The next Canadian Scrapbooker

The winter 2008 issue of Canadian Scrapbooker magazine comes out December 1st. Check out the table of contents here.





Seeing my layout peeking out from that banner makes me smile! ;-)

Sweet Newborn Treasures

Another week has come and gone so quickly, I almost cannot believe it. Last week's challenge in the Gr8 Cre8ive Idol contest was to create a gift for someone. It was timely, since I had been meaning to put together this photo frame and gift box for the latest baby girl in our family. I'm grateful for this challenge, since I just somehow wasn't motivated otherwise! ;-)
Stephen's brother Justin and his wife Rosa had a baby girl in October, whom they decided to name Alessia. Alicia, Vanessa and Evan were thrilled to meet their new cousin, the only first cousin they have on Stephen's side of the family so far. Our kids just love babies, so they were completely sweet, loving and gentle with her. All of the kids, including Evan, took turns holding and caring for their cousin. I've taken some photos of the children together, but with the issues we've been having with our computer lately, I just haven't had a chance to upload them, much less get them edited and posted. Hopefully I can get to it soon.

I picked up the memory box and photo frame at Michael's, and altered them in colours to go match the baby's room. Both pieces were painted using Making Memories paints, and the beautiful new papers from Rouge de Garance were perfect for the box, labeled Sweet Newborn Treasures. The frame, which I decorated to hold an ultrasound photo, says Awaiting You in distressed American Crafts Thickers. Matching Hambly scroll rub-ons and chipboard flowers from Fancy Pants with a spritz of gold Maya Mist on each embellish both pieces.

I've been having a blast participating in the Gr8 Cre8ive Idol Contest. Week 5 is the final challenge week, and it is coming up this week. I'm really looking forward to it. Check out more info on this challenge over at Just Cre8.

I Love Doing Laundry!

I have to say, if all of my laundry made me this happy, my chores would be such a joy to do! The paper here is from My Mind's Eye's Laundry Line, and it's completely gorgeous. It's my latest Scrapalicious DT kit.

I can't wait to play with it!

Also in this kit is a chipboard alpha set from Basic Grey, fun pom pom trim from Bazzill and the latest distress stickles from Tim Holtz. Want to do some laundry with me? I'll be starting it soon, so stay tuned! ;-)

Who's That (Cover) Girl??

I can't believe that it's been more than four months since I posted this and raised the curiosity of some of you. ;-) I was so excited tonight to get my first sneak peek at the Winter 2008 issue of Canadian Scrapbooker online over at Just Cre8, since this is what my toot post was all about.

I have to admit, I don't usually toot. I'm not really a superstitious person, but I always feel like I shouldn't count my chickens before they're hatched, not just when it comes to publications, but generally in life. So now that I've actually had a peek at the magazine, I'll come right out and say it. . . .

I'm a cover girl! Yahoo! This is my first cover ever, and I'm absolutely thrilled! I can't wait to have this mag in my hot little hands! Thanks for letting me share my excitement. :-)

Littlest Madonna Fan

As the Gr8 Cre8ive Idol contest continues at Just Cre8, this week's challenge was to be inspired by one of 3 selected ads. I selected an ad that reminded me of the days of psychedelic rock, and with that in mind, I couldn't help but be inspired to scrap our little rocker, Alicia.


I created my page inspired by the ad's colour palette and rock and roll feel.

This is a copy of the ad I chose. Don't you think psychedelic rock when you see this design?

I had a ton of fun creating this week's layout, although I don't think I want to admit how late I had to stay up the night before the deadline in order to complete it! ;-)

For the story behind this tiny rock and roll sweetheart, see here.

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.

Hanging Out at the Local "Haunt"

I was lucky enough a short time ago to spend an afternoon with the gang from Scrapalicious hanging out at Emma's Back Porch, a waterfront restaurant that is well known for being haunted. Seriously! We had a fantastic time sharing fun and great food, but didn't manage to see any ghosts. And it wasn't for lack of trying. We even tried to capture one in a photo - no luck!
I feel so lucky to be able to work with such a fantastic group of people. Along with being a ton of fun and knowledgeable too, Mike and Lancia are wonderful store owners who always love taking good care of their customers. The talent amongst the store staff and designers is fantastic. Virginia leads the design team with an incredible eye for detail and always has great suggestions and ideas.

Virginia has also been published so much lately that I can't keep track! Look for her numerous times in the latest idea book from Memory Makers, and in the July 2008 issue of Paper Trends.

I drove to this event with my talented friend and designer Mary and we had a blast! I wish we would have known the story about the haunting earlier in the day, since I may have spent more time ghost hunting if I had. Look for the story about this restaurant's history here.

Thanks Mike, Lancia and everyone at Scrapalicious for a fantastic time!

Scraptivity's Divalicious Challenge

As an additional challenge over at Scraptivity as this month's GDT, I posted a Divalicious challenge. The idea behind the challenge is simply to post good ideas for song titles or lyrics that can be used as a layout title. I use songs in my scrapbooking so often, and posted a few examples as inspiration for the other scrappers, including this older layout of mine from before I started blogging. Check out the challenge here.

I loved the girls in these Easter dresses. Vanessa is 2 in this photo, and has grown so much since then. I can't believe how big the girls are now! Time certainly does fly.

I will be doing a draw from all of the challenge thread entries for this cool and hard to find white Sharpie paint marker, so if you haven't already, put on your thinking caps and post a few songs or lyrics of your own. You could be the winner!

For info on this month's main GDT challenge, see this post.

Our Newest Niece

I love this photo of Alicia checking out her newest cousin - granted her newest cousin hasn't officially arrived yet! Between Stephen and I, we have only 3 siblings, and all 3 have 2008 babies! Both of my brothers had babies this year, and now Stephen's brother Justin and his wife Rosa will be having a baby girl in October.

This photo is from Rosa's baby shower. Can you tell that we all can't wait for this new little addition to arrive?

Scraptivity's GDT Scraplift Challenge

Every month, the Design Team at Scraptivity hosts a Guest Design Team scraplift challenge. For this challenge, the Design Team selects a layout from the GDT's gallery, and each of them create their own version of the layout as a scraplift. As this month's GDT, I'm have a lot of fun seeing the various interpretations of my 3x Blessed layout, which is the layout the DT selected to lift. To see their scraplift version of this layout, or to find out how you, too, can play along and have a chance at a prize, take a peek at this thread.

This layout they selected is one of my older ones, created back in 2006. These photos of the kids are from when each of them is 2 years old. Aren't they tiny and sweet? As the title states, I truly am 3x Blessed!

Getting in Gear

Have you seen the new Ambrosia collection from Basic Grey? Honestly, this paper looks good enough to eat! Seriously, I'm really looking forward to using it, along with this awesome Gears album from Maya Road, in my September DT kit from Scrapalicious. Toss in some ribbon and some AC Thickers, and I'm really in gear!

So be sure to check back to see for an all-boy mini album creation, coming up later this month!

Girls' Night Out

It wasn't long ago that I created this post about the fact that Sue and I have "known" each other for years on scrapbooking message boards, but had never met in person.

They say ask and you shall receive! I was lucky enough to have dinner last weekend with Sue, along with her husband Gary, my friend Lori, and her husband Dan. We had a ton of fun, a little drink and a some great food - and the guys totally took it in stride when we started talking about scrapbooking!

It was sure timely that Sue happened to be in the area this weekend, and I know that we will manage to get together again sometime in the future. I had a fantastic time, so thanks, Sue, Lori and hubbies!

I'm looking forward to digging into the July Scrap Pack I won during a challenge on the message board at Sue's awesome kit club, Just Cre8. I have time set aside towards the end of this month, as I'm heading to Wenonah again with Leanne and the gang. I'm looking forward to it tremendously, but don't know when I will find the time to get ready for it. The packing, the organizing, the trying not to forget anything - and making sure it will all fit in the car. Whew! It's exhausting. Wish me luck!

Scraptivity's September GDT Challenge

A fun part of being the Guest Design Team Member over at Scraptivity this month is that I get to create some challenges for the gals there to participate in for a small prize. Since the S! kit this month included these cool metal number from Tim Holtz, I thought - why not a number title challenge?
I like using numbers as my title, and when it was time to show some examples of this from my own work, I realized that I have tons of layouts with numeral titles. I have quite a few layouts from before I started blogging, so I used one from early 2006 as an example, here at left. I remember how much I loved this Daisy D's paper when it first came out - still do, actually! This is a Sears photo from the girls 3rd birthday. They've sure grown since then.

So why not check out the September GDT Challenge over on the S! board this month, and squeeze in the time to create a numbered layout of your own. Who knows, you could be the winner!

More Photo Orienteering

There's not much time left in the Summer of '69 challenge over at The Scrapping Nook. Like making the most of summer, I've tried to make the most of this challenge, but haven't had the time to do as much as I would have liked. Here are a few shots I entered into the Photo Orienteering challenge - this one is for the topic "eyes".
While in downtown Toronto, I took the opportunity to interpret the challenge topic "neighbourhood". Although the CN Tower is only in my geographic neighbourhood in the broadest sense of the word, I couldn't resist snapping a shot of it for this category. It's been a while, but I once worked at the CN Tower, and am still in touch with some of the great folks I met there.

So the CN Tower is in my neighbourhood in a nostalgic sort of way, too. Speaking of nostalgia, it will be with a twinge of sadness that I watch the Summer of '69 challenge come to a close. The gals at The Nook always make me laugh, even if I never can figure out Where in the World Bryan Adams is! ;-)

Thanks for a summer of scrappy fun, Patti & Elia!

The View from Here

This is my favourite view, right here. My family.

As another September 11th arrives and the world inevitably recalls the tragic events of 2001, I am more acutely aware than usual today of how blessed and lucky I am. Our children are an ongoing source of joy, peace and a touch of craziness in our lives, every single day. So much of what I do, I do for these little people, and I wouldn't have it any other way!
The life that my husband and I have built together with our families and beautiful children continues to grow in love and joy every day. We have a business that keeps food on our table and a roof over our heads, we have access to the best of medical care, and we take good care of ourselves and each other. We live in a country of spacious beauty and freedom. How very blessed and lucky we are!
As we all go about our daily routines today, I hope that each of us is a wee bit more in touch with our blessings. In particular, to those of my friends who celebrate their birthday today, please remember that this date marked the joyous celebration of your birth, before it marked anything else. And to those of you who make visiting this blog part of your daily routine, thank you, and God bless.

Canadian Scrapbooker Fall 2008

I know that school just started and it's not yet time to think about Halloween, but the though of it has crossed my mind - simply because one of my favourite Halloween layouts was just published in the fall 2008 issue of Canadian Scrapbooker. This photo is from our girls' first Halloween, and they are posing with my Mom, who was visiting that year.
In the same issue of Canadian Scrapbooker is this layout which I created during the Scrap Away the Winter Blues contest at Scraptivity. I was fortunate enough to be chosen as the contest's winner, and in addition to $400 in scrapbooking product, part of the prize was having a layout featured in Canadian Scrapbooker. I love how this layout shows Alicia's fun side, showing off the stickers she stuck to the bottom of her ballet shoes.

P.S. For those of you who are wondering, my recent toot is about something else, yet to come. ;-)

Coming Soon to Scrapalicious

I'm so happy! I've marked my calendar and will be heading to Scrapalicious with my friend Lori to take in this upcoming class with the awesome Vicki Boutin and Layle Koncar. If you are close by and want to learn new techniques while sharing great conversation and so much laughter that your belly aches, you simply MUST register for this class. These ladies are a blast! Book soon - it will sell out.

Get more details on Virginia's blog here.

Scraptivity's September Kit Reveal

I'm pleased to be the Guest Design Team member at Scraptivity for September 2008. This month's kit is made up of home themed papers from Heidi Grace and Daisy Bucket, as well as Core'dinations cardstock, chipboard houses from Scenic Route and metal embellishments from Tim Holtz. Many of the S! designers used this kit for family portraits, as I did here. See the S! September kit gallery here.
I've always loved this photo of the girls, which is now about 3 years old. I thought the pinks and florals in these Daisy Bucket papers were perfect to bring out the pinks in their swimsuits, so I couldn't resist using this favourite picture with this kit. For my title, I added these Groovy Alphabet stamps by Gelatins, which were in a previous Scraptivity kit, as well as chipboard alphas from Making Memories.

I hope to add another layout or two before the month is over.

Scrapalicious Designs Revealed

It was wonderful scrapping with the beautiful Artsylicious products from Chatterbox and the Euphoria collection from Basic Grey. In Forever and Always I also used double sided stickers designed for flocking or glitter, Maya Road ribbon, Prima flowers, Autumn Leaves buttons, K & Co. sticker, Making Memories letter stickers and the elusive Fiskars Threading Water punch. Photo by Jimmy Schwen.
I'm lucky enough to have a fantastic group of cousins that place a high priority on ensuring that our kids all have a chance to play together and get to know each other despite the distance that separates our home. Last month we took a trip up to Mount Tremblant together and had a great time. There were 21 of us all together, 12 kids and 9 adults, so the grown ups were outnumbered! This all Basic Grey layout celebrates kids!
I love Prima's beautiful adhesive rhinestones that I used on my layout Four. They add so much to a layout that it really doesn't need too much more. On this page, which celebrates our twin girls' fourth birthday, the paper is Chatterbox Artsylicious. Also included are Prima flowers, MM spiral notepaper and alphas, Basic Grey paper trim and Doodlebug ribbon. Birthday photo by Sears.

Wow - it's great to finally post some layouts!

A New Year

It's that time of year again, and I cannot believe it. Look at these fresh faces ready for fun and learning! Can you believe it's September already?

A new school year signifies another summer come and gone. I managed to get the kids off to school on time today, but in other aspects of life - for example blogging 5 recent layouts, including Scrapalicious pages and my Scraptivity GDT kit reveal - I am a bit behind.

Overall, we had a busy and wonderful summer! I'm behind because we really crammed a lot into the month of August, so I have LOTS to blog about. Once I catch my breath from the start of the new school year, I will have multiple posts to add soon.

So check back later in the week to see the layouts I mentioned above, and I wish everyone a wonderful and productive September!