastic layouts. 

I hope that you had a wonderful Labour Day long weekend and that the school year got off to a good start for you and your family.  Thanks for stopping by!

Canadian Scrapbooker Fall 2013 Sneak Peek

Don't you love back-to-school season! It always reminds me of fresh starts, growth and progress. It's one of the things many things I love about fall.

Since the Leave Your Legacy topic for the Fall 2013 issue of Canadian Scrapbooker magazine featured Top 10 lists, I couldn't resist titling my layout Top 10 Reasons I Love Fall. Have fun with this little look at what's to come when the magazine hits news stands September 1st. I'll post the full layout sometime soon.

Alberta Adventures

Back in this post about our trip to Edmonton, I mentioned that I had so many more pictures to share about our travels throughout Alberta. Here is a little look at all the fun we had.

The kids and I went to Banff with my brother Chris and visited the beautiful Banff Springs Hotel.

The lobby was stunning. The kids thought it looked spectacular and posed for this shot!

While we were there we took a trip to the hot springs. Chris had been there before, but it was a first for me and for the kids.

One of the most fun things for the kids about visiting with Grannie is telling her stories, bringing her pizza, ice tea and cookies and just having fun!  Grannie sure loves seeing the kids, as you can see in her face here!

We took a couple of trips to West Edmonton Mall, including a trip to Galaxyland for rides, games and junk food, another for waterpark fun and - of course - shopping!

We were lucky enough to spend a day with Chris' in-laws in Calgary and enjoyed some time at the beach near their home.

The next day we drove to Drumheller to spend the day at the Royal Tyrrell Museum.  Once again, it was a first for me as well as for the kids, and we absolutely loved it.

The kids each poured a fossil cast and they spent some time learning about fossils.

Here we are with the badlands in the background.  Notice something in the lower left corner of this photo?  The kids thought it was adorable that he popped into the photo with them! :-}

My brother Howard, his wife Trish and their two boys met us in Drumheller and we had dinner together at a local restaurant before heading back to Edmonton.  Here, the kids have fun together posing outside the restaurant with a dinosaur friend. It was definitely a whirlwind trip.  We packed a lot of fun into the week.  Although the sights and shopping were fun, visiting with family was definitely the highlight of the trip.

After our week in Edmonton, we almost needed a rest!  But a few weeks later we took a trip to Montreal to drop the kids off at camp and to visit with my Mom's side of the family on the South Shore.


I'll share a few photos of that visit sometime soon!

December Daily Album Christmas 2011

I previously showed a little peek into my very first December Daily album, which I gave to Stephen this past Christmas. The album celebrates the Christmas of 2011, so by now the photos in it are almost two years old, but I finished this album just in time for Christmas 2012. The whole family LOVES this album, and I'm so happy to be sharing highlights of it here.

 I first heard about the concept of documenting each December through daily photos in a mini scrapbook album through Ali Edwards December Daily project.  Even though I have been taking daily December photos since 2008, this is the first year that I actually have created an album around the photos.

My first December Daily album is a 6 x 6 mixed media album containing a combination of clear acrylic, chipboard and page protector pages.  The image above shows the front cover, an acrylic page with a transparency layered over it.  You can see below that the pages alternate randomly between page protectors, chipboard pages and clear acrylic sheets.

 I used a tag on the inside cover.  Part of the challenge of using clear acrylic pages is that you must plan both the front and back of each page, since the page is clear and the back of one page shows right through to the next.

 Before starting each of the calendar pages, I added an introduction page.  The image is of the Christmas wreath on our front door.

 The page for December 1st shows the bus stop with a little layer snow that fell just in time for December to begin.  The pages I've shown so far have been acrylic.

 Back then, our cat Smokey was a new arrival and such a sweet tiny kitten.  On this chipboard page for December 5th, Stephen is helping Merlin get to know Smokey.  Aren't the cute??

Below is a double page spread with a page protector on the left and a chipboard page on the right.  I've documented our every day life in December, not just Christmas-related activities.  On the December 7th page, Evan celebrates his first Black Friday haul.  On the right, I took photos at Parents' Day at the girls' dance class.

Decorating our home for Christmas is one of my favourite parts of the holiday season.  I journaled digitally directly on some of the photos for this album.  On the right, the kids visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus.

One of our traditions during the holidays is making Christmas cookies.  The kids are increasingly taking over the design and creation of our culinary masterpieces.

Even though I included just one page for the days leading up to Christmas, I included more than one page for December 24th and 25th, which were quite rich with activities.  And below is the back cover of the album, which displays our family Christmas photo from that Christmas.  I hope you've enjoyed this little (belated) look at my December Daily project.  Maybe it will give you some ideas for the 2013 Christmas season! 

Summertime in Edmonton

I have a lot of photos from our Edmonton visit in July; too many to post them all, but I do want to share some highlights. We were lucky enough to have a lot of family together at the same time, so I thought I would start with some of the family shots.

First, here I am with Mom and my three. It's too bad that Stephen wasn't able to make the trip and be in the photo with us.

Part way through our visit, my Mom's two sisters, Juliet and Marion, along with Marion's husband Bill, arrived in Edmonton to visit with Mom and all of us too. Left in the next photo are Chris and his wife Lisa, along with daughter Aeden, followed by Marion and Juliet behind Mom's wheelchair.  Marion's husband, Bill, is behind Evan.

When my Mom and her sisters were young, someone somehow coined a funny phrase, referring to them as "three smart girls."  Well, through the years, every time they are together, one of us inevitably brings up the topic, which is a great reminder for us to take a photo of the three of them.  So, here is the "three smart girls" photo from the trip!

Most of the time we were too large a group to visit in Mom's room, so we were downstairs in the lobby area of her building.  We did spend a few afternoon visits upstairs though.  Here, the kids and I visit with Aeden and their Grannie.

This turned out to be the only photo I managed to get of just the six grandchildren together.  Unfortunately, it's not a stellar shot, but they kids do seem to be enjoying one anothers' company.

Below is Chris, Lisa and Aeden with Mom.

And next, Howard, Trish with Grannie along with their two boys, Jared and Nathan.

And finally, here is one of my favourites - Mom with her three kids and her six grandkids.  What a fantastic bunch!  The day this photo was taken, Mom sure had a fantastic time soaking in all of the family togetherness (not to mention the pizza and ice tea!)

I have more photos of some of the sights we saw and things we did, which I will share in a separate post.  Thanks for looking!

A Peek at our Summer Vacation

In early July, the kids and I traveled to Edmonton for a visit with my side of the family. My Mom is in Edmonton along with both of my brothers and their families. We were lucky enough while we were there travel to Calgary and Banff with my brother Chris and his daughter, and to then Drumheller with my brother Howard and his family. My Mom's sisters also traveled from Vancouver to be there while we were, and we visited with a number of close family friends as well.

It was an amazing experience for the kids! Seeing my Mom every day for a week is something that hasn't happened for a couple of years. Now that she cannot travel anymore, it's tough to see her if we don't go to her. I've traveled to Edmonton on my own three or four times since Mom stopped flying, but it's been on my own. The kids sure miss her when they don't see her often, and they had a lot of fun with her. Here, the kids enjoy taking their Grannie for a garden stroll.

They also really enjoyed spending time with their cousins. Below a look at our three, along with their cousin Aeden, enjoying the lake in Calgary, close to Chris' wife Lisa's parents' home. They had a fantastic time.

 I have so many more photos of this trip that I would love to share, but haven't even downloaded some of them yet! I hope to add them over the weekend, so stay tuned!

Christmas Continues with a December Daily Peek

I was thrilled that I managed to finish a December Daily album in time to give it to Stephen for Christmas this year. It documents our previous Christmas - so December 2011 - and I am completely happy with how it turned out. The photo below shows Alicia and Stephen looking it over right after he opened it on Christmas morning.



Here is a look at the album cover. It is a mixed media album with acrylic, chipboard and page protector pages mixed together. I'll admit it - I haven't totally photographed it for posting, but I will get that done in the next few days and have more of the album to post for you soon.



Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Even though this post is about winter, enjoy summer while it's still here!

A (very) Overdue Peek at December 2012

One of the practices I have diligently kept up with since 2008 is taking (at least) one daily photo during the month of December to document the Christmas Season at our house. I've posted at least a few photos, giving you a peek at our December, if not the entire set of photos, every year on my blog.

December 2012 was no exception, and not only did I take a photo every day, I also went back and completed a December Daily album for the previous year and gave it to Stephen for Christmas. The concept of a December Daily album, which I first hear about through the amazing Ali Edwards, is in part what I (eventually) plan to do for each of the years' photos I've taken in December.

This picture is one of my favourites from December 2012. The kids are just about ready for bed on Christmas Eve, and have laid out a giant Santa cookie (which they made and decorated themselves) with chocolate milk for Santa. I will post more about our December, as well as a look at the December Daily album I gave Stephen for Christmas, over the next little while.

Some Summery Layouts

After posting so many Christmas layouts, I thought I would throw in a few warm weather pages in hopes that it brings us beautiful sunshine for the upcoming week. The two pages here are layouts I created last summer up at Uncle Danny's cottage. I posted little peeks and a bit of the story behind each of them in this post. The first layout is about Vanessa's first time riding a bigger bike that used to be Evan's. She was so excited!


This next layout, as its title implies, is about Stephen's affection for our dog, Merlin.

I really had to talk Stephen into getting a dog. He was apprehensive about whether a dog fit into our lifestyle. He didn't like the idea of being limited by having to be home in time for to feed the dog everyday and let him outside. He hated the thought of not being able to impulsively take weekend trips or overnight family outings because of the dog. He also was worried about dog hair in the house and having his favourite shoes chewed!


As it turned out, who lets the dog up on the furniture, picks him up and calls him "my lap dog", cuddles with him and even lets him up on the bed? Based on this layout, I'm sure you can guess!

Summer Camp Time

It's fantastic to be blogging again after such a lengthy hiatus! If you're wondering what has made me suddenly able to start posting regularly after so much time away, here's the answer - the we dropped the kids off for two weeks of sleepover summer camp this weekend!



Evan is off at Air Cadet camp for two weeks. Doesn't he look so grown up in his uniform? We will have minimal contact with him while he is away, so it will be exciting to hear all about it when he gets back. This is his first year in Air Cadets and as such his first summer camp with them. He was a bit apprehensive about the degree of discipline required, not to mention the early mornings (they're up at 6:00am!!), but I sure he will thrive under the pressure!



The above photo was taken the day before Evan's departure. Here we are at the girls' equestrian camp, where they will also be for two weeks. This is their first foray into horseback riding and they are both really looking forward to it. It's been a few years since Stephen and I have had all three kids away at the same time, so it's very quiet around our house. We're sure not accustomed to the slow down in activity, but it will be a fantastic opportunity for us to connect and just be a couple for a while.

And of course - I'm looking forward to getting in some scrapbooking time! :-}

Dare Greatly - As seen in Canadian Scrapbooker

It's been a while since I wrote this post and gave you a peek at a layout that was about to be published in Canadian Scrapbooker magazine. This has turned out to be one of my favourite pages, and I was thrilled to see it on the pages of the magazine.

The photo on this page is quite old - the kids all look so little - and it still makes me so happy! The kids are so natural and just giddy with happiness in the picture. Love it!


The title and journaling on this page were inspired by one of my favourite authors, Brene Brown, who I was lucky enough to hear speak last summer in New York on the Katie Couric show. Her latest book, Daring Greatly, is so inspiring and I wanted to pass along part of its message to the kids. If you haven't read any of Brene's books, I highly recommend them, in particular this one and this one, in addition to Daring Greatly.

The page was published in a feature in the magazine about facing your fears, written by my friend Sue Sykes. I really want our kids to strive to be the very best they can be, and not settle for average or for whatever is placed easily in front of them. I hope I am doing a good job of modeling this in my own life for them, and I hope they are not afraid to go after what they want most in life. You can subscribe to Canadian Scrapbooker and have each issue delivered to your door, or you can purchase back issues online here.

Santa Claus is a Girl!

In keeping with the recent Christmas theme I've created here, this is a page I created while at a weekend crop up at my amazing friend Leanne's beautiful home. This photo was taken last Christmas day, as the girls were helping to hand out presents to family while we awaited our scrumptious turkey dinner. They look so grown up now, I can barely believe it. I love the rectangular doily, which - believe it or not - is from Dollarama!


While we were at Leanne's it was Jen's birthday and we had fun with some last minute birthday cupcakes and balloons I picked up in town that afternoon. We didn't manage to get a photo with all of us in it, so our gracious hostess Leanne must have taken this one. Happy Birthday, Jen!

I sure got a lot done while I was at Leanne's. Here's a look at another layout I created that weekend. The photos on this one are from 2006, and Evan is still so small! I'll post more of the layouts I created on that trip sometime soon.

Christmas in July!

OK, so I missed July, too! But my intention was honourable! After taking such an (unplanned) lengthy break from blogging, I thought a winter layout was a great segue from my last post, since it was of our family at Christmas. But alas, I didn't manage to get this posted in July, either.

In any case, it's nice to get back to posting again, something I hope to do on a more frequent basis during the rest of 2013! This is a layout inspired by a sketch I saw on Scrapping Nook.  It's a blustery look at ski camp from last Christmas break, featuring Alicia.

Here's a close up of the title block. I embossed the snowflakes around the edge of the page with clear embossing powder and the Gel-a-tins snowflake stamp set from ages ago.

 Even though I haven't been blogging, I have managed to scrapbook a few pages. Although I posted last in December, it had really been a while since I consistently posted my completed layouts - probably about a year or so - and here is the stack of pages I've done in that time. I may not post them all here - some haven't even been photographed yet - but I hope to get plenty of them up in the next little while.

In keeping with the Christmas theme, here is a little peek at a page I really love. The girls dressed as Santa last Christmas. I'll post the full layout sometime soon.

And to prove that I do realize it is August and not December, here's a look at the kids in our current season. What season is that, you may ask? Not summer, but soccer! Yes, our busy schedule continues, but I still hope to be back here again soon. Thanks for stopping by! I would love it if you left a comment so that I know you were here. See you again soon! :-}