This Year I'm Ready!

A few years ago I heard about Stacy Julian's Library of Memories concept. I loved it instantly. Before I had kids, I was the kind of person who had all of my photos organized and in albums. I wanted to get back to that place (and better), so I signed up. Oooops! I only made it through the first 2 lessons.
Not this time! Alumni registration for LOM 2010 started today, and I am totally IN! My lesson binder is altered (see it above), my pre-workshop handouts are printed, my clipboard is ready and my AC albums are on order! The unit on the right in this picture houses my storage system, labeled and ready! I can't wait!

I jumped the gun when I originally signed up for this workshop, since when the girls were tiny I just didn't have the time to devote to setting the system up. This time I'm going all the way. If you are also taking this class, as a newbie or an alumni, touch base and we can work on our systems together.

Scrapstrong! :-}

Make Yourself at Home!

Our girls seem to like my new scrapbook room as much as I do. Yesterday as I was making lunch they decided that VersaColor ink cubes were a quick and easy alternative to nail polish! Alicia put on Orchid and Vanessa tried Grape. Fortunately it washed off easily. Good thing I didn't leave any StazOn on my desk! ;-}

Gorgeous lines from Scrapalicious

OK, I totally love Basic Grey! Who doesn't? I don't think I know a scrapbooker who doesn't have a passion for one (if not all) of their lines. I'm lucky to have had so many opportunities to create with their products, for example the recent wedding album using Wisteria. I finally scrapped my wedding!
I love the wedding album that I created for Scrapalicious, and in the years I've been designing for the store, I cherish my BG projects as favourites; this Stella Ruby clock, a family photo frame using Marrakech and Ambrosia, a few Marrakech layouts, and this Two Scoops wedding mini.
This time my kit contains pieces of a few lines, starting with the beautiful Origins (top photo); so pretty for both heritage and modern pages. Gorgeous fall colours of Indian Summer are perfect for autumn photos, and Eskimo Kisses will keep the Christmas Spirit alive all year. How lucky can I get?

Keep checking back, as these creations will be coming some time soon!

Project 365

I've wanted to do Project 365 for years now, and it feels great to finally be doing it. I find the little snippets of everyday life to be such an important part of documenting our family's memories. I won't be posting all of the photos here. I know that I'll get too far behind in uploading and editing my photos to do that!
I will post some of my favourites, though, like the one (above) of the girls' first snowman for the year. We had such fun building this little guy! I also love the DCWV sheer vinyl decals I added to the door of my scrapbook room. See me and my camera reflected in the glass in the lower left corner of the photo?

I'll be back soon with a peek at my newest DT kit from Scrapalicious. See you soon!

Scrapping Nook's Opening Day

I had a ton of fun at the opening of the new Scrapping Nook last Saturday. Scrapping Nook Ltd., now located in Welland, is now Janice's baby, and how truly fitting. Once Patti and Elia decided to sell the store they created with so much heart, it's only fitting that it go to someone who has been a huge part of the Nook right from the start.

Congratulations, Janice!

Jen and I drove down together and it was so worth the trip. To be honest, it was a bit of an emotional day. The Scrapping Nook in Fonthill was just one of those places that lives in your heart forever. I went to my first crop ever at that location, and when I arrived I didn't know anyone in person at all. We had only met online, I was a beginning scrapbooker, and I was totally nervous!

That was in 2005, and these ladies were so wonderful and welcoming, and have been a part of my scrapbooking life ever since. I can't say enough about how much Patti and Elia have connected a wonderful group of women through their hard work, beautiful personalities and generosity of spirit. The fall of 2009 was a difficult time for the store, first with an electrical fire, followed by the sudden, sad loss of Patti's Mom, Barb, taking its toll. So many of us were worried that we had seen the end of our beloved Nook.

But now, Janice has picked up the torch and is running with it. I'm so glad to see Scrapping Nook Ltd. continue into the future, and look forward to many more fun events and meaningful connections there.

In the photo above, clockwise, are Patti, Lori, Vicki, Janice, me, Deanna and Elia. Jen was behind the camera, and there were so many others, both present and there in spirit, that made the day great! See you again soon, gals!

See some of my posts about the Nook over the years here.

The Olympic Torch

Just before the new year we were fortunate to be able to see the Olympic Torch as it ran through our town. Santa left the kids each a pair of red Olympic Mittens, which helped to build the excitement as the morning approached. It was a bright, clear day with just a sprinkling of snow falling as we waited.
We chose to wait at the corner where the torch relay would be turning to go into the local arena, and it turned out to be a great vantage point. We were quite close to the torch as the caravan went by us. The crowd was cheering and waving Canadian flags, and it was very exciting. Olympic fever was all around us!
We followed the torchbearers into the parking lot where the crowd gathered around to take photos with the torch. While we waited a kind member of the crowd offered to take a photo of the whole family, which we happily took advantage of! We don't get many photos of the five of us together. Look closely; you see the kids' red mittens.
The torch was extinguished before they allowed the public to take photos with it. We each were able to touch and take a photo with the torch. It was then perfect timing to head home and enjoy some hot chocolate beside the fire. Now I can't wait for the Opening Ceremonies! Go, Team Canada, go!

Welcoming 2010

A new year has begun, with all of its resolutions, goals and unknowns. Looking back upon 2009 for our family, what a surprising year we had. Wow! We're starting 2010 in a new home, and our view of the year ahead looks great! Speaking of sweet views, this what I see from the desk in my new scrapbook studio! :-}
I've displayed some of my favourite layouts on the wall above a cabinet, using an idea a borrowed from the awesome Layle Koncar. Her blog rocks!
In fact, if you are still creating your December Daily album, you have to check out how stunning Layle's album is. As for me, I've taken the daily photos again (like last year), but no album yet! But, I've found that I love the photo a day process so much that this year I'm going to do Project 365 this year.
I'm always inspired when I visit Lee's blog. Her gorgeous photos are part of my inspiration for joining 365 this year. Lee also does One Little Word, which I'm looking forward to this year. Read Lee's OLW post here. My OLW post will be coming soon (can you guess my word?) but won't be as eloquent as Lee's!

I'm not quite ready for a wide-angle shot of my entire scrapbook room, but above are some happy little peeks at it. Others I know have spoken about how it feels to sit in an organized scraproom, and I have to admit, the feeling is exquisite! I'm really looking forward to creating in a beautiful space which makes me totally happy!

Speaking of organized space, in order to find homes for all of my supplies, I went through (almost) everything scrappy that I own, and have quite a bit that I would like to pass along to someone who can use them. So you do know what that means? Yes, I have some RAKs coming up - including a few stamp sets, lots of embellishments and even an album or two. Stay tuned.

Wishing you joy, love, prosperity and peace in 2010. Scrappy New Year!

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!