From Everyone at Our House...

Wishing you a blessed Christmas and a joyous, peaceful 2011.

Family Fun in the Snow

Sometimes a picture really is worth 1000 words!

Believe in the Magic

When Jen, Nancy and Sue were here a few weeks ago, we had an interesting conversation about patterned paper. I was surprised that I'm not the only one who still loves most of the patterned paper I own - Jen and Sue admitted to the same thing. Even papers that I bought four, five years ago still appeal to me.

I think it's because I buy papers not because they are the latest trend, but because I really like them. I still want to use them, and would buy them again today. Are you the same?

Our discussion brought this layout to mind. It's one of the first non-CM pages I created with some of the first patterned papers I bought in late 2005, at my first-ever crop at the wonderful, welcoming Scrapping Nook.

I so loved Daisy D's, who made the blue paper. Isn't it lovely? I would still buy it today, wouldn't you? I miss Daisy D's.

The burgundy script paper is 7 Gypsies and is timelessness makes it so appealing. The Christmas embellishment was by Li'l Davis, miss them too. It says "Christmas - believe in the magic". The paper behind the photo is Basic Grey Sublime, so classic. The frame and photo corner are Rusty Pickle, before the days of Ranger Crackle Paint. The title is a mix of Basic Grey's original font, Doodlebug white on white and those MM felt alpha stickers when they first came out. I still love all of these products.

Our girls were only two years old in this photo, and this was probably the first exchange they had with Santa that they can remember. The journaling talks about how very excited Alicia was when Santa reached out and touched her cheek. She held her cheek and said in amazement "He touched my cheek!" over and over. So sweet; it was such a timeless moment. Five Christmases later, I'm so glad I captured it.

I hope you're having a great week!

Documenting December

Often when I'm documenting December in pictures, the photos I take don't have anything to do with Christmas.

I'm so much more conscious of the simple, everyday moments the kids experience when I'm watching them with my camera in hand. In 2010, I hoped to take a photo every day, and while I won't have 365 daily pics at the end of the year, I will have captured so many details of our life, like Alicia's love for Bear.

Documenting our family's life via words here and works of art through scrapbooking helps me to believe that what I see through the lens today will be remembered joyfully in the future by so many people who are important to us - most of all, our kids. The mistakes I make in capturing (ahem, or rather, not quite capturing) one day's shot adds knowledge that allows me to capture the next shot with more accuracy and aliveness. I am still learning, but I'm a better photographer today because of so much practice.

I loved Karen Grunberg's recent guest post on Shutter Sisters, entitled The Daily Practice. In it, she speaks about the value of daily photography practice. Take a moment and read it; it rings so true to me.

This is my third year of making daily December photos happen, and so far, so good - I'm 7 for 7! I love the feeling of daily photography as a habit. Hopefully 2011 will be the year that I make Project 365 a reality!

The View from Here

One thing I love about taking daily photos is how it forces you to really notice your surroundings. I drive down this road almost every day and have to admit, I often don't absorb how striking and unique the badlands are. Yesterday the sky looked so big and bright, the snow so brilliant as the sun's rays bounced off the hills. I just had to stop and grab my camera!
Speaking of brilliance, I was lucky enough to hang with my talented cousin Allison this weekend at her One of A Kind booth. Allison hates getting her photo taken, and I can't understand why - even exhausted on the final day of this show, doesn't she look amazing? Her soaps are wonderful; the smell in her booth is simply divine!

It seems like - along with a horrible sense of direction - we cousins definitely also inherited our grandmother's sense of creativity. See a page about our grandmother here.

In addition to Christmas shopping - the show rocked; I shopped 'til I dropped - I finished off another layout for Scrapalicious with WRMK's Be My Valentine line this weekend, and hope to have more to post later in the week. Yes, I had a very productive weekend.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend too! What did you do? Feel free to leave a comment; I love to hear from you. Thanks for stopping by!

Last December in Daily Photos

In writing my last post, I realized that while I did post a Christmas overview last year, I never did go back and post the slide show I mentioned creating with the daily photos I took. Since we're already in a Christmas mood at our house now, I guess there's no better time than the present for a peek at last Christmas.
Of course, I took far more than one photo a day last December. It's only December 2nd, and I've already taken more than one photo a day this year! So the slide show below summarizes our holiday season, but there are many more fun photos which will be (eventually) documented in our family's scrapbooks.

If you're not already in the holiday spirit, I hope that these images get you there! Click on any slide to view the show in a bigger window.

Deck the Halls

December is here and it's starting to feel like Christmas at our house. We've decorated the tree, hung the garland and started receiving Christmas cards already. I'm looking forward to documenting our December once again this year. Did you take a photo today? Christmas is definitely on its way!

If you are looking for ways to record your family's every day activities and celebrations this year, visit Ali Edwards' blog to see her wonderful December Daily album tradition, and Shimelle's website for her Journal Your Christmas class, as well as a great Christmas printable. Both are beautiful ways to remember this wonderful season with your family.

Scrapalicious Fun

I just finished off a fantastic weekend with Sue, Jen, Nancy and my little family at our house. The ladies came to stay, scrap into the wee hours of the morning (while I slept! :-P) and attend Sue's awesome photography workshop at Scrapalicious. Here's Sue giving us some in-depth shooting pointers.
It's impossible not to have a good time with these ladies! We continued the antics that we began at Scrapfest last spring, but this time there was no helmet (blinged-out or otherwise) required for me! We all managed to get a respectable amount of scrapping done, drink a respectable amount of Bailey's and have a blast!

And to add to the awesomeness of the weekend, on Sunday after the gals left, our family managed to get our Christmas tree up, too! Just in time too, as I will be doing Our December in Daily Photos again this year.

Talk about a productive weekend! Here's hoping that Lee, Lori, Ann and Virginia can make it next time! Scrappy weekends are so much fun! :-}

Smitten!

I was so smitten with the new Be My Valentine collection from We R Memory Keepers that - after receiving it for my Scrapalicious DT kit - I took it straight home and started to play! I didn't even remember to take a teaser photo of the kit so that you can see it! So instead, here's a little peek at my first layout.

Isn't this collection adorable? It's brand new and Scrapalicious has it all! See more goodness here.

There will be more to follow soon, so be sure to check back!

New Layouts for Scrapalicious

Seven - count 'em - here are seven new pages I created for Scrapalicious with the gorgeous Lost & Found collection from My Mind's Eye! I've previously gone on and on about how much I love this versatile line, so I won't repeat myself. Scroll through the images here and you can see how this collection covers all the bases. First, a very girly Sisters Forever page. The journaling says "kindred spirits, guardian angels, best friends forever."


I love the scalloped die-cut paper and the glittered title block here. I have so many photos of our twins sharing that special bond that only twins have, so I created a multi-photo page inspired by the pretty title block.





Stephen and I enjoyed so many breathtaking views when we were in Whistler in 2007, and I can't believe this is the first time I've scrapped these photos. We were lucky enough to enjoy an airshow from the top of Whistler mountain. It was amazing! Journaling here says "Nothing compares to a private airshow at the top of Whistler mountain. As the planes soared by they took our breath away!"




I used a few of my absolute favourite shots from the airshow on this layout. You can see the original slideshow I created after our Whistler trip here.





This title block was so elegant, I felt I had to use it for one of the most significant milestones my hubby and I just celebrated - our 12th wedding anniversary. The title here is "A Love Simply Perfect in Every Way" and "Twelve years of marriage, three wonderful kids and still so much in love!" is what the journaling says on this page.





These glitter alpha stickers are just gorgeous and the font is so elegant too. Speaking of elegant, the black & white photo of Stephen on the right was taken on our wedding day. Doesn't he look handsome?



Our sweet little Alicia tot has been home with the flu the past few days, poor thing. She's usually such a lively little imp, just like in these photos! I just know she'll make the most of every opportunity she gets in life. Journaling here says" You're so full of spunk, Alicia. Reach for the sky; I know you'll get there!" You can see a close up of this page on my previous post, here.


I love how this line can be used for boy pages, even with the glitter and flourishes. All of the papers are so fantastic; I literally used every scrap of paper I had in my kit. Journaling here talks about how blessed Evan is to have such a fantastic foundation of cousins and friends, and how wonderful it is that he stays in touch with his long time friends despite our move and the new friends he's making here.



Here's a close up of the title block on this page.








Crepe paper ribbon is so hot right now, and when I saw the ribbon in this collection, it immediately made me thing of splashes of water. Isn't it fun? This page talks about how much our kids love to splash in a pool. I sure have a lot of great photos of them enjoying hot weather plunges. The bottom right photo of Evan being tossed into the pool by his Grandpa is a perennial favourite! :-}




Here's a close up of the title placed over the crepe paper ribbon. The alphas are Maya Road chipboard letters coloured with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist.


I've wanted to create a page about scrapbooking for quite a while now; even more so now that I have my own space to create in! The title here says "Scrapbooking brings me Peace". I chose the word Peace as my 2010 One Little Word, inspired by Ali Edwards, and it has definitely proven to be the perfect choice for me. Peace has been a predominant theme for me in 2010, not just in scrapbooking, but in my life. Read about my Peace project here.
Journaling reads "memories captured, great friends, laughter, sharing, creative expression, peace. Scrapbooking brings me these gifts and more. This is why I scrapbook". This page really expresses how I feel about this amazing hobby. The photos include peeks at my scraproom, as well as some of the wonderful people I share this hobby with.

Phew! That was a long post, so thanks for sticking with me. I'm so pleased with all of these pages. I'm looking forward to doing more scrapping next weekend with Sue and Jennifer. Woo hoo! Time to get cleaning my scraproom (it sure needs it after all of these!) and planning my next few projects.

Where should I start? Check back soon and I'll let you know.

Scrapalicious Sneak Peek

I've loved working with Lost and Found by My Mind's Eye for Scrapalicious this month. Here's a little peek at what I've created with this gorgeous line. This layout is timely - Stephen and I were married twelve years ago today and he still rocks my world! Happy 12th wedding anniversary to us.
There is so much to this collection - gorgeous glitter alphas, beautiful glittered, die-cut and embossed papers, glittered title blocks, fantastic stamps, glittered and crepe paper ribbons, brads and buttons - the list goes on and on. I'll have photos of these pages and more for posting in the next few days.

Our Rhine Cruise Slide Show

When we decided to go on a Rhine river cruise, I wasn't sure what to expect. It was the first time in Europe for both of us. For me, it was my first cruise. Stephen and I are both beach vacationers, but the opportunity to get our first glimpse of Europe with a great group of people was too much to pass up!

While it would be tough to select a favourite experience on the trip, if I had to shortlist a few most memorable highlights, I would definitely select Amsterdam (at night in the photo above), with it's history, architecture, canals and culture; followed by the Alsace region of France, with its beautiful countryside and - of course - wine!

Travelling with a fantastic group of colleagues and business associates was a huge part of the great experience. We had the wonderful surprise of finding that our long-time friends Brian and Pilar from Vancouver were on the trip with us! It was also wonderful to spend more time with Shane, to see Andy again and meet everyone from the CityTV offices nationally.
I took over 500 photos during our trip, and still haven't finished going editing all of them, but here is a glimpse at my favourites. You can click on any slide to view the show at full screen.

Enjoy!

Turning Back Time...

It's time to turn the clocks back this weekend! Wow, 2010 is flying - I wish I could slow it down. Back in time I mentioned the gorgeous My Mind's Eye's Lost & Found line. I'm finally posting a peek of it for you! See more here. To me, it's their most beautiful release since the original Wild Asparagus.
I'm finishing up some layouts this weekend using this beautiful collection, and am looking forward to posting them for you. I love the way MME creates such diverse releases. There is literally something for everyone here - girl or boy pages, lovers of collage or clean, graphic pages - anything's possible!

Have a fantastic (and hopefully scrappy, if you are so inclined) weekend! Check back soon for some new Scrapalicious creations.

Home again, home again...

Stephen and I just returned from our first trip to Europe. We cruised up the Rhine River in a beautiful, brand new river cruise ship, ate far too much bratwurst, schnitzel and cheese, drank too much beer and wine, and essentially enjoyed ourselves tremendously for 10 days. This is us cruising along the beautiful Rhine Gorge.

We spent most of our time in Germany but also saw the Alsace region of France, spent just over a day in Amsterdam and a morning in Zurich before we flew home. The weather was lovely the first few days, but then became foggy and damp as our trip progressed. That didn't stop us though. This is Germany's Heidelberg Castle.

It was my first time on a cruise ship, and since it was small, I didn't have to worry about sea-sickness. Everything about the ship was wonderful - the crew and the group we cruised with were fantastic, and I've already mentioned the great food! The scenic Rhine was beautiful. This is sunset from our stateroom.

In going on this cruise, I missed out on going to fall Scrapfest, but it was so worth the beautiful trip. Of course, every time I travel anywhere, I manage to find the local scrap store. This one was in Koblenz, and we stumbled upon it without even looking! I also picked up a great French magazine in Strasbourg, Esprit Scrapbooking.

I'm still getting caught up at home and work, but may post more trip photos soon. I also have a little teaser of some Lost & Found pages I'm creating for Scrapalicious coming up, so stay tuned.

From A to Zip...

Wow, I'm sure behind in blog posting! Time, there is just never enough. Funnily, "time" is one of my entries in the Me: The Abridged Version album that I am working on. I'm taking Cathy Zielski's awesome class from BPC and am thoroughly enjoying the process. It's fun, while introspective too.
Homework, hockey, dance, Cubs, French and piano are all back in full swing now. The school bus arrives a half hour earlier this year, so our mornings are always hectic. Work is busy as always; reading, scrapping and exercising need to be in there somewhere too. So we're endlessly "zipping" around in my van!

Can you guess what one of my Z entries will be in my Me:TAV album?

Me:TAV was created based on this book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. If you haven't read it yet, it's a thought-provoking and humorous read for non-scrappers and scrappers alike. Check it out!

Speaking of scrapbooking, I have some new pages for Scrapalicious spread out on my desk, so stay tuned for a little peek at that.

Thanks so much for checkin' in! :-}

Every Last Ounce!

Can you believe it is September already? We have been busy squeezing in every last ounce of summer. While Stephen and I enjoyed our time alone while the kids were at camp, we sure missed them, so now we're taking off as much time as we can and enjoying the summer warmth in the pool every chance we get!
When we drove to camp to pick the kids up, Sierra was waiting for us and came home with us to visit for a while. The kids have been having such a fantastic time with her. We took a day off this week and spend the whole day at the beach. We couldn't have asked for a better day. The sky was clear, the water was warm, the waves were soft . . . it was perfect!
Once upon a time we had a little boy with shortly cropped hair. No more! Evan has decided that he wants to wear his hair long. I tried taking him for a trim to keep the ends healthy, but he wasn't having any of it! His hair is so light from the sun this year. It reminds me a lot of photos of Stephen when he was little.
Sierra's little brother Kristian is once again in the Rising Star competition at the CNE. This year he has sung his way into the Finals this Sunday. He is such a talented young man, and we're so proud of him. Here are the links to his Youtube page and his Facebook fan page. Be sure to check him out!