Chatterbox Favourite Photos Album

A ton of time has passed since ScrapFest in Kitchener and I can't believe that I haven't finished posting all of the project I created for Scrapalicious yet! This is an adorable Chatterbox mini album which comes in a variety of colours with flocked covers and embossed pages. Scrapalicious has put a variety of the Chatterbox embellies I used here into a bundle for a fantastic price - they're in felt, cork, chipboard and more.
Be sure to check them out right at the entrance to the store! For the title page of the album I trimmed one of the embossed lace papers and adhered it to a transparency for added strength. I love the way it looks. I made this album into a display album of some of our family's recent favourite photos.

Since the back of the lace papers are plain white, I misted the back of mine with Maya Mist before I adhered it to the transparency, giving it a nice shimmer. Here, Alicia hugs one of her favourite stuffed creatures, a peacock, last Christmas morning.
I used square photos in keeping with this album's shape. I left the pages opposite the photos as well as the overall design relatively simple to show off the lovely embossing on each page. Here's Vanessa at Grandma and Grandpa's on Mother's Day a few years back, wearing more necklaces than anyone can count!

Kids love waterparks, and Evan is no exception. The embellies I used as drops of water here are made of felt and are so much fun.

You should also check out Virginia's mini album here, her post about my Scrapfest projects here, as well as her Scrapfest post.
I printed this photo onto a transparency to give it a punch of vibrant colour and then backed it with alabaster Chatterbox paper. On the reverse side is the journaling about each of the photos in the album, numbered one through 10.

The rub-on phrases here are also Chatterbox.


The back cover says it all - Life is good!

If you're local, you can drop by Scrapalicious and check out this album in person.

I'll be back again soon with more scrappy goodness, including designs from my latest Scrapalicious product, which you can see here. See you soon!.

Good Things

I've had a number of requests to post photos of my scrapbook room, so here is a little look. It's funny . . . every time I photograph my scraproom, it looks so different by the time I post the photos. Here's a peek in from the doorway. Since then, I've totally re-organized the corner bookshelf!
This picture is even older, since I have put up a beautiful Scribblz Art phrase above the hanging layouts and moved the Clip It Up to a cart to the right of the white hutch that you see above. My room is not huge, but I've tried to make use of every inch of space, and tried to keep the decor eclectic and fun!
I will post more detail photos once I've taken more. Here's a shot of the top of my paper shelf right beside the door. This inter-changeable photo frame I made for Scrapalicious is one of my favourite projects ever! It greets me as I enter the room, along with my peace mug and the words "Welcome Home".


Since I've only had a scrapbook room since we moved to this house last October, I have to agree with others I've heard say that having a craft space really does help you to breathe! To me, it's truly like coming home.

Some who've seen this room in person were surprised at how small it is. It's definitely a good thing in a small package! I guess some of the previous photos I posted made it seem larger than it really is. I would love a bigger space, but since this is what I have, I've made it work, and I love it!

I'm going to do a complete photo shoot once I have everything in its place. In the interim, I still have Scrapalicious projects to post, so stay tuned!

More Project 365

Don't you just love summer?

It's my favourite season, and I'm so glad it's here. The kids seem to agree with me too. They are much more willing to head outside and spend time there when the weather is nice. Alicia is a huge nature lover, and our new lifestyle in the country gives her lots to do.
I'm doing my best to keep up with my Project 365 this year. I love capturing our family's memories in photos, both the everyday and special occasions.
Evan is being such a little monkey in this photo. It was wonderful to have our home filled with family members who love him on his birthday. The girls helped me to make one of Evan's favourite - carrot cake with buttercream icing - and he couldn't wait to blow out the candles. 10 of them! Double digits for him this year! So Evan, knowing I wanted to capture him blowing them out, teased me by saying "1....2...." and then blowing the candles out before saying "3"! This shot is seconds later!
The kids are thoroughly enjoying having a pool. Even when it's (what I consider) too cold outside for the water, they are ready to jump in. And I'm totally a sucker for a gap-tooth smile! Doesn't Vanessa rock the toothless look?

I hope you are enjoying your first day of summer!

Happy Father's Day!

I think the photo says it all!

Love at First Sight!

The more I play with these, the more I love them!





















Just thought I'd share that. :-}

A Scrapalicious Peek

Have you seen Basic Grey's Capella collection? It's breath-takingly beautiful, and double sided too. I'm really looking forward to creating with Capella in my next Scrapalicious DT kit.It also includes some October Afternoon and a touch of Webster's Pages yumminess.

And hey - can you believe how gorgeous these Bloomers are?

The white letter stickers in this image are a bit hard to make out; they're Heidi Swapp Invisibles - ink them, paint them, they're so versatile and so much fun!

I've got a number of scrap-related things to catch up on that I've been meaning to post for a while, and I've been hoping now that school is almost out, I'll be back to a more timely posting schedule.

Thanks for checking in, and stay tuned! :-}

So Much To Do!

It seems that there is always so much to do in our household. A few weekends ago, the girls' dance recital took up the majority of a weekend. It was the first time I had to do hair and make up for one of their dance functions, and the girls were a bit apprehensive at first, but all in all I would say it went quite well.

The girls each took part in tap, jazz and ballet performances as well as the finale. They danced each number once on Saturday for the dress rehearsal. Then on Sunday they performed each dance twice, as there were two shows that day. By the end of the weekend they were exhausted and it was very quiet as they slept all the way home!

Above, Alicia is ready to go on stage for a ballet performance. At left is Vanessa at home just before we left for the first recital on Sunday morning. Listening to Evan's MP3 player has become an obsession of the girls lately!

Since this will be our first summer with a pool, all of the kids are quite excited about it. Here's Evan, up to his usual antics on the deck beside the pool. It;s still a bit cool to be in the water, but that doesn't seem to bother the kids! I have a feeling we are going to be spending a lot of time here this summer.


On the scrapbooking front, coming soon: a few more Scrapfest projects, my latest DT supplies for Scrapalicious and a peek into the Donna Downey class I took this past weekend. Thanks for checking in!

Edmonton 2010

So much happened recently that I don't even know where to start! The biggest event for us in May was a trip that Evan and I took to Edmonton to visit with family and friends for my Mom's 85th birthday. Evan felt very special traveling on his own with me and in addition to visiting, we saw a lot of the city.

Mom had a great time being the centre of attention, and after 85 years, doesn't she deserve it? She looks fantastic for 85, but then again, we think she looks as great as most at 65. Mom is in the early stages of Alzheimer's, but still, she socialized and felt special the whole time. Happy Birthday, Mom!

We didn't manage to get everyone into a photo at her lunch celebration, but at least we managed a partial group shot. All of the guests (excluding Evan) were present for her 80th birthday 5 years ago. Interestingly enough, it was the album I created for Mom's 80th that started me scrapbooking five years ago now.

Evan loved spending time with his cousins. Aeden is even more adorable than she was last year, if that's possible! (See a layout I made of her at age 1 year here). She latched onto Evan whenever he was around, and Evan thoroughly enjoyed being the older cousin to her, Jaren and Nathan. (See the boys here).

Outside of visiting family, Evan's biggest wish for our trip was to see West Edmonton Mall. We spent almost two days there, mostly in Galaxyland playing arcade games. Here we are playing 18 holes of mini golf with my friend Cathryn. Somehow, despite that I managed to get two hole-in-ones, Evan still won. :-}

We visited the house I grew up in, my childhood schools and church, and other places that I lived and worked. Here I am in front of my first apartment. It's a heritage building and is still standing despite that the surrounding buildings have been torn down and modern high-rise condos have been built.

We were lucky enough to visit Connie Nichol's home, where Evan had a blast with Ben and Marty. The boys got along like peas in a pod, so they had water fights and played while Connie and I had a lovely afternoon chat. Of course, no trip to Edmonton is complete without a stop at Treasured Memories!


In closing, here's a silly picture that, if I didn't take it myself, I wouldn't believe it. The owner of this car put an orange dot sticker in front of the zero on this plate, so that it says "Over .08"! Police must be suspicious of this driver just based on that plate! After taking this pic, I got as far away from the car as I could!

I still have projects and layouts for Scrapalicious to post, so once I'm caught up again from our trip, I'll get moving on that. Thanks for checking in!

National Scrapbook Day Fun!

How was your NSD weekend? Mine was an absolute blast! Lori, Jen and Sue came for the weekend and we chatted, scrapped and laughed into the wee hours of the morning. Sleep, as I always say, is over-rated, particularly on a scrapbook weekend, so we tried hard to keep it to a minimum.
Ann came by and joined us on Saturday too, and she definitely bumped up our productivity count my producing more layouts in a day than I did all weekend! Ann's gone digi lately, but we made her crave paper and she succumbed and created a layout using Sue's photos, since she didn't have any printed pics with her.

We really wanted Lee to join us, but she couldn't on short notice, so I'll have to plan better next time, right Lee! :-}

Slushy drinks abounded, and our Margaritaville had a good workout. Our resident bartender was relatively reserved this weekend, which we were happy with, as Stephen has been known to sneak by and refill glasses and the next thing you know, someone is dancing on the table! None of that this weekend, though!
I finished 3 pages during the crop, although I still have to journal. We took photos with each of our finished projects, so I will have more photos to post soon. You may also want to check out each of my scrapping friends blogs: Sue, Lori, Jen and Ann. Oh, and even though she didn't make it, check out Lee too.

I still have a mini-album and 2 layouts for Scrapalicious that I have to post, as well as my 3 pages from last weekend, so check back soon. See you then!

Happy National Scrapbook Day!

Can you believe it's May already? As this year flies by, I can't believe it's not still February! Do you ever feel completely behind on everything? I'm behind on mailing RAKs - they've been boxed and in my car for what seems like weeks, and I haven't been to the post office yet. I have so much to blog about, but no time to write. I'm behind on posting my Scrapfest projects, too. Here's one with lots of embellies - clear, cork, die cut and felt!
I love every single product on this page - the lace cardstock, the shimmer cardstock, the die cut title block, the butterfly wings that I trimmed in half and blinged up with rhinestones. All of this artsy.licious product is packaged at excellent prices at Scrapalicious, so if you can, get there and check it out.
As a mom, this is my first year dealing with dance costumes, putting the girls hair up in ballet buns and putting make up on them. After the time it took for me to master mascara and eyeliner on my own, putting it on a 7 year old is a whole other thing! It's such fun, though, and the girls enjoy it so much.

It's wonderful to watch them learn and grow into their own, sweet little beings. That's what this layout is all about.

Are you scrapping this NSD? I'm looking forward to spending time with Jen, Sue and Lori this weekend chatting, drinking tea with Bailey's and perhaps a few margaritas, taking photos and hopefully squeezing in a little productive scrapbooking!

Whatever you're up to this NSD, I hope it makes you smile. Wishing you peace, tons of creative energy and a wonderful National Scrapbook Day weekend!

Thoughtful People

This is my friend Jennifer of Life - Be Scrappy. We first met at a scrappy site online about five years ago, were on Just Cre8's DT together, and have cropped and road-tripped together a few times too. I was pleased when Jen recently featured my home on her blog, although a little surprised it was my powder room toilet that prompted an admiration post! :-P

Jen sat with me on Saturday night at Scrapfest, and she was bummed last week when I wrote a Scrapfest post and only mentioned the two gals I booked my crop table with. (shhh - I sort of pre-wrote part of that post before Scrapfest - sorry Jen!) Anyway, I thought I would make it up by showing off one of Jen's most stunning, prize-winning projects.

The album that Jen is holding above is one of the most stunning pieces of art that I've seen. Jen entered it in a Coca-Cola employee contest related to the Open Happiness campaign just before the Olympics and not only did she win, I'm sure she amazed the judges at how gorgeous this album is. If you haven't seen it in person, look here for some photos of it. Although you really need to see this in person (and hear the jingle playing in the background) to truly appreciate it, the photos give you an idea of the degree of detail and hours of work it took to make this album so beautiful. Jen won herself and her hubby a trip out to BC to see the Olympics, lucky gal! Well deserved.

In addition to being an incredibly talented scrapper, Jen is also so sweet and thoughtful. Jen received one of the first of the Peace canvases I gave away in my 29 Gifts project back in February, and she then dropped by my office in the middle of the afternoon with these flowers to thank me. Thanks so much, Jen!
On the topic of thoughtful people, my hubby, who you may have seen in a similar photo on a recent post, was just featured by Scrapscene. See the post here. Stephen seems a bit indifferent about his 5 minutes of fame, although I think he's pleased it was just a link and not the photo that made the news!


I have more Scrapfest projects for Scrapalicious to post later in the week, so see you then!

Denim Display Album for Scrapalicious

One of my favourite projects for the Scrapalicious booth at Scrapfest is this denim display book from Chatterbox. The album has denim covers, comes in a canvas bag, and a display stand is also available. I loved the idea of mucking up the covers with lots of paint, crackle paint and embellishments from the recent Chatterbox releases. I also used Rock Candy on the cork scallop trim at the top, which made it look a bit like worn leather.
I decided to create an engagement album for this couple that I shot engagement photos for a few years back. I left all of the journaling spots blank so that they can fill in their own sentiments and thoughts on each page. I'm not sure how soon I'll have an opportunity to give this to them, but I like it a lot and hope they will too. I thought a grungy, distressed style went well with the casual attire they wore for the shoot.
Since this album flips upward, I left most of the B sides blank, but I wanted to do something fun with them. I covered each back with alabaster artsy.licious lacquered paper, and sprayed each with a different colour of Maya Mist, then aged each page with ink and paint.
The pages are a wonderful, versatile size (approx. 5.5" square), and work really well with multiple, wallet-sized photos, a 4 x 6 photo, or a square photo. If you are local, drop by Scrapalicious and take a look. The photos really don't do this album justice. The photo at left is also one of my favourite pictures from that shoot. It was Thanksgiving Monday, the leaves had just turned beautifully, and the air was so very positive and optimistic.


You can view the album in its entirety in the slide presentation below. Click on the window to view at full size.

You can also see posts about this engagement shoot, the wedding photos I took at their beach wedding (where I was not the official wedding photographer), as well as a wedding mini-album I made for them in previous posts.

A page I made with a wedding photo was also published in Canadian Scrapbooker magazine. You can read about it here.

I'll be posting more from the Scrapalicious booth at Scrapfest soon, so check back.

artsy.licious Title Pages for Scrapalicious

I had a fantastic time at Scrapfest this year!

It was the first time I stayed overnight and cropped. I also took a class from Cathie Allen, so it was really a packed couple of days. I think Sue, Nancy and I had more fun than humanly possible! And if you are a scrapper and you haven't heard yet about my huge wipe-out during the scavenger hunt, I'd be surprised! :-) The Scrapalicious booth was hopping all weekend with great make 'n takes and these beautiful artsy.licious papers.

When I received a stunning DT kit of Chatterbox papers and embellishments, I looked at the brown, red, blue and green and realized how beautifully they would match the American Crafts albums that I just bought for my Library of Memories. I couldn't resist making my album title pages using these papers in a monochromatic way. Starting from the top, I used brown for my Things We Do album.

For each page, I selected a meaningful photo for the focal photo. On the Things page, the photo depicts my hubby and kids playing cards with my cousins' kids in our favourite Montreal hangout - Tim Horton's. The blue Places We Go page highlights places, both near and far, that are meaningful to us. The large photo is taken from Whistler mountain during an airshow. See the three planes in the upper right of the photo?! (Much easier in person!)

Our home, the place we go most often, is pictured right below the title. For the green People We Love, the photo is of Stephen's grandmother's 85th birthday, which we celebrated in our former backyard with most of Stephen's family. And the red We are Family album will house pages with photos of all 5 of us. Since I am usually behind the camera, I was surprised that I was able to find enough family of 5 photos to fill this page! :-}


The upper right photos is the first "family of 5" photo we ever took. It was taken at Easter, right after the girls were born, and is the first of hopefully very many more of all of us together.

If you didn't have a chance to get to Scrapfest, stop by Scrapalicious and see these beautiful papers. The artsy.licious line includes stunning flocked, embossed, glittered and many other beautiful papers, either individually or in multipacks.

I will have more of the Scrapfest projects I created for Scrapalicious to post soon.

RAK Haul!

For those of you still waiting for RAKs from me, here's a peek at the haul you will be sharing. Stamp sets, punches, ribbon, ink and all kinds of embellishments! I have the goodies separated and boxed and just need to get out to the post office to get them off to you. Thanks for your patience as I get everything together.

Scrapalicious sneak peeks for Scrapfest

If you're at Scrapfest this weekend, come by the Scrapalicious booth and see the beautiful artsy.licious lines from Chatterbox. These lace, embossed, flocked and glittered papers are truly gorgeous! For my denim album, I Maya Mist-ed ivory glossy embossed papers various colours and just love the result!
There are soooo many embellishments to choose from. Ranging from transparent, cork, chipboard, paper, brads, frames and mattes, felt, borders, journaling boxes, titles - you name it, it's available from Chatterbox. I love the butterfly wings I created for my daughters here by halving a butterfly.
Chatterbox's mini-albums come in a variety of colours and have embossed pages to match the cover. I had a ton of fun creating an album of our top ten favourite photos. It was a quick and easy album to make, as the embossed pages look decorative all on their own. This would make an awesome grandparent's brag book!
Scrapalicious is also featuring beautiful textured papers by Shizen Designs. The green floral paper here is truly beautiful. I want more of it so I can get into some hand-cutting! :-} The couple in the photo released butterflies at their wedding, so I thought the butterfly embellies worked well.

All together, I created two mini-albums, 7 pages and a canvas for Scrapfest, and I'll post them all sometime soon. I still have a few more pages roughed out that I'm hoping to finish at the crop this weekend.

If you're heading to Scrapfest, I hope we'll have a chance to visit. Either way, have a great weekend and I hope you manage to fit in some scrapping! Cheers!